The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (58 page)

             
He kept his hands tight around his hammer necklace, saying a silent prayer that only he could hear. Then he brought it up to his lips and gently kissed it, as if he was kissing a new born baby’s head.

             
Then two arrows struck him in the chest; he was still wearing armor so the arrow did no pierce him all the way through. He staggered back a few steps from the impact of the arrows. Another flew and hit him just above his right hip, then shortly after that a fourth one found its home in his back left shoulder.

             
He still tried to stand, but he had to drop to his knees. Hayden jumped out of his saddle and ran as fast as he could to the dwarf. He was the last one still upright out of the almost hundred dwarfs that had been there.

             
Soldiers were moving around from body to body, using their spears to make sure that they were dead. He was the last dwarf left alive.

             
Elizabeth raised her hand to stop the thirty archers that were about to end the dwarfs life. She walked slowly to where the dwarf knelt, being careful not to step on one of the many bodies.

             
She stopped before the dwarf, blood starting to slowly drip out of his mouth. He was starting to have a hard time breathing, death was almost with him, but he still raised his head to look her in the eyes.

             
“Mercy?” she asked him mockingly. The dwarf stared at her, never pulling his eyes away from hers. He sucked in his lower lip and shook his head. Elizabeth nodded her head at the dwarf’s answer.

             
Hayden made it to the edge of the soldiers, they had all moved in closer now that there was no threat from the dwarfs. He pushed people out of his way, grabbed men by their helmets and yanked them back if they didn’t get out of his way.

             
Every time he moved a person two more people took his place. He knew he had to be getting closer to where the dwarf was but he felt like he was making no progress in the throng of armored people.

             
He pushed his way through the last group of people but he tripped on someone’s foot. He fell face first into the bloody snow. He propped himself up just in time to see Elizabeth draw her blade.

             
She carried a long thin blade that had a slight curve in it. The blade was small but it was also strong and sharp. The first thing someone would notice about it was that it was gold, just like the rest of her armor.

             
She looked the blade over as she held it in her hands. She cradled it like a child and she admired it like a painter; it was a killing device and a work of art. She pointed the tip of her blade in between the dwarf’s eyes.

             
“Ever seen a blade so beautiful?” she asked the dwarf. He continued to stare at her, but he could not help but to quickly examine the blade. He allowed a small smile to cross his face.

             
“I have seen children make better blades to chop wood with.” His smile grew larger as the words left his lips.

             
Elizabeth joined him in his smile. She pulled the blade back over her left shoulder and brought it across in one smooth motion. She held the pose for a second and then returned the blade to its sheath.

             
Hayden thought that she had cut in front of the dwarf for a second. The dwarf remained perfectly still and the smile still on his face. But then he fell to his side and his head rolled off his body.

             
Elizabeth bent down over the dwarf body and grabbed something, then made her way back to her dragon.

             
“I want all their bodies burnt, stack them up and let the dragons burn them up.” She passed Hayden, who was still lying down on the ground. He started to get up when he realized she was staring at him.

             
“Hayden The Silver has fought bravely today. I watched you kill dozens of dwarfs from the ground and then take out just as many dragons.” She threw something at Hayden which he caught against his chest. “A little something to remember this day by.”

             
She walked over to her dragon and jumped into the saddle. As her dragon jumped into the air Hayden opened up his hands to see the hammer necklace the dwarf had been wearing; the chain was still intact but there was a blood smear on the hammer.

_______________________________

              Hayden and Draek were on their way back to Celestial City, flying in their normal flight pattern with Hayden in the lead. Giles and Sebastian had both made it through the battle, but Hayden did not know what they had done during the battle. He knew there were a lot of dragons in the air but didn’t remember seeing them.

             
Hayden and Draek kept their minds open to each other. Hayden was lost and confused about what had happened. He knew battles were something he was going to have to go through, but he never imagined them going the way this one had gone.

             
He knew that he would never forget the smell of the burning bodies. He looked back over his shoulder and he could still see the tower of black smoke rising in the cold air.

             
As they had flown away from the battlefield it started snowing, and the snowflakes were giant puffs of white that looked like clouds slowly falling from the sky. As they had gotten higher into the air, Hayden had looked over the battle field and noticed that the snow was starting to cover it up.

             
Nature was trying to cover the blood and bodies, trying to cover the red with white. Trying to forget what evil had happened, something Hayden would never be able to do.

             
Hayden kept looking down at his hands; they still had smears of blood on them. He was already starting to see faces of dwarfs in his head. The things that he had done were starting to haunt their way into the darkest points of his mind, staying in the shadows where Hayden knew they were there, but he couldn’t see them clearly.

             
Hayden, enough.
Draek’s voice was soothing and friendly but also stern and commanding.

             
The deep voice of his dragon resonated in his mind and kept him from slipping into madness.

             
You acted bravely, and honorable; you did what you had to do to stay alive. You did not attack innocent people who had no way of stopping you. You were in a battle with warriors, and they were intent on killing you. You did what you had to do.
Draek’s reasoning started fortifying itself in Hayden’s mind.

             
He started realizing that Draek was right, and that if he wouldn’t have done what he did then they would both be dead.

             
Thank you Draek, I am sorry for thinking that way.
Hayden never had trouble admitting when Draek was right, which happened to be quite often.

             
It’s ok, Hayden. We don’t have to like the things we are forced to do, but we do have to find a way to live with them. The dragons that I had to kill today, they were no different than I am now. In another life we could have hunted together, flown in a wing as equals. In another life.
Draek started to pull his consciousness away from Hayden’s.

             
Draek, no, you said we have to be strong.
Hayden hated having to plead with Draek. He knew that the dragon was hurting just as much as he was. He knew that Draek was so focused on making him feel better that he wasn’t taking care of himself.

             
Hayden, I don’t want to have to do that again. I don’t want to fight in their battles just because they say so.
Draek lowered his head and tail as he flew. He slowed down and Shane matched his speed, Giles and Sebastian flew past them and continued on the route to Celestial City.

             
We won’t have to Draek, not anymore and not ever again.
Draek turned to look at Hayden with his big silver eye. He did not have to ask the question for Hayden to already start answering it.

             
As soon as we get back we are leaving Celestial City. We will pack everything we need and we will leave together.
Hayden knew that the idea sounded crazy. Something deep inside him told him that it was right.

             
Where will we go? What will we do when they come looking for us, what if they find us?
Draek was asking questions but he did not sound skeptical about the idea.

We will go where
ver we want to, and they will never be able to find us, ever.
Hayden had no idea where they could go where the Metallic Riders wouldn’t find them, but with war having reached them he hoped that they would be too busy to notice him gone until he was far away.

The rest of the flight back to Celestial City
, Hayden and Draek continued discussing their plan to leave. They would pack everything that they could carry on Draek’s saddle and they would fly west until they reached the elves, then from there they would figure out where to go next.

They arrived back at the pyramid and Draek landed right in front of their room. Hayden jumped out of the saddle and led the way inside. He was already taking off his armor when made his way inside when he noticed that someone was sitting on his bed.

“Hello?” he asked. The person was a young woman, but she had her back to Hayden so he could not tell who she was. She turned around and it was the last person he was expecting to see in his room.

“Cass, what are you doing here?” Hayden asked.

“I am here to see you, Hayden.” She had been crying, her eyes were blood shot and puffy. Hayden walked over to comfort her when he saw her new sketch book that she had gotten from Elizabeth; it was open to a drawing she had been working on.

It was Hayden. The drawing was of Hayden in his armor, his sword drawn and by his side, his shield strapped to his other arm. His head was hung low and his face was shadowed so that he could see no details. But he knew it was him, the person in the drawing wore his eagle helmet that he had worn during the battle and all around the figure were dwarf bodies piled up.

The drawing version of himself looked deadly, it looked like a ferocious warrior, but it also looked sad. Like he had been given this talent only to realize that the talent was evil. The drawing reflected what he was feeling inside.

“How did you know?” Hayden asked her.

“Draek told Shaylin everything, Hayden.”

Hayden turned and looked back at Draek, he felt betrayed by his own dragon.

“Hayden, don’t be mad at him, please. There are more important things to worry about right now. The ceremony that is scheduled for tonight, for us finishing our year of training.”

Hayden interrupted Cass and started packing as he spoke. “I don’t care about some ceremony, Draek and I are leaving right now
, and there is nothing you can say that will keep us here.” Hayden stared throwing extra clothes into the saddle bags.

Cass started crying again as she spoke. “Hayden
, I know what you’re planning, but you can’t leave now. Hayden, they have Fendrel, and they are going to kill him tonight during the ceremony.”

Chapter 29

Hayden heard the words that came out Cass’ mouth but he did not understand them. He stopped what he was doing and turned to face her.

“What did you say?” he asked quietly, as if whispering about it would make it less true.

“They have Fendrel
. I am not sure how they did it, but they found him. They plan to kill him during the ceremony.”

Hayden did not understand anything she was saying. None of it made sense to him.
“But why would they want to kill him, he has done nothing wrong,” he asked.

“The dragons are the ones talking about it, they told Shaylin and she told me about it. They are saying it’s a duel forty years overdue.” Cass was holding back from completely falling apart, but only just.

Hayden turned to look at Draek, to see if it was true. Draek lifted his head and listened. Hayden waited patiently. He was still trying to get his mind wrapped around everything Cass had told him. Draek finally lowered his head and faced Hayden; he slowly nodded his head in agreement to what Cass had said.

“Hayden
, I am sorry but you can’t leave now, we have to find a way to save him,” Cass begged him.

Hayden had been thinking the same thing
, but he had no idea how he was going to do it. “We have to save him. So how long do we have before the ceremony starts?” Hayden asked her while he continued to pack up Draek’s saddle.

“Not long, maybe an hour or so from now. They are going to signal the start of the ceremony with a loud horn blast
, and then we all go into the Hall of Stories. What are we going to do?” She was starting to calm down, but Hayden could tell she was not thinking rationally, she was desperate.