The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain)

by Clausen, Nicholas

  “You said that they only pick the four new riders once a year. Why only once a year, and why only four?” Hayden wasn’t sure if Fendrel was going to answer him as they walked on. They walked in silence for a few seconds and Fendrel shook all over like he was trying to get water off of himself, then he answered like there had been no break in the conversation.

  “Well they picked four riders to always have new recruits in their ranks, but they use riders to train riders, and if you have too many new recruits, then you would have too many of the older riders grounded as. Also, if you had too many riders you would eventually run out of room in the city and they would have to expand the city more and more. With so many new riders, you would also have fights too frequently as their dragons started to grow and become anxious to prove themselves in battle.” Fendrel’s answer made sense to Hayden.

  He could still remember growing up in Erskine and watching all the young boys doing everything they could to stand out. They were always challenging one another to something or wrestling when they disagreed. Hayden had never thought that the dragons would have such human like qualities.

  Fendrel’s voice brought him back to the conversation. “They do it once a year at the same time so that whoever wanted to try and become a rider would have a fair chance at it. Everyone knows when it is going to be, so everyone has a chance to get to the city to try.” They both had to step off the road as a cart full of goods pulled by a rather beat up looking old donkey passed them.

  “When is the next time that they will choose the four riders?” asked Hayden as they got back on the road and continued on their way while both keeping an eye on the road for any unpleasant gifts left behind by the donkey.

  “Well if I am not mistaken, it should be within a few days after we get there, maybe even within a week or so. It will give you plenty of time to prepare and not make yourself look like a complete fool.” Fendrel laughed as he spoke, amused by his own cleverness.

  “So what happens in the trials? You said you went through them to become a rider, so you must know what is going to happen, right?” Hayden was trying to keep up with Fendrel, but he had to do a dance across the road. It seemed only his side of the road was covered in the donkey’s droppings, a fact that made Fendrel laugh even harder as he watched Hayden jump from each safe ground to the next.

  “I can’t tell you what awaits you in the trials, boy. They test each man differently. The trials are going to test you in ways you did not think could happen, things you think you are strong at its going to show you how weak you really are. I spent my whole life up to that point preparing for the trials and it still caught me off guard. It still beat my very best. The trials required of me things I was not willing to do. You need to ask yourself if you ready to give up everything, and I mean everything, in order to become a rider.” Fendrel continued to walk as he spoke, but he was looking to his side at Hayden and not at the road in front of him. Hayden tried to maintain eye contact, but he had to keep looking down at his feet.

  “I have nothing to lose Fendrel, no family to go home to. In fact, I have no home to go back to. Everything I own I am caring on back right now. I have nothing to worry about leaving behind. I will do anything to get this. I’m tired of being a nobody who works hard for someone who has promised pay, but by the end of the day all I get is kick to my backside and sore muscles to show for my hard work. I am tired of being treated like I’m nothing and I know that all around Arvain there must be others like me. Others who need help and can’t find it, others who will die alone with nothing to call their own if someone does not help them.”

  “I will be their help. I will save those who are thought lost. When I leave this world, I want it left a better place.” Hayden had never said that before, but it sounded like it had been rehearsed and although he was answering Fendrel, this was more for himself. This gave him a goal to work for, a dream to strive for. This gave him fuel to do whatever must be done to get a dragon egg.

  “Good, you will need that when the time comes,” Fendrel responded quietly, and it was apparent to Hayden that he was lost in some distant memory. Hayden let the gap of silence grow between them for what seemed like too long. He finally spoke up and asked Fendrel the question that had been eating at him the whole time.

  “What was it?”

  “What was what, boy? If you have a question, ask it properly. I don’t have the patience for riddles.”

  “What was it that they asked you to do in the trials?” Fendrel stopped abruptly as soon as Hayden finished his question. I have gone too far, I shouldn’t have asked that question, Hayden thought. Fendrel stood staring down the road as he spoke.

  “If you do get to become a rider, they will teach you that the only loyalty you should have is to your fellow riders. They will show you that they are your only family, that only they matter. They must know that you are willing to do this or they will not let you have an egg and become one of them. They must know that you will follow orders no matter what. When the trials were almost at an end, my brother and I had both made it to the last trial before they would test us to see which egg we got. We were so happy to see each other there and we could not help but smile at each other.” A smile crept across the old man’s face, but it quickly vanished as he continued on telling his story.

  “The judges over the trials saw our bond and knew that we were brothers, so when everyone else had gone to prepare for the last trial, they called us to stand before them. Just the two of us together as brothers should be. We stood with our chests poked out and pride in our hearts. Ha, I was so arrogant back then that I actually thought they were going to go ahead and give us our eggs right then and there, with no further trials. As I waited to hear what they had to say, I was already playing it over in my mind about the honor we were going to gain and the fear everyone would have for my brother and I. We were going to be an unstoppable force together.” Fendrel shook his head sadly at the memory.

  “They looked down at us from their lofty seats and spoke like a proud parent to their children. The judge in the center said, ‘You two have done well. Better than any we have seen in many years. The riders would be very fortunate to have you both. There is, however, one last test for the both of you. It is not difficult compared to all that you have already accomplished.’ The judge who spoke raised his right arm and four riders clad in their copper armor came in sets of two through a doorway off to the judge’s right with a stretcher in between each pair.”

  “Sitting on each stretcher was a silver dragon egg. They brought them both in and set one on either side of the judge. After they set the eggs down, the riders left, leaving us with the judges again. Hayden, when I first saw the eggs, saw them up close, my whole world changed and I couldn’t think about anything other than that egg. My egg. I couldn’t tell you anything about the egg in front of my brother, but I could tell you everything about the one they placed in front of me. It was beautiful, it had the same shape as a chicken egg but almost five feet tall, and it looked like it was made out of one giant sheet of silver. It was completely smooth and spotless except for one small diamond spot that was darker than the rest of the egg. At the time I thought it was strange because the judge made a double take when he saw it. I later learned that it was the only metallic egg that had a mark on it. I could not stop staring at the egg, but I was finally drawn back to what was going on around when the judge began to talk again.” Hayden walked closer to Fendrel to hear him better. The old man was all but whispering as he continued speaking.

  ”’Boys, these are your eggs. Well, they will be if you pass this last test. The riders are a family, they answer to no one but each other and there is no favoritism as there must be complete obedience at all times. You have to obey every order that is given to you no matter what. Your last test is an obedience test, to see if you can do what you are told to do.’” Fendrel lowered his head as he continued his story. Hayden could do nothing but listen, he felt like he was there watching all this happen in front
of him.

  “’You must be willing to kill on command. Kill without thinking. Can you do that, boys?’ The judge had an evil grin to his face when he asked us, though we both nodded at him. We had seen the eggs. We were so close, we would not let them slip out of our fingers. ‘Good, good, that’s what we like to hear. I want you to prove it to me boys. Prove to me that you have what it takes to be a rider, to do the hard things no matter what.’ The judge leaned forward in his chair and I can still see him lick his lips before he spoke. ‘Face each other.’” Hayden was not putting together what Fendrel was saying but the old man did not notice.

  “I turned and faced my brother and saw the confusion on his face as I am sure he saw it on mine too. Then the judge said one final word. ‘Go.’ We continued to stand there just looking at each other. Then I realized what he was asking us to do. Just a few seconds later I saw the look on my brothers face change as he realized it too. We both turned and looked at these eggs, our eggs, sitting next to the judge. I made my decision and shook my head no. I was not about to kill my own brother, not for all my dreams, not for anything in this world.”

  “Right when I was about to open my mouth to speak, I turned to tell my brother that I was not going to do this, that I wanted no part in it. As I turned I was just able to see the look on my own brother’s face as he swung at my head with a rock he had picked up. I didn’t even have time to think about what was happening before he hit me. Everything flashed white and then there was intense pain, I barely managed to open my eyes and realized I was on the ground; although I didn’t remember falling.”

  “I must have blacked out because my brother was standing in front of his egg with his hands outstretched and I watched as he hatched his silver dragon with my blood still on his hands. I saw him look at his dragon and smile. I saw his dragon and there on his head, were my brother’s hand had been, was my blood.”

  “I looked to the other side of the judge and watched as they took my egg away. I tried to yell, but the pain was too much. Everything started to go fuzzy again, but I was able to see my brother turn his head back and look at me. I saw sorrow in his eyes as I blacked out, and when I woke up I was back out my parents’ house near the walls of Celestial City, and my parents told me my brother was a rider and he was living with his dragon in the metal pyramid with the other riders. They told me how one of the judges brought me home and told them that I failed my last test and hit my head as I tried to run away. I hadn’t been awake long and my parents were already telling me how proud they were of my brother and how disappointed they were in me. They told me I should try to be more like my brother, the rider.”

  “That’s why I did not get my egg. I have thought about that egg, the one with the little diamond on it, every day since then. It is the last thing I think about every night and the first thing I see when I wake up every morning. The hardest thing I have ever had to do was watch them take that egg away, but I would do it all over again. As difficult as it is for me to think about how I lost my egg, I would hate to feel the guilt my brother must have.” Fendrel turned to Hayden and he saw the tears that had broken through the dirt on the old man’s face. Hayden stood there and watched him as tears continued to roll freely down Fendrel’s face. “You better make sure you are willing to do everything to get an egg before you even try. Whatever you do, whether you decide to try or not, do not act as my brother did. Do not sell yourself to get an egg.”

  “I won’t. I promise you I won’t.” Hayden put his hand on Fendrel’s shoulders as they continued on towards Celestial City.

  Chapter 3

  They continued through the day without talking much. They shared pleasantries with one another as they walked. During most of the silence, the story of how Fendrel lost his dragon egg ran rampant in Hayden’s mind. How could the riders ask him to kill his own brother? What would they have to gain from it? If they had wanted to know how loyal they were there must have been other ways to figure it out. I wonder how many others have had to do something horrible to get an egg. I wonder if they will ask me to do something like that.

  “Fendrel, how could they do that?” Hayden hadn’t thought about the question until he had already asked it.

  “How can who do what?” Replied Fendrel. They continued to walk, but they were both worn out form the walking they had already done. Fendrel looked up at the sun and slowed his pace. Hayden looked up and noticed that it was close to sunset. Fendrel turned to Hayden and gave him an ”I’m tired of walking” look and started to walk off the road to a flat clearing that would serve as their camp for the night.

  “How could the judges do that and get away with it? Why didn’t the riders stop them?” Fendrel took off his pack and laid it on the grass. He let out a long sigh, whether from taking off the pack, or from Hayden’s question, Hayden could not tell.

  “Why didn’t the riders stop them? Boy, are you really that dumb? The judges were riders themselves. Do you really think that the riders would let someone who was not of their own ranks choose who joined them? You want to know how they can get away with it? Because they are riders. They have dragons, and lots of them. Not to mention they have hundreds of dragon eggs kept under constant lock and key. They choose what rules everyone obeys; although they don’t have to obey anything.”

  “The three that sit on the thrones did not get voted in by the people, but by the other riders. No one really has a voice in Arvain but the riders. You are either one of them or you are nothing in their eyes. They make the trials, they judge the trials and they pick who gets the eggs, but they do not pick which color they get, that is still up to the person trying for the egg.” Fendrel had sat down next to his pack and was watching Hayden clear up an area where they were going to build a fire.

  “That just doesn’t seem right. Has it always been this way?” Said Hayden, having finished clearing away a fire pit, walked just within talking range to look for firewood.

  “No, not always. There used to be standards to the riders. They used to follow rules set by the three.” Fendrel took the wood that Hayden had gathered and began to set it up like a small hut, the kindling on the bottom and the tender and larger sticks on the outside. It looked like a rounded arrow head sticking up out of the ground.

  “Well what happened to those days?” Hayden tried to clear of as many rocks and sticks off the ground that was going to be his bed that night.

  “Well the three that sat on the thrones back then were old and wise. Now dragon riders don’t live forever, but they can live up to three hundred years, at least that’s how old the oldest rider was when he died, and they can still be killed just like anyone else. They are not immortal no matter what they claim. We all must meet the maker sooner or later. Anyway, the gold rider has always been over the other two, no one really knows why, but that’s just how it is in every historical account: the gold is always leading everyone. The gold rider back then was morally strong, wise, merciful, and just. He treated everyone equal, whether you had a silver or a copper, or even if you did not have a dragon at all. He was an amazing person. His name was Isaac the Golden.”

  “There were a lot of riders back then who felt like they were above everyone else. They began to voice their opinions with the other riders and they grew a following. The three kept them at bay and with Isaac the Golden’s wisdom they were able to disperse the mob before anyone got hurt. Soon after that, Isaac began meeting with riders of each of the earth dragons. The other riders found out about it and questioned him. He said he was trying to unite all of Arvain, to allow everyone to try for any egg and to put all the dragons, even the five earth dragons, under one banner. He wanted everyone equal and he thought all races are equal. The other two on the thrones talked Isaac into leaving for a while with his dragon to clear his head, as they thought he was not thinking straight.”

  “The riders who had caused the problems earlier did not want to take the chance that he might come back and make them equal to everyone. So the night that Isaac left, all the rider
s joined together and killed the other two while they sat on their thrones. Isaac had just taken off and was circling overhead when it happened, so he was able to escape into the wilderness. Since then, there have been a new three that rule over Arvain: Bryce the Copper, Caine the Silver, and Elizabeth the Gold.” After every few sentences, Fendrel would blow into the embers he lit, trying to get the fire started. After he finished talking, the fire was going well enough that he didn’t need to to tend to it constantly.

  “I had no idea. How long ago did this happen?” Hayden was chewing on one of his hard pieces of bread, trying not to break a tooth as he listened to Fendrel talk.

  “Well, almost forty years ago. It happened the same year I tried for an egg.” Fendrel did not even pretend to count how many years had passed since they came to power. He remembered that year too well and he knew exactly how long ago it had been.

  Hayden shook his head as he heard how long ago it had happened. Could no one stop them, could no one try to help? Hayden was no stranger to evil deeds going unpunished. It wasn’t but a few years prior he had watched as a family was torn out of their home because they did not pay taxes on a house and land that they owned. Everyone thought it was unfair, but no one was willing to stop the tax collectors. He could still hear the girl’s cries in the wind as the guards did their terrible acts.

  “Why has no one tried to stop them, why has no one done anything?”

  “What would you do if an angry army of dragons wanted something from you? You would give it to them alive or they would kill you and then take it. People have tried to stop them and they wind up dying with traitor written atop their grave. When riders try to oppose them you just don’t see them flying around the city anymore.” Hayden sat up straight at the answer he was given and he wore a shocked expression on his face. Fendrel sighed as he saw Hayden’s disbelief.