He finished his speech without anyone interrupting him; no one thought to move or make a sound as the raspy voice told them his message. Elizabeth continued to stare at the dwarf; Hayden had no idea what horrible thoughts lurked within her head.
Hayden thought that the situation could not get any worse when something unimaginable happened; Bureg saw Hayden and recognized him.
“Silver rider,” he said. It was this statement that woke Elizabeth from her angered state. She followed the dwarfs gaze and saw that he had spoken about Hayden.
“You know him, he was the one that saw what you had done in my orchard and he chased you away into hiding. He told us all about what happened, if it wasn’t for him we would have never had found you.” Elizabeth leaned in as she spoke to him.
Even though she was lying there was no way for Bureg to know. All he knew was that he had been captured and that they had known immediately what they had done, and the only person who could have told them was Hayden.
Hayden barely heard what Elizabeth said to Bureg, but he could not make a sound to protest what she was saying. The look of anger, hurt, distrust and betrayal one Bureg’s face kept him immobilized.
“That is enough of a confession for me,” Elizabeth said. She walked away from the dwarfs and towards her throne where her halberd was. Bureg held his head up high, without breaking eye contact with Hayden, and bit down on his lower lip, causing his matted and pulled out beard to poke out.
“Trohen, I am so sorry. I have failed you, forgive me,” Bureg struggled to say through tears that just started to flow down his face. He was not afraid of dying, but he knew that his death meant that Trohen had to die also.
Hayden’s heart felt like it was getting ripped out of his chest, he could only imagine what Bureg was going through as Elizabeth walked back up to where he stood.
“Any last words?” she asked as she leant against her weapon, using it like a walking stick.
Bureg opened his mouth, but before any noise could come out Elizabeth went into action.
She kicked the bottom of her halberd with her heal and flipped the weapon over so that she held the bottom part in her hands and the axe head was high in the air. Bureg never saw her move because he was still looking at Hayden.
She did not hesitate once the axe head was at its highest point; she swung it as hard as she could, grunting as she did so. The axe head seemed to glide right through Bureg without touching him.
Elizabeth followed through with her swing and brought the weapon back to her side so she could rest on it.
“I believe you have said enough,” she said.
Hayden was still looking into the dwarf’s eyes when the bottom part of his beard fell free in one solid piece. Bureg’s eyes never changed as his body fell to the floor and his head rolled off the platform.
_________________________
Hayden woke up from his dream covered in sweat. It had been almost two months since the dwarfs had been killed in front of him, but still every night he had the same dream. A dream where he stared into the lifeless eyes of Bureg’s severed head.
He sat up and tried to clear his head and catch his breath. He dreaded going to sleep any more, knowing what awaited him in his dreams every night. He had found himself sleeping less and less until it started to affect him. He then decided that he had no choice but to deal with it. Whether he slept for hours or only a few short minutes did not matter. As soon as his eyes closed he saw Bureg.
Hayden still remembered the cheers as Elizabeth herself cut down each dwarf, one by one she stabbed at them and left them bleeding to death on the platform. Soon the platform looked the deck of a fishing ship that had started to gut the fish on deck; blood everywhere and a few of the bodies still shaking.
Hayden had dropped to his knees and screamed over and over again, Cass and Shane had to drag him away as the crowd pushed to be closer to the killings. None of the dwarfs had screamed, but Hayden had done enough for all of them.
Cass and Shane had taken him to Fendrel’s house, hoping that they could get him out of eyesight there until he regained control of himself. Fendrel’s house however was locked.
They had beaten on the door for a few minutes while Hayden was still trying to scream, even though his voice had gone out, before they had even made it back to the city. An older lady saw them knocking in the door and came up beside them.
“Hello, young riders, if you’re looking for Fendrel he is gone, he packed up and said he wasn’t coming back for a while.” She had spoken softly because she saw that Hayden was in bad shape.
They had no other choice but to go back to the pyramid and do the best they could on their own. Nothing could help Hayden; his mind had all but gone at that point. Cass had gone and gotten him something to drink that had put him to sleep.
That was the first night that the dreams had started. He relived the moments when the dwarfs died again and again that night, and for many nights to follow. Over the next two months there was a different feeling around the city.
It was one thing to talk about a battle and people dying when it was far away and you did not have to see it, but when the killing was right in front of you it was something completely different. The streets seemed empty because parents did not want their children running around. Everyone seemed to keep their windows closed at all times now, not just because winter had come and snow had started to fall just after the Festival of Games.
A cold front had blown in from the south right after the festival, and it brought with it frost in the morning and a constant gray forecast over the city. Farmers were making sure that their fields and barns were ready for the winter that was upon them.
Hayden had barely noticed his training starting back up. His physical training had slowed back down and he was almost numb to the sessions. He saw Lirand yelling at him but the words never made it to his ears.
He did the workouts, but he did not get tired or even feel like he had done anything at all. Shane would be sweating and out of breath after their workout and Hayden would just stand there as if he was ready to start.
Estraken had given them the last week off; he said that he had one last lesson to give them before they were done but he needed time to prepare it. This gave Hayden and Draek more time to fly above the city together.
The dragons had finished their training before the Festival of Games so they had nothing to hold them to the ground. One time Cass had seen Hayden standing in a clearing all by himself, he was wrapped in winter grays and just staring at the sky.
It had been days since she had heard him speak so she got Shane’s attention and together they were going to go and talk to him. When they looked to make sure he was still there, even though it had only been a few seconds, he was gone and she could barely make out the shape of Draek flying away. The snow continued to fall in sheets and bur all signs of life under its glittering wonder.
Hayden sat in his bed and closed his eyes, knowing what would come but unable to stay awake. He awoke the next morning and tried to forget the horrible night he had, even though it was becoming an almost nightly event.
Two more months and they would be fully fledged riders; they would end their one year training when winter ended. Hayden felt better this morning than he had in a while, and they would have no physical training today because they were going to spend the whole day with Estraken.
Draek had gotten up with the sun to go hunting; he said the prey was easier to find when they were first waking up. Hayden got ready and made his way to the door, and he passed by the pile of dust covered gear that he had gotten during the Festival of Games. It was still where the servants had put it; he had yet to even touch them.
He went through the winding halls until he was at Estraken’s door, which was open, and he walked right in. He was used to seeing Shane, Giles and Sebastian, but today Cass was with them. Giles and Sebastian had pulled themselves even further away from the group, now they didn’t even make fun of Hayden or Shane.
&nbs
p; Cass smiled softly at Hayden as he made his way into the room. Hayden hadn’t spoken to her in some time. He was afraid to speak to any of his friends except for Draek anymore, he was afraid that they would judge him for what he had done. For his part in the dwarfs dying.
“Good, you’re here, that’s all of you right?” Estraken counted each of them while pointing at them. “Now today is going to be your last lesson, after that if you want to continue to come here and ask question you can but you are no longer required to.”
He coughed into his hand and pulled his golden cloak tighter around himself. “This cold weather gets to me every year.”
“So what is our last lesson?” Shane asked. He did not do it rudely, but they had learned that if you don’t keep Estraken on track he was liable to ramble on for hours.
“Ah, today we are going to the lowest room in the Metallic Pyramid,” he said proudly.
They all just stared at him for a few seconds, no one quite sure how to respond to what he said.
“Ok, but why did that take you so long to get ready for it then if all we are doing is going down to the lowest room?” Sebastian asked.
“Because I had to find the door; now follow me.” He started to climb the spiral staircase, being extra careful not to knock any of the random scrolls or artifacts that were lying around off. They had also learned that when it came to some of the things that Estraken did there was no explaining them.
Estraken led them to the top of the stairs which ended abruptly at a bookcase. He reached out and pulled the bookcase so that it swung on hinges just like a door. Hayden would have never have guessed that there was a secret passage way in Estraken’s library.
Behind the bookcase the passage way was a just a staircase going down, no decorations of any sort just stairs and more stairs. Estraken grabbed a torch that had been hanging on the wall by the bookcase and led the way down.
“How much further can it be?” Shane asked Hayden and Cass as they continued down what seemed to be a never ending staircase. They had been climbing down for a while now and Shane voiced what would be the first of many complaints.
“Well it would have to be a good ways down wouldn’t it, it is the lowest room in the pyramid after all,” Hayden responded.
Hayden had not thought about answering, but it seemed to just come out. Cass and Shane were both just as surprised to hear his voice. They did not want to badger him so they let his response go, but they did smile at each other.
They continued their dissent until the staircase opened up and they were at the top of a giant open room. This room was unlike anything Hayden had ever seen, it looked like it was made of black stone instead of metal.
The spiral staircase continued to wind down until it leveled out on the floor. The room was longer than it was wide and the ceiling was tall and rounded. The room was dark but there were five glowing orbs in the base pillars that grew almost to the ceiling.
There was a red and blue orb on the left side, white and black on the right, and a green orb on the far wall. Besides the torch that Estraken held and the five orbs there were no other lights in black room.
The five young riders stood in awe of the room, not knowing what its purpose was or what the orbs where, but not asking either questions. The rider’s barely moved off of the bottom stairs but Estraken continued walking to the center of the room.
Hayden watched as the torch was not bright enough to cast light on the walls so it encased Estraken in an orange glow as he made his way deeper into the darkness. He moved to the right of the room and held his torch as high as he could and touched the side of one of the pillars.
The flames from the torch licked the wall and shot to the top of pillar. The fire on the walls stayed lit momentarily but ignited a ring around the top of the pillar. The fire continued to race around the room on tracks that seemed to be filled with oil. The fire went from pillar to pillar, igniting a ring around the top of each one.
Soon all five pillars were alight and a giant hanging chandelier that was hanging in the center of the room started to light up. The chandelier was made up of multiple metal tracks that looped in an out of each other. Each loop was now on fire and the room lit up.
Hayden followed the flames as much as he could, fascinated by the racing fire as it continued to grow. The last pillar to light on fire was the one that held the red orb. He watched as the ring of fire slowly lit around the top of the pillar and revealed a giant red dragon that had been lurking in the darkness of the unlit room.
Hayden reached for his sword that was not with him, he had left in his room. Draek was not going to be able to help him this deep underground. He heard all the others gasp and shout about dragons, but something was wrong.
“A green dragon, run!” Shane yelled.
“Look out ,it’s a blue dragon!” Cass screamed.
“Let me out of here, it’s a white dragon,” Sebastian yelled as he pushed Giles out of the way to run back up the steps.
“A black dragon,” Giles said calmly, almost in awe, as he stood back up after Sebastian pushed him.
“Please calm down, they will not hurt you,” Estraken said. He stood next to a giant round table that was actually a giant map. The hills and mountains rose off the table and the oceans and river had actual water.
Hayden couldn’t take his eyes off of the dragons. He stared at the red dragon, but the dragon did not move, it did not breathe.
“They’re not real,” Hayden said in wonder.
“Oh they are very much real, they are just very much dead,” Estraken said. He sat down on a chair and looked over the map.
“But, if they are dead, why do they have color and look so alive?” Hayden asked. He remembered the first time he had seen a dragon and how when it died all the color and shine left its scales as it turned to stone.
“Well, after the first war, some of the Metallic Riders thought that it would be a good idea to have some of the other dragons to study. So they went to all the places where they killed dragons and they took the best looking dragon body from each place.
“Once they picked which one they liked a group would go there and break the bodies up and transport them back here. Then they made this room and rebuilt each dragon and painted them up so they looked as real as possible.”
Hayden looked at each dragon and was amazed at the differences between each of them.
“To think that all these different creatures are called dragons,” he said out loud to himself.
“It’s amazing,” Cass responded to him.
Hayden looked back at the red dragon; it was very similar to Trohen, but this one was bigger, much bigger. Its horns were larger and there were patches all over it that looked to be pointed stone.
The blue dragon was longer than the other dragons and much skinnier, but its wings were amazingly large. It had a long neck, and the spikes down its back looked like fins. It had one claw outstretched and Hayden could barely see that it was webbed. It also had two fins on the end of its tail that reminded Hayden of a fish’s tail.
The white dragon looked like it had been carved out of ice. It had very few scales and almost no spikes on its body. Hayden was surprised to see it with so few defenses, but he was sure that it was not easily defeated. It did have a pair of horns that jutted out of the back of its head that looked a lot like the horns that were growing out of Draek.
The black dragon frightened Hayden the most because if he looked right at it the dragon seemed to disappear into the darkness around it. The dragon did not have four limbs and a pair of wings like all the other dragons; it had two hind legs and it had claws coming out of the wings like a bat. The beast was thin enough to see the outline of its ribs. The horns that grew out of its head actually grew down around its head, meeting in front of its mouth.
The last dragon was the green dragon. It looked like it was a forest on its own. The horns on its head looked like they were tree trunks. It was larger than the blue dragon but smaller then the red, falling some
where in between those two.
It had vines growing down under its chin, and its wings did not look like the normal membrane on a metallic dragon’s wings, but looked more like leaves on a tree. Its mouth came to a point and it had slanted eyes like a lizard. Its talons were very curved and looked like they almost touched the point where they grew out of.
All the dragons had two things in common; they were each a lighter shade of their color on their stomachs and their colors grew darker as it came around their backs. And they all looked to be ferocious.
“I don’t know about their methods, but the dragons do look good above the eggs,” Estraken said.
“Eggs? What eggs?” Shane asked.
“The eggs underneath the dragons.” Estraken pointed at the blue dragon that was over a glowing blue orb.
Hayden realized that he was looking at dragon eggs from each of the earth dragons. He walked over to the red dragon egg, and as he got closer he knew that Estraken was telling the truth.
It had the same shape that Draek’s egg had, but instead of it being a solid color it looked the molten rock. Hayden remembered working with the blacksmith when he would poor out the liquid metal and it would glow from the darkest red to an almost white yellow, just like the egg.
He moved on to the blue egg and examined it. It was darker blue, almost black at the bottom, and grew lighter as it made its way to the top of the egg, just like when Hayden had opened his eyes under water in the river by his village.
The inside of the egg seamed to flow like moving water, it gave Hayden the sense that he was moving but the egg was standing still on its stone stand.
The green egg was every color green that Hayden could imagine, and they all were interwoven like vines and plants growing on top of each other. He got lost trying to trace one color strand, trying to find where it stopped or started.
The black egg was the next one Hayden walked to, it was a whirlwind of grey and black sand with a light glowing from the center. Hayden tried to look into it but the storm inside the egg was too strong to see anything through.
The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) Page 36