Once they were in place the other riders increased their speed and Draek and the other dragons followed them. They went in the same direction until they had passed over the Celestial City and it was getting smaller and smaller behind them.
The riders in front of them dove down together and gained speed, Hayden and the others continued to follow.
What are we doing? Hayden asked.
Following. They are showing us how they do their patrols. They know that closer to the city will most likely be safe but the further they get away from it the better chances are there will be enemies, Draek said.
Hayden decided to stop asking questions, for the moment, and just watch. He noticed that the dragons moved their heads from side to side as they look over the ground underneath them. Their riders kept their eyes on the sky, looking for other dragons.
Their patrol lasted most of the morning, and by the time they had returned Hayden thought he was frozen to his saddle. Snow had fallen half way through their patrol, but they stopped for nothing, not until they had finished.
Hayden, Cass and Shane went inside to Hayden’s room to warm up. They had a servant bring in warm drinks while their dragons flew off in search for food; the cold did not bother them too much.
Hayden and the others got out of their ridding gear and changed into their normal grays; as soon as Hayden was in fresh clothes he added more logs into the fire.
“Well there was a lot more to that than what we had thought,” Hayden said as he sat down with his friends. He watched the fire spread onto the new logs as he listened to Draek give orders to the other dragons.
“A lot more,” Shane agreed.
“I can’t believe that all that is still necessary. The war has been over for so long,” Cass said. Hayden didn’t respond because the only thing he could think of was how the Metallic Riders had treated the dwarfs.
If they treated the other races like that then Hayden did not have to wonder why they would continue to fight back. Hayden never doubted becoming a dragon rider, but it seemed like he was on the wrong side more and more.
They stayed together until right before night fall, when their dragons returned. Hayden and Cass hadn’t been alone since before the Festival of Games, but he did not press it anymore.
Sometimes it was by sheer chance that they wouldn’t be able to have some private time, but there were other instances when he knew that she avoided it on purpose.
When their dragons got back, Shane left first to make sure that Rilora was taken care of. Of all the dragons there it seemed that she required the most maintenance, and if she did not get it then it was bad for Shane.
Cass stayed for a little bit after Draek walked in. The silver dragon circled his sleeping area like a cat and plopped down with a loud thud.
I am going to sleep, so if something bad happens between you two I don’t want you thinking about it all night. Draek lifted up his head and stared at Hayden with one of his giant silver eyes. Hayden remembered when Draek’s eyes were small enough for him to cover them with his hands. Now it would take both hands just to cover up most of the eye lid.
Nothing’s going to go wrong. Hayden fired back. Cass noticed that they were speaking to each other and wondered what they were talking about.
“Is everything ok?” she asked. Hayden walked over and sat down next to her, closer than he would have if Shane had stayed.
“Yes, Draek is just saying that he thinks I am going to mess this up,” he said before he realized the words that were coming out of his mouth. Cass’s eyes got wide and her mouth opened slightly.
Draek shook his head and laid it down. Cass got up and walked out of the room, leaving Hayden trying to apologize while sitting on the floor.
Not a word, Hayden said as Draek laughed. Hayden jumped onto his bed and covered up with the extra furs he had, and tried to go to sleep without thinking about what he had just done. It proved impossible.
The last few weeks of their training began to feel like real training again. They got up early to do their patrols every day; they flew with different groups because no group flew patrols every day. Giles and Sebastian joined them every so often, but they were not with them all the time.
When they were with them they still ignored them for the most part and they completely ignored Hayden’s orders. They learned to just live with them and hope that it would get better.
Before Hayden and Draek thought about it, it was time for their first flight. Hayden had been so focused on their training and flying with Draek in the snow storms that he forgotten about it.
Hayden got dressed in his armor and furs; it felt just like the Festival of Games all over again. It was early in the morning but Draek was already gone, and he wasn’t answering Hayden.
Draek, this isn’t funny, where are you, we are going to be late? He shouted in his mind as loud as he could but he got no response. He could feel Draek, but Draek was ignoring him. He was sure that he was about to be embarrassed when he went to do his first flight without his dragon.
Chapter 26
Hayden walked through the halls of the pyramid, still trying to get Draek to answer him. He had been told to meet everyone in the Hall of Stories to get prepared for their first flight. When he walked through the giant door he realized that he was the last of the riders to make it there.
The other four riders were surrounded by servants who were cleaning and polishing the armor that they wore. Hayden didn’t realize how bad his armor looked until he stood next to Cass and watched how the light from the torches danced off her gleaming golden armor.
“Is Shaylin answering you?” he asked Cass as servants quickly surrounded him and stared cleaning and polishing his armor.
“No, but the servants told us not to worry that, it is part of the first flight ceremony. Apparently we have to do something on our own, like a rite of passage.”
“This doesn’t make sense,” Hayden complained.
“Does it ever?” Shane asked as they made him turn around to clean the back of his armor.
The servants made the riders take off their capes and helmets; they told them that they wouldn’t need them with what they were going to have to do. Once the rider’s armor was clean they lined up just outside the Hall of Stories and waited to be marched out.
Since the snow had first come up from the south the servants had kept twice as many torches inside the Metallic Pyramid lit to help take the edge off the cold. It was better than being outside, but it was by no means warm.
Benet walked down the hallway in his full rider gear. He tried to look official and serious, but a smile could not help but creep onto his face when he saw the young riders.
“It has been some time since I last saw you five,” Benet said as he got closer. They knew it was him before he had spoken, but they all wanted to hear his voice, just to make sure. Giles and Sebastian seemed to be completely oblivious to Benet and they remained quiet.
“Benet!” Cass, Shane and Hayden seemed to shout simultaneously. Hayden hadn’t seen him since Benet had fought the dwarfs back during his early part of his training.
“It’s good to see you guys, but we will have to catch up later. I asked for a special job today and that job is escorting you five to your last challenge as trainees.” He bowed slightly to them and turned to walk back the way he came. He ushered for them to follow but to remain silent.
They walked past the dining hall and Estraken’s library, using the same corridors that they had used almost every day of their training. They walked out of the Metallic Pyramid and past the blacksmith’s shop where they had all trained.
They passed every place that had been important to their training over the past year as they made their way out of the city. They took the same paths to their training ground and they all looked at the snow covered clearings that had once been the home of pain and sweat.
They continued walking through the forest, making sure to be careful about not touching an overhanging branch. Unless they wanted t
o accidently bury themselves or the person next to them underneath the snow that was suspended overhead.
Snow began to fall in thick flakes as they made it out of the forest, it stuck to their furs and, as the snow fell harder it started to impair their vision. They walked through the thickening snow and made their way to the River Savior.
The river was covered in ice near the snow covered banks, but at the center of the river the water still raged on. They walked alongside the river until they came up to a bridge that would allow them to cross over safely.
The bridge looked to be made out of snow and ice. Benet walked across the bridge with ease, but the five riders all took their time and were carful crossing over it. No one wanted to fall down in the snow; if they were unlucky enough to fall into the raging water below them it would mean death within minutes.
When they made it to the other side of the bridge, having slid down the last few sections, they were starting to get a little winded. Trudging through snow with all the weight of their gear on was becoming a harder task then they had thought.
Benet did not slow down, he did not speak at all to them, and if any of them made a noise he turned around swiftly and silenced them. They made their way past the arena Elizabeth had decided to keep it up and reuse in the years to come and headed to the Orchard of Souls.
They made their way through the rows of snow covered trees until they made it to the center where all the trees had been burnt down. Waiting for them were four dragons: a silvers, a gold and two coppers.
Bryce, Elizabeth and Caine sat on the back of their dragons while the other silver dragon had an empty saddle. The saddle on the silver was unlike any Hayden had ever seen. It had a seat for the dragon rider, but it also had straps all along the sides of the saddle and was much longer than any Hayden had seen.
Benet led the five riders right up in front of the dragons.
“Welcome,” Elizabeth said from the back of her dragon.
“I have brought the five riders who have done all that has been required of them save one thing; your approval,” Benet spoke formally. When he finished his small speech he left Hayden and the others and got onto his dragon’s back.
“Our approval; the only thing standing between being a trainee and a full rider. Are you ready to face the biggest challenge of your lives?” She did not wait for them to answer, instead she pointed to Benet and his dragon.
At her signal, Benet and his dragon walked in between the two groups.
“Each of you, climb up on the saddle and grab hold of the straps.” Benet had lost his friendly tone in exchange for a serious formal one. Hayden was the first to move, and he did as he was told.
There where two leather handles for him to grab onto and two metal rings on the bottom of the saddle that jutted out and was big enough for him to put his feet in. It wasn’t uncomfortable for Hayden and he could hold himself up.
The others followed his example and climbed up. Benet wanted them to be as even as possible so Giles, Sebastian and Cass got on one side while Shane was next to Hayden.
When Benet told Cass to go to the other side it was the first time in a while that Sebastian acknowledged Hayden, but it was only with a devilish grin. Hayden could do nothing about it but grit his teeth.
“Hey, at least you got me on your side,” Shane said; trying to cheer Hayden up, knowing how he felt about Cass.
Hayden guessed that they would have to fly like this and figured that this was the test; they would fly over the city and then land and it would prove their bravery.
“You will have to show absolute trust during this; you will be afraid but don’t let it rule you.” Benet spoke quietly so that only they could hear him. Elizabeth was the first to take flight, and as soon as she was clear of them the others followed.
Hayden had been in the air many times in the last few months; sometimes without his saddle. This time however, was an entirely different experience for him. He felt the same sensations he did while flying, but now he was not sitting on the dragon’s back, now he was holding on for dear life.
His hands were gripping so tightly that they were starting to hurt, even though he was wearing gloves. Normally he would try to match his body’s movements with his dragon as Draek struggled to fly higher. He couldn’t do that from the side of a dragon though and the wind was strong enough to almost pull him off.
The dragon was much bigger than Draek, so it had no trouble flying with the extra weight. Hayden was expecting it to fly just above the city, but instead all four dragons continued to fly higher and higher until they were about to break through the clouds.
Hayden looked down and saw just how far up they were and was reminded again that the only thing holding him onto the dragon was his half frozen hands. The silver dragon started to level off and Hayden decided it was best not to look down any more.
The clouds had been one giant thick sheet of white ever since the first snow storm. Everyday seemed to be nothing but grey skies and constant snow fall. Hayden watched as the thick clouds engulfed them and cut back his visibility to almost nothing.
He could see the others’ shapes, but no more, and he could feel the wetness that came from flying through clouds dampen his fur. He got a weird sensation as he realized he could not see the ground below him or the skies above him, nothing but grey filled his vision.
Hayden held on even tighter as he felt the dragon start to turn in the air. His feet slipped off the metal rings and for a second he was stretched out and his feet were dangling freely in the air.
Hayden’s lungs seized up and he couldn’t ask for help or even breath, all he could do was try to pull himself up. His heart seemed to stop beating all together as his body rose closer and closer to where his feet could get back into the metal rings. His right hand started to slip and he pulled even harder.
His put his foot into the loop just before his hand slipped off the leather strap. He started breathing again once he was secure against the dragon. No one seemed to notice what had just happened, and just as Hayden was about to tell Shane they heard Benet’s voice through the clouds.
“Trust is what holds a rider to their dragon. Trust is what makes us deadly in battle and trust allows us to survive as long as we do. If you do not trust your dragon with your life, for yours are linked together, then you are not worthy to become Metallic Riders.”
They listened to Benet speak as the wind seemed to carry his voice back to them.
“It is time for your last test, one last trial, one last sacrifice. You must be willing to trust your dragon above all reason and above everything in this world. You know that if you fall from this height, you will die. Nothing can change that truth; you will hit the ground going so fast that all we will have to do is put dirt on top of you.
“Even so, your last challenge is this: jump.” There was silence after that last word. Each of them heard it but none of them believed it.
“You want us to jump, as in … off your dragon?” Sebastian asked. His voice squeaked slightly as he talked. Fear was all too apparent in his voice.
“Jump,” was all that Benet said.
Draek where are you? Draek, answer me! Hayden desperately tried to feel his dragons mind, but all he met was nothingness, just like the clouds around him. Fear grew like a tree in his heart; starting off small and insignificant but quickly growing and spreading throughout his body till it was too thick to cut out.
Hayden started to panic and he grew disoriented and confused. He wasn’t sure if things were starting to get fuzzy or if it was just the clouds around him closing in. He heard the voices of the others but he couldn’t make out what they were saying.
Each of them seemed to be trying to shout over the other one. Hayden felt his grip slipping and something told him deep inside that it was ok to let go. The voices around him stopped, everyone seemed to be facing him like they knew he was about to do something, just like how he knew he was going to do something.
He looked over at Shane and the clou
ds cleared just enough for them to see each other’s faces in the clouds. Shane looked confused and Hayden could only guess that he looked the same way.
Shane asked a question that Hayden never heard. Hayden looked down at his hands and let his mind go blank. He stood up on the loops and pushed off the dragon with his hands, letting go of the straps and letting his feet fall free of the loops.
He heard voices yell his name as he stretched out his arms and kept his feet together while falling away from the dragon. He caught a glimpse of the dragon’s shape in the clouds and it reminded him of a giant fish swimming in the water. It was the last thought in his head before the wind was sucked out of him and he started struggling to scream.
Hayden fell through the clouds, he knew he was falling but he could not see anything. Finally the clouds broke around him and while he had been falling through the clouds he had managed to turn himself over so he was facing the ground that was, but would not remain so for long, far away.
All sense of calm and any feeling he had that made him think that he was doing the right thing left him as quickly as he had left the dragon. His arms flailed around him and he knew he had made a drastic mistake.
He yelled as loud as he could but his voice sounded different to him, almost dragon like.
Hayden was about to yell again when he heard the sound again, this time he was sure it was a dragon’s roar. He turned himself over again so he could face the clouds; the sensation of falling backwards was more terrifying than seeing the ground rushing up at him.
The clouds were further away now; he had fallen so far in such a short time. He knew that he did not have much time left before he hit the ground bellow. He realized that just as Draek’s thoughts jumped back into his head.
It was like taking a bath; all of Draek’s thoughts and emotions flooded him at once. There were so many thoughts and feeling that’s they all got jumbled together. Hayden could pick out sorrow and worry among them.
I am sorry, Draek; I was being stupid and jumped off. I am so sorry, I shouldn’t have done it. Hayden felt his eyes tear up, but the air rushing past him pulled them off his face before they could roll down his cheek.
The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) Page 38