The Clash of Land and Sea_The Dragon Riders of Arvain

by Nicholas Clausen

  No one had openly asked Hayden that question before, because everyone was hoping to survive through the battle and have to solve that problem. Hayden had thought about that very problem before and he could only come up with one answer.

  “After we win the battle, we take the fight to Celestial City.” Hayden said. “They will always rebuild and send more armies and more dragons to conquer or kill us all. We have to stop them once and for all.” As Hayden said it he could not believe just how crazy he sounded.

  Trying to invade Celestial City? Hayden remembered all too well just how well guarded the city was and how quickly they could assemble their troops and dragons to fight.

  I like this plan, simple and easy to follow. Draek said with all seriousness.

  Rimney laughed and held her side. Finally after a few seconds of laughter Rimney stood up and walked over to a large panel of glass that was the size of a door. She pushed the right side of the glass and it swung open to a small balcony that over looked the ocean.

  Rimney stepped outside and Hayden followed her, still listening to her try to muffle her laughter.

  “That is the most insane, reckless and downright dangerous idea I have ever heard. I wouldn’t even call it a plan.” Rimney said.

  “But it is a good idea, crazy yes but good also. It will be hard fought but it will be worth it if we could make it happen.” Rimney looked over the edge of her balcony at the never ending blue horizon.

  “So you will help us, you will fight?” Hayden asked. His heart started pounding in his chest; this was what he was here for, to get help.

  “Aye, I will help you.” She said with a smile on her face. “But I assume you are wanting more than just my help? You will be wanting the full force of the Sea Serpents?” Rimney asked.

  “Yes that’s true.” Hayden replied.

  “Well that will be a hard task for you. I am but one captain in a fleet of ships and here on the Burden Sea each captain is their own king or queen, no one orders a captain to do anything. You will have to convince each captain to help you.” Rimney said. “And hopefully they will let you speak before they kill you.”

  Hayden had known it wouldn’t be as easy as meet with one pirate and the entire nation would follow but this seemed a bit too much. Hayden figured that Rimney was joking and it was his turn to laugh.

  Hayden started laughing but stopped when Rimney gave him a confused look.

  “You’re joking right, they won’t try to kill me will they?” Hayden asked.

  “Why do you keep asking if they will try? Where we going to try to enslave you, are they going to try to kill you? Here on the Burden Sea we do what we say we are going to do. You have to understand that the only thing that Sea Serpents hate more than elves are Metallic Riders, they will kill you if they want to.” Rimney said with all seriousness.

  Hayden thought about that for a few seconds. He knew he could use the Sea Serpents hatred for Metallic Riders to his advantage. He knew he could make it work but there was something that was bothering Hayden.

  “I am sure they will join us.” Hayden said as he looked out over the water and saw Draek swimming under the water.

  “I keep saying try because they will have a hard time killing me, just like you would have had a hard time enslaving me.” Hayden said.

  “And why is that, I have a dragon just like you do?” Rimney asked with a smile on her face as Farius jumped out of the water and dove right back in with a huge splash.

  “You do have a dragon but you forget one thing about Draek.” Hayden said as watched the blue dragon disappear under the water.

  “And what is that Hayden?” Rimney asked as an explosion of water showered them. Draek erupted from the ocean with a mixture of fire and steam spewing from his open mouth. Draek opened his giant wings and did a back flip, landing head first back in the water. If Farius was a fish in the ocean, then Draek was a giant shark.

  “Draek is bigger.” Hayden said as he watched his silver dragon shimmer underneath the water as he swam after the blue dragon.

  Chapter 18

  “What’s the plan?” Shane asked as they sat down on the end of the landing platform on top of Out Post.

  “That’s what we are here to figure out, isn’t it?” Cass said. “We need to plan for the worst possible outcome and hope for the best. That way we won’t be surprised when the worst does happen.”

  “So what’s the worst?” Shane asked. “The metallic army beats us and we all die?”

  “No, the metallic army beats us and we don’t die.” Cass said. “The worst that could happen is Hayden doesn’t make it back with reinforcements, the metallic army marches all over us and captures or kills us.”

  “Hayden will make it back and he will bring help.” Shane said, as if saying the words out loud would somehow make it happen.

  “I hope so Shane, I really do.” Cass looked over the tree line and for a few seconds she was lost in her thoughts. “But if he doesn’t then we have to be ready to do this fight on our own. And we have to do our best to win with or without him.” Cass finally said.

  Shane agreed with her but he was still unsure how a plan could beat their enemy. In battle Shane felt better in the midst of the fighting, struggling to win. That made sense to him, there is an enemy, go and get’em. Sitting back making plans and more plans and plans in case other plans fail was not for Shane.

  “Your group of young elves will not be near the front line. They shouldn’t have to see that or go through it unless there is no other way.” Cass said. Shane nodded his agreement and Cass continued letting her mind work on the details of the upcoming battle.

  “I think that it would be good to put them in the back and use them as a last line of defense. If our main force gets pushed back they can help cover our retreat and if we get over run then they can help give the elves left in the city a chance to escape.” Cass looked over the forest as if seeing the battle happen in her mind.

  “Do you think it would be a good idea to get all the elves that won’t be fighting out of the city now?” Shane asked.

  “No because it would spread fear amongst the elves that will be staying to fight. Plus there is nowhere safer for them, the entire nation of elves is here, ready to fight. If they leave now and then get found by the metallic army there will be nothing we could do to help them.” Cass said. She wasn’t sad about what she was saying it was just facts.

  “They might fight better if they knew their family was behind them.” Shane added. Cass nodded in approval.

  “I have already gone over the battle plans with the elders and they agree with me but I would like to fill you in as well.” Cass pulled out a map of the Eytherka and The Starlight Plains that bordered the forest.

  “We believe that they will march to the thinnest part of the forest between them and Out Post.” Cass said as pointed at the map where an X was drawn. There were arrows and circles drawn all over the map that Shane had no idea what they were for.

  “Makes sense that’s what I would do.” Shane had to admit.

  “Exactly, then we assume they will wait just outside the tree line.” Cass pointed to where a line was drawn. “There is a hill here that I think they will wait on, it will give them enough room to maneuver for a fight but it gives them the best advantage. There will be no way to sneak around and flank them.”

  Shane was not great at planning battle strategies but he understood what Cass was saying. Having to climb a hill to fight an enemy was difficult at the best of times.

  “How long will they wait?” Shane asked. “And why do you think they will wait?”

  “Remember this is just what I think is going to happen. They very well could do something completely different. I think they will do this because this was how they taught me to plan for battles. They assume that the enemy won’t plan ahead like they will so they will out smart them before the battle even starts.”

  “Just like the elders wanted to do when all this started?” Shane asked. Cass gave a sli
ght smile, letting Shane know he was right.

  “Exactly, I think they will wait for two things: one they will wait for us to attack them first, just like Valace wanted to do, the second thing is getting an army here will take time and they will have to take apart their siege weapons.” Shane knew just how much work moving an army was.

  “So if we attack the moment they get here then we give up our best defense, the forest itself. If we wait for Hayden to return then we give them time to rebuild their weapons and rest from the march, giving up those two advantages. If they get their weapons built then they will burn down the forest around us as they advance.” Shane was realizing why he hated planning battle strategies, they could make a man feel helpless.

  “So it’s bad?” Shane added after a few uncomfortable moments of silence.

  “War is always bad, even if we win its bad.” Cass said sadly, looking down at the map again, looking for anything she could have missed.

  “Do you ever wonder why we do this? Why we get armies together and march them against each other and fight to the death or till one side surrenders?” Shane asked, trying to give his mind a break.

  Cass looked back to the sky; Shane guessed she was wishing she was flying right now because that’s what he was wishing he was doing. “Because, every once in a while bad people come along and take over good people and cause them to do bad things. Then people like us have to come in and fix the problems.”

  “So how do we fix this problem?” Shane asked jokingly, looking back down at the map.

  “We kill those bad people.” Cass said as if it was as easy as flying a dragon.

  “And those bad people are?” Shane asked.

  “To start with Elizabeth The Gold, Caine the Silver, Bryce the Copper, the three rulers of Celestial City and the Metallic Dragons.” Cass said.

  Shane started laughing but when Cass did not share in on his laughter he stopped, realizing she was serious.

  Hayden had mastered flying; he had fallen from on top a dragon and got back in the saddle midair. He had fought from dragon back and flown through storms most riders had never even seen. All this could not help Hayden get over being sea sick.

  The ship had raised anchor shortly after Draek had showed off. The moment the ship began to slightly rock back and forth as it tacked across open water, Hayden began spending most of his time leaning over the banister of the ship.

  Draek and Farius swam around the ship and seemed to play together. Hayden tried his best to talk to Draek but the constant heaving made it hard to concentrate.

  Rimney came down the stairs from the upper deck and patted Hayden on the back. “Don’t worry, fresh sea air will do you some good and dry your gut up.” Rimney said with a laugh as she saw Hayden’s pale face.

  “Am I dying?” Hayden asked, partly joking.

  “Not today. Soon enough you will feel fine.” Rimney took a deep breath of the salty sea air.

  “And then I will be just like you?” Hayden asked as he heaved over the ship again.

  “Not quite rider, you weren’t born to this life.” Rimney turned and shouted orders to one of her crew who was apparently tying a rope wrong.

  When Hayden was a child he had heard the tales of travelers who had claimed to have sailed with the Sea Serpents. They led Hayden to believe it was a glamorous life of pirating and all the young children had dreamed of being pirates after that. Even Hayden broke away from his dragon riding dreams momentarily to wonder how great it would be to sail the open seas.

  Hayden knew now that those travelers had all been liars.

  After several minutes, and a few more times trying to throw up with nothing left in him to come out. Hayden began making his way around the deck of the ship. Hayden figured it would be best to try to move around instead of focusing on the constantly moving deck.

  Hayden watched as the crew worked, pulling ropes and moving the sails then quickly retying the ropes. Some crew members were on their hands and knees scrubbing the wooden deck with brushes. Those members looked up at Hayden as if asking him if he was going to get sick to please make it to the edge of the ship.

  After a few laps Hayden began to feel better and made his way up the stairs to the upper deck where Rimney was looking over a map with one of her crew members. When she saw Hayden walk up she nodded for the crew member to leave them alone.

  “Look who is walking now, good for you.” Rimney said, still looking like she was unsure if he was about the throw up on her.

  Hayden could only guess that he must have looked horrible if everyone was so worried about him throwing up.

  “So where are we headed?” Hayden asked, looking over at the map.

  The map showed the coast on the edge of the map but was predominantly covered by ocean, a few islands and strange lines drawn all throughout the ocean.

  “I would tell you but then I would have to kill you.” Rimney said without smiling. Hayden was about to laugh but he got the feeling that she was not joking.

  “What are all these lines?” Hayden asked, pointing to the map.

  “Ah those are currents. It is easier to navigate the sea if you know which way the waters are going to pull you.” Rimney pointed just past an island without a name.

  “We are here and the currents are pulling us further out to sea, which is where we want to go. But if we would have tried to go to the island this way we would have had to fight the current the whole way.” Hayden knew nothing of sailing or currents but he listened none the less.

  “So you try to follow the currents where ever you go?” Hayden asked.

  “That’s the general idea but it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes you just have to bear down and fight the ocean.” Rimney said with a smile.

  “So why can’t you tell me where we are going?” Hayden asked, daring to venture near the fire once again.

  Rimney rubbed her temples and sighed deeply. “What part of I would have to kill you don’t you understand?” Rimney asked.

  Hayden smiled at her and shrugged his shoulders. He understood her perfectly but he still wanted to know where they were going.

  “I thought we were supposed to trust each other.” Hayden said, looking back down at the map.

  “I don’t know which is worse: trusting a pirate or wanting a pirate to trust you.” Rimney laid an almost blank piece of paper on top of the map. The paper was the same size as the map but the only mark on it was a small X.

  “I don’t get it.” Hayden said. He looked over the piece of paper a second time but all that he could see was the X.

  “This is where we are going.” Rimney pointed at the X.

  “Well where is that?” Hayden asked. In response Rimney pulled out one of her daggers and stabbed the X. When she lifted the dagger and piece of paper there was a small hole on the map.

  “There.” Rimney pointed. She walked over to one of her crew mates and handed him the piece of paper with the X on it. “Burn this.” She said and returned to where Hayden was still looking at the map.

  “I don’t get it why are we going to the middle of the ocean? There is nothing around there.” Hayden said. The hole in the map was almost in the middle of the islands around it.

  “Well we wouldn’t want to meet in the middle of somewhere where the Metallic Riders could see us.”

  “Who are we meeting?” Hayden asked, feeling more sea sick as the ship got a good wind behind it and started picking up speed.

  “The Sea Serpents, who else.” Rimney said and rolled up the map.

  Hayden ran to the edge of the ship and tried to throw up but there was still nothing in his system. When he finished he walked back over to Rimney.

  “So we are going to meet the other captains and then you are going to help me convince them to join our fight?” Hayden asked.

  “Woah woah, slow down there dragon rider. I am not convinced that I want to join your fight let alone am I going to try to convince them to join you.” Rimney said as she held her hands up.

&nbs
p; “Then what are you doing with me? Why are you helping me and how exactly are you helping?” Hayden asked.

  “I am helping you for the elves sake, they are friends of mine and it is because of that that I am helping you.” Rimney said defiantly. “And I am giving you a chance to get help, which is all I can do. That and try to keep them from killing you before you get a chance to even speak.” Rimney shrugged her shoulders.

  Hayden was getting tired of listening to Rimney flip around her answers. One second it felt like she was helping him. The next he felt like she was trying to get him killed or she didn’t care what happened to him.

  I need some time in the air. Hayden finally thought. Some time off this ship will do me some good.

  I couldn’t agree with you more. Swimming is fun, it’s kind of like flying but I miss the open air. Draek replied. Hayden walked down the stairs and back onto the main deck without speaking to Rimney.

  “I don’t know where you are going Hayden; you’re on a ship you know.” Rimney yelled at him jokingly.

  Hayden ignored her and walked to the edge of the ship. He waited for Draek to surface right beside the ship before jumping into the water. The water was cold but not uncomfortably so.

  Hayden swam over to Draek and got on his back. His saddle was still in pieces so he was going to have to fly without it. Once he was situated Hayden grabbed onto the silver spike in front of him and braced himself.

  Let’s get out of here. Hayden said. Hayden was ready for Draek to shoot into the air and take off high above the ship.

  Hold on tight. Draek said. And hold your breath. He added.

  I am rea….. wait hold my breath? Hayden asked. Draek did jump out of the water but only to dive right back in, completely submerging Hayden. Hayden was able to hold his breath but once the wall of water hit him it forcefully pulled the air out of his lungs.