The Clash of Land and Sea_The Dragon Riders of Arvain

by Nicholas Clausen

  Draek dove further under water, causing Hayden to hold on for fear of getting ripped off his dragon’s back. When the pressure from the water mixed with Hayden’s need for air, Draek quickly changed his direction and began swiftly swimming up.

  Just when Hayden was afraid he was going to have to take in a breath of water Draek burst through the surface and into the air, rising well over the height of the deck. Draek shot his wings open with a SNAP and pushed himself into the air.

  Hayden gulped in a massive, greatly needed, breath of air. Why did you do that? Hayden demanded.

  To show them what we could do. Draek said.

  Show who? Hayden asked, whipping water from his face.

  Them. Draek pointed behind him with his head. Hayden looked in the direction to see Rimney sitting on her blue dragon and rising into the sky behind them.

  Oh they want to see what we can do, do they? Hayden asked. Draek’s body began to rumble with anticipation. Well then, let’s show them just what a silver dragon and his rider are capable of. Hayden shouted with his mind. Draek pushed his wings harder than before and left Rimney and her dragon further behind.

  Chapter 19

  Shane looked over the map that Cass had given him for seemed to be the hundredth time. After a hundred tries he still couldn’t think of a better plan or one that he hated more. It was dangerous and it pivoted based on their failure.

  Getting frustrated at the map Shane rolled it up and put it away. He looked over the field and watched as his young archers continued shooting the moving targets with ease. No matter how fast the elves worked the pulleys his archers were able to hit every target.

  Shane couldn’t help but smile at what his young elves had accomplished. They never complained when he told them to do a task and they moved without hesitation when he shouted orders.

  If it wasn’t for the battle getting ever closer Shane would have enjoyed training. Maybe when this is all over I could be a battle instructor and train young fighters. Shane thought to himself. Rilora did not respond with words but with a strong distaste, she did not like the idea of training people.

  Shane shrugged off his dragon’s thoughts with a smile and continued his work.

  “You won’t be shooting at deer you know, they will be shooting back.” Shane shouted. “Let’s pick up the pace and at least pretend like we are training shall we.” Shane was pleased with their progress but that didn’t mean he was going to let them take it easy.

  Cass and the elders had finally finished all of their elaborate plans and workers had already been dispatched to the edge of the forest to begin making preparations. Cass had even sent a group to the hill to prepare a surprise for the upcoming battle.

  Cass had brought stacks of maps to Shane’s room and tried to explain all of the ploys they had devised. Cass showed him tricks to draw the enemy out into the open and then quickly surround them.

  Shane had understood the importance of what she was explaining but he had no idea how she knew exactly how their enemy was going to react. She had claimed that it all had to do with her training.

  Shane had kept the map that showed what his archers were to be doing. It wasn’t Shane’s responsibility to plan an entire war; he just had to win it.

  “You barely hit that last target, tighten it up.” Shane shouted. The young elf had actually made an amazing shot and was only a few inches away from the center of the target.

  The elf straitened up and sent another arrow down range. The arrow sank a few inches into the center of the target. Shane nodded his head in approval.

  Shane moved over to the edge of the field and pulled out the map for the hundredth and first time.

  Cass had gone forward with her plan of keeping his group at the rear of the army. They would only see battle if the main forces had fallen and they would help lead those who were not fighting to safety.

  It was a good idea but something bothered Shane about the plan. He kept staring at the plan laid out before him but Shane only saw one thing. An idea.

  “SHANE!!” A shout rang out over the field. Shane ran over to where the shout had come from, shoving the map back into his pocket as he ran. An elf riding on the back of a giant stag tore through the forest and stopped just a few feet before Shane.

  “What’s going on, what’s happened?” Shane demanded, his gut in knots thinking that something might be wrong.

  “They have been spotted.” The elf said as he slid of the stag.

  Shane’s mind raced as he tried to figure out what the elf was saying. A smile broke out across Shane’s face as he grabbed the elf’s shoulder and gave him a light shake.

  “I knew he would do it!” Shane said laughing. The elf stared at him as if he had gone mad. “What, its Hayden right? He’s back with the Sea Serpents?” Shane asked, feeling the excitement melt away from within him.

  “No sir.” The elf shook his head.

  “Then who has been spotted?” Shane asked, fearing the answer even though he knew what it had to be.

  “The metallic army has been spotted.” Everyone he had been training gasped and allowed their fears to eat away at them.

  Shane stood silently thinking about what this meant. There was no more wondering if they would attack or guessing what would happen next. They had arrived and it was time to prepare for battle.

  “What are we going to do?” One of his trainees said.

  “We aren’t ready yet.” Whispered another.

  “I don’t want to die!” Shouted a third. With his shout the river of doubt broke free and soon Shane was having to shout to get their attention.

  “Enough! Enough! Shot your mouths or I will break them for you.” Shane yelled. Shane finally was able to get the young elves to look at him and not vocalizing their terror.

  “Now I will hear none of that talk. You will all be fine, stick to what I taught you and you will be fine.” Shane annunciated the last three words, doing his best to reassure the young elves.

  “How far out are they?” Shane asked, turning back to face the elf that had told him of the metallic army.

  “Still a day’s march, one of our riders spotted the army and came back as fast as she could.” Shane nodded. It had been Cass’s idea to have some of the elf dragon riders practice their endurance flying while spying over the land outside of Eytherka.

  “Was our rider seen?” Shane asked.

  “Not as far as they could tell, she wasn’t chased at least. She was able to worn the groups working on the battle fields and they were able to finish their work and clear out.” The elf said with little satisfaction; still more worry in his voice then anything.

  “So there is nothing left for us to do.” Shane said to himself, a statement rather than a question.

  “Cassidy has asked me to come and tell you that she needs you at Out Post.” Shane nodded and thanked the elf, who jumped back onto his stag and quickly bounded off into the woods.

  Shane stood in silence for a few seconds, thinking about the storm that was raging around him. When times get like this he stopped everything he was doing and tried to figure out each and every problem and what their solution was. Then he would fix the problems one at a time, insuring he did not get over whelmed by what was happening.

  We need to go to Out Post, how soon can you be here? Shane asked.

  Soon. Rilora replied shortly. Shane knew that for Rilora, soon meant very soon. Shane turned and faced his trainees again.

  “You are all ready for this.” Shane started, tackling the first problem before moving on to Out Post. “Stick together and keep distance between yourselves and the enemy. Use your arrows to your advantage and remember, a wounded enemy is better than a non-wounded enemy.” Shane did his best to smile strongly.

  They had known that Shane would not stay and fight with them, Shane would have to be at the front of the battle. Even though Shane had known this was going to happen he hated leaving his young elves for possibly the last time.

  “We know Shane, we have gone o
ver the plan a hundred times. We will be fine.” The oldest elf, nearly fourteen, said. He had been picked to lead the younger elves during the battle.

  Shane knew that he was trying to sound sure for the benefit of the group and it reassured Shane that he had picked the right person to lead in his place.

  Rilora circled overhead and began to descend upon the field. There was plenty of room for the copper dragon to land so there was no need for anyone to move out of the way.

  We need to hurry. Rilora’s voice echoed in Shane’s head. Shane could feel the anticipation of battle building up in her chest and he knew that she was going to be almost impossible to control once the fighting started.

  Shane was about to agree with her when a sudden thought hit his mind. He pulled back out the crumpled up map and straitened it out in front of him.

  What are you doing? We don’t have time for this. Rilora said as she landed and lowered herself so Shane could easily get on, something she did not do often.

  Changing the plan. Shane said.

  “Ok listen up there has been a change in plan.” Shane said as he pointed to map while his elves gathered around him to see what idea he had come up with.

  Hayden held on to Draek as they fell out of the sky. Hayden smiled as his breath was caught in his throat and left high above him.

  Draek opened his wings and began to pull out of his dive. Hayden turned around and saw Rimney and Farius doing an amazing job following their every move.

  While Draek was thick and strong, built like a giant armored bull with wings; Farius was almost a snake with wings. Hayden’s feet hadn’t been able to reach around Draek’s neck since their training days where as Rimney’s feet dangled freely underneath her dragon’s thin neck.

  Hayden turned back around and urged his dragon to faster speeds. Come on Draek, show them why you are the king in the air. Hayden felt Draek’s pride boil over and he redoubled his efforts to fly as close to the water as possible.

  Hayden leaned over the side of Draek and saw that his dragon’s wing tips were lightly slicing through the water as he went gliding out of his dive. Hayden felt the wind pull and tug at his clothes and water misting him in his face.

  This is how you should travel over the sea. Hayden said, all seasickness left him shortly after getting back into the air.

  Hayden turned over his left to see how Rimney and her blue dragon were doing behind them. Only problem was there was no blue dragon behind them.

  “Looking for something?” Rimney’s voice laughed from the other side of Hayden. Hayden turned to face her when a rogue wave splashed up into his face and caused him to wipe his face.

  Rimney and Farius were gliding across the water even lower then Draek was flying. As they glided across the water, Hayden noticed that Farius’s wings seemed to be slightly larger than Draek’s wings. Hayden saw that while Farius was covered in scales like Draek, Draek had thick almost armor scales and Farius had almost fish scales that shimmered in the sun light.

  Draek’s wings were solid silver sheets that, when out stretched, looked perfectly smooth. Farius’s wings looked thin and almost clear like fish fins. Hayden really started to realize the resemblance between the blue dragons and the aquatic animals that lived in the ocean.

  “Your giant flying hunk of metal is pretty fast but I think it’s your turn to follow us.” Rimney said from a top her dragon. Hayden was about to ask what she was talking about but she did not give him a chance to ask.

  Hayden watched as Rimney leaned back in the saddle and her dragon pulled out of his glide and snapped his wings open. The sudden opening of his wings all but stopped the dragon and caused Rimney and her dragon to go speeding behind Hayden.

  Here we go. Hayden thought as Draek did the same maneuver, hardly giving Hayden time to prepare for the stop.

  Almost an hour later Hayden was back to leaning over the edge of The Misty Maiden as they sailed further out to sea. The sea was calm and the ships’ rocking was to a minimum but Hayden still felt his stomach turn with every slight movement.

  “You can fly better than any other dragon rider I have met but put you on a ship and you are a as sea sick as a horse.” Hayden was about to ask what that meant but Rimney answered before he could ask. “We transported a shipment of horses a few weeks back and we just recently got the smell out of the lower deck.” Rimney shook her head at the thought.

  Hayden didn’t need to think too hard to imagine just how rancid the smell on deck would be with even one sick horse let alone multiples.

  “So you steal horses as well as enslave people?” Hayden asked while closing his eyes and trying to imagine himself on solid ground.

  “You don’t agree with what we do?” Rimney asked, already knowing the answer.

  “How can I agree with what you do? You steal from people and you enslave innocent men and women.” Hayden said. He was nervous about asking such questions because he did not want to destroy the only friendship he had out here.

  “What is it you think we do Hayden? Do you think we just float around out here and rob and plunder every unsuspecting soul we find along our way?” Rimney asked, joined Hayden on the edge of the ship.

  “Well, yes I do.” Hayden admitted.

  “That’s only partly true, there is a lot more to what we do or why we do it.” Rimney pulled out a piece of bread from her pocket and began breaking it into small chunks.

  “And, what are all the reasons?” Hayden asked.

  “That is a conversation that will have to wait to have I am afraid.” Rimney said as she began throwing the chunks of bread into the water where birds swooped in and ate the bread.

  Hayden watched Rimney and wondered just what she was hiding from him.

  “How much longer until we make it to the meeting point?” Hayden wondered out loud as he grabbed a water skin and swished the cool water around in his mouth.

  Rimney looked up at the sun before she replied to Hayden. “We should reach it by night fall if the wind continues to be in our favor.”

  “Good, I am afraid that we are running out of time.” Hayden said, thinking back to his friends still in Eytherka.

  Rimney nodded and looked back up the sun for a second time, double checking the time. “It might be best if you ahead and go below deck and get some rest. You will need to be rested for tonight.” Rimney turned and walked away, not giving Hayden a chance to respond to her.

  He stood, leaning on the railing for several more minutes. Standing silent and watching the waves break around the ship. It wasn’t until Hayden made his way to into his cabin that he realized he could not see land anywhere and fear gripped his heart again.

  Once in the cabin Hayden laid down on the bed and tried to relax. His thoughts continued to find their way back to Shane and Cass.

  I wonder what they are doing right now. Hayden thought while he closed his eyes and tried to ignore the subtle rocking of the ship.

  Probably wondering what we are doing. Draek’s said lazily.

  Where are you right now? Hayden asked. He had not seen his silver dragon since shortly after they had gotten back to the ship.

  Farius has lead me to a sandbar where we can rest. Draek said happily. We are not completely out of the water but it’s enough that we won’t float away. Hayden was happy Draek was resting but he did worry about what living in the water would do to him.

  Hayden did not realize just how tired his body was until his eyes began to burn and before he knew it he was drifting asleep.

  “Hurry, lower the sails and get those rowers slowing us down.” Rimney’s voice echoed down into the cabin. Hayden woke up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His muscles were sore and protested as he sat up and tried to stretch.

  “Get those ores moving, NOW!” Rimney’s voice turned into a bellow that chased all the sleep out of his head. Hayden was sure they were about to wreck as he ran from the bed and out onto the deck.

  “What’s wrong?” Hayden asked as he made his way to the deck and looked up
to the upper deck where Rimney stood holding the wheel in one hand.

  “Wrong? Why don’t you take a look for yourself?” Rimney pointed to the front of the ship. Hayden turned and walked to the front of the ship.

  When he looked out over the sea, he was sure his eyes were playing tricks on him. The ocean in front of him was full of ships, hundreds of ships of all sizes and designs. But it wasn’t just the ships that amazed Hayden.

  It was that all the ships were docked against each other making a giant floating island that truly shocked Hayden. That and the fact that Hayden realized they were heading right towards the center of the island; too fast to stop.

  Chapter 20

  Shane squinted as he tried to see further across the horizon, to no luck. Shane was sitting on top of Rilora as they flew over Eytherka, not daring to venture far away from the protection of the forest.

  I can’t see anything. Shane complained. They had just been told that the enemy had been spotted and Shane wanted to see them for himself. The army was still a day’s march away but Shane needed to see them, to see some proof that war was finally upon them.

  We won’t be able to see them yet; they are still too far out. Rilora said, but Shane noticed she continued scanning the horizon herself.

  Fine, I guess there is no reason to stay out here any longer, let’s head back to Out Post. Shane said. Rilora made a large arc and turned back towards Out Post, leaving the Star Light Plains behind them.

  Shane looked over his shoulder one last time, imagining that a metallic dragon was flying just as they turned around. Once again he saw nothing but the open fields behind him.

  When they arrived at Out Post Shane expected to find Cass waiting on him but instead the landing pad was completely empty. Rilora landed with grace and Shane quickly undid his straps and slid off of her back.

  Shane pated Rilora on the shoulder and made his way down through the trap door and the spiral stair case. When he made it to Kirin’s throne room he wasn’t surprised to see the elders, Cass, Kirin and the leaders of the elf tribes crowded around a giant map with wooden figures scattered across it.