The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (41 page)

             
“Are you two ok?” Shane left Rilora and made his way to them but only after they had had their time to check on each other. Hayden nodded his head and allowed Shane to continue talking before he spoke. “I am so sorry for what happened up there, I don’t know what got into her.”

             
“Is everyone ok?” Fendrel had backed away out of the clearing when the dragons all came into land. It would have been real easy for one of them to overlook him and land on top of him. He made his way back to them after Hayden and Draek had landed; he was worried that there was going to be a fight.

             
“We are fine, Fendrel, there is nothing that a little time won’t heal,” Hayden said, not just for Fendrel but for Shane also, to reassure him that everything was ok.

             
I think that we should not intervene; if we hand out the punishment then we are setting ourselves above her and that’s not right. We should let Shane decide what to do,
Hayden told Draek and Draek agreed with him, seeing his rider was not seriously harmed had helped calm down his anger.

             
Fendrel walked past the three young riders as they each in turn told the others what they had seen during the incident. Fendrel walked past them and went to Draek’s side; putting his hands gently on his wing joints.

             
“Draek, you have a few pulled muscles but nothing serious, you will sore for a while and it might be best if you don’t compete in Festival of Games. You should heal fine and be able to forget this ever happened.” He patted Draek on his wing joint, and when Draek winced he quickly withdrew his hand and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’.

             
Hayden listened to what the old man had to say, hoping that it really was nothing serious. He had been worried that something could have torn or been pulled out of place and Draek would have been grounded for a while if not indefinitely.

             
Rilora slowly walked over to Draek, with her head held low and she must have been apologizing to Draek. The riders and Fendrel decided to carry on with their conversation and give the two dragons some privacy.

             
“Rilora and I are going to sit most of the events out; we still might do the Crucible ones, but the ones that we had wanted to do together we won’t. I am worried that this could happen again, but the other dragon might not be like Draek, and instead might just slam her out of their way.” Shane was still so shaken up about it. Cass stayed silent for the whole time they talked; she just kept staring at Hayden.

             
They stood around for a few more minutes, reassuring each other that they were ok, before Fendrel finally broke them up.

             
“Ok, the dragons are hungry and it looks like they are getting bored. Let’s all head back to my house while we wait for them to return; the Metallic Pyramid will be empty still and I think you guys could use the company just as much as I could.” With no one having an argument to that they decided to go with him. Rilora nodding one last time to Draek, and lowered her head so that Shane could rub her tender eye ridges.

             
She than jumped into the air and was off to her normal hunting grounds. Shaylin followed her example and sped off to her own hunting area that she had had lots of look in before.

             
Fendrel started to walk back to the city with Shane by his side; Shane turned around to make sure the other two were following, but Fendrel turned him around and started telling him a story from when he was young. Hayden leaned against Draek and Cass stood near him with no one speaking until they could no longer hear Fendrel’s voice echoing off the trees.

             
“I am sorry, Draek, if Shaylin and I hadn’t antagonized Rilora none of this would have happened. It’s all our…” She stopped because Draek leaned in and gently nudged her with his head; even though it was gentle it still almost knocked her off her feet. Draek winked his silver eye at her and jumped into the air to go hunting himself.

             
Hayden saw how different Draek was flying and how labored each pulse of his wings seemed to be. His heart ached because he could only imagine the pain that his friend was in through the feelings that leaked over into his own mind.

             
“And I am sorry to you too, Hayden. I am sorry you got hurt again.” She kept her head held low and Hayden was worried that she was about to start crying.

             
“There is nothing to apologize for; this sort of thing happens to me all the time.” He tried to make her laugh, but only succeeded in getting her to look at him. He could see the glisten in her eye that confirmed that she was on the verge of tears.

             
She smiled wearily at him but did not dare to speak because she knew if she opened her mouth the only sound that would come out would be her crying. Instead they just stood there and stared at each other for a moment. Cass with her bottom lip softly quivering and Hayden with his face bruised and covered in dried blood and tears that he would never admit to.

             
Cass walked slowly to him and tenderly wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her head on his shoulder. She was wearing her normal grey outfit so when Hayden put his hands around her waist he felt her warm skin slightly shiver at his touch.

             
Hayden felt his heart beat all through his body; it was so strong he was sure that she must be able to feel it too. He could feel her chest fill with air and slowly deflate as she breathed softly in his arms.

             
Hayden felt like he was about to burst out of his skin; every inch of him crawling with the anticipation of her touch. He truly felt like he was floating just a few inches above the ground as the held each other.

             
He wanted nothing more than to kiss her and feel her soft lips against his own. She turned her head so that she was facing him but still resting on his shoulder when he closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss her.

             
He was close enough to her to feel her breath on his lips when she turned the other
way and broke their embrace. She slipped out of Hayden’s fingers and began to walk back to the city. She turned to face him when she realized that he was not walking with her.

             
“Well are you coming or not?” she asked.

             
“Uhhh, ya,” was the only reply Hayden could come up with. His mind was still blank from their hug.

             
He walked to where she was waiting and together they made their way back to Celestial City. They didn’t speak for a while, which was good, because Hayden was going to war inside his head.

             
She doesn’t like me.

             
She does like me, she just didn’t know I was trying to kiss her.

             
Does she like me?

             
Maybe she didn’t want to kiss me because she thought my face hurt.

             
Maybe she didn’t kiss me because my face looks like ground up meat.

             
Do I smell funny, what could it be?

             
He quickly, and with his best attempt at subtlety, tried to smell himself and his breath without Cass noticing. She of course noticed him sniffing himself and giggled.

             
“You smell fine, what are you worried about.”

             
“Nothing, nothing at all.”
Well that’s one to scratch off the list,
he thought.

             
“By the way, thanks for the hug, I really needed that. You really are a good friend.” Cass squeezed his hand and quickly let go. To Hayden her hand felt like a hot piece of metal, it warmed his very soul and forever branded him with the memory of her touch.

T
hen his mind came to grips with what she had said: he was a very good friend. A friend, the worst thing to be to someone you like; Hayden wanted to scream but thought better of it. Cass talked most of the way back to Fendrel’s, letting Hayden lead since she did not know the way.

Hayden stayed silent and pretended to listen all the while thinking about how he gotten himself into the situation he was in and how he was going to get out. They had made it to his door when Draek finally spoke to him.

You are really ruining my hunting with all of your thoughts, Hayden. It’s hard to concentrate when you keep thinking about her kissing and why she is not doing it.
Draek did not mean to be blunt, but it was the only way he could get the sad thoughts that kept invading his mind to stop.

I am sorry to have bothered you; I will
keep my thoughts to myself then,
Hayden replied; he was pouting before he even thought his reply up.

Hayden
, don’t act like this; if all I did for a while was think about why my wings are so big and why they aren’t smaller you would grow tired of it quickly.
Hayden wanted to argue but it made sense. There had been nights when he was trying to sleep, but memories of Draek hunting or doing a particularly difficult flying maneuver kept stomping around inside his head; keeping him up late into the night.

Plus if you are so upset about all this why not just talk to her and tell her how you feel.

Hayden quickly dismissed the idea of telling her how he felt. He was just starting to build a good friendship with her and he did not want to jeopardize it by bringing feelings into it.
So that’s what you would do?
He asked teasingly.

No, I would bring her something to eat, fly around and show her how strong I am and probably fight off another male or two to show that I am the best suited for her. Do you think Shane would be mad if you hit him in front of her?
  

I am go
ing to go in and ignore you now,
Hayden replied, not wanting to answer Draek’s question. He felt Draek’s amusement come through their connection and knew that his dragon had been playing with him.

Hayden walked inside to fin
d Fendrel sitting near the fireplace, which was ablaze and casting dancing shadows around the room. Shane was sitting on the larger piece of furniture that could fit all three of them.

“Come in, come in
, I was about to tell Shane here about the time I had wondered into an elf village by accident.” Fendrel had more life in him then Hayden had ever seen. All this time around dragons seemed to be doing him some good.

Fendrel told his animated tales of his adventures with the elves, he claimed to have spent time with all five races but he said elves were the friendliest. They stayed at his house until after sun set, all their dragons had eaten and returned to the Metallic Pyramid and fallen straight asleep.

The Festival of Games had continued on but now people were starting to trickle back into the streets. Fendrel ushered them out of his house when the noise started getting louder; he claimed that if they stayed to much longer that the drunken filled streets would not be safe even for riders.

They left and traveled back to their compound, staying close together so they wouldn’t get separated. Right before they got to the bridge that would take them back to their district Shane stopped them.

“You two gone on without me, my folks live right down that road and it’s been a while since I have seen them. I will see you two tomorrow at the arena.” He jogged off without letting either of them have a chance to respond to him.

Hayden and Cass walked together and spoke about things that mattered to no one but each other. They occasionally bumped into each
other while pushing through the people that had made the streets their new drinking ground. Every time their skin touched it sent a new shock wave through his body.

When they made it to the pyramid, to the point where they would have to separate and say goodnight
, Cass reached out and gently squeezed his hand.

“Goodnight
, Hayden, I will see you in the morning.” She turned to leave but Hayden held onto her hand; causing her to look back with amusement and confusion. “Yes, Hayden, what is it?”

Hayden said nothing; he just shrugged his shoulders and lightly shook his head. This made Cass giggle and slowly pull her hand free. She walked through the opening in the pyramid and quickly disappeared in the corridors.

Hayden nearly floated back to his room, greeting everyone he
met as if they had been friends all their lives. When he made it back into his room Draek was still awake and complaining about his wing joints being sore.

Fly around to the cleaning stalls and I will see if there is anything
I can do for it,
Hayden told Draek. He was still wearing his grey clothes he had put on after the games and they were nothing short of dirty so he changed and started to make his way out the door.

Are you sure, it’s late at night and you should probably be asleep.

I am sure, now get going, I will be there in a minute;
Hayden insisted; he had too much energy to fall asleep anyways.

He met Draek in their usual cleaning stall; it was still big enough for them to use it but it was becoming a tight fit. Hayden had Draek lay down
, and instead of cleaning him he went straight to the oil pump.

Once his bucket was full
he poured the entire contents of it on Draek’s wing joints. He put down the bucket and quickly started to rub the oil in the joints. He pushed as hard as he could, knowing that as big as Draek was he would only feel it if Hayden put his weight behind it.

Draek’s response was almost instant; as soon as Hayden pushed down he felt the ribbons of muscles loosen under his force. He continued to rub until he thought that Draek was about to fall asleep in the stall.

Come, it is time for you to rest you big hunk of silver.
Hayden jested with him until he finally got up and started moving sluggishly to the giant door. Once they both made their way to the room Draek dropped to the ground and sighed.

Thank you so much
, Hayden, I know you have to get up early but I appreciate it.
Draek yawned and his teeth flashed in the light cast from the torches.

It was the least I can do; wait what do you mean I have to get up early?
Hayden sat down on his bed and looked at Draek. Draek’s eyes were closed and his breathing was getting heavy and slow. He was about to fall asleep not that his joints didn’t hurt.

Tomorrow is the archery contests you signed up for; your first event is in a few hours.
Hayden fell back on his mattress.

Oh no
, I forgot.
Hayden was beating himself up inside for forgetting. The projectile events were the ones he was good at and had a decent chance at winning. Now he was going to be half asleep and completely exhausted during them.

Good luck
, and please don’t wake me up when you leave.
Draek’s thoughts were getting quieter and sounded like he was moving away from him. Hayden looked up and realized it was because he had fallen asleep.

Luck, I’ll need it.
He closed his eyes and tried to get a few hours sleep, at least.

__________________

Hayden woke up in just a few short hours; the sun still hadn’t risen yet. One of the servants had brought him a new outfit to wear for the day’s events. Elizabeth liked to see her riders with the best gear.

The new clothes were still grey, like all the other clothes that people in his district wore, but the shirt was different. The shirt was thinner and did not have sleeves, which made it much easier to draw a bow back. Hayden put on his cape; the grey cape was decorative and he would probably take it off when he started his events.

As he threw the cape over his left shoulder, letting the other side come under his right arm, he realized that his normal clasp had been replaced with a small silver dragon that held the two ends of his cape together. The piece of jewelry looked like a very small version of Draek.

He heard a knock on the door and went to open it. He did not want to wake Draek up by yelling ‘who is it?’. A servant stood on the other side of the door with a large leather bundle in his hands.

“For
you, sir.” The servant placed the package in Hayden’s arms and walked off. The bundle was completely covered except for a large bent stick that hung out of both ends.

Not very friendly early in the morning are we?
Hayden thought. Draek stirred and Hayden remembered he had to remain silent even in his mind or he could wake him. Hayden closed the door and placed the bundle on his bed and unrolled it to see what was inside.

He smiled to himself as he realized what he had.
I love being a dragon rider,
he thought, causing Draek to roll over on his side and Hayden to smack himself on his forehead. The bent stick was an unstrung recurve bow; it was the same one that he had been practicing with all year at Tynan’s barracks.

He lifted it in his hands and felt its familiarity and placed it back down to see what else was there. A quiver full of arrows was on top, he had known that if there was a bow there would be arrows. The only other thing in bundle was a series of straps that
were attached to four throwing knives in their sheaths.

Hayden put the quiver on his back and tightened the strap so it wouldn’t shake and rattle as he walked. He strung the bow next
, and with the bow in one hand and the knives in the other, he made his way out his room and into the winding corridors.

It was a long walk to the arena, made longer by being alone an
d the sun just starting to rise. Hayden not having slept much and yawning every three feet did not help to speed up the walk any. He went to the tent ground and found a guard who told him which one he needed to be in.

The tent was the same size and style as the last one
he had been in, but as he neared he did not hear the sound of clanking armor or sheathing swords. There were no jokes or rough housing going on, there was only silence.

At first Hayden thought that he had made a wrong turn or that the guard had been wrong
, but when he poked his head inside he found that it was full of solemn people; all of them staring back at him. He moved through the tent flaps and stood waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim tent.

Hayden was about to ask if this was the right tent
, but he noticed everyone had bows and arrows so he got his answer before he had to ask it. He found an empty chair on the far wall of tent and sat down, trying not to bump into anyone.

“You will want to put those on,” a
man sitting next to him said. He could not see his face, or most anyone’s faces, because they wore cloaks with the hoods pulled up.

“Put what on?” Hayden asked the man. The man did not answer but instead moved his cloak so Hayden could see his legs. He wore a similar set of throwing knives that Hayden had
, but he had somehow gotten the straps to tighten around his upper legs.

“How do they go on?” Hayden asked, holding his own in his hands and trying to figure it out.

“If you have to ask that then I think you might want to reconsider this event, rider.” The man laughed, and since the room was silent except for their conversation most everyone else heard it and laughed as well.

Hayden noticed that again he was the only rider participating in the event. He was competing against a room full of his elders; most of them had probably attempted the trials and failed to get their own dragon. Now they had nothing but resentment for him and they would be glad to show him up.