The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (59 page)

“We are going to go to the ceremony
to save Fendrel, and once he is safe, Draek and I are leaving. We won’t be a part of this any longer.” Hayden finished packing up everything he could in Draek’s saddle bags, which was almost everything he owned. He looked around his room and for the second time in his life he was leaving what he had called home.

Cass had left to go get herself ready and to inform Shane on what had all happened in their absence. Hayden did not know how they were going to save Fendrel
, or how he was going to escape from this city, but he had to try, he had to succeed.

The room was completely empty except for his decorative clothes that a servant had laid out for him before he had even made it back from the battle. He stared to put them on and get ready when he heard the horn blast echo through the halls of the Metallic Pyramid.

Draek raised his head and looked at Hayden, they both looked into each other’s eyes, and then Hayden finished putting on his new cape, and he turned to leave the room.

He closed the door behind him and when he turned to head down the hallway
, he noticed Shane leaning against the wall and Cass standing beside him. They were obviously waiting on him and they both were dressed in their new clothes.

Shane matched Hayden’s outfit entirely except for their cape. Their grey clothes wer
e made out of nicer material than the usual outfits they wore, but they all had the same basic design to them. Hayden’s cape was closer to a soft silver color while Shane’s was a vibrant copper.

Hayden bar
ely noticed Shane, though, when he stood next to Cass. She wore a nicer version of her normal grey clothes, but with a brilliant golden cape. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. Seeing her dressed up almost made Hayden forget about the importance of what he was about to do.

“Ready?” Cass asked him.

Hayden never thought that a simple question like that would be so hard to answer, but truthfully he had no idea if he was ready. “Yes,” he told her, better to let her think that he might have a plan rather than the fact that he really had nothing.

“
Come on, let’s get it over with,” Shane said. The three friends turned to walk to the Hall of Stories. Hayden wondered how many more times the three of them would set out together after tonight. He forced the thoughts out of his head. He did not want to get distracted with so much at stake right now.

They made it to the giant doors that led into the Hall of Stories. The doors were open and Hayden could see that the hall was full of riders
, everyone wearing one of three colored capes. All talk and noise died down instantly when they walked into the hall.

Every pair of
eyes stared
at them and the crowd separated to let the three of them walk up to the thrones. As the crowd moved, Hayden could see the Three Rulers sitting on their thrones with Sebastian and Giles already standing in front of them.

Hayden led the way as they marched down to the thrones. Elizabeth was looking directly at Hayden while Caine and Bryce seemed to be off in their own world, both of them looking intently at the contents of a goblet.

“Now, all five of you are here. These are our newest riders. They have not only successfully completed their year of training, but they have also proven themselves in our recent battle.” Hayden listened as she worked the crowd, building them up to cheering.

Every time she made a speech
, she seemed to be the most comfortable in front of everyone and having them cheer at her words. The crowd filled in behind them as she continued to talk.

“They have each done everything that had been required of them and so much more. This is the first year that more than four riders have been chosen. This is the first year in some time that not only were three silvers hatched, but also a beautiful golden dragon.”
As more cheering came, Hayden wondered if the people just cheered when she paused or if they were really listening.

“Each of you has earned many gifts during your year of training and the Festival of Games
, but tonight you shall receive the greatest gift. Tonight you will be accepted as one of our own. You are now Metallic Riders!”

Once again, more
cheering erupted. Hayden was barely paying attention to what she was saying. He was still trying to figure out where Fendrel might be and when they were going to bring him out.

Elizabeth stood up and raised her hands high above her head. Servants
began filing in carrying steaming platters of food, and cold drinks that Hayden was sure would make him forget the night. 

Elizabeth shoed the five riders off and sat back down on her throne and jumped into a heated conversation with a servant. Hayden turned where he was and made his way through crowd to the nearest servant with drinks.

He quickly grabbed two and tried to drink the first one as fast as he could. He only managed to spill most of it on his chest and nearly choke on the rest. Cass ran over and patted his back, making sure he was ok.

“Hayden, what are
you doing?” she asked in a hushed tone.

“I am trying to relax
,” he said trying to defend himself.

Cass lightly placed her hand over his and removed the still full cup from his grasp.
“This is not how you do that.” She placed the cup down on a passing servant’s tray. The servant did not notice the extra weight.

“Cass, what if he’s not here a
nd we are just wasting our time,” Hayden asked. He was still scanning the crowd, trying to find his friend, but it seemed to be a normal celebration and everyone was enjoying it. Cass looked into his eyes, seriousness written all across her face.

“I hope we are just wasting our time, I hope he is not here. But Hayden, he is here and we have to save him.” She grabbed his now empty hand, gave it a squeeze and led him over the where a servant with a big tray of food was.

They both snatched up as much food as they could carry in their hands and moved off to a corner where they could be alone and talk in private. Hayden realized that he had not eaten since the battle. He started shoving big pieces of food in his mouth and caused his cheeks to puff out.

Cass nibbled gingerly on her food while she casually looked over the crowd, searching for anything odd. There was nothing wrong, nothing going on, nothing but people having a good time. Shane walked over to them and joined their corner.

“I have gone all over this room and nothing, no one knows anything, or at least they are not talking about it if they do,” he said. He grabbed some of the food from Hayden’s hand and ate in the same manner that Hayden did. Cass couldn’t help but look from Shane to Hayden and shake her head at them.

Hayden and Shane looked at each other and shrugged as they kept stuffing their mouths full of whatever food a servant carried by them. The ceremony continued to drag on until it reached a point where everyone was full and were finished drinking, even though some should have been finished long before.

The noise in the Hall of Stories started to die down. Everyone had heard all the battle stories that were worth hearing. They had seen the best and the worst reenactments of what some of the riders had done, or imagined they had done, during their encounter with the dwarf army.

Hayden saw some of the older riders calling i
t a night and saying their goodbyes as they walked towards the still open doors. Elizabeth stood up from her throne while a small group of servants came on to the platform and removed the thrones, the other two rulers asleep in theirs.

“Friends, I know that the night is late and you are all battle worn. I know that your beds call to you and you wish to answer them, but not yet. We have one last surprise for the newest of Metallic Riders. A game, long overdue.”

There was less cheering now than there had been earlier, most likely because everyone wanted to be in bed, some had made their own around the room. They all slowly and miserably walked up to the platform. Soon everyone in the room was pushed up against each other and surrounding the platform, waiting to see what Elizabeth had in store for them. They did not have to wait long. As soon as Elizabeth was sure that everyone was watching the platform she nodded to a servant that was standing near doors behind the platform.

The servant opened the door and a small group of armed guards marched in with and old, beaten man between them.
Hayden heard the door open and turned to see what was going on. He saw the light from the room illuminate Fendrel’s bruised and bloodied face, and his heart stopped beating in his chest. He heard Cass whimper and squeeze his hand while Shane growled under his breath.

The guards marched him to the center of the platform and, when they were sure that he wasn’t going anywhere, and Elizabeth nodded to them. They left him and went back through the door they had come through.

“Fendrel.” Elizabeth spoke like she was speaking to an old friend. “It’s been too long since we last met.” She waited for Fendrel to speak, hoping that he would have disrespectful remark for her.
Instead he stood there with his head held high and his jaw clenched shut. Elizabeth looked the broken old man up and down, taking him in. Hayden could not look away from him; his mind was racing through half thought out plans that would never work.

“Many years ago, many many years ago, Fendrel was among the multiple young men and women who tried for a dragon egg when it was his turn. He showed great promise and he would have made a great dragon rider, except for one fatal flaw: you lacked the ability to complete a task.”

Many of the riders that were watching everything unfold in front of them were confused. Some had never seen or heard of Fendrel, while others remembered him from his trials
, but were wondering why he was in front of them now.

“You were given one simple task
, and then you would have been given the thing you had dreamt about, a dragon egg. Your weakness held you back and forced you to give up your dragon.”

“But we are not here to revisit past failures or look down upon others faults. We are here, tonight at this very moment, to show that we do not share this man’s weakness. We finish everything we start, we will prove this tonight
, then we will prove this to all of Arvain as we start our Crusade.” People clapped and cheered but it was obvious that they were doing either out of fear or confusion.

“Y
ou were in a trial that had since been unfinished. You were to kill your brother or he kills you. You are here to finish that trial.” Fendrel lowered his head, and for the first time since they had brought him into the Hall of Stories, Hayden looked away from him and looked at Elizabeth.

T
he door where they had brought Fendrel through opened for a second time. Instead of an old man walking out there was a young, muscular man in grey clothes and a silver cape. Hayden knew that dragon riders aged must slower due to their dragons but he had never seen the difference up close before.

             
Hayden knew the second he saw him that he was in fact Fendrel’s brother. Morgane walked up and stood next to Fendrel as Hayden looked from one to the other. They looked almost identical except one was a younger version of the other. Fendrel had aged forty years since their trial, but his brother looked to be only to be four or five years older than Hayden.
A dragon rider could live for a few hundred years so every three or four years for a dragon rider were like one year for a non-rider.

             
Morgane walked around Fendrel and looked him up and down. He spent a lot of time looking into his brother’s face and how he had aged.

             
“So this is what I will look like when I get old?” His voice was identical to Fendrel’s. The only things missing were a slight rasp that made Fendrel sound thirsty all the time, and the slight undertone of sadness in his voice.

             
Morgane was a proud man who had most likely gotten everything he had ever wanted since his dragon had hatched. Hayden realized with a sickness in his gut that he had gotten everything he had wanted since Draek had hatched for him.

             
A few people in the crowd laughed at Fendrel, they looked down on him as if he was beneath them. Fendrel looked both sad and disgusted at his brother, almost the same way his brother looked at him.

             
Morgane walked over to the far end of the platform and removed his grey shirt, his chest and back were covered in tightly corded muscles and scars. He had a warrior’s body and it had been tested and found true.

             
A guard jumped onto the platform and made Fendrel walk to the opposite side of the platform. They ripped his shirt off and threw the tattered and stained cloth to the ground. Fendrel’s body was strong, but it was obvious that he was outmatched. He was in no shape to fight his brother and win.

             
“This is not a death sentence Fendrel, nothing of the sort. All you have to do is kill your brother and then you will be free to go.” She pointed at the doors that still stood wide open. She was the only one that laughed now, everyone else was silent and uncomfortable.