“I couldn’t have done that without making Draek and I sound weak and beneath him, which is what he wanted. He wanted to humiliate me and get his way; you saw him try to take my egg and if it wouldn’t have been for me fighting back then I would not be here, Draek would be a pile of silver ruble right now.” Hayden could not see her face as they walked; she never looked back at him. Shaylin turned her head back to stare at him with her big golden eyes, but not Cass.

              “I am sorry if our actions have displeased you, but we will not just cower down because it is easier, we will not become a tool to be used for whatever purpose someone else sees fit to use us for. We will fight when we need to.” Hayden did not want her mad at him, not this early on but he had to let her know how he felt. Shane, who had remained quiet through most of the ordeal, patted Hayden’s back. Silently so Cass would not hear.

              “I know, and I have no place to tell you what to do, but someone could have really have gotten hurt.”

              “But no one did, so let’s enjoy the celebration,” Hayden said as they neared a door with light spilling from between the cracks.

              Shane leaned in and whispered in Hayden’s ear. “She might not be able to tell you what to do now, but as soon as training is over she will be a gold dragon rider, she will have a rank as soon as we start that you and I can never reach.” Hayden did not understand how the ranks worked, but he figured as much since they were taking so much extra care for Cass because of her dragonet.

              Benet stood at the door waiting to open it for them, Giles and Sebastian still hadn’t caught up to them. “Have fun out there.” He said as he opened the door; even though the corridors were lit up by torches it still took a second for their eyes to adjust to the blinding light of the sun. Then, while still blind, the cheers deafened them; the noise hitting them like a solid wall.

              Once their eyes had adjusted they saw that they had come out at a field still within the short outer wall of the pyramid. The crowd that they had expected to be citizens turned out to be fellow riders. They all wore the same grey outfit as them; only they wore colored half capes died to match the dragons they rode. It was a sea of copper with a few islands of silver splashed through it. Hayden could not make out any gold riders in the crowd, which he thought was strange.

              How many gold dragons are there right now? he asked Draek because even if he shouted the others would not have been able to hear him.

              Shaylin says that there are only six right now, she makes the seventh. Elizabeth is the youngest, besides Cassidy, and the others are old men who don’t even fly anymore. She says they just stay in the library trying to make up answers to what questions they have. Draek answered the question quickly and without hesitation, but Hayden could hear regret in his thoughts as he told him the low number.

              So few, I thought there would have been more. How many other riders are there?

              There are thousands of coppers, I am not sure how many because Rilora doesn’t even know for sure, she guesses close to three thousand and the other dragons I have asked guess that there are near two hundred silver riders.

              Hayden would have had a hard time believing him if it wasn’t for the ocean of riders cheering for him now. When have you talked to other dragons? he asked after he realized the gravity of what Draek had told him.

              Since before we made it to our room, almost immediately after I hatched I could already communicate with them. For dragons, mind speech is like yelling across a big open room, you can pin point it down to were only one dragon hears you or you can project it out so that all dragons near you hear it. That’s how we learn so fast and can find answers to almost anything; we just ask an older dragon. Draek seemed to be amused with himself, as if he had pulled off some elaborate joke on Hayden.

              Benet had come out behind them with Giles and Sebastian and their two silvers, the people had already been cheering for a while so they did not add the dying noise which Hayden could tell irritated Sebastian.

              “Well don’t just stand there, go out and celebrate, you have about an hour to spend with the other riders before they let the rest of the city in to see you,” Benet said, and turned to walk through the door they just came through, closing it behind him.

              Hayden was the first to walk down the steps leading to the awaiting crowd. Draek walked proudly beside him with his head held high, which was almost to Hayden’s elbow. Hayden spent the next hour shaking someone’s hand, taking a step and then shaking someone else’s hand.

              At first people noticed his bandaged hands and tried to be gentle but as time wore on no one noticed it anymore. They would grasp his hand hard enough to make him wince slightly and then the next person was up to do the same. After the first few people he decided not to try to remember any one’s name, they just blended in together.

              At one point he turned around to see the others in a line behind him doing the same thing; he tried to listen to what everyone said but soon that too started to blend together.

              “Congratulations!”

              “You will do great.”

              “Glad to have you with us.”

              “Your silver looks so strong; he is going to get big.”

              These were the most repeated things said to him and Draek, and became the easiest to remember. Draek and Hayden began playing a game in their heads, keeping count of how many people said which of the most popular greetings to them. They even tried to guess, before the riders spoke, which one they were going to say. After the riders greeted each of them they all walked to the giant gate that was now closed. They could hear a great number of people behind the gate, all sounding like they had been having a good time for a while.

              Hayden realized that the he had seen the giant gate, nearly thirty feet high, from on top of the hill when he had first seen Celestial City. As he was looking at it the ground under his feet started to rumble, a low moan that shook the earth and sounded like a mountain yawning. The gates started to shake and Hayden noticed all the birds that had perched nearby had taken to the sky. The gate continued to shake and then it started to shrink into the earth; it continued to lower itself till it was level with the metal street that led out of the city and to the surrounding fields.

              Hayden wanted to spend some time looking at how the gate worked, but as the gate had gotten lower they were able to see the thousands of people all eating and dancing in hundreds of small parties scattered around the giant field, there were bards moving from group to group playing as they went. Waiting right in front of the gate, standing all alone, was Fendrel.

              Hayden ran to meet him, Draek trying to keep up, and as he tried to run his wings started to open up just slightly, leaving the others behind. Once the crowds realized that the gates had opened and riders were coming to celebrate with them cheers and applause began to start in the nearest groups and spread throughout the whole crowd.

              Hayden reached Fendrel and stood just before him, Fendrel smiling at him. Fendrel opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but he closed it again when Draek appeared. He looked at silver dragonet and he seemed to approve until he saw the diamond pattern on his head

              “That mark, it was on my egg,” he said to himself as much as to Hayden.

              “It was your egg that I hatched, this is Draek.” Hayden put his hand on the back of Draek’s head as he spoke. He was supposed to hatch you a long time ago, but they asked him to do something horrible and he was unwilling to do it, and he has thought about you every day for many years, Hayden told Draek while Fendrel still stared open mouthed at Draek.

              Draek moved slowly to Fendrel, easing his head up higher to look at him better. Fendrel got down on his knees, wincing as they creaked, so he could be level with the silver dragonet. They locked eyes for many moments, and the entire time tears flowed freely down Fendrel’s checks. Finally Fendrel reached out and touched the scales on Draek’s head, right next to the diamond mark.

              Tell him I am very grateful to meet him and I am sorry we could not have met earlier. Draek’s thoughts were heard loud and clear and startled Hayden out of the silence they had been enduring.

              “Fendrel, Draek says he is very happy to finally meet you and he apologizes that you two could not have met earlier.” Hayden watched a thin smile creep across the old man’s face.

              “I wish I could have met you earlier too, but the stars do not always line up the way we want them to, I have truly spent my whole life wondering what had happened to you. Now for the first time in many years I can rest easy tonight knowing you have hatched and are safe.” Fendrel stood up, the motion awkward and jerky, and then he dusted the front of his pants off and moved his eyes from Draek to Hayden. “And you, Hayden The Silver, how are there five riders this year instead of the usual four, and we have three silver, a copper and a gold?”

              “Well it’s a long story,” Hayden started, but Fendrel raised his hand and cut him off, motioning for the pair to follow him. They walked behind him and came to rest around a small fire. They sat down and Fendrel insisted Hayden tell the whole story of what took place during the trials.

              It was slow going because everyone came around to see the new dragon and rider, so Hayden had to keep stopping the story to talk to the new strangers who wanted to wish them luck on the upcoming year; but after many interruptions he was able to tell the full story to Fendrel.

              Once he was done, Fendrel just sat looking into the fire, then he called for someone to come bring them drinks. A man from the large open tent next to them came and gave both men a cup of something that reminded Hayden of what they used to clean horse stalls. Fendrel stood up and raised his cup above his head, everyone around them following the motion. Then he spoke with a voice that bellowed like thunder.

              “Cheers to our new protectors, to our new dragons, to the dragon riders of Arvain!” He shouted the last few words and his short speech was met with enthusiastic yells, and then everyone drank deeply from their cups. Hayden took a small sip, gagged and then spit it out. Everyone began moving about as before, greeting the new riders and embracing the old ones.

              Soon Hayden began to walk through the crowds with Draek, leaving Fendrel behind telling anyone who would listen around the fire about how he had brought Hayden to Celestial City and taught him how to get a dragon egg. Hayden gently stretched out his fingers as they walked; his hands were just starting to feel better from all the hand shaking he had done.

              The celebration was going by in a blur; people smacking him on the back, pulling him in one direction or another. Then once the other riders started to leave he saw dragons fill the sky. Hayden and Draek tried to communicate, but they both became so exhausted by the celebration they simply just walked together. Some people were less friendly, asking if it was true that Hayden had stolen the egg from Sebastian. To those people, Draek’s growl was enough of a response that they left him alone.

              He bumped into Shane and Cass only a few times, and they appeared to be just as worn out as he was. Then a loud horn was blown and, from the same gate that they had come through, the Rulers of Three came walking out to greet the city’s people.

              “We thank you all for coming out today to join us in welcoming our newest members, but as all things must come to an end, so must this party. You may all continue your celebrations, but I am sorry to say that the five new riders and their dragons all have training that starts bright and early.” Elizabeth spoke over the crowd and there was not even a whisper as she talked. No one dare move or make a sound, which confused Hayden.

              He did not have time to dwell upon that because as soon as she finished her last word and turned her back to them Draek entered his mind again.

              We have to follow her now, his voice rang out.

              How do you know that? Hayden asked, but Draek was already moving in her direction. Hayden wanted to know how Draek knew that, but he still trusted Draek not to lead him astray.

              Her dragon told me, we have some sort of lesson tonight before our training starts tomorrow. Draek was right beside him and Hayden looked around to see that the others were moving the same way. He was able to catch Fendrel’s eye right before they crossed over where the gate would go up and waved good bye to him, a gesture that Fendrel returned with enthusiasm.

 

 

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 10

 

 

 

The group once again found themselves traveling the twisting corridors in the Metallic Pyramid. Draek wouldn’t tell Hayden any more about the class that they were going to. When Hayden had been younger he had taken a few classes with the other kids to learn how to read and write and other basics; their teacher had been one of the other kids’ mothers, who didn’t mind children.

Hayden was getting nervous again, he had a lump in his throat that was making it difficult to swallow without wincing in pain. They made it back to the Hall of Stories, and Hayden had no idea how they had made it back. Elizabeth never spoke to them, whether out of secrecy or dislike Hayden could not tell, but when they made it to the great door she all but pushed them in and closed the door behind them, not entering the room herself.

              Although Hayden had been in the room before he was still humbled by all the history that had been carved and painted on the walls, but there were still blank spots that Hayden envisioned himself captured on.

Sitting on the middle throne, the other two remaining empty, was an old man wearing the same grey clothes as them but with a golden cape. Hayden could tell the man was much older than anyone he had ever seen; his hair and beard were long, wiry and unkempt. He kept squinting at them and smacking his lips together.

              “Well now come along, come along. There is no need for you five to stand so far back. Bring yourselves and your dragons up here so I can see you.” He made no move to get up off of the throne, but he kept waving them closer. They had to stand almost shoulder to shoulder with their dragonets in front of them before the old rider told them that they were close enough.

              “I am going to teach you about dragons, everything you need to know. Our first session is today so that you can at least know the basics before you start training and wind up crippling your dragon.” There was no humor, anger or any other kind of emotion in his voice. It really sounded as if he did not care that he was there to help them.

              “And what can we learn from an old timer like you?” Sebastian asked rudely, Giles standing slightly behind as he had been doing since they had gotten their dragons.

              “And just how big will your dragon get before this year out, or even before the end of this season? How do you keep them from getting an ingrown scale or what happens if a tooth gets infected? What if the membrane on your dragon’s wing rips, or a bone breaks, what will you do then?” The man still showed no emotion, even to being insulted and questioned by Sebastian.

              Sebastian did not respond to the old rider’s questions, but he did not back down either. He continued to stand tall and defiant, with his chest puffed out and breathing heavily in front of the golden clad rider.

              “Are there any more questions?” He did not wait for an answer but continued speaking. “One of the first problems you young riders are going to run into comes during the growth spurts. Your dragons are going to grow fast, and with them growing so fast their hides are going to stretch so you will have to oil them constantly.” Their teacher got up from the throne and began to make his way to the door that they had walked in the night before. Before he could make it to the door Cass spoke up.

              “Sir, you didn’t tell us your name yet.” She spoke softly hoping not to agitate the man further.

              “Is my name relevant to you understanding what I am trying to teach you? Will it help you grasp how to care for your dragon? Well, I guess if it will help then by all means you must know my name is Estraken.” He led the down the hallway, but turned down a corridor that Hayden had not noticed.

They did not have to walk far before they entered a room that was half the size of the Hall of Stories but was twice as tall; and every inch was full of maps, scrolls, books and diagrams of things Hayden had never seen. “This will be the only time that your dragons will be allowed in here; soon they will be too big to make it through the door,” he said as almost an afterthought.

              They made a half circle, with their dragons at their sides, around the only desk in the center of the room; Estraken stood behind the desk searching through piles of yellowish papers. He pulled three out; each one had a dragon drawn on it, from an aerial view. Hayden looked closer at them and realized one was a copper, one a silver and one a gold. He wanted to ask questions, but before he could the old rider started speaking again.

              “Your dragons will be large enough to carry you short distances in about eight months; that means they will grow to where their shoulders are taller then you in that short time. They will be able to glide on their own in the next month or so though and you are by no means aloud to try to fly them; the weight of you on their backs could hurt them. As they grow so fast they will complain of itching, you will have to oil them, especially around the joints, until right before their first year.”  Estraken never looked up from his papers, as he spoke he even moved from wall to wall and pulled down some book or scroll.

              “Aren’t there people who do this for us?” Giles asked.

              “Yes there is: you. If you get stranded somewhere there will be no one to help you so you must learn to do all this. Now if you neglect your dragon then the result could end in it tarring part of its flesh, and if it’s around a joint then it will take even longer to heal. Dragons never stop growing, but after the first year the growth spurt does slow down.” He came back to the table with both his arms burdened down with books.

              He began opening the books one at a time to a certain page and then spreading them out on the desk. Once the last one was opened he began to talk rapidly, his words blurring together and Hayden had to ask him to slow down and repeat himself.

              “The scales covering your dragons now are like baby teeth; they get the job done for now but they are not permanent. The scales will continue to multiply during the first six months and then the beasts will start to shed; the small scales will fall off but underneath them will be the larger scales that are lighter, but still just as tuff, making it easier to fly. You will need to clean their scales every day also, they can get something lodged under a scale and it can cause an infection or the scales to come in wrong.” As he spoke, going from one point to the next, he moved from one book to the next. Showing them writings and pictures that supported what he was telling them.

              Once he had made it through to the last book, which explained the proper way to clean a dragon’s teeth, he walked to an hour glass that he had setting on a book shelf. It must have been started before they had entered because Hayden did not remember Estraken going near it.

              “We are almost done for today’s lesson. You will come back here after lunch tomorrow and the day after that until I say otherwise. Before we part though I am going to show you back to your rooms and show you where you can go to take care of your dragons. Young Cassidy, you may join us, but since you are with the other gold dragon riders, we have our own cleaning courters that I will show you once we drop them off.” Hayden was unable to get many words in during their lesson, which hadn’t taken very long. Draek had remained quiet during the entire lesson, which gave Hayden a sense of aloneness.

              You did not say much during all that, everything ok? He decided to speak first as they made their down the corridor, which Hayden could still not tell the difference between one or the other, which Estraken told them would lead them to their rooms.

              I was trying to listen as much as I can and you should have been too; I don’t want dirty or deformed scales, I am a silver after all. Hayden could not tell is Draek was being serious or trying to be funny. Either way Hayden decided, with the help of Draek, that he had to focus on where they were going so that they would not get lost on their own. The halls continued on for just a short distance longer when Hayden found himself in a giant room that was open to the outside just like their rooms were.

              The room was separated into four large pens, like something a giant horse would be kept in, but they were open on the backside for when Draek got too big to be in the corridors. The pens were lined with different tools and brushes; beside the door they had walked in were shelves lined with buckets and two pumps, one on either side. Hayden and Draek went into the pen closest to them to look at what all was in there.

              “This is where you will bring your dragons to be cleaned, these are the smallest cleaning chambers and they were made just for first years so you won’t be seeing any other riders in here. The tools lined against the wall are for cleaning; you have different brushes, files and stakes used to maintain the scales and to keep dirt from getting underneath them. These two pumps over on the wall, one is water and the other is the oil that I told you about earlier.” Estraken walked around pointing at everything he was talking about.

“We have servants who come through here every day to make sure there are clean sands in the bucket to use. Everyone, go ahead and take your dragons to one of the pens, they will appreciate a good cleaning and I can show you how to properly do it. Cass, you can just stand and watch the others, you can clean your dragon once we get back to our cleaning chamber.”

              Draek and Hayden were already in their cleaning stall, Shane took the one to their right and Giles and Sebastian took the two to their left; Cass stood in between Hayden and Shane’s stalls.

              “First, what you want to do is rub them down with the sand, this will break off most of the ash and dirt that they will acquire.”  Estraken was walking back and forth, taking a few seconds to look into each stall to make sure each of the young riders were doing their tasks exactly as he told them to do it. Hayden reached into the bucket of sand that was closest to him and pulled a handful out expectantly, he noticed a faint aroma coming off the sand.

He placed the handful on Draek’s back, right in between his front shoulders, and using one of the larger brushes he began to rub the sand all over his scales. Immediately Draek started hunching his back so that Hayden could successfully reach every spot. Hayden had to grab two more handfuls of sand before the scales had a slight dullness to them that Estraken told them was what they were looking for.

              Then they were instructed to grab a smaller brush that had short, metal bristles, and rub the remaining sand off with that. Hayden grabbed the brush that fit his hand best and did exactly as he was told, making sure to maintain a constant connection with Draek in case he pushed too hard and hurt him or if he missed a spot and it caused Draek to itch. He only had to go over a few spots twice before Estraken was pleased with his work.

              Hayden then used the buckets of water to wash off all the leftover sand and dirt, which there wasn’t a lot of, which had broken loose from Draek but had not fallen free. Hayden watched the water stream swiftly towards the outside opening and run off into a small ditch in the floor that led the water under the wall and out of site.

              Once Draek was finished being washed off his scales did look a little cleaner, so Draek said, but they still had the dullness to them. Estraken told them all to come to the other pump, the one that they had not yet used. They each grabbed an empty bucket, and Estraken pushed the leaver up and down until a thick oily liquid filled each of their buckets. Once their buckets were full they went back to their waiting dragons.

              What is that stuff? Draek asked once Hayden had brought the bucket close enough for Draek to see and smell it.

              I am not sure, it’s some sort of oil that will help your skin to stretch as you grow and restore your scales. Hayden dipped his finger in it and realized it was slightly thicker than water. He looked on the walls and found a large, thick sponge hanging on the walls. He grabbed the sponge and submerged it in the bucket, causing some of the oil to spill over the edge. Open up your wings, I will start with them, he told Draek.

              Draek opened his wings to their full extent, something Hayden had not yet seen. Though they had only been together a short time Hayden thought that he had been amazed enough by Draek already that there would be no surprises. To see a young silver dragon stretch out his wings, which looked like silver sails with no marks whatsoever, took his breath away. The wings were already larger then Draek was but Hayden could have never known that by them being folded up neatly against Draek’s sides.

              Hayden reached out and lightly touched the surfaces of Drake’s right wing; the bones that opened them seemed thin and the membrane that made up the wing felt so fragile underneath his fingers. Draek’s wings looked like they were made of solid silver, smooth and unblemished.

              “Don’t worry; the wings will get thicker and stronger as he grows. They cannot carry him for a few more months, but when they can they will feel as thick as his scales.” Estraken had moved to watch Hayden oil Draek and he had seen the look of concern cross his face.

              Hayden wasted no more thought on it and went to oiling Draek’s now dry skin. He noticed immediately that the scales began to shine brighter then they had and Draek was telling him how all the itching had gone away. It still took them a while before Hayden was sure that he had completely covered Draek in the oil, he himself being oiled from the elbow down.

              Hayden had been careful to not get any sand in the healing wounds on his hands. The oil seeped through his thin bandages and as he finished cleaning Draek Hayden noticed that his hands felt amazing, as if they had never been hurt.

              “All right, that’s enough for one night, you will return tomorrow, and don’t worry your dragons will have something to do to occupy their time away from you.” Estraken turned and led Cass and Shaylin away without another word to them.

              Well are you ready to go back to our room? Hayden asked Draek.

              I guess I am, but can we come back tomorrow night? he asked in return.

              “Ha ha, of course we can, we can come whenever you want to!” Hayden responded out loud to Draek. They walked out the door with Shane and Rilora following right behind them. They walked through the corridors using their dragon’s memories of where their rooms were to get them back.

They noticed that Sebastian and Giles had both stayed back, but that was for the best as far as Hayden was concerned. As they walked they discussed what they had learned about cleaning, and what some of the things their own dragons liked and things that they did not like.

              “Well Draek was extremely itchy around his shoulders, I had to rub the joints down with a wire brush two or three times before he could let me finish. He really liked the one brush that was covered in the metal bristles, that one was his favorite.”

              “I know what you mean; Rilora’s wings were bothering her the most and I have noticed that Draek is bigger than the other silvers, but Rilora has the largest wings.” Shane looked proudly at Rilora.

              “Of course her wings are the biggest, if they weren’t how would she carry you? HA HA” Hayden had to jump ahead as Shane threw a friendly punch at his arm. They were both laughing as they came back to their rooms.

              “Something that did strike me was just how dirty they had gotten in such a short time, they are almost glowing now that they are clean, but they were filthy before.” Hayden nodded his agreement, but before he could respond Draek spoke out to him.

              We have done many things since we have hatched and it is only natural for us to become a little dirty. You both smell worse than anything I have had the chance to smell in my short time with you. You both are need of a good bath. Hayden wanted to argue, but before he could he took a second to smell his under arms and quickly lowered his arm as he realized Draek was right.

              “Before we continue on I think it would be a good idea if we cleaned ourselves up real quick.” Shane agreed and went back into his room. As Hayden entered his and Draek’s room, Draek had one last thought before Hayden went to his personal bathing room.

              Would you like me to go back and get the metal brush for you, it cleans really nicely? Hayden just shook his head, grabbed the clean grey clothes that were lying on his bed, and walked into the washroom and closed the door without looking back.

              Hayden undid the bandages on his hands to inspect the wounds before he cleaned himself. He was pleasantly surprised to see most of the redness gone and the burns themselves almost healed up. He knew that they had not looked as good before he had cleaned Draek so he accounted the change to the oil he had used. He threw the dirty bandages on the ground and did not plan on picking them back up.

              When Hayden had finished washing up and putting on his clean clothes he walked back into the large open room and found Draek sniffing at a pack that had not been there before, and he also noticed his silver shield that he had left in the Hall of Stories was laying flat on the bed.

              “Were did all my stuff come from?” he asked Draek as he made his way to his pack and opened it up to find that all of his belongings were still in there and perfectly intact, just as he had left them back in Fendrel’s house.

              A servant came and brought them to us, he also said that you could put all your dirty clothes in one of the large baskets on the wall, he said one was for clothes and one was for trash. Draek was lying down but had his head held high and Hayden could feel his pride at delivering the message so well.

              “I am so glad they brought me my stuff. I know it’s not much, but this is all I have ever owned that was worth saving, I would have been upset if I had lost it all.” Hayden wanted to show Draek all that was in his pack but there was a knock on the door before he could pull out the first item.

              It is Shane and Rilora; she would like to come in now, Draek informed Hayden before he could ask who was there. The door opened and Rilora burst through and started wrestling with Draek. Shane laughed and went to sit by Hayden on the floor. Hayden could not help but notice a copper sword hanging from his hip as he maneuvered it to sit.

              “I see they brought you some of your stuff; they left all mine in my room too. They must have done it while we were out today.” Shane was able to look around and have a conversation without staring at his sword, but Hayden noticed that he never took a hand off of it.

              “They did, my bag and shield were here when I walked in. It’s strange having all my stuff here now though, it actually feels like this is home now.” Hayden observed the walls and what scarce furniture there was in the room; which was still nicer than his old room in Erskine.

              “This is our home; at least until we finish our training, then all of Arvain will be our home.” Shane threw his arms up to emphasize what he was saying. “I wonder what our training will be like; no one has mentioned anything about it yet.”

              “They have to be secretive about it I guess, to try to make us nervous.” Hayden really had no idea what to expect, Fendrel hadn’t told him about any of what would happen after the egg hatched.

              Hayden, Cass and Shaylin would like to know if they can come down and see us; I would like to see them. Draek didn’t stop wrestling with Rilora when he spoke to Hayden. He looked at the mess of shiny scales and laughed; if it wouldn’t have been for their different colors then he would have been unable to see where one started or the other ended.

              “Of course they can come,” Hayden replied.

              “Who can come where?” Shane asked with a puzzled look on his face.

              “Oh, sorry, I forgot that you cannot hear Draek. He said that Cass and Shaylin want to come see us.”  Shane nodded his head and before either of them had time to say anything further; there was a soft nock on the door. Hayden did not have to ask Draek if it was Cass and Shaylin because before the noise from the last nock had faded, Draek had already quit wrestling and was heading to the door.

              “Come in.” Hayden wanted to open the door for them but Draek was standing right in front of it so Hayden could not reach it. The door opened and Shaylin came through first, walking elegantly and effortlessly like a cat. Hayden noticed that Cass had done an amazing job cleaning her; even though he had just gotten done cleaning Draek, Draek’s scales seemed dull and lifeless compared to Shaylin’s. Hayden watched as Draek and Shaylin slowly closed the distance between them, moving slowly but sure footed and never taking their eyes off each other.

              Hayden could feel Draek’s nervousness through their connection; it was a strong enough emotion that his own stomach began doing flips. Hayden became frozen with nervousness as he watched Rilora, who had been left behind when Draek had made his way to meet Shaylin, run and jump clear over Draek, just as Draek and Shaylin’s noses were only inches apart, and landed on top of Shaylin and tackled her to the ground.

              Hayden and Draek were thinking the same thing, nothing. They both just stood there with their mouths hanging open, wondering what had just happened. Rilora rolled off of Shaylin and stuck her chest out and opened her wings slightly, ready to play with Shaylin. Shaylin stood up slowly, as if a king or queen had just been tackled, and looked at Rilora. Draek and Hayden both held their breath and waited for her response to the ruff, unasked for, playing.

Shaylin took in a deep breath and bugled out her delight, then jumped at Rilora and the two began wrestling and play fighting just as Rilora and Draek had done moments before. Draek was still dumbfounded, but Hayden was able to break free from his trance and laughed a little at what had all transpired.

“Well, Draek, are you going to let them have all the fun without you?” Cass’s voice came through from the other side of the threshold. It seemed to snap Draek out of his trance and he belted his challenge and jumped onto the tumbling metallic blob that accepted him with earnest, the three rolled into the larger part of the room where Draek would sleep when he was larger.

Hayden closed the door after Cass had walked in; as the door shut he watched Sebastian walk back into his own room; he never turned around but Hayden knew it was him.

“So what have you guys been up to… this your room, Hayden?” Cass only walked a few feet in and stopped to look around, she did not walk around but just turned her head and leaned one way or another to get the best view.

“It sure is, do you like it?” He had never had such a large place to call his own, he was proud of it.

“HAHA! Do I like it? This is nothing compared to my room.” She leaned up against the wall next to the door and put her hand over her mouth as she laughed at the two men that looked from her back to each other, trying to figure out what was going on.

“What are you talking about, aren’t all the rooms the same?” Shane asked.

“Actually no; I thought they all would be until I saw the room they put me in since there are five of us. The rooms for full riders are much larger; I actually have a separate room just for my bed. They are decorated and I have a small room with a table and book shelves where I can have books and food delivered. The opening to where my dragon will be able to fly in is the same room, but I also have my own washing stall so I don’t have to share when I wash Shaylin.” Cass tried not to laugh anymore while she spoke but it became harder and harder as more words came out.

Hayden could not believe what he was hearing, and by the look on Shane’s face he felt the same. He had thought that his room was amazing, almost a castle unto itself, and now he just found out that he was living in a cleaning closet compared to the riders. At least the other three were in the same boat as him though; and it would only be a year till he was a full rider and he could have the good rooms.

Listen to me think, Draek, it was only a few minutes ago I was thinking about how lucky I am to have such a nice place to live. That it was better than any other place I had ever stayed at and now I am complaining because others have better than I do. Hayden thought it was funny at first, but it quickly made him sick to know that.

Don’t worry about it. It is natural for you to want the best for you and to be a little upset knowing that they are holding something back from you. Just don’t let it become the reason for you doing something. Hayden was still amazed at how smart his little dragon was, for just a few days old it was already giving good advice to him.

The three friends stayed up late into the night talking about each other’s past, they all seemed excited and interested in Hayden’s because it was so different from their own. Cass was the first to leave, but Shane followed soon after her, they had to wake the dragons because they had passed out all tangled up together.

After they left, Hayden went and put out some of the torches that hung on the walls that had lit up the room. He liked to have a little light so he left one glowing. He hadn’t been laying down long when he heard Draek move slow and sluggishly to the bed and flop down on the cool metal floor, with his head laying against Hayden’s side. Hayden fell asleep right away with a smile on his face, just as he had for the last few nights.

 

                                                        ______________________

“GET UP BOY!” Shouted someone above Hayden; which happened to wake Hayden up and get his heart pounding like he had been awake and working all day.

Hayden jumped out of bed and saw a very angry man standing near him. The man was tall and had broad shoulders and a large barrel chest. His forearms were bare but they were covered in such thick hair that Hayden thought he was wearing a brown shirt. He had short brown hair and a beard that was longer than his hair. His face was a little red from him yelling and even in his dim lit room he could see the spit that had found its way into his beard and became lodged there.

“I AIN’T GONNA TELL YA AGAIN!!” He shouted for the second time. Does this guy not know how to talk normal? Hayden asked Draek. He started to jump out of bed and got hit in the face with a wad of clothes. He looked back and realized that the man had turned and was heading back out the door. Hayden did not waste any time and got up and started getting dressed. He looked around and realized Draek was gone.

Draek where are you? He did not know if he could shout with his mind but if he could then he knew he had just done it.

I am training already; they came and got me first. Do whatever it is they ask you to do. This is much harder than we had thought it was going to be. Draek’s thoughts came back choppy as if he was out of breath.

Ok. Hayden could not really think of what to say, he had never been far away from Draek since he hatched, but Draek could feel his emotions even without Hayden thinking them and Hayden was comforted by Draek’s own feelings which matched his. He got dressed swiftly, in the clothes that had been thrown at him; they were the same color grey but thinner and less decorative. There was no cape, and once they were on Hayden was sure that these were working clothes.

He ran outside into the corridor, and was just in time to see the others run out of their doors. Giles and Sebastian were ready like Hayden, but Shane was still putting on his boots. Hayden did not see Cass anywhere but thought better than to worry about it.

“Alright, well it is my pleasure to tell you boys that for the next year I will be training you. You will call me Sir; nothing more nothing less. You will not learn my name or call me by my name until you have earned that right. You will do as I say at all times, exactly as I say it. You do that and you might get to call yourselves dragon riders. You don’t do it, well we can still use you as messenger boys since your dragons are faster than birds.

“Don’t forget, just because you have dragons don’t make you gods; you have to earn that title.” He stared long and hard at each of them, looking for weakness and strengths. “How about we start today off with a light jog, something to warm you up, how does that sound?”

It was Shane who blurted out an answer. “That sounds great, Sir.” The man just smiled a toothy grin and turned to face Shane, who knew the moment he saw the grinning face that he had made a grave mistake.

“Good, very good, let’s go for a jog then.”

Five hours later they were lying on the ground panting, trying desperately to catch their breath. Hayden’s whole body, inside and out, felt like it was on fire and Hayden could see that the others were feeling the same. They had done so much more than just run, although running had been a big part of it. They had run through obstacle courses, almost all of which Hayden did not even attempt do to his injuries. He had a hard enough time just keeping up with group while they ran.

Their clothes were ripped, torn and covered in sweat and dirt. It was impossible for Hayden to say who had done better because they had all four done so badly. By the time they had made it to the last few obstacles, which involved climbing over a wall that was almost ten feet high and then running across a fallen log that was suspended over a mud hole, they couldn’t even try it.

“Come on, just get over that one wall, what are you going to do in a battle and there is a wall in front of you; sit down and huff and puff like a bunch of old ladies?” their trainer had yelled at them, and he actually had done nothing but yell at them the whole morning. He was always yelling and telling them that they had to earn everything. If one of them needed water or to go relieve themselves, he would tell them no, that they had to earn the right to do it.

Apparently they had worked hard enough to earn a few minutes of rest and water. Haden sat up against a tree and he had finally caught his breath enough to get a few sips of water before he started panting again. Hayden hadn’t spoken to Draek very much but he could feel that Draek was feeling the same way; worn out. Hayden had thought that he was in good shape compared to all the overweight men that had lived in Erskine, but he found out that he was just skinny, not in good shape.

Hayden tried to relax and not move at all while they had the time to rest. Draek….I am not sure how much more of this I can take, every inch of me is hurting.

I know, me too, but we have to keep it up. This is only our first day; we have a whole year to go. Hayden’s heart sank as he thought about the next year of this, but Draek was right, and they did not want to be messengers, they wanted to fight and be free. Hayden wanted to continue speaking with Draek but he could feel him being pulled away and going back to his own training. He looked up at the sun and realized it was still early morning.

They had been woken up before the sun had came out, which was only a few hours after Hayden had finally gone to sleep, and they had run out of Celestial city and into the forest right outside the gate. By the time that they had made it to the woods the sun was just starting to light the sky up but it hadn’t broken over the horizon yet.

There was a low thick fog that hung all around them and the morning dew that lay like a blanket on the forest floor soaked their boots instantly. They had to follow their trainer closely or they would have gotten lost in the forest.

He seemed to run down trails that Hayden had a hard time seeing when he tried to look ahead at where they were going. They came to the clearing that had the first few obstacle courses, their trainer had even said that they weren’t going to do the full run through that he only wanted to see what we could do.

The first few exercises were to pick up various size leather bags that weighed different amounts and place them on pegs that were nailed into trees. They could all pick up the smaller ones, and Hayden was happy that a few of the larger ones that Giles and Sebastian couldn’t pick up he was able to lift. Shane was the one who excelled the most at this task, he was able to lift some of the biggest ones, and there were only a two bags that were too heavy for him to get on the pegs.

Once they had done that they each had to take one of the bags, at their trainer’s choice, and run to the next clearing where their next obstacle would be. They each grabbed their bags and ran; the clearing wasn’t far but when they did get there they were already sweating heavily and starting to breath hard. At the clearing they placed their bags down and they lined up in front of their trainer.

“Here, your second challenge is me. All you have to do is what I say, exactly as I say it.” Hayden and the others went through almost two hours of stretches and various pushups and sit ups and many other kinds of workouts that made muscles that Hayden had not know he had hurt. After they had finished there the obstacles became further apart, which meant that they had to run more. Soon their pace had gone from a steady run to barley faster than a walk.

The morning had been nothing but running and working out, this was the first real break they had gotten. Shane looked like he had fallen asleep under his own tree. Their trainer was covered in sweat like they were but he was not breathing hard, nor was he even sitting down in the shade; instead he was standing near a small shallow stream that they had filled their water skins from.

“Alright boys, I think we have done enough of the basic stuff for today. Now we will head back to the city so you can start your second training.” Hayden had never done anything as hard as getting up from under the tree. He noticed that the others were having just as hard a time as he was. Once they started their jog, slightly faster than a normal walk, some of the pain in his muscles went away but others flared up again. It took them less time to get back to the giant metal walls since they could run straight there and did not have to stop at the obstacle courses.

They trudged through the gate, and finally came to rest in front of a small fountain in the middle of a wide street. The street was surrounded by mostly black smiths, but it was also up against one of the smaller barracks.

They had all but collapsed onto the metal curb around the fountain; their trainer told them to wait there till someone came to get them. They sat leant up against the fountain, listening to water fall and splash onto the metal cobbled streets. Hayden leant his head back against the cold metal bowl that made up the base of the fountain and closed his eyes.

He barley heard the footsteps that clanked against the street as someone drew nearer. Hayden figured it was someone just passing through and decided to ignore them, he tried to communicate with Draek but he was too weak and tired to do it, he could feel Draek and he decided that was enough.

Hayden felt something strike the bottom of his boot and he would have jumped right up to figure out what it was but all he could manage was to open his eyes. He met the gaze of a young, tall man, wearing the same grey pants as everyone else but instead of the grey shirt he was wearing a shining metal breast plate.

“You all must be the new riders. I am Tynan, your battle instructor.” Tynan had a thick accent, and when he had finished speaking he made a deep bow to the group. “Now if you will follow me we can begin your combat training.” Tynan turned smoothly on his heels and took long, powerful strides into the barracks.

 

 

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 11

 

 

Hayden and the others got up and followed Tynan through the doors leading into the barracks. Hayden noticed that Tynan was taller than him and had a very dark tan; he also had long black hair that he had pulled in a tight ponytail. Hayden saw that he carried a long wide sword on his back and he had a shorter, thin sword on his hip that his hand hadn’t moved from since he walked up. They did not have to walk far but Tynan kept moving his head from side to side as if he were waiting for an attack to come at any moment.

              He stood by the open door until all four of them had passed through; Cass still hadn’t joined them, and Tynan closed the door behind them. Hayden heard a series of clicks and clanks as Tynan worked a series of locks that he had on the door, checking each one twice. Hayden took the time that he was working all the locks to look around and take in the room; for it was one large room with a stair well leading up a floor and down a floor.

              The room was open and had hundreds of weapons, some Hayden had never even dreamed of, covering the walls. There was one bookshelf stuffed with books just like in Estraken’s library. There were a few cushions to sit on and another door on the far wall that was closed.

              “You may have a seat over on the far wall,” Tynan said. The four slowly made their way to the cushions and collapsed down again. They waited silently; the only sound was their own heaving breathing and the sporadic gasp of pain when someone moved a sore muscle.

Tynan moved smoothly across the room, taking far less steps then Hayden thought he would have had to take. He walked to each of them to ask if they were ok. Then he shouted a command and a young man came running in carrying a bucket of water for them to drink.

              They drank the water and Tynan insisted that they remain sitting while he spoke to them. He called in six other people, who all were wearing the same metal breastplates that Tynan was wearing. They all stood in a row, chests out and heads held high. Hayden could tell that they were all much stronger then he was.

              “Now there is no point trying to train you today, you are all worn and broken. You would do nothing but hurt yourselves or others. Watch my apprentices for today and see what I will be teaching you. Soon your morning training will not take such a toll on your bodies, and then we will truly begin.” Hayden was relieved to hear that they weren’t going to have to work out some more. He was going to try to watch and learn as much as he could without falling asleep.

              Draek, how is your training going? Hayden decided to take the time he had to speak with Draek while Tynan spoke with his apprentices and told them what he wanted done. Hayden could feel that Draek was tired and his thoughts came slow and sluggish.

              We are finished with our first training like you are; we are now resting on a hillside in the sun. We will continue resting till lunch then we will do our combat training. Hayden could tell that Draek was just as tired as he was and that he wanted to rest. Hayden did not respond, but paid attention to Tynan.

              Tynan had moved out from in front of them and had sat down with them. Hayden watched as the young men stood, just like statues, never moving. Hayden thought that they might have forgotten what they were supposed to do when Tynan spoke.

              “The first thing you must learn is discipline. They will wait for hours until they are given their next command; battle stance.” Tynan did not yell the words or change his tone at all when he said the last two words but as soon as he said them the young men burst into movement. They all reached behind them with their right hand and pulled out the same style blade that Tynan wore.

They then moved their right leg back, bent their knees and put their left hand in front of them like they were reaching for something. They did not make a noise when they moved and they all moved at the same time and with the same speed. Once they had moved into their new position they froze in place; Hayden could not even tell if they were breathing.

              “You see how they answer the command perfectly, without hesitation? They work together, as one unit. When the heat of battle is on and others lose themselves and begin hacking and slashing wildly at their enemies, my men will keep their focus. Now let’s try the Spinning Storm.” Tynan leaned back and smiled when he finished talking.

              Hayden watched as the group of men started making smooth slashing movements, starting above their right shoulder and bringing the blade down to towards their left side, then switching the move so that they cut an imaginary X in front of them. Then they started spinning in circles and their blades spun from one hand to the other, slashing in the same X but all around them so it appeared that they were surrounded by blades.

              They all kept in sync with each other so no one was ever touched by another’s blade, but once they had done three rotations every other one crouched and spun their blades, fully extended, in one more complete circle. The men in between them who had not done that move jumped high to avoid the blade and when their feet hit the ground they did the same motion but while standing up. Anyone standing near them would have either been sliced at the legs, or if they somehow managed to avoid the crouching circle, they would have been cut across the chest.

              The six men were not breathing heavily or showing any sign that they were tired from what they had just done, which Hayden knew would have winded him. They held their crouching and standing positions for three seconds then they all put their blades in their sheaths and stood straight like statues again. Tynan Stood and dismissed them, and he beamed at the four riders that sat before him.

              “Now you have seen what I will teach you. You will be able to use every weapon you see here and use it well. I will teach you how to control your body perfectly, how to fight and win. You will be able to work together as they just did, but you will also be able to work on your own.” Tynan walked over to the book self and opened a metal box that Hayden had not noticed before. He placed both his hands into the box and Hayden heard the clinking sounds of metal on metal.

              Tynan slowly pulled his hands out and turned to face the four riders. Hayden was shocked because it looked like Tynan had dragon claws for hands. From his elbow down to his wrist was a copper metal that looked like scales, but instead of being flush against his skin like a dragons would have been, the scales stuck out like spikes. His hand was coved in the same scale spikes but only smaller, and each finger was made up of spiked links of metal that came to sharp points at his finger tips. Tynan flexed his hands, and when his fingers were extended the spikes on his fingers linked together but when he made a fist they went back to the individual spikes.

              “This is a dragon rider’s main weapon; these are dragonauts. They are a part of your armor and you will wear them in every battle.” One of the men who had just been doing Tynan’s demonstration came back in and carried with him something that looked like a man made out of straw and loosely covered in cloth. He set it down just out of arms reach of Tynan.

              “This is one of our archery targets. You will get more acquainted with these later on.” Tynan lowered his head and took a deep breath. The man who had brought in the archery target pulled out his blade, silently and swiftly. He ran past the target without making a noise, even as he crossed the floor, and brought the blade down straight on top of Tynan’s head.

              Tynan moved even faster than the one attacking him. Hayden was starting to think he was seeing things as the fighters were getting blurry. It wasn’t because Hayden was exhausted but because they were moving too fast. Tynan threw his left arm up and knocked the blade out of the way with his guarded forearm.

Tynan and the man moved in circles, Tynan blocking each one of his attacks using the dragonauts. All of a sudden the man holding the blade jumped off the side and Tynan ran at the archery target.

              Tynan started punching and slashing at the target, straw went everywhere and ribbons of cloth fell in large clumps to the floor. The archery target was all but destroyed when Tynan hit its head with the back of his hand. Part of the scale spikes on his forearm caught the fabric, but when his hand made contact with the target it exploded with straw. When his dragonaut left the target Hayden could not see where the fake head had been. 

              Tynan was barely breathing hard when he turned around to put the dragonauts back into the box. Hayden tried to lean forward on his seat, but his stomach would not let him get up.

              “That is why it is a dragon rider’s main weapon. You can’t drop it like you can a sword, or run out of it like arrows. It works in tight spaces and it does terrible damage. When you do what I did to this target to a real person in battle, the enemies sees that and it will terrify them to see you tear a man to shreds with your hands.” Tynan came back and sat in the center of the room.

              They continued to talk for a while longer before Tynan told them it was time to eat lunch. Hayden had thought he was not sore anymore because he hadn’t moved in a while, but as he started walking all the stiffness just added on to the pain that he had accumulated though out the day.

              They slowly made their way back to Metallic Pyramid, and Hayden listened to the others grumble and complain about how much they hurt, and it made Hayden feel better about his own pain. They were led by Tynan, and Hayden still felt like he had no idea where anything was in the pyramid. Draek was still resting and was ignoring all of Hayden’s thoughts.

              “Draek told me that they would be doing combat training after lunch, but he is still resting. Have you heard from Rilora at all?” Hayden asked Shane.

              “Not since she started resting on the hillside, but they will be ok; they are probably about to start their combat training.” Shane did not seem worried to Hayden and that helped him feel better about the long silence he was getting from Draek.

              “Don’t worry about your scaled friends, they are alright. They need longer to rest then you do, but after you eat you will go back to Estraken’s library for more lessons. Your dragons will meet you after that.” Tynan walked past them and opened a door to a well lit room full of long tables.

              There were over a hundred people sitting scattered around the tables, and the tables were not even half full. Most everyone in the room was wearing the same grey training clothes that Hayden and the other new riders were wearing.

              “This is one of the dining halls, it happens to be the closest one to where we train and it is not far from Estraken’s library.” Tynan went and sat down at an empty table and motioned for them to do the same. Hayden limped over and slowly sat down on the opposite side of the table.

              “Who are all these people?” he asked.

              “Oh, there are a few from every trade here; you have first year ground solders over there, the ones wearing the same thing as you. They are mostly made up of the men that tried for eggs and failed, or some of them knew they would not get an egg so they didn’t try for one at all.” A young girl, probably close the Hayden’s age, came with a large pitcher full of water and an arm full of metal cups, one for each of them.

              Walking right behind her was a large bellied man with a giant pot of steaming soup that he placed on the table and walked off as soon as it was down. The girl followed him, but she returned swiftly carrying bowls and spoons and a platter full of bread.

              They put off talking as they each filled their bowls up with the hot soup. Hayden finished off the first bowl with using only bread and not touching his spoon at all. The other three were acting just like Hayden and their actions caused Tynan to laugh as he savored his own food. They were finishing up their second and third bowls when Tynan started to fill up his second bowl.

              “As I was saying, they are training to be part of the ground army. Their training will last half a year and then they will be put into the main army. They are doing the same physical training that you all are doing, just for a shorter time. Then there are a few archers, the ones that don’t have right sleeves on their shirts. The ones over in the corner by themselves help take care of the animals and dragons throughout the city.” The four riders looked everywhere that Tynan pointed to, but they did not stop shoveling soup and bread into their mouths.

              “There are mostly Karons here though.” Tynan finished off half of his water.

              “What are Karons?” Hayden had never heard the word before. Hayden was expecting Tynan to answer but he was surprised when it was Sebastian who spoke.

              “Karons are the workers of Celestial City. They are made up of slaves, people trying to avoid going to the dungeons for crimes or some who just couldn’t master a craft, so the Karons where the only place to go. It does not pay anything, but you get three meals and a place to sleep so for some it’s not bad.” Sebastian must really be exhausted because he wasn’t being mean, he spoke to me like a friend would, Hayden thought to himself.

              “Anyone who is from Celestial City knows that though, only outsiders have to ask such a dumb question. You really have a long way to go before you are even equal to a child from the city.” Sebastian and Giles both started laughing at Hayden as his face began to flush with anger.

              He will never be friendly to us, it is not who he is. Draek’s thoughts came back clearer then they had all day. Hayden almost jumped from surprise when he heard his dragon’s voice again. No one seemed to notice him jump except for Tynan.

              “I believe your dragon is now awake, Hayden?” Tynan laughed as he watched Shane, Giles and Sebastian each get the lost look that riders got when they concentrated on talking to their dragons. “I take it by your silence that all of them have woken up?”

              Shane smiled widely and Giles and Sebastian just nodded. Hayden could feel that Draek was still tired and worn out from this morning’s exercise, but he was still determined to continue on.

              “They are probably getting ready to go for their first hunt. You can all wait here while I go tell Estraken that you will be a little late. You all need to focus on your dragons and watch them on their first hunt. It is a big step and it would be a good idea for you to share it with your dragons.” Tynan stood up and walked out of the room.

              Hayden looked at Shane and shrugged his shoulders. He watched as new Karons came and cleared the table; they pretended not to notice the four riders and they just worked around them.

              Draek, are you about to go hunt? Hayden asked Draek. Draek did not respond in words but in images as a dragon that’s paws were larger then Draek was gave him images where to hunt. The large dragon crouched down and Draek climbed onto his back; the dragon was a silver and it wore a saddle that fit all four young dragons and could have fit many more.

              Hayden watched the images that Draek sent to him; he saw the large dragon spread its wings and take to the sky. Hayden closed his eyes and concentrated on Draek, the images starting becoming more realistic and they started coming faster. The silver dragon flew over what looked like an ocean of trees, and there was a clearing, which looked like an island in the forest that the dragon was angling towards. The giant landed and the four dragonets jumped off and bounded off at full speed in different directions.

              Hayden watched the images of trees, bushes and overgrown roots fly by as Draek hunted for something. Hayden felt Draek’s sense of communication drop as he surrendered to his instincts and searched for something to quench the fire in his stomach.

              All of a sudden he stopped running and stood completely still with his head extended in the air. Hayden could tell Draek had heard something and Draek slowly lowered his head to the forest floor and began sniffing like a hunting dog. There was a small stream that Draek jumped over, and when he landed on the bank on the other side he looked down and saw a clear print in the wet dirt. The print was that of a large deer.

              Draek looked around and found a few more prints that went along the river bank and he sprinted off in the same direction. Draek followed the prints to a small clearing in the forest; the trees broke and let rays of sun fall down into the thick green grass. There was a small mound near the center of the clearing and on the mound stood a large buck.

              The buck was the same size as a horse, bigger than any deer Hayden had ever seen in his life and its antlers were thick with a wide spread. Draek quickly glanced at the surrounding trees, and he could see where the buck had been scraping its antlers against the bark.

              Draek, don’t go after it, it’s bigger than you, and look at the antlers. Just back up and find another one. Hayden tried to get Draek’s attention off of the massive buck, but instead Draek crouched down low and started slowly moving forward.

              Draek must have stepped stick and all of a sudden the buck turned and was facing Draek. Hayden expected the buck to run from a dragon, but it seemed to not even think that was an option. Instead it stomped its hooves on the hill and started grunting and doing something that sounded like blowing its noise.

              Draek stopped moving forward and stood to his full height. He then gave a low growl and dug his claws into the ground. The buck stomped its hooves harder and started thrashing its head from side to side. When that did not convince Draek to leave it lowered its head and pointed it antlers at Draek. Without warning the buck shot at Draek like an arrow and gave a long grunt as it swiftly closed the distance.

              Draek pushed off at the same time, as if he had anticipated its movements, and tried to match the bucks speed. Draek was still weakened from the exercises earlier that day so his first burst of speed slowed down dramatically. The two were about to collide when Draek suddenly reared up and opened his wings wide. The move was enough to startle the buck and cause him to dig his hooves into the ground, causing the soft grass to become dislodged from the earth.

              As the buck slowed down its headlong charge it raised its head back to avoid the collision with the now bigger dragon. When the buck had turned its head to the side Draek struck at its exposed neck and clamped his jaw right below the bucks head. The second the buck realized that Draek had bitten him on the neck and was not letting go it began thrashing about and trying everything to get Draek off and get away.

              Draek and the buck began rolling around in the clearing and Draek wrapped his tail around the buck and grabbed it with all four claws. Once Draek had the buck restrained he made a quick jerking movement and Hayden heard a loud crack and knew that the fight was over.

              Even though the buck had stopped kicking, Draek did not let go of it. He waited for a few seconds, and even gave it one more shake to make sure it was dead. Then he released his kill and spread his wings out over the buck’s body and roared with all his might at the sky. Hayden saw countless birds take flight from the surrounding forest until he became aware that someone was shaking his body.

              “Young man, you must stop, you must stop right now!” An older lady had grabbed him and was shaking him. Hayden realized that he had been holding on to the table so hard that his knuckles had turned white and his hands were cramping. His throat felt raw and on fire and he heard someone yelling at the top of their lungs. The lady kept shaking him and Hayden finally figured out that he was the one screaming; he had yelled just like Draek had roared.

              “Where do you think you are, acting like that?” The lady, knowing she had gotten Hayden’s attention, stormed off towards the kitchen grumbling under her breath about young men acting like animals.

              Hayden turned to look at the others, but they all had their eyes closed and appeared to be deep in thought. Hayden smiled to himself knowing that Draek had gotten the first kill out of the group. His mind wondered back to the size of the buck and just how big its antlers had been.

              Hayden focused on Draek again and found that just the few minutes of eating the deer had already calmed him down enough so that he could talk again.

              Draek, how do you feel now? Draek did not respond and Hayden could feel his confusion as to where the voice had come from, then he remembered that he had a rider and continued to eat as he communicated with Hayden.

              I am much better now that I have eaten. I felt you watching me while I hunted and I am glad that you were here for it.

              Hayden felt joy and pride well up inside his chest as he listened to his dragon. I am very impressed that you took down such a large buck; I have never seen such a large deer before.

              I hope all our hunts go this well. Draek replied as he took another bite from the animal.

              Well once you are as big as a mountain and you can fly and breathe fire I don’t see how a hunt will go bad. Hayden laughed and he felt the same rumble in his head that let him know the Draek was laughing too.

              Giles and Sebastian both started blinking a lot, and they both had a confused look on their face for a few seconds till the remembered that they were in their own bodies again. Hayden was sure that they did not care to hear how his and Draek’s hunting had gone, so he was content to say nothing.

              “What’s wrong with you, are you really that dumb?” Giles asked; anger was burning through his eyes. Sebastian looked just as mad, but he was turning red like he was having a hard time breathing.

              “What are you talking about?” Hayden replied; I really wish they would leave me alone. He projected his thoughts out to Draek. Draek showed him an image of him hunting down their dragons in the woods and repeating what he had done to the buck to them.

              Hayden had to use all his self control not to burst with laughter or agree with Draek and send him off hunting their dragons. He was able to remain calm, and told Draek to just continue with whatever it was he was doing. Draek seemed not to care either way so Hayden returned back to the conversation he was having with Giles and Sebastian.

              “What your dragon did out there you idiot. He could have gotten our dragons hurt.”

              “I still don’t know what it is you are talking about, what did Draek do that was so bad? All he did was hunt a deer and kill it, how could that have gotten anyone hurt?” Hayden did not understand why they were so mad but whatever their reason it was starting to make him mad by how they were talking about Draek.

              “All your dragon did was bugle out that he had killed a buck so that everything in the forest got startled and all the deer got terrified. The one we were hunting actually tried to fight us. If it wouldn’t have been for my quick thinking Kurok and I would be dead.” Giles stood up and stormed out of the room. He kept his fists clenched up tight and he looked back a few times as if he had something more to say. Sebastian was still red, but he followed in silence.

              Hayden decided to wait for Shane, who still hadn’t stirred from his connection with Rilora. Hayden worried that it was going to take a long time when finally Shane opened his eyes. He seemed to know exactly where he was because he did not look confused or disoriented. He just smiled at Hayden and started to get up.

              “Where are you going?” Hayden asked as Shane threw his leg over the bench he had been sitting on.

              “We have to go meet up with Estraken don’t we?”

              “We do, but what happened, how did your hunt go? It took you the longest to come back so I figured I would wait for you.” Shane seemed to think about what Hayden had said and when he realized that both Giles and Sebastian were gone he sat down and a smile broke out across his face.

              “Well, Rilora was the last one to get off the giant dragon. We watched Draek jump off right before the dragon touched down. The other two silvers went off together not long after Draek was gone. Rilora hit the ground and just started sniffing around. She told me there was no point tiring herself running through the woods without knowing if she was getting close to anything.” Shane caught the eye of one of the kitchen Karons and asked if he could have more to drink since they had already cleared their table right after Hayden’s outburst.

              “So she finally caught a sent from a deer and she ran after it just like the others had. She was amazing; she would sprint for a while and then she would stop to make sure she was still following the scent. She found the deer by a little waterfall, nothing more than ten feet high, and she slowly stalked it till she was right behind it. She was about to strike when Draek roared and it scared both the deer and Rilora half to death.

              “I could feel her heart pounding in my head as the deer turned to face her. The deer was about to bolt and I completely froze up. I had no idea what to do, I thought that the deer was about to disappear and Rilora was going to have to start again.  Luckily the few second hesitation by the deer was all that Rilora needed.

              “She slashed with her claws at the deer’s neck before it was aware that she had moved. It ran about seven feet and then it just lay down and the hunt was over. How about you, how did yours go?” Hayden had listened to Shane as he retold what had happened to him. He could not help but feel guilty for Draek’s roar that could have gotten Rilora hurt, but he was happy that nothing bad had happened.

              Hayden went through and told Shane about how their hunt had gone, and when they had finished talking they started heading down the corridors to Estraken’s library. They walked for a few minutes before they realized that they were lost. They tried to backtrack, but they could not find where they had started from.

              Hayden was finally able to find someone who could show them to the library, and as they got there Giles and Sebastian were both already there and in mid lesson.

              “So you boys do want to learn, that’s good because I was starting to think that all you wanted to do was fly messages around. Now I will not repeat myself so you will have to find out about what we have covered so far from these two.” Estraken pointed at Giles and Sebastian, who were both facing them with wicked grins on their faces.

              “Now as I was saying; you will want to make sure that your dragon is eating until it is completely full. They won’t let them hunt every day, so on the days that they eat here or they fail at hunting, you must make sure that they do not go hungry. A dragon will grow faster and larger if there is plenty of food. They must also eat both the hair and the bones of their meals. It will help with digestion and there are lots of nutrients in the bones.”

              Hayden and Shane sat down quickly and Hayden tried to take everything in. This was all information that was going to help him and Draek. Shane was sitting on the edge of his seat and listening just as intently as Hayden was. Hayden had to do his best not to communicate with Draek because he kept getting images and thoughts of Draek play fighting with Rilora in a ditch while their dragon instructors walked them through their fight.

              Hayden could feel that Draek was having fun, but that he was also taking it very seriously. Hayden almost jumped when a surge of triumph came pouring in as Draek pinned Rilora down and won their first fight.

              Estraken never seemed to notice anything around him, he just continued to teach whether any of them were listening or not. Hayden listened to him talk about what animals were good to eat and which were not. He started to tell them about what to expect to happen to their dragons in the next few months when he stopped mid sentence.

              “You will first notice that they will start flapping their wings open and closed more, that is the first sign that they are almost ready to fly. Then they will……. You may now return to your rooms, your dragons will meet you there shortly.” He started putting up all the scrolls and books that he had opened during their lesson and ignored their questioning gazes as he did so.

              The four young riders slowly got up and headed back to their rooms to await their dragons. Hayden and Shane walked a little faster than Giles and Sebastian so they soon where out of their earshot.

              “What do you think that was all about, ending our lesson like that?” Hayden asked Shane as they made their way through the corridor that would lead them to their rooms. This was one of the few ways they knew how to go without getting lost.

              “I am not sure, but have you noticed that there are a lot fewer people around here then there are normally. Actually, I don’t think we have seen anyone since we left Estraken’s.” Shane looked behind them just to make sure that they had not passed anyone without realizing it.

              “We haven’t seen anyone, were can they all be?” Hayden asked, knowing Shane did not have an answer to his question.

              “They have been called away.” A voice came from around the corner that they were about to pass. The voice had startled Hayden and Shane so that they both stopped walking. They took the last few steps to the corner a found a young boy, less than half as tall as Hayden, leaning against the wall.

              “Who are you?” Shane asked. “And how do you know that they have been called away and what does that mean?”

              “My name is Harth; my father is Artues the silver. I was with him when the call went out; all the dragons and riders that are able to fight have left Celestial City.” Harth spoke very calmly as if this sort of thing happened all the time. Although Harth answered the questions Shane had asked him the way he did so just made new questions.

              “What is the call, and where have they all gone, is there a fight about to happen, are we at war?” Hayden blurted out all his questions in one breath. Harth smiled a little kid smile and laughed but did he was not thrown off by Hayden’s questions.

              “They call is when someone of high rank decides it’s time to do something that involves a lot of dragons. The person’s dragon then sends out what they want to happen to leaders under them and then those spread the word down to the next level of people until finally the message gets to everyone. My father’s dragon heard the call from his leader’s dragon and then he passed it on to the riders that fly under him.

              “My father did not tell me if they were going to be fighting or if this was just a drill to see how long it would take them to be ready to fight if an enemy was attacking.”

              Draek, is what he saying true, are there any other dragons in Celestial City?

              He is speaking the truth, they are all gone except for a few that are to sick or to hurt to fly. Can you hurry up back to our room, I am already here. Draek asked, Hayden was still worn out and he could feel that Draek was just as tired.

              I am on my way, I will be there soon, he reassured Draek.

              “Do you know when they will be back?” Hayden asked.

              “They will come back when they are finished doing what they need to do,” Harth replied.

              “Harth, come inside now.” A door further down the corridor that Harth was standing in opened and a voice came from within the room. Harth turned and ran to the door with no regard for Shane or Hayden.

              “What do you think is going on?” Shane asked Hayden as they started walking again.

              “I have no idea, but Draek will tell me when the dragons get back, by then he will probably know everything.” Hayden knew that all the dragons talked to each other about everything, so if Draek did not have an answer to something he would just ask the other dragons.

              “Rilora is always talking to the other dragons here. We need to hurry back though; she is starting to get restless about having me back there.” They sped up their walk until they got to their rooms. Hayden said goodbye to Shane and went in to see Draek.

              Draek was laying flat on the floor with his wings completely extended and resting on the floor. Hayden walked over to him and sat down beside him; Draek slowly lifted his head up and opened his silver eyelids.

              Hayden talked Draek into getting up and walking to the cleaning stalls. He wanted to give him a full cleaning because he was covered in dirt and grime that he had collected from the day’s training, but Draek was having a hard time staying awake as Hayden started cleaning. Hayden decided just to clean the dirt off and oil him so he would be comfortable through the night.

              When Hayden had finished getting the dirt off he walked Draek back to their room and then returned by himself to the stalls to get the oil. He oiled Draek back in their rooms and Draek fell asleep halfway through it.

              Shane knocked on the door after he had finished taking care of Rilora, Hayden was worried that they would wake up Draek, but Shane just laughed at his concern.

              “They are so tired they could sleep through anything right now,” Shane said.

              Shane and Hayden talked for a few minutes about all the dragons and riders leaving, thinking about different ideas that got more and more outlandish as they spoke. The entire time Draek did not even stir from his sleep while they talked.

              “How about we go and get some supper? The dining hall isn’t far from here and if the dragons need anything they can call us and we will be right back.” As soon as Shane mentioned food Hayden’s stomach started to growl, and Shane took that as an answer.

              They made the short trip to the dining hall, which was completely empty except for the Karons who were serving them. They ate steamed potatoes with a thick beef stew and boiled vegetables. They did not talk much while they ate, but once they were finished they decided to go back to their rooms. They sat outside Hayden’s room and watched the sun set over the high metal walls.

              “What do you think Cass did today? She didn’t train with us or go to our lesson, I think it’s weird that they keep her away from us so much, she is a rider just like us after all.” Hayden sat down on the cold metal floor and leaned against the base of the pyramid.

              “She isn’t like us, Hayden, you aren’t even like me. You are a silver rider and I am a copper rider. You will always be held above me no matter what, and as much as you and I are different, Cass is much more important than both of us put together. She is a rider of a gold dragon. There is a chance that you and I might one day sit on thrones, but Cass is almost guaranteed to sit on the throne and rule over Arvain.”

              “You don’t know that she will get to do that anymore then we will.” Hayden did not like that someone could be set above him just because their dragon was a different color than his.

              “Hayden, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of copper riders that I would have to be better than to sit on the throne. You have less competition, but you probably still have a few hundred other silver riders, but Cass has only a handful of gold riders with her. Most of them are too old to rule; the only person who could take the throne from her is sitting on the throne now. She will sit on the throne one day.”

              Before Hayden could respond the air around them started blowing hard, Hayden’s ears popped and it sounded like thunder was rolling on top of them. Hayden thought the sky was falling on of them.

              Hayden looked up, and through the clouds dropped hundreds of dragons with riders sitting on their backs. Hayden had never seen so many dragons; most were about normal compared to the ones he had seen, but Hayden saw a few that wingspans blotted out whole dragons.

              Hayden watched as they started to land in the pyramid, and the larger ones continued on to the fields past the city. Hayden could not hear anything but the roars of hundreds of dragons and flapping of thousands of wings. After a few minutes of chaos the sound died down enough for them to yell at each other and be heard.

              Shane yelled something about it being amazing, but Hayden could not be sure if he heard him right. Hayden was still amazed by the different formations that they flew in and how even though the sky was full of dragons, who’s different shades of metallic scales reflected to now deep red sun, without even coming close to colliding in mid air.

              Hayden noticed a few dragons that seemed to be struggling to stay in the air; some even flew with their heads hanging low almost pointing at the ground far below them. Hayden knew they did not leave in that condition.

              “It looks like this was not just for training,” Hayden yelled to Shane. Shane looked at him confused until Hayden pointed up at the wounded dragons flying in last. Shane’s eyes got wide and he nodded in agreement with Hayden.

              “It looks like we are about to find out what happened today that could call every dragon out of Celestial City and bring some of them back wounded,” Shane shouted back to Hayden; it was now Hayden’s turn to nod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 12

             

 

Hayden and Shane both went back into the pyramid through the large dragon entrance they had gone out of. Hayden walked over to Draek, but he was still asleep.

              “I guess we will have to actually go find someone who knows what’s going on,” Hayden told Shane when Draek did not wake up. They both went to the door and started heading through the corridors looking for anyone who would know what had happened.

              It did not take long till the walkways were full of people running in different directions, all screaming something different. Hayden and Shane both tried to stop people to ask them what was going on but they kept getting pushed out of the way. They started to see glints of armor throughout the crowd as dragon riders started to enter the already crowded corridors.

              They did not see anyone they knew and the riders were surrounded by people so they could not get anywhere near them to ask what was going on. They were pushed down an empty corridor that they decided to follow just to get away from the throngs of yelling people. They never expected to run into a familiar face.

              “Benet, are you ok, what happened today? What’s going on?” Hayden asked. Benet had been walking through the all but abandoned corridor slowly, he was dragging his feet and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. He was wearing his armor, except his helmet and his dragonauts. He looked up when he heard his name and gave the two young riders a slight smile.

              “Well hello, you two, I am surprised to see you up this late. Normally the first years are passed out early after their first day of real training.” He even spoke like a man half dead. Benet was unable to keep his head up for longer than a few seconds. He stumbled a few times so Hayden and Shane both helped him back to his room, with Benet directing them through the twisting halls and flights of stairs that they had not been through yet.

              Once there, Benet pulled a rope that was near the door and in just a few seconds a Karon appeared and Benet sent him running again to bring them food and drink. Hayden took a quick glance around and noticed two things right away; one was that Benet’s room was much nicer and much bigger than their rooms; the second was that Benet’s copper dragon was one of the giant ones even though it was a copper.

              Hayden was overwhelmed by the smell of ash, and the heat within the room was like almost being in a fire. Hayden started to sweat the further he went in. Hayden looked at the copper goliath, but he saw no proof that he had been in battle, no wounds of any kind.

              He was about to comment on that when he noticed on the far right wall, where Benet had his own cleaning supplies just like in their stalls, all the tools where covered in blood and gore. There had been a battle, but before Benet had done anything when they had returned, he had taken the time to clean his dragon.

              Benet went through a door to the left of the massive room and closed the door behind him. This gave Hayden time to look at the room more closely. Hayden noticed that the walls were much smother to the touch and had decorations carved around the base and ceiling. It had two soft seats that could fit two or three people each.

              The seats were placed so that they faced a fire place that was not lit at the moment. Benet’s cleaning wall had every tool that their stalls had, but some were much bigger and seemed to be made better. There was no bed or sleeping area so Hayden figured it was in the room that Benet had gone to. He wanted to look around some more but Benet returned before he could make it around the dragon.

              “Don’t worry about waking her, she will be out until morning, I couldn’t wake her up even if I wanted to.” He had changed into the normal grays that everyone seemed to enjoy wearing. He sat down heavily one on the seats and stretched out so that he took up the whole thing. Hayden and Shane sat down on the other one and waited for Benet to speak. The Karon returned with a tray full off food and three large cups of water.

              Benet quickly drank down two of the cups of water and then leisurely tore into the food they had brought him. He never took his eyes off his plate until he had cleared it and drank the last of the third cup of water.

              “So you boys are probably wondering what happened today.” He did not give them a chance to answer but continued to speak. “And I believe I would be correct to guess that you would not believe me if I told you all that it was … was a training exercise?” This time he looked at them; Hayden could tell he was half hoping that they would say yes, but neither of them said anything, neither of them even moved.

              “Didn’t think so; well I guess everyone will know by tomorrow any ways, so there is no harm in telling you guys what has happened. There was a battle tonight; we fought a large dwarf clan that was moving south out of the mountains. They appeared to be moving out of their lands and into one of the bigger clan’s lands, but our local dragon riders captured a dwarf from their group and he told our rider that they clan would turn south at the main road that leads to Celestial City.”

              Hayden was shocked to hear this but, he had been expecting it but when he looked at Shane he could tell that the news affected him much more than it had him.

              “There is no way they would try that; no one has ever even made it close enough to see the city before. What could they have expected to gain from this?” Shane asked.

Benet lowered his gaze and shook his head. “I have no idea; there were a lot of them, and when we got close I thought we were going to turn around until their red dragons took to the sky. At first it was just three or four, but once they got level with us the mountains behind them seemed to break off chunks as their dragons came to meet us.” Hayden and Shane were leaning forward on their seats, lost in Benet’s words.

              “We split up into our formations, gave each other some wing space, when they closed in on us. I think they wanted to intimidate us because they kept far away from each other to take up more of the sky. They were not ready for us, not for trained dragon fighters.” Benet took another break to take a sip from his empty cup; once he remembered it was empty he went to the rope again and asked for more, a lot more.

              “They never really had a chance, and the worst part was that they didn’t know it. Their distance between each other didn’t allow them to see what was happening to their other riders. We were able to use the same maneuvers on them, and by the time they realized they were losing it was too late.

              “Some of them were able to hide back in the mountains, but not many made it. The dwarfs that were on the ground knew the second we broke into our formations that their riders were doomed. They broke and scattered into the mountains before the first dragon fell.” The Karon had came with a cup that matched the one Benet had just emptied, but he also carried a heavy pitcher filled with water. Hayden heard the Karon tell Benet that a lot of other riders were asking for pitchers so he thought he would like one to. Benet thanked him and downed another cup before he continued.

              “Their dragons fell out of the sky as if we dropped them from our saddles. After only a few seconds they started to flee; all except for one. Their clan chief was a rider and his dragon was almost twice the size of the other reds. He stayed while the others ran and he fought harder than anyone I have ever seen when faced against an army of dragons. He downed a copper and he wounded two other coppers and a silver before we were able to force him to land.” Benet started rubbing the sides of his head as his eyes rested on his sleeping copper dragon.

              “He was strong and well minded, he kept telling us that they didn’t want to fight and that it was us who started the fight. He tried to lie to us and tell us that they were just moving to more fertile ground, that they weren’t on a war march. He begged us to not hunt down his clan, to let them go and keep him instead.” Benet started to mumble and make less sense as he finished another two cups of his drink. He finally passed out on the cushioned chair he had been sitting on.

              Shane and Hayden decided not to leave him there, so they carried him into the room that he had changed in. Hayden was glad to see that he had been right to guess that the bed was in here but there wasn’t much of anything else in there.

              The bed wasn’t just a mattress on the floor like it was in Hayden’s room, it was a nicer mattress that was razed off the floor and was setting on a metal frame. When they laid Benet down on it Hayden realized the mattress was full of soft feathers instead of straw.

              There was a large dresser near the fireplace; it was on both sides of the wall, and the only other piece of furniture was a rack that held his armor, shield and sword. Shane moved close to the dragon rider’s gear and admired it. Hayden had to almost pull him away from the stand.

He pushed Shane out of the Benet’s rooms and back into the corridor; he turned around to close the door, and Benet’s copper dragon had woken up and was looking at him with its giant copper eye. Hayden bowed slightly, and was shocked to see the dragon bow his head, and then the dragon lay back down and went back to sleep.

              They made their way back to their rooms and said their goodbyes; Hayden knew that in just a few short hours their trainer would be waking them up to start their second day of training. He went and lay next to Draek, who still hadn’t moved since Hayden had left, and succumbed to sleep.

              Hayden woke up to find Draek stretching; the torches in the room were still burning because he had forgotten to put them out. Draek nudged him with his head to make sure he was awake.

              I am up, what is it? he asked the yawing silver dragon.

              Your trainer’s dragon has told me to wake you up and tell you to get ready and meet him at the gate. He said the last one there gets a surprise, so you might want to hurry. Draek yawned one more time and Hayden rubbed his eyes, and when he opened them he was staring at a large jaw full of perfectly placed sharp teeth.

              Hayden jumped back, and that was enough to wake him up; he tried to jump up like he normally would have, but he was even more sore than he had been the previous day. The cold during the night had stiffened his muscles and he had to warm up and loosen his hurting body.

              When he got dressed, into his last clean pair of training grays, he decided to use to large exit out of his room. Draek walked with him for a while, but once they made it to the gate Draek told him this was not where he was to wait and the silver dragon continued to walk towards the river.

              Hayden was the first one at the gate, at least that’s what he thought because there was no one else there. He only had to wait five minutes before Giles and Sebastian made their way to where he stood.

              They did not talk to Hayden or acknowledge him in any way; they appeared to be content with ignoring his existence and Hayden was ok with that. Shane was the last one to make it there, he had even been jogging and was out of breath, but they had waited another ten minutes on him. Moments after Shane made it their trainer came walking out of the woods and made his way to the group.

              “So who was last, which one of you gets the surprise?” he asked as soon as they were in ear shot of him. Before Giles or Sebastian could say any kind of crude remark Shane spoke up.

              “I was, sir; I was the last one here.” The other three riders turned to face Shane, who was still fighting to catch his breath, but he was standing tall. Their trainer nodded his head with a slight grin on his face.

              “I like a man who admits to his faults before someone else can tell on him.” He continued to nod his head and Hayden guessed that he was deep in thought because he quit speaking for a few seconds. “But I said that last one here would get a surprise, so here it is.” He had been wearing a strange leather harness that Hayden hadn’t noticed until he started taking it off.

On the back of the harness were what appeared to be many over lapping metal rings. Their trainer handed it to Shane, and once the harness fell into his hands it almost pulled him to the floor.

              “This is a weighted harness that you will wear while doing my training today, and once you go to Tynan’s battle class then you may remove it. Now who knows why we did this whole ordeal this morning?” He asked the four; Shane was staring to put the harness on with much difficulty.

              “To see who was the fastest and who was the slowest.” Sebastian answered.

              “No! I had you all do this because I wanted you to learn a lesson; we can be called on at any time and while we are in any condition. I had you get ready fast and get up here while you were tired and sore. Yesterday a dwarf clan was trying to attack us. We went to meet them and ask them for truce when they attacked us. We tried to reason with them, but they had gone mad with the desire for battle. Most of the wings were up in the air in less time than it took you to get ready and get down here.”

Hayden listened to the man speak and he could tell that he was lying; he did not even try to cover up that he was lying. He just made it very clear that this was the official story that they were going to be told so they had better get used to it.

              “Now before we get started today, I wanted to inform you that from now on this is how our days will start. Your dragons will randomly wake you up when I tell them too, and then you will have to get here as soon as you can, whoever is late each day gets the harness.” He turned around and started to jog into the woods, taking the same path they had taken the day before.

              Hayden started to jog after him, but his sore body limited how fast he could go. Giles and Sebastian stayed at a speed that was close to his, but Shane quickly fell behind with the extra added weight. They made it to the first clearing and did the same strange stretches, but this time they worked out different muscles so that the ones that weren’t sore now were.

              They finished early because half way through they could no longer make a real attempt at the different challenges that their trainer threw at them. He decided to lead them to a clearing on the other side of the woods. As they got closer they heard a lot of grunting and yelling; the same sounds that they had made but much louder, coming out of many more throats.

              They walked through the last few trees and found themselves looking down at a valley full of young men and women in their working grays doing the same work outs that they had been doing.

              “When these youngsters finish the same training you all are doing, they will become part of the ground army.” Their trainer stood admiring the crowd of people below. Hayden could not count them all because they were moving around like unorganized ants. He guessed that there had to be a couple hundred of them though.

              “You will train with them once every couple of weeks to see how you rank up with them. In case you were wondering, you should be doing better than them, in everything. They are foot soldiers, nothing more. You all are riders, you all are everything. We would sacrifice every one of them twice over just to save a dragon and his rider. You might not feel like you are worth more than them, and really you’re not, but your dragon is. One day you will be worth it too, but not yet, not by a long shot.” 

              Their trainer thought that they had seen enough, so he turned them around and had them jog back to the city gates. Hayden thought it was funny how they all started off at a decent speed but it wasn’t long till their trainer was walking past them. They finally got back to the city and found Tynan waiting by the fountain again. He told them to rest by the fountain while he spoke to their trainer. Tynan walked towards the door in front of his barracks.

              Draek was concentrating on his training, so Hayden just relaxed against the cold metal and just felt his dragonet’s emotions and focused on what Draek was doing. He felt Draek’s different muscles flex and work and Draek’s adrenalin pump. Hayden knew that Draek loved the challenge and was giving it his all and it was showing; Hayden felt Draek’s pride that he had done better in every challenge than the other three dragons.

              Hayden continued to just feel Draek’s emotions and thoughts until Tynan came back and lead them into his barracks. Their trainer left in a hurry as soon as Tynan walked in; Tynan then repeated the process of locking all the locks. He then turned to face the four riders.

              “Which weapon do you think we will start you off with?” he asked as he made his way down the walls covered in weapons. He looked at them all and pointed at some, waiting for someone to answer.

              “Well you said that dragonauts where a dragon riders main weapons, I am going to say them,” Hayden said, not worried that he had been the first to speak.

              “The way you think is logical, you try to look for reason, but no, you are wrong; anyone else?”  The other answers were sword, bow, and Sebastian had pointed at some weapon he had never seen or heard of outside of the barracks. Tynan had told each of them no in turn.

              “You have all guessed wrong, you have forgotten the most important weapon of any fighter; whether they be a common soldier or even a dragon rider. What good would it do if I taught you how to use any of these weapons, but you could not control your own body? Or what would happen if you had no weapons and had to fight for your lives, what good would the spinning furry move that you saw yesterday do you?” he asked, none of them having an answer, and Shane even lowered his head.

              “Never lower your head in here, Shane The Copper, never. No matter what any of you do or do not do right in here you always hold your head up with pride. Now I know you are tired and worn out, but that is how you will feel for the next year, so we must get started now. Hayden, you answered first so you will try to hit me first. Please come and stand in front of me. The rest of you please have a seat against that wall, but don’t get to comfortable, your turns are coming.” The others, Giles and Sebastian, looked at each other while Shane continued an unemotional gaze into the center of the open room.

              Hayden stood calmly in front of Tynan and tried to control his breathing. His muscles were sore and begging him to allow them to rest, but he wanted to stay where he was. Tynan’s face showed no emotion, Hayden wondered if he even saw Hayden or if he was only looking at another opponent, weighing his strengths and weaknesses.

              “You will attack me, using only your fists. Hit me as hard as you can, as fast as you can, if you can.” Tynan smiled, but still did not move.

              Hayden made fists and held them awkwardly in front of his chest. Tynan shook his head and held his fists closer to his face so Hayden could barely see his eyes. Hayden copied his stance and then slowly moved forward; once he had made it almost half way to Tynan he ran as fast as he could and punched as hard as he could with his right hand aimed at the side of Tynan’s head.

              If Tynan was surprised he did not show it as Hayden clumsily ran at him. Hayden saw his fist flying at Tynan, and at the last second Tynan leaned back and clear out of the way. Hayden could not slow down after he had thrown his whole body into the punch, so he stumbled and fell onto the floor. Hayden heard Giles and Sebastian laugh, and he was expecting Tynan to laugh also, but instead Tynan helped Hayden up to his feet.

              “That was a good try, you gave it all you had and tried to surprise me. If you had been fighting someone who was not trained we would be trying to wake them up right now.” They continued to move around each other; Hayden punching only air and Tynan instructing him on how to better his stance. Hayden was panting and having trouble holding his fists up after a few minutes.

              “You are doing well, you have natural instinct, and we just have to refine your skill. A big reason why people loose fights, whether in battle or in the streets, is fear. Fear can be your best friend or the thing that cripples you. You must learn how to instill it in your foes and keep it out of your heart. No fear, no fear.” He shouted the last words out and Hayden heard them echoed back from people who must have been outside the barracks.

              “Do you know what your fear is, Hayden The Silver?” Tynan asked him as he leaned in closer. Hayden did not respond, but continued breathing heavily with his hands down by his sides. “You have many fears, but there is one that has been in the front of your mind since you started sparring with me. You are afraid to be hit, are you not?”

              Hayden thought about what Tynan had said. He was scared, but only because he had never really been hit before. He nodded slowly to Tynan and watched as a smile kept upon his face.

              “Accepting your fear is the first step, acknowledging it and knowing what it is that you fear is the only way you can beat your fear. Hayden The Silver, do you know how we beat our fear?” Hayden shook his head. “We face it.” Tynan said as he threw a hard right fist that connected with the side of Hayden’s head.

              Hayden had time to register that it was coming at him but he could not start to stop it. When it did hit he did not feel any pain, he felt a second of pleasure from where the fist had collided, and then everything went black. In the blackness there was nothing except the continuous echo of no fear, no fear.

              Hayden woke up in the barracks still. He had been moved so that he was leaning up against the far wall and one of Tynan’s other students was offering him water. He accepted it gratefully, but when he sat up his head started throbbing. He closed his eyes and rubbed his head, listening to his heart beat that seemed to now be in his head.

              When he finally opened his eyes he noticed that both Giles and Sebastian were lying unconscious next to him. Giles nose was swollen and both his eyes were darkening, while Sebastian had a knot swelling on the side of his head and his lips were crusted with dry blood. He heard grunting and panting that drew his attention back to the center of the room.

              Tynan was covered in sweat and laughing as he backed away from Shane. Shane had obviously been hit a few times by the blood dripping from his nose and mouth, his left eye was starting to swell closed, but he was still swinging at Tynan. Hayden was shocked to see that Tynan was not dodging like he had with him but he was having to block the fists flying at him.

              Shane was tired, but his punches still appeared to hitting hard. Tynan ducked under one of Shane’s punches and jumped into the air and hit Shane on the head. Shane dropped to one knee and shook his head. Tynan relaxed his hands and put his hands on his hips, taking deep breaths himself.

              Shane jumped back up, shocking both Hayden and Tynan, and pulled his right fist back and started to swing it forward with all his might. Tynan was faster and he leaned in and hit Shane in the center of his face.

              This time Shane went down and landed flat on his face, and this time he did not even stir. Two more of Tynan’s students came and placed Shane gently with the others. Tynan noticed that Hayden had woken up and made his way over to him. He examined his head and told him he would be fine and asked him to stand up.

              Hayden got up and slowly moved around until he was sure he wasn’t going to pass out. Tynan showed him how to properly stand and move around; they fought again, but this time much slower and without hitting each other. Tynan instructed Hayden on how to strike with the most force while using the least amount of energy. Shane was the next one to wake up, and Tynan let them practice with each other while he moved around them, giving them pointers the whole time.

              Hayden could feel the bump on his head by the time that they had finished, and Shane looked the worst out of all of them. Giles and Sebastian still hadn’t woken up, but Tynan assured them that they would be fine.

              “They had taken the worst hits so they will be out the longest. I will stay with them while you two go and eat, you do remember where the dining hall is right?” Tynan had already walked over to the two knocked out riders, but he made sure to face Hayden and Shane to make sure they knew where they were going. They both nodded their heads to their battle instructor. “Good, it won’t do us any good for you to be lost and wondering around the pyramid.”

              They said their goodbyes and unlocked the door, every one of the fifteen locks. They passed the fountain and made their way back into the over shadowing pyramid. By the time that they had made it into the dining hall they were more limping than walking. They sat down at the same table that they had the day before, the food was even the same, but they were so hungry that they didn’t care.

              They ate in silence except for when they triggered their injuries and winced in pain. Hayden focused on Draek and found him sunning on the hill just like he had the day before. He was eager, even in his worn out and sleepy state, to tell Hayden about what had happened so far in the day.

              We did some of the same things we had done yesterday, but we did obstacles also. I had to climb up a steep wall using my claws and then glide as far as I could down the other side. Hayden just listened to Draek carry on about the different things he had done until he noticed that Draek’s thoughts started getting cloudy. Draek finally fell asleep on the hillside while he was trying to communicate to him.

              “Tynan is a hard instructor isn’t he?” Hayden asked Shane; he was trying to break the silence now that Draek was asleep.

              “He is, but he is the best there is. I know that you were not raised in the city, but for the past few years everyone knows Tynan. He started off as a regular foot soldier until they realized how talented he was with almost every weapon.

              “During a battle he took a group of young men that he had trained personally and led them to the front of the line. When the other army hit the center they never made it past his group. The killed everyone that came near them and they did not lose a single man. Right after that battle they made him the dragon rider’s battle trainer; he still trains small groups of elite solders that usually become generals or some other leader in the ground troops.” Hayden had never heard any history about Tynan, and he was trying to learn all that he could.

              “If he was that good why did he not try for a dragon egg?” Hayden asked.

              “He did, but he did not make it. Tynan tried almost fifteen years ago, but he was from a small town right up against the shadow desert, so Elizabeth did not trust him enough to allow him to get an egg. She made a deal with him that if he spent two years in with the ground troops she would let him get his egg, but after he had done his two years and had proven himself she told him no. She said that he was now too old to try for an egg and he would be of much more use as a trainer rather than a rider.”

              They both got up and started heading to Estraken’s library for their lesson; neither of them had seen Giles or Sebastian yet and they weren’t going to be late waiting on them. They continued to talk while walking through the halls, Hayden asking questions about Tynan’s past and Shane telling him all the stories he had heard.

              They made it to the library and they thought that they were going to have to explain to Estraken why there where two riders missing, but as soon as they walked in the book filled room he told them that Tynan had already sent word about what had happened to Giles and Sebastian.

              “Since they will not be joining us today I thought we would do a different lesson, that way I will not have to repeat myself once they return; I do hate having to repeat myself. Anyways, today we will be doing some hands on work with this.” He had cleared off the table that was normally covered in random books and scrolls and instead the table was covered by one large saddle.

              It was the saddle for a dragon, and the saddle itself was bigger than any regular saddle Hayden had ever seen. The smallest part of it was the actual seat that the rider would sit on.

              The saddle was not made of solid leather, but of leather pouches held together with chain male, the seat part was the same size as a normal saddle though. There were multiple empty quivers on the saddle, each one would be easily accessible while ridding.