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

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

              She doesn’t like me.

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

              Does she like me?

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

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

              Do I smell funny, what could it be?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

__________________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A horn bleated four short notes and the few people that had their hoods down pulled them up over their heads, joining the faceless crowd. They all left through the flap and made their way to the arena, with Hayden lagging behind still trying to figure out the knives while walking.

Two people, a male and female, held the flaps open so that the contestants could walk out easily. They were about to close the flaps when Hayden stumbled out; he had one strap wrapped around his leg and the other one dragging on the ground behind him.

“What are they teaching riders nowadays? Come here.” The lady let her flap sway down as she walked to Hayden.

She took the straps and undid some of them, then made Hayden stand up and she showed him how to fasten them. She took one last look over the straps, pulled on all four blades and when she was satisfied that they were secure she told him to run to the arena.

Hayden listened to her and ran to try to catch up to the others; they were already in the arena. The sun was just starting to rise, throwing light colors through the sky and lighting the way for him.

The others left their hoods up as Hayden entered the arena. Some turned to face him as he ran to the stand with the others.

“I guess the young buck finally figured out how to pull up his pants. I guess we should all just forfeit the contest.” The same one that had made fun of him to start with did it again. Some of the others laughed at his second joke.

A judge was standing with the group when Hayden ran up; he let the others laugh for a second and then told them all to be quite so he could finish talking.

“As I was saying, we are allowing you all to have some practice time before the first event starts. You can each pick a target and take as many or as few shots as you want. When an hour has passed you will head back to the tent and wait there till the events start. Are there any questions?” No one had any, or if they did they did not voice them now. “Well then, good luck to all of you.”

The judge walked away from the group and Hayden noticed that the arena floor was surrounded with body size targets at various distances. Hayden put his bow in his left hand and undid the clasp that held his cape, allowing it to fall freely to the floor.

“The young buck wants to go first, well good luck boy, you’re going to need it.” The others laughed even harder at him now; it seemed all of them had joined in. Hayden picked a target that was the furthest away from them. He had tested his limits over the past year and now it was time to put all the hard work to the test.

Hayden notched an arrow and drew back smoothly until his hand came to rest near his face. He lined up his shot with the target and, judging the distance, the lifted his bow and released the arrow.

Hayden heard the twang sound when he let his right fingers go and watched the arrow soar smoothly through the air. The others were still laughing when the arrow sank home in the center of the target, right were Hayden had aimed.

“I guess that one was luck,” Hayden said as he sent a second arrow following the path of the first, and it quickly came to rest right next to the first one. “That one too; well I am warmed up, anyone else want to take a practice shot.”

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 21

 

 

Hayden stood waving at the crowd as they cheered for him. He had just finished the first event of the day and had won. It had been a simple archery event; they had to shoot at a stationary target and see who could get the most points with five arrows. Points were given out depending on how close to the center the arrow was.

              Hayden had sent thousands of arrows down range during his year in training. No one laughed at him or called him names as he sent arrow after arrow to find its home in the center of his target.

              The next event was moving targets, but this one was also timed. All the archers lined up and watched as they brought out the strange contraption that held the targets. It was made out of wood and had multiple targets resting on it, and the contraption waved them from side to side.

              Hayden had seen one similar to it at Tynan’s range but it had less parts. They each had their bows in their hands and quivers full of arrows on their backs. They wanted to see who could hit five targets the fastest. They could use more than five arrows during this event so if Hayden missed one he could make it up.

              Each contestant had a judge standing behind them, watching the contestants shoot at the targets. The moment their contestant hit all five they would hold their hand up and someone else would mark it down. That way they knew who finished first.

              They all had different colored arrows, or some even preferred different style arrow heads than others. That way once they were done they could tally up points.

              Hayden listened to the judge explain the rules for the fifth time; he was ready to get this event going. When he finished, Elizabeth gave her normal speech about how proud she was for those that were competing and other stuff that Hayden did not listen to. He was focused, and nothing was going to change that.

              “Are all combatants ready? Start the battle simulator and wait for my signal to begin shooting.” Hayden heard the wood start to creak as servants pulled on ropes and poles. The targets started moving back and forth like he thought they were going to, but he noticed that there were almost a dozen slaves holding ropes that weren’t doing anything yet.

              “Fire!” The judge yelled and Hayden drew his arrow from his quiver and notched it, but he did not draw back. He listened to the sound of all the bows flexing and the strings being pulled back and he waited to hear the strings released.

              TTTWWAANNGG. Twenty arrows at once got released and sent down range to find their targets. Once the archers let go of their strings the dozen servants that had been standing by the target worked franticly at pulling their ropes and moving their poles. 

              Some targets jumped back three feet while others shrunk down. More still rose up in the air, and soon they weren’t just standing still but they were switching spots with one another and moving up, down, back and forth and all around.

              A few of the arrows found targets, none of which hit the center, but most of them flew right through where the target had been standing. Hayden had thought that something like this was going to happen and had waited to make sure of it.

              The crowd loved it, laughing at how the contraption had made almost all the archers look foolish as they clearly missed all the targets. The archers were slower to draw their next arrows and tried to aim at the constantly moving targets.

              Hayden stayed still and tried to find a pattern, but he discovered that they moved depending on which rope they pulled. So there was no pattern, the servants just pulled and tugged and made the targets movements unpredictable.

              Hayden pulled back on his string and took aim; others had fired and were starting to get closer to hitting the targets they were aiming at. Hayden took a deep breath and focused on one target; he only looked at one in the sea of moving targets.

              He released and watched the arrow fly at the target; it hit just to the left of the center. He was happy to hit it, and be that close to the center, but he had to get closer. He had to hit dead center.

              He fired the next one at the same target, he had already been focusing on it and he did not want to move to a new one. This shot was further off, the target being jerked abruptly to the side right after he had fired.

              He reached over his shoulder and pulled out the next arrow and notched it in one smooth moment; never taking his eyes off the target. This time he drew his bow smoothly and released almost as soon as he reached full draw.

              THUD. The arrow struck in the center. He repeated the same movement just as fast.

              THUD. Forth arrow found its home in with the other three. The targets movements became faster and more drastic. The servants were pulling and pushing as hard and fast as they could.

              Hayden did not slow down; he repeated the movement one last time and lowered his bow as he watched the arrow fly through the air. The target had been leaning to the left hand side and as soon as he shot the target jerked to the other side, just where he had fired his arrow.

              THUD. The last arrow hit center and Hayden turned and watched his judge throw his hand up to signal he had finished. He turned back to look at the other targets to see how many arrows were sticking out of them.

              Four different arrows were the only ones that had found their mark. They had built a wall of straw behind the targets to catch the rouge arrows. The wall, contrary to the targets, was littered with numerous arrows. Hayden smiled to himself; he was going to have another event won.

              He waved to the cheering crowd and shouted his triumph. Draek had finally woken up in between events and was soaring to his hunting grounds when Hayden had won his second event. Hayden felt his roar through their mental link and laughed as it shook his body.

              Now you will have to go a little further because all the game will have ran away, Hayden told him.

              Draek sent him a mental image of a bear that had broken cover to run away from the roaring dragon. Not today I won’t.

              Hayden shouted some more and waved vigorously to the people yelling back at him. He saw Fendrel, Shane and Cass all sitting together cheering him on. He waved at them and they returned the gesture.

              Hayden moved off the field and made ready for the next event; he had chosen to go through with competing in all the archery and throwing knife events. There was one more archery and two throwing knife events left and Hayden was determined to win them all.

_______________________

              Hayden stormed through the last archery event; difficult trick shots. This had turned out to be a crowd favorite as they watched each one of the archers take their place and shoot at apples that were half concealed by glass plates. Hayden had no problem with this challenge and quickly won it.

              They were clearing the arena of all the archery equipment and getting ready for the knife throwing when Shane and Cass made their way on to the field to congratulate Hayden on winning the three events.

              “That was amazing!! It was like you were barley even trying out there.” Shane ran up and smacked him on the back. He had meant it to be gentle, but it still left a stinging spot on Hayden’s back.

              “None of the archers even came close to your shooting,” Cass threw in. Hayden liked being complimented by Cass, the only thing that could have made the moment better was if Shane had to go somewhere and Cass and Hayden could talk alone for a minute.

              “Thanks you guys. I am glad you all came out today; I know the archery games aren’t nearly as exciting as some of the other events.”

              “You know we would not have missed it, Hayden,” Cass replied. She looked up past Hayden as a judge made his way to the young man.

              “Rider, the knife throwing contests are about to begin, it is time to take your place.” He turned on his heels and made his way back to where some of the archers from the previous events still stood.

              “They must be the ones I am competing against,” Hayden said. He wasn’t worried, but he had hoped that less people would participate. He was good at knife throwing, but not as good as he was at archery.

              “Well we better get back up to our seats; we don’t want Fendrel to have to come searching for us.” Cass gave Hayden a quick hug and ran off. Shane put his hand on Hayden’s shoulder and gave a light squeeze.

              “Good luck, Hayden.” He too turned and followed after Cass. “Oh, Fendrel invited us back to his place again tonight. He said this time he will have food for us!” He had to yell as he got further away.

              I am glad they have becomes friends with Fendrel. He needs all the friends he can get right now, Hayden told Draek. He wanted to talk to him for a second because once the event started he would be trying to concentrate again and that meant shutting out Draek.

              We all need all the friends we can get, but yes I am glad to. The old man being happy means a lot to me. Draek let his appreciation for Fendrel slip into Hayden’s mind. Hayden knew that Draek cared for the man, because if things had gone differently than Fendrel would be Draek’s rider.

              Hayden smiled; when Draek was happy it was easy for him to be happy. He made his way to where the group was waiting. The man who had been making fun of him spoke for the first time since Hayden had won the first archery event.

              “You’re not participating in this event too, are you?” he asked.

              “I am,” Hayden responded. He still did not like the man and saw no reason to explain himself.

              “That’s not fair; he has already won all the archery events. Judge, can’t you make him not compete?” he asked the judge that had just walked up to probably tell them the new rules for the first of many times.

              “There is no rule saying a winner of a previous event has to leave another event.” The judge went on to tell them the rest of the rules, but Hayden quit listening. He had already put his hands on the knife handles and was just waiting to be told what to throw them at.

              Finally the judge finished talking and told them were to go. This first event was going to be different. Instead of them all throwing at the same time they would each take turns with two knifes each and they would only count the better of the two throws.

              The one who threw the worst would be disqualified and they would line up again, but each time they lined up the distance between them and the target grew by a few feet. They lined up and awaited their turns to throw.

              The same man was still complaining until he went to throw, and on his second toss hit the third ring from the center, closer than anyone had hit so far. He quit complaining and started to try to make Hayden mad again.

              Hayden waited his turn, and when he finally stood at the line to throw he had shut the world out and saw only the target. He took his knife out, he knew it was already balanced but he checked it again, and took aim.

              He threw the knife and watched it go end over end until it sank into the center of the target. There was no need for him to throw a second knife so just walked off the line so the next person could throw.

              As he walked off he heard the man who had just been making fun of him say something about there being no point in any of them competing if they were going to let a rider compete.

              The knife throwing events looked a lot like the archery events. Hayden seemed to effortlessly win round after round until he had won all of the events.

The games were done for the day after the knife throwing, Hayden was excited to spend time with his friends, but it seemed that that was going to have to wait. Hayden was thronged with people telling him how good of a job he did. He tried his best to find his friends, or any familiar face, but he couldn’t make out anyone in the crowd.

Enjoy yourself, your friends are already back with Fendrel and they will meet you at his house, Draek told him. Hayden was relieved and, despite his best efforts, began to enjoy himself. Hayden was in the center of the crowd when guards finally came and began to break everyone up.

Everyone left peacefully and there was no incident, which Hayden was relieved about. Once the crowd had thinned out enough he made his way through the people and started his long walk back to Celestial City.

 

___________________________

Hayden heard the laughter coming out of Fendrel’s house, his friends were all in there and having a good time. Hayden knocked on the door and it was Cass who answered it. She threw her arms around his shoulders and gave him a quick hug before letting him in.

“He is here, guys; we were worried that some mob had carried you off to their tavern or something.” She gave him a half smile that let him know that she was kidding. She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside before he could answer.

I could really get used to her being like this, Hayden thought.

Draek replied back immediately. Not this again. Hayden did not know if he was joking or not, Draek did not give half smiles like other people Hayden knew. Hayden reassured him that they would not have a repeat of last night and that he could control his thoughts.

“Hayden, the great archer and knife thrower, we are honored to have you grace us with your presence this evening.” Fendrel stood up and made a mock bow as Cass and Hayden walked into the room.

“Why thank you, good sir,” Hayden replied and returned a bow to Fendrel.

From there their night was filled with laughter, food and drink. They listened to Fendrel tell more stories about the time he spent with the elves. They spoke of dreams after their dragons had grown to full size and Fendrel told them about all the corners of Arvain.

The sun had set long ago and the streets were dark and silent, the drunken fans had long since passed out in one gutter or another. Hayden and Shane sat up near the fireplace in Fendrel’s common room and just talked. Fendrel had fallen asleep in his chair and was snoring so loud that Hayden had suggested smothering him with his cape.

Cass had stretched out on the longest seat and had fallen asleep some time ago. Hayden kept looking back at her and smiling; she was beautiful even while she was asleep. Draek had fallen asleep along with the other dragons.

“So are you going to compete in any more events?” Shane asked.

“Not until we do the rider ones; I would like to enjoy the rest of the games and watch them with you guys. What about you, are you doing any more?” Hayden got up and poked the dying fire, trying to get it to last a little longer.

“No, I am good with my one win, plus Rilora and I have some work to do before we compete again.” They had not spoken about the day before and Hayden did not want to. He used the fire going out as an excuse to start to head back.

Hayden was trying to think of a way to wake Cass up without disturbing her too much. Before he could act Shane reached over and smacked her leg.

“Time to get up, we are leaving,” he said. Hayden smacked him on the arm and Shane just shrugged his shoulder mouthing ‘What?’.

Cass stretched and smiled with her eyes still half closed. She seemed to glide to the door and walked straight outside, forgetting to close the door behind her. Hayden shook Fendrel up and told him they were leaving while Shane ran outside to make sure Cass didn’t wander off.

The three riders made their way back to the pyramid, it had been a long day and the walk seemed to take forever. By the time that they finally made it back Cass was awake enough to go to her room by herself. Hayden had hoped that they might get to be alone before she turned in for the night but he had no such luck.

 

__________________________________

 

The ground shook underneath their feet, the air around them thick with sweat and the smell a thousand different kinds of food. Hayden and his friends were on their feet, screaming at the top of their lungs as their favorite rider shot pass them, completing another lap around the arena.

Today’s events were the most exciting, short of the dragon’s events; it was the horse riding events. The events consisted of everything from horse races, jousting and obstacles to archery while on horseback and fighting from the saddle. The first events of the day were the races, and everyone was into them, even the people who had started off not interested. The excitement was like fire going from one dried piles of grass to another.

The horses came sprinting near the stands, their riders crouched over them smacking the horses, urging them to go faster. Hayden listened to the thunderous sound of their hooves smacking the ground and kicking up dirt as they propelled them forward.

The races ended and they brought out the jousters. They wore armor that was made of solid plates that had been stamped together. They weren’t beautiful to look at and the person wearing them had very limited movement. They were meant to protect the wearer from being run through with the tree trunk of a lance that their opponent was carrying.

“So you like the horse races?” Cass asked Hayden. She had watched as his face lit up when the horses had been near and how he had stood on the tips of his toes to see them when they were on the other side of the arena.

“Of course I do, that was amazing.” He turned to face his friends. “Have you guys ever seen something like this?” he asked.

“Actually we have, they have horse races every year right before winter comes,” Shane answered.

Hayden lowered his eyes, reminded again that he was an outsider from a small village. Cass saw the look and tried to cheer him up.

“Well what did they do before winter in your village?” she asked. Fendrel tried to reach out and get her attention before she could ask but he was to slow. Fendrel had spent a lot of time in small villages like Erskine. He had been in that particular town for almost an entire summer one year.

“If we were lucky, and had had a good harvest, the whole town would get together and help store the food and try to help insulate some of the less fortunate people’s houses. That way the poorer people didn’t freeze to death.”

Cass had no way to recover from Hayden’s response; luckily the next event started and their conversation got drowned out by the cheers around them. Cass looked around trying to see if anyone could help her, but Fendrel just shook his head and Shane turned away from them.

The jousters clashed and sent splinters into the air; the crowd went crazy as one man was toppled off his horse.

___________________________

Hayden sat on the back of Draek as they flew just over the clouds. The sun had set, and at this height the stars looked like he might have to duck down to avoid them. They had been flying just to fly, alone with no one to bother them.

Hayden looked out at Draek’s wings and watched as he would glide for a while then flap them and glide some more. He could the see the stars reflected off Draek’s wings, so it looked like there was nothing but sky above and below them.

Hayden hadn’t gone to Fendrel’s with the others, he had excused himself during the jousting and had met up with Draek and had been flying ever since. No other dragons were near them, most had gone to sleep and the ones that were patrolling around were flying much lower than Draek.

Do you think it will always be like this? Draek asked.

Like what?

No worries, no fear, just peace and quiet.

Hayden thought about it and could not think of an answer. He was afraid, even high above his worries he was afraid of what was going on around him. And peace; it seemed that were ever he turned he saw more and more proof of the crusade that Elizabeth was planning.

A war that would engulf everything was just about to happen, and it seemed that there was nothing Hayden could do to stop it. Draek felt his worries and doubts in his mind and, not able to think of anything to would make it better, folded in his wings and plummeted down.

Hayden yelled at the sudden change from smooth flying to free falling. Draek roared his delight and opened up his wings to soar back into the air. He went to pull the steep dive into a backwards flip but pain shot through his shoulders.

Hayden stopped screaming out of fear and started screaming out of enjoyment. He knew that Draek would never let anything happen to him and he knew the saddle wouldn’t let him fall off. Hayden felt Draek shudder underneath him as he pulled out of the dive. Draek tried to hide his pain but Hayden knew immediately what was wrong.

We need to be careful with your shoulder, our events together start tomorrow. Hayden knew that he didn’t have to remind Draek to be careful or about their events coming up. Draek knew very well what was going on but Hayden couldn’t help but worry.

They continued to fly around into the night, neither of them needing sleep. They let their minds meld together and Draek felt Hayden’s thoughts move from one thing to another. Like a small fish in the water darting around and never spending more than a second at each point.

Draek’s thoughts were slower to change course; once he was on something he stayed there till he saw it through to the end. At one point during the night they watched a dragon and his rider that were supposed to be patrolling land in a clearing in the woods were no one would see them.

Hayden had written it off as something that wasn’t important, but Draek was so curious he circled down and got closer to the clearing. He asked the dragon what was going on, and when he got his answer he quickly flew off. When Hayden asked what had happened Draek was slightly reluctant to answer.

Her rider was visiting a friend and needed some time to be alone. Hayden laughed at Draek’s answer.

They continued flying around the city, occasionally venturing off for a while and then turning back around.

We should head back soon, Draek told his young rider.

Why do you say that?

Look at the stars. Hayden did as Draek suggested and noticed that the stars were starting to get dimmer in the sky.

Why are they doing that? Hayden asked.

The sun is coming up. Hayden looked to the direction that the sun would rise from and he saw that the sky in that direction was turning a lighter color than the rest of the sky. Draek bent in his right wing and made a turn that pointed them back to the Celestial City.

Do you think we have time to sleep before we have to get ready? Hayden asked. Draek looked back at him over his shoulder.

I really don’t think so. Hayden looked around the city as they got closer and saw that Draek was right. It was before dawn and already the city was buzzing with activity, and today the dragon riders competed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 22

 

 

 

             Hayden was wearing is full rider armor as he sat on Draek’s back. The scales on his armor matched perfectly with Draek’s, considering they had been his scales at one point. They had given the first year riders a better saddle than the old worn out ones they had been using.

              Although there were still rumors of what Hayden and Draek had done during the burning of the Orchard of Souls, this was the first official time that all the citizens were going to get a chance to see the five new riders in action. Their dragons had always been seen at a distance up until now, and although everyone knew that the dragons could fly, it was about to be confirmed that they could carry their riders as well.

              Cass and Shane were sitting on either side of Hayden right before the opening ceremonies were about to start, just like they were when they flew, as Sebastian and Giles both showed up.

              Hayden hadn’t seen either of them since the Festival of Games had started, and he was pleased with that. Their dragons stood as far away from Hayden and his friends as the judges would allow, because they wanted all the first years together. Draek, Shaylin, and even Rilora were relaxed, ruffling their wings and letting their tails and heads sway from side to side.

              Kurok and Sullivan stood like statues with no movement whatsoever, not even their eyes. It seemed unnatural for a dragon to be that still and lifeless. Draek heard the thoughts in Hayden’s head and answered them before they ever formed.

              They are afraid, Draek said sadly.

              Afraid of what, us? Hayden asked.

              Afraid of their riders. They have been doing some discipline training on their own with their dragons. They fear them and obey their every command.. Draek growled and it shook Hayden as he sat on his back.

              Hayden understood his anger, since part of being a dragon and rider was being free. There would be no riders without dragons. They were supposed to work together as partners, not subjecting the other to their own will.

              “Can’t you control that beast of yours?” Sebastian said. Giles nodded in approval as they both sat with their back straight and their noses pointed up. “Look at Kurok and Sullivan. This is how true dragons are supposed to act.” Sebastian sat up a little straighter in his saddle and Sullivan got even more rigid.

              He is so proud of himself, it makes me sick. Hayden was really starting to hate them.

              The worst part of it is his mount is proud of what he is doing also. He sees nothing wrong with being used like that.

              Mount? Hayden asked He had not heard Draek use that term.

              That’s not a dragon, he is more of a horse than a dragon right now. I can prove it to you. Watch. Before Hayden could get ready, Draek moved in and pushed his shoulder into Sullivan.

              Sullivan was a good size dragon for his age, right around average. Draek however, was big. Bigger than any of the other dragons that had hatched together. His shoulders stood three to four feet taller than Sullivan and that size difference was apparent in every aspect between them, so when Sullivan got pushed by the bigger dragon, he had no choice but to fall over on his side, slamming Sebastian to the ground. Hayden was ready for the fallen dragon to jump up and fight Draek. Being ready meant he was undoing his saddle and looking for a safe place to jump off.

 

                            Draek just stood over the smaller dragon for a few seconds, and then he backed off so that the silver could stand up. Hayden heard Sebastian grumble and try to complain, but he was crushed by his dragon and was struggling to move. Sullivan looked up from the ground, but made no motion to attack. Sebastian had to order the dragon to get up before he would move.

              That’s not a dragon, that’s a mount. Draek shook his head at the dragon and blew smoke out of his nose. Hayden now understood what he was talking about, it was depressing to see a creature like a dragon being reduced to what Sullivan had become.

              Sebastian was able to get up and back into the saddle, but before he could set his sights on Hayden and Draek, another much larger silver flew down and landed in between them.

              “Enough you two, we are about to begin and if I see either one of you fighting, I will personally make sure you both spend your first flight ceremony cleaning up dragon dung.” He yelled at both of them and flew off just as quickly as he had landed.

              Hayden heard about how the dragons relieved themselves over various fields and it was criminals and slaves’ jobs to gather it all and make sure it was dispersed evenly around the field. It was a job Hayden did not want to find out about himself.

              A horn blew in the distance, and the dragons readied themselves for the ceremony. There were hundreds of dragons that were going to be involved and most were already in the air, but there were still a great number on the ground.

              Hayden had been told that this was the largest gathering of metallic riders that was not during a military campaign. Hayden was amazed to see all the different sizes that flew over his head and he was even more stunned to see the differences in the dragons.

              Most of the dragons he had seen all had the same basic shapes and sizes to them, but now that hundreds of dragons had flocked to Celestial City, he was able to see that there were subtle differences in all the dragons.

              Some had larger or smaller wings than others that had the same body size. Some had dull colors and looked more rustic while others shimmered like freshly polished metal. Some had long straight horns and others had spiral or twisted horns. They all still had the same basic shapes, all the silvers still looked like a normal silver dragon, but now Hayden could see the difference between them.

              They had all been flying around randomly, or so Hayden thought, but as the horn blew he saw copper dragons in groups of ten started to fly in a “V” pattern behind a silver dragon. All the groups started flying in a straight line, one right after the other.

              Shane got Hayden’s attention and pointed back at Sebastian. Hayden turned to face the way Shane pointed and was happy to see Sebastian scrambling to get his cape straightened and all the grass and dirt off his armor. He was not making any progress and Hayden could see his face turning red. Hayden smiled at his distress and with fondness for his own true dragon.

              Normally it was Hayden that led the flight pattern for their group, since Draek was the biggest and had the most endurance, but they wanted to show off Cass and Shaylin and both Sebastian and Giles refused to fly behind Hayden and Draek.

              Cass and Shaylin moved in front of them and jumped into the air with Draek following first and Sebastian trying to catch up to them. Shane and Rilora were in no hurry as they joined the climb into the air. Sebastian and Giles came last, allowing everyone else to race ahead of them.

              They all stayed behind Shaylin and Cass, trying to stay close behind but not taking the lead from her. The lines of dragons passed over them as they continued on their upward climb. Hayden felt them slightly free fall as Draek pulled his wings in and pushed them out in front of him, then as he snapped them open and thrust back, Hayden was thrown back with the sudden burst of energy.

              Shaylin started to ease out of the incline as they neared the end of the line of dragons. Once she straightened out the others fell in line behind her, Draek and Hayden to her right with Shane and Rilora behind them and Sebastian and Sullivan to her left with Giles and Kuroc behind them.

              Draek happily flew behind Shaylin, and Hayden could tell why because she was graceful, and it seemed that she wasn’t flying but the wind was holding her aloft and moving her through the sky.

              Cass was wearing her ceremonial armor, which was different than that of the other four riders. Their armor would be the same that they wore in battle, if they were ever in one. Cass had too much flesh showing in order for her armor to protect her properly against enemies during a battle and every time Draek caught Hayden’s mind wondering over her he kept telling him that he was studying the imperfections of her armor and nothing more.

              Hayden didn’t have time to get too comfortable because once they got settled in line with the other dragons, Hayden saw that near the front of the line the other dragons had started to dive. He watched and followed them as the dove to the earth and pulled up just high enough to clear the ground below them, and with the added speed they shot through the center of the second arena that was built just for the dragon events.

              This arena was no more than two giant sets of stands built on either side of a large clearing, large enough for ten dragons to fly without touching any surroundings. The lines of dragons flew through the center, causing numerous hats and capes to get sucked into the various whirlwinds they were creating.

              Hayden watched as the dragons in front of him continued to dive. It looked like they were heading for a waterfall. The line grew thinner and thinner as it came closer to being their turn to dive. Hayden double checked his restraints (which he knew were tight) and held on to his saddle a little tighter.

              Draek’s turn to dive came up and Hayden leaned forward as Draek lurched and changed his direction from flying straight to flying straight down. It took every ounce of willpower for Hayden not to raise his hands and yell with joy: this was still his favorite part of flying.

              Hayden loved the feeling of leaving his stomach behind him, the air roaring past him so fast it becomes hard to catch his breath.

              They leveled out and soared through the middle of the two stands, barely hearing the cheers and cries of the people in the crowd. They flew back into the sky as soon as they cleared the end of the stands, and once they were high enough, they flew back the way they had come.

              Elizabeth was most likely telling the people how proud she was of her dragon riders and telling them all about what she had in store for them. They landed in their clearing and quickly jumped off their saddles and ran to meet each other.

              “That was amazing, you did great Cass.” Hayden was the first to congratulate her, but Shane was quick to be the second. Sebastian and Giles walked off towards the arena without saying anything to them.

              “I was so nervous, I have never flown lead before. I was worried that something was going to go wrong.” She stroked Shaylin’s head affectionately. Hayden leant against Draek’s leg and looked up at his dragon. Draek held his head as high as he could and looked around from dragon to dragon.

              “Can you believe how many dragons are here? I knew there were a lot of us, but I didn’t know there were this many.” Hayden followed Draek’s gaze from dragon to dragon.

              “There are still more out there too, some still on missions and others at the five towers,” Shane said.

              They spoke for a few minutes before they realized that most of the dragons had left the landing area and had moved on. They ran to the arena as fast as they could and hoped that they were not late for the games.

 

_______________

              Hayden had been knocked out of the first event during the first round. All they had to do was dive down from the sky just like they had done during their first fly through, but as they soared in between the stands; they would launch spears at targets that were being pulled behind horses.

              Since there were so many riders, they had to shorten the number of competitors per event. Only a few riders were allowed to compete in multiple events; although first years were allowed to compete in any event they wanted to, but once again it seemed that Hayden and Draek were the only ones willing to try in most of them.

              During the first round, the riders were hitting the target so hard that some were knocking it over. Others were throwing their spears straight through the center and were going halfway into the ground.

              Hayden was sitting on Draek’s back high above the stands awaiting his turn. As soon as Draek got the ok, he sped off towards the arena. Hayden had been holding the spear the whole time he had been waiting so that he would not have to draw it right before their turn.

              Hayden had to focus on keeping the spear pointed straight as the wind tried to pull it from his grasp. As Draek righted himself, Hayden saw the horse take off in fear, pulling the target behind him as he frantically tried to get away.

              When Hayden was close enough, he threw the spear and Draek pulled up and flew back into the sky. Hayden watched as the spear flew, his form had been perfect but his aim had been significantly off . The spear flew well over the target and nearly hit the horse.

              Hayden did not have to hear the crowd to know that they were laughing at him, but it did not bother him much because he was going against riders who had been doing this for many years. Some even had to do it with real targets,  whereas Hayden had to use targets mad of straw.

              Cass was hovering over the arena so that the dragons and their riders that competed had to fly under her. Elizabeth wanted to keep her in center view as much as possible so that everyone remembered that this year a golden dragon had hatched. Cass was the overall judge of the event, but she was not needed when it was Hayden’s turn. It was clear to everyone that he was out of the running for the first event. Hayden and Draek landed at the same clearing again but this time there were servants there to give them something to drink and, if they needed it, something to eat.

             

              The next event was archery, one that Hayden planned to enter, and Hayden had very little time to rest. He took his drink of water and jumped back into Draek’s saddle. A servant brought him his bow and two quivers that were strung together so that he could throw them across Draek’s neck and have one quiver on each side. Hayden watched as the servant tightened down the quivers so that they would not fall off during flight. Hayden pulled back on his bow to test its strength, and when he was satisfied that it was going to be enough he waited with it sat upon his lap.

             

              The dragons that made it through the first round were back up in the air and repeating the process all over again. As time went on and fewer dragons took to the air for the next round, more dragons came up beside Hayden and Draek with their own bows and quivers full of arrows.

              “Riders in the archery event, take to the skies!” a judge yelled at the tops of his lungs. Draek and the other dragons , jumped into the air and made their way over the arena, and Hayden guessed there were close to forty others with him.

              It was the same style event as the last one: one at a time they dive in and fire one arrow at a moving target and then they fly back over the arena. They all fell in line behind each other and circled high above the arena, making a giant circle. Hayden and Draek had done two full passes before the first dragon lunged towards the center of the circle and plummeted to the arena. Hayden leaned over his saddle and tried his best to see how the rider did, but it happened so fast that he couldn’t make it out.

             

              He guessed that the rider must have done well, though because as he left the arena he held his bow over his head in triumph. Hayden guessed that this was going to be more difficult than the previous archery event, but he had no idea what he was in for.

              Dragons kept diving one after another until they started picking up the pace, and soon after one rider went down and made it to the arena to shoot, another dragon was already diving behind it. Then Draek said what Hayden had been waiting for.

              Hold on, it’s our turn. Hayden Held his bow tightly in his left hand and while they had been circling in the air, he had drawn an arrow and notched it. His right hand had a death grip on the front of the saddle.

              Draek made the dive and Hayden was worried that he might drop his bow or arrow and he could only imagine just how embarrassing that would be. As Draek pulled out of the dive and tried to level out through the arena, Hayden let go of the saddle and pulled back the arrow.

              He did not aim so much as he let his instincts take over. He released the arrow slightly higher and in front of the target. As soon as the arrow was on his way he had to grab the saddle again as Draek began to climb again. He heard the crowd cheer and looked back in time to see a servant pulling the arrow out of the target. He did what he had seen some of the other riders do and he held up his bow over his head and cheered.

             

              The first few rounds thinned out their numbers quickly. Most of the riders flying with Hayden looked to be only a few years older than he was, most of the elder riders either did not want to participate or they were waiting for what they considered to be the more important games.

              It didn’t seem like it had been long before Hayden and one other rider remained in the event. They had been told to circle higher, That way they would be going faster and so they could not see what the other was doing during the last round.

              Hayden and Draek were told to go first and they did not hesitate. Hayden had gotten somewhat used to the diving at this point, but now it was a little bit longer than the others. As they made their way down, Draek tried to concentrate on Hayden, ready to obey his order the second it was given.

              As they entered between the stands, Hayden saw the target was still moving like normal and he pulled his arrow back to shoot. Each round he had waited for the last moment to shoot, when the target was almost beside him and he was unable to turn any more, that way the target was at its closest point to him and was easier to hit. He did the same thing this time, but right before the target was right beside him, the target shot back behind Hayden’s reach and he could not turn around to shoot at the target.

             

              They pulled it. Roll over your left wing, Hayden shouted in his mind. He looked over to his left, took in a deep breath and pulled his still drawn bow to point to opposite way of the target.

              The crowd thought that he had completely missed when Draek passed the target, but when he flipped over, they had no idea what was going on. As Draek tucked in his wings and flipped, Hayden squeezed as tight as he could with his legs and tried not to let the force of the turn make him lean back. Once he was upside down, he could see the target for a split second, and to make matters worse, one of the servants, thinking that since Hayden had just passed he was done and could move the target back to where it needed to be for the next rider, was blocking a third of the target with his body. Hayden saw that shortly after he let the arrow go.

             

             

              Draek righted himself and Hayden’s world came back right side up. He quickly turned around in the saddle and saw the servant laying on the ground and the arrow sticking out just under the center of the target.

              Hayden could not believe what they had just done, and this time Hayden could not hear his own yelling over the crowd and Draek.

              Cass had watched as Draek and Hayden had swooped in and passed the target and when Hayden had not shot she was disheartened. It was short lived, though, and was quickly replaced with amazement when in the time it took Draek to get upside down and start back up the other way, Hayden had fired.

              Not only had he fired, but he hit the target, and near to the center too. The next rider did not get to see Hayden’s amazing feat, so when the target shot behind him he just eased the tension off of his bow without firing his arrow and slammed his fist against his knees as the flew back up over the arena.

              Hayden and Draek had circled back behind the rider to watch his attempt. Hayden could barely contain himself when the rider fell for the same thing that he had, the only difference being that Hayden found a way around it. Draek flew close to the arena, allowing the crowd a chance to cheer for them a while longer. Hayden had no problem with it as he waved with the bow still in his hand.

 

                            After that event, Hayden decided not to compete in them all. These events were to test the best riders who had been doing this for longer than Hayden had been alive. Draek wasn’t tired, but Hayden could tell all the flying was taking its toll on his wings.

              Draek went to go rest and eat some of the meat that the servants had prepared for the dragons. Hayden did not even want to guess how much cattle had been killed in order to satisfy the multitude of hungry dragons.

              Hayden went into the stands and met up with Fendrel and Shane. Rilora and Draek had spoken, and Draek told Hayden where they were. They both congratulated him on a job well done but he shrugged off their praises, he had heard enough of them from the random people in the crowd while he tried to find them.

              The next few events became feats of strength for the dragons and did not involve their riders at all. They had contests to see which dragon could breathe fire the longest or which could fly the highest. They held races where the dragons had to fly to various check points and finish right above the arena.

              As the events went on, Cass and Shaylin continued to judge over the combatants, always being fair with their calls. The people all cheered for her as she told them her ruling. Hayden watched the events with interest but found himself more than once staring at Cass as she sat upon her golden dragon.

              As night began to fall, they finally called an end to the days’ games and with the crowd cheering all the way, they began spilling out of the arena and headed back to the confines of the city.

              “Tonight, I think it would be a good idea if you lot called it a night and went off to bed instead of coming over,” Fendrel told Hayden and Shane as they made their way through the stands.

              “Why not, we love coming over,” Hayden tried to argue. Shane agreed in earnest with him.

              “And I like you guys coming over, but tomorrow is that last day of the Festival of Games, so that means the Crucible, which you both need to be rested for. The other thing is I have been putting off my packing and I need to get it done if I am going to leave after they give out the awards.” Fendrel said.

 

              Talking about Fendrel leaving was not something that Hayden enjoyed. It was something that they all knew was coming, (he had told them many times exactly when he was leaving) but they still didn’t like it.

              Fendrel knew how they felt about it and did not want to stand around and hear them try to talk him out of leaving. He smiled at both the young riders, congratulated Hayden on a job well done, and mixed in with the leaving crowd.

              Hayden and Shane followed the crowds out of the arena, but not back to the city. They met with their dragons back at the clearing.

              “How are Draek’s wing joints doing?” Shane asked as they got ready to jump into their saddles.

              Hayden looked at Draek’s wings and nodded, he wasn’t favoring them as if they hurt him. “They are healing up well. He still gets a little stiff and sore if he flies for long periods of time but they will be fine.” Hayden climbed into his saddle and started tightening down the safety straps. “How is Rilora doing with not competing in the Festival of Games?”

              “She is ok with it,” Shane said as he had gotten into his own saddle. Rilora shot her head up and turned her head so she could see Shane. “Well she’s not really ok with it. I am feeling kind of bad with tomorrow being the Crucible and all.”

              “They said they are going to divide us up, right? Well that means that Giles and Sebastian will almost certainly be on the same side, which means that that leaves me alone because they will probably have Cass and Shaylin judging again. I could really use you tomorrow.”

              Shane thought about it for a few seconds, they had to wait for some of the other dragons to take off and clear up the skies. He looked at Rilora and smiled. “What do you think, girl, think we could give them a hand.” Rilora jumped straight into the air and Hayden heard Shane’s scream grow fainter as she flew further away.             

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 23

 

 

The sun was just starting to rise as they stood in between the two stands; a few hundred bodies all huddled together so they could hear what the speaker was saying. The air above them was full of steam from all of them breathing; it reminded Hayden of a pile of hot coals when water is poured over it.

              The Crucible was about to start for the competitors a few hours earlier than it did for the people watching it. The stands were all but empty, and just a few people wanted to watch every part of the Festival of Games so they had gotten up early just to watch the competitors stand around and say things that they could not hope to hear.

              Hayden and Shane were near the center of the group, but there was no need for them to be there; the judge who was speaking was only addressing the ground troops, not the riders.

              “This is a mock battle, so take it as seriously as if it was a real one. The weapons that you will be given have been blunted; they won’t cut skin open easily, but that is a possibility. They can still cause damage, so if you notice someone fall to the ground they are considered dead, do not try to hit them again. If it is you that falls to the ground do not get back up and keep fighting, just stay where you are until a judge can make it to you to escort you out of the arena.” Hayden and Shane were talking about strategies, and they were arguing about whether or not they should stay together or separate.

              “We need to separate, because that way we can take them on one on one and the first one who finishes with theirs can help the other,” Shane was saying. Hayden knew that it was Rilora’s idea. She had been forced to stay grounded during the Festival of Games and now she wanted a chance to shine on her own.

              It was perfectly normal and understandable for her to feel that way. Understandable yes; a good idea no.

              “And what happens if they take me or you out, then they will do the same thing to us. It leaves too much up to chance. We need to stick together, and once we see how they are fighting we need to figure out a plan to beat them.” Hayden had thought about it last night with Draek and it seemed that it was the best plan they had.

              They had no idea what tricks Giles and Sebastian would throw at them so it was their best bet to face them together and not separated.

              “I guess you are right but….” Shane looked uncomfortable and Hayden knew what was coming before he asked.

              “Don’t worry, Draek and I won’t get all the glory here.” Shane smiled and faced where Rilora was resting in the clearing. They couldn’t see where there their dragons were, but Hayden knew that Shane and Rilora were talking.

              “Riders, did you hear me?” the judge asked. Hayden and Shane quickly faced him and tried to pretend like they had been listening. The judge did not believe them and Sebastian snickered at them. “Is something funny young rider? Can you tell them what I was saying?”

              Sebastian wore the same face that Hayden and Shane had just had on as he tried to remember something he had not heard. The judge did not make him suffer long; he repeated what he had just said since he was sure that he now had their full attention.

              “Riders are not allowed to intervene with the ground troops directly. No picking them up or landing to fight them. They have their own mission and you are not to alter that. Now, ground troops, you may head to the east entrance to be divided into your teams. Riders, you all stay here.”

              The crowd started to move in one big wave, and the ones that wanted to fight the most pushed their way to the front. Friends tried to stay together, hoping that that would help them to get picked on the same team.

              Once they had all moved on and were getting separated the judge started talking to them again.

              “Now during the Crucible every pair of eyes will be on you four and your dragons. With that said, you all will not come in during the beginning but wait till the fighting is about half way done. That way the ground troops feel like they are just as important as you all are.

              “Your tasks are simple; when the Crucible starts there will be two large piles of wood set on either side of the arena, each team will try to light the others fire while protecting their own. If a dragon is forced to land, they are out and are not allowed to continue in the event.”

              The judge spoke quickly but there was no doubt in Hayden’s mind as to what he was supposed to do. He was already trying to form a plan in his head that would help them win.

              “Now the teams will be Sebastian and Giles verses Hayden and Shane.” Hayden and Shane looked at each other with the same expression; big surprise.

              “Your dragons will know where to meet with your teams, good luck to you all and try your hardest to please Elizabeth.” The judge almost pleaded with them as he pointed to the same place that the ground troops had gone.

              Hayden and Shane took the lead and made their way back to the clearing where all their dragons were. Shane and Hayden did not speak about their plans; they did not want their opponents to know what they were thinking.

              Sebastian and Giles had been planning their strategy during the entire Festival of Games. Knowing that they would be on the same team they had not wasted their time competing in the smaller events but had worked tirelessly preparing for the Crucible.

              They had no need to discuss their upcoming plans because they already knew what they were going to do. Instead, they happily walked behind Hayden and Shane, watching them try to think of ways to beat them.

              They made it to their dragons and mounted, preparing to head to their teams and get ready for the Crucible.

              “Good luck you two, you’re really going to need it,” Sebastian yelled at them from across the clearing. Kurok nudged into Sullivan and got Sebastian to look at Giles, who shook his head at him. Kurok was the first to take off, and after Sebastian looked at them one last time he joined his partner.

              Hayden and Shane flew to their own area and realized that the teams did not seem to have been picked evenly. There had been a good variety of ground troops that had been in the arena, some looking much stronger and better fit for the Crucible than others.

              Their team had none of those ground troops. Some of their teammates were using their weapons to draw on the ground while others were arguing about who they thought should be the leader.

              They cleared an area big enough for both Draek and Rilora to land without having to worry about squishing someone. Once on the ground Hayden and Shane quickly dismounted and made their way to where everyone had been arguing.

              “Look, the dragon riders have come to take everything over, all the work we have done so far is about to get turned into dragon spit.” Hayden made a mental note to ask Draek later on if dragons could spit.

              “What have you gotten done so far?” Hayden asked.

              “Well, we have decided that I am the leader.” The same young man that had spoken earlier spoke again. He would have said more but he got interrupted.

              “We did not decide that, you just blurted it out and kept repeating yourself,” someone in crowd yelled. Others agreed with that person more than they did with the speaker.

              The first one had friends around him that started yelling at the top of their lungs that he was their leader and everyone needed to listen to him.

              “So you lot have accomplished nothing so far; that’s comforting,” Shane said.

              “And what makes you think you can tell us what to do?”

              Hayden was tall, and because of the past eight months of hard training his body was now lean and covered with muscles. Shane had a different build, he had become huge.

              The soldier that was yelling at them stepped up and got really close to Shane. He should have known that he was outmatched but his pride forced him to assert his dominance.

              He stood close to the same height as Shane, but the man’s build was just a little bit bigger than Hayden’s and it looked to be more fat then muscle.

              There is always one who tries to bully his way to the top, Hayden told Draek. Draek shook his head, understanding what Hayden had said, but not why someone had to do it.

              “I say I am the leader here and there is nothing that anyone can do about it.”

              Shane smiled at him as he grabbed the man’s breast plate and picked him up off the ground. There were no trees around so he slammed him up against Rilora’s leg.

              “She believes that there is something she can do about it,” Shane said. Rilora growled so that everyone heard her agree with Shane and the speaker felt the growl shake his body.

              “Now we will not be able to help you during this event, it looks like we are doing two different events at the same time. Nothing more.” Hayden spoke loudly so that everyone around them could hear.

              Shane let go of the soldier’s breast plate, and the man leaned back against Rilora for a second to regain his composer. Rilora pushed against him and he fell face first onto the ground at Shane’s feet.

              “Then why are you both here; why don’t you leave and worry about yourselves and we will take care of our own.” The man got up off the ground, still acting like nothing had changed.

              “What’s your name?” Hayden asked.

              “Turgun,” the man replied.

              “Well, Turgun, the reason that we are here is because we want to win; and it will look silly if we win but our team gets bested like a bunch of small children.” Hayden did not have time to be nice; soon the horn would blow signaling that the battle was to begin.

              “The teams were not picked fairly; I saw how their team looks compared to ours.” No one tried to dispute what Hayden was saying, they all knew that the best soldiers from this year were on the other team. “They are going to try to overpower you with sheer force.”

              “What are we supposed to do about it?” A voice came from the back of the group.

              “I have an idea.”

 

______________________

              Hayden sat on Draek’s back and waited; waited for their signal to fly out over the cheering crowd and start their Crucible, waited to see if the half thought out plan that he had made up would work.

              He had told them to go against what they had been taught to do. He hopped that is had worked out but there was no way of knowing until they flew over and saw how the battle went.

              Close to a hundred screaming people had ran back to the arena when the horn had blown. Some were yelling about how they felt about the new plan, some good and some bad, others were yelling just to yell. Some did it just to ease their nerves.

              “Do you think it worked?” Shane asked. Hayden had been wondering how long it was going to take for him to ask, and it took a little longer than he had thought it would.

              Before Hayden could answer a horn sounded off at the arena, its sound resonating off the trees. Hayden put his helmet on and tightened the leather strap that kept it in place. He had his shield on his arm, but his sword was in the sheath on his back. He figured there wouldn’t be much use for it while flying through the air.

              Hayden and Draek took off, leaving a cloud of dirt behind them. Rilora and Shane were right behind him; Rilora was more excited about the event than any of them.

              Hayden started taking in deep breaths as they neared the arena. The trees started to thin out and he could make out the stands. The paths that were beneath him were worn out from the recent marching of the mock army that was his team.

              Hayden came into full view of the arena and his team.

              When Hayden had asked them what they had been taught to do in a battle situation like this they told him that normally the two armies would line up and march towards each other. As the distance between them shortened they would go from marching to running until they were at a full sprint and they clashed into each other.

              Then it became a one on one melee as everyone swung wildly at each other until one army started to overtake the other, then the losing side would try to run away. Hayden thought that they were playing a joke on him as they described their battle tactics to him. 

              Hayden had guessed that the strongest and most glory driven fighters would be in the center, because the ones on his team demanded to be there. They also told him that sometimes the ones in the middle could get in front of the others and make a giant arrow head shape, much like the shape dragons made while they were flying in groups, and try to push through the center of the other army and try to split them up.

              Hayden knew that they would be trying to do that to them. If they could run right through them it would humiliate their army.

              Hayden’s plan was to let them through.

              At first everyone was against his plan until he drew it out on the ground in front of them.

              “They will rush the center and try to blow right past everyone, so we let them do that. They won’t be expecting too much resistance so when no one fights back they won’t suspect anything.” Everyone still looked suspicious as he gave them more details.

              “Then, just before they break through the other sides of our lines, we stop them in their tracks; we will put the strongest ones in the back to make sure of that. Then everyone else turns and hits them from the sides, that way instead of them splitting you all in half they will be surrounded and they will have to fight from both sides.”

              Understanding started to creep onto everyone’s, face but there were still a lot of questions about the plan.

              “How do we know that we can stop them, and for that matter if we do stop them how is surrounding them going to help if they are better than us?”

              “You will have to stop them no matter what; they will have made it a good ways through with no one even trying to fight them so they will be expecting the last line to fall apart like the others. When they don’t do that it will catch them off guard. The key to making this work is to stop their momentum; once they get going it will be hard, but if you can slow them down you can win it.”

              They had finally agreed to his plan and they started to work on making sure everyone knew their part and they tried to get as coordinated as they could in the short time that they had left. When the horn sounded they had a pretty good idea of what they were going to do.

              Now, as Hayden and Draek came closer to the arena, they could make out the sounds of a battle. Hayden tried his best to make out who was who but from the distance that they were at it was impossible.

              The one thing he could clearly see was that the other army had done just what they had thought they were going to do. They had made it almost all the way through their army before they had been stopped.

              There was no clear winner yet and the fight was far from over, but they had their opponents surrounded and that was a good sign.

              Hayden looked up and left the ground troops to finish on their own, it looked like there were flags on either side of the arena and they could be lowered. Hayden guessed that the goal was to beat the opposing army and lower their flag.