The Clash of Land and Sea_The Dragon Riders of Arvain Read online

  A quick word

  I know that it has been a while since the release of The Broken Scale, book one in The Dragon Riders of Arvain. Life sometimes gets in the way of dreams and progress I am afraid. Thank you for waiting for the next part of the adventure. Thank you for all the kind posts, emails and reviews that you all have left over the years. Because of you all out there, this book was finished, I hope you enjoy.

  Nicholas K. R. Clausen

  The Clash of Land and Sea

  A Dragon Riders of Arvain Novel

  Book 2

  By Nicholas K. R. Clausen

  The Clash of Land and Sea.

  A Dragon Riders of Arvain Novel

  All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Nicholas Clausen.

  Published by Create Space

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  Cover art by.

  The broken scale cover designer Graficmonster eBook cover designs www.fiverr.com/graficmonster"

  1st edition

  ISBN: 9781512118544

  The sale of this book without its cover has not been authorized by the publisher. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for this “stripped book.”

  This copy is un-edited and unabridged, just as the author had written it.

  Visit our website at www.dragonridersofarvain.com

  I would like to thank my family who pushed me to chase my dream and to keep writing. Your continued help, support and love has allowed me to get where I am today, for that I forever grateful.

  To my friends and fans. Thanks for waiting.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 11

  Chapter 2 24

  Chapter 3 41

  Chapter 4 56

  Chapter 5 70

  Chapter 6 86

  Chapter 7 102

  Chapter 8 117

  Chapter 9 131

  Chapter 10 144

  Chapter 11 157

  Chapter 12 170

  Chapter 13 180

  Chapter 14 192

  Chapter 15 203

  Chapter 16 214

  Chapter 17 227

  Chapter 18 239

  Chapter 19 250

  Chapter 20 261

  Chapter 21 274

  Chapter 22 287

  Chapter 23 299

  Chapter 24 308

  Chapter 25 322

  Chapter 26 332

  Chapter 27 343

  Chapter 28 351

  Chapter 29 364

  Chapter 30 374

  Chapter 31 387

  Chapter 32 396

  Chapter 33 404

  Chapter 1

  Draek pumped his massive silver wings as he hovered over the forest of Eytherka. The trees beneath them swayed from the torrent of wind caused by the dragons as Cassidy and Shane moved their dragons closer to Draek so they couldn’t be separated.

  “What do we do now?” Cassidy shouted at Hayden. Hayden had already asked himself that same question and with Draek’s help they were trying to figure out an answer.

  Can you talk to them and explain what’s going on? Hayden asked. Draek nodded his silver head and looked intently at what they assumed was the lead green dragon.

  As soon as Draek had tried to communicate with the green dragon, the forest around them erupted with the roar of hundreds of dragons; causing countless birds to take to the sky and flee.

  They don’t want to listen to me. They’re saying we are a few weeks early and they weren’t expecting us yet. They are angry with us, but they’re afraid of us also. Draek sounded confused about his last thought.

  Hayden understood his confusion as he looked around at the hundreds of green dragons. Their armored riders that sat upon the dragons had them completely surrounded.

  Before Hayden could ask Cassidy what was going on she urged her golden dragon, Shaylin, to fly forward, level with the green dragon leader. The green dragons roared in protest as she got closer to the lead dragon while Hayden and Shane looked at each other as fear gripped their hearts.

  “Cass, what are you doing, get back here now!” Hayden yelled at her. She was close enough for the green dragon to strike at Shaylin, or worse if he decided to breathe fire he would completely engulf them.

  Cass made no response to him; whether or not she heard him Hayden didn’t know. Once she stopped ascending she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

  “I am Cassidy the Gold and this is my dragon Shaylin. We are Metallic Riders and have business to attend to. We do not care if you weren’t expecting us, we are here now and you are in our way. Take us to the tower now or do we need to explain to Elizabeth the Gold why you held up three of her riders?” She stared into the helmet of the green rider, waiting for his response.

  Hayden’s jaw dropped and he was having a hard time closing his mouth, but he always kept his bow strung while in the saddle. He reached for it and an arrow all the while keeping his eyes on the lead dragon as he prepared for the fight he knew was about to start; a fight he felt they would probably lose.

  Just then, the green dragon did the most unexpected thing that Hayden could’ve imagined, nothing at all. Hayden could see the dragon breathing heavily and he watched the rider fidget with the reins but instead of fighting, he only said a few words.

  “Right this way, my lady.” He bowed slightly in the saddle as he pulled the reins on his dragon, forcing it to fly away at a slow enough pace so that Hayden and Shane could catch up to them.

  Hayden still hadn’t closed his mouth and his tongue was starting to get dry. It finally took a bug flying in his gaping mouth to force him to close it.

  What just happened? Hayden asked to no one in particular while Draek flew off to get behind Cass and Shaylin. He watched as some of the green dragons flew with them, falling into a giant V formation with at least fifteen dragons on either side. Most of the remaining green dragons dove into the forest and disappeared as if they had never been there.

  There may be more of them than there are of us right now but all they know is that we are Metallic Riders. They are used to being oppressed and mistreated by our forerunners. Cassidy must have sensed that and forced them to submit to her. Draek thought. He was proud of what Cass had done and was anxious for what was going to happen next.

  Draek kept trying to look at all the green dragons that had stayed to escort them to the tower. Hayden could catch a few images in his mind and realized that Draek was sizing them up, just in case he would have to fight them.

  Draek was a giant silver, already big by the Metallic Rider’s standards, which meant that by the elves standards he was enormous, nearly twice the size of the average green dragon. Two of the green dragons, the leader’s and what Hayden guessed was his second in command’s, were much larger than the other green dragons but they were still smaller then Cass’s golden dragon, Shaylin who was the smallest of the three dragons.

  Hayden like Draek also kept trying to get a better look at the dragons and their riders, but it was apparent that they sensed what he was doing and would fly higher or lower to avoid his gaze.

  They flew on silently over the tree tops until Hayden noticed a strange structure that towered over the trees.

  What is that? He asked Draek. Hayden tried to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun with his hand to get a bet
ter look at the massive structure looming ahead.

  It’s a tower. Draek replied unimpressed.

  As they neared the giant structure, Hayden once again found himself in awe at what the Metallic Riders had built. The structure towered over the tree tops and as it broke through the canopy of green and white it flattened out into a giant circle that made it possible for a dozen dragons to land easily at the same time.

  As they flew closer to the tower Hayden could tell that it was made of stone, not metal like he was expecting. Snow covered most of the trees in Eytherka making the tower appear as a grey mountain standing over a field of white. Smoke streamed out from chimneys that jutted out from the sides of the tower, causing the tower to look like it was creating the clouds in the skies.

  “My lords and lady, welcome to the Green Tower, or as the Metallic Riders call it, Out Post.” The lead elf tried to sound as formal and polite as he could even though he was shouting. Hayden guessed he was getting nervous that he might get punished for the way he acted towards them.

  Cass pushed her golden dragon forward and took the lead, the first to land on the platform of Out Post. As Shaylin finished her circular descent and touched down on the tower’s landing pad, dozens of servants flooded out of hidden trap doors to help her out of her saddle and assist her with getting all her gear off.

  The platform already had all the snow cleared away and braziers had been placed near the edges of the platform. Flying the long distance during the end of winter had been brutally cold and freezing. Hayden and the other young riders had spent most of the flying time wrapped up in their winter flying clothes; shivering as the winds cut them clear to the bone.

  The servants made space for Hayden and Shane to both land and before they could undo their safety straps the servants were pulling off their saddle bags and undoing the straps around Draek.

  No one spoke to them. Hayden was looking around at the servants when the green dragon that had led them to the tower landed and Hayden got his first chance to see the green rider up close.

  An elf! Draek look, the dragon rider is an elf! Hayden did not intend to stare at the dragon rider but it was more than obvious that he was. One of the strange characteristics being how thin the rider was which was unlike what Hayden was used to seeing. Back in Celestial City the Metallic Riders were big burly men covered in hair and their female riders could most likely beat up those big burley men.

  But here was a rider who had long, dark, silk like hair streaming out from underneath the back of his helmet; the rider was thinner than Cass and seemed to move as smoothly as the wind as he slid off the back of his dragon. The rider walked to where Hayden was standing and removed his helmet and bowed.

  “My apologies for delaying your journey. I hope that you will find it in your hearts to forgive me.” The elf stood straight and Hayden finally got to see what he had been looking for since they had first made it over the forest; the elf’s pointy ears.

  The elf had high cheek bones that slanted down sharply, giving his face a thin angled look that Hayden had never seen before’ but his eyes kept finding their way back to the elf’s ears. The rider knew what Hayden was looking at so he shook his hair out so that it covered his ears.

  “I am sorry, what were you saying?” Hayden asked as soon as the elf had covered his ears, it was like his mind had suddenly come back to him.

  The elf just shook his head and turned to leave. Hayden was about to ask him what he had said again when Cass walked up and pushed him hard on the shoulder.

  “What was that for?” He demanded as he rubbed his shoulder.

  “We don’t have time to stand around and stare at the elves, we need a plan. What are we going to do?” She whispered fiercely to Hayden. She spoke so fast and quietly that Hayden had a hard time hearing her but her questions quickly brought him back to reality.

  Shane made his way to where they were standing as he watched the servants as they gently wiped down the dragons and, using pulley systems that they had not seen before, pulled up butchered hunks of meat to feed the dragons. They did not feed the dragons enough to fill them up but they were able to take the edge off the dragon’s hunger pangs.

  “Can you believe all this; it was like they were expecting us to come here.” Shane said as he turned in circles, trying to take everything in.

  “Not now Shane, we need to figure out what our next move is and do it quickly before the Metallic Riders guarding this post ask us what we are doing here.” Cass looked around also but for a different reason, she was trying to make sure no one was listening to them.

  “The first thing we need to do is find an elf, I want to see if they really have pointy ears.” Shane said as he walked over to a servant wearing a hood. Shane pulled the hood back to examine her ears. The servant quickly jerked away and walked off looking over her shoulder at Shane the whole time.

  Hayden tried to muffle his laugh but failed causing Shane to look over at him with a confused look on his face.

  “What?” He asked, shrugging his massive shoulders.

  “Are you two serious?” Cass shouted, catching both of their attentions. She moved close to them so that only they could hear her. “We are running away from the Metallic Riders. We are in the elf’s territory and we are about to meet with the Metallic Riders who watch over this area. Everyone is going to be wondering exactly what it is we are doing here.”

  Hayden and Shane looked at each other as she continued. When Cass finished she looked from one to the other waiting for some kind of answer but got none.

  The three young riders moved closer to a lit brazier to try to warm up their hands. “What are we doing here?” Shane asked. Cass lowered her head and mumbled to herself while Hayden tried to again to explain what their half thought out reasoning was for coming to the elves.

  “The elves are our best bet to hide from the Metallic Riders once they come looking for us. The Sea Serpents would most likely sell us out back to Elizabeth; the dwarfs would most certainly kill us. The barbarians would leave us to die in the Frozen Tundra and who knows where the Bone Thieves are any more or for that matter what they would do to us.” Hayden nodded to Cass when he finished talking.

  “You forgot to mention that we could hide in Eytherka and no one would ever find us in this forest.” Cass added. Hayden looked out over the tree tops and saw the truth in what she was saying. Eytherka, the forest that had long ago been turned into the elves’ home, was immense. It stretched around them endlessly in every direction, covering the horizon in the swaying greens and whites of the tree tops.

  Hayden watched as Draek, Rilora and Shaylin took off in different directions to go hunt the forests of Eytherka. Hayden knew that the meat they had just eaten had helped them but the dragons needed time to hunt and enjoy eating their kill without being rushed by their riders.

  Do you know where you are going? Hayden asked Draek.

  No. Draek’s voice boomed in Hayden’s head with the deafening noise that Hayden knew was Draek laughing. The journey from Celestial City to Eytherka had been hard on everyone, including the dragons. Draek being happy and enjoying a hunt meant the entire world to Hayden.

  “That’s true but we are not hiding in the woods right now; we are standing on the top of a tower and our dragons just flew off. By now the Metallic Riders that guard over the forest know we are here and they are probably wondering why, a question I to would like to have answered.” Hayden spoke quickly because he was watching a small group of armored elves walking towards them from one of the trap doors.

  The elves wore long cloaks that almost completely covered their bodies from their shoulders all the way to the ground. The cloaks were all dark green to match the forest and although the cloaks had large hoods, the elves wore the hoods down, allowing their hair to flow freely from underneath their helmets.

  The elves carried spears in their right hands unlike any weapon Hayden had ever seen. The spear handle was thick and looked to be covered in dark brown bark with green veins g
rowing from the head and butt of the spear. The veins weaved in and out like vines across the rough surface. The spear head itself had a single point and looked like an ornate water drop turned upside down. The steel had the same green veins running across the metal.

  The spears the elves were holding all looked identical but they also looked too decorative to be used in actual battle. Hayden had never seen anything like the spears before and then he looked at their armor. Once he got a glimpse of their armor, he was instantly impressed.

  The armor the elves wore was every bit as ornate and decorative as the spears they held. Their armor was mostly darkened leather that had the same color of wet soil and the steel that was used had been colored green.

  It was obvious the dark leather and green steel together would allow the wearer to not only blend in with the forest, but practically make him disappear in his surroundings. Hayden still thought that as interesting as the armor was it would not serve them as well as his dragon scale armor.

  There were eight elves in all that marched up to meet them. Once the elves had made it to where Hayden and his friends were standing, they fanned out and made a straight line in front of them. Hayden thought they might have been trying to block their way since on top of this platform, high above the trees, there weren’t many options on places to go.

  One elf near the center of the line stepped forward and forcefully slammed the butt of his spear on the ground. The sound was crisp and short, making sure to catch their already undivided attention.

  “Riders of Celestial City, the guardians of the woods have requested your presence.” The elf took a step back and fell into the line once more. They did not wait for Hayden and his friends to move; instead they broke the line in the middle and formed two columns so that the three young riders would have to walk between them. The elves continued to face inward as Hayden cautiously stepped forward.

  Once they were walking, the elves all turned at the same time and began to match their pace, not just escorting them, but guiding them to where ever they were headed.