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

  They made their way across the platform until they reached the same hidden door the elves had first appeared from. Two elves walked down the steep steps first, continuing to lead the way. The remaining elves gestured for the three young riders to go down next.

  Hayden stayed in front of his friends as they descended into the tower. Hayden tried to keep an open contact with Draek but the silver dragon was not worried, was lost in the thrill of hunting a giant stag that was bigger than any he had ever seen.

  Hayden kept getting flashing images of Draek chasing the buck and trying to force it into the open where he could dive through the tree line to catch it. Hayden had to block his thoughts because it was getting difficult to focus on where he was while Draek sent over images of his hunt.

  The stairwell they walked down had murals carved into the walls and were illuminated by torches. Detailed sceneries of the forest and elves gliding amongst the trees like birds; battles fought against Metallic Dragons and iron clad warriors. Hayden tried to look at each mural in turn but the elves were pushing them into a forced march and slowing down was not an option.

  The spiral stair case they were climbing down opened up into a large spacious room. All along the walls were more stairwells that appeared to be identical to the one they had just come out of. The elves led them to another stairwell and when Hayden turned around to look back at their previous stair case he realized he could not pick out which one it was.

  They continued their descent for two more floors. When the elves finally exited the stairwell again Hayden walked straight into what looked like a smaller, greener version of the Hall of Stories from Celestial City.

  Before Hayden could get a good look at the room the elves pushed them down a side hallway that was lined with doors that did not cover the entire door way. As Hayden got closer to one of the doors he saw that they only covered an area from his knees to his shoulders, leaving gaps at the tops and bottoms of the door.

  Cass pulled open one of the doors and gasped. Hayden turned and saw what Cass had seen, a wash room. The elf wore a smug look on his face, as if he had hoped to offend Hayden and his friends with such simple amenities but instead he had done the exact opposite.

  They had been unable to bathe during the flight from Celestial City and that wasn’t something they hadn’t noticed. Hayden had been worried about meeting the Metallic Riders that ruled over Eytherka in their filthy condition but it was one problem they no longer had to worry about.

  Hayden walked into the nearest washroom, closed the door behind him, and immediately began taking off the grime covered clothes he was wearing. He paid no attention to what his friends were doing but he was sure they were probably doing the same.

  As Hayden began to wash off the thick layer of dirt and sweat mixture that coated his skin he was amazed to remember what his skin looked like clean. By the time Hayden had finished he felt like he had lost a few pounds. As he looked at the washroom, he felt bad for whoever had to clean it up after him.

  Hayden turned to grab his clothes when he realized that someone had removed his dirty clothes and replaced them with simple grey clothes, not like the ones the riders wore back in Celestial City, but like the servants in Out Post wore. Hayden put the clothes on and felt like a king in his clean clothes.

  Hayden stepped out of the washroom to find Shane and Cass already finished and looking just like they had when they left Celestial City, with the exception of Shane having a little bit of stubble on his face.

  “You sure did take a long time.” Cass said in a joking way. Hayden couldn’t help but smile.

  “I hope the clothes fit perfectly. I am sorry that we did not have better clothes suited for your station.” The elf said sarcastically, making it very clear that had gone out of his way to offend them. Hayden was so happy to be clean that he didn’t care about the slight. Instead he thanked the elf and patted him on the shoulder as they made their way back into the main corridor.

  The room appeared to be made out of a living tree, the walls had what looked like roots jutting out of them and all the art work on the walls looked they had been carved into a tree trunk. Hayden looked around the room and could not tell whether or not the room was decorated with plants or if the plants were actually growing in the room.

  Fire places seemed to cover the walls of the massive room and kept the temperature just a little warm for Hayden’s liking, but anything was better than the unforgiving cold they had experienced flying here.

  Hayden’s attention was drawn to the far back wall of the room. There he saw an elevated platform where the stairs had been formed out of tree roots. On the platform were four wooden chairs that seemed to grow right out of the ground. The tops of the chairs branched out and became living trees which draped down around the chairs.

  The tree branches had thousands of small glowing insects that flew around throughout the sagging tree limbs. Hayden was amazed at the way the room made him feel as if he was in the middle of the thickest forest. He could stand there for hours, staring at the natural wonder, when four copper clad warriors walked in through a secret passage and sat on the four thrones.

  There were three women and one man, all who seemed to be close to Hayden’s own age. They wore the copper armor of Metallic Riders but they carried themselves as refined as the elves did. They each sat straight on their chairs and took their time looking over the three riders who stood before them.

  Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity of silence, the female rider furthest to the left spoke.

  “We welcome you to Out Post, Garrison of the Woods. We four are the guardians and watchers of the forest. Before we can offer you our hospitality brothers and sister, we must find out the reason for your visit. You are not supposed to be here, so answer us truthfully, now.”

  Chapter 2

  “Why are you here?” The copper rider asked again. Hayden’s mind had completely frozen and there was little hope of its thawing out in time for a believable reply. He knew better then to look over at Shane or Cass for help but he was hoping that one of them was having better luck then he was.

  The rider was getting impatient and sharply asked “Well, what is your answer?” She was not used to being ignored in her own territory. “I will not ask again.” She added when it was obvious that none of them were eager to speak up.

  “Um well you see, um.” Hayden started rambling; unable to form complete sentences.

  “Elizabeth sent us here.” Cass blurted out. That surprised everyone; even Shane and Hayden jumped at the utterance of Elizabeth’s name and turned to face Cass. It was a good thing that Hayden and Shane had turned their backs to the other riders so that they could not see their confused looks.

  “Elizabeth sent you here, and why would she do that?” One of the other four riders asked. They were leaning forward on their thrones now and Hayden was hoping that that was a good sign.

  “Well, as you know, we are three of the new riders. After our ceremony we got a little carried away with all the celebrating and we accidently burned down a field or two.” Cass was picking up speed as she continued to spin her story. She was surprising herself with how confidant she was starting to sound.

  “So the lot of you got drunk and burned down a few fields; that still doesn’t explain why you are here.” The rider who had asked the first questions spoke up again.

  “Well Elizabeth didn’t want to punish her new riders in front of everyone; she thought that it would look bad on her, so she sent us here to watch over the forest until we go to our post at the Burden Sea.” Cass did a great job of keeping her head down and pretending to be ashamed.

  The four copper riders looked at each other until finally the only male rider spoke up.

  “So her idea of punishment was sending you three to us so we can watch over you like nurse maids?” Hayden saw Cass’s whole plan falling apart right before their eyes. He watched as the male rider looked at the other three copper riders in turn to make sure they were as angry as he wa
s.

  “That was not her plan, not at all.” Cass quickly answered before their anger got out of hand. “Elizabeth was intending on taking down two dragons with one arrow. She recognized the four of you were watching over Eytherka so well that she wanted you to return to Celestial City to take part in the celebrations.”

  Once again, Hayden was as shocked as the four copper riders were. He knew this because all five of their mouths were hanging open as Cass finished her tale for them being there. When no one seemed to move, because no one knew what to do, she turned to look at Shane and Hayden to get them to back her up and agree with the story.

  Hayden and Shane quickly nodded their heads and tried to speak at the same time. Neither of them made sense so it didn’t matter that no one understood them. The four copper riders leaned in to discuss among themselves what they had just heard in hushed tones so that Hayden and his friends could not hear them. Finally, they ended their discussion and stood from their live chairs.

  “We need to further discuss what we have heard here today, in private. You will be escorted to your rooms while your dragons hunt. Upon their return we will have finished our debates.” The female rider who had first spoken to them seemed to be the leader of their group. When she finished speaking, she ushered the other three riders out of the room, leaving through the same door they had walked in through.

  No one moved or made a sound until the four riders were gone, then the elf that led them from the top of the tower walked back in front of them.

  “The Guardians of the Woods have spoken. You will now be taken to your chambers where your gear is waiting. There you can rest and wash up. Food will be prepared and brought to you.” As soon as the last word was out of the elf’s mouth he was walking again.

  He didn’t bother to look back and ensure that Hayden, Shane and Cass were following. Hayden stole a quick glance at Shane and Cass and walked quickly to catch up to the elf. They followed him down another flight of stairs where he opened a door and gracefully motioned for the three Metallic Riders to go through first.

  They continued down a winding corridor with large, ornate wooden doors on either side until they came to an open room that seemed to be part of the corridor. Three small beds lined the walls and there was one window that hardly let any light in because a tree had grown right up against the opening.

  Hayden noticed three large piles of gear, one at the foot of every bed. He had been traveling with Shane and Cass long enough to know what their bags and gear looked like. He noted that his was against the bed that was furthest away.

  “Please make yourselves comfortable while you wait. There is a wash room through here.” The elf was still standing in the entry way to the room and was pointing at a door to his right. “The food will be brought to you shortly.” The elf bowed slightly to them and backed away, quickly disappearing down the winding hall.

  Although their guide had left them, two elves remained just a little past where the wash room was. The message was clear to them, “You’re not leaving”. Hayden had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized they were prisoners here.

  “Well, let’s get comfortable.” Shane shrugged his shoulders as he made his way to his gear. Settling down on his bed he began removing his shoes, an activity Hayden knew all too well that he did not want to be around for.

  Hayden and Cass followed his example and tried their hardest to relax. Hayden knew that they all wanted to talk about what was going but they couldn’t with the elves being so close.

  Hayden undid his bag to retrieve clean clothes; all they had were their grays they had worn while in Celestial City. As he pulled out his last clean grey shirt a knife fell out of his bag and hit the floor.

  Before Hayden could stop himself from thinking about the night they had returned from the battle with the dwarfs he was reliving it. He remembered standing in the crowd watching as his friend and mentor Fendrel had been brutally struck down and killed by Morgane, Fendrel’s own brother.

  Hayden had done his best to avoid unearthing his feelings while they had been traveling. He knew that it would not help the group and he was just not ready to accept what had happened.

  Before he was overcome with grief he quickly took off the grey shirt he was wearing and wrapped it around the knife, placing it back near the bottom of his bag.

  Cass wants to talk to you. Draek’s voice broke through the silence that had engulfed the room. It was so unexpected that it caused Hayden to jump.

  I know but we can’t talk in here without being over heard. Hayden replied. Hayden and Draek had become so used to each other’s minds that they no longer had to retell events to each other. They could sift through each other’s minds and thoughts as if they were reading a book and find the memories that they wanted.

  Draek had kept up with everything that had gone on with Hayden ever since they met the green dragons. Hayden had paid less attention to Draek’s hunting but he knew that he had been successful in killing a large deer that dwarfed those around the Celestial City.

  Yes, but I can speak with Shaylin and Rilora for you and they can tell their riders what we say. As Draek spoke Hayden caught on to what he was saying. Hayden often forgot about all the perks of having a dragon.

  That’s brilliant Draek; tell Shaylin and Rilora that I am ready. Hayden sat on his bed and propped up against the cold stone wall. He did his best to get comfortable and relaxed so that he could close his eyes and pretend to be asleep.

  Hayden told Draek to pass on the message that they all needed to pretend to be asleep so the guards wouldn’t get suspicious of the two riders who sat and stared at each other for hours. Hayden closed his eyes and began focusing on Draek and what he was doing.

  They had practiced doing this before while on their journey to Eytherka. Hayden would get bored while flying and would focus on Draek. He found that if he tried hard enough, he no longer saw flash images but was able to watch what Draek saw as he saw it.

  Draek had tried the same thing but quickly stopped and complained about how Hayden could not see anything and how amazed he was that Hayden didn’t run into things more often. With Hayden locked up in the tower he could not think of anything better to do so he focused in on Draek and closed his eyes.

  He was only surrounded by darkness for the blink of an eye and then he was soaring over the forest looking for Shaylin and Rilora. Hayden could not feel what Draek was feeling, unless it was an extremely strong emotion or feeling. It felt as if his soul had left his body and was flying on the winds over the land.

  Hayden thought, I never get tired of this Draek. I would rather be flying around with you than walking around on the ground. Draek roared as he flew on.

  Birds took flight and screamed in protest as Draek continued his search for the other two metallic dragons. Every time Draek pumped his mighty wings a gust of air shook the tree tops below him. Hayden was going to tell Draek he needed to fly higher but Draek was enjoying watching all the animals flee in fear of him.

  Draek kept looking around as he flew, his eyes shooting from one spot in the forest to another. Hayden thought he was looking for Rilora and Shaylin but when Hayden caught a glimpse of Rilora taking flight Draek continued his search.

  Rilora is right up a head Draek. Hayden told Draek just in case he had missed her.

  I saw her. Draek replied. If he was upset that Hayden had doubted his vision he did not show it. They had both grown up a lot since they left Celestial City and small quarrels rarely broke out between them.

  Then what are you looking for? Hayden asked as Draek flew up higher to match Rilora’s height.

  I am not looking for anything but I am looking at all the green dragons that are hidden in the forest. Draek replied. With that said, Hayden suddenly realized that it was kind of strange that only a few green dragons were flying over the trees.

  In Celestial City it was normal for there to be dozens of dragons in the air at any given time. It had become something that Hayden was used to seeing and it
explained what had felt strange about this place.

  How many are there? Hayden asked. As Draek looked around Hayden tried to see the green dragons he was looking for but all he saw were trees.

  There are a good number of green dragons but most don’t seem to be that big. So far I have counted almost forty. Hayden was shocked that Draek had found that many when he could not see a single one.

  Draek knew that Hayden was getting frustrated because he could not spot them so when he heard the trees underneath him rustling him quickly looked down and tried to tell Hayden where the dragon was.

  Look there, moving about mid-way down the trees and almost as fast as we are flying. Draek immediately spotted the green dragon but it took Hayden a few moments to find it.

  I see it I see it. Hayden proclaimed when he finally was able to make out the shape of the dragon. He was amazed at how quickly the dragon was able to spring from tree to tree, opening up its leaf shaped wings and gliding over gaps that were much too far apart to jump.

  Underneath the dragon, on the ground, was a small group of giant deer like the one Draek had eaten earlier. These deer were being ridden by elves, just as well as any man might ride a horse. The dear were running faster than horses could run but it was how nimble they were that amazed Hayden.

  They could jump from on top of a tree root and soar for ten feet and land on another tree root, never once slowing down. The deer and their riders dashed in an out of clearings, only allowing Hayden glimpses of them.

  Those deer are fast, look at them go, Hayden told Draek. Draek chuckled to himself as he raised his back up. What’s so funny? Hayden asked as Draek gained speed and rose higher over the forest.

  They are fast, that’s why it took me a few minutes to catch one. Hayden and Draek both laughed at his joke until Hayden had a sickening thought.

  The deer you ate didn’t have a rider on it, did it? Hayden asked.