The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) Read online

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

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

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

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

  Chapter 10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  We have done many things since we have hatched and it is only natural for us to become a little dirty. You both smell worse than anything I have had the chance to smell in my short time with you. You both are need of a good bath. Hayden wanted to argue, but before he could he took a second to smell his under arms and quickly lowered his arm as he realized Draek was right.<
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  “Before we continue on I think it would be a good idea if we cleaned ourselves up real quick.” Shane agreed and went back into his room. As Hayden entered his and Draek’s room, Draek had one last thought before Hayden went to his personal bathing room.

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

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

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

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

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

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