The Broken Scale. Book 1 of The Dragon Riders of Arvain

Chapter Fifteen

Hayden walked along the path that not so long ago he had flown above. Draek no longer walked directly beside him but now ran from side to side, in a zigzag sprint, chasing imaginary animals and pouncing on them. Hayden’s mind was blank, empty of thought and emotion as he tried to replay what had just happened, but he failed to make sense of it.

                It was a much longer walk than Hayden had thought it would be before they finally saw the giant metal point that looked to be a spearhead pointed towards the sun. He had been expecting to walk into the gates and find the others so mad at him for holding secrets that they would not even talk to him. It seemed however that they were so mad that they had to talk to him.

                “You knew and you didn’t tell me? How long have you known?” Shane asked. He did not wait for Hayden to make it to the gates, but instead he and Cass had both waited for him. As soon as they saw him making his way down the path Shane had walked towards him and started yelling when as he thought Hayden would be able to hear him.

                “Shane, not so loud, we are supposed to keep the secret not blurt it out for everyone to here; plus maybe Hayden has a good reason for keeping us in the dark like he did. So, Hayden, what is your good reason?” Cass started off sounding reasonable, and at first Hayden thought that she might be on his side, but the more she spoke the quicker he realized just how wrong his first thoughts had been.

                “Look, I can explain. I just found out late yesterday night, and Draek and I wanted to fly together so bad that we did not wait to tell anyone this morning. I am sorry that I did not tell you guys, but I did not have a chance.” Draek stood close to him now. He sensed that something was wrong but he could not figure what was the cause of it. All he knew was that Hayden was very distressed and he wanted to be near him just in case whatever was causing the stress meant to hurt him.

                The others stood silently as he spoke, taking in every word. When he finished his short apology they did not answer or show any kind of emotion on their faces. Their dragons had moved beside them just as Draek had done for Hayden. It was Shane who finally spoke.

                “I guess I would have done the same thing if I would have found out.” He looked at Cass and shrugged his shoulders.

                “Ya, I would have to. Hayden, let’s just forget about this. We all now know that the dragons can fly. Soon we will start training to fly anyways, so it really doesn’t matter.” They all smiled awkwardly at each other until Draek and the other two dragons jumped into the air and flew off back towards the river; the three of them flying in a V pattern with Draek in the lead.

                Where are you guys going? Hayden asked, knowing the others were probably asking the same thing right then.

                We go to hunt. We are hungry and decided that the three of you can handle yourselves once you stop yelling for no reason, Draek told Hayden like it was a common fact, and he should not have had to ask. Hayden watched as they leveled out and glided over the river, no longer having to pump their large wings. Hayden smiled as he watched Draek, his silver scales shinning in the sun light, lower his front paw in the water and cause a small splash. It looked so peaceful and yet it terrified Hayden like nothing had before.

                “So, are we ok?” Hayden turned and asked his two friends. He knew that they had been distant the last few days, but he wanted to fix that. Although Draek was great company, it got lonely without another person to talk to.

                They both nodded to him and smiles slowly crept onto their faces. Hayden still felt that he had something else to tell them before they could begin to mend the bridges between them.