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

Chapter Four

            Fendrel pulled Hayden through the river of people that were making their way up and down the busy streets in, what Hayden had just learned was called The Housing District. The people still looked down on him and Fendrel and few people moved out of their way as they tried to walk but Fendrel did not slow down and just pushed his way through the crowd. Hayden kept trying to ask questions about the things he was seeing but he never got more than a few words out before his voice was drowned out by someone else talking louder than him.

            Hayden had lost all sense of direction only a few moments after entering The Housing District through the gate. His head was still swimming with everything he was trying to take in. I have seen another dragon up close. A copper dragon actually looked at me. This is where I belong, this is where heroes are made and lives changed forever. Hayden realized that he was having a hard time thinking with everything going on so he decided to stop asking questions and just try to follow Fendrel.

            Fendrel kept weaving in and out between people and turning down one street just to go a few feet and turn down another road. Hayden noticed that when they had first come into district, the metal houses were two and three stories but as they made it deeper into the district Hayden noticed that the houses were begging to look less extravagant. The nicer houses had elaborate carvings and decorations on the outside of the houses. Some even had different kinds of metals used to add color to the constant shinny grey. The houses that Fendrel was leading him through had no such designs, no ornate decorations, just plain grey walls. These houses were just as tall as the other ones but were one family would have all three stories in the richer part of the district, here they crammed multiple families into the homes.

            Fendrel made an abrupt stop in front of an ordinary house compared to the corresponding metal homes, except it seemed to Hayden that it looked unkept and a good bit dirtier then all the other houses. Fendrel did not knock on the door but pulled out a metal key that had a lot more elaborate bends and points then he had ever seen. Fendrel unlocked the door, which when he turned the key sounded like a large rock falling, and gave the door a slight push with his hand. The door however did not move and Fendrel had to slam his shoulder into it twice to get it to open. The door gave out a loud creak when it finally opened for them and a large puff of orange smoke came loose from the one large hinge that ran the whole length of the great metal door. 

            Fendrel stood straddling the threshold with one foot in the strange old metal house and one foot out in the equally strange metal street; he gave a short bow and made a sweeping gesture with his hands and ushered Hayden in. Hayden took a few short timid steps and tried to see what was all in the house but all he could see was where the light for the outside hit the floor. Fendrel closed the door behind them and set the lock back in place. As soon as the door closed Hayden was engulfed in darkness and he stopped all movements and just tried to listen.

            Hayden heard Fendrel’s footsteps falling on the floor and more creaking and grunting which made him believe that Fendrel was trying to open something. Soon Hayden was blinded by light shinning directly on his face. He turned his head and closed his eyes tightly and when he opened them again he saw Fendrel standing next a couple of old metal shutters he had just opened.

            “Boy I would like to welcome you to my house.”

            Hayden looked around the room he was standing in and saw that it was a common area because it had multiple places to sit. Everything was covered in dust so thick that when he looked back to where he had walked in at his footprints looked like they had been made in snow. The walls had begun to rust near the top where water had leaked in and no one had been around to fix it; he could also see a few spots on the walls where torches were hung and the soot was still caked on the wall.