Chapter 10
Cody, Inferno, Omen, Avalsmokes, and Autumn were still travelling through the seemingly endless forest as the sun reached the highest point in the sky, right around noon. Inferno had tired long before while flying, and decided to just walk along beside them until he felt strong enough to fly again. He flapped his wings a bit to test their strength, then decided that he wasn’t quite ready yet to try again.
While Omen exchanged stories and fairytales with Aval and Autumn, Cody asked Inferno, “I hate that I didn’t think of this earlier, and I guess it’s too late to do right now, but when you land again after your next flight, could I maybe ride you instead of Chase? Now that I’ve ridden you for the first time, it seems sort of demeaning to ride a horse instead.”
“Of course, there is nothing I would enjoy more! But why can’t you just ride me all the time, whether I’m flying or not?”
“The timing still doesn’t feel right,” Blackscales said. “I will after we pass through Starling, does that sound good to you?”
Inferno nodded. Suddenly Autumn turned around and stared at Blackscales for a long time through disappointed eyes. She just wouldn’t stop glaring at him, making him really uncomfortable until he started squirming in his saddle.
“Now are you going to explain everything to us or not?” She asked after more uncomfortable staring and squirming.
“Oh!” Blackscales said, suddenly very relieved, though worried at the same time. “It all started a long time ago, when Argos and his rider sent me and Inferno dreams right after he hatched; instructions, basically.”
“Argos has a rider!?” Omen screeched with sudden wonder.
“Argos communicated with you!?” Autumn said in her own astonishment and stupefaction.
Aval’s bewilderment came out soon after, “What did he tell you!?”
“Yes, though we don’t know his name yet. Yes, this startles me just as much as you. He told me to steal a map from my father because he was going to use it for some sort of evil purpose, a book from Faltanar, and he said that I must never see Faltanar face-to-face again.”
“Is that the night when you told us to throw a party for Faltanar but you never showed?” Autumn asked.
Cody nodded. “He told me to read the book with Inferno, because it would tell us the basics of what we needed to know about dragons and their riders. We have no clue why Faltanar would have such a book, but we didn’t question, just hoped the answers would all be in the book.”
“And were they?” Aval questioned.
Blackscales thought a minute before replying, “A few, but we’ve only had the time to read a fraction of it. Then just last night, when me and Inferno were sleeping, Argos and his rider came to us in our dreams and said that we had to go search for them. They said that we weren’t ready, but there wasn’t enough time to wait anymore. They also said that we would need help keeping safe from enemy attacks, so we’d need the help from trusted warriors from the village. Lastly, they said that I would need to change my name to Blackscales so that our enemies wouldn’t recognize us, but our allies would.”
“Exactly who are our allies?” Omen asked.
Blackscales responded with a sad looking face, “We don’t know. We don’t even know who the enemies are. Argos’s rider just told me that I would know who was friend or foe when I met them.”
Omen nodded in agreement, “Probably. Just to be even more careful, we should hide our identities even more. Say that I’m your father, and the three of you are half-siblings, though Aval and Autumn are full siblings, since they look alike. Inferno won’t be mentioned at all.”
They all agreed, and Inferno took off into the air moments later, feeling refreshed and strong once more. They all watched him in silent awe as he glided slowly above them, watching over the land with his beady and gaudy blue eyes. There were even times when his wings blocked out the sun.
“So are you with us?” Blackscales asked after a few minutes of silence.
They all laughed and Omen replied, “I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that if you had mentioned Argos earlier, we would have hopped on our horses sooner.”
The other two nodded in eager agreement.
“We are nearing the town, it’s under two leagues away now,” Inferno explained to Blackscales, who relayed the message to the others.
“How do you know?” Autumn asked.
“Inferno told me,” Blackscales replied.
Aval turned to him in surprise and asked, “He told you? How did he do that?”
Blackscales laughed heartily and replied, “We have this sort of…mind link, where we can talk to each other through our minds and even feel each other’s emotions when we’re close enough. And for some reason, Omen can talk to Inferno that way too.”
Aval and Autumn looked up at Inferno, then back down to Blackscales and Omen before Autumn said, “Really? That’s incredibly weird, I think.”
Blackscales nodded. They were all suddenly silent for a few minutes, when Inferno suddenly swooped down to the ground again, right behind them. The rider immediately told the others to stop and hopped off of Chase’s back and handed his reigns to a startled Blacksmith.
“What’s going on?” Aval asked as he pulled his horse to a stop.
“I’m going to ride Inferno now until we reach the town. Don’t worry, we won’t be flying.”
Autumn asked one last question, “Have you done this before?”
“Once,” Blackscales admitted.
Omen tied Chase’s reigns to Inheritance’s saddle and him as well as Aval and Autumn watched as Blackscales walked up to Inferno. The dragon turned his head to the side, allowing Blackscales to climb into the saddle on his neck. Blackscales shook a little bit nervously for a moment as he tied his legs against the saddle with the straps, but then felt confident again.
Inferno snorted, telling Omen to lead on. Blackscales started as Inferno took his first step towards the horse, which seemed far more nervous than the rider. But after some time, everyone became comfortable once more. Blackscales gripped the reigns with one hand as his other dangled by his side. Autumn kept looking at Blackscales with disbelieving eyes, but smiling nevertheless.
They carried on their riding in silence, absorbing all of the information that they had received that day. Blackscales was both relieved and disappointed that they hadn’t come across any dangers yet whatsoever. They never saw anything more dangerous than eagles and hawks, flying around in search of mice or smaller birds to eat, making Inferno chuckle occasionally for some reason.
It wasn’t long before Blackscales heard Omen and Aval’s stomachs growling with hunger, and saw them reach into their saddlebags for something to eat. Omen took out a piece of ham, while Aval grabbed two rather large slices of apples.
“We’ll probably get plenty to eat in the town for free, why are you eating now when we could be only a ten minute’s ride away?” Blackscales asked.
“We don’t know if it’ll be free or not,” Aval replied, making juice drip onto his chin from one of the slices of apples which he stuffed into his mouth all at once.
“Chew your food before talking,” Autumn scolded. “You can’t even correct your manners when we’ll be meeting total strangers only minutes from now!”
Blackscales laughed, “Let Aval be Aval, you can’t expect anything less from him.”
Then it was Omen’s turn to laugh, but Inferno interrupted him, “I can smell the town of Starling up ahead, about 100 yards away. I should probably hide somewhere in the forest now, so keep me updated.”
As Inferno stopped and Blackscales jumped out of the saddle, Autumn, Aval, and Omen looked at him with surprise. The rider ran his fingers through his hair and cracked his back before jumping into Chase’s saddle.
“Inferno says the town is up ahead, and now he has to go hide so no one finds him,” Blackscales explained.
They continued on in silence, until Starling became visible. There was a small wooden gate barring their path with a black painting of a fat bird on it. Blackscales decided it was suitable; painting a starling on a gate leading to a village called Starling.
“There it is,” he told the others. “Omen, take the lead so everyone believes that you are our father.”
Omen obeyed, and he and Inheritance led the way to the gate. Right in front of a gate stood a tall, rugged man with a dirty-looking beard that reached down past his belt. He wore a big, floppy grey hat and a dusty brown cloak that was a bit too short, showing his grey boots that were riddled with holes. In his left hand he held a knobby wooden cane, his right hand was hovering over a little sheath at his belt that probably held a knife.
“Who be you, and what is your business in the village of Starling?” the man asked in a gruff and haggard voice.
“I am Omen,” the blacksmith replied. “These are my sons; Avalsmokes and Blackscales, and my daughter Autumn.
The man looked them over before asking, “Why does the scales fellow look different from you?”
“I have a different mother, and get most of my looks from her,” Blackscales explained.
“Again, what do y’all plan to do in our town? Where do yah come from?” The man asked further.
Omen brought horse forward a little bit and replied, “Please sir, we are weary travelers. All we want is food, water, and shelter. I will gladly pay a toll if there is any, and I assure you that we don’t intend to harm anyone in Starling.”
“Drop yer weapons and I’ll bring ‘em to our leader until you leave,” the man said.
Aval and Autumn looked at Omen, who nodded. The two true siblings reluctantly obeyed, and Aval unsheathed his dual swords before dropping them on the ground at the old man’s feet. Autumn took her bow off of her shoulder and did the same, carefully placing her arrows on the ground soon after.
“Name’s Fren, and welcome to our town,” the man said as he picked up the weapons, opened the gate with a key that he had hid in his pocket, and led the way through the town.
Blackscales looked around at the town, studying the buildings that were slightly different than the buildings at their home town. He noticed that there were a few tents set up temporarily, probably holding traders and their merchandise until they had to pack up and leave the town again. It made sense, since there were some other towns only a few leagues away from Starling, making it a bit more active than Blackscales’s town.
When they made it to a building that stood taller than all the others, Fren held his hound out to them and said, “Wait out here while I talk to our leader about getting yer animals fed and sheltered, as well as yourselves.”
The four obeyed and sat outside the building patiently. The old man returned a short time later.
“He says that you can talk to Icksazro, the tavern keeper. He will provide you with food and shelter at a good price, maybe even free if yer lucky. I’ll take yer animals to our stables and take care of ‘em fer free.”
Omen thanked him, and dismounted Inheritance, soon followed by the others. Blackscales patted Chase’s flank and walked off to where Fren pointed a long, bony finger. Omen led the way, of course, but the town seemed so easygoing now that they were inside, that it didn’t really seem to matter. After a short, silent walk, they reached the tavern and stepped inside.
It was almost completely empty, aside from a tall, strong, and relatively young man that was seated at the bar, probably the bartender. He seemed unusually athletic, both strong and quick, making Blackscales somewhat nervous. But something about the man seemed enthusiastic, energetic, and he seemed to be full of cheer, despite being in a bar in the early evening. He was wearing a sky-blue hat and a tan cloth-like tunic and pants with tan shoes.
“Are you Icksazro?” Omen asked the man politely.
The man turned in his seat to look them with unusually bright eyes and replied, “I suppose I am. Who’s asking?”
Omen stepped forward and introduced them again, “I am Omen, and this is my daughter Autumn, and my sons Aval and Blackscales.”
As he said Blackscales, Icksazro’s eyes squinted and he got a wiry smile on his face. He put his hands together and studied them once more. Finally, after many long and uncomfortable minutes, he stood up and took a few steps towards Blackscales.
As he took his hat off he bowed low to the ground while saying, “And I suppose you are looking for shelter and food before you continue on your long journey continues, young rider?”
“How…How do you know about me?” Blackscales asked.
Then, Icksazro lifted his head up again and straightened up, proud and tall. That was when they all noticed his slightly pointed ears and natural chaotic black hair with streaks of gold combing through it.
Just as he was putting his hat back on, Autumn said what the were all thinking, “You’re an elf!”