The Dream of Shadows (The Dragon Riders of Arvain Book 3)

by Nicholas Clausen

  “I thought Queen Kirin said we should avoid going there?” Raena asked.

  “She did but if we need to get close to it just to follow the Frost Fangs it might be our best hope of finding them,” Hayden spoke while looking at the emptiness around him.

  “You’re right Hayden, but we don’t want to be seen by the Metallic Riders there. We don’t know if they have been reinforced or if the Frost Fangs won’t help them fight us.” Cass said cautiously.

  “Why don’t we just fly towards the Ice Keep and try to see if we can’t find any signs of the Frost Fangs while on our way there?” Rimney asked. “We know it might be the best chance we have at finding them quickly and we do need to finish this and get back to Kirin.”

  “But she said to stay away,” Raena mumbled to herself.

  “She did, but that was before any of us had seen what was up here,” Cass argued back. “Before we even knew there was an up here.”

  “I think Rimney had the best idea; we should make our way to the Ice Keep and see if we can’t find anything along the way,” Shane said. Rimney smiled at Shane which made his face turn red.

  “I like this guy Hayden,” Rimney said, all the while still smiling.

  “Let’s just get back on our dragons and get moving; we do need to hurry. We have a war to win.” Hayden said as he made his way back to Draek to climb up in his saddle. Already the leather had gotten cold and covered in frost. He felt the cold begin to creep through his furs and into his legs.

  I just hope it doesn’t get colder. Hayden said as he tried to tighten his straps while leaving his gloves on. He started to get frustrated until he noticed all the others had hard times getting into their saddles or tightening their straps.

  It can’t get any colder than this. Draek said as he shook off the snow that had gathered on his silver scales.

  Draek where are they? Hayden asked as the wind wiped up a vortex of snow around them. Draek had given up on flying shortly after the blizzard had started because he was unable to navigate the torrent of wind.

  I don’t know. Draek shouted, causing Hayden’s head to throb.

  Where are the others? Hayden wouldn’t have thought that it would have been easy to lose a dozen nearly full-grown dragons, but in a matter of seconds, they had found themselves lost in the storm. They had gotten themselves separated without noticing once the wind had picked up. Hayden had been able to see a green dragon get thrown past them and disappear in the storm but after that, he hadn’t seen anything.

  I don’t know Hayden; I don’t know! Draek roared in frustration. He sent out a jet of fire but the wind forced the flame back on Hayden, and for a moment he was in a furnace before returning back to the cold.

  Draek, don’t do that! You almost caught me on fire. Hayden shouted with his mind as he tried his best to cover up with his furs, leaving nothing exposed to the elements.

  Hayden look over there! Draek said and let out another burst of fire which shot back to Hayden the same as before.

  How can I look anywhere with you trying to catch me on fire? Hayden asked, the smell of burning fur filling his nostrils.

  Just look, now! Hayden dared a quick glance from within his fur coat and saw a small light off in the distance. The light danced in the wind for a second and then disappeared too again.

  Was that fire? Hayden asked as he surveyed the area where he had seen the flash, but all he saw was snow on the ground and snow blowing in the wind.

  It was dragon fire. Hayden felt Draek take a deep breath and just before he blew out another burst of flame Hayden ducked back into his coat.

  Draek waited for the fire to reappear off in the distance again, and once he saw it, he began lumbering through the snowstorm towards it. He worked his way through the snow until he couldn’t remember where the flame had been at which point he sent another blast of fire into the air and awaited a reply.

  Hayden was of no help to Draek. His body was shivering and shaking, the tips of his fingers and toes had gone numb and no longer felt cold. Hayden tried his best to keep the cold out of his makeshift cocoon of furs, but the wind continued to wiggle and force its way through.

  It’s a cave Hayden; they found a cave. Draek’s voice was full of relief. Hayden removed a portion of his hood so he could see the opening to a cave in front of them with a silhouette of a dragon blocking half of the entrance. The dragon moved out of the way, allowing Draek to make his way through.

  Who… is …it? Hayden asked as the silhouette moved closer to Hayden. The darkness of the dragon consumed Hayden, and he saw no more.

  Hayden tried to move his arms, but they refused to answer his commands. He tried to move his legs and sit up, but they were unable to move as well. Hayden fought to open his eyes and was surprised not to be blinded by the light.

  Instead, he was surrounded by dark shadows that danced all around him. It took him a few moments to realize that he was inside of a cave and that a small fire was burning, casting out the shadows. A few figures sat around the fire, but Hayden was unable to see who they were.

  “Draek?” Hayden asked, his mouth was dry causing his voice to crack.

  I am here. His dragon answered.

  “Hayden, you’re awake,” Cass said as she stepped away from the fire and made her way next to Hayden.

  “Water,” Hayden said as he licked his cracked lips with this dry tongue. Cass pulled out a skin that was filled with water and allowed Hayden to drink slowly.

  “What happened?” Hayden asked.

  “Before or after the snow storm?” Shane asked from the other side of the fire. Hayden tried again to sit up, but he still wasn't able. He looked down at his body and realized that they had wrapped him up in furs like a newborn baby.

  “Hold on,” Cass said as she began undoing the furs. When Hayden became free, he realized he had full feeling of his fingers and toes and the cold appeared to leave no lasting damage to his body.

  Draek are you ok? Hayden asked. He noticed that Draek and the other dragons were in their usual pile at the back of the cave. Hayden watched as Draek’s silver head rose out of the pile to look at him.

  I am fine. Draek said and lowered his head back on top of the pile. Hayden didn’t know how long he had been out, but it was obvious that Draek was still exhausted.

  “Come over by the fire Hayden,” Rimney said. He hadn’t noticed her before because she was sitting away from the fire in shadows with her back to the cave wall.

  As Hayden slowly stood up, taking his time to make sure his body was ok, he looked around the cave. They seemed to be in a long tunnel, large enough to fit a pile of dragons at the end of it, and there was a bend in the stone opposite were the dragons sat. Based on the wind and sounds of the storm Hayden assumed that the opening of the cave was somewhere past the bend.

  As Hayden moved to the fire, he looked around for any other riders, but all he could see were Rimney, Cass, and Shane.

  “Where is everyone else?” Hayden asked.

  “Raena is at the opening of the cave with Fre`yan, they are still trying to signal out to the other riders,” Rimney said bitterly.

  “We are the only ones here?” Hayden asked.

  “Yes, the only ones that survived.” Rimney spit out.

  “We don’t know that Rimney,” Shane growled.

  “Yes we do, Hayden and Draek got here a few hours ago, and they showed up nearly dead. If Hayden hadn’t gotten here when he did he would have died. There is no way any of the other riders survived out there this long.” Rimney never took her eyes off Hayden as she spoke.

  “Only the five of us made it?” Hayden couldn’t believe that they had lost most of their group to the storm.

  “No one else is coming,” Raena said as she walked around the bend. Fre`yan looked nearly frozen with icicles hanging from her wings.

  “I know,” Rimney said.

  Shane looked up from where he was sitting to Hayden.

  “I am sorry,” Hayden said to both Rimney and Raena. He didn�
��t know what else to say; he didn’t know if there was anything else to say.

  He moved over to the fire and sat down, Cass coming to sit by him as well as Raena. Rimney stayed where she was, up against the wall. Hayden watched as pieces of paper and parts of their gear burned in front of him, giving off little light for such a dark time.

  “The storm has finally passed,” Rimney said as she came back around the bend to where the group had spent the night.

  No one had said much during the night. There wasn’t much to be said. They all knew that the chances of themselves finding a cave had been slim to none making the chances of the rest of the group finding another cave almost impossible.

  “I guess we can get going then,” Cass said as she pulled on her fur coat and walked towards Shaylin. The others followed her actions, and soon they were out of the cave looking back over an endless white landscape.

  “Where do we go?” Raena asked.

  I still think it would be best for us to make our way to the Ice Keep. Draek said with is head raised high above them.

  “Draek thinks we should go to the Ice Keep,” Hayden said as he began to climb onto Draek’s back.

  “Queen Kirin said we should avoid the Ice Keep.” Raena reminded them.

  “I would have agreed with you yesterday Hayden, but there are only five of us now. I think we should heed Kirin’s advice and stay away from the Ice Keep at least until we have enough Frost Fangs and white dragons to take the frozen stronghold.” Rimney said, a slight hint of challenge in her voice.

  Hayden remained silent and looked over the landscape. He wished that a clear path lay before him, but it all looked the same to him. Just as Hayden was about to speak all five dragons lifted up their heads and looked in the same direction.

  “What is it Draek?” Hayden asked. Hayden and the others were unable to see or smell anything out of the ordinary.

  Bear. Draek growled in his mind. It was not a growl of anger but of hunger.

  “Farius said he smells a bear somewhere out there,” Rimney said as she rubbed her dragon from atop her saddle, doing her best to keep her dragon calm. All the dragons were hungry, and a bear would greatly help reduce that hunger.

  “Let’s go hunt the bear down, and after the dragons have eaten we can figure out what we are going to do,” Hayden suggested. When no one said anything, he signaled for Draek to take off and begin tracking the bear.

  If it has to feed the five us let us hope it is a big bear. Draek said as he took to the air with the other four dragons and their riders right behind him.

  They didn’t fly long before they crossed over an ice peak that shielded a group of white bears on the other side. The bears all raised their heads and looked at the dragons, but none of them ran away.

  The bears were unlike any bear Hayden had seen or even heard of. They were all white, just like the snow around them and their fur was so long it hung off of them like a horse’s mane. All together Hayden counted nine of the bears which would be more than enough to feed all five of the dragons.

  Let’s go Draek, make it quick. Hayden grabbed hold of his saddle and readied himself for Draek to slam into the bear. Draek roared and dove at the pack of bears, smoke billowing out of his jaw.

  As Draek neared the ice peak part of the ice cap broke off the mountain and slammed into Draek’s back legs, sending him plummeting to the snow below. When Draek hit the ground, he sent up an explosion of the white snow and sent Hayden flying into a snow bank.

  What are you doing Draek? Hayden asked as he dug himself out of the snow, having not seen the ice cap. When Draek did not answer right away, he wiped the snow from his face and looked at his dragon. Draek was lowered to the ground like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse. Hayden looked up to the snow peak and saw the other four dragons flying directly above them. All eyes were on the peak they had just flown around that was now moving.

  Hayden thought he saw an avalanche until he realized what he was seeing was a group of white dragons breaking off of the mountain and flying at them.

  Chapter Six

  Draek get up in the air. Hayden shouted as he ran to his dragon. He slid on the ice as he neared Draek’s side, falling to the ground. As he got up and grabbed onto the saddle, there was a gust of wind that only came from a dragon landing.

  Hayden turned to face the white dragon, but Draek moved to put himself in between the new dragon and Hayden.

  Can you talk to it? Hayden asked. He could only see bits of the dragon as Draek continued to block him from their potential enemy.

  Draek growled as he continued to try to stay between Hayden and the dragon. Hayden darted underneath Draek’s chest and found himself face to face with a snarling white dragon.

  The dragon looked similar to the red dragons in shape. Its head was almost the size of Draek’s, but its neck was significantly shorter, looking more horse-like. The white dragon looked to be covered with a white leathery skin just like the skin that made up its wing’s membrane. Hayden saw only a few scales in patches scattered across the dragon’s body.

  The dragon’s wings seemed thicker than Draek’s because they didn’t fold in perfectly as the metallic dragons did and the membrane seemed to hang down the dragon’s sides. On top of the dragon’s head were the only spikes on its body and they grew out to make two large horns that were clear and looked to be made of ice.

  Just like Draek, the white dragon was moving side to side ready to attack. When Hayden had made it out into the open, the dragon opened up its mouth, revealing a grey tongue and sharp, dagger-like teeth. Clear liquid began dripping from its mouth as white smoke wisped into the air.

  “Wait!” Hayden shouted. The dragon stopped moving but did not close its jaws.

  “Please, we need to talk with your rider,” Hayden yelled. The white dragon had been positioned to where Hayden couldn’t see the rider upon its back. The dragon continued to stare at Hayden as if it had frozen in the wind.

  “And what would I need to talk to a silver rider about?” A deep, thunderous voice echoed.

  “There is something going on in Arvain that you need to know about.” Hayden began backing slowly towards Draek. Never once taking his eyes off the white dragon.

  Where is the rider? Hayden asked as he looked up into the sky to see three white dragons flying around his friends who were hovering together.

  I don’t see him on the dragon’s back. This white dragon might not be able to hear me, that or it's ignoring me. Draek’s frustration bled through their mental bond.

  “And you just came all the way out here to give us a message, did ya?” The voice echoed again.

  “Please, we just want to talk,” Hayden shouted.

  Off by the herd of bears Hayden saw one of the animals stand up on its hind legs. The creature shook off the snow that had attached to its fur. The bear turned and began walking towards Hayden, and he realized it wasn’t a bear.

  “I am here young rider, what do ya want to talk about?” The rider of the white dragon was wearing the same colored fur that the bears had. Hayden couldn’t tell where his arms and legs were and the man wore a thick beard and his hair down making him look even more like an animal.

  “There…There is a war taking place in Arvain.” Hayden started.

  “A war? In Arvain?” The white rider started as he scratched his beard. “That’s funny because here we are in Arvain and I don’t see no war going on. Not unless ya brought it with ya?”

  “No, we didn’t bring the war with us,” Hayden replied, angrier then he meant to. The white dragon hissed, and more of the clear liquid came out of its mouth.

  “We came here seeking help,” Hayden said, trying his best to remain calm.

  “Ya come here making claims of war, but ya say ya do not bring the war here, and yet the next words out of ya mouth are asking for help in ya war?” The white rider continued walking forward. As his feet crunched in the snow and the steam rolled off of his breath, the rider pulled out a distorted ax that looked more
club then blade. Draek released a torrent of fire in between the white rider and Hayden, the flames melting the ice and hissing into the cold air.

  Just as quickly as the searing hot flames that forced Hayden to turn his head away started, they were replaced with an icy cold the likes of which Hayden had never felt before. Hayden felt the frost crack on his fur-covered arm as he turned back around. Where Draek’s fire had just been, stood a frozen replica of the flames, the white dragon had frozen Draek’s fire.

  The white dragon was still spraying the ice flames with the same clear liquid that he had seen pouring out of its mouth, freezing everything it touched.

  Hayden watched the sun glitter and shine through the frozen flames, something he had never heard of happening before. “What is this?” Hayden asked as he reached his hand forward, gently touching the ice.

  Before Draek could answer the ice shattered in front of Hayden, showering him with shards of ice as he fell backward against Draek.

  The Frost Fang stepped over the shards of ice jutting up from the snow, the ax back to resting on his shoulder after he had shattered the frozen flames.

  “Tell me Metallic Rider, why should I help ya?” He growled. Draek lowered his head to be eye level with the rider as the white dragon walked forward to challenge the larger silver dragon.

  “Because the way I see it, the last time a group of Metallic Riders came flying into our home, shouting of war and demanding we come to their aid, things did not end so well for my people. We were scattered as far as the wind blows and forced to submit our home and our dragons to ya kind.” The rider pointed his ax at Hayden with no thought or concern to the growling silver dragon.

  “And here ya are again, a Metallic Rider, pleading for my people to fight along with ya. Demanding that we join ya and help enslave Arvain again, a land we never even get to see.” The rider roared the last words at Hayden.

  “We are on the other side; we are fighting the Metallic Riders!” Hayden shouted before the white rider could take another step and have Draek loose his flame on the rider.