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

by Nicholas Clausen

  “Do you think that the Metallic Riders will go to all the other villages and summon them as well?” Raena asked.

  “I am sure that they will. Why?” Klarack asked.

  “I think that if all the villages are moving in around the Ice Keep, then we should join them.” Raena started.

  “We might find the other villages before they get there.” Cass smiled.

  “We wouldn’t need the maps, all the villages are going to be in one spot,” Shane said.

  “All the dragons are going to be in one place. We just have to get close enough to the Ice Keep to find as many villages as possible, but we don’t want to be found by the Ice Keep.” Cass said, more to herself than to the others.

  “Klarack, how long is it going to take us to get to the Ice Keep?” Cass asked without looking at the white rider.

  “Usually it would take us two or three days to get everything ready. Then another five or six days until the entire village made it to the Ice Keep.” Klarack said as he rubbed his beard.

  “We wouldn’t have to travel with the entire village, just the dragon riders could go out, and we could make it there faster. Right?” Hayden asked.

  “Not possible. We must travel with the village; I could not leave my people without the protection of our dragons. That is the first and most important requirement of our dragon riders, to protect the people.” Klarack said. “If we left them here there wouldn’t be a village to come back to.”

  Hayden understood what Klarack meant. It was one of the reasons that they were fighting. His mind had only recently wondered back to Erskine, his home, and he knew that he would want to protect them.

  “Is there any way we can move faster, we need to be the first ones to the Ice Keep,” Hayden asked.

  “Oh, we Frost Fangs can move fast,” Klarack said with a toothy grin.

  It turned out they couldn’t.

  Chapter Eight

  “How much longer is this going to take?” Hayden shouted from atop Draek, high above the village that was supposed to be on their way to the Ice Keep.

  “We are making good time silver rider, won’t be much longer now,” Klarack yelled back. Dy’slin gave a short, faltering roar that summoned the other white dragons to the air.

  “I thought we were going to be on our way to the Ice Keep yesterday, how much longer? We need to get to the other tribes before they get to the keep.” Cass asked as she and Shaylin flew to where Hayden and Klarack were.

  “We should be able to get on our way this afternoon; these things take time but trust me they are moving fast for Frost Fangs. Normally we wouldn’t leave for another five or six days. We will beat the other villages there, trust me.” Klarack waved to them as he spoke, making it seem that their delay was of no consequence.

  Four other white dragons and their riders flew from other parts of the village and converged on Klarack. He turned to face his fellow Frost Fangs leaving Hayden and Cass to fly back to their own group.

  Draek and Shaylin proceeded to glide down to where the others were waiting to be off. They had been packed up and ready to go since the previous day when they had first learned of the summons by the Metallic Riders. They had assumed that they would be taking off almost immediately to begin their trek across the Frozen Tundra.

  This had proved not to be the case. The Frost Fangs had insisted that it was bad luck to take a trip like this in the middle of the day. They said that one must finish the day that they had started and begin the journey the next day, dedicating the entire day to the task.

  Hayden and the others didn’t understand what the point of that was, but they had learned that there was no convincing the Frost Fangs of any other way. As it turned out dedicating an entire day to their journey entailed them painstakingly going through every item they owned and trying to figure out what to take with them and what to leave behind. They would carefully go over each piece of leather and each tool by hand, usually asking second opinions of those who lived closest to them as to which to leave and which to bring with them.

  It was becoming more and more apparent as the sun moved further across the sky that they were most likely not going to be traveling anytime soon.

  Hayden undid his straps and slipped off of Draek’s back, landing knee deep in a patch of snow, as soon as Draek had hit the ground.

  “I take it we are not about to leave?” Rimney asked. Farius was curled around where she was sitting and as she stood up, one large blue eye opened. All the dragons were surviving in the frozen land, but it was obvious that they preferred the heat to the cold. Their movements were not as smooth or precise as normal and most even wore frost on their scales. Farius seemed to be faring far worse than the others. He appeared to be more of a frozen dragon than a blue dragon. His scales were even peeling off in places like dried skin.

  “Not yet, Klarack said soon, and the Frost Fangs seem to be moving, but it doesn’t look like they are in any hurry to leave yet,” Cass answered.

  “We can’t sit here and wait forever,” Rimney said under her breath. She looked back at her blue dragon as she spoke.

  “If we leave without them we wouldn’t be able to find the Ice Keep easily, and if we did make it in time we would have to go through convincing each village just as we had with this one,” Hayden complained. He hated their situation just as much as the others did but he didn’t know a way out of it.

  Draek lumbered passed Hayden and the other riders and looked down at Farius. The blue dragon lifted his head to meet Draek but otherwise did not move. Draek sniffed around the weakened blue dragon and then looked at the other dragons, never once telling Hayden what was happening.

  The other riders noticed all the dragons moving towards Farius.

  “What are they doing?” Rimney asked as her dragon was surrounded by the other dragons. She moved to stand beside her dragon but as she began walking the dragons opened their wings together and covered Farius. Blocking him from view or reach.

  “I don’t know?” Hayden answered. Draek what’s going on? Hayden asked. Draek remained silent as his head stretched out towards the sky. They watched as one by one the other dragons lifted their heads high above their wings, so the riders were able to see them.

  The last dragon to raise their head was Rilora. The moment her head was up all the dragons opened their mouths and unleashed their fires between them, engulfing where Farius was.

  Rimney screamed and ran for the dragons, beating on their wings and doing her best to lift them up. “They're killing him!” She screamed. “Farius, answer me!”

  Rimney fell to her knees, weeping in her hands. “They killed him,” Rimney whispered. One by one the dragons lowered their head but left their wings up.

  “I don’t think he’s dead,” Raena said.

  “What?” Rimney asked, shooting a glance at the young elf.

  “If he were dead you would be stone,” Raena said. Rimney was about to yell at her when she realized what she said was true.

  She stood back up and pushed on Draek’s wings again, this time the silver dragon lifted his wings and let her pass through.

  Rimney had to stop, or she would have fallen into the steaming crater filled with water that the dragons had melted around Farius. The blue dragon was completely submerged and swimming around like a fish.

  The frost had melted away from his scales and rust colored spikes. Rimney knelt down and waited for Farius to raise his head out of the water.

  When he did, they touched foreheads, and Rimney rubbed beside his head. “Thank you,” Rimney said to the dragons. Each of the dragons nodded their heads to her and moved out of the way to allow the other riders to come up.

  Klarack walked up and found the riders standing around the pool.

  “I thought we were in a hurry?” He said, startling the other riders.

  They all turned to face the white rider. “We are ready to go we are just waiting for ya guys to quit playing in the water. Don’t ya know it’s a little cold to be swimming?” Klar
ack asked.

  Hayden, I am cold. Draek stated. They had been waiting for some time on top of a frozen hill that overlooked the path that the Frost Fang villagers were following. They had flown for what felt like forever, but they hadn’t made it very far.

  They had started out with the wind beneath them, the weather fair and everything looked to be in their favor. That was before the village started moving.

  Hayden and the other dragon riders had taken to the skies only to quickly realize that they had left the villagers far behind. They had to double back and circle overhead.

  Finally, Hayden had signaled for Draek and the other dragons to land. There was no point to them tiring out just flying in circles around the villagers as they slowly traversed the Frozen Tundra. When the dragons quit moving, however, the cold began to creep in.

  I know Draek. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer. Hayden told his silver dragon as he rubbed his hands together inside his fur gloves, trying to get the feeling back in his fingers.

  Klarack and his white dragon landed just short of the hilltop, forcing the dragon to walk up the short distance.

  “We are making good time, are we not?” Klarack asked proudly as steam streamed through his beard as he spoke.

  “We can still see where the village was,” Shane replied flatly.

  Klarack turned in his saddle to see if Shane was right. They could all clearly see the worn-in path the villagers had used to begin their journey and at the end of that path was the remains of the village, that was still easily visible.

  Klarack shrugged off Shane’s comment as if it was freshly fallen snow that had found its perch on his shoulder. “Ya lot worry too much. Where ya come from, things move fast and are done differently. Out here though, out here the ice moves slowly.” Klarack nodded slowly as he spoke.

  “The other villages will be moving slower than we are and they won’t even be traveling yet. We shall make it to the Ice Keep well before any of the other tribes do.” Klarack reassured them.

  “What happens if we were the last of the tribes to be summoned and the other tribes have had weeks to start moving?” Raena asked.

  The simple question seemed to stump Klarack for a while. More than a few moments passed where he didn’t say anything; the only noise was the continuous sounds of the village slowly trudging by.

  “No, I am sure we weren’t the last to be summoned.” He said, positive in his answer.

  “I think we were the last of the tribes to be summoned,” Klarack said as he and the other riders laid flat on their bellies, leaning over a frozen cliff overlooking the encampments that surrounded the Ice Keep.

  The Ice Keep appeared to be made out of giant pieces of stone that were held together with ice as mortar. The ice looked like veins running randomly over the entire keep. The entire structure was topped with snow just like the tops of TheeAgren had first appeared.

  Surrounding the Ice Keep were hundreds of huts and small structures covered in snow and furs. Along with the structures, Hayden could see innumerable Frost Fangs moving about within the huts. But it was the white dragons that help Hayden’s eyes. There were dozens of white dragons, all resting together on the outskirts of the mass of Frost Fangs.

  “How many tribes are down there?” Shane asked. Hayden was still trying to take it all in.

  “Most of the tribes? All of the tribes? I am not sure but if this is not all of our tribes it is close.” Klarack answered.

  “I didn’t realize that there were so many of you out here,” Cass said, shocked by the number of Frost Fangs before them.

  “That’s why they keep the tribes separate most of the time. The only time they allow us to come together in a group this large is when we let our youth try for dragons.” Klarack explained with a smile. “Every time we get together if we start to remember that there are so many of us here and so few of them.” Klarack pointed to the Ice Keep.

  Hayden watched as out of one of the dark caves near the top of the keep steeped a large copper dragon. The dragon seemed to materialize out of the ice around it. The dragon looked over the encampment that surrounded the Ice Keep but made no attempt to leave the platform.

  After a few moments like this, the dragon turned and disappeared back into the keep.

  “There should only be four riders there right, just like all the other Metallic Nation strongholds?” Raena asked. Rimney nodded her head, but Cass interrupted.

  “No there is at least five but possibly more.” She said, her eyes still locked where the copper dragon had stood.

  “Why would there be more than four, there is always four riders at every outpost. It has been that way ever since the Metallic Nation started rationing how many eggs hatched each year.” Rimney said.

  “I know that there are at least five because when Hayden hatched Draek, he wasn’t supposed to get a dragon, making him the fifth rider that year. With everything that happened after Draek hatched, Sebastian’s father was banished for a year to the Ice Keep.” Cass said. Hayden hadn’t thought about that day much as of late but as Cass spoke the images flashed through his mind again.

  “Wait, Sebastian? Isn’t that one of the riders that burned my ships after he tricked you?” Rimney asked.

  “He was,” Hayden answered without making eye contact.

  “I guess the crimes of the son will be paid for by the father,” Rimney growled.

  “Cass, why would you think there would be more than five riders here though?” Raena asked.

  “Because there is a good chance that they have called all of the Frost Fangs together to have them march against us. If that is what they are doing, then they might have sent a few more riders out here to help make sure it goes accordingly or to make sure that we don’t intervene.” Cass answered.

  “We’re going to intervene, though right?” Klarack asked, parts of his beard frozen and unmoving as he talked.

  “Oh yes.” Cass smiled.

  “What’s happening down there?” Cass asked when Klarack and his dragon landed back on the cliff where their temporary village was set up. They had decided that it was best to send all the dragons that weren’t Frost Fang dragons further away from the Ice Keep so not to be discovered. This was done at the complaint of all their dragons, however.

  “Apparently, they are calling for all Frost Fangs to join them in their attempt to reestablish peace in Arvain,” Klarack said as he dismounted Dy’slin. “We got here after they had already announced that to those already here. They wanted us to agree on our own, but they want their answer soon.” Klarack spat on the snow, shaking his head.

  “What are the Frost Fangs thinking?” Cass asked.

  “They think they don’t want to join them, they don’t want to fight for them,” Klarack replied.

  “Good,” Cass said feeling relieved.

  “They also think that they don’t have a choice. The Metallic Riders have promised that whichever clans join them get to hatch twice as many dragon eggs immediately. They won’t have to wait till the usual hatching season. That would make the clans that join them stronger, and that would mean those that don’t join them would be too weak to defend themselves against the stronger clans.” Klarack spat again when he finished speaking.

  Cass lowered her head.

  “What do we do?” Hayden asked.

  “We plead your case to the clans down there and hope they choose you over the other Metallic Riders,” Klarack answered.

  Chapter Nine

  Hayden and the others stood shivering outside a large, hide-covered hut with wisps of smoke escaping into the white sky. They tried to keep their clothes pulled tight to their bodies as well as their hoods pulled over their heads, not just for warmth but also in order to hide their faces.

  Klarack had made his way through the various villages, convincing their elders to join him in a meeting to help decide their fate regarding what the Metallic Riders have demanded. During the meeting, he had told Cass that it would be there, in that meeting that he would re
veal the young riders and their proposition on how they should proceed.

  They had been waiting for some time before shouts could be heard coming out from the hut. The riders all became worried and started backing away from the entrance just as the flap was thrown back, and Klarack stepped out. His smile scarcely hidden beneath his beard.

  “They are ready to hear ya, my friends.” He said, stepping further out from the hut.

  “Are they pleased with our idea?” Cass asked as she walked closer to Klarack.

  “No, not particularly but they have agreed not to kill ya lot on sight.” He explained as if it was an amazing achievement.

  “Uh…. Good job?” Hayden asked, not sure how to react.

  “No need for thanks, silver rider, it was the least I could do.” Klarack nodded humbly.

  “I bet it was,” Shane said as together, they made their way into the dark hut.

  The hut was full of smoke as they had fires burning to keep the occupants warm. The room was filled with fur covered men and women; each wore a scowl on their face.

  “Ya lot are the ones that have convinced Klarack to forfeit his life by joining ya?” An elderly woman spat on the trampled ground.

  “That’s not how I would have put it Shanry,” Klarack replied calmly.

  “That’s how I would put it. Ya bring them here, and with them, ya bring their war.” Shanry shouted, spittle flying from her mouth.

  “The war was coming here, with or without us,” Rimney shouted as she tried to get closer to Shanry.

  Shanry squinted her face to get a better look at Rimney.

  “She is right; this war was coming here one way or another. We had wanted to meet with each of your villages and truly discuss our proposition.” Cass explained, putting her queen face on just as Hayden had seen Kirin do.