The Dream of Shadows

by Nicholas Clausen

The Frost Fang stopped walking and looked up at Draek, truly looking up at the silver dragon for the first time. He turned his gaze up to the sky where the other white dragons were still circling the other dragons.

  “How can ya fight the Metallic Riders if ya are a Metallic Rider?” The white rider asked, still looking up at the sky at the other dragons.

  “We broke apart from them, we joined up with the elves and the Sea Serpents, and we fought them over Eytherka. We fought them, and we won, we were able to push them back.” Hayden said, still staying close to Draek.

  The white rider looked to his dragon and remained silent for a few moments before the dragon looked up to the sky and gave what Hayden assumed was a roar, it sounded more like ice breaking then the other dragon’s roars.

  The other white dragons quickly stopped circling and almost dropped to the ground to land behind the dragon that had called them.

  “I believe ya have a story to tell silver rider, a story that I want to hear.” The Frost Fang said as he turned and made his way back to his own dragon.

  “And after the battle, we decided that our only chance to truly defeat the Metallic Nation is if we got help from the other nations of Arvain,” Cass said as they finished recanting their tale. “Only with everyone’s help, only with all of Arvain can we defeat them.”

  Hayden and his friends sat around a large roaring fire deep within the Frost Fangs small village. The white rider, which they had learned was named Klarack, had brought them to his village which was made up of himself, his riders and their families. The riders had all left at Klarack’s orders to see to the village while he heard what Hayden and the others had to say.

  Hayden had been surprised when they had flown to Klarack’s village. He hadn’t expected to find the village carved into the very ice, making the tops of the huts level with the ground. The huts were covered in leather hides and furs. Smoke wisped up from some of the larger huts. They had even carved walkways through the ice, almost like hallways in a house.

  “This was a story well told,” Klarack said, scratching his beard as he looked into the flames.

  “I still do not want my people used as tools in ya war.” He said looking up from the flames to meet the gaze of the other riders.

  “You and your people will not be used as tools. Not if you join us now while you still have a chance. It’s only a matter of time before the Metallic Nation realizes what we intend to do and then they will reach out and force everyone they can to fight against us. Just like they did when they took over Arvain.” Cass explained.

  “You will be fighting with us, together by our side,” Shane said.

  “Many will die,” Klarack said sadly.

  “Many already have, and they will continue to die either way. You can choose to join us and fight for a better future, or you can wait until the Metallic Nation forces you to join them and then you can hope for the same life that they have allowed you to live thus far.” Rimney spoke as she moved a little closer to the fire.

  “And ya said the Queen of the elves sent you here?” Klarack asked for the second time.

  “It was a decision reached by all of us, we do not answer to Kirin, but we do respect and listen to her.” Cass tried to explain.

  “If the Frost Fangs join ya, who will speak for us?” Klarack asked.

  “I guess you would have to choose someone to speak for you. Is there a leader of the Frost Fangs?” Hayden asked.

  “We have no king or queen,” Klarack said.

  “They are spread too thin to have a use for a ruler like that,” Rimney said.

  “I am guessing that each village has its own leader then, something like a chief?” Cass guessed.

  “We have elders in each village. They choose who gets to try for our dragons.” Klarack replied.

  “I feel we are dancing around the big question. How many villages are there?” Rimney asked. All eyes fell on Klarack as he pulled on his beard, deep in thought.

  “By my guess, I would have to say that there are probably hundreds of villages, some larger than ours some smaller.” Klarack answered.

  “Hundreds?” Hayden asked. They had no way of knowing just how many Frost Fangs would be in the Frozen Tundra but they had hoped to find a large enough number to make a difference in the battles to come.

  Hundreds of villages meant hundreds of white dragons, possibly more. “How do we get to them all?” Hayden asked.

  “Get to them?” Klarack asked. “I don’t know where any of them are. We keep the locations of our villages very secret.”

  Hayden and the others slowly walked through the carved walkways, none of them eager to talk first.

  The sun had fallen, and darkness brought a new look to the village. Now even the smaller huts had fires going causing soft glowing light to dance off the ice.

  Hayden pulled his hands up to his face and exhaled on his hands, trying his best to add some warmth to his frozen fingers.

  “Hundreds of villages and we don’t know where a single one is.” Shane finally spoke. They walked past a giant pen that was filled with dozens of the white bears that Klarack had been watching with the other white dragon riders.

  Hayden stopped to look at the bears. They weren’t as large as some of the bears that Hayden had seen Draek hunt, but they were still large enough to make Hayden nervous.

  “What do we do? We can’t just fly around here wasting our time looking for these villages.” Rimney growled.

  “We also can’t abandon our quest. Kirin is counting on us.” Raena exclaimed.

  “What do we do fearless leader?” Rimney asked Hayden.

  “Cass is our future queen, Kirin trusted her to take on this task,” Hayden said calmly before anyone else could say anything.

  “I am not sure what we need to do next,” Cass said, sadness evident in her voice as she looked up into the night sky. The stars seemed brighter in the Frozen Tundra, possibly even a little closer.

  “What’s that?” Raena asked as she pointed to one of the larger huts in the village, most likely one that housed a dragon rider. The others looked to where she was pointing but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary.

  “It’s a hut, we have seen them before. Actually, we might have walked by this one before already.” Rimney stated as she turned to walk back the way they had come.

  “Not the hut, what’s hanging on the rack in front of the hut?” Raena asked. This time Hayden saw what she had seen, as did almost everyone else.

  “It’s a saddle, you know for riding dragons.” Rimney glanced back at it. “I am surprised that you are so shocked to see a saddle, you do use one. I use one as well if you haven’t noticed it looks…..a lot like that one.” Rimney had been rambling on until she really looked at the saddle hanging on a wooden rack in front of the hut.

  It had the same design and ornate metal work that her saddle had. “That’s a blue rider's saddle,” Rimney said, hardly louder than a whisper. Before Rimney could move the flaps to the hut opened and a giant Frost Fang stepped out and walked over to the rack that held the saddle.

  Hayden stood and watched as the man reached out and laid a hand on the leather, grasping it to carry it back into his hut. As he moved to lift the saddle, Rimney’s dagger came to rest just under his chin. The Frost Fang tensed up and stopped moving immediately.

  “What do ya want?” The Frost Fang growled.

  “The saddle, where did you get it?” Rimney demanded.

  “I found it attached to a stone dragon that was half buried by the storm yesterday.” The Frost Fang spit back.

  “Where there more stone dragons?” Rimney asked. The Frost Fang nodded his head, and Rimney let the man go. He reached up to check his neck and make sure he wasn’t bleeding.

  “I don’t know who ya think ya are girl, but this is my saddle now, and I don’t appreciate ya…” Rimney clenched the dagger in her right hand and punched the Frost Fang right on the nose, putting her full force into it. The Frost Fang landed in a pile of snow nex
t to the saddle. Rimney rubbed her knuckles as she knelt beside him.

  “You’re going to take us to where you found my friends saddle.” She said, her voice calm as ever.

  Chapter Seven

  Together in silence, Klarack lead them across the white frozen planes to where the other rider had claimed to have gotten the saddle from. Their dragons moved without a sound as they moved to what they could only guess would be their friend's burial ground.

  Klarack lead them over a hill that overlooked a deep valley carved into the snow, the edge of TheeAgren was once again visible. Hayden knew that they had been flying for some time and was about to ask how much longer it was going to take until he saw a dark stain on the otherwise blank landscape beneath him.

  There. Draek rumbled sadly as the silver dragon led the descent to get a closer look at what appeared to be stone jutting out of the snow. All the dragons followed except for Klarack and his white dragon; they remained in the sky. As they neared, Hayden didn’t have to rely on Draek’s sight to know what he was looking at. It was a stone dragon’s wing.

  Draek and the other dragons landed, but only Raena got off her dragon. She slowly walked over to the wing with Fre`yan walking behind her with her head held low. The stone wing looked to be an almost perfect wing made of leaves except the color had been drained from them.

  Raena dug in the snow slightly until she uncovered part of the saddle, the rider absent from their seat. Raena dug in the pouches along the saddle until she found a small piece of wood with some image carved into it, Hayden couldn’t make out the image before Raena tucked the piece of wood into her own saddle bag.

  “There is nothing more for us to find here,” Raena said as she climbed back into her saddle. Before they took off Fre`yan nudged the green dragon’s exposed wing gently. Klarack was waiting for them up in the air; he had been circling above like a bird over its next meal.

  “Are ya ready to head back now?” Klarack shouted when they were within talking distance of each other.

  “No, we need to see if the others are in this field as well,” Rimney shouted back.

  “Our cave was just over that ridge, this was close to where we all were when the storm took us,” Cass added, looking around for any other signs of their lost friends.

  “Why do we need to find the others?” Klarack asked.

  “We need to make sure that they are all dead,” Raena shouted. Hayden looked over at the young elf and was reminded of Kirin when he looked into her eyes. There was pain there, but it would have to wait, duty came first.

  “Alright, let's follow the ridge.” Klarack and his white dragon continued in the original direction they had been heading. They figured that the wind had been blowing in that direction, it made sense that their friends might have been forced further down the valley.

  It turned out that they were right. They found the next dragon, a blue dragon up against TheeAgren itself. Hayden guessed that they had tried to fly and the wind slammed them against the mountain peak.

  Rimney did not dismount to get a closer look at the tattered stone dragon remains. It appeared that this was the dragon the white rider back at the village had found and removed the saddle from the body. The stone had been shattered around where the saddle would have been, making it easier to remove it.

  “Remind me to repay the rider who did this for taking such good care of my fallen shipmate and his dragon.” Rimney almost spat at Klarack.

  Klarack was a giant compared to Rimney, but he knew better than to say anything, he had seen what she had already done to the rider once.

  By midday, they had found all the bodies. Some were nearly buried from all the snowfall of the storm while others had sought to find shelter in shallow caves and had passed shivering and holding on to their dragons.

  I am glad we found them all. Hayden said as Raena got back on her dragon with the last piece of wood picked up from the final green dragon they had located.

  What does it matter if we found them or not, they are still dead? Draek replied sadly, defeated. Hayden didn’t have to ask what was wrong. Fighting and killing was one thing, but searching for the dead bodies of friends was another.

  These were not the glory filled deaths that would resonate as the tales and legends of their journeys were sung. These were not dragons that had fallen in a mighty battle against a worthy foe. These were dragons, fire in the flesh. Hunters to everything in Arvain and they had frozen to death, cold and with no one but their rider to freeze beside them.

  “Come on, let’s get going back to camp and see if we can’t find you a bear to eat.” Hayden smacked the side of his dragon as he spoke. Draek turned his giant silver head around to face his rider and slowly nodded his head.

  “Are ya guys ready to head back now?” Klarack asked, having finally landed with them.

  “I think we are,” Cass replied, looking first at all those in their group to make sure.

  “Should we, I don’t know, say some words or something?” Raena asked. No one replied right away, they each just looked at the stone remains of the dragon before them.

  “I am sorry,” Shane said. The others looked to the bronze rider as he spoke. “I am sorry your end had to come like this, and I am sorry that we were unable to find you. Any of you.” Shane looked back behind him where the other bodies were scattered up the valley.

  No one else spoke, the group just stood in silence. They watched as the new snowfall began to bury the stone dragon, hiding its features from view. Hayden pulled his furs on tighter, doing his best to fight off the chill.

  We need to get moving. Draek nudged Hayden as he spoke. Hayden looked up to see the others standing completely still, frozen in the snow wasteland as if they were ready to join the landscape around them.

  Hayden climbed onto Draek’s back and did his best to tighten the stiff leather straps with his frozen fingers.

  “Friends, we have to go,” Hayden shouted. They didn’t look to Hayden. Instead, they simply mounted their dragons. Cass and Shaylin took to the sky first with Klarack and Hayden following quickly behind. The others taking flight last. They flew back deep in thought about what they had all witnessed.

  “We are getting close now, it shouldn’t be much longer and we should be able to see the village,” Klarack shouted before anyone could ask him how much longer it was going to be.

  Hayden had no idea how anyone could tell where they were going in this place but he had come to trust Klarack’s direction.

  After a short time, the dragons made their way through a valley, and as they topped the other side, Hayden spotted smoke on the horizon.

  “Smoke.” He shouted and pointed to where the wisps rose into the air and disappeared. Klarack nodded his head. The white dragons could keep pace with the blue dragons, but their thicker wings seemed better suited for the violent blizzards that tormented the Frozen Tundra. The group had to fly slower to allow Raena and Fre`yan her green dragon a chance to keep up with them. Without trees for the green dragon to use to jump around, she had to rely only on her wings.

  The group continued until they reached the village but before they could land Hayden could tell something was wrong. The village was full of movement; all the Frost Fangs were running around like an upturned anthill.

  Klarack’s white dragon dove to the ground before Cass and Shaylin could land. By the time the rest of the group could even get their dragons on the ground Klarack was running into his village to see what was wrong.

  I have a bad feeling about this. Hayden said as he took off after Klarack.

  Be careful. Draek said sadly as he took off with the other dragons to find a place to bed down and stay warm. When Hayden turned the corner in the frozen walkways, he almost slammed into Klarack who was quickly talking with another Frost Fang. Cass and the others bumped into Hayden as they made it to them.

  “What’s going on?” Cass asked.

  “What’s happened?” Rimney asked as she pushed Shane back away from where he had tripped on h
er.

  “The Metallic Riders have been here,” Klarack said over his shoulder but continued to listen to the Frost Fangs.

  “The Metallic Riders have been here?” Shane asked.

  “I do believe that’s what he said,” Rimney replied.

  “Why would they be here?” Cass asked.

  “The better question would be how did they know where this village was?” Hayden asked looking at Klarack.

  The white rider finally turned around to face the group. “A Metallic Rider has come to my village, and she demanded that we all pack up and move to the Ice Keep.” Klarack spit the last words out as he spoke.

  “I don’t understand, why would they ask you to go out to the Ice Keep?” Cass asked.

  “We go there once a year to let the villages try to get new dragon riders, but that’s not due for some time. I can’t help but think that this has something to do with ya war.” Klarack looked to Hayden as he spoke.

  “I can’t help but think that as well,” Shane replied scratching his head.

  “How did they know where this village was?” Hayden asked.

  “They know where all the villages are. They have a map that shows the Frozen Tundra in that keep of theirs, and they made all the villages show them where they are at every year we go and try for the dragons. They do it to keep track of all of us.” Klarack explained.

  “We need that map,” Hayden said.

  “Ya want to get the map from the Metallic Riders who are held up in the Ice Keep, a frozen fortress, while they are summoning the Frost Fangs to possibly assist them in fighting against us?” Rimney asked.

  Hayden thought about what he was asking. Rimney had added words to his thoughts, but there it was in front of them. A way to find all the Frost Fangs. A way to band all the villages together.

  “We need that map,” Hayden repeated.

  “Ya don’t know what you ask silver rider.” Klarack shook his head. “Ya have not seen the reaches of the Ice Keep, ya have not felt the cold that flows through those frozen halls. What ya seek is not something that we can do.” Klarack turned the other Frost Fang away and moved to follow him.