The Dream of Shadows

by Nicholas Clausen

  “I agree,” Cass said, silencing all the elders including Shanry. The old Frost Fang slowly turned with a surprised look on her face

  “What did ya say?” Shanry asked, still not believing what she had heard.

  “I said I agree with you,” Cass replied. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you all about. There is no way that the Frost Fangs are going to be the force that Queen Kirin and I need to defeat the Metallic Riders. Taking this keep took a much larger toll than any of us expected.” Cass continued.

  “We might be a wounded people, but we are not a dead people young gold rider.” Shanry snarled.

  “That’s true, your people could still help us, and they could still be pivotal to the war. However, the primary focus must be on rebuilding the tribes and replenishing the dragons.” Cass continued.

  “We….. we agree with ya, we have to hatch more dragons…” Shanry’s anger seemed to diminish while Cass spoke.

  “And I think the perfect time is now, hatch more dragons to the villages that lost dragons if they have anyone worthy of an egg,” Cass said, the other elders were nodding their heads and whispering to each other.

  “I still think that the Frost Fangs can help us win this war. Hatch your new dragons, figure out how to rebuild the villages. You should even leave a dragon rider or two here at the Ice Keep to train the new dragons and pass on the knowledge of your riders.” Cass said with more confidence in her voice.

  “Those are all good ideas gold rider,” Shanry said. “How would any of this help ya?” She asked.

  “Send everyone you could spare north to meet with Kirin. Send all the riders who are fit to fight except those chosen to teach the next generation of riders.” Cass explained. “Leave those unfit to fight to stay here, take the keep and rebuild your people here.”

  “We are nomads, Frost Fangs have never lived together like this before,” Shanry said, dismissing the idea.

  “That’s true, but if we succeed in this war, then this keep could serve as a capital, a place where others could come and trade with you,” Cass explained.

  “All this sounds nice. Trade, freedom. There is still one problem, and that’s if ya win this war.” Shanry replied.

  “Help us win this war. Send those able and willing to fight north and join yourselves to our cause. Your people are important to this fight, so much so that both the Metallic Nation and ourselves came seeking your help.” Cass pleaded. Shane and the others stood behind her, not knowing if they could help or how.

  “We need to help them,” Klarack said, causing everyone to turn and face him.

  “Ya’ve said enough Klarack, be silent,” Shanry commanded.

  “No Shanry, I am now the elder of my tribe and a dragon rider. I have helped my village as much as any rider could. I have a right to voice what I think. Ya don’t lead us nor do ya speak for us, the only reason ya have up to this point is because the others fear ya and what ya would do to them.” Everyone stepped away from Klarack as he spoke.

  “Shame. Shame on ya all. Ya call yourselves elders, some of ya even have dragons and remember a time when Frost Fangs traveled Arvain freely, and yet ya cower before her.” Klarack pointed to Shanry.

  “Frost Fangs do not fear,” Klarack growled.

  They had never seen their friend and guide through the Frozen Tundra act in such a way.

  “Is this what we have become, sniveling children that hide when things don’t go our way? We lost people, a lot of people today. That was a risk that we all knew going into this. War is bloody, and people die, if they didn’t it wouldn’t be war it would just be….be….. people getting together.” Klarack said to the elders more than to Shanry.

  “What does it matter that they fell here or somewhere else in Arvain? At least they fell in the Frozen Tundra.” Klarack said sadly. “At least they fell with their families here to take care of them and not lost somewhere north where they wouldn’t be found.” As Klarack spoke the elders lowered their heads.

  “And how do we honor them? How do we care for those that were killed today? How do we help our people and the future of our race? We abandon our friends, abandon Arvain to whatever fate may come.” Klarack yelled.

  “Cass has come up with the best chance we have for survival. We need to help and do our part.” Klarack glared at Shanry.

  “Ya might be willing to die for their war, but I am not. I am not willing to risk more Frost Fangs for them.” Shanry spat. She raised a knotted hand and pointed one of her crooked fingers at Cass.

  “Then I say ya are no longer fit to speak for the elders. Ya have grown weak with ya age, and in ya weakness, ya have been consumed with fear.” Klarack exclaimed, shouting loud enough for those in the keep to hear.

  An audible gasp ran through the growing group. Shanry shook with anger, her lips moving slightly but no words could be heard.

  “I say a new leader is needed. One that is strong and does not fear what must be done.” Klarack yelled, looking at the gathering crowd, awaiting someone to agree with him.

  The wait ended shortly after most of the Frost Fangs, having heard Klarack’s words, shouted their agreement.

  “Ya know what ya ask,” Shanry stated.

  “Ya either step down willingly and allow someone more fit to lead, or ya accept a challenger, and ya fight to the death,” Klarack shouted.

  “Ya know I can’t step down,” Shanry said with what strength she had left in her voice.

  “Then I, Klarack, by right of my dragon, challenge ya for the leadership of our people,” Klarack shouted for all to hear. No emotions showed on his face.

  Shanry lowered her head to hide her smile. “A fight to the death then.” She murmured, grinning the whole time.

  Chapter Twelve

  Hayden hated pushing Draek so hard. The silver dragon was struggling to keep in the air. At times his wings would falter, and they would almost fall out of the air before Draek could reopen his wings.

  The column of smoke that had been rising in the distance had engulfed them as they neared Erskine. Hayden couldn’t see anything, but Draek swore he was fine flying in the smoke. Finally, with Hayden’s eyes burning and his lungs filling with smoke they broke through the wall of darkness and found what was causing the smoke.

  “No.” Hayden’s heart sank into his gut, the weight of his armor and the world around him lifted away, and it took everything Hayden had left to not fall out of the saddle.

  Erskine was in the final stages of burning. The land around the small town was charred black, every structure was either burning or had already burned to the ground and was smoldering. Everything was on fire.

  Draek tried to roar, but his voice failed as well as his wings. Draek plummeted out of the air and slammed into the ash covered ground below. Draek slid to a stop, ash, and dirt piling up around his head and shoulders.

  Draek, Draek are you ok? Hayden begged. He did his best to undo the saddle straps, but the leather was pulled too tight because of the way Draek had crashed. Hayden pulled out the dagger that he had made and cut the straps holding him to his dragon.

  Hayden fell and slammed into the ground with a thud, knocking the air out of him. His vision swirled around him as he struggled to get to his feet. Hayden closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, waiting for his head to quit spinning.

  Draek, are you ok? Hayden asked. He could hear his dragon breathing, but it was labored. Hayden opened his eyes just as Draek answered him.

  Tired, but fine. Hayden looked at his soot-covered dragon with sadness. He hated that he had to push Draek that hard but they had needed to get to Erskine before it was too late an act which they failed to complete.

  Can you move Draek? Hayden asked as he moved to his dragon’s head.

  I can’t Hayden. I am sorry, but I need to rest. Hayden looked around to see how close they were to his old town. The ground around them was scorched black but still smoldering. Hayden saw a blackened stone dragon before them and realized that it was his stone dragon from when
he was a child.

  “You brought me close enough Draek, thank you,” Hayden said aloud before he began moving in the direction that he knew to lead to town.

  No Hayden wait, don’t go alone! Draek pleaded as Hayden withdrew his silver sword and shield, his bow and best weapon lay broken before Draek. Hayden silently left his friend behind, exhausted, as he made his way over the last hill before Erskine. It was at this hill that Hayden and Fendrel had started his journey.

  Hayden had imagined returning to Erskine with Draek hundreds of times over in his mind but never like this. The smoke began to lift as he made it to the top of the hill. The only sounds he could hear were his own breathing reverberating within his helmet and the sound of burning wood.

  His heart sank, and he fell to his knees as he topped the hill and saw Erskine, all of it burning. Every building was engulfed in flames that were already running out of fuel. Some of the buildings had already toppled over and were smoldering in the streets. There was a giant black burnt ring that surrounded the town, and everything within the ring was either burnt or burning.

  Hayden watched as the nightmare unfolded before him. Out of the shadows of the smoke, a giant shape moved about in the town square, right beside the inn where Hayden had grown up which now lay in shambles. Fennet pulled in his wings and allowed Ricen to slide down his back.

  “I have thought about this place many times during my isolation. The home of the boy that took me away from my son, Erskine.” Ricen said holding his hands out as if he was giving Hayden an award.

  “Well, what’s left of Erskine. I hope you like what I did to the place?” Ricen laughed. He was wearing his silver riders armor from the neck down, but he kept his helmet off. He made his way further down the street towards Hayden as he spoke.

  “Where is everyone?” Hayden asked, fearing the answer.

  “Hmm, you know it is odd that no one has come out to greet the famed Dragon Rider of Erskine. COME OUT, EVERYONE! See your rider in all his glory.” Ricen shouted.

  His shouts were met with silence, the only sound being the burning buildings around them.

  “Well, that is just rude. I thought these small towns were supposed to be known for their hospitality.” Ricen said, putting his hand on his hips. “Oh wait, I remember now. You see Hayden when we first arrived here Fennet and I got scared and thought you and your dragon had gotten lost. We wanted to help you find your way home so we thought it best to start a little fire so that you could find your way.” Ricen said as he got closer and closer to Hayden.

  “Well, Fennet here decided to burn a ring around the entire town, that way you couldn’t miss it. We were both surprised at how flammable this little town of yours was and well sadly, because of Fennet’s ring he burned no one was able to escape.” Ricen laughed.

  “But you shouldn’t feel bad Hayden. Once we realized that there was no way anyone was going to survive we made sure to burn the place down as quickly as we could. We didn’t want any unnecessary pain.” Ricen said as he made his way beside Hayden, where he still knelt.

  “Unnecessary?” Hayden yelled, almost pleadingly. “None of this needed to happen, it was all unnecessary!” Hayden didn’t know why he was yelling or why he wasn’t crying.

  “Oh no Hayden, this was all necessary. This all had to happen so that you could understand. So that you could truly see what we are capable of doing and what is going to happen to all of Arvain if you were allowed to continue.” Ricen drew his silver blade.

  “Elizabeth has made it clear that she wants the gold rider alive but you and the copper are disposable. Ricen raised his blade above his head and brought it down towards the back of Hayden’s head.

  Hayden raised his shield, forcing the blade to slide off and dig into the ground beside him. Ricen stumbled at Hayden’s unexpected movement. Hayden quickly took his own silver sword and stabbed it through Ricen’s left thigh, pinning his leg to the ground.

  Ricen screamed in pain as blood stained the silver blade. Fenet roared and dove out of the smoke, a streak of silver against the black sky. Hayden rolled behind Ricen, avoiding the silver dragon’s talons.

  Ricen groaned as he tried to pull the sword free from his leg, but the pain was too great. He only managed to pull the blade tip out of the ground, falling to his side. Fenet flew back into the smoke-filled sky, disappearing from view. Hayden crouched low to the ground and pulled out a throwing knife from its sheath. He only wore four, and as he hid behind his shield, waiting for the dragon to appear, he hoped that it was going to be enough.

  Without a sound, the smoke in front of Hayden parted as Fenet shot through the smoke and dove at him a second time. Hayden waited until the last moment and threw the blade as Fenet released his flame before Hayden.

  He didn’t see if the knife found its mark before ducking behind his shield as heat and fire erupted all around him. The dragon scale armor protected him from the worst of the heat. As soon as the torrent of fire ceased Hayden ran for Ricen who was still laying on the ground, trying to crawl to his dragon.

  Hayden knew that if he could get to Ricen, then Fenet wouldn’t be able to attack him for fear of killing his own rider. Fenet landed behind his rider with a deafening thud which Hayden felt in his chest.

  The giant silver dragon struck like a snake at Hayden as he ran towards his rider. Hayden slid underneath the dragon’s maw, his silver chin scraping the face of Hayden’s shield.

  Fenet moved his body over Ricen to try to protect him. Hayden ducked underneath the dragon’s stomach. As he ran, he did his best to avoid the dragon’s stomping feet and flapping wings. Fenet frantically swiped and stomped at Hayden, sending clouds of ash and dirt up with every movement, making Hayden almost invisible as he ran.

  Hayden couldn’t make out Ricen clearly due to the ash clouds and Fenet moving so much. When he finally got a clear shot at Ricen, Hayden quickly threw one of his knives perfectly.

  The sharpened blade spun end over end as it eagerly tried to find its mark. Just a few feet away from Ricen Fenet’s wing dipped down and the blade bounced harmlessly off the scale covered ridge of his wings.

  Fenet raked his claws where Hayden had been standing, leaving trenches in the hard-packed road that were large enough for Hayden to lay down in. Hayden was just able to roll out of the way, narrowly missing the claws.

  Hayden stayed crouched, trying to predict Fenet’s next move as well as trying to see where Ricen was. He couldn’t see the silver rider, but he could hear his pained groans. Hayden had only two knives left, one of them already in his hand.

  Ash and smoke rose as Hayden darted underneath Fenet’s armored belly, trying his best to stay out of sight of the dragon. As Fenet’s tail moved about like a giant serpent, Hayden was able to get a look at Ricen attempting to crawl behind what remained of what was once a shop but was now a smoldering pile of debris.

  Just as Hayden pulled his arm back and was about to throw another of his blades, Fenet’s tail swept out and slammed into Hayden, throwing him to the other side of the street and even further away from Ricen.

  Hayden had the wind knocked out of him, but as he tried to breathe in all he managed to do was inhale a mouth full of ash. Hayden coughed and pawed at his helmet, trying to stop from choking and clear his face of the ash.

  “You can’t beat us, Hayden.” Ricen’s voice echoed, Hayden could tell he was in pain, but he wasn’t dying, not yet.

  “You are just a stupid boy who wanted to play at being a dragon rider and look what you have done!” Ricen’s voice was filled with anger as he spit the words at Hayden through clenched teeth.

  “You have destroyed this town and nearly tore apart Arvain, how many have died because of you? Thousands now?” Hayden was trying to stand up but he was still having a hard time breathing, and the ash had gotten into his eyes, nearly blinding him. His armor made it almost impossible to wipe them off his face.

  “You will die in this wretched town just like you were always supposed to, I don’t know where yo
ur cursed dragon is but I hope its somewhere where all will see his stone remains and remember what a traitorous swine you were.” Ricen all but spit the words out.

  Hayden let his knife fall to the ground and removed his armored gloves, finally getting the ash from his eyes and being able to see again. He removed his helmet and turned around to find himself face to face with Fenet. The giant silver dragon had lowered his head to Hayden and was close enough that Hayden could almost reach out and touch the scales on his nose.

  “You are a rat that has been cornered; it is time for you to die like the vermin you are. You are and have always been unworthy of a dragon and the title of dragon rider.” Ricen’s voice came from somewhere on the other side of Fenet. Hayden fell to his knees before the silver dragon. Fenet’s head was much larger than Draek’s, his mouth easily big enough to swallow Hayden whole.

  “Fenet wishes to eat you, but I am not sure how he would digest stone, I guess we will find out together won’t we.” Hayden could actually hear the joy in Ricen’s voice push past the anger and pain. Hayden watched as the dragon’s mouth opened, revealing the red flesh and off-white colored teeth that weren’t quite in a perfect row around the jaw. Fenet’s tongue pulled back into his mouth to make sure he didn’t accidentally bite it when he bit down on Hayden.

  Fenet’s head was not only bigger than Draek’s, but it was slightly different in shape as well. The two horns that adorned his head were a little closer together then Draek’s and the ridges over the eyes were larger, forcing the dragon’s eyeballs to protrude out of his head slightly. Slightly was all Hayden needed.

  Hayden’s left hand gripped the knife still in his sheath on his left leg while his right hand had already found the knife that he had dropped to the ground. In one smooth movement, Hayden pulled his hands back behind his head and sent them hurtling forward as Fenet opened his mouth wider and moved forward to bite down on Hayden. Hayden felt the heat and smelled the foul aroma that emitted from Fenet’s mouth before a roar deafened him and sent him flying backward.