Are you ok? Draek asked, feeling Hayden getting uneasy.
I am. Hayden said, unsure of his resolve. He took a few deep breaths and started climbing again. He was ok to look around the room, but he didn’t like looking over the edge. He had to keep fighting back the feeling that the steps were slanted, and he was sliding out to the edge.
As he neared the top of the column, he looked around and saw nothing, just darkness. The braziers below him didn’t reach this high. There was light emitting from the fire around the column and his torch but nothing more.
Hayden realized that the ceiling of the room was within reach, but the staircase continued past it.
Draek, the fire dies here. Hayden said as he climbed past the ceiling and could no longer see the room. The groove in the staircase that held the fire had stopped when it hit the ceiling and Hayden had to rely on the light from his torch to lead the way.
Can you see the end? Draek asked.
No, not yet. Hayden responded. He stopped walking and wondered if he should voice his concern to Draek. Should I keep going? He asked.
I think you should, you are up there already. Draek said, but he could tell that Draek wanted him to be careful. Sweat was dripping down his face from the labor of climbing all the stairs.
Hayden pushed forward and continued the climb. The stairs made another two full rotations before they leveled out to a dark hallway. Hayden carefully held his torch above his head to see what was ahead of him, but it didn’t help much. The darkness in the hall seemed to fight against his torch and did not want to reveal its secrets.
I think I am at the top. Hayden said as he began stepping forward slowly. He held his torch in the air with his right hand and his shield in his left. As he walked down the dark hallway, Hayden felt like he was being watched, but there was no one around him as far as he could tell. The hall was empty, and there were no doorways anywhere.
“Rider.” A voice as worn as a ghost whispered behind him. The hairs on the back of Hayden’s neck stood up at the sound and his heart jumped.
In one movement, Hayden turned around, his right hand dropped the torch, fire streaking in front of him. When the torch struck the ground, sparks shot into the air and danced for a heartbeat before disappearing.
As the final spark died away, Hayden had his silver blade in his hand, and his shield raised to his eyes. All this happened in the time it took Hayden to take a breath.
A dwarf stood before Hayden that must have materialized out of the walls. He even looked like he might have been made from the stone of the mountain. The dwarf wore gray armor that was thick, and bulky with a tattered purple cape that was draped over the metal. He had long, gray, unkept hair and a beard to match.
Hayden thought the dwarf might have been a ghost until he spoke again.
“What brings you to my home, the home of my ancestors and my people?” The dwarf whispered. It sounded like he hadn’t spoken in years and his voice hadn’t found its way back yet.
“I am here seeking the help of you and your people.” Hayden started to explain, but he saw the dwarves’ head tilt to the side slightly.
“I am sorry.” The dwarf said politely.
“Sorry,” Hayden repeated. “You aren’t willing to help, or you don’t understand?” Hayden asked. Draek’s voice echoed a warning in Hayden’s head, but he pushed it back and ignored his protests.
“Sorry that you came here.” The dwarf pulled an ornate battle ax out from behind his robes. It was decorative, and the edge seemed to be dipped in gold. The axe was the only thing that seemed cleaned and well taken care of on the dwarf.
Hayden held his shield and sword a little tighter and prepared to fight. He was about to respond when the dwarf continued to talk.
“I am sorry that your blood must be spilled and water my ax.” A silence filled the space between them for a few moments. The dwarf did not seem eager to fight and stood his ground. Hayden realized the dwarf didn’t seem to breathe or blink, he was completely still.
That all changed as the dwarf lunged at Hayden without a sound. His steps silent on the stone floor and his movements faster than Hayden thought possible.
Chapter Six
Hayden raised his shield to block the battle ax the dwarf had lifted over his head. He could hear the ax being swung because the dwarf made no other noise. Hayden braced himself but as the ax hit his shield his arm went numb, and his shoulder ignited in pain. Hayden’s shield arm lowered, and he tried to raise it, but it felt as if it outweighed him.
The dwarf didn’t slow down and quickly recovered from the first attack. His wild, untamed hair trailed behind him as he twirled the ax around his body. It was impossible for Hayden to predict where the next attack was going to land until the last second. The dwarf flipped the ax, end over end, in the air and caught it by its handle. Hayden jumped back as the ax smashed into the stone floor between his feet, exactly where he had been standing.
Hayden could hear Draek roar in frustration at not being able the help, but the old dwarf did not seem to notice. What part of his face that wasn’t hidden behind hair seemed to appear calm and relaxed, almost indifferent to what he was doing. Hayden figured the dwarf was more annoyed that he had to fight then angry at Hayden.
“Wait!” Hayden shouted as the dwarf pulled the ax free and prepared for another attack. The dwarf ignored his pleas, or never heard them, and lashed out again. This time swinging the ax sideways and embedding it in the stone wall. When the ax blade hit the wall, there was a small explosion of rocks and sparks that went flying.
Hayden had leaned back to miss the ax, but now they were close to each other. Hayden still held his sword in his right hand, and his left arm was holding his shield. Feeling was starting to tingle its way back down his shield arm.
Hayden was able to look into the dwarf’s eyes and saw that they were gray and dull. The most unnerving thing was that even though the dwarf looked like he had been living under a rock, he had no smell to him.
Hayden took the moment and punched the dwarf, not wanting to kill him. Hayden’s armored fist collided with the dwarf’s jaw, but the he seemed to not realize it and pain shot up Hayden’s right hand. He still gripped the sword in that hand, but it almost fell as his hand went limp.
“Enough.” The dwarf said, pulling the ax free with some effort. “You must die now.” The dwarf took a few more steps forward spinning the ax above his head as he walked.
Hayden stepped back, and nearly stumbled on the discarded torch that was silently burning on the ground. He lashed out with his sword at the torch, sending sparks and fire jumping at the dwarf. The dwarf lifted his arm to block the worst of the fire, a few of the sparks took light to his beard but quickly burned out without him taking notice.
As the dwarf was distracted there was a loud crash, and the dark hallway shook violently. Hayden kicked the unsteady dwarf in the chest and was barely able to knock him over. It felt like he was kicking a boulder.
As the dwarf fell back, Hayden took off running the way he had come down the hallway. He made it to the start of the stairs and heard a grunt from behind him over the sound of his footsteps on the polished floor.
Instincts took hold, and Hayden fell to the stairs, sliding down a few before coming to a stop. The dwarf’s ax was stuck in the low hanging ceiling above Hayden’s head. He had thrown the blade with deadly accuracy. Had Hayden not fell to his face the ax would have been stuck in his back and not the ceiling.
The dwarf was following right behind Hayden as he quickly scrambled to his feet and ran down the stairs. He turned down the spiral staircase and slammed into Draek’s nose, knocking the air out of his lungs.
Draek!? Hayden shouted in his mind. He is right behind me! Draek pulled his head out of the stairwell, showing off the damage he had given the stone. Hayden didn’t look behind him as he ran and jumped over the ledge. He could just make out the shape of Draek in the darkness as he leapt into the air, letting the copper blade fall free to the stone floor f
ar below.
The blade disappeared in the near darkness as it fell, flipping end over end. He hit Draek’s neck and was able to hold on to one of his neck spikes without stabbing himself. Draek pushed off the column and opened his wings to glide away.
Hayden looked up to the column of fire he had leapt from in time to see the dwarf jump into the air. His feet had hit the fire channel cut into the floor showering the air with sparks and momentarily setting his feet on fire as he fell. His hair and beard trailed behind as the dwarf sailed through the air, his ax high above his head.
Draek! Hayden yelled, but it wasn’t enough time for Draek to react. The dwarf was falling too fast.
The dwarf slammed into Draek’s tail, his ax smashing against Draek’s silver scales and piercing through to the flesh beneath.
Hayden watched in horror as blood sprayed up from the wound and smeared across the dwarf’s armor and ax. Draek roared in frustration and pain as the blade of the ax dug deeper into his tail and became stuck, allowing the dwarf to hold on. The dwarf had landed near the end of his tail.
Draek continued to glide through the room, trying to land and shake the dwarf off his tail. The dwarf was holding on to the ax handle as Draek whipped his tail from side to side, failing to rid himself of their assailant.
Get off! Draek screamed and roared. Hayden held on to the spike on Draek’s back and watched as blood continued to flow down Draek’s tail.
The dwarf was showing no signs of letting go so Hayden pulled out his silver blade, releasing the neck spike in the process.
Land! Hayden yelled. Draek pulled in his wings and dropped the remaining distance to the stone ground below. He landed hard, and as he touched down, Hayden jumped and went flying back towards Draek’s tail.
The dwarf saw Hayden leap and pull out his silver sword. He tried to jerk his ax free of Draek’s tail and use it to kill Hayden, but he only succeeded in getting the ax unstuck.
Hayden swung as hard as he could and slammed his sword in the handle of the battle ax. The ax was well made and didn’t break, but the force of the blow launched the dwarf off Draek’s tail and sent him spinning to the ground.
Hayden continued to fall and tried to roll when he landed. He slammed down feet first and tucked his knees in to allow his body to absorb the brunt of the fall. Hayden came out of the fall and stood, his ankle flaring up again, and it hurt to put pressure on it.
Draek walked over to him and tried to lower himself so that he could get on his back. Before Hayden could start climbing, he heard the dwarf running at him.
Hayden turned to face the dwarf and saw that he didn’t seem to be hurt at all.
“This changes nothing.” The dwarf said as he raised his ax. There was still blood dripping from the ax head, Draek’s blood. At the sight of that, Hayden felt a rage come over him that surpassed the pain in his ankle.
“I don’t want to fight you,” Hayden said as he stepped away from Draek and moved closer to the dwarf.
“I want you and your people to help me fight the Metallic Nation and their dragons.” Hayden held his sword in his right hand, allowing the tip to drop like the sword was too heavy.
“But now you have hurt my dragon,” Hayden said, locking eyes with the dwarf. “And now you will pay for that.” Hayden lifted his sword and crossed the last few steps in a flurry.
“WAIT!” A voice echoed through the hall. The dwarf stopped walking towards Hayden but maintained eye contact with him. Hayden took a few more steps, his focus locked on the dwarf.
“I said wait.” The voice boomed again. This time Hayden stopped in his tracks.
Draek quickly ran up to Hayden, his claws scraping against the stone floor as he did so.
“Who are you?” Hayden asked as he looked around, not seeing anyone besides the dwarf that had followed Hayden.
Hayden heard the thundering sound of stone scraping against stone as a portion of the wall closest to them began to sink into the floor with a rumbling sound that echoed throughout the chamber. Dust fell away as light emitted from where the wall disappeared, revealing a hidden corridor behind.
Standing in the corridor were nearly a dozen dwarves, all wearing armor of different styles and materials. A dim glow began to emit from red-hot liquid that was dripping from the mouth of a red dragon behind them. The dragon stepped into the light from the torches that the dwarves were holding.
Draek growled at the red dragon, but neither was eager to fight.
“We heard what you said.” The dwarf in the center of the group said.
“About fighting the Metallic Nation?” Hayden asked. He kept looking back and forth between the dwarf he was about to fight and the dwarves that had just entered.
“Yes.” The dwarf said. The group stepped into the main chamber that Hayden and Draek were in, allowing Hayden to get a good look at the dwarves.
Just like the lone dwarf that had attacked him, these newcomers had hair speckled with gray and was unkept and wild. Their beards had at one point in time, been braided but now were overgrown.
As Hayden had seen, their armor was of different makes, and none of them seemed to match together. Even their hair color and skin color were different from each other.
“Why do you speak of fighting the Metallic Nation when you are a Metallic Rider?” The dwarf asked.
“My dragon, Draek, is a silver dragon but we no longer fight for the Metallic Nation. We fight against them.” Hayden said, his anger was cooling down as he spoke to the dwarves.
“You have different colored scales on your armor.” One of the other dwarves said, pointing a short, thick finger at Hayden.
“I do. All the races of Arvain have joined together to battle the Metallic Nation. We have pushed their armies back and taken back the other territories, and now we are marching on to Celestial City itself.” Hayden explained. He reached up and touched the green scale on his chest.
“Leaders from the different races gave me a scale from their dragons to show that we are friends and that we stand together.” Hayden finished.
“You come here seeking our help in a war we have fought longer than any other, and yet you seek our help last of all. Why?” The first dwarf that had spoken asked.
“After we defeated the Metallic Nation over Eytherka, we knew that we needed help from the other races, but we knew that after the battle with your people,” Hayden started, but the dwarves interrupted.
“Your dragon.” One of the dwarves said curiously. “Has a very unique mark on its head. Unlike anything I have ever seen except for once before. In that very battle, you speak of.” The dwarf that spoke did not have a beard and Hayden could tell by her voice that she was female.
“Your dragon was smaller back then, but I remember you.” She said. “You killed many of our people.” Hayden felt like his heart had stopped in his chest. He didn’t know what to say.
“We did.” Hayden started. “Your people fought bravely, and we were told lies that you were trying to invade Celestial City. At the time we thought we were defending ourselves, but it wasn’t until later we learned the truth. It was because of that battle we decided to leave the Metallic Nation.” Hayden didn’t want to go into detail with what had happened, but he wanted to tell the truth.
“I feel there is much we need to discuss.” The dwarf said looking to the others for confirmation. They each nodded in response.
“We wish to hear what you have to say.” The dwarf grumbled. “You can finish here, we will wait.” The dwarf said.
“Finish here?” Hayden asked.
“Finish fighting, and if you live, we will talk.” The female dwarf said plainly.
“You want me to kill one of your own?” Hayden asked. He was in disbelief with what they were asking him to do.
“Were you about to fight?” The female asked.
“We were,” Hayden admitted.
“Then finish, and if you survive, we will talk. He attacked your dragon, and you two were about to fight. Finish.” The first dwa
rf spoke as he turned and went back the way they had come.
Hayden looked at the dwarf in front of him and saw that the dwarf showed no emotion. Hayden was calming down, and he didn’t know what to do.
Fighting in the moment was one thing but being told to kill while he was calm was different.
Hayden couldn’t tell if the dwarf was smiling because his beard kept most of his face hidden.
With the group of dwarves disappearing into the darkness and the red dragon almost dissolving from view, the dwarf raised his ax which was still stained red with Draek’s blood.
Hayden turned and saw the red streaks on his dragon’s tail and felt the pain he was in.
Will they trust me if I kill him? Hayden asked, bouncing his sword in his hand, checking the balance.
They won’t trust you if we are dead. Draek replied. Hayden knew he made a good point, so he turned to face the dwarf.
The dwarf stood about chest height to Hayden, so he looked down at him.
“I am sorry,” Hayden said aloud as he stepped forward. “I am sorry you attacked us and hurt my dragon.” Hayden finished and broke into a sprint.
The dwarf shouted and raised his battle ax to meet Hayden’s blade. The two tools of death clashed together. The ringing sound echoed across the hall.
Hayden spun to his side, breaking free of the ax, and lashed out. He tried to cut at his legs, but the dwarf slammed his ax into the stone ground, and sparks flew off Hayden’s sword as it hit the shaft.
The dwarf was fighting defensively, letting Hayden strike at him and dance around him.
Hayden broke away and took a few steps back before quickly jumping into the fight again. He switched between holding his sword in one hand and using both hands.
They moved freely in the large, open room. Sometimes Hayden would only be able to see the outline of the dwarf in the darkness. Other times they were stepping over the fire coming out of the grooves in the floor.
Hayden continued slashing and stabbing at the dwarf. He would switch his grip or feint from one side to the other, but the dwarf continued to defend himself, and Hayden couldn’t land a hit.
The Fire Within Page 6
