The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) (19 page)

Chapter 10

The group once again found themselves traveling the twisting corridors in the Metallic Pyramid. Draek wouldn’t tell Hayden any more about the class that they were going to. When Hayden had been younger he had taken a few classes with the other kids to learn how to read and write and other basics; their teacher had been one of the other kids’ mothers, who didn’t mind children.

Hayden was getting nervous again, he had a lump in his throat that was making it difficult to swallow without wincing in pain. They made it back to the Hall of
Stories, and Hayden had no idea how they had made it back. Elizabeth never spoke to them, whether out of secrecy or dislike Hayden could not tell, but when they made it to the great door she all but pushed them in and closed the door behind them, not entering the room herself.

             
Although Hayden had been in the room before he was still humbled by all the history that had been carved and painted on the walls, but there were still blank spots that Hayden envisioned himself captured on.

Sitting on the middl
e throne, the other two remaining empty, was an old man wearing the same grey clothes as them but with a golden cape. Hayden could tell the man was much older than anyone he had ever seen; his hair and beard were long, wiry and unkempt. He kept squinting at them and smacking his lips together.

             
“Well now come along, come along. There is no need for you five to stand so far back. Bring yourselves and your dragons up here so I can see you.” He made no move to get up off of the throne, but he kept waving them closer. They had to stand almost shoulder to shoulder with their dragonets in front of them before the old rider told them that they were close enough.

             
“I am going to teach you about dragons, everything you need to know. Our first session is today so that you can at least know the basics before you start training and wind up crippling your dragon.” There was no humor, anger or any other kind of emotion in his voice. It really sounded as if he did not care that he was there to help them.

             
“And what can we learn from an old timer like you?” Sebastian asked rudely, Giles standing slightly behind as he had been doing since they had gotten their dragons.

             
“And just how big will your dragon get before this year out, or even before the end of this season? How do you keep them from getting an ingrown scale or what happens if a tooth gets infected? What if the membrane on your dragon’s wing rips, or a bone breaks, what will you do then?” The man still showed no emotion, even to being insulted and questioned by Sebastian.

             
Sebastian did not respond to the old rider’s questions, but he did not back down either. He continued to stand tall and defiant, with his chest puffed out and breathing heavily in front of the golden clad rider.

             
“Are there any more questions?” He did not wait for an answer but continued speaking. “One of the first problems you young riders are going to run into comes during the growth spurts. Your dragons are going to grow fast, and with them growing so fast their hides are going to stretch so you will have to oil them constantly.” Their teacher got up from the throne and began to make his way to the door that they had walked in the night before. Before he could make it to the door Cass spoke up.

             
“Sir, you didn’t tell us your name yet.” She spoke softly hoping not to agitate the man further.

             
“Is my name relevant to you understanding what I am trying to teach you? Will it help you grasp how to care for your dragon? Well, I guess if it will help then by all means you must know my name is Estraken.” He led the down the hallway, but turned down a corridor that Hayden had not noticed.

They did not have to walk far before they entered a room that was half the size of the Hall of Stories but was twice as tall; and every inch was full of maps, scrolls, books and diagrams of things Hayden had never seen. “This will be the only time that your dragons will be allowed in here; soon they will be too
big to make it through the door,” he said as almost an afterthought.

             
They made a half circle, with their dragons at their sides, around the only desk in the center of the room; Estraken stood behind the desk searching through piles of yellowish papers. He pulled three out; each one had a dragon drawn on it, from an aerial view. Hayden looked closer at them and realized one was a copper, one a silver and one a gold. He wanted to ask questions, but before he could the old rider started speaking again.

             
“Your dragons will be large enough to carry you short distances in about eight months; that means they will grow to where their shoulders are taller then you in that short time. They will be able to glide on their own in the next month or so though and you are by no means aloud to try to fly them; the weight of you on their backs could hurt them. As they grow so fast they will complain of itching, you will have to oil them, especially around the joints, until right before their first year.”  Estraken never looked up from his papers, as he spoke he even moved from wall to wall and pulled down some book or scroll.

             
“Aren’t there people who do this for us?” Giles asked.

             
“Yes there is: you. If you get stranded somewhere there will be no one to help you so you must learn to do all this. Now if you neglect your dragon then the result could end in it tarring part of its flesh, and if it’s around a joint then it will take even longer to heal. Dragons never stop growing, but after the first year the growth spurt does slow down.” He came back to the table with both his arms burdened down with books.

             
He began opening the books one at a time to a certain page and then spreading them out on the desk. Once the last one was opened he began to talk rapidly, his words blurring together and Hayden had to ask him to slow down and repeat himself.

             
“The scales covering your dragons now are like baby teeth; they get the job done for now but they are not permanent. The scales will continue to multiply during the first six months and then the beasts will start to shed; the small scales will fall off but underneath them will be the larger scales that are lighter, but still just as tuff, making it easier to fly. You will need to clean their scales every day also, they can get something lodged under a scale and it can cause an infection or the scales to come in wrong.” As he spoke, going from one point to the next, he moved from one book to the next. Showing them writings and pictures that supported what he was telling them.

             
Once he had made it through to the last book, which explained the proper way to clean a dragon’s teeth, he walked to an hour glass that he had setting on a book shelf. It must have been started before they had entered because Hayden did not remember Estraken going near it.

             
“We are almost done for today’s lesson. You will come back here after lunch tomorrow and the day after that until I say otherwise. Before we part though I am going to show you back to your rooms and show you where you can go to take care of your dragons. Young Cassidy, you may join us, but since you are with the other gold dragon riders, we have our own cleaning courters that I will show you once we drop them off.” Hayden was unable to get many words in during their lesson, which hadn’t taken very long. Draek had remained quiet during the entire lesson, which gave Hayden a sense of aloneness.

             
You did not say much during all that, everything ok?
He decided to speak first as they made their down the corridor, which Hayden could still not tell the difference between one or the other, which Estraken told them would lead them to their rooms.

             
I was trying to listen as much as I can and you should have been too; I don’t want dirty or deformed scales, I am a silver after all.
Hayden could not tell is Draek was being serious or trying to be funny. Either way Hayden decided, with the help of Draek, that he had to focus on where they were going so that they would not get lost on their own. The halls continued on for just a short distance longer when Hayden found himself in a giant room that was open to the outside just like their rooms were.

             
The room was separated into four large pens, like something a giant horse would be kept in, but they were open on the backside for when Draek got too big to be in the corridors. The pens were lined with different tools and brushes; beside the door they had walked in were shelves lined with buckets and two pumps, one on either side. Hayden and Draek went into the pen closest to them to look at what all was in there.

             
“This is where you will bring your dragons to be cleaned, these are the smallest cleaning chambers and they were made just for first years so you won’t be seeing any other riders in here. The tools lined against the wall are for cleaning; you have different brushes, files and stakes used to maintain the scales and to keep dirt from getting underneath them. These two pumps over on the wall, one is water and the other is the oil that I told you about earlier.” Estraken walked around pointing at everything he was talking about.

“
We have servants who come through here every day to make sure there are clean sands in the bucket to use. Everyone, go ahead and take your dragons to one of the pens, they will appreciate a good cleaning and I can show you how to properly do it. Cass, you can just stand and watch the others, you can clean your dragon once we get back to our cleaning chamber.”

             
Draek and Hayden were already in their cleaning stall, Shane took the one to their right and Giles and Sebastian took the two to their left; Cass stood in between Hayden and Shane’s stalls.

             
“First, what you want to do is rub them down with the sand, this will break off most of the ash and dirt that they will acquire.”  Estraken was walking back and forth, taking a few seconds to look into each stall to make sure each of the young riders were doing their tasks exactly as he told them to do it. Hayden reached into the bucket of sand that was closest to him and pulled a handful out expectantly, he noticed a faint aroma coming off the sand.

He placed the handful on Draek’s back, right in between his front shoulders, and using one of the larger brushes he began to rub the sand all over his scales. Immediately Draek
started hunching his back so that Hayden could successfully reach every spot. Hayden had to grab two more handfuls of sand before the scales had a slight dullness to them that Estraken told them was what they were looking for.

             
Then they were instructed to grab a smaller brush that had short, metal bristles, and rub the remaining sand off with that. Hayden grabbed the brush that fit his hand best and did exactly as he was told, making sure to maintain a constant connection with Draek in case he pushed too hard and hurt him or if he missed a spot and it caused Draek to itch. He only had to go over a few spots twice before Estraken was pleased with his work.

             
Hayden then used the buckets of water to wash off all the leftover sand and dirt, which there wasn’t a lot of, which had broken loose from Draek but had not fallen free. Hayden watched the water stream swiftly towards the outside opening and run off into a small ditch in the floor that led the water under the wall and out of site.

             
Once Draek was finished being washed off his scales did look a little cleaner, so Draek said, but they still had the dullness to them. Estraken told them all to come to the other pump, the one that they had not yet used. They each grabbed an empty bucket, and Estraken pushed the leaver up and down until a thick oily liquid filled each of their buckets. Once their buckets were full they went back to their waiting dragons.

             
What is that stuff?
Draek asked once Hayden had brought the bucket close enough for Draek to see and smell it.

             
I am not sure, it’s some sort of oil that will help your skin to stretch as you grow and restore your scales.
Hayden dipped his finger in it and realized it was slightly thicker than water. He looked on the walls and found a large, thick sponge hanging on the walls. He grabbed the sponge and submerged it in the bucket, causing some of the oil to spill over the edge.
Open up your wings, I will start with them
, he told Draek.

             
Draek opened his wings to their full extent, something Hayden had not yet seen. Though they had only been together a short time Hayden thought that he had been amazed enough by Draek already that there would be no surprises. To see a young silver dragon stretch out his wings, which looked like silver sails with no marks whatsoever, took his breath away. The wings were already larger then Draek was but Hayden could have never known that by them being folded up neatly against Draek’s sides.