The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) by Nicholas Clausen Read Free Book Online Page B

Celestial City within an hour or two.” Fendrel had to repeat this statement three times because it wasn’t long after he said it that Hayden would speed down the road.
                  “How do I know that? How do I know you haven’t forgotten how far it is, huh? How do I know that we aren’t five days away or if we are even heading in the right direction?” As Hayden spoke, he turned around and walked backwards so he could face Fendrel and continue to walk to what he hoped was Celestial City.
                  “Turn around, boy, or you are going to fall into the river.”
                  “There is no river.” Hayden turned around and saw that up ahead, the road turned a hard left and there was a drop off at the turn, because he could not see what was directly after the road. They covered the remaining distance to the turn in silence. When they reached it, Hayden was right that there was a drop off, and some forty feet below them was a river. The river was almost a hundred feet across, but it moved silently and there were no rocks jutting out so there weren’t any rapids or white foam. “So you can remember where the river is but not when this year’s trials are?”
                  “I am old, some things I remember, and some things I can’t.” Fendrel just shrugged his shoulders and they began walking down the road as it followed the river. “Now when we get to the city, we are going to kind of stand out a little. It would also help us to blend in if you don’t gawk like you have never been there before.”
                  “But I haven’t been to the city before,” Hayden responded.
                  “I know that, but let’s not tell everyone that. Now, some big things that are going to be different about Celestial City and your home town are number one, the size. How many people lived in Erskine if you had to guess?” Hayden had calmed down a great deal since they found the river and he could tell Fendrel wanted to get him talking and keep him relaxed.
                  “Um, I don’t know, maybe two or three hundred adults. Why?”
                  “There are almost a thousand men who guard the walls to the city.”
                  “A thousand?!?” Hayden’s voice got a little squeaky and high pitched when he shouted out his question.
                  “That’s just who guard the walls mind you, that does not include the main ground army, and then the regular people that live there. The river we are following will fork at the city, one part will head into the forests of Eytherka and eventually into the sea, whereas the other part goes into the Bergelmir Mountains and flows into the dwarves’ underground irrigation system. It’s at this fork that they built the city. The walls completely surround the fork, which is no small task as you will see, and there are three walls that make up the city’s defenses. The walls make a giant triangle around the river, with the north corner lying in between the two forks and the western and eastern corners on either side of the main body of water we are following now. Everything in Celestial City is made of metal, everything. The walls were first made of stone to only about twenty feet high, but when they discovered all the rich minerals in the land and the city began to flourish, they decided it was time to upgrade their style of living. The walls are now close to fifty feet high and they look to be made of one giant sheet of metal, but don’t let that fool you, there are trap panels built along all three walls that will open up to reveal one of their many war machines.”
    Hayden listened , and tried to imagine what the city would look like, but with no success. He could not fathom what a city made out of metal with thousands of people would look like. The road began to rise at a steep incline and Hayden was starting to feel a burning