The Broken Scale (The Dragon Riders of Arvain) Read Online Free PDF Page A

spoke, but he stopped and faced Hayden. Looking at him, he began to speak again. “You have the power to do whatever you want, don’t let anyone tell you that you have to go one way or another. Whether you become a rider or not, never let someone else tell you how to live.”
                  Hayden stopped walking to face Fendrel as he spoke. Fendrel put his finger to Hayden’s chest as he spoke. Hayden nodded his head, and that was enough of an answer for Fendrel to turn around and keep walking without another glance at him. Hayden could not help but think that something had happened in Fendrel’s life to cause him to have such strong feelings about the subject, but Hayden thought it best to not bring it up now. Hayden decided to change the subject to something else.
                  “You said that they only pick the four new riders once a year. Why only once a year, and why only four?”  Hayden wasn’t sure if Fendrel was going to answer him as they walked on. They walked in silence for a few seconds and Fendrel shook all over like he was trying to get water off of himself, then he answered like there had been no break in the conversation.
                  “Well they picked four riders to always have new recruits in their ranks, but they use riders to train riders, and if you have too many new recruits, then you would have too many of the older riders grounded as. Also, if you had too many riders you would eventually run out of room in the city and they would have to expand the city more and more. With so many new riders, you would also have fights too frequently as their dragons started to grow and become anxious to prove themselves in battle.” Fendrel’s answer made sense to Hayden.
                  He could still remember growing up in Erskine and watching all the young boys doing everything they could to stand out. They were always challenging one another to something or wrestling when they disagreed. Hayden had never thought that the dragons would have such human like qualities.
                  Fendrel’s voice brought him back to the conversation. “They do it once a year at the same time so that whoever wanted to try and become a rider would have a fair chance at it. Everyone knows when it is going to be, so everyone has a chance to get to the city to try.” They both had to step off the road as a cart full of goods pulled by a rather beat up looking old donkey passed them.
                  “When is the next time that they will choose the four riders?” asked Hayden as they got back on the road and continued on their way while both keeping an eye on the road for any unpleasant gifts left behind by the donkey.
                  “Well if I am not mistaken, it should be within a few days after we get there, maybe even within a week or so. It will give you plenty of time to prepare and not make yourself look like a complete fool.” Fendrel laughed as he spoke, amused by his own cleverness.
                  “So what happens in the trials? You said you went through them to become a rider, so you must know what is going to happen, right?” Hayden was trying to keep up with Fendrel, but he had to do a dance across the road. It seemed only his side of the road was covered in the donkey’s droppings, a fact that made Fendrel laugh even harder as he watched Hayden jump from each safe ground to the next.
                  “I can’t tell you what awaits you in the trials, boy. They test each man differently. The trials are going to test you in ways you did not think could happen, things you think you are strong at its going to show you how weak you really are. I spent my whole life up to that point preparing for the trials and it still caught me off guard. It still beat my very best. The trials required of me things I was not willing to do. You need to ask yourself if you ready to give up everything, and