The Clash of Land and Sea.

Chapter Three, part B

Hayden looked at Kirin as she stood perfectly still like a statue, with her head held high and an obvious air of authority about her.

            “Thank you your highness. If you don’t mind me asking why are we here.” Shane was the first to speak. Hayden loved how straight forward Shane could be at times but Hayden was unsure if this was one of those times.

            “Funny, that is the same question that I was about to ask the three of you.” Aelfrie smiled down upon them. Hayden quickly jumped into what had become their rehearsed answer to that question.

            “My friends in the stone tree have already told me what you told the other Metallic Riders. That does not tell me why you are here.” Aelfrie interrupted Hayden.

            “I am not sure what you mean your highness.” Hayden responded.

            “Let’s try the truth.” Aelfrie’s smile appeared nice but Hayden saw the undertone to it. He knew that they had lied to the Metallic Riders and he wanted answers.

            Draek, any ideas? Draek had calmed down but he still stood in the same spot and just stared back at the green dragons that were watching him.

            We only have two options, tell them what they want to hear and see what happens or we try to fight our way out of this. Draek’s tone told Hayden that he said the latter just to show that they really only had one option.

            Hayden looked at his friends and nodded at them. There was no way to keep their secret to themselves any longer, they could only tell the king everything and hope.

            “It all started at The Orchard of Souls, that’s where we learned the true nature of the Metallic Riders.” Hayden told Aelfrie and all the elves around them everything. Starting with how he met Bureg The Swift and going through the Festival of Games.

            He told them about the events and about what had happened at the awards ceremony. He told them about the battle, about how Elizabeth The Gold had slaughtered the dwarf captives.

            Aelfrie showed no emotion as he listened to Hayden’s story, he sat patiently as Hayden tried to remember everything that had happened. When Hayden go the point of Fendrel’s death he could not bring himself to say the words.

            Hayden knew Fendrel was dead, he knew that he would never see his old friend again but somehow saying it out loud seemed wrong to Hayden. Cassidy put her arm around Hayden and Shane continued with their tale.

            “We fled from Celestial City that night, the other riders were still enjoying the party while we disappeared into the night. Fendrel had often spoken about the kindness of your people and we were hoping to hide in the Eytherka until we can figure out what to do next.” Shane finished their story to Aelfrie.

            Aelfrie sat in silence for a long time, looking at each one of the riders in turn with a look of sorrow clearly visible on his face.