Chapter 11

            “Not here,” Icksazro said as he put his hat back on and adjusted it to cover up his strange hair and ears.

            The elf led the way to the back of the tavern, muttered something under his breath, and then opened a door that was very well hidden at the end of the room. They walked inside and he locked the door behind them. Blackscales looked around the room, and noticed three unusual chairs and two smaller stools all together at one side of the room, and a rug, lamp, and small table at the other. Other than that it was completely empty.

            Icksazro sat in one of the chairs, making them all look at it more closely, and Blackscales decided that it could best be described as a small sofa, that seemed as though it might be able to rock like a rocking chair, and it was a weird green and blue color. The elf gestured for them to sit down, and Blackscales chose one of the chairs that were right next to him. Aval and Autumn sat in the stools, while Omen took the other chair.

            “I assume you have many questions,” Icksazro said as he looked around at them, and then leaned back in his chair. “Let me tell you first the full story about where I come into your adventure, Uninterrupted. The elves have been strong supporters of the riders ever since they first came into existence, especially since the first riders were indeed elves. We have lived in forests throughout Semiones, hidden, though our main home is in the mountain range which we elves refer to as ‘Mrana Akano Furista’, or ‘Hidden Mountain Pass’.

            “While I will not share with you now the exact reason why it is named that, you can probably take a fair guess. I lived in that elven kingdom with our queen and the rest of our race, other races that are our allies, Argos, and his rider, whose name shall remain secret for now as well. One day, Argos left us and delivered the egg to you, somehow feeling that the rightful rider of that egg would find it, which evidently happened. Then, we all knew that you would have to take the long journey and probably needed guidance, so the queen and Argos’s rider sent a great many of us, elves and the other races as well, all around the land between here and the Hidden Mountain Pass.

            “We were all told that the rider would be using a fake name, that would be easy enough for us to recognize, and I should say that Argos and his rider made an excellent name for you. Anyway, so all of us that were sent are supposed to give you food and shelter, and try to point you in the right direction. Some of us will also try to train you to be a true rider, but your full training will have to wait until you reach the last true dragon and rider.”

            Blackscales suddenly asked, “So my purpose with them is for them to train me!?”

            Icksazro shot him a harsh look before replying, “I thought I said that there were supposed to be no interruptions, though I’m not very surprised that a rider such as yourself should be so curious; you are a peculiar character.”

            Blackscales and his companions realized that the legends about elves were true; they were jolly, happy people that preferred to keep their identities a secret from everyone except themselves. They were also very skeptical about other races, and some of them thought of themselves as the absolute perfect beings. They probably would be if it weren’t for the select few that were too arrogant. But they were very gentle folk that preferred peace over all other things, but were far too capable of carrying their own weight in battle.

            Icksazro seemed to know what they were thinking, and carried on with his story, “I was sent here about a month ago by Argos’s rider and the queen of my people themselves, and I was supposed to make sure that you had brought appropriate guardians for your journey. While I can honestly say that I am not at all pleased with you choosing a novice swordsman, his unwise bow-handling sister, and a blacksmith who is actually apparently one of the best of your kind physically, I do believe that this is the best you could get from such a small town as where you come from. Now before you interrupt me, I will also keep it a secret as to how we know so much about you.

            “Now, I will give all of you decent food and shelter for absolutely no charge, and even some gold so that you can be ready for the future and the towns and cities further north, which is probably the general direction that you will be travelling, and it is a harsh environment there. You are welcome to ask what you wish now, though I highly doubt that you will find the answers satisfying.”

            Blackscales thought for a while about what he had said before asking, “So we’re supposed to go north?”

            Icksazro gave him a peculiar smile as he replied, “Argos’s rider told you to go in a random direction after this town. Whatever direction you choose will likely lead you north even if you go straight south, but the key to finding the Hidden Mountain Pass, is to lose yourself. You humans are to technical about everything; needing compasses, maps, and the stars for all of your travels, but being a rider means to see things in new ways, as I’m sure you’ve found out by now. That map your father had may hold the key to finding the Hidden Mountain Pass, since your race lacks the ability to find what can’t be sought.”

            Blackscales immediately took out the map and looked it over before asking, “How could this possibly help me find something that can’t be sought? It’s just an ordinary map.”

            Icksazro stood up, and strolled around the room, keeping his eyes on Blackscales as he said, “Recall the ancient legends of your race, the legends of the riders. I believe there is a tale that you might recall that says, ‘The ability to see beyond the obvious, the usual, and the known to see the unusual unknown…that’s what the riders are all about’. That means two different things, though only one of them serves you well now, and the other you shall learn of when your path intertwines with the other dragon and rider’s paths, that is, if you can manage to find the first meaning of that tale and find the Hidden Mountain Pass.”

            Blackscales grew frustrated as he began to realize what Icksazro had first said; that his answers would be more confusing than simply not knowing. But he felt himself growing wiser from speaking to the elf, and finally understood their place in legends as an all-knowing race. He bowed respectfully to the elf, as he had heard was the most respectful way for a human to greet or leave an elf’s presence.

            “Stand straight rider,” Icksazro said as he walked over to the door, “The dragon riders are a separate race of beings unlike all others, and numerous races respect them above all others, including elves. There is another way for you to greet us and for us to greet you, but if it is Argos and his rider’s will, you will learn it some other time.”

            “You are weary from your traveling, though there is much ahead of you. Come with me and I will take you to the back rooms to rest until morning. You are more than welcome to stay for as long as you desire, but it is best that you leave sooner rather than later, for you must reach Mrana Akano Furista as soon as you can.”

            “Why must we reach the pass so soon? Argos’s rider never told me why there was such hurry,” Blackscales said to Icksazro.

            The Elf put his hand on the hidden door before responding, “Even I know enough to tell that you are far from ready to learn of our foes, and you would likely be very displeased with the answer when you do learn.”

            Blackscales began to grow annoyed with the mysterious talk of what he assumed all elves possessed, but tried not to show it so he wouldn’t hurt the elf’s feelings. Somehow he had a feeling that the wise being knew it anyway. Icksazro opened the door and allowed for all of them to leave before closing it shut behind them and uttering some more inaudible words like before.

            “It must be a relief to see us after a month of waiting,” Omen said, sharing his voice for the first time in a long while.

            Icksazro laughed a bit before making sure no unwanted person was around before replying, “As you probably know from your legends, elves have extraordinarily long lives compared to you humans, even our holidays occur once a decade at the soonest, so I was actually surprised at how soon you arrived. But that reminds me of something I was meant to tell the rider.”

            Blackscales listened intently as Icksazro whispered in his ear, “As I’m sure you know from that book of yours, dragons have magical abilities. The most curious of all things that happens with them, is the ability to give themselves and their riders near immortality, even more so than elves. But they do it quite subconsciously, I assure you.”

            The rider pulled his head away and glared at him, trying to gauge whether he was lying or telling the truth.

            As he seemed to know what Blackscales was thinking, Icksazro said with a broad grin, “Elves are practically incapable of telling lies, I assure you. We are simply very good at hiding and stretching the truth.”

            He quietly led them away to the other side of the tavern where there was a door which led to a hallway with several other doors. Icksazro motioned to the last two at the very end of the hallway.

            “The last two rooms are yours; split them between yourselves as you wish. Just so your curiosities are satisfied, you should know that no one else is renting out any of these rooms, they are merely for storage and I’d advise you to stay out,” Icksazro said as he quickly left through the door they originally came from.

            “Is it just me, or are elves very peculiar?” Autumn asked them when she was sure Icksazro was out of earshot.

            Blackscales smiled before replying, “They certainly are different from us, but they don’t seem to be bad at all. I liked Icksazro a lot; he seems mysterious but cheerful.”

            Autumn rolled her eyes just before Aval asked, “So who’s going to be with whom tonight?”

            Autumn quickly replied, “I believe that it would be best if I got my own room while the three guys shared a room.”

            “I think it would be most fair if me and Blackscales shared a room and you get to be with Omen,” Aval suggested to her.

            “Well,” Blackscales began jokingly, “I think the honorary rider should be alone while you three share a room.”

            Omen laughed at all of their suggestions before coming up with the only reasonable solution, “I will be with Blackscales, Autumn and Aval will be together. Is that fair?”

            Avalsmokes instantly protested, “But I have to be with her all the time!”

            Blackscales shot him a stern glance, making him shut up quickly. They all shared a laugh before they noticed how late it was getting, and how tired they were. With a very quick exchange of ‘good-byes’ they went to the rooms they agreed on, with Blackscales and Omen together and the siblings in their own rooms. Blackscales stepped into the room on the right after Omen, and realized with slight relief that there were two beds, although they were weird like the chairs that they had sat in earlier and seemed more like large cots.

            Omen went to the bed at the opposite end of the room and flopped down on top of the sheets. Blackscales jumped into his own beds, making sure to pull the sheets over himself. However, despite how tired he felt, he simply couldn’t fall asleep.

            “You wide awake too?” Omen asked as he pulled his sheets over his body up to his waist and turned to look at Blackscales, who nodded.

            Omen continued speaking with a relaxed tone of voice, “I’ll bet your life was turned upside-down with this whole dragon rider thing, not to mention the adventure that we’re going on now with no direction or guidance other than a map you don’t know how to use….Do you ever wonder who our other allies may be?”

            Blackscales rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling for a long time, thinking, before replying, “Perhaps the wild dragons still exist, like how we thought the riders no longer existed. Maybe it’s some race we’ve never even heard of, or a different race of dragon-like serpents…maybe a different race of elf-like humans.”

            Omen laughed at his attempts at deep, meaningful thoughts, “I hope it’s something we’ve heard of, at least then we can know a little bit about them…just enough to know whether they will be as annoying as the elves.”

            “You really think Icksazro was annoying?” Blackscales asked. “I thought he seemed like a truly wonderful being, with intelligence far beyond what I hope to gain in the distant future.”

            Omen laughed again before replying, “It was almost all rubbish, trust me. If we go south, we’ll be going south. If we end up going north, we won’t automatically be turned in the right direction. He was joking with us; no one can travel without some sort of guidance unless they use magic, and elves aren’t known for using magic, now good night!”

            Blackscales glared at him after he turned over onto his other side. Then the rider did the same with himself and thought, I guess the riders are smarter than normal humans, since I could tell that he was better than you. And that was when he fell into a deep sleep.

            Blackscales awoke very early the next day, at about five in the morning in fact. Omen was snoring heavily beside, him, but worse was Aval’s roaring inhales from the room across the hall that he felt he probably could have heard anywhere within a league of the tavern.

            The rider carefully and quietly rolled out of his cot bed, and left the room as silently as his stealthy legs would allow so that he wouldn’t wake the tired blacksmith. He crept down the hall and through the final door into the main room before sighing with relief. He jumped in surprise when he noticed Icksazro sitting at a table with his feet propped up on a smaller table nearby.

            “What are you doing awake so early?” Blackscales asked him.

            The elf looked around again to make sure that they weren’t being watched before saying, “It is probably safest to speak in the secret room I showed you.”

             Without waiting for the rider’s response, Icksazro raced over to the back of the room with outrageous speed, quickly followed by Blackscales. They slipped into the hidden room and settled into the same chairs that they had had the previous night.

            “So?” Blackscales asked as he got comfortable.

            Icksazro looked him over before replying, “There are legends, many of which you may not have heard, about the riders. It was said that they very gradually got the greatest characteristics from every single race both know and unknown to your kind. They were often comfortable in the darkness and cold like one of our most powerful allies that shall remain nameless until a later date. They were keen of hearing, eyesight, and intellect, as well as very powerfully built and nimble like us elves. The riders also gained the strategic mind and vengeful attitude of the dwarves, which is far more useful than it sounds, especially for the job that riders undertake.”

            “What job?” Blackscales blurted out.

            Icksazro looked at him with both sympathy and reverence before replying, “Oh you aren’t nearly ready to learn your place in this world. All you are ready to know is that the riders were in charge of the most difficult, respectful, tedious, and menial thing, that many of your race overlook. If the riders disappear, so do all of the beings in Semiones, all of the beings in existence at all. I can tell you are worried about this responsibility, but for a trained and powerful rider it can be the simplest task, and you will likely have help.

            “I’m sure you remember the day you found Inferno’s egg when Argos practically dropped it in front of you. When he came back he told us the whole story, and I too know everything of that moment. A giant paw-print (belonging to the dragon himself) shimmered, and then disappeared again, and the birds stopped singing their usual song. That is the biggest hint you could ever receive about your duties as a rider, and I can explain no further.”

            “Why do you insist on playing with my curiosity like a toy? Please, just tell me everything or nothing!”

            Icksazro looked at him thoughtfully with wisdom glimmering in his beady eyes, “You are beginning to get the intelligence of the elves, but I can clearly see that you still need to learn much and leave many of your human ways behind. You must learn that answers aren’t simply given out to those that merely request it; they have to be sought. Or, you could look for it like you will the Hidden Mountain Pass, and merely hope to come across it when your time is come. Allow fate to guide you to your desires, accept that you need help and can not do everything yourself, and you will reach your goal, in time. You have much to learn, young rider.”