The Column Racer (26 page)

Talon took in deep breaths as he knocked the boards lose from the hidden compartment of a Morris Ale wagon carrying a fresh new supply from the brewery in Sector A. He was grateful to be able to bring in deep, full breaths of air again. He breathed in like a starving man digging his fingers into food. He wiggled his body out of the small compartment where he had hidden himself for the past two weeks. The messenger made sure to send him with plenty of dried meats and fruits, along with fire roasted nuts and a leather sack with a tube carrying water. He still thought Talon was fool, but he wished him luck all the same. But if he was determined to go, he would be sent with a message. Something to give Degendhard the Great.

Talon took care replacing the boards, making sure nothing was out of place. He took a deep breath as he inched his way to the door of the wagon and unsheathed the dagger held at the back of his belt. He didn’t know whether or not he was going to be caught. He didn’t know whether or not he was going to have to kill. But he was prepared to fight if needed. He put his ear up to the door and listened. There
was
nothing. He looked out of the glass window. Nothing again. He took rapid breaths, preparing his nerves to fire, preparing his muscles to be as effective and efficient as possible.

He unlatched the door and slowly opened it. He left enough room to get out. The knife was still firmly placed in his hands.
Voices.
He heard voices. He quietly shut the door and quickly rolled beneath the wagon. From there, he watched as two sets of legs came walking by. Two men, and he was grateful their legs lacked the presence of armour, signifying that they were only servants and not men trained to fight. But he would have to kill them just the same if they threatened to expose him to the guards.

Talon kept his breathing in control as he watched them walk away and head to the other side of the building. He needed to be patient. They would be gone. And then so would he. When he was sure it was just him amongst the fifty or so wagons, he made himself vulnerable again, rolling out into the open.

He used the wagons as cover and crept to the outside. He had to be soft on his feet here. He took off his shoes because he didn’t want the thud of his soles to give him away. Stealth meant everything right now. Without it, he would be dead. He kept to the shadows, working his way to a secluded area of the wall. He started to unwind the thin rope around his waist. To many it looked as harmless as a thread used in clothing. But it wasn’t. It was something special. Something only lots of coin could afford.

Talon unclipped the grapple from his belt and searched for a landing spot for his anchor. He used the random network of lanterns as light. When he spotted the small dragon statue, a smile flickered onto his face. He spun the rope in his hands, checking his surroundings, ready to grab and throw his dagger if he was caught. Everything was clear. He let go of the grapple sending it straight and true. The gold-hooked object snagged onto the statue. And with texturized gloves, Talon started to climb.

It was their first competition. They were going up against a school in their own sector, Winshall Hall, which was said to be the third most talented Hall in the Empire. Areli still had a smile thinking about the present that Fides presented to her last night at her birthday party. It was the best birthday present since the time she got Kaia. Fides said that Amer did most of the work, but Areli knew otherwise. It was a beautifully constructed gold statue of Areli and Kaia. It had brought tears to Areli’s eyes that weren’t the source of sadness. She didn’t know how she would ever match the gift for Fides, whose birthday was less than a month away. All she knew was that she had better start working on it now.

Areli had gotten ready, like the premiers, and had her dragon in the holding pen like the others. She even had her dragon flying circles in the warm-up pen. But the Emperor had fell short on his words. She was still seventh. Still an auxiliary. She flew near the top of the room, just below Kiley and the other team’s two auxiliaries. Although she was grateful no one was injured yet, her competiveness didn’t allow her to face this day without jealousy. The premiers flew below her, twelve in all. Areli’s teammates flew closer to the ground and the premiers from Winshall flew above them. The riders from Winshall were in almost the same riding attire as the ones from Abhi Hall, except instead of black leather for their pants and shirts, they had green.

Below, the flames were to move differently than during team practices, as more bowls were spread out across the marble floor. After the riders were given sufficient time to warm up their dragons, the bowls moved across the floor like bugs doused by oil and lit on fire by a sinister and twisted boy.

They moved to make an
A
next to the number one, calling premier one from Abhi into the holding area. Areli watched as Fides and Faina dashed out of the circular room. Areli was filled with both fear and jealousy, but she was glad when Aubrie told her that she had checked Fides equipment herself and found nothing wrong.
Sofi wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to do anything to Fides
, said Areli to herself, trying to calm her worry.

Areli found herself looking down at the flames, wishing they would move to form an
A
and a seven, but she knew better. She watched as the flames shifted to form the letter
W
and the number one, calling forward Winshall’s best rider to the holding pen. The call of riders continued to switch back and forth, and the room continued to empty out steadily.

Areli watched as Amira exited out of the warm-up pen running her pink dragon, Abhira, flying past flames flickering
A
and the number four. The pangs of jealousy started to drop like snow on the surface of Areli’s heart. She wanted to be out there. She tried not to look down at Nadia. Her blonde hair put in a ponytail and stretched out of her elegant headgear.

Areli thought about having to visit her in the medical facility. She didn’t know if she had the stomach for it. She didn’t know if she could look Nadia in the eyes and say how sorry she was for her terrible accident, knowing full well she was the one responsible for it. Areli was the flame igniting the Emperor’s motivation prompting Nadia’s arm to be twisted in a painful way or her leg snapped in two. Areli
hated
herself for hoping she could replace Nadia as a premier. She forced herself to be happy she was seventh. She was alive. And she desperately wanted to think that maybe the Emperor had decided to keep her as an auxiliary, deciding she wasn’t worth the effort after all. It was a thought that both choked her and brought ease to her heart.

Areli looked down at the flames. They were unchanged. She looked around the room. The other riders in the room were looking down at the flames as well. Areli was sure the next rider should have been called already. The riders continued to ride around the room. They were restless. Areli could hear the confusion starting to spread, and then the flames came to life. Areli shook her head, wondering what had happened, while watching the moving of the bowls.

It seemed like it took forever, as if time had decided to stand still, as the letter
A
was unchanged, and the only thing that seemed to disintegrate and reform itself was the number. Her number . . . the number seven. Areli stared at it, disbelieving. The bowls were arranged into an
A
followed by the letter seven. She told herself it couldn’t be. Areli looked around the room. She felt like she was looking into herself, wondering what the shape of her heart had morphed into. How was she supposed to respond?

“Areli,” came Kiley’s voice hovering above her, “Areli, that’s you.” Areli could only look up at her. She looked into Kiley’s eyes, hoping they could tell her what to do. How to react to the situation.

“Areli, what in the stars are you doing?” asked Kiley, circling down next to her, “get out there. You’ve been called.” Areli nodded her head and worked her way down the walls as riders and their dragons circled around her. She could feel their eyes, but she didn’t know if they were eyes of hate, wonder, or question.

Areli felt a pang of relief as she flew past Nadia. She was safe. Amira had saved her. But her heart, her soul, her entire being felt like it was ripping itself into pieces. What happened to Amira? That seemed like the only question constantly coming back to her. Shining on her, keeping her in its grasp like the sun.

Her heart was shaking as she stopped in front of the gold doors of the holding area. Flashes of what had happened to Amira kept screaming on the edges of her eyelids. She screamed for one of the servants to come over to her and asked what had happened.

“We don’t know,” said the servant, “but you shouldn’t worry about it. Ask questions after your run. Not before. A rider unfocused is a rider dead.” The servant was called away from her, and Areli was left looking at the opening of the doors. She thrust Kaia into weightlessness. The crowd was subdued. There were no screams of joy. No chanting of her name. Only silence. A painful silence that made Areli feel like she was utterly alone in the world.

She got to the elevation. Her mind confused. What had happened? What was going on?
Amira must have gotten injured is all
, Areli told herself. She had the constant sinking feeling this might have been the Emperor’s fix.
No!
thought Areli,
no, not Amira, she was too talented. It was Nadia. Nadia was the one he meant to injure. Amira got injured on her own.
Areli would run those words in a steady stream through her mind, while staring at the backs of her eyelids. Her eyes opened, and she couldn’t help but feel lighter.
She was injured on her own
, she told herself again. Areli was certain Nadia was the Emperor’s choice to take the fall. This wasn’t a fix, this was just an accident, a terrible accident, and everything had been righted in the world.

The horns sounded from the arena, and then the horns sounded from the top of the elevation. Areli moved to the edge. This was it. Her first race. She was
meant
to be here. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to quickly repair the tearing of her soul, and then she gave Kaia a hard kick forward.
COME ON, ARELI
, she screamed in her head,
for Emilee. For me.
They disappeared from the elevation into air. Into seemingly nothingness.

They moved and knifed through the wind with purpose. Fused with determination. Poised to show the world where she belonged. Areli entered through the alley, holding on to the rightness of it all. She was one of the best riders on the team, and this was where she belonged. On this team. Taking advantage of this moment. She passed the judge with tears of joy, tears of wind searing across her face. First column – flawless. Second column – perfection. Third column – turned through with the exactness of one of her chef’s knives. Areli kicked Kaia heavily home, past the judge, past the composer, past the drums, past the recorders, past awe-struck eyes, and in and through the alley. Bliss. Her body, her mind had been filled head to toe with happiness in such extreme amounts. Her throat felt like it was swelled up, taking away her capabilities of breathing.

Areli flew into the holding pen and landed Kaia onto the marble floors, every part of her being past content. She was alive, soul, body, and mind. She was vibrant and glowing. She couldn’t contain herself. Areli laughed like she had never laughed before as she wrapped her arms around her trainer.

“Just like that, Areli,” said Aubrie, “just like that.”

Areli kept it up. Her second run was just above perfection. And the crowd seemed to have learned a new name. They let it roll from the tongues with feverish aptitude. After the race, Areli was given her first points. Eight of them, as she placed second in the short-go, just an ink scratch away from sharing first place with Fides.

After the competition, Coach Sani congratulated all the riders on having a very successful first race, as only one Winshall opponent was granted a run in the short-go. The meeting room was sullen though. Areli felt like she was the only excited one there, as everyone was awaiting word on Amira’s status, since no team is given such information until after all three runs are over, the points awarded and the competitor’s dragons in their stalls.

“How is Amira?” asked Tegan, hesitantly. She asked, but Areli had a suspicious feeling that she didn’t care what actually happened to her. She was only hoping to gather and glean information to share with others. Coach Sani became really quiet. She looked down at the carpet. Areli thought she saw a tear prop up in the corner of her eyes. Hard, cold, and heartless Coach Sani, with tears. It was hard for Areli to find it possible. Areli braced herself for the news, taking hold of Aubrie’s hand.

“Amira . . .” said Coach Sani, “Amira is no longer with us.” The reaction was the same for everyone. Hands to mouths.

“Well,” said Tegan, “how did she . . . what in the stars happened?” A rise to her voice. Coach Sani looked at her. Areli half expected a slap across the face, which she would have liked to see, but she finally realized that Coach Sani, heart like rock, still looked upon her riders as if they were her children. Well, except for Areli, maybe.

“She was rounding . . . rounding the first column. No one knows what happened for sure. She had just collapsed. Both her and her dragon. Or maybe it was just her dragon.” She became silent.

“And?” Tegan pressed.

“And . . . and they fell.” An arrow seemed like it lodged itself into Areli’s stomach. Dragons
just
don’t collapse. Riders
just
don’t collapse. Her world seemed to be spinning. It was her fault. It was the Emperor’s fix. She felt like the room was on a boat, and the boat was in a storm. Areli would have collapsed on the ground if she didn’t have the seat she was sitting in.

Coach Sani excused herself from the room. Areli could hear the murmuring coming from the mouths of her teammates. She could feel the viciousness of their speculative and accusing words.

“Don’t you dare!” yelled Fides.

“Get a grip, Fidelja,” screamed Tegan, “how else do you explain it?”

“The medical staff will come up with an explanation,” said Fides.

“With what?” hollered Tegan, “she is probably nothing but soup and bones!”

“Why don’t you shut up Tegan,” screamed back Fides, “what does it matter to you anyways? You wouldn’t care if all in this room met the same fate.”

“That’s my point, Fidelja,” said Tegan fuming bitterly with hate, “it could have been any one of us. It could have been you, me, anyone.”

“But it wasn’t.”

“Not today,” said Tegan, “but the Emperor seems to have his favorites picked out anyways.”

Areli couldn’t stop crying as she lay in her locker room. Fides and Aubrie were next to her, trying to soothe her.

“We don’t know what happened,” said Fides, “for all we know Amira could have been sick, or maybe her dragon was ill. All we know is that . . . that we have to keep moving forward.”

“But I killed her,” choked Areli, “I’m responsible for her death.”

“No, you’re not,” said Fides harshly, “never say that. Never think that. If this was indeed the Emperor’s fix, then it was Sofi that had killed Amira. Never forget. Sofi is the one with the blood on her hands, not you.” Areli continued to cry. She wished Fides words could cheer her up, but she couldn’t help but blame herself. Hate herself. She went back to picturing herself taking her life or running away and wondering if Amira would still be alive if she had done any of those things. That didn’t cheer her up at all, as she knew the loss of life today ended with Amira and her dragon. Areli dying would result in the physical deaths of her parents and dragon, and the resulting emotional fallout that would inflict heavy damage to Fides and Yats.

Fides told her there was nothing she could do. They were alive, and they had the power to keep it that way. They couldn’t bring the dead back to life. They couldn’t control the ruthlessness of Sofi and the Emperor. All they could do was live.

“But what if living . . . feels like death?” asked Areli, lying on her side on the long couch, facing towards the flickering flames of her fireplace.

“You live Areli . . . you fly, you love,” said Fides, “and you let others love you back. Like your parents, like Kaia, like Yats . . . like me.” Areli grabbed her friend’s hand and held it for a long time. When they finally did take a bath and had their routine visits with the spa, they did it alone, leaving the other girls to sulk or complain in their rooms. When all were ready, they moved in silence to their carriages. The streets of Abhi were silent but occupied, respecting the loss of a rider. Each child and person was holding a candle. It was like a million tiny stars were around them.