Page 10 of Tailwind

‘Get off me, you bitch!’ Spittle flew from his mouth.

The ground fell out from under me. The back of my knee stung with pain. Thorne had knocked me down. I went sprawling across the pellets, sliding to a stop at the wall.

Thorne was up already, standing over me with a horrid smile. ‘Stay down, like the animal you are.’ He brought a leg back and swung it towards me, his foot coming straight at my face.

A flash of orange. He was gone.

My ears rang with the echoes of Gottyk’s roar.

Copper pellets trickled out of the creases of my jumpsuit as I stood, bracing myself against the wall. Unsteady, I approached Thorne. He didn’t move.

Gottyk’s hot breath went down my neck as he hovered behind me. Still, a shiver went down my spine.

‘Is he dead?’

Gottyk huffed, turned away and started kicking pellets towards Thorne’s limp form.

‘Gottyk!’ I hated Thorne too, but burying him in metal didn’t seem like the best solution.

Grimacing, I placed a hand under Thorne’s nose – slow and shallow, but still breathing. I crouched back on the balls of my feet and ran my hands over my face.

‘Shit.’ My voice came out muffled.

I watched Thorne for a moment, rendered harmless by one whip of Gottyk’s tail. It had happened so quickly. There was no blaming Gottyk. He’d only done what I had been about to do and for the same reason. We’d just been looking out for one another.

‘I don’t suppose you’d help me move him?’ I looked up at my giant orange protector. His big brown eyes merely blinked at me, the innocent look at odds with the fangs poking out of his mouth.

I heaved under Thorne’s armpits to lie him down and out of the slump he’d fallen into. The least I could do was not have him die. I’d lose both my job and my freedom if that happened. As I moved him his head lolled to the side and his sleeves scrunched up, revealing the extent of the augments he’d been using.

The red welts didn’t stop at his wrist. They tracked up his forearm and disappeared under the rest of his shirt. Each one was a place he’d attached the augment to himself too many times and then needed a fresh start.

It was similar to the ones the med team used, but the arcanite wasn’t refined. I’d never been interested in augments beyond what they did for racing, but that was enough to know that cut arcanite had a dribble of power compared to the waterfall of raw ones. The med team’s version let arcanite residue flow through the copper device, numbing the nerves of the riders while they got stitched up.

Used casually and sparingly it was seen as a hobby, though a taboo one for athletes. Yet the one Thorne had wanted back was strong enough to power a small home for a week.

The stone was dim inside, the power almost spent. It would likely be a while before he regained any kind of consciousness. I dragged my hands down my face.

I forced myself to stand up and patted Gottyk’s nose. ‘Looks like your race is over before it starts, buddy. I’m not sure how we’re getting ourselves out of this.’

He watched me with those big, soft eyes. The warm orange scales of his muzzle bumped into my shoulder.

‘What?’

His tail lashed to and fro, scattering the pellets around his stall. He bumped me again, then looked over my shoulder.

I followed his gaze to the other side of the room where Thorne had left a mess of augments and bottles on the workbench.

‘Wha—’ Then I realized.

He was looking at Thorne’s flight suit.

I couldn’t pull myself away. The idea latched on. His armour. His helmet. We were the same size. I knew his racing style. I would be on the same dragon. There would be no reason for anyone to think it wasn’t him.

No one would know.

My neck creaked, stiff and tense, as I looked down at Thorne on the floor. There was no reason to hesitate. No one ever paused when it came to taking from me. My mind raced faster than a plummeting dragon, but none of it included a reason to not steal Thorne’s identity and race in Volitant.

It’s not like his condition would change in the next hour … probably.