Page 139 of Tailwind

We burst out into the open air. The ocean shimmered miles below and the sky was starting to fill with grey clouds. In the distance was land – the Crescent, a thin crescent strip of green against the deep blue.

I tugged hard on the reins, arching backwards. Gottyk followed the motion, taking us up in line with the lip of stone above us. It was time to mirror the vertical hairpin of turn one.

I flattened against Gottyk’s spine, moulding myself as close as possible as he spun upwards. We overshot the edge of the plateau before being able to turn into the rest of the circuit. There were no barriers here – overshooting this corner was its own punishment.

‘Mirendi ahead. Keep pushing.’

‘Arcans?’

‘The first round is pretty much clear, but keep an eye out.’

The benefit of being last.

We wove through the stone gardens of the Sky Pillar, not going above the treeline that was the only clue as to the height of the circuit. The ancient stone statues loomed over us, watching from the past.

Josie’s voice cut through my concentration.

‘Incom—’

I didn’t hear the rest as a heavy piece of metal collided with the side of my head. My armour reverberated all over, spreading the impact around my body. Every fibre of my being vibrated, shaken to the core. I lifted a hand to my visor, trying to swipe whatever was blurring the lens. But there was nothing there to block my vision – it was my eyes that had lost focus.

I blinked, clearing my vision. It gave me only a half-second to react to the next assault. I brought my axe up, bracing with both hands as an arcan in the shape of a miniature wyvern dive-bombed me from above.

‘Are you okay?’ Josie’s voice crackled through the comms.

I wasn’t in a position to answer as I hooked the wyvern to the side, shoving it from me as Gottyk flew forwards. It tumbled away, giving a moment’s reprieve.

My hand lifted to the comms pad on the side of the helmet: ‘Probably.’

Up ahead I saw the flash of an orange tail. I locked on to it, hungry.

‘Actually, I’m already feeling a lot better.’ I spun my axe as Gottyk pressed forwards. I may not have flown with someone as vile as Thorne before, but he hadn’t ever experienced racing me either.

Gottyk tucked in his wings as we sped through a gap between two stone pillars, half-crumbled and leaning together for support.

Thorne came fully into view as we entered a straight section of the circuit. His young dragon was holding up well as they weaved along, a year younger than Gottyk, held in reserve for situations like these.

‘The Mirendis must have improved over the last lap.’ I tapped into comms. ‘The Boll brothers managed to overtake Thorne even after his spectacular start.’ My attack on Thorne wasn’t confined to flying. I spoke to Josie, but hoped the race cast would play it for fans at home.

Let them be his final judge.

‘Next wave incoming.’ If Josie was concerned that I would be facing Thorne and arcans at once, she didn’t show it.

I brandished my axe.

‘Time for some team spirit.’

I had Gottyk keep pace with Thorne as we reached the limit of the proximity sensors, just over one dragonlength behind. Then I waited. The grey clouds surrounding the island helped the arcans remain obscured until the last moment, but Josie got in faster this time.

‘Back right!’

I swung around, whipping the axe upwards. The hook of the blade caught behind the false wyvern’s wing, letting me wrench it forward. I disconnected the hilt from my glove as I swung it around, letting it carry the momentum forwards. Directly at Thorne.

The arcan made contact. Enough to really slow him down, not the sandbagging he was doing to boost the Mirendi scores. If he was willing to sell out and disgrace what little honour he had left, then I would use it to my advantage.

We overtook him.

More arcans descended upon us as the circuit took a wide sweep through the overgrown vegetation around the base of the pillar, though I couldn’t help but notice they were all aiming for me.