Page 52 of Tailwind

The ground was littered with green life: thick moss, bracken and fallen trees that had given sprout to a dozen new plants and creatures. There was no sun down here, only the grey haze that the loose canopy let through. My keeper visor wasn’t any help in here. Everything seemed so far away and blurred from speed. Only two races in and I’d become reliant on the Volitant augments to help me fly.

Gottyk wove through the trees. Their trunks were nearly as wide as his wingspan, straight and clean up to one hundred feet, before their branches burst outwards. I kept my word and resisted asking him to take us upwards, but Gottyk thought the same as I did. I wasn’t the only one who wanted practice.

Up in the canopy would be the likely place for arsenals to be hidden, as well as making a good defence against arcans. Dodging the thick branches jutting out at us would slow us down, but sitting out in the open on a circuit like this was just as risky.

Ahead the gloom was broken by a flash of colour: orange. I watched, mesmerized, as Bach and Rosinder danced through the trees. He’d raced at the Victrolia circuit twenty-one times before and had trained in these woods for years … and I could tell. It was impossible to know every tree and branch, yet the way he and his dragon moved made it seem like he did.

‘Gottyk, fancy showing your sister you can keep up?’

A low rumble reverberated through him.

‘I thought so,’ I replied, grinning.

I scooped up the reins and lowered myself down. We were no longer warming up. This was a challenge.

My eyes stayed focused on Bach. I didn’t need to watch the trees if I could copy him. When he ducked, I ducked. When he leaned to the left, so did I. If I saw his foot twitch, I made mine do it too. The delay of my copying was just right to time Gottyk’s movements. By the time I’d given him the instructions we were coming up on the same obstacles.

We spun through a gap small enough to make me squirm, the deep red bark skimming my helmet as we sailed through. Gottyk’s wings tucked protectively around me, then flung wide on our exit. Raindrops streaked across my visor, disappearing as fast as they appeared.

It was an amazing way to fly. The open sky was glorious and freeing, but this required sharpness, instinct and trust. A bubble of excitement swelled inside me. I couldn’t wait to do this with nine other riders and dragons racing around us.

Bach dipped down, directing Rosinder below the canopy. Then, bizarrely, they landed on the forest floor. Gottyk began to follow, but I pulled on the reins to hold him back.

‘Not down there, buddy.’ I didn’t particularly want Bach to know we’d been following him this whole time.

A rush of gold blasted past us. Gottyk reared back. The straps around my waist went taut as I fell backwards, reeling from the surprise of nearly being thrown.

Without forward momentum Gottyk lost height, his wings flapping to stop us from crashing on the ground. I felt my cheeks flush. So much for not letting Bach know we’d been following. At least we made a half-decent landing out of it.

Once all four of Gottyk’s feet had found the safety of the floor I craned my head back to look up. As unfortunate as the circumstances were, I was sure that what I’d just seen was a first for me – a Victrolia gold.

‘It will be back in a minute.’

I froze, trying to decide if I could pretend that my helmet blocked his voice out.

Bach then walked into view. Still on dragonback, he’d pushed up his faceplate and was looking right at me.

‘One of their northern dragons?’ It was. I already knew that. Now he was going to think I was stupid for asking if the golden dragon we’d just seen belonged to the local team with green and gold as their team colours. A wonderful first impression.

Then I remembered our meeting outside of the briefing room weeks ago and decided that the ground could open up and swallow me instead.

He nodded. ‘First time seeing one?’

My heart hammered. He was continuing the conversation and hadn’t called me an idiot.

‘Yes,’ I replied, trying to stop my voice from shaking. ‘In person. I’ve watched all the races.’ I didn’t feel like clarifying that I meant literally all of them. Our modified caster at home gave me access to old recordings of every Volitant race – Chroma and Forge – and I’d watched each and every one of them.

He smiled, which made me feel a bit dizzy, then he thankfully turned away, looking up. He pointed. ‘Ten seconds.’

I counted it out in my head as I pushed up my faceplate. Then it was back. A beautiful creature, longer and narrower than any racing dragon in Volitant Chroma. Its golden scales shimmered even in the dim light of the forest, making it look like it rippled as it shot through the trees. The snout nearly came to a point, giving the neck and head the silhouette of an arrow.

Then it was gone again.

‘Wow!’ I hadn’t meant to say it, but it was hard to keep any reaction in. There was a reason Victrolia had the reputation it did.

‘That’s Victrolia for you.’ He said it like we hadn’t just witnessed a miracle soaring through the trees. ‘Nice flying, by the way.’

‘What?’ My mouth hung open slightly, making me look as dumbfounded as I felt.