AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Onnika hopped up and down. “Ooh. A gilded egg.”
“You are acquisitive by nature, aren’t you? Keep in mind, two vouchers mean extra danger.”
They stood back to watch. As soon as the tournament began, the vehicles’ engines revved, spinning dirt and debris behind them as they lurched forward to claim the lead before disappearing into the jungle. Overhead, a set of metallic flying contraptions buzzed and zoomed past, following after the racers.
“What are those?” Onnika asked.
“Cameras,” Aidan replied. “So no one misses the action.”
A large screen set up nearby blinked to life, showing the vehicles from behind driving at breakneck speeds. The terrain was rough, covered by overgrowth. While attempting to pass, one of the vehicles nearly toppled into a gully, half-hidden by foliage. The driver veered away from it just in time, but lost ground in the process.
Another misguided driver tried for a shortcut over a patch of what at first glance looked like wet soil, but turned out to be an inky mud pit too deep to cross. The vehicle’s occupants managed to crawl out and leap to safety just before it sank completely. They were lucky to be alive, but were out of the race unless they could run to the top of the cliff.
The team in the lead came to a screeching halt at the edge of a crevasse that cut along the mountain range, blocking their way. A hand crank that operated a drawbridge sat off to the side.
Swiftly, a dark-haired passenger got out to lower the bridge, but as soon as he let go to reenter the vehicle, the crank wound back around, and the bridge sprang back up.
So that was why this was a team tournament, Aidan thought. The second person would need to stay behind to ensure their partner could get across on the return trip.
Just as the man lowered the bridge again and waved his companion across safely, another car pulled up. He released the bridge, keeping the others from crossing, and prepared to defend the crank from anyone else using it. The occupants of this second vehicle quickly caught on, and with two against one, the scuffle didn’t last long. Mercifully, they only seemed to have knocked their lone opponent unconscious rather than outright killing him.
Aidan thought he and Onnika could win this one easily. Onnika would be safe as the driver, and he could stay behind to lower the bridge for her return while fending off the competition.
Before he relayed the idea, the screen showed the first vehicle arriving on the plateau. The driver left the car and sprinted to where a large, sparkling egg rested atop a thin waist-high pedestal at the edge of the cliff. The oblong shell seemed to be made of tiny gemstones glinting in the sun.
Onnika’s eyes widened at the sight.
“They may not let you keep it,” he told her.
She huffed in reply. “That would be cruel.”
He suppressed a chuckle and turned back to the screen. As soon as the man picked up the egg, a great shriek erupted in the sky, and a sudden shadow loomed over him, swiftly growing.
The cameras barely had time to focus on the massive bird, wings outstretched, hulking talons extended. The creature plucked the man by the shoulders and lifted him into the air, its great wings flapping furiously. The egg fell from the man’s grasp as he struggled to free himself, but those talons were digging in, drawing blood.
With purpose, the beast glided down the mountainside, drawing the attention of nearly everyone in the arena, and then dropped the man into the murky marsh. Sputtering to the surface, the man fought furiously to make it to shore…but he vanished under a dark current without a sound. Whatever lived under that water got to him first. Then there was nothing but silence and a dying ripple in the water.
“We arenotdoing that,” Aidan pronounced.
“Well, we have to dosomething,”she argued. “I’m not just going to stand around and let everyone else have all the fun.”
“Fun?” He pointed up to the bird, now flying back to collect its egg. “That is not fun. That’s a deathtrap. It’s too dangerous.”
“I disagree.”
“Of course you do. You’re determined to get yourself killed.”
She crossed her arms and gazed at him as though he were slow-witted. “Are you not a fearsome dragon?”
He hesitated, seeing where she was going with this. “Well, yes, but—”
“And am I not the smartest, most devious, most beautiful woman you’ve ever met?”
“Now you’re just fishing for compliments.”
Pivoting on her heels, she approached the registrar. “Excuse me, sir, are there any rules about how we make our way to the top?”
The man nodded politely. “We provide the vehicles if needed, but you are allowed to use your own ground transport, should you choose. However, no flying crafts are permitted.”
