Dragon Racers: The Complete Trilogy, page 47
Sharrah hadn’t grabbed the loops yet, but was able to get her head down and her hands through the handles before she was pulled away. Her father’s coat was warm enough, but the tail was whipping out behind her like a streamer. She closed her eyes and reached out to Azure. Using a spell she’d recently learned, she started seeing through her dragon’s eyes. Everything was more defined, and easier to separate from what was beyond. She was pleased and mortified to see the black dragon’s armor was too heavy for this kind of maneuver. Already it was on a course that would take it too close to the lake below. There was something in the sky, too. What in the world?
Azure shook Sharrah out of his head and rolled. Sharrah was left looking up, with her head pressed sideways against the saddle. Grayscon and the mantai were still on level with the balconies and the traditional race course, but already quite a way behind them.
What was that? she asked. Why didn’t you let me see?
A cluster of spectator balloons, he hissed. Don’t worry. The armored corroder isss too heavy.
I know, she thought. They are headed for the water. Now win this thing.
Yesss, he hissed. He went rigid and they streaked in a perfect downward spiral using both Azure’s wing beats and gravity to propel them around the narrowing lower sections of Sky Island.
The only competition Sharrah got was from the infuriating coat, which whipped so hard she thought it might break her shoulders. But before it could, the race was over.
They passed over the splash the black dragon made when it crashed, and then crossed what would be the finish mark, only way below the balconies, nearer the base of the hovering mass of rock.
People on the boats cheered and screamed hysterically when Azure flew over.
When the big blue scaled dragon rose and slowed from his momentum, Sharrah searched the course above and saw that King Grayscon and the mantai were still racing, and only just past the midway point.
Azure labored to circle them back up to the area in front of the finish. The crowd was going crazy. King Grayscon crossed the line ahead of the mantai. And the balconied erupted. The cheers soon transitioned into a jumble of complaining and howling when they saw Sharrah and Azure. Then the announcer cleared his throat, and then a hushed murmur spread across the whole expanse of balconies and platforms.
“Winner by, is that right?” he stopped and an inaudible conversation transpired in the background. “By seven hundred, eighty-eight common dragon lengths, the winner is declared!”
Sharrah enjoyed the sound the crowd made when they figured out she crossed the finish line ahead of King Grayscon. He and the mantai rider had come back around to the finish area. The look on her grandfather’s face when he pulled off his wicked helmet was one of sheer rage.
“I give you the undisputed victor of the first ever Sky Island Reverse!” The announcer said into the hushed shock of them all. “The mighty storm dragon Azure, ridden by Sharrah Che Skyborn, recent chalice winner, granddaughter of King Grayscon, and now official Sky Island champion.”
A lot of people booed and hissed. But enough of them were cheering for her, she was surprised. She savored the feeling of victory, and somehow managed to avoid being intimidated or otherwise affected by her grandfather’s evil glare. The eyes under his mask didn’t glow, but they were an opaque, icy blue color. They bored into her just before he and his dragon flashed away from the sky with a dramatic, static pop.
She was surrounded by all sorts of flying creatures then, some on hovering contraptions, some riding other creatures, and some with wings of their own. She was asked so many questions at once that she tried to ignore them all. Then a voice that was deep and confident, drown out the others.
“Is it true,” a mantai asked. He was hovering on colorful wings and had a notebook he was scribbling in. “Are you the queen of the abandoned gnomari’s returned?”
“Are you the daughter of Dianna of the South? Niece of Sadie Grayscon and Queen Maralee?” These questions came from a green skinned goblin in a tuxedo who was standing on a platform no bigger than the kitchen table back at the estate. Small wires ran up from each corner and Sharrah followed them to a neck breaking height. He was on a board dangling a hundred feet down from a balloon, of all things.
“I am the daughter of Dianna Che.” Sharrah searched the sky for her grandfather. “Dianna Che Grayscon.”
She only wanted to collect Sizzle and get away from all this madness. The last thing she wanted was to be entangled in it deeper. She still had to win the real Sky Island contest. “I know nothing of being a queen,” she responded and tried to shed the paparazzi.
It was no use, they were persistent. After she refused to answer about her family, they tried questions she had answers for. Like her age, and where she grew up.
She didn’t know what they meant about Aunt Sadie, and Queen Maralee? One called her mother Dianna of the South. Could it be? Was Queen Bria also her aunt? An aunt who didn’t hate King Grayscon, or think of him as an enemy? That meant Princess Kaylynn was her cousin? It also meant there were three other gnomari’s out there.
Chapter Twenty – Four
Not until a shimmering appeared and the very gods called her name did those asking her questions part and give Sharrah space. Everything around her faded, even her dragon, until she was no longer riding him, but instead standing there in an empty plane of white. It was like being in a terrible winter storm, only there was no wind or snow to accompany the intense whiteout sensation.
She saw them, then. Three shadows surrounded by light, all easing toward her. Chance, Fortune, and Despair had her trembling and her skin prickled like gooseflesh.
“Poor poor Sharrah,” one of them said. The voice was both feminine and masculine at the same time. “You still can’t save them both, can you?”
“Do not taunt her, Despair. You’ve not lost today,” a decidedly more masculine voice came from another of the gods. It had to be Fortune, for everyone knew Chance, was a lady’s luck. “You’ve proven yourself worthy again and again, Sharrah.”
“Yes, she has,” added Chance, her wispy voice sweet and intoxicating. “Come. Shed those clothes and take your prize.”
Sharrah was helpless to stop her father’s coat from sliding away and her plated top being unfastened by invisible hands. Her underclothes were skimpy, to be generous, and when her belt unclasped and her racing pants slid off, she found she was embarrassed, but not nearly as cold as she should have been.
When she looked down she saw she was now wearing strange, tight fitting pants with stiffer sections over the more vulnerable areas, where plates would be in heavier armor. The fabric was stretchy when she moved, yet it seemed thick and protective over her skin. She felt her breasts compress against her chest and saw that the top she now wore was the same; light and comfortable, yet thick and very protective feeling.
The outfit was mostly the same shade of blue as Azure’s scales, but had traces of red symbols, scrollwork, and tiny lightning bolts chased along the cuffs and collar. When her clothes slid back over the stuff, she barely noticed it was on.
“This will protect you just as well as his armor protects him,” Fortune said. “Wear it well.”
“Thank you,” Sharrah replied. But she wasn’t standing before them anymore. She already felt Azure under her legs again.
“We will see you soon enough,” Chance added in a fading whisper. “Go claim your purse and your friend.”
After the whiteness faded back into to normalcy, Sharrah noticed Azure’s saddle had been worked with the same strange patterns of lightning and symbols that were embroidered into the new armor under her clothes.
“Are you going to go claim your purse and your friend?” a serious looking dwarf said from one of the platforms.
Sharrah nodded and found where he was pointing.
Several crafts and creatures were gathered near the starting pyre. The mantai and his green wyrm were there, too. Several other dragon racers who didn’t contend, hovered nearby on their mounts. Sharrah eased Azure over and they all parted to let her through.
There was a great platform dangling from a huge blimp. On the deck there was enough gold to fill a wagon, and scattered amongst the coins and bars were red, green, and icy clear jewels. Some were bigger than a man’s thumb. Sharrah couldn’t believe it. She was glad Cholt and Liaka, as well as a dozen of Queen Vydak’s guards were there on the platform with Vun Wagna watching over Meifeng while she signed the documents to have it all hauled safely to a vault.
Sharrah only wanted Sizzle, and she wasn’t disappointed, at least not in the timeliness of her grandfather paying his loss. The King of the Spoils appeared in a cloud of sparkles and smoke, like her father often had, like she supposed she could do too, if she practiced that spell enough.
Though he was still wearing his riding armor, he wasn’t on dragon back. He was sitting comfortably in a throne. Four Icari hovered around him, each holding a corner of the litter. Four more Icari, these wearing armor showing Grayscon’s spread winged dragon, were spread protectively around their liege.
King Grayscon leaned forward in his seat and flicked his hand toward the platform with a snarl. A box shaped glow was accompanied by a loud whooshing hiss. Then a cage formed through the illumination onto the platform.
Sizzle was behind the bars and he was emaciated. He looked as if he hadn’t been fed since he’d been taken. Cholt was at the cage door instantly checking the gimp winged wyrm more closely. Sharrah was relieved beyond measure when he looked up and nodded.
“You cruel bastard,” she cursed at her grandfather. “Did you not even feed him?”
“I offered him meat, but he refused it,” King Grayscon snarled back at her. “The other did not refuse.” He leaned forward, like he might stand, but ended up with his elbows on his knees. Those nearer to him cringed away, some more casually than others. “You are crafty, girl. I’ll give you that, but you’ll not beat me with tricks when we race again.”
“I want his brother back,” Sharrah snapped. “I shouldn’t have to beat you again to get him, either. You stole them.”
“They are dragons, girl. You either possess a dragon or you don’t. One cannot be stolen. Are you mad?” He scoffed disdainfully. “You must be, if you think poisoning me will be so easy.”
She cocked her head, surprised he revealed he already knew that part of her plan. Her idea to feed the spies specific information must be working.
“Won’t it?” Meifeng asked from the nearby deck. Unexpectedly she put a blow tube to her lips, puffed her cheeks, and blasted a dart at him.
Sharrah reached into her father’s coat and put her hand on the tube she’d been carrying there. It was only loaded with a practice dart though, not one of Aunt Maralee’s Wish Stealers. She admired her mentor’s spunk, but it was no surprise when Meifeng’s shot bounced away an arm’s length before it struck him.
Quickly, she urged Azure to take up a position between him and her, so he couldn’t retaliate.
He didn’t lash out, but laughed instead. “Cheating to win races? Poisoned Mog darts? Didn’t your mother teach you any better?” His voice was condescending, chastising even. “This is ridiculous at best. I will flay that little red’s scales right from its hide--”
“I want the other yearling unharmed, Grandfather!” Sharrah snapped. Her use of their relation gave him pause, as she’d intended. “Your daughter Maralee wanted me to tell you she does not miss you at all. And my mother proved that she would have rather died than reach out. You truly are rotten to your core.”
“That is no way to get your other dragon back, girl.” He seemed disappointed now. “You need to work on your tact.”
“Tact? I will beat you when we race again,” Sharrah was so angry she was seething. “--and you will return Scorch unharmed when I do.”
“And what do I get if I beat you? Hmmm?” He shrugged. “You have absolutely nothing I desire.”
She didn’t know what to say, but he kept on talking and revealed to Sharrah some of what the strange seagull riding gnome, and the questioners had been talking about.
“There are the gnomari’s.” He grinned when everyone around them recoiled and grew quiet. “My ungrateful daughters left their people behind. They have been suffering since you were a handful of years old. Those subjects need food, work, and order. They need a purpose. If you lose, you will present Dianna, Sadiphine, and Maralee’s lands and subjects to me.” He put his arms across his chest smugly and stared at her. “That is what you must wager if you want to race for your pathetic yearling.”
“I know nothing of those lands. What right do I have to wager them away?”
“You are your mother’s heir,” he snorted. “The southern gnomari is already yours to rule. But Sadie and Maralee are still alive. I have no doubt they are still childless, for they were always too witchy for their own good.”
“Done,” she snapped, knowing Meifeng and Flame could track down Sadie, and Maralee was waiting at the estate.
His smile grew so wide, Sharrah thought she might have given him the moon, but the looks of the hundreds in earshot was one of absolute horror. Sharrah didn’t care how much she’d just wagered on a dragon race. The implications were mute. She wasn’t going to lose. It was as simple as that. “I hope you live long enough to compete,” she added.
“You and your infantile plan to ransom your antidote is pitiable,” he shook his head with disdain. “You can’t keep a secret from me. I know everything you are about.”
Sharrah was burning up with rage, but outwardly she kept her cool.
“Didn’t you hear? The Qilin showed itself on the Night of the Dead. Your time is coming to an end. You should ask yourself this question, old fool,” Sharrah sat back in Azure’s saddle and crossed her arms in much the same posture as he. “If you know everything I am about, as you are boasting here before us all, then why didn’t you know how I was planning to beat you by almost eight hundred lengths today? Or was it your plan to lose?”
Someone nearby laughed into the silence.
Sharrah continued. “The dwarf on the big green even knew my plan. He died for it. For all you know, you pathetic old coot, you’ve already been poisoned.” Sharrah laughed now. “It is you, held upright by naught but wishes and spells, who are pitiable. You’ve nothing of substance left inside. Nothing.”
The way his cheeks reddened and his anger boiled behind those icy blue eyes was satisfying. He seemed to swallow back the reality that he in fact, did not know everything she was about. It seemed to give him pause, but didn’t strip away a bit of his confidence.
“You’ll not be able to play spiral tricks next time, Sharrah.” A bit of his smugness eased back into his countenance as he continued. “I will beat you here. And after I do, I will turn those gnomes huddling in the abandoned lands into muck licking, weapon building slaves. Once the dwarves have Sadie and Maralee’s signatures our wager will be contracted.”
Before anyone could make a sound, he and his Icari disappeared.
Chapter Twenty - Five
Sharrah hated all the pomp and ceremony that followed the race too, but not nearly as badly as she wanted to. Part of her adored the attention and the glorious feeling of being a winner. Despite being showered in congratulations, gifts, and esteem, she was never happier than when she got back to the barn and was able to climb off of Azure and wrap her arms around Sizzle’s skinny neck.
Not long after King Grayscon left, Vun Wagna helped Cholt take the starving dragon, Sir Grady, and some of the others back to Rom, at the estate. Sharrah was required to stay until the official closing ceremony and all the rest of the hoopla was over. She enjoyed it all while wishing it would hurry along, and then finally she was able to heel Azure away from everyone and gather her thoughts.
Three things happened right after the race that stuck out in her mind. She lay against Flame’s warm scales back in the barn with Sizzle, stroking the now sated yearling’s scales, mulling them over.
The first was Princess Kaylynn’s comment, when she met Sharrah on the platform for the presentation of the Spoils of Victory.
“I am not my mother,” she’d whispered. “My mother is loyal to him. I am not.”
Sharrah wasn’t so sure about that. The gnomish princess didn’t say she wasn’t loyal to her mother. Like Sharrah, she was young enough that Grayscon’s wish to banish his opposition would not have affected her. She once saved Liaka’s face and healed Sharrah’s broken ribs too, so Sharrah didn’t say anything about Kaylynn not telling her there were three other gnomaris, or that they were cousins. Sharrah clearly remembered asking her the question about other gnomaries, and decided she absolutely did not trust her.
The second thing on her mind was Queen Vydak. The woman was queen of Maipan, one of the biggest human kingdoms in existence, and still she had to grovel like a hopper, and then pay a huge sum to be allowed onto the platform.
Sharrah had to remind herself Queen Vydak had little sway in Xuanpu. Here she was a small fish in a sea of secretive kingdoms and realms as diverse and powerful as they were amazing.
“As gratifying as it might have been seeing you put him in his place,” the Queen of Maipan clung to Sharrah’s sleeve once she gained her side. “He may try and retaliate in the real world.”
Sharrah understood what she meant, but nevertheless spoke her mind. “Xuanpu is real enough too, Majesty. How much did you win?”
The queen’s expression shifted to one of gratitude. Sharrah was shocked when she gave her a gracious head bow. “Maipan is eternally indebted to you, dear.” Queen Vydak gave a genuine smile. “My generals will be going over your drawings and suggestions to bolster our defenses, just as soon as I return. And I think a new detail will be added to your personal team. Now more than ever, you’ll need protection. Grayscon doesn’t like to lose, and there are already riots at the betting houses because many don’t think your victory is legitimate. It may not be only he who is out to get you now.”
_preview.jpg)
