Page 29

TWENTY-ONE

A sancter rifle filled the sky with lightning, and a firestorm shrouded the track.

Almost every phoenix tried to launch upward at once. Only half managed to navigate the slim breadth of sky between net and water. Others lost their footing and scrambled back from the water. Fearful screams polluted the air.

Five phoenixes remained at the starting line, watching the chaos unfold—including Coup. A moment later, the other riders guided their mounts into low crouches. Eventually, one by one, the other four darted through the empty patches of air and onto the track.

“Go! Go , Coup—hurry up!” Dira screamed through the comms.

“Shut up!” Coup grunted.

Kel could hear the strain in his words. It took every morsel of self-control not to add her own screams to the chaos.

A heartbeat later, Savita spread her great wings and darted into the sky.

She wove between awkward wings and tucked talons.

Her initial burst of speed wouldn’t last long; every race began with a straight stretch that lasted at least a few hundred meters, allowing for phoenixes’ initial takeoff.

“ Coup —five meters to the right, now!” Dira yelled.

Coup swerved just as a stream of water shot up like an underwater volcano, directly where he would have flown. Kel hadn’t even noticed the device bubbling below them. The water’s speed and pressure were enough to daze—even injure—any phoenix.

Kel’s heart pounded as Savita narrowly missed the jetting water. Instead, it collided with the phoenix to her left, jerking the creature skyward, its wings tangling with the overhead netting.

Dira let out a hard, relieved breath. “It’s hard to see the water from where you are—try to keep your focus on the track route. I’ll watch for any attacks.”

Together, Dira and Coup managed to guide Sav around the rapid fountains. Below swiping talons and above murky ripples, their phoenix found a faster, steadier pace. In minutes, Savita had ducked and soared past five, ten other phoenixes.

But this wasn’t a race of speed. Coup approached the tail feathers of another phoenix.

Their bodies would never fit side by side.

Savita gained speed and, under Dira’s direction, she slowly inched below the ginger phoenix.

Sav ducked her head to avoid the talons and skimmed the water’s surface, lower than the other phoenixes dared to go.

But it wasn’t the water jets they had to watch out for.

The phoenix above Savita finally noticed her approach. The creature released an earsplitting crow and lowered its head. Its black beak opened and moved too fast, not toward Savita—but Coup. As if to rip him from the saddle and swallow him whole.

“Get out of there!” Dira shouted. “Fall back— now !”

Kel clamped her fists around the rail as Savita slowed and fell back. Any slower, and Coup’s head would no longer be attached to his body. She heard Bekn exhale at her back.

Kel pressed a hand to her sternum, trying to slow her breath.

As if furious at letting prey escape, the other phoenix swung its body to the right, slamming hard into Savita’s side.

Savita screamed, swaying in the air. The collision wasn’t enough to knock her into the water, but she tumbled and spiraled, forcing Coup to clutch the saddle pommel as he was turned upside down, dangling from Savita’s back.

Kel held her breath. In the distance, softer, flickering flames seemed to stir to life along Savita’s neck. By the time Savita steadied herself, six other phoenixes had swarmed past, narrowly missing her wings.

The crowd roared with delight, a violent chorus begging for carnage. Every near-collision earned a low howl, every injury brought on a primal cheer.

The noise tinted Kel’s vision red. Though Savita was unharmed, Coup had probably borne the brunt of the attack. There was nothing she could do. Nothing—

“Coup,” Dira said stiffly. She swapped a quick glance with Rahn, then placed a hand against her ear.

“Listen to me. Lie against the saddle seat and keep your arms pressed to your sides. Don’t attack any phoenixes at the front of the pack—only let Savita lash out at the slower, smaller ones that the crowd doesn’t care about.

Even if the others attack you, stay low and stay fast. Savita isn’t the biggest, but she’s the fastest. Don’t hold back. ”

Don’t hold back.

Most saddles and leathers weren’t built for a phoenix’s full speed. Some riders were foolish enough to accelerate near a race’s end, where they could dismount before burning. Most tech couldn’t handle that kind of heat.

But Rahn’s designs were better than most. Dira wouldn’t risk Coup’s life if they weren’t.

Kel watched Coup shift beside the saddle pommel and lean low, arms tucked.

It was impossible to deny how well he moved with Savita, how quickly he adapted to the phoenix’s moods and sudden movements.

His muscles twitched a second after Savita’s, as if she guided him, rather than the other way around.

“Sav, get ready to break some records,” Coup howled.

Across the far side of the track, Savita gained speed. Her wings dipped low and the wind caused streams of water to rise into the air. Water jets attacked left and right, jets of near-black water chasing Savita a half-second too late, until one bubbling stream shot out toward her midsection.

The water collided with Savita’s stomach.

Sav rose as if yanked by a string. Coup jolted down against the saddle, then back up.

A phoenix to Sav’s left snapped its beak at her, sensing vulnerability.

Though Sav swerved haphazardly to avoid a clamp around her neck, the phoenix bit into Sav’s left wing and plucked a bloody cluster of feathers.

Sav shrieked and managed to pull away, tilting to swipe at the attacking phoenix with a talon.

Kel felt dizzy. She watched as Savita righted herself. Coup seemed uninjured, but she could barely see through the black spots crowding her vision.

“What’s going on? Is he hurt?” Bekn pleaded, eyes darting between Kel and Dira.

“Everything okay?” Dira shouted down the line.

Savita’s wings still failed to correct her jilted course. Though she’d escaped the other phoenix, one wrong stroke and her feathers would catch in the thick, leather netting overhead.

“We’re good!” Coup shouted back, giddiness clouding his voice.

Kel echoed his words to Bekn, and asked Coup, “How badly is Sav hurt?”

“ Ashes! ” Coup swore, swerving around a sandy phoenix to his left. “She’s fine, Varra. The bird barely took a few feathers, and a little splash won’t kill her.”

Kel ground her teeth, caging her retort. At least the black spots in her vision cleared.

Coup clung to the textured pommel as Savita flipped and spun around other phoenixes.

Some tried to stop her approach with claws and beaks—but this time, Coup and Dira anticipated it.

Kel watched him touch the sensitive patch of feathers at the base of Sav’s neck.

He stroked different feathers to warn her of attacks from behind, above, below. His movements were light, assured.

Slowly, they soared closer to the front of the pack.

The crowd crackled with energy, their shouts colliding like fireworks. Some cheered and others booed as Savita moved faster. Tiny flames began to lick at the tips of Savita’s feathers. This was as fast as they’d ever dared to fly with Rube’s leathers.

Coup stirred Savita faster still.

The phoenix didn’t need to be told twice. Savita cried out and blasted past two more firebirds.

Others swooped and swiped, but Savita stayed close to the water.

No other phoenixes were willing to fly so close to the murky depths.

From the way Coup’s gaze kept flickering to the phoenixes above him, Kel could tell he was itching to enter the fray, rather than stay low.

Instead, he listened to Dira with reluctant grumbles, anticipating her words almost before they echoed down the comms.

Though Savita was fast, nimble, even she couldn’t avoid every water jet. Dira kept Sav from any direct hits, but occasional jets clipped her wings or slowed her pace. Yet there was never any fear in Savita’s movements. With every drop of water that dared touch her, she seemed to grow more stubborn.

The small sparks licking at Savita’s sides climbed higher. She flew faster and faster until she disappeared behind growing flames and fearless screams.

“Only two more phoenixes ahead of you,” Dira murmured to Coup. “They’ve been competing against each other for years, so hopefully there’s enough rivalry there to keep them distracted.”

The two competing phoenixes were side by side, swooping at each other as they raced toward the finish line, too distracted to notice Coup approaching from below.

The smaller creature screamed as the larger phoenix managed to drag a claw against its side.

Even from a distance, Kel spotted a thin trail of blood streaming down—directly onto Coup and Sav.

Kel’s nails dug into her palms. Too many emotions flurried inside her, unfamiliar and beyond her control.

The larger phoenix finally noticed Coup and Savita soaring beneath them. It swung out with sword-sharp talons; a wild, imprecise attack.

“Fall back a little,” Dira instructed. “Third place will still make Cristo happy. It’s not worth risking overhead attacks you can’t defend yourself against.”

Coup grunted. Kel didn’t know if it was a sound of agreement or disagreement. A moment later, Savita fell back, just a few meters, and the spring in Kel’s chest eased.

Sirens wailed, signaling the last lap. Coup traced new instructions into Sav’s neck feathers, drawing shapes to communicate flight patterns. Savita dashed to the left. The larger, maroon phoenix lashed out with wild talons again, catching the empty air just above Coup’s head.

Coup swerved back to the right, where the smaller phoenix lashed out in turn. Savita was far enough away from the talons, but one mistimed swerve and they would slice through Coup’s skull.

From Dira’s right, Bekn fidgeted, shifting his weight. “Remind my brother that he promised zero recklessness.”

Dira echoed Bekn’s words down her comm. Coup answered with a breathy laugh, swerving left again. “It’s only reckless if we don’t win.”

Too late, Kel realized what he was doing. Both phoenixes lashed out at him with feeble swipes. Their distracted attacks allowed Coup to sneak farther ahead, which, in turn, meant that the attacks grew more erratic, causing them to slice at each other rather than Coup below.

Back and forth, Coup wove beneath the two. Between jets of water, around swiping talons, distracting the other phoenixes just enough for them to mistime the next water fountain ahead. Savita’s flames grew with every swerve, high enough to blur Coup’s shape.

Just a few meters from the finish line, the two phoenixes crashed together as they swooped at Coup. Their gleaming talons knotted as a water jet erupted beneath them. As Coup swerved around the bubbling jet, the phoenixes crashed into the water, sending a rush of water into the crowd.

Kel’s heart thumped as Savita and Coup soared across the finish line, seizing first place.

Giddy screams and disbelieving laughter echoed down their comms, overlapping and cresting like waves.

Bekn stood apart from the celebrations, arms folded.

Kel ignored his concern. She ignored the beeping in her pocket, notifying her of Sav’s heat.

She ignored everything but the euphoria coursing through her, like a fire through a dry forest, a bird from a cage, a phoenix through the sky.