Page 43

THIRTY-THREE

K el gripped Savita’s reins tight, leather gloves cutting into her palms.

“All right, Sav,” she whispered. “Let’s get through this as quickly as possible.”

Savita shifted between her feet and grumbled.

Kel squeezed her thighs around the saddle, still adjusting to the feel of it.

It was so much more textured than the worn one she’d owned.

She’d trained atop Sav as much as she could over the past few days, readjusting to her racing habits, adjusting to Rahn’s improved gear.

But nothing could prepare her for what it was like to sit atop Savita at the starting line, surrounded by the phoenix sounds and metallic smells of the starting line.

She was flanked by two blood phoenixes, their riders sitting several meters higher than her.

They tossed quick glances her way, expressions guarded behind helmets, goggles and leather masks.

The world was tinted from behind her own tempered glass goggles.

Though Savita’s heated feathers were sharper, her flames didn’t make Kel’s eyes sting.

The sun’s glare didn’t faze her. The track ahead—a trampled path that veered around a corner too quickly—was muted, its brighter shades of green turned a darker hue.

“How’s everything, Kel?” Dira’s voice rang through Kel’s ear-comm. “Anything I need to keep an eye on?”

Kel took a deep breath, trying to loosen her throat. She knew her team was standing in their booth behind her. But she couldn’t bring herself to look back.

Whatever she might have replied with, she didn’t get a chance. From somewhere overhead, behind the towering stands, a sancter rifle fired.

Lightning filled the sky, and the race began.

Savita bent her great legs and spread her wings.

Kel barely had to instruct her to fly; Savita knew what the sounds and sights meant—knew she had to shoot forward as fast as possible.

She thrust her wings toward the ground and launched into the sky, higher than the larger blood phoenixes at her sides.

Kel fell back in the saddle as Savita climbed, the sudden movement winding her.

Pain lanced through her hips at the sudden jolt, her back colliding with the saddle seat.

Tensing her core as Savita leveled out in the clear sky, Kel swapped her grip on the harness for the saddle pommel, keeping low and steady.

“Tamer,” Coup called through the comm. “Talk to me. What’s happening?”

Savita cried out, a primal sound that made Kel’s ears ring. Kel gripped the saddle pommel tighter and forced herself to take a steadier breath as wind whipped against her face.

“We’re all right,” Kel managed. “Just—adjusting.”

Kel traced a line up Sav’s neck with two fingers, instructing her to dip as they approached the edge of the clearing, where the forest grew denser.

Wild red flames climbed to her right, clouding her peripherals.

She remained steady, gaze ahead, knowing that even though they couldn’t see the track Dira would be able to guide her through her helmet’s camera. She trusted her team.

Another phoenix cried from Savita’s left, falling back as they blazed through the first line of trees. The roaring of the crowd dulled, replaced by crackling flames and wild shrieks and branches breaking. Sweat began to bead along Kel’s arms, the forest’s muggy heat already cocooning her.

Kel thought they were in the first handful of phoenixes to reach the forest’s edge, but she couldn’t be sure. The cleared track through Vohre Forest was barely wide enough to fit two phoenixes, let alone the twenty in today’s race.

She guided Sav around the first bend in the track.

Even prepared, she barely held on to the saddle pommel as Sav tilted to the right.

Sav’s wings brushed loose branches that whacked Kel across the cheek.

As the canopy grew thicker, sunlight winked out like a candle flame.

Red, orange and yellow foliage surrounded them, like an endless Sheathing Season, the perfect camouflage for wild phoenixes.

Thorned leaves the length of Kel’s torso brushed against Savita’s wings.

Instead of withering and retreating from Sav’s heat, Kel swore the vines and branches reached closer.

“Why can’t she just fly over the forest?” Rahn asked through their comms. “Avoid the track altogether.”

“We’d have no clue where the finish line is,” Dira’s scratchy voice answered.

“Shut it,” Kel grunted, voice muffled through the leather bandanna over the bottom half of her face. How did Coup breathe through this thing? It was twice as thick as the last mask she’d raced in.

Mustard flames flashed to Kel’s left. She had barely turned her head when talons appeared through the blaze, lashing out toward her. Savita instinctively veered away from the pending attack as Kel yelped. She jerked violently in the saddle.

Kel’s forearm cramped as she brushed a slanted line along Sav’s neck, instructing her to shift higher among the towering foliage so no one could attack from above.

Savita followed Kel’s instructions—but not before lashing out in return, swerving to spear her beak at the yellow phoenix. Sav caught a mouthful of yellow feathers in her maw, yanking them back before climbing higher.

The yellow phoenix cried out in pain and fell back.

“What the hell, Sav?” Kel muttered, making a mental note to be firmer in her instructions.

Savita released a deep, triumphant crow.

Crimson dripped down her beak. Arms already aching from holding on to the pommel, Kel straightened Sav’s path, keeping her phoenix focused on the path ahead instead of any other attackers.

She adjusted her legs, shifting forward in the saddle to a more comfortable position.

“Come on, Varra,” Coup barked. “Just let your phoenix do her thing. Focus on the track ahead.”

“Don’t anticipate the phoenixes,” Dira added. “Let Sav guide you for now.”

Kel held fast to Savita’s saddle pommel, wishing she could spare a hand to mute her ear-comm.

She managed the next turn perfectly, though the path soon became less clear.

Thin trees dotted the open track. Kel swerved around two before Sav’s left wing caught on the third.

They hadn’t collided hard enough to slow, but two yellow feathers shot into the air, yanked free.

Sav continued blazing on, seemingly indifferent to the collision. Kel huffed out a hard breath.

They’d just survived another turn when a phoenix crowed from somewhere nearby. Kel whipped her head around, frantically searching. What if it was a wild phoenix?

The distraction caused them to slow, just a fraction, and another phoenix soared ahead.

“You’re faster than that, Kel!” Dira shouted. “Let Sav enjoy herself at least a little.”

“The gear should do most of the work for you,” Rahn added. “Just keep Savita along a straight path and she’ll know what to do.”

Kel grunted, realizing she owed Coup an apology. She didn’t remember the comms being such a frustrating distraction the last time she’d raced.

“Remember how badly you didn’t want me to race, minutes ago?” Kel yelled.

Her teammates fell blissfully silent.

Savita pinned her wings and shot between two trees as thick as her body. She heard the rustle of other phoenixes weaving through other ancient trees, leaving smoking trails that drifted above the canopy.

“Stay low beneath the tree line. I know it’s dense—but it’s better than wild phoenixes spotting you,” Dira called.

Kel bit back an argument. The thick, tangled greenery had barely been thinned for the race. If not for blinking lights along the path’s railing, Kel would lose sight of the track in a heartbeat.

A flaxen-yellow phoenix swerved toward Kel, vying for the same narrow path that Savita traced. Sav snapped, flexing her wings.

Kel pressed a hand over the bandanna covering the bottom half of her face, wiping away sweat.

The forest’s heat had already drenched Kel in a heavy sheen and Savita was growing hotter beneath her.

She trusted that Coup would alert her if her phoenix grew too hot.

But even with riding leathers and a thick saddle between them, Savita’s feathers were already near-scalding.

Forked, anxious sparks flickered down her back.

They raced deeper into the forest, weaving past blurred groves of carnivorous flowers and onyx shrubs that hissed as they passed. The foliage was too dense to see where they were placing, but Kel didn’t waste her breath asking Dira through the comms and risking more unwanted commentary.

The path before them cleared, just a little, and Savita spread her wings to their full width. The other phoenixes blazing around them finally came into view, and Savita nipped at the feathered tail of a coral-red phoenix, who shrieked but didn’t have the space to turn back.

Distracted by Savita’s open maw, Kel didn’t see what lay in front of them until a phoenix ahead collided with the ground.

Savita lifted her wings as Kel yanked on her harness. They barely slowed in time to avoid the phoenix ahead, bellowing and raging, crawling along the dirt. The greenery receded enough that she could see more than a few meters in front of her for the first time since beginning the race.

“Kel… what… that?”

Muffled voices echoed through Kel’s comm.

She wasn’t surprised that the forest’s density messed with the signal.

She wondered if her helmet’s camera was distorted too, or if they could see what she saw: a blockade of ancient trees across the track.

That must have been what the phoenix had collided with.

Kel quickly guided Savita to land in front of the pile of trees.

Four other phoenixes and their riders did the same, while the injured phoenix and its rider stayed back.

Three riders unbuckled themselves and dismounted to get closer to the strange barrier.

The trees hadn’t been fully cut down, only enough for them to tilt toward each other, blocking the path while still as tall as the rest of the forest. The silver railing wilted down toward the ground, crushed beneath fallen logs.

Kel swapped a bewildered look with the nearest rider. Had CAPR done this, as an obstacle? There was no way around the great wall of trees. Not unless they flew overhead—but the trees were crowded together tightly enough that it would be near-impossible for Savita to break through the foliage.

They were trapped.

Kel squinted through the shadows around them. The trees had been intentionally hacked; sharp grooves cut into dozens of them. Were they meant to just turn back, or find a way around?

The other riders posed her questions aloud, swapping frustrated shouts and curses as movement flashed through the dim forestry. Kel led Sav to the edge of the cleared path, tilting her head toward the movement she’d seen.

Red and orange flashed through the darkness and melted into a strange sunrise. She’d never seen such vivid colors, even when Savita’s temperature climbed.

Savita flailed her wings, and Kel was wrenched back, her tailbone hitting the saddle cantle. The skin on her thighs stretched taut and she bit down on a whimper.

“ Quiet ,” Kel hissed at the other riders.

“What? Did you find something?” a rider asked, nudging their phoenix closer.

Kel raised a trembling hand, silently begging them to stay quiet. They must have understood. A moment later, the clearing fell into a hush.

The only sounds came from around them. Low, grumbling murmurs and claws against stone. The colors moved closer, looming taller.

To the left of the barricade, a dawn of uncollared, wild phoenixes approached the clearing.