Page 36

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

The Rinaldi Box

‘It is a BEE-YOOTIFUL day here at the Trollosseum and we’re looking at a stadium packed to the gills with dragonsport fans. Give us a cheer, folks! What a thrill to be here for the first day back at the Winter Trials after a well-deserved break for these talented athletes. I’ve got a spring in my step today, Eddie, and I bet you can guess why.’

‘I daresay I can, Tofty! I’m bouncing right along with you for the much-anticipated return of our favourite Southwark Valley Luminescent, Alights on the Water Like a Seabird. Of course, even in her absence, Alights has loomed large all season long.’

‘That’s right, Eddie. Right now, she’s still sitting comfortably at the top of the leaderboard in accordance with Free State Dragonriding Association rules, which state that a dragon in mourning may be granted a short grace period and their ranking frozen according to their average lifetime scores. Some have questioned whether eight weeks is a slightly generous interpretation of the rule—’

‘But we won’t dwell on that controversial topic, Tofty, ha-ha! To say there’s a lot of expectation surrounding this dragon’s triumphant return to the arena would be an understatement.’

‘Understatement of the century, Eddie! But the question on everyone’s lips is, who will be stepping up to take Dario Rinaldi’s saddle and ride Alights on the Water to her almost assured victory?’

‘The Rinaldi Stables have been very tight-lipped about their selection process. And while of course nothing’s final until a partnership is officially registered, we can now confirm the conditionally appointed rider is … the phenomenal Didi Gundry!’

‘What a turn-up for the books! A name we haven’t heard announced in this stadium for a few years now, but judging by that roar of approval from the crowd, Eddie, it’s certainly a name folks are happy to hear again!’

‘Tofty, if anything was going to tempt Gundry the Great out of retirement after winning every trophy, ribbon and cup it’s possible to win, the chance to ride a dragon like Alights on the Water would surely do the trick. The Rinaldi Stables have played an absolute blinder with this partnership. Dario the Shooting Stario would be proud.’

‘He certainly would, Eddie! If only he were here to see it.’

‘I think this might be the greatest day of my life.’ Hawthorne’s voice was slightly muffled by the floor-to-ceiling glass he’d pressed his nose against, looking out over the packed Trollosseum below. ‘I’m about to watch THE Gundry the Great, flying THE Alights on the Water Like a Seabird … and I have THE best view in the house. I can officially die happy.’

‘You do know somebody has to clean that window after you’ve drooled all over it?’ asked Cadence. Hawthorne hastily wiped the glass with his sleeve.

The Rinaldis had invited the Darlings to watch Alights on the Water ’s first event of the Winter Trials from their private box at the top of the stadium, and Morrigan was permitted to bring her friends along.

The Rinaldi box was a large, bright, luxuriously appointed room at the top of the stadium, filled mostly with industry people in suits drinking champagne and occasionally booming with laughter at their own jokes. There were a few sweaty athletes in riding leathers with their coaches, plus the Darling and Rinaldi families, Sunny Ghoshal and his parents, and several wait staff in bowties coming in and out to serve drinks and replenish an extravagant buffet table. Most people milled about the room chatting, but Morrigan, Hawthorne and Cadence had claimed three empty seats right at the front viewing panel.

Hawthorne had been positively giddy with excitement from the moment they’d arrived, acting as Morrigan and Cadence’s dragonsport tour guide and pointing out all the important riders, owners, coaches and sponsors in the room. Now the flying had begun, however, he zoomed in with laser-focus on the arena and the girls knew they’d lost him for the rest of the afternoon.

Naturally, they fell to discussing murder.

‘We were at Vikram Ghoshal’s ninetieth birthday party last week,’ Morrigan whispered to Cadence, watching Sunny re-enter the box and make a beeline for the empty seat between Vesta Rinaldi and Aunt Modestine. (He’d only left Modestine’s side because Vincenzo Rinaldi had insisted on giving him and Tobias a back-of-house tour of the Trollosseum.) ‘Sunny gave a big speech about his grandfather, and it made me remember something from the wedding. When I was sitting in the gazebo, after I left the boathouse, there was an announcement over the loudspeaker in the Glade, telling everyone where to go for the midnight surprise. And it was Sunny’s voice!’

Cadence looked confused. ‘So?’

‘So that’s why he left the cake-cutting halfway through. The cake was in the ice sculpture gallery – remember the frozen swans and dragons in the background? – which means he had to go to the Pavilion in the middle of the Glade, where the microphone was set up. He didn’t have time to leave the Glade, kill Dario, launch his body in the boat and then run back to make an announcement. He can’t be the murderer!’

Morrigan felt quite proud of herself for having figured that out, and she would have liked a moment of stunned appreciation from her friends. But Hawthorne was fixated on a Skylie Isle Blueblood currently soaring above the stands, and Cadence gave a wistful sigh, looking almost disappointed.

‘Shame, he had such a good motive. What about your aunt and uncle, have you questioned them yet?’

‘No,’ Morrigan admitted feebly, feeling her face colour. ‘I don’t know how ! It’s so awkward, asking people to prove where they were when someone was killed.’

Cadence made a strangled, exasperated sound. ‘Yes, it is quite awkward investigating a murder. Almost as awkward as potentially living with a murderer .’ She shook her head, then suddenly snapped to attention as she spotted something over Morrigan’s shoulder. ‘Right. Here’s your chance. The Humble Tradesman has landed.’

‘What—? Oh.’ Morrigan turned to see Uncle Tobias return from his tour and head for the buffet, where he began filling a plate. ‘Why don’t you ask him? You’re better at this stuff than I am.’

‘You’re never going to get better if you don’t try,’ Cadence insisted.

‘He looks busy, I should wait until – okay fine, ow. ’

Cadence had grabbed Morrigan’s elbow and was suddenly marching her over to the table. She nudged her forward, hovering a few feet away.

‘H-hello … er, Uncle Tobias,’ Morrigan said, trying to sound like a normal person who wasn’t there to interrogate him about a murder. She picked up a plate. ‘The food looks nice, doesn’t it?’

‘Very nice! Much fancier than my usual stadium fare,’ he said, slathering some greyish, unidentifiable gloop on a cracker. ‘I’m more of a meat-pie-and-a-pint man myself.’

‘Right.’ Morrigan gave a nervous chuckle and glanced over at Cadence, who widened her eyes and mouthed the word cake . ‘I’m a cake woman. Cake lady. Cake, er, girl.’ (Cadence sighed and covered her eyes.) ‘I mean … I just really like cake, do you … like cake?’

Tobias laughed. ‘You’ve seen me make a fool of myself at afternoon tea, Morrigan. I think you know the answer to that.’ He reached furtively across the table and took two buttercream-swirled cupcakes with sprinkles, dropping one onto her plate with a wink, and turned to go. Morrigan felt a pinch on her arm and suppressed the urge to yelp.

‘The wedding cake was nice, wasn’t it?’ she blurted out, feeling ridiculous.

‘Sorry?’

‘The wedding cake,’ Morrigan pushed valiantly onwards, ignoring the wrinkle of polite confusion between Tobias’s eyes. ‘At Modestine’s wedding. Remember when they … when the cake was cut? And we all … ate the cake? What was the, um, flavour? I can’t remember …’

‘Oh!’ Tobias sounded flummoxed. His expression turned thoughtful, as though Morrigan’s bizarre attempt at conversation was worth careful, considered attention. ‘Do you know, I don’t think I had any. How did I miss that? Must have been when I popped out.’

‘Popped out?’

‘Mmm, to check on Lady Darling. Your poor aunt was in a tizz trying to round everyone up to cut that cake. It was meant to be the wretched wedding planner’s job, but of course he’d abandoned his post by then – and I suppose now we all know why. Anyway, she’d been fretting about her mother feeling poorly all night, so I volunteered for son-in-law duties. No wedding cake for me!’ He gave a good-natured shrug and then, glancing back at the plate of cupcakes, he reached for another. ‘I suppose that justifies a second one of these, doesn’t it?’

As he wandered off to find a seat, Morrigan felt a sympathetic pat on her shoulder, and heard Cadence murmur in her ear.

‘Congratulations, that was the most humiliating thing I’ve ever witnessed.’

But there was more vicarious humiliation to be had that day, when Alights on the Water finally took to the sky.

‘Yikes, lost a bit of momentum on that spin … but she’s back on track with a Haversham Long Portal, nicely done. Picking up speed rapidly now, ascending above the stands … We know Gundry favours a steep-dive/low-glide combo, Eddie. Her surprising mutation of the Fort Lamentation Quick-Drop and the O’Sullivan Whirling Slide, of course, won her the cup back in Summer of Two and – OOOOH, THAT LOOKED PAINFUL!’

Morrigan, Cadence and Hawthorne winced in unison as Alights flipped onto her back and Gundry lost her seat in midair. One hand was firmly wrapped in the leather reins, so she didn’t plummet to the ground, at least. But it meant a hard, bouncing jolt that looked like it might have dislocated her shoulder.

The dragon turned over again immediately, and Gundry landed back on the saddle, trying to adjust her position using only her left arm, while cradling the right awkwardly at her side. Morrigan fully expected her to land the dragon and call it a day, but Gundry grimaced through the pain and went seamlessly into her next move.

‘Now THAT is what I call grit, Eddie!’

‘Impressive stuff there from the champ, but losing her seat will mean dropping a few points, Tofty.’

‘We’re seeing her drop right now, Eddie! Gundry is angling dangerously low to the stands, not what we’ve come to expect from— Are they going to— PULL UP, PULL UP !’

There was a loud THUD followed by an awful scratching, scrambling sound as Alights on the Water seemed to misjudge the height of the Trollosseum roof, smashing into it with her back talons and almost sliding down into the tiered seating below. Spectators underneath them screamed and ducked, some trying to climb over the seats in front to get out of the way.

But Gundry and Alights managed to correct course at the last second, the dragon’s vast golden wings flapping like great sails as they climbed higher into the air and regained their balance to soar in a wide circle above the arena.

‘Gundry’s bombing this,’ said Hawthorne. ‘How is it even possible to bomb so badly on a dragon like Alights on the Water ?’

‘Looks to me like it’s the dragon who’s bombing it,’ said Cadence.

Morrigan thought she had a point. The dragon was dipping badly and shaking her head occasionally, like a dog just out of a bath. None of that seemed like the rider’s fault.

There was a sudden loud groan of disappointment from everyone in the Rinaldi box as Alights on the Water clipped the edge of the judges’ stand with her wing. Gundry was jolted in her saddle and cried out, clutching her right shoulder.

‘Oh! She’s in pain, the poor thing!’ said Aunt Margot. ‘Cosimo, shouldn’t the referees end the flight?’

‘Doesn’t work like that,’ Cosimo grunted. He stood close to the glass, tapping his leg nervously, his gaze never leaving Gundry and Alights . ‘It’s up to the rider. And the dragon.’

‘She really ought to land and call it a day, old boy,’ Tobias said in a tone of mild disapproval, putting a comforting arm around his wife. ‘Dropping a few places on the leaderboard surely isn’t as important as—’

‘WHAT IS GOING ON HERE, EDDIE?!’

There were screams from the stadium as Alights began losing height fast, spinning towards the stands. Didi Gundry stood on her saddle and launched herself at the dragon’s massive head, screaming in pain as she landed, but snaking one hand around the thick scaly neck and under the enormous jaw.

‘NO!’ shouted Cosimo and Vincenzo Rinaldi in unison. Morrigan heard a sharp intake of breath from Hawthorne.

‘Gundry’s forcing the fire mechanism,’ he quietly explained to her and Cadence, watching the scene through his fingers.

‘But they’re so close to the stands, what if it burns—’

‘She’s trying to trigger Alights, to wake her up – look, her eyes are half closed, she’s blacking out!’

The audience ducked as a great plume of fire erupted from the dragon’s mouth, and the golden eyes shot open. Alights automatically beat her vast leathery wings once, twice, three times – enough for Gundry to steer her up and away from the stands, seconds before she would have crushed dozens of people – before tilting helplessly back towards the middle of the arena and coming in for the roughest landing Morrigan had ever seen.

The rider tumbled to the ground, rolling over and over, but staggered to her feet almost instantly. Face contorted in pain, she ran straight back to the dragon , holding up her left hand in a calming, appeasing motion. But Alights didn’t need calming; she sat on her haunches, swaying gently, looking confused and exhausted.

‘What a bizarre turn of events, Eddie, and a heartbreaking return to competition for a dragon who is obviously still very deep in mourning—’

A cry of dismay rose up from the crowd outside, while inside the Rinaldi box there were bellows of rage from Cosimo and Vincenzo, and a heartrending sob from Vesta, thumping her small fists on the glass. Morrigan watched in horror as half a dozen grey-uniformed figures ran into the centre of the Trollosseum, surrounded Alights on the Water, raised heavy black weapons onto their shoulders and took aim.

‘ COSIMO, MAKE THEM STOP! ’ shouted Vesta, as her older brother ran from the room, knocking over a table full of champagne glasses with a great CRASH .

But it was too late; six enormous darts were shot into the dragon’s thick hide, and five seconds later she’d hit the ground with a sound like a felled oak tree. Vincenzo and Vesta fled the room, following Cosimo.

‘Did they kill her ?’ Morrigan asked in a whisper, feeling as if she might be sick.

But Hawthorne shook his head, swallowing. ‘She’s just sedated … but that was a dangerous amount of sedative for a dragon her size. Idiots! ’

Gundry seemed to agree. She stormed across the arena and, despite her injured arm, began signing furiously to the confounded shooters and referees, while her equally furious coach interpreted. Moments later Cosimo joined them, red-faced and shouting.

‘Wish we’d brought Mahir,’ said Cadence.

‘I don’t need Mahir to know what she’s telling them,’ Hawthorne said through gritted teeth. ‘Because I’d be telling them the same thing: that they’re a bunch of dangerous, know-nothing morons. What are they playing at, sedating Alights when she was already under control? They’d landed , for goodness’ sake!’

‘Why did they do it?’ asked Morrigan.

Hawthorne scowled. ‘FSDA regulations. Any dragon who displays aggression towards spectators must be made to land immediately, and if they ignite with intent they’re tranquilised. But she wasn’t being aggressive! And she didn’t ignite with intent – Gundry triggered ignition. She had no choice! The FSDA refs are a bunch of—’

Fortunately, his questionable language was drowned out, as a bullhorn sounded to signal the judging. All eyes in the Trollosseum turned towards the leaderboard.

The mood inside the Rinaldi box was already tense, but any speck of hope was snuffed out like a candle as Alights on the Water dropped from first place, to second, to third, and downdowndowndowndown before dropping off the board altogether.