Celestia
Chapter fifteen
Sweating and panting even before the race began, Ana sprinted to the gate of the Racing House, ticket in hand. Her riding dress swished, and the scarf over her face threatened to come undone. Flecks of rain splashed her eyes, promising a difficult ride.
“My ticket.” Ana slammed the piece on the ticket master’s counter.
“You’re missing the stub,” the ticket master said.
To Ana’s horror, the small piece at the end had ripped off in her rush, and now she was stuck with an incomplete piece of paper. “Please,” she begged. Quick tears sprang to her eyes.
“Rules are rules. Next.” The ticket master looked beyond her as if someone else had also arrived late.
She reached for the button on the side of her riding hood so that the ticket master might see her sorrow and give her pity.
“Here are two tickets,” a man behind her said. “One for me and the young lady.”
Ana spun around to find the young male rider she’d run into earlier. He was alone, wearing the same yellow face covering and black attire that matched his dragon as before.
The young man’s eyes squinted ever so slightly as if he were smiling.
In the dark shadows, she could imagine Federico’s crooked smile on the bottom half of the man’s face with his small birthmark over the curve of his upper lip.
Her imagination grew wild from having danced with her old friend not but an hour ago.
She tapped her fingers over her heart to stop the tumult storming inside as she made her way through the torchlit passages to the dragon stalls. The young man strode in step with her until they both arrived at their opposing stalls.
He dipped a quick bow.
“Thank you for your help back there.” Ana bent her knees in a slow curtsy. “It’s nice to meet you, Senor…” She waved a hand hoping he’d finish her statement with his name.
“Emilio. You should get out soon to let your dragon’s wings stretch before racing.” He winked and petted Federico’s yellow-horned dragon. The dragon bent toward Ana and sniffed. “Chispas likes you.”
So, the dragon’s name is Chispas. Ana nodded to herself, storing the information into the forefront of her memory. A question danced across her tongue and circled onto her lips. “Is Federico Vega Perez your sponsor?”
Emilio chuckled from deep in his throat. “You could say that.” He placed a bit in his dragon’s mouth and buckled the reins. “I’ve met Celestia before in the caves. Federico told me to take care of you should you need help.”
Ana smiled, warmed by Federico’s concern even when he still held a grudge against her, or at least she thought he had before that evening.
She patted Celestia’s soft nose and placed the bit behind her sharp set of teeth.
Celestia nuzzled her cheek in open affection, giving Ana permission to complete putting on her riding gear.
Before leading Celestia to the racecourse, Ana whispered into her dragon’s ear, “Are you ready?”
Celestia’s golden eyes flashed with mischief—the type that promised Ana that her dragon wanted to show off.
The moment they hit the racecourse, Celestia flipped Ana onto her back and launched into the night air between the high-rise stands for a test run of the course.
Below them, a dirt path indicated which direction the course flowed.
They followed the marked route into the sky, slicing through a thick rain that soaked through her riding dress.
“To the indicators!” Ana pressed her heels into the sides of Celestia’s neck to guide her around to the air posts held up by dragons wearing official red banners over their chests.
Celestia dove between them and scanned the night air for the next set of official dragons.
Through the night sky, a dozen pairs of dragons hovered above the ground until they arrived back in the arena to the end line where they needed to swoop through a rectangular frame to mark the end.
Depending on how many dragons crossed at the same time, this could become a blood bath.
What had she been thinking when entering the races?
There was no time for doubt now, but her heart pummeled her rib cage in terror.
She should just do the expected, then she’d have an easy life of comfort, would she not?
A drum banged, calling all racers to the starting line. She had a choice in that instant. Should she turn back before the competition or press forward to do something dangerous and freeing?
At least six other dragons dove into the arena.
Ana clung tightly to Celestia’s neck with a sudden pulse of adrenaline coursing through her veins.
Losing might not be the only consequence of the night, yet she couldn’t remain the docile child who lived for comfort and prestige.
Padre had emptied his coffers in those pursuits, and it had proven humiliating for him.
She pressed her boots into Celestia’s side, sending her to the starting line.
Celestia landed with a jolt onto the dirt bottom and was directed by male officials to rectangles painted on the course.
Ana scanned the crowd, searching for the masked neighbor from her assigned stall.
Though a sea of faces and umbrellas met her gaze, she couldn’t find the man in his yellow uniform.
Legions of people sat in the crowd, so this shouldn’t have been a surprise.
An official in his red gear shouted the rules about no shooting fireballs and having to fly between each set of official dragons above. Any infraction would disqualify them.
Celestia craned her head around.
“Do you understand?” Ana petted under her jaw to calm Celestia. Though her beast couldn’t speak, she understood everything. The intelligence in her eye flashed, and she grunted in assent.
The starting gun exploded, and the eight dragons with their riders launched into flight. Cool air streamed along the lines of her body while she held tight to her reins.
Celestia cut between her competitors. Her wings efficiently flapped and retracted to catch up to the lead racers.
Only the first place would qualify for the final competition.
Celestia and Ana must overcome the dragons in front of them if they wanted to win.
The first two dragons made it through the initial markers and then the second while Ana maintained third position.
Another dragon nudged at Celestia’s tail and yet another flew below them.
Ana grabbed tighter to the reins and pressed her boots into Celestia’s sides.
Her beast batted faster, pushing them away from the dragons behind her, but not fast enough to make up ground.
The other two ahead swooped and dove through the markers with ease, using a strategy she hadn’t seen before.
Ana shouted, “We’ve got to change tactics.”
Celestia responded with a twirl and dive that had Ana’s bottom separating from the saddle.
Ana clung to the horn while Celestia gained on the two leading dragons.
They passed another three markers ahead of Ana.
The end crept closer, and Ana clung tighter to Celestia. She wouldn’t be flung off her dragon.
The final turn to the finish line grew closer, and the two dragons ahead blocked Celestia from crossing between or around them, always moving at every one of Celestia’s attempts to pass. Fumes plumed around Celestia, building into licks of flames.
“No, Celestia!” Ana patted Celestia’s neck until she found herself slapping her side. “We’ll be disqualified.”
In an instant, flames erupted from ahead. Ana ducked closer to Celestia, who spun mid-dive and covered Ana with her wings as she plummeted into the arena. Darkness engulfed Ana along with suffocating heat. She couldn’t breathe though she attempted to suck air into her lungs.
Just when panic thrashed through Ana’s body, a jolt and tremor shook across her world.
When Ana opened her eyes next, she gasped. Celestia nudged at her side with two worried eyes searching Ana’s tiny body. She realized she must have passed out.
A judge in black and white stripes sped to the course and placed two fingers on Ana’s limp wrist. When the judge lifted an arm, signaling she lived, the crowd erupted in a cheer.
She had won the race, and the dragon who’d erupted in flames had been disqualified while the other two racers impacted by the fire-breath had died.