Chapter 5
1474 Words
5
My instincts told me to flee. I stepped right, but Darda held tight to me. "There is no need to worry, Miriam," she whispered.
I whipped my head to her smiling face. "Are you nuts? That thing's going to kill us!"
Her eyes twinkled as she smiled at me. "Hold against the storm and see."
I stiffened my jaw and the rest of my body as the storm came charging at us. The sands beneath our feet rolled to our right. A soft flapping arose from the ships as the sails bent against the demand of the coming winds. The sails on the rafts of the two contestants were too tight to flap.
Spiros pulled out some handkerchiefs and handed them to us. "Cover your faces against the dust."
I took a handkerchief and noticed the work men drape their own handkerchiefs over their faces. I did the same and was surprised to find I could see through the thin fabric, but no dust slipped inside.
As the storm grew closer the man atop the sail lifted his horn. The wind picked up. My own hair beat at my face. Darda kept a firm grasp on me. The stormy sand clouds were only a hundred feet away. Seventy-five. The wind clawed at our clothes.
The man on the sail took a deep breath and blew. A long, mid-range blast of sound echoed from the bell. There was a melodious tune to the horn that made me want to smile, especially when I saw its effects.
The dust cloud turned and drew away from us. Something caught my eyes. I squinted into the orange darkness. Shadows of tall, slim four-legged creatures flickered in the dust. Then they were gone.
So were Xander and Sinbad. At the sound of the horn both competitors stood and opened their sails. The harsh wind filled them and pulled them across the sand at a speed that exceeded that of my wild hadab.
At a hundred feet down the line the dragon men drew out their wings. Sinbad tilted his wings before his full sails. The cloth flapped and turned, and so did the raft. He turned a sharp left away from us and cut across in front of Xander's raft. Their poles brushed against each other. Xander pulled back on his ropes and slowed down to avoid a collision.
Darda gasped and covered her mouth. She whipped her head to Tillit and glared at him. "You were saying?"
He grinned and held up his hands. "Don't take my head until something bad actually happens."
A cheer arose from the men, and I turned back to the race. Sinbad was well ahead of the corner back in our direction. Xander with his wide, less flexible wings had taken the corner wide and now trailed Sinbad by twenty feet. The pair both drew into the stretched some two hundred feet in front of us and flew along at break-neck speed with their sails full of wind.
I frowned and looked around at my small group. No wind disturbed our hair, or even mussed Darda's cloak. "How are they still moving?" I asked my friends.
"It is the power of the sand storm that pulls them along," Spiros told me as he nodded at the open sails of the competitors. "They could travel at that speed all day if the need demanded."
I pointed in the direction of the disappearing dust storm. "But the storm went that way."
"You think a normal dust cloud would turn at the sound of a horn?" Tillit spoke up as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the dust cloud. "There's magic in that cloud that makes it stick to the sails. You could get a wet sock and fill it with that wind, and it would fly until you pulled it inside-out."
A cheer from the group of men caught our attention and we looked back to the race. Sinbad had turned again, this time toward us. Xander was forty feet behind them when they both reached the straightaway. Sinbad's men cheered and hollered as he opened his sails and waved at them. The young man leaned back with the ropes in his hands and glanced over his shoulder. Even from that distance I could see his smirk.
I clasped my hands and bit my lower lip as I watched Xander pull up the rear. "Come on! Come on!"
A heavy hand fell on my shoulder. I looked up into the smiling face of Spiros. His eyes lay on Xander. "Faith, Miriam. Watch and learn why they called him Rabi Rih, Lord of the Wind."
I looked back to Xander. He stood tall and spread his wings wide on either side of him. His wings curved in front of him so that the tips nearly touched either side of the sail.
Xander drew them back and, in the same smooth motion, thrust them forward. A great flap of wind pushed against the sail. The sheet bulged outward and pulled the ropes tight so that Xander grimaced before he leaned back with the ropes clutched tightly in both hands. The miraj slid across the sand in a burst of speed and cut the distance between the rafts by a quarter.
A smile slipped onto my face as Xander drew his wings back and against thrust more speed into the sail. He was now only twenty feet from his opponent.
I stepped forward and cupped my hands over my mouth. "Come on, Xander! Get him!"
Spiros stepped up beside me and cupped a hand over his mouth. "Win the race or I shall have the hand of your Maiden!"
I whipped my head to him. "What?" He smiled and winked at me before I noticed the teasing look in his eyes.
"Captain!" Darda scolded him.
Whether serious or not, Xander leaned back so he was at a steep angle and flapped his wings three successive times. The miraj flew forward and passed Sinbad. We onlookers backed up to allow them to pass between us and the still rafts. They did, and Xander was in the lead across the finish line.
I stumbled through the sand over to his miraj as he released the ropes. The sail fell flat and the wind escaped to dance into the air a brief moment before it disappeared. I leapt at him and wrapped my arms around his neck so I hung there. He gingerly put his arms around me and smiled into my beaming face.
"It looks like you're stuck with me," I teased.
He pecked a kiss on my lips before he lowered me to the ground. "I would have it no other way."
"An impressive display, My Lord," Spiros spoke up as he and the others came up behind me.
Xander looked past me and at his captain. "That is a poor compliment coming from one who dared gamble with my Maiden."
Spiros smiled and bowed his head. "Merely some incentive, My Lord."
"I did not catch what you were to lose should I win."
The captain shook his head. "I am afraid I have no Maiden to gamble with, My Lord, so you must make do with my congratulations on such a close race."
Xander nodded. "Yes, it was very close. Any shorter a distance and I might not have won."
I hit him on the arm and glared at him. "So if you could use your wings the whole time why didn't you do that at the beginning?"
Xander opened his palms in front of him for us to see. "There are painful consequences."
My eyes widened as I beheld the raw and bleeding state of his hands. The skin had been cut open by the rough rope and clumps of drying blood dotted his flesh.
Spiros frowned. "Those cuts are quite deep."
Xander glanced over his shoulder at Sinbad who was surrounded by his men. A small smile teased Xander's lips. "I had little choice. The young man is quite good."
I cupped his hands in mine and looked over the deep cuts. "We need to get a doctor to look at this."
Xander shook his head. "I need only a salve, some bandages, and a few days of rest."
Sinbad pushed through his men and walked over to us. His eyes were hard and his lips were pursed tightly together, but he stopped before us and bowed his head to Xander. "You have proven your reputation, dragon lord."
Xander set his hand on Sinbad's shoulder. The young man looked up with a questioning gaze. "I wish for you to call me Xander, and were it not for the long course I would be congratulating you."
Sinbad straightened and grinned. "Then I shall be sure to test your words on a shorter course in the races."
Xander shook his head. "It is not my intention to participate in the races, but I shall pray for your success to both goddess and cheer you from the stands."
Sinbad held out his hand. "Then another time, Xander."
My dragon lord shook his hand. "Another time, young Sinbad."
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