A gun fired to signal the start of the race, but it was nearly lost by the roaring of the crowd as the dragons took to the sky. The sound of wingbeats filled the air as all of them jockeyed for a place.

Anoss was off like a shot, her obsidian-black wings beating the air mercilessly. She immediately drew to the front of the pack, angling towards the inside.

Another dragon was nearly level with her, a golden beast with pale green markings. Petra recognized it to be Vitos, Aiden’s mount.

Petra let out a loud whoop, shouting her support for Jesse. Beside her, Axel did the same, and Reuben soon joined in with a high-pitched crowing noise. They knew that Jesse wouldn’t be able to hear them, but didn’t hesitate to make a racket nonetheless.

It became obvious how truly massive the stadium was when all the dragons were flying like this. The riding-dragons of Crelang were not the mountain-sized beasts you may be imagining; rather, most of them were a little larger than the ordinary draft horse. The reptilian beasts came in many sizes, of course, but that was the average for racing.

There were at least twenty dragons out on the track, all trying to get ahead of the others. At the moment, though, it was clear that Jesse and Aiden were in the lead, followed closely by a creamy-white dragon that Petra didn’t recognize. The rest of the pack was hot on their tails, though the gap between them wasn’t getting any smaller.

The leading dragons soon wheeled around the curve of the oval track, heading towards where they had started. Olivia and the other second-lap fliers were already prepared- they could take off as soon as the previous team member landed.

Anoss swooped low, then suddenly folded her wings and stopped gracefully on the track, just behind Ksuntis.

The red dragon was instantly in the air, all four wings flapping rapidly. Maya’s dragon, a snakey cobalt-blue creature named Laita, was just a heartbeat behind him.

“GOOOO OLIVIA!” Axel bellowed, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his shout. Petra, who had gone temporarily quiet, shouted again as well. “COME ON, LIV! GO GO GO!” They were both going to entirely lose their voices after this, but it was worth it.

Jesse came hurrying up to them, grinning widely and leading Anoss. The black dragon was looking very pleased with herself, and for good reason. “Axel, you should go mount up. Those laps are shorter than they seem.”

“Right, I know.” he replied as Reuben scrambled off his shoulder to get to Jesse, whacking his face with a coral-scaled wing as he went.

“Make us proud.” Petra said, playfully punching his shoulder.

Axel turned and gave her a wide smile. “When do I not?”

He and Elan hurried off, and Petra turned her attention back to the race. A few other dragons had caught up to Olivia, but Petra knew they would soon be shaken off. They were nearly halfway around the track, which was right when the obstacles started.

While a few other racers slowed down going into the hurdles, Ksuntis didn’t lose a second. He shot upwards and twisted, dove, and weaved with incredible grace through and past the various obstructions. Over a particularly high beam, around a thick pole, and through several large hoops in one elegant zigzag.

Petra watched as several other dragons fell out of the competition, colliding with barriers and getting knocked off course. One of the other near-leaders was one of these, but, to Petra’s chagrin, Maya and her dragon were not.

Ksuntis had gotten through the obstacles and rocketed into full speed again, with only a few dragons close behind. He began gradually sloping downwards even farther, angling as much to the inside of the track as he could.

In only a few moments, the red dragon had touched the ground, and Elan took off like she’d been shot from a cannon, Axel whooping loudly on her back. The emerald-green dragon was even larger than the average riding dragon, with massively powerful wings, plated scales, and a thick spiny tail. She was built for this role; elbowing through the other riders as things became more intense in the second-to-last lap.

Leaving Jesse to cheer Axel on, Petra led Rhys down to the starting line on the track. The teal dragon seemed excited, letting out a happy little growl as Petra clambered onto her back.

“You know what to do, girl.” She murmured, and Rhys chirruped assertively in reply. Petra grinned, reaching over to rub her hand along her dragon’s elegant neck.

She sat up straighter, adjusting her grip on the reigns. Every single nerve felt like it was buzzing, and she couldn’t wait to take off.

Petra had hardly even noticed the other riders on either side of her, but now she glanced briefly at them. On her right was an unfamiliar young woman on a sleek dark-magenta dragon, but on her left…

She caught the bright, clever blue eyes of Lukas again, and inwardly cursed. She’d known that she’d be up against him, but it had somehow temporarily slipped her mind.

She had to beat him, or she’d never be able to live with herself.

Petra turned her attention back to the race. Several other dragons were catching up to Axel, but they were unable to get past Elan’s bulk.

She watched as two other steeds snapped and hissed at each other directly behind Axel, a black-and-white dragon with a redheaded rider and a deep indigo beast whom Petra was pretty sure belonged to Gill. They were too far away now to make out the details of the other riders, but she remembered having seen that dragon with their rivals in the past.

The black-and-white dragon seemed like it was trying to swoop lower and get under Elan to overtake her, but it couldn’t get close enough. Every time it tried to inch beneath her, the green dragon would swing her weighted tail and narrowly avoid hitting it in the face. The indigo dragon, however, was very nearly wingtip-to-wingtip with Elan, who couldn’t do anything to him without endangering her place in the lead.

The three leaders came wheeling around the bend, diving down as they prepared to land. Petra tensed and felt Rhys do the same beneath her. In just a few seconds, this would all be down to them.

Axel and Gill came to a stop at almost exactly the same time, and Rhys launched herself into the air with Lukas’s silver dragon right beside her. Petra urged her mount slightly upwards and closer to the inside, though she hardly even had to give the command. She’d been riding Rhys for years- they very nearly shared the same brain.

Wind whipped back Petra’s short orangey hair as they shot through the air. She could hardly even hear the noise of the crowd due to the gale in her ears.

Faster. Faster.

Rhys was simply built for speed, and she was proving that right now. They rocketed around the first bend, wings beating rhythmically.

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Faster.

Petra became dimly aware of a large silver problem right next to her. Despite the insane speed she was going at, her rival was still directly beside her. He happened to glance over right then, and winked in her direction.

Petra growled in annoyance, urging Rhys to pour on even more speed. She did, but just barely. The teal steed was at her max, and apparently, so was the silver dragon.

They were neck-and-neck, hurtling towards the second curve. This would be over in less than a minute and, suddenly, Petra wasn’t sure how it would end.

Faster.

Rhys pulled ahead, ever so slightly. The silver dragon snarled, but apparently couldn’t speed up any more. Instead, he rose upwards slightly- not quite enough to fly over the top of Rhys, but nearly.

The two dragons careened around the arc of the track, Rhys still in the fragile lead. Petra noticed the intense noise of the crowd; this was about to be a very interesting finish, and everyone knew it.

Petra angled Rhys downwards, steering towards the finish line. They could make it. They would make it.

Victory, here we come.

Then, the silver dragon dove. Rhys was going a little faster, but Lukas’s mount had more momentum. The two of them soared across the finish line, at exactly the same time.

Petra tugged on the reigns, and Rhys screeched to a halt, landing on the track ground. The crowd was in uproar as the other racers landed as well.

The announcer was shouting excitedly, though Petra could hardly hear him due to the ringing in her ears.

“I don’t believe this! For the first time in over twenty years, we have a tie! It’s unheard of! That was undoubtedly the most incredible finish I’ve ever seen! Petra of the Order and Lukas of the Ocelots, tied for first!”

A tie.

Petra dismounted, looking vaguely around for Lukas. She wanted to flatten him. A tie. A matris-dreefing tie.

The clamor of the spectators was almost unbearable. In lesser dragon-races, this wouldn’t be such a big deal. But this was the semifinals, for gods’ sake. Ties simply didn’t happen.

The rest of her team came hurrying up, their dragons trailing excitedly behind. Petra watched them approach with dull detachment.

“You did great! That was incredible!” Jesse exclaimed, throwing an arm around her. The redhead didn’t move, even as Reuben hopped onto her shoulder, chirring gleefully.

“That was the best race I’ve ever seen! I didn’t know Rhys could go that fast!” Axel said enthusiastically.

This hardly even registered through Petra’s numb rage. “We tied. I can’t believe it. Tied for first. Neither of us get the prize. I cannot believe this.”

“Petra, that doesn’t matter! You were amazing!” Axel tried to console her, but Petra wasn’t having it.

“It does matter! We needed to win!” she hissed, balling her hands into fists. “We need that prize, and you know it! If we…”

At this moment, she caught sight of their rival team congratulating Lukas. He happened to glance her way, and sent a satisfied grin in her direction. Petra cut off into another growl, and Olivia turned to see what she was looking at.

“I’m going to kill him.” Petra snarled. Jesse firmly caught ahold of her wrist. “You already know you can’t do that.” she chided.

“If we let her murder him, would we get the prize, or would we be disqualified?” Olivia mused. Jesse shot her a look, and she quickly raised her hands in defense. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

“I don’t care if I’m disqualified. I’m going to strangle that smug trick and let Rhys burn his bones.” snapped Petra, glaring fiercely in the direction of the Ocelots. If looks could kill, the blond rider should already be under a headstone.

Olivia had turned her attention to the judges’ booth, where the announcer appeared to be preparing to speak again. “Guys, listen up. I think-”

“Everyone, everyone! Can I regain your attention!” the announcer called, trying to quiet the excited crowd. “The judges have been consulted, and a decision has been reached!”

Petra crossed her fingers, praying that they’d somehow ruled in her favor.

“This was indeed an exact tie! It’s almost unheard of, but it’s true! If the two winners would make their way to the judges’ booth, we are intending to schedule a rematch. I repeat; there will be a rematch.”

Shaking Jesse’s hand off her arm, Petra thrust Rhys’s reigns towards Olivia. “Hold Rhys. I’m gonna make sure this is over as soon as possible.”

She started to stalk towards the judges, hearing Jesse’s voice behind her. “Alright. Axel, can you go with her to make sure she doesn’t decide to pound Lukas into dust?”

“Right.” the Order man agreed, hurrying after Petra. She ignored him.

Lukas and Aiden were already there. The brunette gave her a very self-satisfied look, but Petra just flashed a middle finger in his direction and turned away.

One of the judges, a tall woman with thick chestnut hair pulled back into two elegant coils on the sides of her head, had left the booth to address the two racers. “We’ve decided that the redo round must be held as soon as possible. It will only be you two racing- no one else was close enough to count.”

Petra sputtered for a second. “B-but my team was ahead of them the whole time! Shouldn’t we win by default?!”

The woman shook her head. “The last round is what matters the most. You were ahead of them, but not enough to declare you the winners. The best, fairest option is for you to redo the last round.”

Resisting the urge to growl again, Petra said through gritted teeth, “Fine. The sooner, the better, in my opinion.”

“Works for me.” Lukas agreed cheerfully.

“Great. It’d be best to have this all resolved as soon as possible.” The judge clasped her hands together. “Can you both be back here at noon tomorrow?”

She was answered with a prompt “Of course.” from Lukas and another begrudging “Fine.” from Petra.

Turning briskly away, Petra was only dimly conscious of the announcer saying something else. The audience was still going crazy- there had to have been some betting going on, and she was fairly certain no one in the crowd would’ve gambled for that close a tie.

It took a moment for her to realize that someone had caught her shoulder. She glanced behind her, to see that the person who’d stopped her was none other than Lukas.

Petra levelled another deadly glare at him, her brain filling with an assortment of poisonous words. For once, he seemed more aware of her onslaught of negativity towards him, and he faltered, removing his hand.

“I just, um…good job out there today.” he said simply. Petra turned completely around and drew herself to her full intimidating height.

“Oh, yeah. Good job, he says. Well, that definitely means a lot, coming from you.” She hissed sarcastically. “Do you have any idea of the trouble this is gonna cause us? You do realize that some of us aren’t just racing to satisfy our competitive streak, right?”

His eyes widened slightly in a look of faint dismay, but Aiden appeared behind him before he could reply. Petra’s glare deepened even further. Dealing with Lukas was one thing, dealing with the Ocelot leader was another.

“Oh, we know. You do realize that there are those of us who don’t give two krins about your petty little issues, right?” the brunette mimicked. He rested his arm lightly over Lukas’s shoulders, and grinned smugly at Petra.

If Axel hadn’t caught up to her and grabbed her wrist right then, everything might’ve gone down a little differently. As it was, Petra was limited to cursing violently at him and making a few threatening motions with her unrestrained left arm. Aiden continued trying to antagonize her, making cutting remarks about their luck and altogether really acting like he wanted to get a beatdown.

She hardly even noticed when Lukas turned and told Aiden to stop, she was so deep in her rage. Axel finally managed to drag her back to where Olivia and Jesse were waiting, with her muttering mutinously the entire time.

Olivia gave her a both-eyebrows-raised, are-you-done-yet sort of look. “So…?”

“One of these days, she’s gonna get tossed in jail for murder, and I’m not paying the bail.” was all Axel said.

“He was asking for it. I would’ve been completely within my boundaries if I’d snapped his neck right there.” Petra snarled. She tried to shake Axel’s hand off her arm, but he didn’t let her go.

Jesse sighed. “So, rematch tomorrow? Just you and Lukas?” she checked. Another small growl was all she got by way of reply.

“You know you can’t race if you’re still gearing up for murder.” Olivia admonished dryly. Petra’s fierce glower got turned on her for a few seconds, but the redhead soon gave up when Olivia returned it with one of her own.

“Fine, okay. I’m calm. I promise I won’t go murder any of the Ocelots…today.”

Jesse gave her a well-practiced frown. “I’m not kidding, Petra. I know you hate them, but you cannot get us disqualified from the race. You know how-”

“YEAH, I KNOW.” Petra snapped. And she did know- winning the semifinals was absolutely crucial for the Order. She knew very, very well, and she wasn’t too keen on being reminded yet again.

Reuben chirruped loudly from Jesse’s shoulder, flaring his pink wings. She reached up to pet him again, sighing slightly. “We should go, if we’re gonna beat the rush of spectators to the exit.”

Petra mutely followed the other three as they left the stadium. They were all still in fairly high spirits, since, tie or no, this had been their best race yet. Several other racers called out to them, offering congratulations and praise, but Petra hardly heard any of it, still simmering with rage.

She was going to make the Ocelots- especially Lukas -pay for this, one way or another.