Race

Fuck you, Phoebe Hyperio. Petunia's exclamation lingered in Phoebe's mind as she sat on Soot's back on the starter perches. Second on the grid left her with her back to the reservoir, looking up at the sharp, scrubby rise to the cliff-crowned ridge on the west side of the valley. The air was damp and a touch on the chill side.

Opposite her across the stadium was Feran Andoal, settled calmly on the silver shoulders of Corredeira, his attention unflinching on the first ring off to Phoebe's left. The course turned further left through the ring, out along the top of the dam, giving starters on Feran's side a significant advantage. Soot had the manoeuvrability to make up for it, though.

Next to Feran was Arden Markwe on his much older silver dragon, Fleet. Fleet looked keen, her balance well forward. To Phoebe's right was Niki, on the enormous shoulders of Incandesia. There hadn't been a chance to speak to her old friend before the race, ze'd stayed in the middle of a swarm of zir team personnel. After the argument in the stables, Phoebe could have used a friendly ear and a bony, too-tall hug.

No time. The starter lights were already coming on. Fuck you, Phoebe Hyperio. Well, if anything in the world deserved Petunia's swearing, it probably was the risks Phoebe had taken to get to this moment. Time to justify it all. She set her weight forward, hunching low.

"And they're away, Feran's up and clear, Phoebe was a bit unsteady but Arden went low and couldn't get past her, then come the golds, Niki Coro with Lucia pretty hard on Incandesia's tail, there's Lyonne Ertku, looks like he didn't get a great getaway, Gerry Ipemas is on him, Marca Calwehr taking a run at Teda Nioli-"

"Phoebe's taking a run at Feran."

"She is, wow, she made up for that rough start, Soot's right by Corredeira's tail."

"That's not where you want to be, she's on the wrong side of him to go over the dam, she'll have to back out."

"She's pushing hard, she can't be planning to go over the top of Corry, can she?"

"She's running out of room, if she stays there Feran can deny her the ring outright."

"He's already trying, look, he's bringing Corry up, come on, Phoebe, be smart, you've got to let this one-"

"She's not going to, she's not, that's daft, come on- no, too late."

Phoebe leant right, trying to haul Soot over and squeeze through the desperate corner of the third ring that Feran had left them, if he folded his wings they might make it, it was the dive over the dam past that, they could afford to lose altitude-

Soot balked, a writhe running the length of his spine as he fought against Phoebe's weight. The ring sailed past just a few feet off his right wingtip, and Phoebe had to strain to catch her balance back. Below, the dam dropped fifty yards to the river gorge, a steady stream of dragons plunging past as Soot steadied his stroke and turned hard left to regain the ring.

There were no fans on the dam itself, but a hundred yards away on the other shore was a big grandstand, and Phoebe had to watch them watch her wheel past, leaning hard on Soot's left stirrup. At least his upraised right wing hid them from view after a couple of seconds.

By the time she could crane her neck and see the ring again, all the other dragons were through. Cursing herself, Phoebe stretched forward, flattening out ready for the descent. Soot surged ahead, through the ring and then down, bitter air prickling at Phoebe's cheeks as they accelerated.

"Lap nineteen, Bob, Feran Andoal leading from Arden Markwe by a solid four seconds, then Niki Coro another five back – really getting quite strung out already, it has to be said, this field spread is a bit of a surprise – then Lucia Aelschu, then Gerald Ipemas on an extraordinary charge."

"Where's this Gerry Ipemas been all year, Sam?"

"I don't know, Bob, it's extraordinary. He's been a tenth or two faster than Lucia the last four laps, too."

"Trying to single-handedly turn the teams competition for Temisia, maybe, I wonder if they've put a bit of pressure on him."

"Could be, anyway, checking in further down the order, Phoebe Tenryuu is through on Timmi Anbue for fourteenth, she's recovering well."

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"Every bit as brilliantly as we'd expect, we knew she'd be fast here, it's just a shame she made that stupid mistake at the start."

"Yes, she got a bit rash there, I guess that's easy for an inexperienced rider in a championship challenging position to do."

"It shouldn't be, she's got no good reason to take risks like that."

"What can she do from there with the rest of the race?"

"She'll get some points, I'm sure, if she doesn't do anything else daft."

Soot beat his wings steadily, carefully, levelling out from the launch off the perch. Phoebe heard the stadium rustle with anticipation. Somewhere behind her, Jenny Arlofis was making her way through the nineteenth ring and into the stadium, accelerating back up to seventy knots while Soot flew up the perch lane at thirty-five.

Phoebe set her stance, fixing her attention ahead. She couldn't afford to risk throwing Soot's stroke off by twisting her weight to look back. For now it was just about rhythm and control, keeping Soot's discipline and her own. No point stressing about the exact gap, there was a lot of race left.

"She's going to pass you," Petunia said over the radio. In the flatness of the rose maiden's tone, Phoebe heard a faint echo of her earlier Fuck you, Phoebe Hyperio. She'd argued for staying out a couple more laps, and Phoebe had overruled her, cautious for Soot's condition.

They were maybe fifty yards from the green ring that marked the end of the perch lane when the horned silver shape of Vision swept overhead. Phoebe let herself wait a long half-second, then shifted her weight back and left, letting Soot rise as he turned out towards the second ring. Pumping her legs to match his acceleration, she grinned. Time to show that the early stop didn't matter.

"Oh, now we'll see something."

"Phoebe following Jenny down the gorge, you mean?"

"Aye, she's the first rider Tenryuu's come up on who isn't a sitting duck for Soot."

"How long do you think she can hold Phoebe off?"

"Won't be long, I'd think, look, Soot's already right on Vision's tail, but it'll be hard to pass in the gorge-"

"Wait, she's too steep down the dam, surely? What's she doing, she's not-"

"Oh, this is unnecessary, and at those speeds-"

"She's not giving Jenny enough room, they're going to-"

"Tokugawa's teeth, Phoebe, that's stupid! What are you- oh, thank heaven, Vision was able to pull up in time, that's cruel on Jenny having to miss the ring but Phoebe gave her no choice."

"That was extremely aggressive of Phoebe, I don't know why she felt she needed to do that."

"It's more than aggressive, it's illegal, she'll get a blocking penalty for that."

"For once we're in complete agreement. Do you think it might be a sterner penalty? At those speeds, into such a tight corner, is that intentional endangerment?"

"I can see the stewards going for it, I dunno how it fits the letter of the rules but it was definitely dangerous."

Phoebe set her weight forward as Soot crossed the reservoir back towards the stadium. Reaching out with one arm, she pressed down on the back of his neck. He actually bucked slightly at the signal, wending his neck back and forth as if trying to shrug her hand off. She held firm. It was the first time she'd had to give him the penalty signal in a live race, there would be hell to pay if he didn't obey smartly.

Reluctantly, Soot slowed and dropped lower to the water, then over the scrubby concrete that fringed the water, and round not to the nineteenth ring and the next lap but the green perch ring beneath it. Feeling his urge to rush, Phoebe made herself sit upright and back, dragging on his stroke to keep him under the thirty-five-knot speed limit. That was part of the penalty.

For the other part, Soot swooped up to the Tenebrae perch, landing with his characteristic dainty care despite everything. There he settled, waiting, while on the deck, Adelie held her arm up, staring at the watch she held with her other hand, counting off the fifteen seconds. The maximum penalty for blocking.

The rest of the team watched, spread out across the floor space of the stable, Stefan and Tamra and Vermilia and Ches. Further back, Petunia glared at Phoebe. Fuck you, Phoebe Hyperio. Phoebe tore her eyes away to focus again on Adelie's hand. She'd blown it, there was no hiding from that fact. The penalty would drop them almost to the back of the running order again, and there'd be no chance of making it back to the points in the time remaining.

After everything she'd said about winning the race and digging the team out of the dangers she'd plunged them into, too. How long was fifteen seconds? Adelie's hand was still up. Petunia still glaring. The rest of the team still watching silently – probably not actually silently, but the reactions of the crowd as dragon after dragon flew through the stadium behind her drowned any noise they made.

Finally Adelie dropped her arm and Phoebe could bring Soot round to launch again. He hauled out into the perch lane, but his stroke was heavy and sluggish, his eagerness gone. Phoebe got up into her best racing crouch well before the end of the stadium just to give her purchase to keep her dragon going.

"Well, it was pretty much decided on the first lap, but here he comes, it's been a long time since we could say this, but here comes Feran Andoal across the lake to win the Grand Prix of Cao Wei."

"This is more like what we expect from Feran. Absolute dominance, didn't put a wing wrong."

"I guess we can only wonder what sort of a race we'd have had if Phoebe had been there to challenge him."

"Phoebe's only got herself to blame for that. She made some terrible decisions today, she's lucky she didn't end up lapped."

"Yes, and I'm sure we'll have a lot to say about that in our post-race discussion, and on The Perch this week, but we shouldn't let it overshadow the rest of the results, here comes Arden Markwe for a very solid second."

"Good stuff from Arden, but if we celebrate anybody today it should really be Gerry Ipemas, he's turned in an absolute hero's ride for this third place, something lit a fire under him today."

"Indeed, and of course that means that both the Championship and the Teams Competition will go to the final round, two weeks from now at the Winter Palace. That's going to be a belter."

"Can't wait. Niki Coro coming round in fourth keeps zir championship bid alive, too."