by Katie Pottle
The boy was of average height and that was the only thing average about him. Everything from his hair to the cut of his clothes was flawless. Even the falcon on his shoulder appeared to be of superior breeding with smooth, glossy feathers and piercing eyes. Ryker showed no surprise at Cadin’s team having made it to the Games; however, his surly female companion was breaking her stiff posture, smirking to her teammates. “Look those little second years actually made it. The Glade teams must be really weak if they are here.”
“Valerie, be polite to our guests!” A tall man said without turning his body. He had a rigid stance and a very hard face. His steal gray eyes clashed with his dark skin and bright red Aura. As Instructor Kade jumped out of the airship, this was the man to step forward and receive him.
“Hello, I am Jamal of Condor. The qualifying teams of the Contra Quad are here to welcome you to the Calvarian Games.”
“Welcome!” The students from the red teams all said in unison.
“Uh, thank you,” Instructor Kade said as everyone from the airships scrambled out.
Cadin got the distinct feeling their welcome was more of an intimidation factor than anything. A slight smirk lit Jamal’s face as the remainders came to stand next to Instructor Kade. Most travelers were still unloading and had missed the saluted welcome.
“May I address your parties now, sir?” Jamal asked of Instructor Kade.
“I am Kade of Galen, and yes, everyone is here now.”
Jamal nodded as he stepped forward. “Qualified teams of the Guard and Arkta Quads, we are here to welcome and introduce you to Condor. We will have a feast tonight, which will include our opening ceremonies. As usual, the top three seeded teams of the Games have the honor of sitting at the head table. Now let me see…” he said as he consulted his list. He gave a little shake of his head and looked back up. “I see that the top seeded team from the Arkta and Guard Quads is fourth—so close,” he said closing his notes as if he didn’t already know the top three teams were all red. Cadin liked him less and less.
“Well, I will send Condor’s qualified teams to show you to your accommodations as I am scheduled to welcome the teams from the Lavine Quad in ten minutes. Ryker?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Please take your team and show our Guard Quad guests to the Fineman Garden Condos and have Phoenix Red escort the Ansford teams to the Waterfall Way Condos.”
“Yes, sir.” Ryker motioned towards one of the tall competitors. The young man bowed to Ryker. Ryker spoke quietly to him, before the young man waved over the rest of his team and started leading the Ansford teams away from the dock.
“Green teams, follow us.” Ryker turned and his team methodically stepped out of the lineup and headed up the smooth road that cut through several of the high cumulus peaks in front of them.
The cloud-buildings were taller than on Glade and tucked into more places along the ridges of the cloud contours.
“I’ve heard of the Fineman Gardens,” Sara said as the red team marched them through town. “They are said to be some of the most beautiful botanical gardens of any cloud-land.”
“Sounds nice, but I hope they aren’t expecting us to sleep in a tree house,” Bart said.
“Oh, I doubt that,” Instructor Kade cut in. He continued in a quieter voice. “You have never seen red angels host anything before. But they will do their best to try and impress you with their wealth.”
Ryker’s team suddenly stopped and together turned around to face them. A sprawling building stood before them next to a large, green lake.
“This is the Condor Grand Hall where we will have the Welcome Feast and Opening Ceremonies for the Games tonight at seven sharp. Would you like to walk around or fly over the lake to reach the gardens?” Ryker asked.
Everyone agreed to fly. The lake glistened as they flew over. The silhouettes of large fish darted along the bottom of the lake.
Ryker and his team landed gently in a large courtyard and stood with bemused faces as everyone else landed and took in the scenery. Most gazed around with wide eyes and open mouths at the beautiful mixture of plant life and cloud-lands. Clouds bubbled up in beautiful formations for bright, sem-tropical plants to perch from and hang on. It was different from anything that Cadin had ever seen.
"Welcome to the Fineman Gardens," Ryker said. "Your rooms are over here on this end of the koi pond," he pointed to the clear pool with fish splashing around. "Galen’s team rooms are down and around the bend. And the Arena is just through that gate at the other end of the Gardens. You are expected to go to the Arena and check in by tomorrow morning. Any questions?"
No one said anything and with a quick bow, Ryker and his team were off.
"They weren't as bad as I remember," Sun said.
"That is because they are hosting, and they would get their hides handed to them by the Games Committee if they were less than gracious," Sara said.
Instructor Kade stepped forward. "Let's check out our rooms."
"Sweet!" Cadin said as he entered one of the rooms off a quaint courtyard overlooking the gardens. Gur perked up as he spotted succulent plants peeking out of little niches within the walls. Gur jumped on one and circled twice while sniffing before jumping to the next plant and repeating. Everyone giggled at his antics and clapped for him once he found one that was suitable to lay down in.
"I guess this is one of the boys’ rooms," Instructor Kade said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I'll take the bed under Gur's plant," Cadin said as he threw his stuff on the comfortable looking mattress.
Sun giggled again as she gave Gur a little bit of leftover roll. Gur grabbed the offering and gave her finger a 'thank you' nip before digging into the soft bread.
"Come on, Sun, let's go see the girls’ room." Sara steered Sun by the shoulders.
"Oh, can't I stay with my team?" Sun pleaded for the zillionth time.
"Nope, school travel rules—as you well know."
"Sorry, Sun," Cadin said as she sulked out the door.
"Poor girl," Bart said.
"I would feel that way too if I had to share a room with Araina!" Lep’s nose scrunched up at the awful thought. "At least she has your mom."
"True," Cadin said as he unpacked his bag into the bedside dresser. Gur jumped onto Cadin's shoulder, nuzzling his ear before jumping back to his succulent.
"You like that plant, huh, Gur? I'll try to get you one back at home, okay?"
Gur snorted. Cadin took that as an affirmative.
"Hey guys," Freddy said as he entered their room, followed by Cora who smiled at Bart. Bart's ears and cheeks turned bright red. "We are going to go check out the Arena. Wanna come?"
"Yeah!" Bart jumped up next to Cora so fast that he had to flap a wing to keep from falling over.
"Great idea. Come on, Gur," Cadin said.
"I'll go grab Sun," Lep said and then smiled. "I might forget to invite anyone from Araina's team."
"Don't worry, I already asked," Cora said. Lep's face dropped. "No one wanted to come except Sun. They wanted to bathe after the 'exhausting fiasco to get here'," Cora said with her hands held up for air quotes.
Sun popped her head in the door. "Let's go, those girls are already driving me mad!"
"Welcome to the Condor Arena, home of this year’s Calvarian Games!" A curly-haired man boomed as they approached what had to be the Arena. It was a huge oval with an exterior of hardened opaque cloud. They could not see in, but he looked up and guessed that the top of the Arena was open to the sky as puffs of natural cloud escaped.
"Are you here as spectators or competitors?" The enthusiastic young man asked.
"Competitors from Glade," Instructor Kade answered.
"Most excellent!" The man reached under his desk and grabbed some paperwork. "I take it you are the Glade liaison?" He asked Instructor Kade who nodded briefly. "Then I need you to sign this document acknowledging that each of the players you brought with you has qualified through the proper league rules and is w
ho they claim to be."
This continued through twenty-three boring formalities when Cadin sensed Lep no longer at his side. He shifted back out of the group and found Lep with Sun wandering around the outside of the building. He tapped Bart, pointed at them, and headed off—Bart on his heels.
"Hi, guys," Lep said as they approached. "We were thinking of flying over the top to get a sneak peak of the inside. Before Cadin or Bart replied, Lep looked up and took off, Sun right behind him with a big smile. Cadin and Bart looked at each other, shrugged and followed.
Cadin felt a strange pressure as they approached the opening. As curious as he was to look inside, he knew something wasn't right.
"Stop!" He called to his teammates.
Only Bart was close enough to hear him, and slowed down to look back at Cadin, beating his wings quickly to stay hovering. "What's wrong?" Bart asked as he flew back to Cadin.
"Aghhhh!"
Sun and Lep tumbled backwards through the air over their own wings, falling quickly.
"Catch Sun!" Cadin shouted to Bart.
Cadin pumped his wings to get an angle on Lep who fumbled to right himself in midair. Cadin got under Lep, somehow managed to catch one of Lep's arms and a foot in time to stop him from splattering on the hard ground. Gur circled, darting between them and Bart who had managed to catch Sun much more cleanly—who sat, abashed in Bart’s long arms. Cadin let go of Lep's foot and lowered him to the ground while holding on to his arm.
Their entire group was looking at them with mixed expressions.
Tal and Instructor Kade looked mad.
His mom looked worried and relieved. Gregor was rubbing his closed fist as if he wanting to finish the job that the ground didn't get done and the man behind the desk was smiling. The man opened his grinning mouth to finish talking as if nothing had happened.
"Your groups will see the inside of the Arena only during their scheduled training times. They are not allowed to spy on any other team's practice. As some of your members have already figured out," he said as he eyed Cadin, Lep, Sun and Bart, "if anyone attempts to fly over the top, there are powerful air blasts that will, shall we say, encourage their honesty.”
He shuffled some papers before continuing. "Your first scheduled training time is the day after tomorrow starting at eleven in the morning to three in the afternoon. You are welcome to break your time slots up for each of your four qualifying teams, or they may train together. Here are credentials for everyone—they must be worn to get into the Arena and to the competitor areas. Questions?" He asked with a smile resembling a smirk.
Instructor Kade shook his head and grabbed the folder of paperwork and credentials.
"Are you guys all right?" Cadin asked Lep and Sun.
"Thanks to you, yes." Sun said, smiling at Cadin and patting Bart on the back.
Lep nodded. "Yeah, thanks. It was a scary feeling," he said with a quick glance up. "Once the blast hit...I felt like I couldn't do anything to save myself."
"Yeah," Cadin said and then gathered them closer. He lowered his voice so only his team could hear. "I bet you they are going to use those wind blasts in the Arena somehow during the Games giving all of the red teams an advantage, because they have probably been able to train around them. Perhaps we can train how to recover in mid-air."
"I don't know," Lep said. "We don't have much time until the tournament begins, and they may not even use them. It might be a waste of precious training time. I don't know if recovering in midair is even possible. I mean, that sucked!"
"Language, Leptan," Instructor Kade said from outside of their little huddle. They all jumped in shock. "It is time to go. If you would like advice on training methods," he said with a slight grin, "my doors are always open." He turned to the rest of the group. "Dinner is at six in the courtyard. You are welcome to explore until then, or rest in your rooms. Check in with an adult to let us know where you plan to go."
Most everyone wanted to explore the closest town of Grante. Instructor Kade led part of the group down the Industrial Airship Docks over several peaks while Cadin chose to follow Gur for a couple of minutes along a long rock wall. Patches of what his mom had told him was moss grew out of the cracks. There was no moss on Glade, and Gur found it fascinating.
“Hey firsty!” Gregor said to Cadin as he tried to pry Gur off a wet wall. “The best way for you to not embarrass our homeland is to take your lizard and your reject team home before the Games even start.”
Cadin let go of Gur who burrowed his head into a crack in the wall, wiggling his tail in delight.
“Gregor, we had been getting along fine on this trip,” Cadin said, exasperated. “Why can’t we keep it that way?”
Gregor turned to Cadin, looking a little stunned by his question. A malevolent smile played across his face. “I worked hard to make it here. And I am not going to let some snot-nosed kid get in my way of getting recognized.”
Cadin didn’t mention anything about Susan – Gregor’s ex-girlfriend. He knew that was a sure way to set off the quick to anger fourth year.
But he still wasn’t about to let Gregor start pushing him around again, either. It would last the entire summer if he didn’t stand up for himself. He stood tall and looked Gregor in the eyes. “Then show them without worrying about what I do. I don’t worry about you.” Cadin knew he said the wrong thing as soon as it slipped through his mouth. Gregor’s eyes lit up as he pulled his fist back.
Cadin watched, as if in slow motion, as Gregor’s fat knuckles sprung forward towards his face and then abruptly stalled in midair. At first, he thought Gregor had changed his mind to pummel him. Then Gregor struggled to release his arm.
“Get off me!” Gregor growled.
“In a second,” a tall young man responded casually. He tweaked his hold on Gregor’s wrist and Cadin watched in gleeful fascination as Gregor crumpled to his knees. “First tell me why you were about to punch this boy.”
“None of your business! Now get off me, before I get mad!” Gregor’s face changed from dragon red to cloud-plum purple as his wrist was torqued another fraction of an inch.
“How about you?” The young man asked, turning to Cadin. “You must have done something extreme to provoke such a big guy.”
Cadin hesitated. He looked down at Gregor and then up at his pale rescuer. “I qualified for the Calvarian Games.”
“Oh, I see. A bit threatened by you then?”
Cadin nodded, shocked as the truth of it settled.
“What? I’m not threatened by this little pipsqueak! He and his motley team of random Auras can go…” They did not get to hear where Gregor thought they could go as the once casual young man turned focused, and a bit dangerous. Gregor’s fabulous face color had drained, as the young man stepped into the wrist lock.
“Stop, please.” Cadin heard himself say. Part of him wanted to see Gregor suffer. However, this was not the way.
“Of course.”
The young man took a deep breath and slowly released Gregor’s wrist as he took a step back.
Gregor’s wings quivered as he massaged his arm and slowly stood up, turning to face the young man that had rendered him useless with a single hold. Cadin thought if looks could kill, the young man’s body would already be reabsorbed into the clouds. Gregor’s muscles rippled under his skin. Before Cadin could open his mouth to warn him, a girl ran up and tugged on the young man’s shirt, oblivious to the tension surrounding him.
“Uncle James needs your help unloading the oar now, Ferris.”
“Thanks, Lana. Go tell him I will be right there,” Ferris said without taking his eyes off Gregor.
The girl broke the tension enough for them to realize quite a few people had stopped to observe their confrontation.
Gregor looked over the crowd and relaxed his attack stance. “Neither of you are worth my time.” Gregor turned and walked past Cadin, spitting at his feet. “Go have fun with your fringelander friend while you can, firsty.”
Ferris nodded to
Cadin and headed towards the docks. Cadin wanted to say thank you but was caught up by his friends.
“What happened?” Sun asked after squeezing through the crowd.
“Gregor got mad and was about to attack me.” None of his friends looked too surprised.
“And?” Lep nudged, handing Gur over to Cadin. At least someone could get him off the moss.
“And then this guy, Ferris, put Gregor in some kind of wrist-lock before he could land a punch. It was kinda cool.”
“So where is this Ferris dude?” Bart asked, looking around at the dispersing crowd.
“I think he went over to the docks. Do you guys want to come find him with me? I want to say thank you.”
“Sounds good.”
Lep nodded, his face scrunched.
As they walked and talked about Condor, Lep continued to keep quiet.
“What’s up, Lep?” Cadin asked.
“Well, we all worked really hard to make it to these Games.” Cadin nodded, thinking about the Tlalocs and wanting to join the Core in enough time to help stop them from hurting anyone else. Lep continued, “And if this small encounter with Gregor had gone any differently, both of our teams would have been disqualified.”
“What?”
“Really, where did you hear that?” Bart asked over Cadin.
“I read it in the manual that they gave us at check in.”
“It makes sense,” Sun said as they all stopped at a busy intersection, waiting to cross. “Nobody wants representatives from their clouds acting like fools or causing trouble; it would reflect poorly on Glade and the Games if their qualifying teams went around getting into fights.” She picked up a red cloud-hopper. Gur perked up from Cadin’s shoulder and jumped into Sun’s hands, grasping at the hopper that managed to jump away just in time. Sun startled, and then giggled as Gur wiggled his butt in her hands and launched after the hopper.
