by Katie Pottle
“Got any more of that?” Cadin asked, his stomach rumbling at the aroma. He should have picked up a snack in his wanderings.
“Oh, sorry—of course.” Sun handed him the small bag. “I packed up my left overs for you.”
“Thanks!” Cadin tore into the buttery pastry. “So, what’s in the other bag?” The curiosity was eating at him.
Sun glanced down—a blush rising up her neck. “It’s a gift from my mother.” She set the bag down and pulled out an immaculately tailored off-white leather jacket. There were straps on one side at the waist and at an angle down the back across the wings slats that didn’t quite make sense to him. Then realization struck.
“Is that shooting jacket?”
Sun nodded. “A Gen-X Flèche Droite shooting jacket.”
Cadin felt his mouth drop open of its own accord. “Holy wrath! Your mom goes all out, doesn’t she?” Even he had heard of the famous line of warrior apparel from Cloud System Twelve. The impeccably made and utterly expensive clothes were exclusive and unattainable by most. Cadin guessed that Ryker’s team had some type of Gen-X armor.
“Always,” Sun answered. She unceremoniously stuffed the jacket back in the bag and glanced up.
Cadin turned to find Instructor Kade strolling towards them.
“Off to the Arena!” He said without preamble. His short hair was somehow slightly windswept and dusty.
Their flight to the Arena was quick and windy. Cadin began his descent towards the waiting Lep and Bart and heard a loud squawk. He peered up as a feathery butt crashed right into his face.
“Eh!” Cadin lost control for a moment and had to pull his focus back to landing and away from the smelly creature now in his arms. His feet touched the ground and he set down the loud bird he could now identify as a goose.
Lep and Bart were laughing hysterically in the distance and Gur flew in circles overhead spitting fireballs towards the goose. Shaking its feathers, the goose honked at Gur before opening its wings and taking off.
“At least the bird looks okay,” Sun said as she touched town. Cadin could tell she was trying not to laugh.
Cadin grabbed his water bottle, poured it over his face and scrubbed with his sleeve. Somehow the goose butt smell was still prevalent and he didn’t want to leave even the smallest remnant of poop.
“That totally made my day!” Lep said as he slung his arm over Cadin’s shoulder, a move that would normally have Gur after him, however the dragon was still off chasing the offending goose.
Freddy and his team touched down outside the entrance. They had agreed to share training time again. Bart flew over to greet Cora.
Instructor Kade approached them. “Are you alright?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m fine, thanks.”
Instructor Kade nodded and relaxed, letting a smile pull up the corners of his mouth. “So where are your training companions?”
Cadin looked around as if expecting the fringelanders to appear out of thin air. “I’m not sure. They don’t have the best sense of punctuality.”
“Well then, we will head inside and notify the guard that they are expected.”
“Okay,” Cadin said, scrubbing his face again.
They walked over and greeted the other Glade team members.
Bart and Cora were laughing at something, and Cadin blushed, guessing that he was filling her in on the goose crash.
Freddy, who normally was very friendly and easy-going had his arms crossed and was scowling down at his feet.
“What’s up?” Cadin asked.
Freddy looked up and shook his head. “Nothing. Are we ready to get in there?”
“Yeah, Instructor Kade said we are good to go. Our other friends are just going to meet up with us in there.”
Freddy uncrossed his arms and started walking with Cadin through the huge doors of the Arena. “Who are these other training partners anyway?”
“Kids we met when we first arrived here.”
“Okay. Were they just not able to qualify or on a different Path or something?”
“No, actually…”
“Oye! Wait for us!”
“And there they are,” Cadin said as Devin, Lana, Crow and Cinna ran towards them. The guard at the gate stopped them. Cadin and Instructor Kade hurried over.
“These are our guests,” Cadin said to the guard.
The guard turned his head towards Cadin, but left his eyes on the fringelanders. “No I.D. cards.”
“We don’t have I.D.s.”
“Yes, they are cleared through the Glade committee,” Instructor Kade said, flashing his card one more time.
The guard’s red Aura flared up before he nodded and motioned them to pass.
“Hi, guys,” Cadin said as they rushed to catch up to everyone else.
“Hi,” Lana said.
“We’re ready to help you kick some feathers!” Devin said.
Freddy was right where Cadin had left him, staring at them with wide eyes.
“Let’s go to the battlefield,” Cadin said, nudging Freddy’s shoulder. Freddy recoiled, and looked back at the fringelanders.
“They are your training partners?” His words were laced with venom.
Cadin looked back at his friends. They were wearing their typical rough leather clothes. The cloth underneath was thick and obviously hand-stitched. Their white Auras looked as though they merged together when they stood so close. Crow and Cinna both wore wary expressions at Freddy’s cold welcome.
“Well, yeah,” Cadin said. “Come on, let’s go.”
Freddy’s feet stayed planted.
“Hey, what’s taking so long?” Lep called. His voice echoed through the dense hall that surrounded them.
“Just working something out,” Cadin said back.
Freddy turned his head toward the battlefield. “Strikers, we’re leaving!”
“Whoa! What’s going on?” Cadin asked, nonplused. Footsteps and the sound of feathers ruffling filled the halls.
“Hey, what’s up?” Cora asked, her teammates behind her. Bart and Lep peered over their shoulders.
“We are going now,” Freddy said. “We will come back to train at our time—alone.” The last was directed at Instructor Kade, who nodded.
Freddy walked past them to the exit, leaving a wide berth between himself and the fringelanders.
Cora shrugged and followed Freddy. She turned back and mouthed ‘sorry’ before turning the corner.
“That was horrible!” Sun said. She was pushing Bart aside, who had apparently been holding her back from pummeling Freddy.
“Eh, we’re used to it,” Devin said lightly. “Believe me.” He turned to Cadin who was mentally catching up. “Are we going to train or what? I’m dying to try releasing those Energy Cubes.”
“Anger Cubes,” Sun said.
“Ha ha, right.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Cadin said, following Devin’s stride. He reached out and touched Devin’s shoulder and lowered his voice. “You think Freddy didn’t want to train with us just because you guys are from the fringelands?”
“Sure. Like I said when we first met, people often are afraid of what they don’t know. Maybe he thinks we will cheat or try to hurt them during training or something.” They ducked under the portcullis and Devin spun in a circle. He turned to Cadin and smiled. “This is awesome!”
“Everyone to the Light Bay!” Instructor Kade called.
Devin knelt in front of the large machine, running his fingers along the outside of it. He glanced up at Instructor Kade, whose jaw was clenched. “What’s it do?”
“It temporarily blunts the edges and points of all weapons.”
Sun, Bart and Lep had already placed their own weapons in the shallow bay. Lep had also pulled a couple of swords from the rack of the armory.
“Do you guys have any weapons?” Cadin asked as he unsheathed Tsuyo. The blade extended to a smooth katana form.
“Whoa! How did you do that?” Devin said, his eyes glued to the sword.
>
“Oh, yeah. This is my gin-blade, Tsuyo.”
Devin shook his head, but Crow’s dark eyes lit up.
“It’s a special kind of sword made out of…”
“Zeronium,” Crow cut in.
Cadin smiled at him. “Right! You’ve seen one before?”
Crow shook his head. “Only heard about it from a miner a couple years back.”
“Oh, right, when we were on Zeph-4 cloud, right?” Devin said. Crow nodded but added no more. Devin turned to Cadin and Instructor Kade who was looming over Cadin’s shoulder. “Seen a fella came out to our cloud a couple of times saying he was exploring the fringe to mine. Uncle James all but ran him off before the man explained he was searching for zeroni’m.”
“Zeronium,” Crow corrected quietly.
“Right. Uncle James didn’t mind him searching for zeroni’m because he said it was no use to us. Heavy and little trade value on the fringe or even the main-clouds.”
“Did he find any?” Cadin asked.
“Naw, but that didn’t stop him from coming back a couple of times that year. Even after we moved clouds.”
“Why’d you move?”
“Cloud dried up.”
“Hm, hm,” Instructor Kade coughed. “You four are good to begin.” He pointed to Cadin, Sun, Lep and Bart. “And you four,” nodding towards the fringelanders, “are welcome to borrow weapons from the rack over there and answer a few of my questions.”
“What kind of questions?” Devin narrowed his eyes.
“The kind that make me feel that you are safe to be training with one of the teams I am responsible for.” Instructor Kade crossed his arms and stood up tall.
Devin smiled. “Fair enough.”
“Come on, Cadin.” Sun tugged on his shirt. “They’ll be fine. We have to get started.”
“That’s it!” Cadin exclaimed.
They worked their entire time on releasing the Anger Cubes quickly and throwing and catching them while the fringelanders attempted to thwart them. Cadin finally had the quick-release method down with some help from Crow and Cinna. They showed him how to isolate the Cube from the cloud elements that the Cube was drawing from.
“We shield all of our plants connected to a cloud before we move ‘em,” Cinna had explained. “You create a sort of protective bubble around their roots before pulling them out of the cloud-lands.”
“Way easier to insulate plants away from cloud elements before pulling them up. Glad it works for Energy Cubes.” Crow added.
Now that he wasn’t getting shocked by the Cube every time he reached for it, Cadin concentrated on freeing the Cube and throwing it to an ally before the built-up charge within the Cube reacted to him. The lights got brighter before the energy burst out and everyone was having fun trying to time the throws so it discharged mid-air.
“Ouch!” Lep shouted as icicles pelted his face. He dropped the Cube until it had finished. He glared at Sun who had thrown it. “You did that on purpose!”
“I would never.” Sun’s glee gave her away.
“Sure,” Lep reached into the cloud to re-release the Anger Cube. They learned quickly that any time the Cubes touched the cloud, they re-attached and charged. “Heads up!” Lep lobbed the Cube high in the air towards Sun, its lights glowing brighter.
Sun shot an arrow and knocked it slightly off course before she rolled out of the way.
The Anger Cube landed after discharging three small lightning bolts.
“Ouch, it shocked me through the cloud!” Lana said, dancing on her toes.
“Sorry!” Sun said. “Good to know that the lightning can travel a small distance.”
“Only if you know it is charged with lightning in the first place,” Bart said.
“Dragon Fire and guests!” Instructor Kade called from the corner. “Your training time is up!”
They returned their borrowed weapons and gathered around Instructor Kade. He smiled and nodded to their visitors. “Thank you for coming and helping out.”
“Our pleasure,” Devin answered.
“I hope you will be able to cheer them on in the First Round. Being the youngest team, they can use a good cheering section.” His eyes gleamed. “Though I believe they will surprise plenty in the crowd when the time comes.”
“Right. When is the First Round again?” Devin scratched his head.
“Two days.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Let the Games Begin
“That’s them,” Bart said as he gestured to a team eating at a table near the Food Corner of the Competitors’ Village. Their red Auras glowed in the dim evening light. “The Carpathian Cadets, our First Round opponents.”
“They’re big,” Lep said, straightening his back.
“Yeah, fourth years for sure,” Cadin added. The veretal coating shimmered down the four boys’ feathers. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I raced one of them today in the flyway. Saw his I.D. card when he handed it over to gain his credit.”
“So, he beat you?” Lep asked. Cadin kicked his shin. “Ouch! I was just checking.”
“Yes, he won.” Bart shook his head. “Even though he’s big, that one in the middle is fast.”
“Big and fast in the air.” Sun rested her hand on her chin. “Maybe we can beat them through the tunnels.”
“Let’s go back to the condos and strategize a bit more.”
“Sounds good. I can’t believe the Games start tomorrow!” Lep said, rubbing his hands together.
“Which means that in only two days, the field will be cut in half!”
“Hopefully we are on the winning half,” Bart said.
“Yeah. I’m just glad that we don’t have to wait to compete until day two,” Lep said as he unfolded his wings. “Ariana and her whiney team did not seem too happy about the schedule.”
“Let’s not spend our time thinking about them now,” Sun chided. “Let’s work on our team.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Lep said, saluting before taking flight.
“Eh, boys,” Sun said. She shook her head and smiled at Cadin before taking off.
The dinner table was full of excited competitors. Those that were normally loud were nearly silent, while the others nervously chitchatted. Freddy sat away from their team, and turned red when he tried to pull Cora with him and she refused, sitting by Bart instead.
“What is up with him?” Lep asked Cora.
Cora gazed down the long table at Freddy who was avoiding eye contact. “I guess he has a lot of family on Galen where fringelands are closer and more common than around Glade. One of the nearest group of fringelanders joined the Raiders during the war. They attacked someone in Freddy’s family on their way back from visiting Glade. I guess Freddy’s family holds a grudge.”
“Against all fringelanders?”
Cora nodded. “It took forever after that run-in at the Arena for him to even give me that much of an explanation. And he had no interest in hearing that your friends are just kids like us.”
“That’s sad,” Sun pondered.
“Yeah,” Cadin added.
Cora took a bite of the grilled fish. “Please tell your friends that most of us are sorry about what happened.”
Cadin nodded. “We will. Thanks.”
Sun looked back at Cora. “Is that why you refused to sit with him?”
Cora blushed and looked down at the table. “That was part of the reason. I don’t think it is right to treat people that way when they’ve done nothing to deserve it. And also…well…because he tried to kiss me.”
“What?”
“Really?”
“But I thought you were dating Bart?” Lep said, mouth hanging open with a bit of bread hanging out.
Bart gazed at Cora, concern etching his face. “Are you okay?” His voice was low and soft.
“Yes, I’m fine.” Cora nodded and met Bart’s eyes. “He didn’t force the issue after I told him I wasn’t interested in him like that. I’m just embarrassed.”
Bart put an arm around her and hugged her close for a moment.
Cadin risked a glance at Freddy, who was thankfully still glaring down at his plate. “I think we should turn in early and try to get as much rest as possible.”
“Good point. Big day tomorrow,” Lep said, yawning.
The dark of night was beginning to wane, and Cadin inhaled the aroma of the morning mist comingling with the flowers nearby. Gur poked his head over the edge of the hanging plant.
Cadin nodded and the dragon silently jumped to his arm. They made their way outside and sat on the wall that separated their patio from the Fineman Gardens. Gur slipped into the brush and Cadin laid back to look up at the few stars still sparkling in the semi-dark sky.
Gur checked in a few times, showing Cadin his insect catches as the sky brightened and the sounds of waking angels stirred inside the condos.
“Hi, Cadin.” Sun pulled up a chair and sat next to him.
He sat and smiled. “Good morning. How’d you sleep?”
“Great once Araina and the other girls finished grooming and finally settled down. You?”
“Good. But I was too excited to sleep in, so another early morning.”
Gur popped up out of the sweet-smelling bush and rushed over to Sun. She accepted the hopper he dropped in her hand and rubbed his chin. “Thank you, Gur. So how long have you two been up?”
“Less than an hour.”
Sun shivered.
“Are you cold?”
She smiled. “No. I’m excited.”
Cadin jumped down from the wall. “Me too. And I think we are ready.”
“Heck yeah!” Lep said from the doorway of the boys’ room. His blond hair poked up at odd angles and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
“You are going to wake everyone up,” Sun chastised quietly.
Lep peered over his shoulder as he walked over to them. “Naw. They’re all already awake. Ben or John…the big one on Gregor’s team…”
“Ben,” Cadin and Sun said together.
“Yeah, Ben. He let out a nasty ol fart. The sound was enough to get me out of bed, but I think the smell will smoke the rest of them out soon.”
“Boys are gross,” Sun said.
