Silver Batal and the Water Dragon Races

by K. D. Halbrook

  “Brajon!” She waved to him, pulling her mask up slightly so he’d get a quick peek at her face. “Excuse me,” she said. “That’s my cousin. I have to get to him.” She climbed past a group draped in team flags and reached for Brajon’s hand.

  In the sea, water dragons were battling for the finish line. Silver desperately wanted to stay and watch. Especially when she saw Ferdi riding … nothing? The boy skimmed across the top of the water, legs crossed, his hands holding reins that disappeared under the surface. His Glithern stayed under the whole time, even after they crossed the finish line in first place. Fascinating!

  “Where have you been?” Brajon’s face was a desert storm cloud. “You just walked off!”

  “Shh,” Silver hissed. “I’m sorry—I had to get away from people.”

  Brajon lowered his voice. “I thought you were kidnapped. I thought you were dead! If not for Mele, I would be pounding Queen Imea’s door down right now, looking for you. Have you seen the posters?”

  “Yes, that’s why I had to get out of here. But what about Mele?” As they talked, Silver peered over her cousin’s shoulder for her number. “My race starts at six thirty.”

  “Six thirty?” Brajon said. “That’s in ten minutes.”

  “Ten?” Silver squeaked. “Help, Brajon. The disguise I made for Hiyyan isn’t going to work. It’s soaked with seawater.”

  “There isn’t anything else.” Her cousin looked down, refusing to meet Silver’s eyes. “You don’t have to win to claim him. Go slowly, and cross the finish line in your own time. Protect Hiyyan.”

  “The wool is pulling, though. What if part of his wing pokes through? I can already see patches of blue through the fabric. If someone looks close enough, they’ll start asking questions. Think, Brajon. We only have ten minutes!”

  Brajon sighed deeply. Determination took over the set of his jaw and the glint in his eye. He pulled Silver by the arm down the seawall and away from the crowds.

  He reached into his pack and handed her a small bag. “I went back for this after I couldn’t find you.”

  Silver peeked inside and gasped. Suddenly, the image Hiyyan had sent her of Brajon at the cave entrance made sense. They must have just missed each other. “But you said—”

  “I know what I said. And it’s true!” Brajon smiled sheepishly. “So be careful, Silver. I mean it. Use only what you absolutely need, and get it off Hiyyan as soon as possible.”

  “Brajon, thank you.”

  “I guess even I have some dreams of glory.” He shrugged. “The first miner in hundreds of years to find camouin! I understand now how easy it is to get caught up in wanting to stand out.”

  “You’ve always stood out, cousin,” Silver said.

  Brajon’s cheeks flushed, but he shook his head, smiling, and continued talking.

  “It’s liquid now, but remember, heat activates the camouflage and solidifies the metal, too. Go claim Hiyyan,” he said, breaking into a run. “I have an idea for how to find Kirja. Mele showed me how to get to the royal training grounds earlier—”

  Silver dashed to catch up with her cousin. “She has to be there! If you can get her out while I’m racing, we don’t have to worry about appearing before the queen!”

  “But—”

  “You’ll have to fly. North. To the cliff that looks like a snub-beaked bird. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”

  “Wait—”

  But Silver couldn’t wait. She broke off from her cousin and sprinted down the seawall, calling with her mind.

  Hiyyan, it’s time.

  THIRTY-SIX

  Hiyyan peeked from behind the ship. Silver yanked off her tunic and threw it into the ocean, her thoughts swirling with visions of winning. This race, and then the semifinal.

  And then to the Island Nations Spring Festival, for the glorious final.

  When Silver reached Hiyyan, she combined her camouin with Brajon’s and smeared a thin layer over the Aquinder’s wings. His skin was still warm from swimming and flying, so the camouin activated slightly, though not as much as Silver had hoped. More important, though, Hiyyan’s wings disappeared.

  “Your body will heat up even more when we race, so that’ll help keep the camouin in place,” she said. “Hopefully,” she added as the edges of the smeared metal oozed slowly down Hiyyan’s sides. “It only has to hold until we cross the finish line.”

  She kept some of the wool to sit on, and made sure it hung slightly over the camouin so that it didn’t look like there was a hole in Hiyyan’s body. Then she used her knife to cut the rest of the fiber away from Hiyyan’s hood, keeping the disguise in place over his face.

  Hiyyan’s wings struggled against the camouin, and he let out a small cry of distress.

  “Just one race, my friend,” Silver said, trying to soothe him. “And only to claim you.”

  She slid onto Hiyyan’s back, affixed the race number to her clothing, pulled Hiyyan’s mane, and rushed him to the starting line. She barely had time to glance left and right at the other dragons, taking in a multitude of colors and shapes, before the horn sounded and the race began.

  Hiyyan surged forward so quickly it left Silver breathless. She slipped backward but caught herself before sliding all the way down her Aquinder’s tail and into the sea. The rider to her left laughed. She almost screamed at Hiyyan to slow down, but she bit her tongue, her dreams of glory so near she could taste them. Hiyyan was holding his own in the race.

  Silver pulled herself up until she was settled just behind Hiyyan’s mane again.

  “Go,” she screamed. “Faster!”

  The finish line flags fluttered far ahead. Mere dots on the horizon. They had time to pass everyone if Hiyyan could keep his pace. Silver clutched Hiyyan’s mane, lowered her body, and clenched her teeth. She looked left and right again, assessing her opponents through curtains of splashing water.

  She recognized the dragon with the laughing rider. She had a picture of a Floatillion on her bedroom wall back home. The water dragon was so huge and round that it seemed impossible it could swim with any real speed. But it was easily keeping up with Hiyyan, moving its massive bulk with what Silver assumed were huge, muscular legs beneath the surface of the water.

  On her other side, an Umbrillo used the fanlike fins around its neck to help gain speed, opening and closing them with little bursts of air. Hiyyan had almost caught up to the Umbrillo.

  Past the finned dragon were two more water dragons, including a Vaprozy. Finally, Silver understood why the guard thought that was such a funny racing breed. She’d known that it sucked air in through its mouth, then released it out its backside with a gust of speed. But now she discovered the stench that came with it.

  But the water dragon Silver was most worried about was in the last lane. The Shorsa, glittering lavender and sage, was known for its speed. It zipped ahead of everyone, churning water with its tail, upright.

  That’s who we have to catch up with, Silver thought to Hiyyan. If the Shorsa gets too far ahead, we have no chance. Faster!

  Hiyyan sent back an array of confusion that seemed to say, Faster?

  Silver knew she was there only to claim Hiyyan, but the farther they got along the racecourse, the more some other desire bubbled up in her. It threatened to burst from her like fireworks. She wanted more than to own a dragon by law: She wanted to win.

  That was her destiny.

  Her wrist burn throbbed as she clenched her fists tighter in Hiyyan’s mane.

  “Go, Hiyyan!”

  Silver couldn’t tell if the mask-muffled roar in her ears was the cheering crowd or the churning sea. She hooked her feet into the joints where Hiyyan’s wings met his body. He squirmed, and she knew he must feel trapped under the camouin. But even if he could spread his wings, there wasn’t room. The lanes were too narrow, and her opponents were too close—especially the Floatillion, who took up every bit of space in its lane plus a little in hers.

  Silver pulled her body as close to Hiyyan as she
could, to minimize wind resistance. The wet and cold of the sea flicked off her riding suit, and she silently thanked Nebekker for her nimble work. In a race as tight as this one, being lightweight and dry would make a difference. The Umbrillo rider was soaked, hit with water from his own dragon, and also from the Vaprozy to his right.

  Silver’s blood rushed through her body. Her knuckles turned even whiter. She licked her lips, tasting a layer of salt.

  Visions of Aquinder in ancient battles flitted through her mind. Those riders swept and soared over the deserts, directing their dragons with tightly gripped reins. Silver could almost taste the glory of the olden days. She wanted it.

  “Swim, Hiyyan!” she yelled.

  There was a roar, then a screech. The Umbrillo had jumped lanes with a fierce cry, whipping its tail at the Vaprozy. The Vaprozy bucked, its rider flinging into the air and landing in the sea far outside the racecourse. The Umbrillo returned to its lane and bared its teeth at Hiyyan.

  Were attacks like that legal in water dragon racing?

  Silver’s heart thudded as she faced forward again. The attack had left the Umbrillo behind Hiyyan slightly. But not enough for Silver to feel comfortable about their chances to advance.

  The racecourse wasn’t a straight line, and Silver saw there was a curve coming up. How could they take advantage of the curve? She closed her eyes and sent her water dragon a scene: Hiyyan, nearly sideways, pushing around the curve with one wing in the water and one wing partly outstretched, guiding them like an airborne rudder.

  Silver didn’t trust that the camouin would still hide all of Hiyyan’s wings if he spread them fully. But one wing, halfway stretched, should still be camouflaged enough, and could be useful.

  Silver sucked in a deep breath and used her foot to scrape away some of the camouin down Hiyyan’s left side. They were almost to the curve. But Hiyyan’s breathing was heavy behind his disguise. She could tell he wanted to slow down.

  “Almost, Hiyyan,” Silver said. She pictured a ferocious ball of energy and sent it to him. “We’re so close! Use your wing.”

  Hiyyan tipped onto his side. Silver closed her eyes and dug her legs into his sides as hard as she could, so that she wouldn’t end up in the sea. Her fists were so tight her nails cut into the skin of her palms. She clenched her teeth.

  “Arrgghhh,” she groaned. Her limbs were wound until bursting, her muscles straining in her arms and thighs. And still, she was slipping.

  She dug down to the dark depths of her strength and put everything she had into holding on, but her left hand lost its grip on Hiyyan’s mane. Her body rolled. The greedy sea grabbed at her, desperate to pull her into its black lifelessness.

  She shifted her weight to her right leg, still hooked over Hiyyan’s back, and held on. She had to stay on his back. For the win. For Kirja. To stay alive.

  Silver screamed into the water. Her muscles burned. Not just hers, but Hiyyan’s, too. They both wanted to give up.

  No! Hold on.

  Hiyyan righted himself, pulling Silver away from the sea. With one more burst of strength, she forced herself upright once more. Gasping for breath, she looked around. The Floatillion was far behind, wheezing as it tried to catch up. They’d passed the Umbrillo. The only dragon that was beating them was the Shorsa.

  The flags grew larger. They were almost at the end of the race. They had a shot at qualifying!

  “Go,” Silver shouted. She did the only thing she could think of: She sent Hiyyan an image of Queen Imea handing Kirja over to Silver. “For your mother!”

  Hiyyan tucked his wing, and with one great push that created a massive wave behind them, he thrust them over the finish line.

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  Silver threw her arms in the air.

  “We did it!” she screamed. “Second place, but we qualified! And we’ll do even better in the next race.”

  She hugged her Aquinder’s neck and caught her breath. She couldn’t keep a massive grin off her face.

  But Hiyyan’s body was icier than the seawater—so icy that the camouin began to slowly soften.

  “How can you be cold after all that swimming?” Silver said, worried. “Stay warm or the camouin’s going to drip into the sea.”

  The other water dragons and their riders swam away from the finish line. Some reached out to shake Silver’s hand, congratulating her and patting Hiyyan on his masked nose. Silver’s chest puffed out a little more with each well-wisher’s comment. Other racers glared as they swam off, their festival aspirations dashed by the mysterious pair. And still others hovered, waiting to get a closer look at the odd-looking water dragon, unlike any breed they’d seen.

  Silver gave Hiyyan a comforting rub, but his skin stayed cool under her fingertips.

  “What’s wrong?” Silver whispered, moving close to Hiyyan’s left ear. Hiyyan turned his head in the opposite direction and gave her a low growl.

  There wasn’t time to probe further. Silver quickly scanned the horizon. No Brajon, no Kirja. And no chaos among the crowds, as she’d assumed there would be if an alarm had gone up indicating that intruders had taken Kirja. Had they made it out of Calidia? She had to get to the cliffs to meet them. They had to get as far away as possible.

  “Congratulations, Desert Fox.” The woman who’d registered Silver earlier in the day rode over on a pink-and-orange Droller. She’d taken off her flower hat, and she wore a blue jumpsuit made of some kind of shiny material that water rolled off of. It glistened as she looked down at the list she carried and made some notes.

  The Droller, a massive water dragon able to carry twenty humans, greeted Hiyyan with a nuzzle rub. Silver recalled that Drollers were the most peaceful and calm of the water dragons.

  The woman tossed a small purse to Silver, who caught it against her chest. “You have qualified for tomorrow’s semifinals. You must be at the seawall at high noon to claim your spot.”

  Silver smiled, but the weight of the coins in the purse sat as heavy as the rock in the bottom of her stomach. She hoped Mele had helped Brajon find Kirja. She hoped she wouldn’t have to face the queen. Or Sagittaria Wonder.

  Silver pressed her heels into Hiyyan’s side gently to get him to move past the woman and paddle past the docks.

  Once they were behind the empty ships, she pulled his hood off.

  “Hiyyan, I don’t know what’s wrong, but we have to go back to the cliffs. Kirja has to be there.”

  Hiyyan’s mood immediately improved, and he let loose a mewl of excitement. With renewed energy, the Aquinder swam on. When they were out of sight of Calidia, Silver collected the softened camouin from his sides and put it into her bag, and Hiyyan opened his wings.

  As they flew, Silver searched the shoreline for any sign of her cousin and Kirja. It all looked the same as before. When they got to the cliffs, Hiyyan hovered at the hole so Silver could retrieve her things. Everything was as she’d left it. But still no sign of the other Aquinder.

  “Brajon!” she called. Her voice echoed off the walls and into the ocean. There was no reply.

  They flew in circles for several minutes, hoping Kirja and Brajon would miraculously appear on the horizon. They never did. Silver’s chest grew heavy with the truth.

  Brajon and Kirja were still in Calidia.

  “We have to go back for them,” Silver told Hiyyan.

  He let out a low growl, then stubbornly lowered himself to the ground.

  “I’m sorry, but we can’t rest now,” Silver said urgently. “I know we still don’t have your mother, but I need your help. I’ve done all of this for you: traveled this far, upset my family, made these disguises. People think I’m a thief! And I don’t want to be face-to-face with Sagittaria Wonder again after she … she…” Silver’s face lit with shame, and she shook her head, as though she could shake off that first meeting with the great water dragon racer.

  The water dragon refused to even meet her eyes.

  “Hiyyan, I used camouin,” Silver cried. “If someone finds out abo
ut that, I don’t even know what would happen to me. But you just want to sit here and mope?”

  For a moment, Hiyyan was silent. Then, his lips pulled away from his teeth, he raised his face to the slowly darkening sky, and he let loose an earth-shaking roar that choked off with what sounded like a sob.

  Then he stomped off.

  Silver dropped to the sand, hands shaking. So maybe the race had been hard. Maybe they’d both had to work for a good position. But that’s what it took to become a great water dragon racer! Hard work, struggle.

  Nothing Silver had done so far on this journey was easy.

  All to get Kirja back from Sagittaria Wonder.

  All so Hiyyan could be happy.

  Silver let out a breath and stared at the sea. If Hiyyan was happy, so was she. The reverse was true, too.

  Behind her, Hiyyan crunched some pebbles as he moved closer. A vision filled Silver’s mind.

  Hundreds of Aquinder soaring over burning desert cities. Their human riders roared victoriously, their faces bloodthirsty. They yanked the chains they used to control their water dragons, the metal digging painfully into the Aquinder’s mouths.

  Hot tears rolled down Silver’s face.

  “Is that what you think of me?” she asked. “That I’m like them? Just because I pushed you during the race? I just wanted us to be our best. My father always made it clear I wasn’t trying hard enough. Wasn’t good enough.”

  She slowly wiped her cheeks. “But maybe you don’t want the same things I do. Maybe we’re not meant to be—” It was too painful to finish the thought.

  With every word Silver said, Hiyyan’s head drooped lower and lower until, finally, his chin rested in the sand. Two huge, sad eyes gazed up at her.

  “Forget it, Hiyyan. Just take me back to the docks so I can find Brajon.”

  Silently, the water dragon got into position and Silver climbed on his back. His skin was cold, and her limbs were stiff, and as he took to the sky, they both jostled and bounced, their movements completely at odds with each other. Silver gritted her teeth as a headache built behind her eyes.