The Column Racer (25 page)

She looked again at the gold piece in her hand. It was a mighty beautiful coin, as diamonds hovered around the outer edge. She did exactly what Talon had told her to do. The rest of the coins in the basement were dispersed evenly amongst the servants, and she had each servant compile a list of families they could think of that truly needed the money.

It was such a risk these days, to carry such money around, especially when the money she was holding was the cause of so much destruction and the loss of so many lives. But it was also a symbol of hope. And it made her heart light again, just as she had felt when Areli was still there. She missed her former charge very much. She and the other servants keep a space on the wall in their shared living quarters of all the wall clippings carrying the news from Abhi.

Tears still came to her eyes, as her mind frequently traveled back to the article about the sorting competition. Areli was too good of a rider. How could she have not placed as a premier? Many nights after reading that, she would stay up extra late, directing prayers towards the stars, to give Areli strength during dark times. And then she would cry, weep herself to sleep in her bed, because she wasn’t there to comfort her. The only thing she hoped for now was that Talon had made it up there, so hopefully he could lift some of the pain away.

There was a knock on the front door. The maid quickly fumbled to conceal the coin. She could hear the new rider’s mother scream that somebody was there. She slipped the coin in her apron and walked into the foyer. It was unexpected that someone drop by now. But these were unexpected and unpredictable times.

When she opened the door, her voice immediately got lodged forever in her lungs. She fumbled with the doorknob, and then got down on her knees. Paying her respects and devotion to royalty.

“What do you mean I can’t see him?” screamed Talon, “I have to get back there.”

“Talon,” said the messenger, “I’m sorry, but we just can’t risk it.”

“You guys do it all the time,” said Talon through clenched teeth.

“That was before,” said the messenger, “it’s too risky, Talon. Whatever you need to say to him . . . it’s going to have to wait.” Talon threw up his hands and walked away.

“Talon! Hey, Talon! What’s so important anyways?” But Talon didn’t hear him. He was too angry. Too frustrated. He slammed the door of the tavern as he walked back out into the darkness. He was counting on the carriages or wagons to bring him to the Valley. But now he would be forever stuck on the wrong side of the mountain. He leaned against a pole and swore heavily. He wanted to scream into the night air. The pain was eating him up inside. If he never saw Areli again, he couldn’t bear to think it.

“Talon?” said the messenger, coming out to check on him, “what is so important, that you have to see Degendhard?”

“Never mind,” said Talon, wiping a tear from his eyes, “it doesn’t matter now.”

“I can’t help you, if you don’t tell me.”

“You can’t help me,” said Talon, “nobody can help me.”

“Why don’t you come back inside?” said the messenger, “have yourself a drink, maybe two.” Talon waved away his offer and started to walk away.

“Don’t tell me this is about a girl, Talon,” said the messenger, “is this why you won’t tell me?” When Talon didn’t respond, he ran after him, and spun him around. “Hey, I’m talking to you. Are you going to answer me or no? Is this about a girl or not?”

“What’s it matter to you?”

“Let her go, Talon.” said the messenger, “If she’s in Abhi, you’re a fool to chase after her.”

“No,” said Talon, “no, you’re wrong. I was a fool to let her go.”

Yats looked at her as she walked towards him through the corridors. As Areli looked at him, she could feel her heart. She was sure it had packed up its things and left without her, but it had come back just to see the brown in his eyes. She never told him that even though Fides was her best friend, he was somehow the most important thing to her. Well, him and Kaia. She was surprised how Yats made her forget about Talon.

Yats would listen to her sad story. He would hold her. Kiss her. Massage her neck and her back. Tickle her feet. If all the stars in the sky had decided to never brighten up the night, Areli knew he would find a way to bring them back again. After all, he was the fire that brought her back to life. He told her everything Fides told her during the times they laid awake staring at fires or looking up at stars, but he did so with more finesse and care.

“If you ran away,” said Yats, “I would find you. My heart is so connected to yours that I wouldn’t even let you get past your front gate.”

“But what if I don’t have a heart?” asked Areli. Yats placed his hand on her chest, then checked the vein in her wrist, and then laid his head against her chest, over her heart. Then after his prognosis, he looked at her.

“I’ve checked three times,” said Yats, “and do you want to know what I found?” She nodded her head.

“Well, my hands, which I trust, felt this thumping in your chest. I could have been wrong, so I checked your wrist. Still a thump. But I wanted to be sure, and my ears . . . my ears heard the most beautiful sound in the world. So, Areli Roberts, I am very happy to inform you, that you . . . yes, you do indeed have a heart.”

“And a soul?”

“Heart and soul are connected. Can’t have one without the other.” She hugged him, and brought him towards her, and then they kissed, with the stars as their witness . . . they kissed.

As the days passed, she would keep him awake at night with her worries about the next race and the Emperor’s threat.

“Tell me something, Areli . . . how much do you love column racing?”

“Is this a trick question?”

“Just answer the question,” said Yats with a smile and his small laugh that she had become infatuated with. Actually, she had become infatuated with all of him.

“Not nearly as much as I love you.”

“You love me?”

“Well . . . um . . . yes . . . Yats, I love you. How’s that answer your question?” He looked into her eyes and brought her into his arms. He kissed her gently, then passionately. With his hands on the side of her face, he whispered, his words building and sustaining the walls of the world of two.

“I love you.” A while later – the topic was revisited, after a long session of kisses that covered most of their bodies.

“I’m just saying,” said Yats, “you love column racing. You’re the best rider on the team.” Areli slapped him on the chest.

“We both know Fides is the better rider.”

“Do we?” asked Yats, “that might be what you think. I guess we were bound to disagree at some point.” If she could possibly love him any more . . . she found she did. “What I’m asking is . . . do you want to be a premier rider?”

“Yes, of course, but not at the expense of . . .”

“Not the question. Focus. Question. Do you want to be a premier rider?”

“Yes.”

“Would you have . . . barring the incident . . . been a premier?”

“More than likely.”

“Yes or no, Areli,” said Yats, his head propped up on the stone ground, looking over at her.

“Reasonably speaking . . . I guess . . . yes.”

“So you love column racing, love Kaia, and in the absence of Sofi . . . you would have been a premier rider. On your way to competing for an invitation to the World Race. Keep in mind, this is all before the Emperor’s hand has touched the circumstances.”

“I know.”

“Now the truths. The Emperor is going to see to it that you are a premier rider in the sport you love, so you can ride the dragon you love, to be cheered on by the man you love . . . who by the way loves you the same way back, if not more.”

“You can’t love me more,” said Areli playfully, “if anything I love you more.”

“This coming from the girl with
no
heart.”

“Hey, mister,” said Areli pointing her finger at him. He leaned in and brought it into his mouth, kissing the tip, letting his teeth graze the skin the entire length. Yats then kissed her hands, her arms, her collarbone, then her neck, her face, and carefully and seductively, left her lips for last.

“What about Sofi?” asked Areli, as she and Yats were walking around the city. It was two nights before the first competition and Areli was still in locker seven, to her relief.

“I hope you’re not going to ask me if I feel bad about the punishment dealt to her by the Emperor,” said Yats, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to agree with Fidelja on that one. If I would have been the one to see the note before Fidelja, she would never have made it to see her uncle. She got off easy.” When Yats said it, it made Areli smile.

“You mean so much to me, Areli,” said Yats, stopping them in the street, “if you would have . . .” Tears were desperately close to expressing themselves, “I would have died with you.” Areli leaned in close and kissed his lips, letting her forehead rest on his.

“I love you, Yats,” she whispered.

“I love you, Areli,” he whispered back, and they continued to walk down the path. Yats turned away a moment later . . . to check something in his eyes. Areli just shook her head.
Men
, she thought,
always the need to be tough
.

It was the day before the first competition. It was also Areli’s birthday. She was now fifteen. She felt neither older nor wiser. She felt as she did during the last couple of months when she was fourteen. Cold. Bitter. Empty. She somehow wished she could shed her problems, her worries, and her fears like the skin of a snake. But she is not a snake. So, everything that has troubled her heart will continue to trouble her heart, scorching the soft tissue until it is hard and black, turning it as sour and rotten as the city she inhabits.

She is to have a party tonight, but for now, she wanted to be alone. And she was grateful she was given this moment of privacy. She was in the library, by herself, amongst the shelves. A place where she can cry without eyes watching her, or people trying to comfort her. Sometimes, Areli just liked to cry. She didn’t want to be held. She didn’t want anyone to say it will be okay. She just wanted to let the tears roll, and be given the time to try to heal the pain herself.

Yats was off doing some work for his political class with the senate. Fides was with Amer, probably scrambling with the final touches of the present that Fides had been constructing since the start of last month. And Areli was now in the library for a different reason. She had found the back shelves of the library as a comfortable isolated place from the other student body.

Now that people had stopped pitying her for not making it higher on the roster, and that the news that Sofi still had not showed up to school and her claimed hand-written note had become old and stale, attention now turned to how spectacular it was that Areli had ridden Kaia without a saddle. And that she was even alive at all for that matter. Mouths wanted to hear from the source, how she did it, how it felt, what was going through her head at the time and many other similar questions.

So, her ‘Area of Tears’ as she likes to call it, now doubles as her ‘Palace of Solitude.’ Beyond her occasional cry sessions, she found this place deep within the stacks to be quite peaceful. Here, she could be herself, think, and be given a chance to hear her own voice without the conscious knowing she was being watched by one, if not all, who were in her class. Their questions trying to chase her down, like a predator does its prey.

Areli looked up from a random book she had simply grabbed because of the title,
The Great Night and the Fire Breathing.
The noise that stole her attention was a voice. No. It was two voices. Maybe three. Areli looked down at her feet. She was standing on the floor barefoot, with her heels next to her.

Her curiosity crawled up and down her spine. She easily pictured herself sneaking around the shelves. She could catch their words if she wanted to. Areli had an image of herself walking on her toes to the end of the row of shelves and prowling to the area they were talking. It brought a flicker of a smile to her face.

Little fires of mischief were her specialty at her old school, and the feelings were too strong for her to ignore. Areli left her shoes where they were and moved like a cat down along the books. She could hear their speaking.
Muffled
. But they spoke with the thought that no one would be back there. The same reasons she brought herself to this abandoned section as well.

She moved quickly, with light and flowing steps. Her heart rising and falling with the glee of a prancing deer through an open field, with not a care in the world. She was careful, as if the slightest wrong move would give her away. Areli moved just close enough that their words became clear, and then she let her ears enter into their conversation.

“So what have the others found out?” came a girl’s voice.

“Not much,” said another female.

“What does she think we’ll find?” asked a male voice, “I bet we could ask everyone in this school and we would all receive the same thing.”

“Well, we can’t go to her with this.”

“How many people have you asked?”

“I don’t know, twelve . . . maybe thirteen.”

“Well, we need to work faster . . . she needs something. Something useful.”

“I don’t think we are going to find it here.”

“Why don’t we just ask her friend?”

“Or her boyfriend?”

“How stupid are you? I can’t believe you would actually think they would tell us anything. We have to keep this light, approach the subject casually. Let’s try to avoid talking to people she associates heavily with. Have you talked to the riders?”

“The riders. You know how they are. All of them . . . they think they’re
too good
for anyone.”

“Well, get to their friends,” said the girl, “bribe them, threaten them, blackmail them, do whatever, but keep it inconspicuous . . . she wants us to tread lightly, slight ripples . . . we’re going to bury her.”

“But
it’s
Fides!” said the boy, “I mean the Emperor loves her like she’s his own child.”

“Not after Sofi’s done with her,” said the girl.

Areli had to grab her mouth. She had to fight with herself to keep herself upright.
Fides was wrong
, thought Areli,
Sofi is very much here. Maybe not here physically, but her spirit is traveling these halls, these streets, searching for information, information big enough to bring Fides harm, if not death.

The voices kept going, but the only thing she kept hearing was the name Fides, and the word
bury
, and their initial source . . . Sofi. After the three students left, Areli collapsed onto the ground. Tears coming violently into her eyes. She couldn’t believe it. And she didn’t want to. She was choking. Snot had somehow found a way to form itself into a ball and block her throat. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. She heard the gong saying that the lunch period was over, but she didn’t move, her legs wouldn’t allow her to.

Areli stayed there on the floor until the last gong had rang, saying that classes had ended for the day. She forced herself up, grabbed her shoes and ran to the lockers, ran to Fides. Areli found her. Her friend looked radiant. Unknowing. Unsuspecting. Not caring. Aloof. Areli walked towards her. She didn’t care who was watching her, she just didn’t care. All she cared about was to keep her friend safe.

“Areli,” said Fides rushing to her, with a shirt that said ‘My Best Friend Just Turned Fifteen,’ when she spotted her in the crowd, “what in the stars happened to you?” Areli’s hair was messed up, as she pulled it every which way in frustration, and her eyes looked as if they were stung by bees. She grabbed her friend’s arms and dragged her towards the bathroom.

“What is it, Areli?” asked Fides as Areli had let go of her arm once they were in the marble room. She went around with a stern face, checking every stall, making sure that they were alone. Areli looked at Fides, her eyes were big, stricken with worry.

“She – she’s after you Fides,” screeched Areli.

“Who – who’s after me?”

“Who do you think?” screamed Areli, tears pouring out of her eyes as if she had hidden rain clouds beneath her eyelids, “SOFI!”

“Sofi . . . Sofi hasn’t been at school for nearly two weeks.”

“She’s still here, though,” said Areli, “she has people, Fides . . . she has – I don’t know – students . . . asking about you. They’re searching for something. Do you – are you hiding something?”

“Of course not,” said Fides, “what could I possibly be hiding.” She seemed troubled by Areli’s words, but only slightly. “Typical Royals . . . they’re just trying to get to me . . . hoping they will throw me off my game.”

“This isn’t a game, Fides!” said Areli, “not to Sofi. You’ve seen what she’s done. You’ve seen what she’s capable of.”

“Yeah,” said Fides, “and I nearly lost a friend because of it. She won’t do anything to me. Can’t. Don’t you see, Areli? We’re not to be touched. Even the Emperor watches his actions around us.”

“Not to me.”

“Trust me, Areli,” said Fides, “whatever the Emperor had done is nothing compared to what he does to people that – that . . . he hasn’t tied his name to. We’re more important to him . . . than his own kin.”

“But, Fides.”

“No, Areli . . . no! I have nothing to hide.
Nothing.
If Sofi wants to play inspector, I encourage her because I know at the end of their digging, all they would have found . . . is the truth that is right in front of them . . . I’m a column racer, born to be, and this is my year. There is no losing in the short-go this year, Areli. I’m focused. There’s no losing this year.” Fides had tears in her eyes and was quickly trying to wipe them away as fast as they were coming out.

Areli wrapped her arms around her. Her friend. Her sister. Fides held Areli just as tight as she was holding her and buried her head into Areli’s shoulder. Both of their shoulders were shaking.

“I promise you, Areli,” said Fides, “there is nothing secretive about me. Sofi is reaching into an empty bag.”