Stealing the Dragon’s Heart by Kiersten Fay

14

Just as Onnika took her place in line for the virtual reality event, she saw that Aidan had beaten her there. He was seated in one of only four VR chambers, a shell-like cockpit open on either side for easy access, situated on a high platform near four larger than average holo-screens. The three remaining VR chambers were occupied as well.

Only four contestants competed at once? Good odds.

Caryn, watching from the sidelines, shot her a set of thumbs-up for encouragement.

As Aidan reached for his VR visor, he glanced in her direction and did a double take. Then he smirked and shook his head before donning the visor.

What the hell was that? Did he think she was out of her league here? He didn’t even know what she was capable of. The nerve!

The massive screens blinked to life, each showing a first-person view from the contestant’s perspective. Four computer generated ships hovered side-by-side at the base of a desert canyon. Bold numbers blinked on the screens, counting down.

Onnika recognized the VR system immediately. AVFS, Advanced Virtual Flight Simulator. It was the most advanced, ridiculously realistic virtual reality flight simulating system ever released to the public. She’d been dying to try it out ever since hearing of its existence.

When the count reached zero, the race began and the players shot forward. Aidan’s ship leaped ahead, snagging the lead. Second place was hot on his ass, however, and gaining. The first turn was a sharp, blind corner. Aidan had no trouble navigating it, but then suddenly he came upon a jagged boulder jutting out from the cliff face, blocking his path and forcing him to bank hard to the right to avoid it. In doing so, he nearly sideswiped his closest competitor, but at the last moment, he corrected his trajectory and the two ships only grazed each other. Was that skill or luck?

Unfortunately, it slowed them both down.

As the two ships righted their trajectories, the craft that had been in third place powered ahead, taking the lead. She heard Aidan’s curse as he followed close behind, maintaining second.

The canyon opened up to a sea of high dunes that resembled a still snapshot of monstrous waves in the midst of a tumultuous storm. In tight formation, the racers climbed to the pinnacle of the first sandy peak, gaining speed on the smooth uphill straightaway. In turn, the ships launched off the apex, leaving a wake of whiplashed sand that glistened and danced in the air.

Thrusters burning hot, the racers streaked high over the gently sloping dunes that gradually shrank in size before leveling out to a plain of dried cracked plates of hard packed soil.

Onnika bit her nails as the four crafts sidled up to one another, neck and neck.

An obstacle of stone arches rose up ahead, closely aligned but offset just enough to force the racers into zig-zag maneuvers to avoid smashing into one another or into the thick legs of the arches. Aidan was still trailing the lead. The third and fourth place racers lost ground.

In the distance, a wall of desert stone rose, disappearing into the clouds. At its center was a narrow canyon that offered a deeply shaded passageway. The first-place racer opted for a higher altitude while Aidan went low, staying close to the ground. The two were right on top of each other.

As their path thinned even further, Aidan tilted his craft sideways to avoid brushing the jagged cliff faces with his wings. Moments later, the other racer was forced to do the same. At these speeds, the slightest glance would be enough to toss a ship off kilter, resulting in a fiery shower of metal and fuel.

Although this was a virtual race, Onnika felt her heart begin to pound. Transfixed, she hadn’t noticed Caryn coming to stand by her side. Lear was with her now. “Hey. We’re going take a look around,” Caryn informed her.

Feeling a little protective, she eyed Lear briefly, then nodded to Caryn. “Be careful. Stay close to him.”

Lear seemed to have noticed Onnika’s flash of concern. “Do you expect danger?”

“I always expect danger,” she replied.

“Your sister is safe with me,” he assured.

She believed him. His intention to look out for Caryn was strong. That eased some of Onnika’s worry. Once the two of them were off, she returned her gaze to the race.

Aidan’s ship was still perpendicular to the ground, but he remained perfectly centered in the impossibly narrow canyon, as though he inherently understood the dimensions of his craft. His opponent was doing all right as well, though he seemed to have more room to maneuver.

A pinprick of light up ahead indicated the exit. The light grew brighter and brighter until it was nearly blinding. Aidan and the other racer exploded from the crevasse. The other racer leveled out immediately, but for some reason, Aidan remained sideways.

Onnika cocked her head. Then she understood why. Through the bright haze, he’d caught sight of the curved cliff face directly in line with their path. The canyon hadn’t ended, it had only expanded, and they were approaching another sharp turn.

Already in the perfect position, Aidan pulled back on his controls and engaged his bottom thrusters, riding the curve. The other ship banked hard, but didn’t have enough time to readjust. His ship slammed into the cliff and erupted into a fiery mess of shrapnel that rained down just as the third-place ship emerged from the narrow passage and nearly made the same error, just barely clearing the turn and taking second place. Aidan was now in the lead.

He added power to the thrusters as he headed into the second lap. With each twist and turn, he only seemed to gain speed, the others falling farther and farther behind. He blasted over the desert, shot through the arches, and glided through the narrow canyon, once more taking the low path.

On the third and final lap, it was as if he’d designed this landscape purely for his own enjoyment. Like a bird soaring on a peaceful current, his flight seemed effortless. She took in his expression, visible just under the visor. He looked almost bored.

To the cheers of the spectators, he crossed the finish line with nearly half a lap between him and his rivals.

Removing his visor, he sent her a how do you like me now look that grated. Blasé, she pretended to examine her cuticles.

After stepping down and collecting his voucher, he made his way over to her. “You going to show me what you’ve got?”

“Careful, Aidan, or my moves might just blow your mind.”

He crossed his arms. “I’d like to see that.”

Turning on her heels, she headed up the platform. He called up to her. “A bit of advice…”

She glanced back, and found his mocking grin far too sexy.

“Try not to crash.”

“Sage advice,” she replied sardonically, then took her place in the VR chamber and slipped the visor over her head. Instantly, it was as though she’d been transported to another realm. Her vision of the big top was replaced by a jagged, rocky landscape. Blue sky as far as she could see met the uneven terrain composed of stone plateaus and sharp cliffs. The purr of the interactive VR chamber surrounded her like the vibration of the ship’s engine running through her bones. So realistic. She even thought she smelled the sharp bite of fuel. Amazing.

Her starting position was different than the previous race, high on a bluff at the edge of a precipice instead of in a deep canyon, which suggested this racetrack was all new, and therefore unpredictable.

No matter. She had faith in her skills.

Below, where the cliff’s base met the low land, her gaze followed the track of slightly darker sand to a wide-mouthed cave. That was where they were headed, beyond was a mystery.

When the countdown started, she grabbed the controls, her adrenaline spiking, excitement surging. Before getting stuck with Tag, she and Caryn would travel from port to port, seeking employment and occasionally entering races for cash prizes, often winning and earning enough for them to survive…until they’d been swindled. One day, she and Caryn had been duped into trading their only vessel for a craft that promised to be a racer’s dream. It turned out to be a lemon. It could fly, but barely…wholly unfit for racing without major, costly upgrades.

Because she couldn’t race and there’d been no opportunities for work, their funds had dwindled. They’d been forced to steal to avoid starvation, which inevitably led to their capture and incarceration, putting them in the direct path of Tag and his cohorts.

But they were finally free, and she was going to keep it that way.

She took in a breath and let it out slowly. At the zero mark, she powered forward and edged off the cliff into a deep nosedive, successfully taking the lead. “Ha!”

In her peripheral, she noticed another racer’s ship close by…too close for comfort.

With the cliff face at her belly, she added power to her thrusters, but the other ship continued to close the distance between them.

She’d been so focused on the race, she hadn’t taken the time to mentally scan her competition. She did now. The one coming up on her right was the aggressive type. The racer just behind her was too, but he wasn’t the one about to—

His wing batted hers, knocking her off balance. She nearly lost control entirely, but managed to keep her craft stable. That little kiss cost her dearly. As she lost speed, all three racers blasted past her.

She was more concerned with the ground rushing toward her…fast!

She pulled up on the controls as hard as she could. The ground was still coming at her, but the horizon shifted into her viewpoint. Still, she was dangerously losing altitude.

For a moment, she was sure she wasn’t going be able to pull up in time.

Fingers dancing over the console, she engaged the bottom thrusters. “Come on! Come on!”

The good news? She didn’t explode into a flaming heap. Her craft simply skidded across the bedrock. She felt the violent vibration of gravel angrily scraping the gut of her ship before she took to the air once more.

The bad news? She was now in last place and had lost nearly all of her momentum.

She thought she heard Aidan’s distant laughter from somewhere among the jeering crowd. She wanted to strangle him. Instead, she powered forward through the mouth of the cave.

Velvety darkness folded around her. Her eyes strained to adjust. With a yelp, she yanked the craft to the right, dodging a stalactite in her path, then to the left, just missing another. This cave was filled with them. For a moment it was all she could do not to slam into one. There weren’t as many around the borders, but she couldn’t get there easily to take advantage of the open space. The cave’s uneven ceiling and floor had her constantly adjusting altitude as she swerved around the obstacles.

Finally, she fell into a kind of rhythmic groove, winding through the cave, dipping and dodging, diving and climbing. It worried her that she didn’t see any of the other ships. Was she already that far behind?

Hazy light ahead told her she was approaching the exit. The stalactites thinned and she pushed the engines harder, jetting into the too-bright sunlight—an assault on her eyes after all that darkness.

Her pulse jumped.

Would she meet a drastic turn as Aidan had? Luckily, no. She entered a flat plain. The other ships were leading by a good distance, battling for the lead.

Working her engines to the max, she tore across the flats. She saw a huge rounded crater ahead, like something made by the strike of an asteroid, with a steep drop that leveled out before rising up to another plateau. Her competitors simply flew over it, the most direct path across. She followed suit.

Suddenly the other ships tilted and jostled, as if they were fighting to keep control. Seconds later, she discovered why. Multiple geysers below gushed hot air, creating havoc. The squall assaulted her wings, throwing her up and to the right. She corrected just as another gust pushed her to the left, causing her to overcorrect. “Dammit.”

The others had equal trouble, losing momentum as they worked to stay on track. The struggle slowed her as well, keeping her from taking the advantage.

But next time she would.

For now, she was grateful to make it across. The winds died down and she straightened out, once more riding the flats at full speed, the engine roaring in her ears.

Coming up, a series of stone arches led toward a rising cliff. A cleft cut through it, just like in Aidan’s race. She breezed through the arches and rocketed into the channel. As Aidan had, she went low, closing in on her competition. And like Aidan’s race, the cliffs narrowed, forcing them all to angle their wings perpendicular to the ground. It was a tight squeeze, but she managed.

Unlike Aidan’s race, this channel was filled with drastic twists and turns, sharp and treacherous. Twice she nearly hit the rock face. One of her closely trailing competitors must have. She heard the distinct sound of an explosion and imagined the ship ripping apart, followed by a fireball of raining down on the track behind her.

Two competitors left.

Burgeoning light ahead put her on high alert. One of those wicked turns could be coming up.

Wicked was right. Turn was wrong. She came to a vertical cylinder chute. The only way to go? Straight up.

Moving at a dangerously fast speed for such a maneuver, she pulled back on the controls and engaged the thrusters along the belly of her ship. She skimmed the rocky wall, but kept control as she propelled skyward. Moments later, she shot into the blistering sunlight and immediately leveled out to ride the ridged sloping path ahead of her at full speed.

She wasn’t as far behind now, but still in last place. Not for long, she hoped. She had the lay of the track. As she began the second lap, she took that first dive at breakneck speed, finding no trouble this time around.

Blasting into the inky mouth of the cave, she immediately maneuvered to the edge, where there were no stalactites, and rode it smoothly to the exit. Thundering across the flats, she put even more power into the engines. They wailed from the effort.

The other ships, now not so far ahead, crossed the windy crater in the same fashion as before, battling for control. Instead of following this time, Onnika took another route. She dove into the crevasse, accelerating to insane speeds. Outside, the wind whistled past her. She only wished she could feel it in her hair.

The ground raced up to meet her, but she only smiled. At the last minute, she pulled up, and just as she suspected, the gale winds caught her wings and pushed her up as if she’d engaged an extra engine. While the others continued to fight the tempest, she was using it to her advantage.

Shooting out of the crevasse, she took the lead.

Heart pounding with exhilaration, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.