Zephyr eyed the long stretch of road before him. He let Kass get ahead a few minutes before he pulled out onto the track himself. The first section was asphalt as far as the tree line a few hundred metres away and where the road diverged in two. One track, the shorter one, was fully asphalt and looped back around, the entire road visible until it met the start again. That track was regularly used for short sprints and test runs. The rally track they were driving today was longer and disappeared into the forest where the road turned to dirt. It weaved among the trees, around tight corners, up and down little hills and through well worn ruts. Cat had it maintained by her crew regularly but it never stayed smooth for long. That was the point.

  “Come on Zeph,” Cat called from where she stood up the bank with her arms crossed. “Kass is probably over half way round already.”

  Evidentially he’d already waited too long. With a sigh he started the engine. Fixing his eyes on the bush line he lifted his left foot off the clutch as his right came down on the accelerator. With a spin of the tyres he was off.

  Zephyr liked driving. He liked the way it took all of his focus, forced him to pay attention only to the now. As he disappeared in among the trees he left all his thoughts behind him. Only the road before him existed. The mud and the dirt and the green. Any stress, any worries, any thoughts of the past or future vanished behind him. He got so lost in the motion that he almost forgot that this race had a purpose and that he didn’t want to win.

  He eased off the accelerator, focused on his lines instead. He drifted around one corner with ease and couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. His hands felt wrong though. He usually wore gloves, even for regular street driving. He liked the way they felt and the extra grip they gave him. Cat always mocked him for them, even though he knew she had some of her own racing gloves for specific events. He hadn’t worn them today though and their absence prevented him from losing himself completely in the driving.

  Rally racing wasn’t really his thing, he preferred a smoother road, but he found being in the bush accompanied by nothing but the sound of an engine and the splatter of mud quite peaceful. He’d once heard Kass describe how it felt to take a shot with her rifle and her description of it had reminded him of how he felt behind the wheel. It was calm, peaceful, and all-consuming. It was something he was pretty sure Cat felt too, although she might never say as much. The look she got on her face when she was driving said enough though.

  He was almost disappointed when the forest opened up again and he found himself back on the sealed track, back facing reality. It wasn’t over yet though. Cat would expect him to do a practice loop.

  The second loop was even easier to relax into and the moment he sped past the spectators he found himself already drifting back into that mental zone. He found a pace he thought was about right. Not too fast, not too slow. It was hard to judge though, how fast he needed to go to make sure that Falco won.

  Falco had been quick, although not as quick as Zephyr had assumed he’d be. It was going to be tricky to lose to him and not trigger Cat’s suspicions. She knew how fast he could drive this track. But the weather could change things dramatically. Hopefully she’d accept that as an excuse.

  When he finally pulled back in after a few more laps and got out of the car Cat was looking at the board with a frown.

  His heart sunk. He knew it had been a long shot. He thought of the mountain road, of the last time he’d driven it. He’d heard so many stories about it, of bold racers who went head to toe against dragons. He’d thought the idea so very exciting but no amount of reading had prepared him for the reality of it. Once you were on that road you were stuck. There was no quitting half way, few places to rest and never for very long. Once a dragon was on your tail, there were only two ways out. Zephyr had been lucky last time to escape with his life.

  He’d earned his badge of honor and despite the clawed up paint work that he’d acquired in his near escape, despite the amused half impressed look he’d received from Cat when he’d first brought his car in to be fixed, he’d sworn to himself that he would never drive that road again.

  He’d been terrified when they’d initially been assigned the van for their first trip inland and later relieved when Coal had provided a short teleport solution to get past the dragons. Now Cat wanted to drive that road again. Even worse, she expected him to carry passengers.

  It was one thing to risk his own life. It was somehow even worse when he had to do it in front of others who depended on him. Nothing could be worse than having one’s last moments also be the cause of everyone else’s. He’d rather die a hero. He’d rather not die at all.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  After such a relaxing drive the weight of all the thoughts and fears that accosted him now almost threatened to drive him right down into the dirt from all the weight they piled on him.

  But as he looked at the board he was surprised to find it wasn’t his name at the top, nor was it Falco’s. Zephyr’s own name was just above Indi’s. And at the top of the board, beating Falco by quite a gap and managing to rival what would have been a more realistic time for Zephyr was Kass.

  That was good. That meant Kass could actually drive. The responsibility didn’t need to fall on Zephyr after all and he didn’t need to feel bad possibly leaving everyone with a worse driver.

  It didn’t satisfy Cat though. Once she was done staring at the board, and then at Kass, she turned her attention to Zephyr. “What the hell was that?” she demanded.

  “What was what?” He played innocent.

  “You know what.” She scowled. “I’ve seen you race that track dozens of times. You’ve never been that slow.”

  He shrugged. “Track’s wet and I’m not great at switching cars.” That last part was kind of true. It always seemed to take him a little longer than others to get used to an unfamiliar wheel.

  Cat was having none of it. She narrowed her eyes. “Bullshit. I drove it this morning. And if the car’s the problem, let’s see you do it in your car then.”

  Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kass giving him a curious look. The others seemed more surprised at Cat’s response. He wasn’t sure why. This was classic Cat.

  She was less than a metre from him now and looking him right in the eye. He could see the puzzlement. The way she was trying to read him. She didn’t understand why he didn’t want to win.

  He didn’t want her to know the truth.

  He glanced toward his car. What could it hurt? He could go a little faster and still lose to Kass. Her time had actually been good. He shrugged. “Fine.”

  Cat gave a satisfied smile.

  He walked down the other side of the small bank to get his car. He’d washed it not too long ago and he winced at the idea of caking it in mud but if it got Cat off his back, what harm could it do? He could always wash it again later.

  He could have argued that he wasn’t much of a rally driver, which was also true. But he doubted Cat would have let him off that easy. She probably just would have suggested a road race and then what excuse would he have? His skyline wasn’t a rally car. It was too heavy and the weight distribution wasn’t really made for this kind of cornering but he had taken it out on the track before and he knew intimately how it handled each bend.

  Confident he wouldn’t be able to beat Kass’s time in this car, even if he was doing a good job, he pulled back out onto the asphalt.

  The same as before, he started off with a slower cruisy loop. He might be familiar with the track but the mud moved and little things could throw one off enough to put them in the bushes. He really did not want to scratch up the paintwork.

  The greenery flew by in a blur. Recent rain had softened the track but the warm and dry day had turned slippery mud into a more playdough like texture. The tacky and semi-firm earth was the ideal track for maximising times and it was obvious to anyone who knew how to drive. Zephyr should have known that Cat would give the track a test run.

  He’d always appreciated the test laps, never one to throw himself straight into it, he liked the chance to warm up, to reacquaint himself with the track. Even though he’d just driven it before, every car swap made it into something new, something both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. The perfect balance between novelty and comfort. And best of all, no damn dragons.

  The canopy overhead let just enough sun through to make the place seem like some other fairy tale world, one miles from civilisation.

  He cruised easily around the next sustained bend, enjoying the pull of forces without any need to rush or get things perfect. He wasn’t sure if it was the lack of pressure or the slightly reduced speed but he could have sworn his lines had actually improved.

  Something didn’t feel right though. He missed his gloves.

  As he reached a longer straight at the furtherest end of the track from the garage he decided the drive was too nice not to have them. He slowed down and with one hand on the wheel he opened the dash and pulled out a pair of black and grey leather driving gloves. Maintaining a very cruisy 75 kmph he quickly maneuvered the gloves onto his hands. Then he accelerated hard before braking for the hairpin turn at the end of the straight.

  Over-eager, he almost messed the turn up. His line was off and he had to slow right down before he could straighten up again to pull out of the bend without skidding into an overgrown ditch.

  Heading toward the southern side of the track, the dense bush thinned out in favor of a larger population of pines and grass. The occasional meadow of thicker low-lying stuff still grew in sunlit patches which he caught glimpses of every now and again between dark green needles and rough bark.

  He reached the start of the track again and knew he’d have to kick it up a notch for the next round if he didn’t want Cat to accuse him of not trying. A brief glance at the bank made him frown. Cat was nowhere to be seen. Where she usually stood, up near the top by the board, Kass was standing instead and it looked like she was the one doing the timing. Where was Cat?

  Zephyr didn’t have time from a proper look though so he just assumed that he’d missed her or been mistaken in what he’d seen. He thought little of it and turned his attention back to the drive instead.

  He’d only gone a few hundred metres into the bush and barely past the first few turns when a flash of yellow in the rear-view mirror caught his attention.

  Another rally car was on the track and it was gaining fast.