Zachariah watched the other racers ready to launch for the last leg. He noted the

absence of three of the propellor aircraft. He hoped he hadn’t left them in the desert

when he was saving the others.

Carson and Gear Octo talked beside the ace’s improved plane. He doubted the

machine would come apart after the going over they had done to it, but it was always

good to have a machinist along on a test flight.

The Kellers crawled over their own aircraft with tools in hand. He expected some

kind of booster to be put in play to give them a flight advantage in speed. He couldn’t

worry about that.

The Riordians in the race readied their daemons. The two days rest had done the

flying creatures some good in his opinion. More than one had thanked him as they

went by. He told them to thank the Alvas knight. Sir Dormir had done most of the

hard work of freeing them with his magic.

Brother Rabbit waved as he went to his spot, Pearl on his shoulders. He chewed on

a carrot as he eyed the sky. He nodded as if to say today was a good day to fly.

Zachariah agreed with that sentiment. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. You could see

the edge of the world when you climbed high enough.

He expected to be in Messer’s Reach about the middle of the night if the Rocket

performed like she had been doing.

He also expected to beat the rest of the racers there.

Entering the race had been a good thing on the whole despite the dangers. It had made

Sola happy for one. He had tested out his technology for another. He had met some

interesting people who could give him work down the line.

He had also met his rival in the Keller boys, and it had given him some insight on

how others became machinists.

“Ready to fly?,” asked Festus. He had come up from behind the Rocket. He smiled

at the way Zachariah jumped.

“Yes,” said Zachariah. “I am waiting on my crew to return from their last minute

shopping.”

“Really?,” said the king.

“It’s the first time Sola and I have been here since the destruction,” said Zachariah.

“She wanted a chance to look around before we left.”

“We’ve done what we can to rebuild things,” said Festus. “Do you really think this

threat is real?”

“The person who warned me warned me about an attack on the race in Corwin’s

Mansions,” said Zachariah. “I think he knows something, but since I have no way to

track him down, I have to proceed and see what I can find on my own.”

“I talked with the race officials,” said Festus. “They have informed me that the

Houses have been informed about the attack over the desert and the use of their

precious drug to do it. I have asked if they wanted some of our fliers to assist in

chasing the rebels out in the open.”

“I think we lost three of our mechanical fliers,” said Zachariah. “I think we missed

them when we were freeing the others.”

“Mechanical fliers?,” asked Festus.

“They had air machines powered by combustion engines,” said Zachariah. “I think

anything about it while making our escape and getting Gear Octo back in the air, but

I don’t see them here. And we lost one racer to the attack in the mountains.”

“I’ll see what I can do about it, but I expect the Houses block any rescue party from

entering their region of control,” said Festus. “It was a lot of dickering so the air route

could be traced over the desert if I recall correctly.”

“Can you get the racers back?,” asked Zachariah.

“I’ll talk to the Baldwin ambassador here in the city,” said Festus. “Green lights

should be able to extract them without any problem. They might be able to do it

without the Houses being aware a mission had been launched.”

“What if they won’t,” said Zachariah.

“I’ll think of something,” said Festus. “I have to give the commencement speech. You

might want to get ready to fly.”

“Thank you for checking on this,” said Zachariah. “I didn’t think about it until now.

I was too happy just getting out of the desert after getting the Rocket back into the

air.”

“It’s understandable,” said Festus. “None of your fellow racers even noticed, or

presumed your missing racers were dead. I’ll check into it. There’s Abigail, and the

boys. I have to go.”

Festus joined a woman and two young boys making their way toward the pavilion set

up for him to speak from at the end of the launch way. The boys waved their arms to

be lifted by the king as he walked toward the pavilion.

Zachariah smiled. He remembered the group from his visit to the government center

the first day he had been back. He wiped his face with his hand as he turned to check

the Rocket one last time.

Everything looked okay to his naked eye. Panels were in place. The spaces for the

landing skids to retract were clear. Nothing fouled the jets.

“We’re back, Da!,” called Sola.

“I’m here,” said Zachariah. He waved at her as he stepped from behind the Rocket.

“What have you got there?”

“Some souvenirs,” said Sola. “I also got you eye protectors for flying.”

“Really?,” said Zachariah. “The king is about to give the speech. I think you should

stow your souvenirs so we can power up and get ready to fly.”

“Here,” said Bolan. He handed over glasses with dark lenses. “These should do until

we tint the windows to block out the sun when we’re flying.”

Zachariah put the glasses on. He lifted them. He dropped them over his eyes. He

nodded in satisfaction.

“I should have thought of these before we launched from the Reach,” he said. “Thank

you.”

“No problem,” said Bolan. He had a number of packages in his arms. He said

something to Knife. The spider ran up the side of the Rocket. Then it pulled the

packages up to the compartment using metallic tentacles from its back.

“The others will be launching in a bit,” said Zachariah. “Sir Dormir is first in line

again.”

“He needs something faster than a tree,” said Sola.

“I think the tree is a trick,” said Bolan. “It makes him look like he’s racing, but he’s

really spying on us for the Alvas.”

“Any why would he do that?,” asked Sola.

“Because of those skirmishes along the border with Bern,” said Bolan.

“There is also the possibility that Sir Dormir is exactly what he says he is which

makes him eccentric by the Alvas standard,” said Zachariah. “Let’s go, children.”

“Eccentric, Da?,” asked Sola. She waved for Bolan to climb up to the compartment.

“The Alvas have a reputation for unchanging methods,” said Zachariah. He waited

for his daughter to climb up the ladder before he did. “The few that we see trying to

improve something are considered eccentric, or borderline mad, by the rest of their

society.”

“That means trouble for him back in his homeland instead of accolades, doesn’t it?,”

asked Bolan as Zachariah pulled himself into the pilot’s chair.

“Probably,” said Zachariah. “No one appreciates innovation unless it can be proved

to be helpful in some way. And the Alvas as a whole feel they don’t have to innovate

since they have a huge degree of magic at their control.”

“So they won’t accept the flying trees unless Sir Dormir can show they’re useful?,”

said Sola.

“And we can’t duplicate what he’s doing in a natural way,” said Zachariah. “So a

flying tree is an impossibility for most of the rest of us.”

“Thanks for coming today,” said Festus, cutting across their conversation. “As you

know, we’re the last stopping point for the Great Air Race. The fliers are on their way

back to the finish line to claim the prize. I am pleased that so many of our people are

trying out their skills in this. I have high hopes that the cup will reside in Riordiana

for the next year. When my son gives the signal, the officials will wave you into the

air. Good luck.”

“His son is giving the signal?,” asked Sola.

“He’s a bright boy from all accounts,” said Zachariah. “Get ready to launch. This is

going to be lot faster since there aren’t any obstructions to fly over.”

“What about Carson?,” asked Bolan.

“He’s flying with Octo back to Lobster Castle,” said the machinist. “He’ll get a lift

back to Messer’s Reach when he has looked at their flying machines for them. It’s a

fine piece of gold for him if he can upgrade them with his daemon.”

“The squid?,” said Sola.

“That’s right,” said Zachariah. He watched the officials take their places beside the

racers on the field. He hoped they didn’t stand in front of the jets when the flying

machines took off.

That would lead to some heavy burns in his opinion.

A nine-tailed fox appeared. Then there were a pack of them. They opened their

mouths and flames shot in the sky and exploded. Sir Dormir lifted off under the

revolving limbs of his tree. He sailed across the sky from the harbor.

“That’s an artillery piece when he gets older,” said Bolan.

“How do the boards look?,” asked Zachariah. He brought the engine alive and let it

idle while he checked the flipping numbers of his console.

“Everything looks good here,” said Bolan.

“The map looks ready,” said Sola. “The compass is on track.”

The officials worked their way down the lines of racers. Zachariah watched the fliers

take off with an eye on overtaking the faster ones and winning the race.

“It’s down to the four of us,” said Zachariah. “Brother Rabbit is next, Octo and

Carson, the Kellers, and then us.”

“We’re good to go,” said Bolan. “Everything is still in the green.”

“All right,” said Zachariah. He watched the official that stood beside the Rocket.

When they lifted off, he didn’t want to turn the man into mush.

“Powering up the underbelly jets,” said Zachariah. Brother Rabbit threw Pearl in the

air, and grabbed a leg as the dragon swam off. One of his gauges fluctuated as he

watched his console. “We have a problem in the number three jet.”

Gear Octo pushed his jet out of position and roared down the strip. He launched into

the air.

“There’s some kind of blockage,” said Bolan. “Power down. I’ll check it.”

The Kellers roared down the strip while he cut the engines. He saw one of the boys

give him a thumb’s up. He knew they had sabotaged the jet to ground him for the

precious minutes they needed to get ahead.

“No,” said Zachariah. He slid the window back after cutting the power. “I have this.”

He climbed down the side of the Rocket and walked down to number three. Gold Bug

rode on his shoulder. The ant clacked its mandibles together.

“What’s the problem?,” asked the race official.

“Someone sabotaged the number three jet so it would blow up when I ran full power

to it,” said Zachariah. “See this rock. It’s not supposed to be blocking the output.

When the engine blew, the rock would be driven into the ground and the evidence

would be gone unless we lucked out and found it in a search for causes.”

“Cheaters, eh?,” said the official.

“Don’t worry,” said Zachariah. “I think I can fix this if you can give me five

minutes.”

“All right,” said the official. “I’ll talk to the others. Word will be sent to Messer’s

Reach to knock the time off.”

“What do you think, Gold Bug?,” said Zachariah. “Do you think you can clear the

jet?”

Gold Bug clacked its mandibles. He lifted his arm so his daemon could reach the jet.

The rock disappeared piece by piece as hundreds of Gold Bugs split and split again

across the hull of the Rocket. They reassembled into one ant as Zachariah looked at

the alteration of the hull. He held his hand up so the manufacturer could shift back to

his shoulder.

“Let’s see what this does,” said Zachariah as he ran to climb back to his seat.