The Magical Flight of Dodie Rue (5 page)

Chapter 5

The crowd roared at him to go.

“Go,
Phoenix
!” he shouted, but the magic carpet had shot up before the words were out of his mouth.

The force of takeoff pulled Dodie's legs out from under him. He gripped his carpet as they gained altitude. He remembered what Nadar had told him about going too high, and the higher he climbed, the gustier the air turned. If he hit the Boundary set over the race course, he would be blown away for miles and be disqualified. He needed to take
Phoenix
down a bit. The magic carpet obeyed his thought and made a smooth dive. Dodie tucked his knees under him and scoured the sky for the other racers. He saw no one ahead of him, and he could no longer hear the crowd behind him. Turah was rapidly disappearing in the past. Ahead and below him lay the Fringe, a vast desert of gentle sand dunes.

The sun continued to rise to his right, which meant he was heading north, so that was good. He remembered from the race course map that this first day he would cover the Fringe and cross the dune range. On the other side of the range was the first checkpoint he had to reach by sunset. He was not off to a good start. He wasn't just in last place, he was virtually in no place.

“What'll I do?” groaned Dodie to himself.

He suddenly remembered the secret map his grandfather had given him. Slowing
Phoenix
down momentarily, he reached behind him into his waist pouch. He found the old scroll of parchment and opened it. His eyes swept over the faint map of the area, and read a few of the nearest locations marked. One caught his eye:
Emergency Stash of Stardust
. Yes! Stardust gave the racer rugs their incredible speed—could even double their speed for a few hours. Perfect!

It was hidden in an oasis palm tree a few miles west of his location. Deviating from the course to stop there would waste even more time, but it was a chance he had to take.

Dodie stuffed the scroll back in his waist pouch, grabbed the braided loops on
Phoenix
, and leaned to the left. Picking up speed again, he flew across more desert until he spotted a clump of green. He circled over a half dozen palm trees, looking below for any sign of people or animals. Seeing nothing but trees, he sailed down into the oasis and landed beside a small pool. He hopped off his carpet, pulled off his head mask, and looked about him.

The oasis was cool, deserted, and quiet. Dodie checked his grandfather's map once again for directions to the tree which hid the stardust stash. There were no details except a red star drawn next to the words
Emergency Stash of Stardust.
He shouldered his carpet, which had rolled up instantly upon his dismounting, and searched each tree.

The morning sun rose higher in the sky as he became increasingly more frantic. He was just entertaining the idea of returning home and calling it quits when his eyes caught sight of a red mark on the last and furthest tree trunk. Hurrying over to it, he saw that it was the same star as on the secret map. He gave a laugh of relief and set
Phoenix
down. Now where was the stash of stardust?

He walked around the narrow trunk, rapping his knuckles up and down it. The tree did not sound hollow.

Whoosh!

Dodie ducked as a palm frond swept past him, and crouched on his hands and knees. There was no breeze, so Dodie assumed this palm tree had been tampered with by an alchemist just like the ones in Turah. That was odd.

Dodie scuttled on his hands and knees, and searched the base of the trunk. He dug up the sand, thinking perhaps a secret hole could be hidden in the roots. Nothing appeared. Where else did that leave?

Whoosh!

The palm frond swept over his head.

Dodie looked up to the top of the palm. Of course! His grandfather would not have wasted time landing, he would have flown up to the branches.

“
Phoenix
.” Dodie hopped on his carpet and jetted up. He hovered closer to the top of the palm tree.

The tree seemed fully aware of Dodie now, and fully bent on keeping him from getting any nearer. All its fronds awakened and batted at him. Dodie dodged them as he craned his neck to get a better look between the fronds.

There nestled between the two largest fronds was a small burlap sack with a red star painted on it. Dodie leaned over and made a grab for the sack.

Whack!

He nearly toppled off his carpet as a frond smacked him upside the head.

“Stupid alchemists!” he growled.

He whipped out his dagger from his waist pouch and edged nearer the tree. “Sorry about this.”

As one frond swung near him, Dodie chopped it off with his dagger. The tree froze, as if stunned by the attack. Dodie dove for the small burlap sack nestled in the center of the fronds.

His hands tingled as he held the sack. The tree shuddered, so Dodie bolted away. Palm fronds whipped around as Dodie hovered a safe distance from it. Carefully he opened the sack. Silver light glowed inside. Dodie remembered that stardust never decays or loses its potency. He noticed that there wasn't much left, for the sack was only a third full. He hoped it would be enough to infuse his entire carpet.

Dodie had helped do maintenance on many racer rugs in the emporium, so he knew to handle the stardust with caution, for it was very potent. He also knew how to properly apply it. He grabbed the tassel on the back left corner of
Phoenix
, and dipped it into the sack. The tassel, then the corner, then the carpet edges glowed as the rug drank up the stardust. Soon the entire carpet was glowing, its red, orange, and blue colors more vibrant, and its gold edges shining like treasure.

Dodie tossed the empty burlap sack back at the angry palm branches, and pulled his mask back over his head and face. He got into position and gripped the loops, preparing himself for the fastest ride of his life. He could feel
Phoenix
trembling.

Click-click!

Dodie paused, about to take off. He heard the clicking noise somewhere below. He looked down and saw a mound moving beneath the sand toward him. He started to take his carpet down a bit to get a closer look.

Hiss!

He quickly took his carpet up higher as the mound rose, the sand cascading down a large black form. A bright green tail, topped with a stinger, rose straight up. Two enormous curved claws
clicked
up at him. Dodie's mouth dropped open as he watched a giant black scorpion rear up at him.

At first he doubted what he was seeing, for such a creature didn't exist, even in stories. Then he noticed the green tail. Raz must have experimented on a once normal-sized pest. Apparently the results had not been positive.

The scorpion hissed and clicked its pinchers. Dodie gathered his wits and took off.

Zoom!

Dodie felt as if his very skin would be torn off by the wind and friction as
Phoenix
rocketed north. He was flying faster than his thoughts, so he didn't think—he just flew. Below him was a golden blur of sand, and ahead was a blue blur of sky. He couldn't see anything else, and started to worry he would pass the other racers without knowing it, or maybe even the pit stop at this rate. He tried to keep a look out for both.

He flew and flew across the Fringe.

Suddenly he whizzed by something solid. Dodie managed to turn his head and look back, and realized he had just passed a racer. He was catching up. Another racer whizzed by, then another. Dodie reasoned he had better slow down slightly so he could see ahead better and not crash into anyone.

Phoenix
slowed enough for him to gain clearer visibility, but still flew fast enough to pass even more racers. Dodie couldn't help grinning—

Then he yelled and threw his arms up to protect his head as he crashed right into a racer directly in his path. The world around him spun as he and the other racer spiraled madly downward through the air. Suddenly they were free of each other—

Ahhh!

—and their carpets.

Dodie had thought flying a magic carpet was thrilling, but nothing compared to free flying in the air with nothing to hold onto. But he wasn't flying—he was falling and plunging to the earth. He flailed his arms and legs as he hurtled toward the sand.

Then he no longer saw the ground. He saw red, orange, and blue flames. He landed on
Phoenix,
and got the wind knocked out of him. For a second he blacked out as he tumbled off the carpet, and landed with a thud on the hot sand a few feet below.

Coughing and gasping for breath, he came to and gingerly sat up. His magic carpet lay rolled up beside him.

“You saved my life,” he muttered, resting a hand on the rolled rug.

Nadar was right: there was a special magic in
Phoenix
, a magic that defied standard carpet behavior. Normally a carpet would roll up when its rider was off it, even if that happened in mid-air. But
Phoenix
hadn't, and what's more she had flown on her own accord to catch Dodie.

“All right?” He stared at the carpet, but it did not budge. It stayed tightly rolled as it should.

Well, maybe it had just been luck that
Phoenix
had been in the right position at the right moment to catch Dodie.

Dodie heard a muffled moan nearby, and remembered the other racer he had collided with. The racer was sitting up and rubbing his shoulder, his rug nowhere in sight.

“I'm sorry!” called Dodie as he slowly stood up. “I didn't see you. You okay?” He headed toward the racer, his feet sinking in the hot sand with each step.

The racer stood and rushed at Dodie, his fists swinging. Dodie held up his arms in defense.

“I know you're mad!” Dodie braced himself for the hit.

When the punches came, they weren't that hard. Dodie swung back, connecting with the racer's shoulder, causing the racer to stumble back. With dark eyes flashing behind his mask, he charged at Dodie again and this time knocked him to the ground. The two tumbled over each other in the soft sand. Dodie felt the boy's arms as they wrestled, and they did not feel very muscular.

“Hold on!” Dodie tried to get up, but the racer gripped him around the neck.

Dodie reached up, feeling for the boy's head, and grabbed the boy's head mask.

The racer shrieked as Dodie ripped it off.

Dodie gasped at the unmasked racer. “You're a .
 . .
a girl!”

The racer stood panting, her cheeks flushed and an angry scowl across her face. She had thick black hair cut short just below her ears.

“What're you doing—you're racing?” Dodie stammered.

The girl rolled her large brown eyes. “Not anymore!”

“So sorry for crashing into you! Don't worry, your racer rug's gotta be around here somewhere.” Dodie started searching the dunes.

“Doesn't matter anymore! You know I'm a girl.”

Dodie stopped to look at her. “So?”

“So I'll be thrown outta the Grand Flyer once they find out. Girls aren't allowed to race!”

Dodie's eyes widened. “How did you enter the Flyer?”

“I registered under another name,” she huffed in annoyance. “I went to a lot of trouble to be here, and now it's over!” Her eyes blazed with a fierce fire that Dodie found both intimidating and fascinating.

Dodie stared at her a minute. “Well, maybe I won't say anything right away.”

Her expression softened. “Why not?”

“It's none of my business,” he shrugged. “Let's find your carpet.”

“It's no use,” she said, her voice catching. “We're way behind now.”

Dodie spotted her racer rug rolled up on the other side of a gentle slope. He trudged through the sand and picked it up.

“I'm Dodie from Turah,” he said as he passed off her rug.

She eyed him a moment before saying, “I'm Zinnia from Alsta.”

“Nice to meet you, and good luck.” Dodie got back on
Phoenix
.