Zachariah and Bolan checked the Rocket out the next day. Everything looked fine.

Sola and Hardy loaded water for the starter engine. The giant beetle pulled a vat of

water from a nearby fountain and helped pour the liquid in.

“So you guys are starting last again?,” said the talkative Keller boy. His brother had

a spread of creamed nuts and jelly drops on bread in his hands. “How does that feel?”

“It is fine,” said Zachariah. “It’s the rules of the race. The best finishers are the last

starters. Have you thought about the route over Corwin’s Mansions?”

“The Betsy can handle anything your bucket can,” said Keller.

“I’m sure it can,” said Zachariah. “Remember if the air gets too thin, you could

possibly crash and die on one of the mountains.”

“We have air built in to the cabin,” said Keller. He looked at his brother. “Don’t we?”

The brother shrugged. He took a bite out of his sandwich.

“Let’s make sure,” said Keller. He led the way to their flying machine.

“Why did you tell them about the altitude sickness?,” asked Bolan.

“They’ve been in other air races,” said Zachariah. “They already know even if they

might have let it slip their minds. The reason I reminded them was I didn’t want to

have to go back and search for them if they did crash.”

“I can’t argue with the reasoning,” said Bolan.

“Master Eight Arms,” said Sir Dormir as he passed in his Alvas armor.

“Sir Dormir?,” said Zachariah. “Could I ask you a question?”

“I suppose,” said the armored figure. “What is it?”

“I was wondering why you picked a tree to base your design on instead of a flying

creature,” said Zachariah. “I don’t understand the choice made.”

“That seems a reasonable question,” said Sir Dormir. “Before I give you my answer,

I would like to ask a question myself.”

“Go ahead,” said Zachariah.

“Why did you pick the design that you picked?,” said Sir Dormir. “I see that you

eschew wings unlike the rest of your kind.”

“The engine that I built will lift the Rocket up without using air pressure,” said

Zachariah. “The other machines can’t do that. They need the lift provided by the

wings to keep them in the air and help with maneuvering.”

He broke into a technical discussion about the gravity engine, the need for smooth

aerodynamics, the use of light alloys with padding underneath, the thought that they

could mass produce the design for a variety of other jobs like surveying hostile

environments.

Sir Dormir raised his hand to stem the flow of words. He smiled.

“I see that despite this being your first race, you are an educated flier,” said the

knight. “I am like you. I am trying to perfect a design for a native aircraft. The main

objective is not to fly fast, but endurance. The tree design is to be used as sentries

along the border first, and for internal transport inside the border second. They have

to be able to hover in place when necessary.”

“So if you were building for speed, you would use something like a bird as your

primary shape?,” asked Zachariah.

“Certainly,” said Sir Dormir. “I would have enchanters put on as many runes as I

thought it would carry.”

“Gear Octo said they need plenty of flying machines for his country,” said Zachariah.

“Alvas crafting can only be used by Alvas,” said Sir Dormir. “I am not inclined to

hand that over, but if I was, Lobster Castle could not use it. They have very little

magic in their part of the world. Most experts I have heard talk about it are in

agreement that something in the air drains magic and promotes monsters.”

“I see,” said Zachariah. “So they have no way to use your magical trees?”

“They would have to import magicians from other countries,” said Sir Dormir. “I

doubt they would want that.”

“I understand,” said Zachariah. What country wanted to depend on outsiders to

defend it against impossible odds?

“If the tree succeeds this year, I can show my count that it works,” said Sir Dormir.

“Then I can think about the flying bird that you suggested.”

“Good luck,” said Zachariah. “It was a pleasure talking to you.”

“Thank you,” said Sir Dormir. “I’ll see you at the finish line.”

The Alvas strolled away, armor glinting in the sun. He nodded at other pilots he knew

from other races. He patted his tree down as he started his walkaround. He had

finished last, and had to launch first when the Baldwins called for time.

“Learn anything?,” said Bolan with a smile.

“I don’t think the tree is going to last long in this,” said Zachariah. “Sir Dormir said

he planned to use the design for flying sentries. I don’t think an air race like this is the

optimal testing conditions.”

“He probably doesn’t expect to win,” said Bolan. “We didn’t expect to be in first

place after our launch yesterday.”

“Too true,” said Zachariah. “Let’s give the Rocket another going over. I want to make

sure we can launch without problems. I didn’t see the Kellers’ duck billed monster

when they came by. I want to make sure they hadn’t used the opportunity to sabotage

us.”

“Too bad we can’t check it for magic,” said Bolan. “Alvas aren’t known for forgiving

and forgetting.”

“I know,” said Zachariah. “Do you see Brother Rabbit around?”

“He and Pearl are in their position,” said Bolan. He pointed at the big eared rider.

“Ask him to check the Rocket for magic,” said Zachariah. “Pookas are known for

their sensitivity.”

Bolan ran over to the giant rabbit. He explained the situation with some gesturing.

The pooka nodded and walked back with the boy.

“So you think Sir Dormir put a spell on your ship?,” said Brother Rabbit.

“We want to make sure nothing goes wrong,” said Zachariah. “And we don’t have

any way to check for magic by any of the racers. And to be honest, you’re the only

one we trust.”

“That’s a great compliment,” said Brother Rabbit. He walked around the Rocket,

glasses on his snout. He nodded at the end of his inspection. “It looks clean. The best

thing to do is have an exorcist go over it before launching and do a cleansing if you

have any doubts.”

“Thank you for your time,” said Zachariah.

“Thank you for dinner last night,” said Brother Rabbit. He rubbed his stomach. “That

was some good stuff.”

“We’ll see you on the other side of the Mansions,” said Zachariah.

“I’ll be waiting for you,” said Brother Rabbit. He waved as he walked back to where

Pearl waited for him. He was in the middle of the pack again with some of the

Riordianians ahead while some of the regular flying machines had dropped back from

their lead.

“We’re ready, Zachariah,” said Bolan.

“I was warned before the race that the real trouble would be flying over the

Mansions,” said Zachariah. “If the man who warned me is right, the rest of the race

will be far easier once we reach Lobster Castle.”

“Really?,” said Bolan.

“I didn’t take him seriously at the time,” said Zachariah. “But being in this race is

causing my paranoia to run wild, and I would like to think once we were done with

the mountain chain, we could relax and not worry about being sabotaged by the

others.”

“I know what you mean,” said Bolan. “That monster that walks around with the

Kellers creeps me out.”

“Let’s get ready to fly,” said Zachariah. “Sir Dormir is taking off in his tree.”

The tree jogged forward. It leaped into the air. Its limbs pulled. It floated upwards and

headed toward the mountains.

“For something designed to float in place, he made great time yesterday,” said Sola.

“Excuse me,” said Zachariah.

“I heard what he said,” said Sola. “The tree flew from Messer’s to here three seconds

slower than the slowest machine.”

“So the tree is faster than what it looks like to us,” said Bolan.

“I think he’s lying about what it can really do,” said Sola.

“Even though we can’t use the design ourselves, there’s nothing to say we can’t take

what we have observed to a magician and ask him to craft a similar artifact,” said

Zachariah.

“It wouldn’t be us to worry about,” said Bolan. “Brother Rabbit is right there. Rhiem

and Alvas aren’t on good terms. He probably doesn’t want Brother Rabbit to go back

to his people and report what he saw, or report the most important part.”

“The tree has a secret mode that allows it to fly faster than what it does when we can

watch it,” said Zachariah.

“And he probably doesn’t want us blabbing that around while he is out here testing

it,” said Bolan.

“So that’s another thing we’ll have to keep our eye on until the end of the race,” said

Zachariah.

The regular flying machines with their props rolled down to the launch point and took

to the air one after the other. The Baldwins made sure there was enough space so they

didn’t crash into each other as they headed out of the city of steel and glass.

Pearl expanded to her full length when it came her time to fly. Brother Rabbit rode

on her back, chewing on a carrot as he watched the city slide by. He waved to the

crowd on the ground as he went.

Gear Octo, the Kellers, and the fliers from Riordiana took off next one by one. Octo

and the Kellers had jets similar to what the Rocket had. Zachariah doubted the fuel

usage was as good as the Rocket.

Zachariah and his crew sat in place. The engines ran, but not enough to lift the Rocket

off the ground. They would be penalized if they tried to take off earlier than the

Baldwin waved his hand for them to go.

“There are five, or six, passes that will take us through the mountains,” said Sola. “I

marked out the course headings and sent them over to your controls, Da.”

Zachariah held his hand over the switch on his dashboard that showed the courses

plotted. He nodded.

“Thank you,” he said. “If worse comes to worse, we’ll find a short mountain and fly

over that now that we know the limitations on flight.”

“Hold on,” said Sola. She swiped through the charts she had fitted into the keyboard.

“All right, this is the shortest mountain known, and it’s the farthest down the chain.”

“All right,” said Zachariah. “Which ones will the others use? The only ones who look

like they have our degree of life support is Gear Octo and the Kellers. The others will

have to fly low to the ground.”

“Brother Rabbit and Pearl might be able to stand a higher altitude,” said Bolan. “They

are Rhiems.”

“And we don’t know how well Sir Dormir’s tree will protect him from the lack of air

and cold,” said Zachariah. “He might have to use his own magic for that.”

“So five out of twenty of us can go over a mountain,” said Bolan.

“Some of the rest will be flying faster than us,” said Zachariah. “They might be able

to get through a pass before we can even reach the Mansions.”

The Baldwin waved them to the start line. He floated out of the way as the Rocket

lifted off its skids and the gear slid inside the aircraft. The thing floated to the line.

“The starter engine is running smooth,” said Bolan. “I’m ready to do the engine

switch once we’re running.”

“Course is laid in for the first pass on the map,” said Sola. “I’m ready to replot if there

is any trouble.”

“Here is the official,” said Zachariah. “He’s checking his clock from the looks of

things.”

The Baldwin raised his hand. He dropped it.

Zachariah hit the throttle. The Rocket exploded off the line, burning up the water

fueling the starter engine. He pulled on the stick to pull the flying machine into a

climb to get over the gleaming wall surrounding Baldwin. Then they were free and

clear.

“All right,” said Zachariah. “It looks like we’re right on course.”

“Veer a little more to the right, Da,” said Sola. “We’ll be on the mountains in minutes

according to this.”

“Got it,” said Zachariah. He tilted the stick until the Rocket glided on the path picked

out to get through the mountains the quickest.

“Get ready to switch to the main engine,” said Bolan. He held his hand over the

control.

“Cutting the throttle,” said Zachariah. “Three...Two...One...Go!”

Bolan pressed the control buttons in rapid succession. He listened to the flying

machine. Then the big engine shook to life. He felt the pull through the deck.

Zachariah pushed the throttle open, watching the numbers on his dashboard turn over

as the engine roared to life.