AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ben frowned and hurried to the ladder. I hurried after him and we climbed up to the platform. Chase handed him spare binoculars while I was forced to use my eyes. I didn’t have to worry too much, however, as I could see the problem.
A gigantic dust devil had appeared on the far side of the track. The spinning tornado of sand rolled across the edge and through the watch towers, gobbling up tires and tools.
“Oh my God,” Mouse muttered as he joined us on the platform. “What the hellisthat?”
Ben lowered his binoculars and shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen a spinner spirit powerful enough to swallow tires.”
“Whatever it is, it’s clearing out the whole left side of the track,” Chase commented as he followed the trail of the spinner with his binoculars. He paused and his eyebrows shot up. “My God, it’s moving toward the track now.”
The “spinner spirit’ drifted onto the dirt path and collided with the center of the passing thunder herd. The vehicles it touched were knocked off course and many collided with the other competitors. The rear of the herd braked to avoid the hellish wind while those at the front stepped on the gas, creating two groups cut asunder by the nightmarish tornado. Broken thunders littered the break in the herd, and many drivers scrambled out of their incapacitated vehicles and away from the wind.
A dozen of the vehicles were still trapped in the circling winds. I could hear the terrified cries from the drivers over the roar of the spirit. Horrible shouts and pleas came from their company members and the people in the crowded stands.
Mouse dug into his pocket and drew out something which he pressed against his bowed forehead. I glimpsed the smooth surface of his lucky wood between his fingers. “Our Lady Fomes, protect old Boastful from this evil wrath.”
At that moment, I had my own charm that needed my attention. I felt a strange pulsing sensation emanate from my left arm and looked down to find a soft light coming from inside the canister. My heart gave a skip, and without thinking I removed the flute from its sheath. The instrument cast its soft glow over me, and the moment it did I cast a quick look at the crowds. They could see me from their vantage point, as could many of the race watchers whose attention wasn’t on the calamity. I stepped into the shadow of the water tower and put the hole to my lips where I tried to remember everything Elias had taught me.
Focus on the wind flowing past your fingers and the magic within, and you will never fail to produce hope.
I closed my eyes and breathed. A gentle, almost imperceptible tune floated out of the flute. Even I could hardly hear the notes as they floated across the field. The melody reached the rampaging winds and the spinning monster jerked to a stop. The whole thing convulsed, forcing it to drop its load of thunders onto the track. The next moment the sinister spinner petered out and disappeared in the center of the track. A collective sigh of relief came from all present. I quickly tucked the flute back into its canister while Ben gave me a curious look.
Mouse, however, gave a cry of triumphant as he waved the wood above his head. “It worked! Did you see that? It actually worked!”
Chase hopped onto the ladder but paused long enough to glare at his coworker. “Damn it, Mouse, this isn’t the time for your stupidity! We have to go check on the thunder! It was near where that thing tore into the group!”
The color drained from Mouse’s face, but he scurried after him as Chase climbed out of sight. “On it!”
I caught Ben’s eye and pointed at where the spirit had vanished. “I’m guessing those don’t do that very often.”
He shook his head. “They’ve been known to develop in all the dust that’s kicked up, but I’ve never seen one destroy so much.” He dropped his eyes to my left arm. “Nor one that would need powerful magic to stop it.”
I crept over to the front edge of the tower and watched the pair hurry across the track toward the wreckage. They weren’t the only ones. Dozens of other companies, officials, and spectators hurried over to see how they could help. Even from that distance, I could see it was quite a mess. There were bits of metal thrown about along with ruined tires, and more than one thunder had been overturned. A few of the drivers were still huddled or trapped in their vehicles.
“I need to get down there,” Ben told me as he crawled over to the ladder.
“I’m right behind you,” I replied as I scurried after him.
Together we climbed down and hurried over to the chaos. Men were trying to right one of the heavier thunders without success. Some of the officials knelt beside the vehicle, and I glimpsed the driver trapped in his seat. More men joined them, one of them being Ben and another being Peter, and together they managed to push the vehicle back onto its wheels.
The women from the stands and I hurried to and fro picking up the debris before the sands hid them. We piled the mess onto a tarp provided by one of the companies while the men moved the heavier objects to the bases of some of the ruined towers. A few of the thunders had to be pushed off the track.
I noticed Ben approach one of the officials, a man with short gray hair who wore a silver chain around his neck. The stranger also leaned against a crooked can in his right hand while he held a clipboard in his left. The pair entered into conversation, and I couldn’t help but sidle over to them.
“You’ve returned at a strange time, Ben,” the man commented as he studied the dragon count with a sharp eye.
Ben smiled at him. “Then that would be the time I would return, but can you tell me what’s going on with the race now that it’s been ‘interrupted.’”
“The whole race will have to be done over again,” the older man informed Ben as he nodded at the ruined thunders. “They’ll have a day to get back into shape. Those who can’t will be disqualified.”
“Has this happened before?” Ben wondered.
The official shook his head. “Not in my fifty years on the tract. I’ve seen some strange curses before, but never one that wrecked a whole race.” I noticed Peter cast a curious look at us before he turned away.
Ben lifted an eyebrow. “Then you think it’s that? A curse?”
His acquaintance shrugged. “I don’t know what to think, but I know it almost killed many of the best drivers on the tract. This was one of the last preliminaries for most of those that are in good odds to win the whole thing.”
“That sounds like hardly a coincidence that a sudden and violent spirit would wander through and attempt to decimate the pack,” Ben mused.
