Raider broke left, Graydon doing the same as Kira hit the thrust, shooting out of the way of thelu-ong’sgiant teeth as it shot up into the air where she'd been seconds before.
Kira wove over the water, her path looking like something a hummingbird hopped up on nectar might take. All around her,lu-ongbreached the surface, their bodies arching impossibly high as they reached for the sky above, doomed to inevitably fail as they hit the apex of their leap and made their journey to the water waiting below.
Their bodies were long and serpentine, their tails not even clearing the waves before their heads dove deep again, only to breach seconds later.
Kira couldn't spare more than a moment of admiration for the sight before she had to focus on the task of simply surviving the minefield she suddenly found herself in.
Kira banked right, avoiding another scaled form. Raider had already disappeared behind the massive obstacles.
Jin let out a low whistle. "Now that's an impressive sight."
Kira couldn't have agreed more. Despite the danger setting every one of her senses on high alert, she hadn't felt this alive in years. She skated a hair’s breadth from death's embrace, but she couldn't bring herself to escape just yet.
She didn’t get the sense that thelu-ongmeant her harm. She was an ant next to a mammoth who was trying to walk—or swim in this case.
They almost felt playful, joy trembling through the air.
Jin seemed to agree as he snorted. "Let's see what they've got, Nixxy."
Kira crouched. "I thought you'd never ask."
In the confusion, Graydon had managed to get ahead. At her words, he glanced back, catching her eye as he tipped his head in invitation.
Her smile was almost feline in satisfaction. Challenge accepted. The race wasn't over yet. Only the terms had changed.
Graydon dove for the water, Kira fast on his six.
Here, reflexes reigned superior. An instant of doubt, a single millisecond of inattention and she'd be dead. Either dashed on the waves below or crashing headfirst into the bodies of thelu-ong. Somehow, she didn't think she'd be the winner in that scenario.
Graydon veered right, slipping through the small arch that had formed under thelu-ong’sbody as it completed its return to the sea. The space narrowed, the gap fast disappearing as Graydon raced through.
Kira's stomach was tight as Graydon courted death. Thelu-onghad to be thousands of pounds of hard muscle. If its weight crushed him, Graydon wouldn't survive
He shot out the other side seconds before the gap vanished, a massive sheet of water from thelu-ong’sbody crashing into the waves, water rising to obscure her vision. When the water settled, Kira caught sight of Graydon waiting on the other side, a challenging smile aimed her way. Beat that, he seemed to say.
Kira rolled her eyes. Show off.
Jin clung to her neck. "There's a pocket opening up twenty degrees off the port side. Burn, baby, burn."
Kira didn't question his observation, too used to him as her co-pilot, picking up details that freed her to focus on other things. It was why she could be so confident, even when shit was hitting the fan, and victory wasn't assured. She knew she was never alone. Jin was always at her side.
Her legs tensed, and her altitude abruptly dropped, sending her stomach rocketing into her throat.
Her senses opened, adrenaline pumping through her body. The board hummed a siren's song under her feet. Every second she spent on it, her movements got crisper, more confident, until the board was an extension of herself. A weapon and tool, the same way the en-blade was for the best of the oshota.
On a board, Kira was nearly untouchable. Perhaps it was time House Roake learned that.
Alu-ongthe color of sapphire, silver edging his crest, surged up from the deep, leaving Kira with little time to dodge or evade. Stopping was out of the question.
Jin screamed in her ear.
"Hold on," she yelled at him.
Kira reached for more speed, bending her knees and using her heel to hit the thrust as she straightened abruptly almost like she was jumping. She pulled her feet up, so the flat of the board was aimed at thelu-ong. The technology that allowed her to hover caught on the scales, almost like it was a vertical road. Instead of flying along the waves, she was using thelu-ong’sbody as her path.
Up and up she went, weaving between the ridges along its back, the end approaching, nothing but clear sky before her. Kira hit the end of thelu-ong’sbody, shooting into the air.
She crouched, the sky tumbling around her, as she cut engines and grabbed the board's edge, flipping, once, twice, three times before falling toward the waves. At the last possible second, she righted herself, hitting the upward thrust. The water bowed under her. For one second, she wasn't sure if she'd acted in time. The board bobbed, catching itself as it protested gravity's hold.
