10 9 8… I grab my spear, and secure it to my belt. 7 6 5… “On your marks’” 4 3… “Get set…” 2 1… “GO!” I run over to the first dragon I see, it is snowy white, with pale blue and purple spots along its back. It’s average sized, with long blue horns. “Haha! You are seriously going to choose an ice dragon?” One of my opponents retorts at me. “What’s the problem, jealous?” I sneer back at him. This gets him going. “I would never go for an opposite dragon.” He replies, with a bit too much disgust. With that, a new surge of energy rushes through me, and I hop onto my dragon. “And in this year's annual dragon races,” the announcer's voice booms across the crowd, “Someone actually chose an ice dragon! Now isn’t that hilarious?” Gales of laughter flow in from the crowd, and I tell my dragon to get moving. He flies off in the direction of the other racers. “Come on buddy,” I say to him, in a soft voice, as to not startle him, “We can do this, no matter what people think about ice dragons.” For centuries, ice dragons have been seen as a symbol of bad luck, but I've always had a knack for turning that myth around. What’s so wrong with ice dragons anyways? They are always seen as “opposite dragons” because they can’t breathe fire. Honestly, I don’t really get it. “Finally, someone with a bit of sense,” the dragon says back to me. Oh, and I can talk to them. You see, being able to understand and speak to dragons is very rare, and most of the time, the ones in history who can communicate with dragons end up going bad in one way or another. Me simply talking to this dragon could have me sent to prison. But honestly, I don’t care one bit. It’s not like I’m actually going to prison anytime soon. “Thanks,” I replied, startling my dragon. “What?” He says back to me, obviously surprised I understand him. To almost anybody else, his words would’ve just sounded like a few roars and such, but not to me. “Yes, I understand you, but keep this between me and you, ok?” I say. It’s not like he could actually tell anyone, but it seemed like the thing to say in that instance. “Shouldn’t you be disqualified?” He says back to me. Actually, I probably should. Of course, the original rules say nothing about being able to talk to the dragons, assuming that no one would be able to. But I don't think that they anticipated me being able to communicate with ice dragons. To be honest, I could probably be killed for this. “Yes, probably, but I want to show people that ice dragons are just as good, if not better than fire dragons.” I say, in a triumphant voice. “I can't disagree with you on that one,” he replies, “How could I bust you out anyways, it's not like anyone else can talk to me.” “True,” I say back to him, right as we approach the first stage of the race. Each year, there is a different set of obstacles to face. This year, it’s flaming rings first. “And we have two racers zooming towards the first stage!” The announcer says. “It seems to be Avery Pickett, and, oh my goodness, the ice racer, Veronica Dunham!” I can tell that he is trying to make me look like some kind of joke, but I don't care. After I win, I’ll be laughing at everyone else. “Trying to freeze your chances!” Another girl, who must be Avery, says. “I can win with an ice dragon!” Avery mocks in a singsong voice. “Oh you’ll see!” I say, as I feel the blood pump faster through me, feel myself pushing to go faster. At that, I wiz through the first set of rings. My hair, which I messily put in a braid, slaps on my back, and a few brown flyaways get in my face. On the first ring, part of my shirt gets scorched off. “You know, I could just freeze the rings,” my dragon says. “Then do it, but unfreeze them afterward so it doesn’t help the others.” I replied. (Continued in notes and credits)
(Continued from above) “Who ya talkin’ to, your invisible friend!” The girl retorts back at me. “Right,” I whisper to myself under my breath. I don’t need to let anyone know that me and this dragon were ever having a conversation. “Just going over ways I’m going to beat you!” I say, hoping that was the right comeback. She gets distracted trying to think of a better one, and ends up swerving into another ring, and falls to the ground with her dragon. I watch as her blonde hair burns off of her head, and her dragon winces as it tries to get up. “I guess it was the right comeback,” I say to myself. “Rings up ahead!” My dragon says to me, and I steer my way through the middle of each flaming gold ring, just after my dragon freezes them. “Nice one buddy!” I said to him “I have a name you know,” he says. “Ok, what is it,” I say to him, a bit quieter so that no one behind me will hear. “Pierce,” he says. “Hmm, sounds familiar…” I say, trailing off at the end. “Incoming!” He says, just dodging a ginormous bird in front of us. “And for the second stage, birds, birds, birds!” The announcer booms. “I have just the thing,” I say as I grab the spear from my belt and throw it at one of the larger birds. “But you only have one!” Pierce says to me. “Yes, but watch this,” I say, with excitement behind every word. After a few seconds, the spear comes whizzing back into my hand, and I catch it. “Cool! It’s like a boomerang.” “Exactly.” “You think that’s cool?” The boy from earlier says back to me. Then, he pulls out a bow, strings it with three arrows, and shoots them at the same time while they burst into flames. Each one shoots straight into the chest of a bird in front of him. “Just ignore him,” Pierce says. But it’s hard. While I try to show off with my spear, a bird hits me in the face, and I nearly slip off of my dragon. “I told you to ignore him,” he says, as the boy passes me. We get to the end of the flock of birds, and in front of me are what look like bubbles, purple and light. The boy does a careful job avoiding them, so I do the same. “The third and final round, Bubbles! Each bubble contains a different enchantment to keep you from reaching the end!” The announcer says, with way too much enthusiasm. I wonder how he manages to get so much emotion out of two sentences. We swoop in and out of the bubbles, but a few people are passing us, and I worry I wont be able to catch up. As a girl with short brown hair passes me, she looks at me like I’m some kind of monster. “Opposite girl!” She says, and this sets me off. “Go faster!” I tell Pierce. “I don’t think-“ Pierce tries to warn me. “Faster!” I interrupt. “Is she,” the announcer says, “Talking to the dragon?” This distracts me so much, I lose balance and fall straight into one of the bubbles. Everything around me starts swirling, along with large purple masses. I start to feel sick, and shut my eyes. A wing slaps my leg, and I open my eyes to see that Pierce is stuck in here too. Oh no, what have I gotten us into?! Just when I think I’m going to throw up, I’m thrown to the side, and fall to the ground with a loud thud. “I- I failed,” I can barely bring myself to say it. “I failed you.” “Haha, the opposite girl has finally found her place!” One of the racers says to me, this fills me with so much rage, I stand up and yell back at her. “I AM NOT OPPOSITE GIRL!” And with these words, I am thrown back to the ground, and I see a large wave of energy racing towards the girl. The wave reaches her, and she falls to the ground too. “She’s cursed!” I hear a woman in the crowd screech. “It’s another one of those whisperers!” Another one says. The whole crowd starts buzzing about me. “Did I just do that?” I say to myself under my breath. “Lock her up, she’s dangerous.” The head guard says. “What?” Is all I can muster out of my mouth. “NO!” I can hear my mother screaming through the other noises of the crowd. I feel two pairs of arms drag me out of the stadium. “You can’t take her!” My mother yells at them. Another guard takes her away. “She’s just a child!” And like that, I’m knocked out. 1516 words!
