The Column Racer by Jeffrey Johnson Page B

on a ladder and took further measurements of Kaia’s mouth and then had his sketch artists get life-size drawings for him to work with later. He approached Areli and went over some of the initial thoughts he had. He told her that when the saddle and bridle were prepared, they would go to the training area, and he would bring different bits to try out based on what he saw and what she told him.
    After the man bid her farewell, Areli loaded her dragon back into the trailer, and they traveled back through the large hallways, past trailers and guards, and servants on horseback, all the way back to the stall room. There, Areli realized that none of the Hall riders had returned from training. Jealousy struck her heart like a knife, and it was mixed with anger and frustration as well. Her dragon was without any conditioning or training for the past month, and in the next couple of weeks, she was going to be asked to perform in front of the Hall trainers.
    She felt as if she was buried beneath an avalanche for weeks, surviving on nothing but roots and snow, and then asked to run the length of the Emperor’s lake against a healthy, well-fed girl that had done nothing but train for the event for years. If the Emperor would have left her her saddle and tack, she could be out there amongst her teammates, training and conditioning Kaia, so when they had their first official team practice, she could run at a hundred percent. But the Emperor was too proud. It was the same pride that drove him to chase after Degendhard. The pride that was destroying his own Empire.
    Areli led Kaia into her stall, petted her and kissed her on the nose, and then called for a servant to have the cook prepare for her dragon a treat. The servant went through a long list from memory of all the varieties and cuts of meat she could have prepared. Areli picked the leg of cow. She was then asked what seasonings she wanted, followed by what sauces she thought her dragon would like best.
    “They actually prepare sauces?” asked Areli.
    “Yes, miss,” said the servant, “don’t they have that in Sector D?” Areli shook her head. The servants eyes widened in surprise. “Well, we have a lovely assortment.” And the servant went through a long list of hot, tangy, and sweet sauces. Areli asked him which one they seemed to like the most. He told her it depended on the dragon.
    Areli liked tangy and was confident Kaia would like that as well. Moments later, a cart came from one of the side doors opposite the stalls. The smell of beef stung her stomach, reminding her just how hungry she had become. The servant carted it towards Areli, and she then fed it to her dragon. Kaia devoured it in a matter of seconds. Areli patted her dragon on the shoulder and kissed her on the nose again, and then stood outside the bars, keeping her eyes on Kaia until the stall doors were secured.
    “I’ll be back tomorrow, girl,” said Areli through the bars, “dream of winning while I’m gone.”
    Areli’s carriage was called, and she and her driver headed to the locker rooms.
    The last thing that she had to do at the boarding facility that day was get fitted for her riding attire. The carriage entered into a large hallway with indented squares covering the entirety of the walls and ceilings, in the middle were beautiful paintings of dragons. The hallway emptied into the trailer room, which had thundercloud marble floors and giant pillars that stretched from the floor to the ceiling.
    The carriage took a right and travelled down another enormous hallway with an arced ceiling and windows on the top letting natural light leak in. They entered onto a large limestone bridge with dragon statues bordering the sides. The bridge overlooked two giant running tracks and a weight area on the left and large lap pools on the right. At the end of the bridge was a guarded platform, as only authorized people were allowed into the locker area.
    The guards waved them ahead after they looked at