CHAPTER 5
Two days later, Anita made her way to the river bank opposite The Island, to where the congregation of Chase contestants had gathered. She spotted Bas and made her way towards him, hoping he wasn’t still in a bad mood. They had announced the Chase yesterday, the day after Bas had presented to the Grand Council. However, this had caused practically no shift in the energy, and he had been in a foul mood ever since.
‘Hey,’ said Anita lightly.
‘Hi,’ Bas responded, visibly perking up at the sight of her. ‘Ready?’
‘I was born ready,’ she said cockily, but today she was a bit nervous, not that she would ever admit that to anyone. She had never before competed against the Descendants, and she didn’t want to think how she would react if bitch-face Gwyn beat her. For the sake of the Gods, be nice, thought Anita, inwardly chastising herself.
A Councillor appeared and ushered the contestants away from the rapidly growing crowd towards the top of the nearest hill. When they reached the summit, they found the Descendants were already there, cloaks on, looking regal, all standing in a line behind three boxes, Austin in the middle. Austin beckoned to James (the Councillor who’d had to hastily organise the Chase), who brought him an energy speaker so he could project his voice to both the contestants in front of him and to the crowd below.
Austin reminded Anita strongly of Marcus, but with a few notable differences. He was older, grey hairs rippling through his dark locks, his face more tanned, with lines both from age and too much time spent out in the sun. He was a little broader, a lot fuller, taking far less exercise than he used to, and had not a hint of Marcus’ fun-loving disposition, radiating instead a menacing authority, enhanced by cold eyes that confirmed her suspicions; he was just plain mean.
‘Descendants, Councillors, contestants, children of the Temples of the Mind, Body and Spirit. We are here today to celebrate the beginning of an historic and momentous occasion, the Crowning of Alexander, son of Anthony, and Peter, son of Christiana. As is customary, according to our traditions, those Descendants not currently in power will compete with any and all challengers who put themselves forward to become the Chase Champion. The Chase Champion will also open the dancing as guest of honour at the ball. I am thrilled to see such a turnout to compete here today,’ he said, pausing as he surveyed the contestants, ‘and I do hope we have a competitive and fair Chase.’ Austin eyed Bas suspiciously, obviously sizing up Marcus’ competition. It’s not him you need to worry about, thought Anita, smiling to herself. ‘Contestants, please take your positions.’ With these words, Alexander, Marcus, Gwyneth and Peter all took off their cloaks with a theatrical flourish and handed them to a waiting Councillor. Marcus is pretty hot, Anita thought, as he handed over his cloak. Focus Anita, focus, she said to herself and forced herself not to look in his direction until this was over. She would need her wits about her if she were to win today; she suspected the ‘fair’ part of Austin’s speech would almost certainly be disregarded.
The contestants lined up behind the Descendants, who were now in front of the boxes, facing down the hill towards the crowd below. The boxes contained homing pigeons, each with its home in a different location. Austin would pick one box at random, so that, in theory, nobody would know which way the pigeon would fly. He would then release it and the contestants would chase it to its home. Here, the winner would claim their prize, which was normally just the glory of winning, but today included the privilege of being guest of honour at the ball. Homing pigeons were used as it was easy to track their energy. Each contestant would be given an energy meter that they would lock on to the pigeon’s energy, the idea being that they could then use the meter to track the pigeon. Often contestants had to drop out right at the start if they couldn’t lock on quickly enough, as they were left with nothing to follow, however Anita found this easy, probably something to do with being a reader. I must watch Alexander, thought Anita, he’ll no doubt be off to a flying start too.
The other problem contestants often ran into was blindly following their energy reader, instead of also thinking about the best route to take. Contestants might end up at the top of a vertical incline with no easy way down, or swimming across a river without realizing there was a bridge fifty metres downstream. At least she was on home turf, thought Anita, that should be an advantage.
James was moving around handing out energy meters, and Anita took her small golden box as it was handed to her. Here we go, she thought, as the metre sprang to life in her hand and she took her place behind the Descendants at the brow of the hill.
‘In the interest of fairness, I shall choose a contestant to pick the pigeon you will chase,’ said Austin, motioning to a girl standing beside Bas to step forward. ‘Which box shall it be?’ he asked.
The girl looked a little dazed at having been picked, but pointed at the left-hand box, saying, ‘that one,’ in a small voice, before stepping back into line with the other contestants.
‘Splendid,’ proclaimed Austin. ‘Contestants, please ready yourselves,’ he ordered, reaching forward and unhooking the latch on the box. ‘I declare this Chase…open,’ he roared, as he flung the lid open and a pigeon launched itself into the sky.
Anita watched the pigeon in what seemed like slow motion as it paused for a split second in mid-air. She used this opportunity to point her energy metre at the bird and lock on to its energy before hurtling down the hill with the rest of the contestants. About half way down she felt someone shove her forcefully sideways. She stumbled and almost fell as she saw Gwyn whip past her. Bitch, thought Anita. Now she felt justified in hating her. Two can play at that game, she thought, as she launched herself off a ledge at the bottom of the hill. She felt like she was flying. Not missing a beat, she landed, completed a forward roll, and picked up her pace again. The stunt gave her a bit of a lead, as most other contestants, including Gwyn, she noticed smugly, were taking the path all the way to the bottom, and were stuck in single file as the path narrowed. Anita knew that Bas would follow her though, and the other Descendants had been behind her, so who knew what they’d done. She pelted at full speed across a rickety bridge over the river into the dense woodland the other side. Anita could feel someone coming up behind her. She knew with energy that strong that it would be one of the Descendants, she just didn’t know which one, and it would waste time and energy, not to mention require risking running into a tree, if she turned to take a look.
She soon got an answer. As she landed her vault of the fence at the far side of the woods, she saw Alexander’s delicious form recover from his own leap and race away. Anita picked up her pace to match Alexander’s, not quite believing how fast he was for a Spirit. They flew across the open field, easily jumping the stream that ran through its middle, and leapt at the steep incline the far side. Anita felt totally exhilarated. This was the first time she’d ever been truly challenged in a race, and that spurred her on to new depths of determination.
They reached the hill’s summit and picked their way down the other side back to the river. ‘You could at least pretend to use your energy metre,’ Alexander jibed. ‘I’ve already warned you once.’
‘You seem to have a callous disregard for your own safety, whilst being particularly precious about mine,’ she shot back. ‘Any specific reason for that?’
‘I’m the Spirit Descendant; people would mock me if I couldn’t read energy. You, on the other hand, are a Body, with, as it turns out, exceptional Body skills, as well as significant Spirit abilities. You are not what you might call normal, and this is a dangerous climate in which to stick out.’
‘Well you seem to have remarkable Body skills for a Spirit and seem to be fine, so I’ll take my chances,’ retorted Anita, as they reached the river and started jumping from rock to rock to cross it. The next group of challengers, including Gwyn, Bas and Marcus had reached the summit behind them, and Anita made a show of holding up her energy metre as she crossed the river and pointing in
the direction that the pigeon had flown. ‘Happy now?’ Anita called over her shoulder as she launched into a sprint along the river bank the other side. Alexander pelted after her, a bit pissed off now. He’d recently been getting used to people doing whatever he said, and Anita’s disobedience was infuriating.
They carried on at full speed for an hour, going up hills, down the other side, across the river, over fields, through woods, until at the summit of a small hill, Anita’s energy metre started playing up. It was indicating that she should head east, when she had seen the pigeon (and could feel its energy) heading north. ‘That’s weird,’ said Anita, as they ran down the slope the other side, ‘my energy metre’s telling me to go east. What does yours say?’
‘It says to head north,’ said Alexander, showing Anita his metre, ‘and I can feel its energy heading in that direction.’
‘I can too,’ she said, as Alexander’s face hardened.
‘Austin,’ Alexander spat.
‘Um, why?’ Anita asked, as she started to run north after the bird.
‘He must have tampered with the metres because he wants a Descendant to win,’ he said. ‘Energy metres don’t just pack up. They lock on to one source of energy and don’t change until they’re given a new target. You didn’t accidently set it to a new target?’ Alexander asked.
‘No, of course not. I’m not stupid,’ she said, indignantly. ‘I work in the bloody Observatory; I know how to use an energy metre.’
‘You work in the Observatory?’ Alexander asked, surprised. ‘So you’re an energy expert too?’
‘Well I wouldn’t go as far as expert,’ she said, upping the pace a little, ‘but I work with Bas and help him monitor the energy.’
‘Brilliant,’ he said sarcastically. ‘So you’re an energy reading Body who also knows all about energy. It doesn’t get much worse than that.’
‘For the sake of the Gods,’ Anita fumed back, ‘are you always such a pessimist?’
‘You’ve got to lose the Chase.’
‘What?’ Anita laughed back. ‘You’re off your rocker if you think I’m going to lose.’
‘You’ve got to. Austin will know you’re a reader if you win.’
‘How? I’ll just say I saw the pigeon head north and that your metre was pointing north, so I headed north. It’s not entirely untrue.’
‘And what about when we get to the end? How are you going to explain how you actually find the pigeon?’
‘I’ll get lucky.’
‘You’ll get lucky? Yeah, sure, no one will suspect a thing.’
Anita had had enough. ‘You stay here and keep spouting doom and gloom if you want to, but I’m going to get a move on, or else this little disaster of yours will be entirely hypothetical anyway.’ Alexander relented and picked up his pace. He would just have to make sure he got to the pigeon first.
Two hours later, both Anita and Alexander could feel that they were nearly there. The pigeon had stopped, and its energy was getting closer. As they leapt over a style into the next field, a beautiful farmhouse with several rickety old barns came into view, along with a massive crowd of people who were all intently watching an energy projector. As was normal for a Chase, the crowd had been told where the pigeon was heading as soon as the contestants had left, and they had been transported in energy trains to the finish. Energy trains ran on an energy cell and hovered above the ground as they travelled. Energy cells had been an invention of Bas’ grandfather, who had worked out a way to capture and consolidate energy waves so they could be used as a power source. The energy trains that had been used for the Chase were exquisite examples and almost certainly belonged to one of the Descendant families. They had plush velvet seat covers and heavy, luxurious drapes along the sides.
As they raced across the field, a cheer went up from the crowd. All eyes turned towards them as they fiercely competed to take the lead. As they reached the courtyard, Alexander was slightly in front. They felt the pigeon’s energy behind them at the same time, and both whipped around immediately, turning in perfect unison, like dancers performing a routine. They headed for one of the barns, Anita now slightly ahead, having benefitted from the sudden change in direction, and as she entered the barn, she saw the pigeon sitting on a low stack of rectangular hay bales. She could feel Alexander’s energy immediately behind her, so strong that it felt like it might envelop her, but she reached out and snatched the scroll at the pigeon’s feet just ahead of his long, muscular hand. She somehow managed to leap on top of the bales to avoid directly colliding with them and skidded to a clumsy halt. Alexander, however, had no option but to do the same, and bowled into Anita with such momentum that he pushed her off the other side, landing on top of her and leaving them in an awkward heap on the floor, luckily not totally in view of the growing crowd of people in the barn.
‘Happy?’ Alexander hissed at her as he pulled himself to his feet.
‘I will be when you get off me,’ she retorted. ‘You know there’s nothing worse than a sore loser.’ Alexander looked spectacular, in a terrifying kind of way, as he stalked out of the barn trying to regain his composure.
Anita got up as gracefully as she could to find herself face to face with the fearsome Austin. ‘Well, that was interesting,’ he said, in a sing-song voice, but pinning her with cold and dangerous eyes. ‘Congratulations…um…’
‘Anita,’ Alistair said, coming to the rescue, ‘congratulations. A startling performance as ever. Austin, this girl has won every contest she has ever entered, and she hasn’t disappointed again here today. Well done Anita.’ Thank the Gods for the wonderful Alistair, though Anita. She must remember to thank him properly later. ‘The presentation Austin?’ prompted Alastair.
‘Yes, of course, follow me,’ he commanded, and Anita followed Austin out of the barn, with Alastair stuck firmly to her side. As they emerged into the courtyard, Anita saw most of the other contestants had also finished, with only a few stragglers still making their way to the farmhouse. She briefly caught Bas’ eye; he was sporting both a huge grin and an enormous graze down one of his legs. Anita gave him a questioning look. He inclined his head in the general direction of Gwyn and Marcus, and Anita was glad she hadn’t had to deal with them on the Chase. Poor Bas. Alistair ushered Anita after Austin, who was giving off extremely strong negative energy. Maybe Alexander was right; maybe she should have kept a low profile. Well, too late for that now, she thought, as she stepped up in front of the crowd.
‘Descendants, Councillors, contestants, children of the Temples of the Mind, Body and Spirit. Today we have witnessed a spectacular, competitive Chase, with our worthy contestants having battled for three long hours, over difficult and varied terrain, to get here. But, as is always the case, there can only be one victor and today, by an excruciating margin – better luck next time Alexander – the victor is Anita, of the Temple of the Body.’ A roar went up from the crowd when he said her name, much to Anita’s surprise. Normally everyone was indifferent when she won. They must just be happy that someone other than a Descendant had finished first, thought Anita, as Austin continued. ‘As is customary for a Chase of this importance, we have a spectacular prize for our winner. Along with being guest of honour at the Crowning Ball, and leading the ball’s first dance, I present to you, Anita, a vintage energy meter from my own private collection.’ The crowd gave another roar as Austin took the energy metre from James, who had been nervously hovering with it at the side of the stage, and handed it to Anita, looking pained as he did so. Anita was gobsmacked. This she had not been expecting. She caught Bas’ eye again, who was looking longingly at the metre in her hands. Bet he can’t wait to get a look at this, she laughed to herself, as Austin ushered her off the stage.
‘Well, that concludes today’s festivities. I trust that you all had an enjoyable day and I thank the contestants for playing their part. Please make your way to the energy trains which will return you to Empire.’
As the crowd was dispersing and Anita was making her way towards Bas and Alistair, she felt a hand close around her arm. She turned to see Austin, who looked like a small boy about to pull the wings off a fly. ‘Of course, our champion cannot travel back with the crowds. Please, join us in our carriage,’ he said, in his horrible, over-the-top voice, pulling Anita towards a floating golden carriage that looked like it was worth more money than there was in the world, with plush, overstuffed red velvet seats. The carriage already contained Marcus and a driver. Great, thought Anita, I’m sure this won’t be awkward at all, her energy already rising at the proximity to Marcus she was heading for.
As they approached the carriage, however, as if things couldn’t have got any worse, Alexander blocked her entrance. ‘Allow me to help you,’ he said, in his charming, chocolate voice, taking Anita’s hand and moving aside to help her climb the steps into the carriage. ‘Austin, I thought I would ride back with you, I trust that will be okay,’ he said, climbing in behind her without waiting for a response.
‘Of course,’ Austin snarled, as he too climbed into the carriage. ‘Let’s get a move on then,’ he barked at the driver when he had settled himself down. He sat beside Marcus, opposite Alexander, who had taken the seat next to Anita.
They travelled in awkward silence for several minutes, Anita looking out into the countryside to avoid looking at her travelling companions, hoping this would be enough to keep her energy under wraps, before Austin broke the silence. ‘That was quite a show Anita,’ he said dangerously, his hard brown eyes glinting as he stared menacingly at her. ‘Very impressive.’
‘Thanks,’ she smiled back at him, warily, in the sweetest, most innocent tone she could conjure. ‘I’ve always had a knack for Body contests.’
‘I see,’ he drawled.
‘Yes, congratulations,’ interjected Alexander. ‘It was close at the end there, but the best contestant won,’ he said, in what seemed like a sincere way. Marcus was sizing up Alexander like he was about to launch himself towards him, Anita pondering why as Austin resumed his campaign.
‘It was especially impressive how you turned so quickly at the end, when you both realised that you were heading in the wrong direction.’
Anita looked him straight in the eye, saying as naively as she could, ‘well, as you know, we Body types are prone to having lightening reactions. When I saw Alexander start to turn, I did the same. When I turned round, I saw the open entrance to the barn, took a punt, and got lucky. You see the strangest thing happened in the middle of the Chase; my energy metre broke. Luckily, I saw the pigeon heading north and, of course, could see Alexander was still heading north, so I continued that way, but it’s such a strange occurrence for an energy metre to go wrong like that. Have you ever heard of one breaking?’ she asked in a sugary voice, still holding Austin’s now murderous gaze. She could feel his energy turn from playful boy to hostile animal and felt Alexander’s defensive reaction, as he stiffened slightly beside her. Anita felt her energy intensify, but it wasn’t focused on Austin, it was on Alexander; she liked that he was defending her. She felt Alexander’s energy soften slightly, but only for a moment, as he felt the impact he had had on her.
Bloody hell Anita, she said silently to herself, as, to everyone’s surprise, Marcus interjected, ‘you probably just accidently reset the metre to track something else. It happens.’
Marcus, knowing the best way to deal with Austin was not head on, was trying to soothe the situation, and looked at her with a slight plea in his eyes. ‘Yes, probably,’ Anita replied, trying to pull herself together with a slight shake of her head. ‘Luckily I was with Alexander, and I could follow him. Otherwise I would have been out of the race, and given how competitive I am, that would not have been an attractive sight,’ she laughed enthusiastically, hoping self-depreciation would help move the conversation to safer territory.
‘Well luckily you did have Alexander to follow, and we now have the good fortune of your beauty on our journey home,’ said Marcus, again taking everyone by surprise. Anita went bright red, thinking instantly of the kiss in the field and Marcus’ invitation to the ball. Shit, she thought, please don’t bring that up now. This time it was her who sent Marcus a pleading look. Mercifully, Alexander came to her rescue, obviously feeling her energy shift. He asked Austin about the history of the energy metre that Anita had won. Anita knew Alexander would now suspect something was up with her and Marcus, but she would take that over Marcus bringing it up in front of Austin any day.
Austin, glad the attention was once again back on him, launched into a story about how the metre had belonged to his father, Tobias, a story which lasted all the way back to the city. Anita zoned out pretty quickly, watching the countryside whip past, thinking about the ball, the Chase, the antique energy metre she now owned, why Austin had tampered with her race metre, and why Alexander was so concerned with her being ‘careful’, whatever that actually meant. She was horribly confused and couldn’t have been happier when the carriage pulled up outside Cordelia’s cottage, where she could say goodbye and retreat to a place where there were no readers to scrutinise her energy, nor spectacular specimens to cause it to spike.