Noelle grunted and rolled back to her feet, barely avoiding a puddle of mud caused by the increased rain as Smudge bucked her off the seventh time.

She turned back to Smudge, who was innocently sitting down, head tilted.

“Seriously?” she snapped. “How many times are we going to keep doing this?” Smudge blinked, as if he didn’t know what the heck was going on.

Noelle ground her teeth. “Like it or not, we’re stuck together until I can figure out how to win this stupid game. So just play along like the good little dragon you are, and in a few months you can be released back to wherever Andrea keeps you, ok?”

If a dragon could pout, Smudge would be the master of pouting.

Noelle rolled her eyes. “Come on, you cow. It’s not that hard not to buck someone off.”

Dragon and rider had a glaring contest for a few moments.

Noelle finally sighed. She plopped down on the ground next to Smudge. “You know, I wasn’t always like this. A [insert some kinda of bad word in here], I mean.” Smudge grunted in agreement. Noelle nudged him. “I was six when I was kidnapped. I wasn’t that spiteful back then. Well, not that much of one. Before that, I was just a shadow. Like those cobwebs in the ceiling that need to be dealt with but are always ignored.” Noelle paused. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. You don’t want to hear about my trauma, don’t you?”

Smudge shrugged, making an “eh” sound.

Noelle sighed. She got up, dusting off her shirt. “We can trauma bond another time.” She glanced at Smudge. “Ellie and Andrea are both kinda relying on us to win the Games, aren’t they?” Smudge seemed to nod. “And you’re pissed off because someone took you away from your mother when you were an egg, and you don’t want to help Andrea?” Smudge seemed to nod again, although this time, it had more guilt.

“Andrea didn’t do anything bad to you,” Noelle informed him. “And plus, it’s not like winning the Games will be bad for you. Maybe we can be famous or something. The whole team can be.” She gave a little smile at that. “Well, before all that, I’m going to have to learn how to ride a dragon. Namely, you.”

Smudge grimaced a little bit.

Here we go again, Noelle thought. And then she pulled herself onto Smudge, clinging to his neck as tightly as she could without hurting him. She waited for him to buck her off, or try to flip her over, or crush her under his weight, but nothing happened.

And then he began moving.

“Slow down, Smudge,” Noelle warned. But Smudge was doing the exact opposite. He was going off at a trot. One that slowly morphed into a canter, followed by a sprint accompanied by flapping wings.

And then Noelle realized what he was doing.

“Stopstopstopstopstopstop!”

Smudge kept sprinting, his legs pounding across the wet ground, his wings flapping faster and faster—

And then they were in the air. Noelle felt her stomach drop to her feet. For a second, as they were defying gravity and soaring into the sky, they were weightless and Noelle feared they would go plunging into the hard ground below. She shut her eyes and waited for the inevitable. But they didn’t plummet to the ground below.

It took several seconds for the fact to register in Noelle’s brain: they were flying. Cruising high above the ground below, where the forest was barely a spot on the brown terrain and Andrea’s cottage was no more than the size of an ant.

They were flying.

Noelle was so taken aback by this fact that she laughed. The sound startled her. Not only was she flying, she was also laughing. Two miracles in a day. She thought she’d used up all of her miracle supply.

“Smudge, I’m flying,” she declared to the dragon, who let out a grunt in response and veered left. Which almost made Noelle barf up the oranges she had consumed on the plane.

And then they promptly crashed into something. Noelle yelped, losing her grip on the reins she was strangling just a moment before. She felt her body being knocked off the saddle. Then she was actually free-falling. But only for a second before Smudge caught her onto his back.

“What the heck was that, Smudge?” Noelle demanded. She looked ahead and saw exactly what the heck that was. They had crashed into another dragon. A gray amphithere that was now hovering in midair in front of them, glaring at them with beady black eyes and its long tail curled. It flapped its wings, snarling at them. Then the amphithere made a clicking sound in the back of its throat.

Noelle’s eyes widened, realizing just a moment later what that sound meant, before the amphithere tried to crash into them again.

Smudge let out a garbled bark and managed to veer to the left.

The amphithere was challenging them. And it was much larger than them. Which meant…

“RUN SMUDGE!” The wyvern didn’t need a second warning before he turned around and began sprinting back.

“Faster!” Noelle shouted. She could hear the amphithere’s flapping wings behind them. Smudge roared as it snapped its teeth down on Smudge’s tail, flipping sideways at the lack of balance. Noelle slid straight off Smudge’s back, but at the last moment, she caught hold of Smudge’s reins.

This must be a nightmare. It had to be. Noelle couldn’t be dangling from the reins of a wyvern as they were being chased by an amphithere midair.

Smudge dashed across the meadow to the direction of the cottage, righting himself as he did so and swinging Noelle back on the saddle. But even if they did make it back to the cottage, what were Ellie and Andrea going to do? Once a dragon issued a challenge, it couldn’t be taken back unless somebody won it.

And Noelle wasn’t big on losing.

“Smudge, I need you to stop when I tell you to, okay?” she said. Smudge spared her a glance, like he was saying, Are you insane?

“We can’t run forever. He’ll catch us eventually. I need you to stop flying and hover when I tell you to, okay?” Despite the tension and unease Noelle knew Smudge would be feeling, he let out a grunt of affirmation.

Noelle slipped the dagger from her boot. If she timed this right, she would take the amphithere down with her into the trees below.

But if she didn’t…well, she didn’t plan on finding out. She took a breath, steadying herself as she flipped the dagger in her hand. She managed to twist her legs in a position that made it easier for her to move. This was either going to be the most heroic decision she ever made or the stupidest. “Now!”

The world lurched into slow motion. Noelle heard the surprised squawk of the amphithere behind them. She didn’t waste a second before she propelled herself backwards, straight into the dragon behind them. Without a second thought, Noelle twisted around, grabbed hold of one of the amphithere’s sensitive spots: the horns. With her other hand, she stabbed the dagger straight into its eyes.

The amphithere roared, launching itself backwards, and it was all Noelle could do to pull out her dagger and release her hold on the dragon’s horns. Smudge nearly lost his balance, and Noelle nearly lost her life as she tried to right herself back on the saddle.

Noelle turned her head backward, panting, as she looked at the destruction she had caused. The gray amphibian was now glaring at them with its one good eye, the other a bloody mess of pulp and torn-apart eyeball.

Noelle would almost feel bad for it if not for the fact that its eye was already healing and the murderous look it was giving them.

And then, it dipped its head. A mockery of a bow like the one you were supposed to give when you lose a challenge, but Noelle would take it.

Noelle tapped Smudge’s neck. “Let’s go.” She wouldn’t stick around for the amphithere to change its mind.

Smudge zipped away. Noelle had to fight to keep her grip on Smudge’s back, but she managed. Maybe she could win the games after all.

I mean, the trick I pulled with the amphithere? I wonder how many riders can pull that off.

Lost in her whirlwind of thoughts, Noelle didn’t even notice that Smudge had landed until he nudged her with his tail. Blinking, she quickly disembarked.

A clap behind her made Noelle jump. She whipped her head around.

Standing before her was a nightmare, except clad in a collar-high white dress with draping sleeves and a crown of twisted gold atop her head, amber hair spilling down the sides like a waterfall.

The Queen of Gravemarch was standing before her.

Great work, Nina. Be sure to go over your spellings of ‘ampithere.’ Consider if this word is too unfamiliar to readers