Chapter 24
The Lion and the Racers
"You seem to be in a good mood today," Roy said to Peggy as they traveled down the road.
They were on their way to the town square where an annual event was taking place. That event: a race around the whole town. Anyone was free to enter the race as long as they followed the rules. However, there seemed to be an unwritten one that anyone entering should be a pro-level magic user.
"A newbie magic user like you should definitely NOT join the race," Mrs. Arkans had warned Peggy when the topic of the race came up during dinner.
While strolling through the lively streets of Featherkeep, Peggy had been cheerfully humming to herself, which prompted Roy's comment.
"Did something good happen?" asked Alan.
Partway to their destination, Roy and Peggy ran into the young goblin who was with a tall man introduced as a friend to Alan's family. The man, named Timmy, was a vampire like the coffee shop Owner, but he had fiery red hair and beard, a square jaw, and had muscles so huge, he was like testosterone personified which contrasted with the classical gentleman air that Boss usually carried.
"You could say that," Peggy replied. And then she reached into her shoulder purse.
Behind her, Timmy tensed up. But all Peggy pulled out was a hard, plastic-like card with her picture on it and some written details printed on it. Next to her picture were three gold stars.
Both young men looked at the card with wide eyes and immediately gave Peggy their congratulations.
"Congrats!" Roy cheered. "Now you're a full-fledged spell caster!"
"With this, you could take on jobs for pro magicians!" exclaimed Alan.
"I congratulate you on this momentous occasion, Lady Lau," Timmy said, giving a stiff nod.
"Great, thanks," Peggy said. She really wasn't sure how to react to Timmy's rather stuffy congratulations, so let a little spirit slip away. "It definitely wasn't easy, though. I had to take the test FIVE TIMES before I finally passed!"
Roy blinked in surprise. "Really? Even with the coffee shop owner's help?"
Peggy shrugged and put the card back into her purse. "He gives me pointers when he has the time, but it's not like he ever became my full-blown tutor. I think if I were anyone's apprentice, I would be Mrs. Arkans'. The only thing Boss ever taught me seriously is how to be a barista."
"I see," Timmy muttered. "So the rumors of the Trickster taking on an apprentice were false. Well, to a certain extent, anyway."
"Hm? Did you say something, Timmy?" Peggy asked.
"No, nothing at all," Timmy quickly replied. "Anywhere, we're at the town square, but where are the others we're supposed to meet?"
"Good question," said Alan. He looked around with his hand cupped over his eyes, but it was hard to see through the throngs of people that had gathered for the event.
The people made a semi-circle around the statue which had the checkered starting line painted on the ground right in front of it.
Peggy also tried looking around, but was unsuccessful finding a single familiar face. But then -
"Hey! Peggy! Alan! Over here!"
Peggy turned her head to an open air balcony two floors up a nearby building. Leaning over the white stone railing was George, excitedly waving to the group below.
Peggy, however, was not too pleased and snapped at the young lion cub, "George, be careful! You'll fall!"
She was relieved when the kid shrank away from the edge of the balcony and then beckoned to the others.
"Found them!" she told the men before leading the group into the building which turned out to be a multi-floor restaurant. Waiting on the third floor at a round table placed near the balcony George had recklessly called from was, of course, George. At his right was Uncle Theo, his head still a house. But at the lion cub's right sat a person that Peggy had never seen before.
This stranger was a full-grown lion man with the bushy mane and everything. Because of that, Peggy could only guess that he might be related to George. And with his neat, pressed cream-colored suit with a white waistcoat, clean white gloves, and glistening black shoes, the stranger positively reeked of money.
"Hello," Peggy said to the lion man. "I don't believe we've met before. I'm Peggy."
The lion man rolled his eyes up and down at Peggy while keeping a frown on his face. But then he stood up and held his hand out to her.
"It is a pleasure to meet you," he said. His voice was baritone and he spoke in a dignified way. "My name is Norman, and I am George's uncle. His mother was my twin sister."
Peggy took Norman's hand and shook it. When she was done, Norman turned his gaze to the men behind Peggy.
"And who might you all be?" he asked.
Roy and Alan shared uncertain glances. Behind them, Timmy seemed to glare at Norman with clenched jaws.
"The goblin's Alan!" George explained, oblivious to the heavy air. "He's another worker at Dad's shop, like Peggy. And the human's Roy, a regular customer! I don't know who the vampire is though."
"I'm Timmy," Timmy said. He said nothing more.
"It is nice to meet you all," said Norman. "Ah! But where are my manners? Please have a seat, all of you."
At the lion man's urging, everyone took a seat at the table. Timmy was the last to sit down and the most reluctant.
"There are some snacks on the table, if you're feeling peckish," Norman said, gesturing to the bowls of cookies on the table. "And we have tea and coffee. My treat."
"Sweet!" exclaimed George. He didn't hesitate to stick his hand into the bowl closest to him.
Norman also helped himself to a few cookies before taking a sip from his dainty coffee cup. Just by looking at his clothes, Peggy could tell that he must be a very rich man. And this place they were in now was probably the fanciest place that she's been in ever in her whole life. She's never really heard much about George's blood relatives before and was a bit curious about this uncle of his.
But before she could get her questions out, suddenly, trumpets played and the event that had the whole town buzzing began.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Guys and gals of all ages! It's the moment you've all been waiting for! Welcome to Featherkeep's annual race, the FEATHERKEEP GRAND PRIX!"
Over at the tent behind the statue was a skeleton speaking into a microphone that carried his voice through strategically placed speakers. Peggy vaguely remembered meeting that skeleton when she visited the Head Magus' office a long time ago. If memory served her well, that skeleton was an intern there.
"The name's Howard, and I'll be your host today. With me is Daisy who works at Paladia School of Advance Magic."
So that's the skeleton's name, Peggy thought.
"The rules of the Featherkeep Grand Prix are simple," the skeleton continued. "First person who crosses the finish line wins. Magic is allowed, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone. Obviously, direct attacks are a no-no. And since this is supposed to be a foot race, flying is not allowed either. Contestants are to follow the race course which runs all around the town while dealing with traps along the way. These traps, by the way, were set up by a team of magic users handpicked by the Head Magus herself. And as I'm sure you all know, our town's Head Magus has friends in really high places. And really low places too."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Suddenly, a woman's voice cut in.
"Yikes! B-b-boss! W-w-what are you doing here? I thought - !"
"Oh, I was just passing by when I overheard a certain intern suddenly spreading untrue rumors about his boss."
"Now who would do something so terrible?"
There was a loud squeak and then Daisy's voice came through the speaker with an apology for interrupting the program. She promised that it would continue shortly, and then it did with the skeleton pretending that the scolding of a lifetime never happened.
"Okay, let's get right to introducing our contestants. And boy, do we got a wild line up here! First up! We got someone you'd be familiar with, Daisy. He's the big honcho of Paladia School of Advance Magic, and he's as tough as he looks. Give it up for Chief Director Ethan Stonecrest!"
Director Stonecrest walked up to the checkered starting line, as always, covered in big, black armor, waving to the cheering crowd.
"Next up, for the first time in a long time, we got the town's top spell caster. She hails from a family of hardboiled knights, once prowled the streets as a young vigilante, say hello to Featherkeep's own Head Magus!"
The Head Magus appeared next to Stonecrest wearing her signature white, pointed hat, grinning big as she greeted the audience with a hand by her head. She acted as if she didn't just chew out a certain intern a few minutes ago.
"Next up . . ."
One by one, Howard the skeleton introduced the racers. There were senior guardsmen, magic shopkeepers, and even a few visitors from out of town. And then came a few unusual people.
"You're not going to believe this, folks," Howard said over his microphone. "All the way from the Royal Capital, we've got the king's own exclusive bodyguard and is the strongest man in the nation, the Captain of the Royal Guard!"
A large man with muscles bulging through his glowing red military coat covered with medals and tassels, stepped forward. The crowd grew quiet, stunned by the appearance of such an important person.
"And he's not the only one from the Royal Capital, folks. With the good captain is a knight not heard of since the days of Ariela's own gentlemanly Trickster. You wouldn't know he's a knight just by looking at him. He's the infamously wild, rock-n-roll dude, Sir Wilder!"
A middle-aged goblin leaped into the spotlight and shrilly shrieked, "ROCK-N-ROLL!" His hair, dyed orange, was moussed up into a line of sharp triangles that divided the top of his otherwise shining head in half. His face was completely painted in panda bear colors, and he stuck his tongue out while smiling at the crowd.
"Psst! Theo!" Norman whispered to Uncle Theo. "Isn't that the king!?"
To which, the man with a house for a head responded, "I see nothing. I know nothing."
"You know," said Howard, "this is my first time seeing him, but for some reason, I feel like I know him from somewhere before. I wonder why?"
Both the Head Magus and the Captain of the Royal Guard wore crooked smiles and had shaky laughs.
"So that's why the captain's here." Peggy thought she heard Alan mumble something but dismissed it as her imagination. No one saw how he shrank down in his chair while looking incredibly embarrassed.
The next person to appear was a lady in a beautiful, colorful dress. But while her dress was certainly eye-catching, what really made her stood out was the big paper bag covering her whole head.
"Well folks, looks like we've got a lady of mystery on our hands. Give it up for . . . Definitely Not the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons! Wait, huh?"
Howard paused. He looked at the list of racers and then looked up.
"Oooookay? Moving on, we've got . . . some kind of dragon-looking monster?"
The whole crowd went quiet when a tyrannosaurus rex wearing a Santa Claus hat suddenly stomped into view next to the lady with the paper bag over her head and screamed, "Merry Rex-mas!"
"According to the entry form, the dragon-thing's a her, and her name's the Christmas Dino. Yeah, I'm just not going to think too hard on that."
"Who on Emeron could that be?" Norman asked. Both George and Uncle Theo shrugged.
Peggy knew who the dino was right away, but she kept quiet for Boss' sake. FYI, the Christmas Dino is actually Boss' mom.
"Let's see who else is on the roster," Howard said. "Wha-!? Seriously? No kidding? THAT'S who's here?"
Murmurs erupted from the crowd as people wondered who else could be on the list of racers that could get Howard so flustered. They didn't have to wait long to find out.
"Uh . . . Ladies and gentlemen, you're not going to believe this, but joining us all the way from the Zhao Empire is Jing Wu, the one and only Crimson Storm!"
Disbelief, shock and awe exploded from the townsfolk as a silver-furred werewolf strolled into view. He wore a high-collar suit and long, flowing cape that were all red. Over his squinty eyes, he wore a pair of dainty, circle-shaped glasses.
Peggy remembered meeting the werewolf on New Year's Eve. She could never forget how he conjured hundreds of portals to bring out giant cannons that rapid-fired red lasers into the sky as replacement fireworks.
At the tables behind hers, people spat out their drinks in surprise.
"As you all know," Howard continued, "Jing is one of seven unbeatable heroes called the Seven Colors. He's a borderline Six-Star demigod and to the whole wide world, the King of Alchemy! Some of the stuff he's done include capturing a gang of one hundred bandits by himself, punching a giant hole through a six-feet thick wall of pure diamond WITHOUT MAGIC, and beating up a full-grown demon dragon until it cried for its mama."
"Is any of that really true?" Peggy asked the others.
"Oh, definitely," said Uncle Theo. "I heard the same things about the Crimson Storm from VERY reliable sources. Besides, weren't you there when he helped out with the fireworks problem on New Year's? You should know better than any of us what he can do."
That Peggy did.
Definitely Not Queen of the North Mountain Dragons gave the Christmas Dino and Jing a the Crimson Storm a sideways look and thought, "I only joined this race on a whim because of the lion cub, and thought it'd be a bit boring. But it looks like this will turn out to be a fun contest after all. These two just reek of power!"
"Seriously, what is up with this line-up?" Howard wondered aloud. "I know Featherkeep's a bit of a tourist trap, but this town's been seeing waaaay too many super-powered folks lately.
"Anyway, last up, we got the owner of the coffee shop." Howard started to sound really drained. "You all know which one I'm talking about. Honestly, I was really excited when I heard he'd be in the race since he's like the second-highest rank magician alongside the Head Magus this town's got. But compared to all these weirdos from out of town, he's just meh."
Boss walked over to the starting line, clearly displeased at his intro. He was dressed in a black tuxedo beneath a long, flowing cape and also had on a gentleman's top hat and a pair of polished dress shoes. There was only scarce, scattered clapping. He glanced sideways at his fellow racers, stopping his eyes on the dinosaur. When the Christmas Dino looked back and gave him a cheery wave with her stubby arm, the vampire turned away and sighed.
Peggy was no lip reader, but it looked like Boss mouthed to himself, "I should not have come here."
"Okay!" Howard said, forcing some pep back into his voice. "Let's get this thing started! Racers, on your marks!"
He and the other racers looked in front of them.
"Get set!"
The racers leaned down.
"Go!"
A girl in a yellow cheerleading outfit waved a huge flag down in front of the racers and then -
BOOM!
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