As Sapphire laid down on her moving throne bed, she was quite content with the situation. Sure it was quite noisy and a bit bumpy at times, but she was moving without doing a thing. It wasn’t that fast though. That seemed like it was mostly the terrain’s fault though. Whenever Tom found a smooth bit he would speed up a bit, so maybe it could go faster. Perhaps he was just worried she would fall off? The others had seemed pretty jealous that she got to ride the magic cart, but it had given them the opportunity to actually do some hunting. That was why they had come out here after all. Esmeralda had stayed though, just in case something happened. Besides, they needed a flyer to navigate. Fengi needed the practice hunting, and Dakota wouldn’t let Jackolope near Tom’s things without supervision. She tended to be quite hands-on, and that could be a problem when you didn’t know what anything did.
Esmeralda had found her place sitting behind Tom on the front part of the cart with her arms around him. Saph was sure she was enjoying her turn making the poor guy uncomfortable. She even rested her head on his shoulders and giggled when they went over bumps. It was definitely working too.
“Look Saph, he is almost as red as Shiva’s furnace now.” Esmeralda was indeed enjoying herself, Sapphire concluded.
“Doesn’t that mean rage in soft-skinned species?”
“I think it’s embarrassment for this one. Wueee,” Esmeralda giggled as they went up a small berm.
“Don’t wear him out just yet. He is being extremely kind after all.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just so funny, besides what else am I supposed to do? This isn’t going very fast. We might not even make it back today.”
“You could sing us a song?”
As they drove through the woods, Tom thought to himself that this wasn’t as bad as yesterday. He had had girls on the back of a bike before, but personal space didn’t seem to be a concept the dragonettes shared. Judging by their shared giggling, they were trying their best to torture him… brilliant.
After a while, Esmeralda began singing. It was a dainty tune, seeming quite happy and idyllic. Her vocal range was pretty good too. She could definitely sing, though when she switched to a deeper tone it caught him off guard a few times. Sapphire wasn’t singing along, just humming a bit, so he guessed Esmeralda was the designated musician of the group. ‘I wonder what kind of musical instruments they have?’ He had only brought his father’s harmonica. He couldn’t really play anything else, so it would have been dead weight, he thought. His father had taught him a few tunes on it, but it wasn’t like he could play while driving.
He knew plenty of songs though, even if he was a terrible singer, but that was why he had brought speakers. When she finished one of the little songs, he decided to try out singing I can see clearly now. This got another round of giggeling from Sapphire and stunned silence from Esmeralda, clearly trying to work out what was happening. She started joining in a little on the chorus after a while. It sure helped get the time to pass, and when he got to “walking on sunshine” even Sapphire gave it a go. They couldn’t quite hit the nuances of English though. Their mouths weren’t really made for it, he thought. The resulting accent was hilarious though.
Every once in a while Esmeralda would go up to get her bearings and then guide Tom where he needed to go. So far it had gone swimmingly, and around lunchtime she had come down with the others in tow. They watched as Tom put on Walking on Sunshine again. Dakota just stood there staring, Jackalope broke out laughing, and Fengi started dancing. Sapphire and Esmeralda tried their damndest to sing the chorus. Tom had a mini-breakdown at that point at the scene in front of him, joining Jackolope in laughing his ass off.
They made a quick camp and had the leftovers they had prepared this morning. Their appetite wasn’t quite as bad this time around. Perhaps they weren’t used to three meals a day? Well, that might suck in the long run, he thought. They had made quite the dent in the deer he had shot though. But they had brought back some fresh kills: another deer, a few of the jackalope things, and a large green and red bird that looked a bit like a goose.
Tom had helped load all the meat onto the quad bike, with the deer on the front cargo rack and Sapphire being surrounded by smaller animals. She looked like a prized trophy on display. Space was coming to be at a premium, even if the suspension wasn’t having any troubles on account of the gravity here. There simply wasn’t much more room.
They had continued on for an hour or two before reaching the edge of the forest. It had just ended? Like poof, no more trees. It gave way to open plains and rolling hills, mostly grassland. Well, at least he could navigate in this terrain much more easily, not to mention he could go faster. It was clear to him from the grumbling sounds Dakota had made at lunch that she wasn’t entirely happy with the progress made so far.
Apparently, Esmeralda’s singing had given Tom an idea. After she had finished a song, he had stopped and got out some metal box thing from the big chest Sapphire was lying on. After fiddling with it for a while, it had started playing music! There were instruments, singers, and everything coming out of the little box!? Sapphire was honestly starting to wonder what the limit would be to what Tom had. What else was hiding in the chest she was currently lying on?
The music was fun and happy, much like Esmeralda’s songs. After a while, she had even joined in. Thanks to Tom, she wasn’t the worst singer present for once. The faces on the others when they had returned to a moving musical orchestra in the middle of the forest was worth singing for. She had tried and failed to keep a straight face and sing at the same time.
Tom had then gotten out the food again and dug in. He seemed just as hungry as usual. Maybe it was because he was wounded? He didn’t look like a glutton, so that must be it. The others had gone out to hunt again, hoping to catch a bit more small game on the way home. So it was just them, and Tom had put the music back on again. Even if it was slow, she could get used to this.
They had finally made it out of the forest shortly after the food stop, and with fresh meat on board. Even if they would be a day late, at least they would be bringing food home, as promised, and a new friend. Her suspicions about the cart had been proven correct. When Tom had gotten out onto the grassy plains, he had sped up to near flying speed! This was slow for flying, but still it was quite thrilling doing this speed on the ground. She had always enjoyed going low and fast, but this was different though. It had also gotten a lot bumpier, and she did wince every once in a while when they hit a bad bump.
“Wohooo! Now we are moving!” Esmeralda had cried out.
They had been moving fast for just under an hour before the keep had come into view ahead of them. They pulled to a stop to wait for the others. After a short while, Sapphire had spotted them flying up from behind. Tom had gotten off, taking another weird thing with him. They had let him go about his thing and turned to welcome the others back.
“So where have you been? We have been waiting for you,” Sapphire said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Oh cut the crap, will you? Why weren’t you going this fast before?” Dakota had answered. Clearly, she was not pleased that the ground-bound cart had outdistanced her.
“Terrain,” Esmeralda had added informatively.
“As soon as we got out of the forest, he sped up. I think it might be able to go even faster. The front part is pulling the rear, and I think he is worried I might fall off too.”
“Are you suggesting this thing is as fast as flying?” Dakota replied, sounding shocked., but there was a hint of incredulousness in her voice if you knew where to look for it. “Also, what is he doing now?”
“Looking at the keep with a telescope, I think.” Esmaralda was on pointe as usual.
The others had joined them again out in the open, but for the time being Tom was occupied. This was the first building he had seen here, and it was dead ahead, so chances were good that it was their destination. He had brought out the binoculars to get a closer look. It was a tall stone construction, seemingly built into/on top of a rocky outcropping. It looked like a stone keep, with tall towers. It was quite big, certainly bigger than what 5 hunters needed. It looked very defensible too, being on top of a big rock and all. Although, he wasn’t sure how important that would be if the enemy could fly too?
The Dragonettes had been discussing something quite heatedly, he thought. Jackalope especially had seemed almost hyper; she had been pointing at the quad bike too? Did she want to ride along for a while? He couldn’t see a problem with that.
Then Dakota had come over and started doing hand gestures?
Tom had seemingly been more interested in the keep, trying to ask questions, but Dakota had just ignored him. He seemed to get the message that Dakota was trying to convey pretty quickly once he gave up trying to ask his questions. He definitely started smiling and nodding. Perhaps he was just as much of a speed freak as Jackalope? The rules were simple to keep it fair for Tom. It would be a simple race from one point to another, with Fengi being the starter and the others the finish line.
Tom had unhooked the rear part of the cart, removed some of the cargo from the front part, and left it all with the others. He, Fengi, and Jackalope had then gone a fair distance away. Fengi had ridden along on the back with Tom, wanting to try too.
With the racers in position, Fengi had given the signal, and they were off.
Tom took an early lead, with Jackalope beating hard to get into the air and up to speed. It was clear that the weird cart could accelerate fast from a standstill. She could hear it even at this distance, and the tone was higher too.
It hadn’t been entirely fair to have Jackalope start on the ground, but Tom knew he needed a head start. They were definitely faster on the top end. He would struggle to do 100 Kph on this terrain, even if it was very nice flat grass. This was a utility ATV, not a racer. But so far he was winning, and by quite a bit. Unfortunately, it was first to the finishing line, rather than having to stop at the finishing line, he thought. Surely he must have the advantage in brakes too?
As Tom looked back, he saw that Jackalope had gotten going surprisingly quickly and was bearing down on him. She wasn’t more than two or three meters above the ground, and she looked like an eagle hunting a mouse, eyes looking at him. Those green eyes, ohh she was a predator alright. “Well that’s bloody unnerving,” he said to himself, hunkering down to try and get what speed he could. 90 Kph. 95. He wasn’t gonna get much more out of this thing, and if he was right, the dragonettes did 100+ easily. He was more than halfway there, and he still had a lead on her.
It wasn’t enough though. There had been less than 50 meters left when Jackalope had made it past him, going at quite the pace. She was still accelerating too, probably doing well in excess of 130 at this point. Well dammit, that was great fun though.
Hunter or Huntress 
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