[Prologue]    [Chapter 1]    [Chapter 2]    [Chapter 3]    [Chapter 4]    [Chapter 5]    [Chapter 6]    [Chapter 7]    [Chapter 8]    [Chapter 9]    [Chapter 10]    [Chapter 11]    [Chapter 12]    [Chapter 14]    [Chapter 15]    [Chapter 16]    [Chapter 17]    [Chapter 18]    [Chapter 19]    [Chapter 20]    [Chapter 21]    [Chapter 22]    [Chapter 23]    [Chapter 24]    [Chapter 25]    [Chapter 26]    [Chapter 27]    [Chapter 28]    [Chapter 29]    [Chapter 30]    [Epilogue]
   
It’s time for a break in the middle of the story to make sure you don’t get confused in the next part. I’ll be telling you about the Hover-Board.
    A Hover-Board is like a Skate Board with no wheels and it can also hover. Tellens use their minds to control it. They can make the Boards 'fly higher’, speed up or slow down and they can even use their Hover-Boards to perform 'Board Tricks’. The Board Tricks are very entertaining.
    Every year in Telleria, Hover-Board races are held and this year, 16-year-old Princess Corina is taking part. 7 years have past since the Tyrons have taken their country back and look how everybody’s changed...

Chapter 13

The cheering was loud, it didn’t look like it would stop soon. Corina smiled and waved at the crowd, just like how she was doing it 5 minutes before.
    “If they don’t shut their yaps real soon, I think I’m gonna burst!” the princess thought angrily.
    “Why can’t they stop cheering? I want to see the race!” Kane complained. He was with his wife in the VIP viewing booth, high in the stadium.
    “People! People!” cried the voice on the Megaphones. “The Race starts in 30 seconds! Racers, assemble positions!” The Racers went to the Start Line on their Hover-Boards and hovered, waiting. The crowd finally went quiet. “To start the Racers and present the Trophy, 4 time champion Raylo!!”
    The cheers went up again when a man in a green, yellow and pink suit walked to the Start Line. He smiled and waved to the crowd. They grew quiet and the man picked up a phaser.
    “Racers! Start your boards!” shouted the voice on the Megaphones. An alarm sounded and the racers raced away.
    The racers went along the track. Up hills, down hills, left turns, sharp right. Corina then took the lead and went ahead of everyone else by at least a meter. The track then took the racers up a steep hill and into a curving right turn. A boy started to catch up.
    Corina knew this and sped off even faster. She sped through a chicane, down a hill, then went into a large, curving left turn. The turn was so big that speeding along it was like riding a Helter Skelter. At the end of the turn, she went up a hill and went sharp right. The boy had fallen behind, Corina slowed down a bit and turned left. Then came a very steep hill.
    The hill was like a mountain. It was so long and hard to get up it that even though it was their minds doing the work, the Tellen racers panted in exhaustion. Corina was relieved when she got to the top and let herself speed down the huge slope. A huge cheer came from the crowds. Corina was going so fast that she had to force her Hover-Board to slow down in order not to crash before reaching the Finish Line. As she crossed the Finish Line, she stretched her arms in the air and cheered, then jumped off her Hover-Board.

Holding her trophy, Corina had to keep it safe while the reporters and cameramen huddled round her.
    “Corina, how does it feel to win the race?” one reporter asked her.
    “Great,” Corina answered. She slowly walked forward.
    “Corina, what are your plans for the holiday week?” another reporter asked.
    “Well-”
    “Do you have any opinions about your Graduation Tests?” another reporter asked.
    A fourth reporter started talking. “Corina, will-?”
    All the reporters stopped talking and walked away in fear as Kane walked to his daughter. First he looked mean then he smiled.
    “Where’s Mum?” asked Corina as she walked up to her Dad.
    “In the car, waiting.” Kane told her as they walked to the car.
    “This Golden Cup is lovely,” said Corina, smiling and looking at her trophy. She looked up at her Dad. “Can I have the day off school tomorrow?”
    “Just because you won a race doesn’t mean you can take a day off school. No matter how rich we are we have to follow all the laws that the common Taklan follows,” Kane told his daughter.
    “That’s unfair,” complained the princess.
    “You’d think differently if you didn’t have so much money,” her Dad told her. They got to the car and Kane opened the door. They got in.
    “What? So, no matter how strong, rich or powerful you were, you always did your homework, tests and detentions?” Corina asked her Dad.
    “That’s right,” said Kane.
    “I first fell in love with him because he always offered to help other kids and scared off all the bullies as if they were mice,” Pella told her daughter in her mind.
    “It was easy for him, but none of the teachers like me,” Corina said.
    Kane and Pella looked at each other, then Kane said: “We’ll have a talk with your Principal tomorrow, then we could sort things out.”

Science was the last lesson of the day. Blaid-the teacher-was teaching Taklan evolution. Corina was sitting in the corner daydreaming (as usual).
    “The Tyron evolution was of a complex nature,” Blaid explained. “Many birds mated with each other to allow the Tyrons to evolve.” Blaid looked around the classroom. “Does anyone know the original bird the Tyrons started evolving from?” About 7 or 8 Tellens put their hands up. 3 were wondering if they should put their hands up. He looked at Corina. “Do you know Corina?”
    She stared at Blaid. “Er, fish?”
    The class giggled. Blaid spoke. “Corina, I was asking if you knew the original bird the Tyrons started evolving from.”
    “Er, um. The Eeran Eagle,” she said.
    “The Erran Eagle was the second bird to help the evolution. The correct answer is the Tyronash,” told Blaid. Corina started to daydream again. “You have to be careful with the things you say with Tyrons because they are very respectful to their ancestry and to the grander birds.”
    Someone else in the class put his hand up. “Didn’t the Ancient Tyrons worship Hawk Gods?”
    Blaid nodded. “That’s correct Sefan but it’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about evolution and how science relates to all Taklans. Now, returning to what I was talking about earlier, one example is if you were to play with bird names, saying a name like ‘Pidgey’ would make Tyrons think you were insulting them.”
    “Pidgey! What a funny word,” Corina thought.
    “Saying a dumb bird’s name can make the Tyrons think you’re calling them dumb. Tyrons and birds, are after all, strongly related.” An alarm went off. “We will talk more about the evolutions later in the term. Enjoy your holiday everyone!” Corina was the first out of the classroom.

©Ruth Amy Louise Hüneke 2008