Saturday 23 June 2018, Arcturus
The first day was spent in the camp in Arcturus, the girls were having fun having a first tour, besides getting to know the place better, which even at night was getting a bit of fun since the girls were playing a bit in the Broom Ball arena that had the lighting of magic lamps, besides having the art studio and a game room, which didn't let any of the girls bored, since there wasn't any mobile phone signal there, so there wasn't even a way to communicate outside.
The next day started, the dawn was showing up, as the time was passing little by little each one of them was waking up, where they went to the bathroom to do the morning necessities and after that they went to the cafeteria where they ate as much as they wanted, they spent some time of the morning without doing much thing, only observing the dense fog that was forming under the trees in the middle of the forest.
A little later, with most of the girls already awake, there were Laura and Bernadette calling for some girls to go out with her.
" Hey lassies, what do you think if we have some fun, in this case there are only a few of us, we are going to the city of the elves, when we passed by yesterday there were posters of broom races, what do you think if we take part? " McLaren asks.
" Broomstick race? It took you long enough! " said Hellene all excited.
" I'm going to love being part of a race, I'm already abstaining from one, since we left Luna Nova I haven't touched my PC " Diana said.
" We just need to go there to confirm, so who's with me? " asks the redhead.
The ones who raise their hands are Diana, Hellene, Akko, Amanda, Marianne, Rita, Wangari and Aira, the rest of them stayed in the camp doing other activities and Bernadette decided to stay there too, this smaller group went flying to the elf city, where it was noticeable that there was a stand for the broomstick race.
" Oh I see we will also have some guests... Will you guys be entering to compete as well? " Said one of the elves.
" I don't miss an opportunity for a broom race ever " Laura said.
" Well, fill out the registration form because the race will start in an hour " said the elf.
Then they all put their names on the list, and received banners with the numbers randomly drawn for each one, they then went to where the start stage was, lined up with the other brooms, getting ready for the start of the race that will take place soon.
" What about the rules? We appeared here out of nowhere and we don't even understand how it works " Diana asks.
" So it's interesting... But seriously now, there's not much, it's like any broomstick race, we run a course that is determined by indicators on our side, there's no way we can pass once the race starts, they are like invisible walls, so it's easy just to follow the course and arrive first " Cavendish's mother explains.
" And we are going to lose badly, we don't know anything about the way," said Hellene.
" The fun is there, you are Laura McLaren's daughters, besides Diana has to learn a little bit how to walk in a more unknown way, she is a rally driver now, that's how it works, besides there is a map right next to you " said the Irish girl shrugging her shoulders while stretching.
The time went by, each one of the girls was warming up for the beginning of the race, the course was practically a lap, that went through the outskirts of Arcturus until returning to the starting point, with some points where there were warnings of danger, including even some skulls appearing in one of those warnings, already making the risk of death clear.
Until the arrival of this one hour, where all were gathering by the platform, lined up one next to the other for the start of the race, the runners were 22, among the girls and also the elves of the city.
Laura McLaren (70), Diana Cavendish (63), Hellene McLaren (33), Akko Kagari (14), Amanda O'Neill (11), Marianne Leclerc (16), Rita Campos (3), Wangari Maina (55), Aira Abara (2), Lana Hamilton (44), Natalie Lauda (7), Francois Gasly (10), Bailey Russell (36), Selena Vettel (5), Nia Fangio (9), Mary Mansell (32), Felicia Alonso (22), Heather Watson (91), Helena Perez (15), Aline Senna (12), Jules Villeneuve (27), Alana Prost (28)
All lined up, the magic lights showed as if it was a traffic light, they were red, slowly decreasing until reaching the green light and all present were starting their flight, with an excellent start by Laura and Diana, but the older one showed that she was not rusty at all. Besides them the elves were also surprising, mainly Lana, Selena and Jules, who left in front but were already in the sights of the older McLaren.
" And the race begins, the lights go out and there they go! " Said one of the elves who was holding a wand like a microphone.
Diana is kind of in the middle but she's not afraid, even surrounded she finds a space little by little, surprisingly there was also an Akko coming up there, having a bad start, she left behind everyone but she was gaining space.
In the front the fight became between Laura and the elves who were one of the best runners of Arcturus, suffering a pressure of the mere human who didn't even have practice in the broom right.
The course started to pass first flying through the sky, relatively calm, until the first curve and from there all of them were holding back a little, what was McLaren's opportunity to pass all of them, in a way that shocked all of them for not showing so much fear, passing almost scraping the barrier that limited the track, not only her but also Diana who was doing the same thing.
" And what's that! The 70 and 63 went through the first corner without fear, they didn't slow down at all! These humans are no joke! " said the elf commenting on the race.
In this who led the race was the oldest, she was starting to build a more calm leadership, without being bothered by the others behind that were starting to become Diana's target, arriving in a part where the barriers formed a loop, all of them were following according to the line, that after gave in a descent with everything until a part that entered the dense forest.
Laura was without fear, Diana was also without fear with the experience that she has with the simulators, she was starting to build more on top of the other elves that one by one was being surpassed, among the curves in the middle of the trees, Akko also was showing courage, she was already in the middle of the platoon starting to see better the front platoon, who was ahead was Hellene that was going in the focus, but still with a little bit of fear to pass among the trees.
" And now this is the test of courage that doesn't seem in the least bit to defy number 70! That's impressive! 63 is about to add some excitement to this battle! Woah! Now that's racing! " Said the commentator.
The trees were appearing more and more, being the obstacles that each one was deviating, it was a huge fear since they were at very high speeds, above 300 km/h in the middle of a forest, where any hit could be fatal, but that didn't intimidate who was ahead, not even the elves that were holding a little Diana, who only needed to pass Lana and Jules that were almost without fear.
Back there the fight between Akko and Hellene intensified, Kagari was losing more and more the fear of the trees, deviating more and more, getting closer to the point of getting closer, only that one of the elves passes her Francois who was accelerating without an ounce of fear, keeping focused with everything that was coming ahead. Arriving
at the part of the huge lake of Arcturus, was where things were getting interesting, some creatures jumped, kind of trying to devour the witches, but even so they kept going, some even flew lower to raise currents of water, which was generating an all impressive view of how the water was rising with the fast passing of the brooms.
Heather and Helena end up getting hit, but they don't die, they use magic to disappear, as a huge fish jumped out of the water trying to devour them.
" Woah! We already have our first DNF's here, the lake is really a challenging part that witches have to be careful before they become fish food " Said the commentator.
Not even that was enough to intimidate Laura that was continuing ahead, even with a fish jumping almost catching her side she used a spell that ended up cutting the creature in pieces, falling in the middle of the water, what helped the other competitors.
The fishes were more focused in eating the meat of those remains thrown in the middle of the lake.
But the course ended with a climb to the sky, which was joining more the pack that was moving away, since it slows down a lot each one of them, which was reaching the top, approaching Diana to get an overtake on Lana and thus take third position.
Then after the climb arrives a part where it's a downward screw until entering the forest again, Cavendish was holding the wave as she was going down the levels, very close to Jules who was in second position.
Akko was gaining more in relation to Hellene getting closer to the front pack, also recovering the position lost by Francois.
" And now they enter the forest again! It will be quite a challenge now that they are in the forest of mandrakes and carnivorous plants, here is to be very attentive not to be caught " Said the commentator.
They enter the forest, the danger is another one, the tentacles of plants try to catch each one of them, the McLaren in front doesn't even care, the speed was the important factor, since if they are fast they can't be caught and this way they were making sure, most of them, but some DNF's were already rolling in mass.
Alana, Felicia, Nia and Mary were other competitors who were being hit by the tentacles and used magic to get out of the situation, which reduced the number of those who would finish the race to only 16.
This part was an insanity, wherever each competitor passed, the tentacles passed near the others, besides the concern with the tree and the positions, but it didn't intimidate Diana who took the second position.
" And now comes 63! She takes third position, looks like we are really going to have a human witches' double the 70 is in a league of her own, there is no one who can challenge this witch " Said the commentator.
As they passed through this part of the forest things got a bit easier since they were passing through the icy mountains, with some nice curves, but nothing that would really make the path difficult.
That guaranteed more tranquility to all, especially Akko that was joining the front pack, in the sixth position, she was only behind Lana, Jules and Aline, besides Diana and Laura that were practically flying in a league of their own, the calm course activated the concentration of the youngest McLaren back too, she passed Francois and was going to hunt Kagari that even so was holding a good average speed during the curves and also in the straights.
" The 14 is coming too, another human wanting to take the Elves' place, these girls are really well trained! " said the commentator.
After the mountains came the final and most challenging course, where they entered a canyon, narrow, full of roots, where there was barely room for two brooms to pass through, the curves were very tight and did not intimidate the two in front.
Both were constantly hitting knees, shoulders and elbows scraping the walls getting the limits of each curve, which was impressive in how had a huge courage in each curve, especially the oldest that even with the age was not intimidated by any of the curves.
" It impresses me to see two competitors of this level, they are not intimidated by the level of the race, nor by the dangers of the canyon, it was to be the most dangerous part " said the commentator.
And indeed it was, as Marianne ends up crashing into the wall, luckily she is transported back to the city, as are Natalie and Wangari who crash battling for position, which ends up with only 13 competitors left amidst all the chaos, there were 9 out by that point in the race.
" And three more are out! What is this? This race is being a real elimination of the best! " said the commentator.
The part of the canyon ends with an ascent where they go flying in the middle of the forest, passing very close to the top of the trees, with some of many curves, where literally the limit was the top of the trees, they passed in the middle of the top of each one without being intimidated, only the most resistant were left.
Diana was trying what she could, but she didn't have the necessary strength nor the magic and speed compared to her mother who was leading with the greatest tranquility.
At the end of the race Laura was the first, leading the race with 13 seconds in relation to her daughter who arrived in second position.
" And it's that number 70! The girl is really good! What an impressive witch! We have a human double here! " Said the commentator.
But back there the dispute intensified, with the four behind them fighting for a third position practically side by side, in this middle was Akko, they went down the final straight aligned, Lana, Jules, Aline and Akko, accelerating as much as they could, with a minimal difference between each one, what was between each one was only the tips of the brooms, so much so that they crouched down to try to force a lower resistance of the air and gain speed.
The four of them, for a very small difference, end up together and Jules is the one who gets better in the photo.
" And Jules! She's the one who does well in this squad! How impressive the skill of these four! Quite a fight for third place! Four brooms side by side! This is rare to see, it really is the picture of this race " said the commentator.
Hellene finished just behind in seventh position, even though she managed to get close she had not dropped enough to challenge for the position next to the four, behind her Francois, Amanda and Aira who completed the top ten
Race standings
Selena Vettel (5)| 12th: Rita Campos (3)| 13th: Nia Fangio (9)| DNF's: Alana Prost (28), Marianne Leclerc (16), Wangari Maina (55), Natalie Lauda (7), Mary Mansell (32), Felicia Alonso (22), Heather Watson (91), Helena Perez (15), Bailey Russell (36)
With the end of the race began a whole celebration on the part of the first three who were on a podium waving to everyone, which even had a burst of champagne as any victory celebration, a bath between the winners ends up being given, and the city was loving to see the performance of humans.
After this celebration, the girls wave to the city thanking for the fun they were having and then fly back to the camp.
" How do you manage it mother? I went on the edge of the broom and yet you only built more advantage " Diana said still in shock.
" I haven't said it until now, but when there were still broomstick races on earth, I ensured myself and a lot, I trained since I was a child to be a broomstick racer, it was my original dream, unfortunately with the events of 1999, none of that can become a reality, but I still carry on my skill from the past, I'm still a bit rusty, but I can ensure myself " Laura said.
" Mother you are 46 years old and you have mashed everyone, you have mashed even the professionals in the city, the best competitors " Cavendish said impressed.
" You're 17 and you did the same thing, there's nothing for you to be all shocked about, rally training helps a lot, just apply what you know with cars on brooms and go for it, I'm just proud of your second place lassie, you're going to be big in the future " said the older McLaren.
" Those girls in the front are really good, but I think we can beat them if we compete more often, I learned more of the course, it gives a little fear, but who knows I would also be on the podium with you " Akko said.
" Ah you were wonderful too and Hellene, the fact that you got in the positions you are against the best in the elf city shows that you two have talent with brooms too " Said the Irishwoman.
" I wish that on earth they would let us fly around, it would be really cool if they had broomstick races, not in all this exaggerated danger, but on a real track, imagine how cool it would be " said Hellene.
" It was like that in my time, we competed in real tracks sometimes, or we went to tracks made for broom races, some were even dirt tracks, even the old Irish track is still standing today, it was the first modern broom race track, it has existed since before the nine witches " explains the eldest.
They come back to the tree house, carrying the trophies, which already impresses everybody and Bernadette just stays at the most normal, she already expected a result like that from her wife, arriving at the most to give a hug and a very romantic kiss even so, the two from there went to take a bath together while the rest of the girls went telling about the race.
Day two saw a broomstick race against the elves of Arcturus, where the 46-year-old lady made sure of herself over all showing that she still had much of what she carried in her teens in flying ability.
See you, racer witches...