Broom Racing 3 - 3rd installment

  Argh! Even though this chapter is quite long, I only managed to sneak in two of the WfW: Rapturous and synchronicity. 

  Standing:
suitable rapturous smeared snuffle bookmark scoop  and/or
snick funny twilight  espionage synchronicity feisty  

  More is to follow. Maybe not until Tuesday, as I have a dentists appointment Monday. Yes, I am into a stream of small misfortunes and mishaps. Now I bit into a date kernel and ruined a filling.

  To the story:


  Tuesday morning nobody was late for school, even Helge was on time and dressed with the rest of them. As the bell sounded everybody left the buildings and gathered behind the stables. 
  The three racing teams stood in small groups, fidgety and jumpy, until the Yellow team was called forth by Martine. Their names were checked against the list and they were handed sashes in all yellow. They all looked to Sif and Elwin, the only ones ever to have flown a race before, to see how to put them on. Only Elwin's sash had tassels, On Susan's hurried whisper, Lis explained, that the tasseled sash was given to the leader of the team.
  As David's team was called forth, everybody, and most certainly the conspiring apprentices were all ears: "David Hansen!" David stepped forth and accepted the black and red striped sash which he slipped over the left shoulder and under his right arm, the tassels dangling just below the hem of his T-shirt. "Josh Traustason, Lukas Eklund, Britta Eklund, Kalle Berggren and Bjørn Anderson!" Martine called in rapid succession. They all stepped forwards and were handed their sashes.  
  "Fiona was right, they left out Anna. She'll be furious" Susan whispered to Veronika and Lis, who stood just behind her. "Or maybe not," Lis whispered back. "Why did she leave the broomshed yesterday. to only join the group as they left? For that matter where is she?"
  "She's over there, together with Helge and ," Olav said.

  Martine picked up the last batch of sashes, these were blue and white. "And 'The Competition'!" she called. "Finnbogi Yngvason, Grani Starrason, Harald Eklund, Ingrid Karlsson, Hilde Westvold and Josta Koivu."
  Each of them also walked up to Martine to receive the blue-white sashes.
  "And who is the leader of 'The Competition'?" Martine asked.
  "I am," Finnbogi, the tallest Icelandic boy answered. 
  "Here's your leader's sash, then," Martine said and handed him the tasseled sash. They all received the sashes, and draped them over their shoulders so as not to hamper their movements. "And now, Martine said, "you'll all hand in your wands. There'll be no hexing or jinxing one another in this race."

  "Let's go over and join the Swedes," Lis said. "If Anna is up to something, we've got to stop her. We do not want anybody to find out anything at least until the race has been run, and hopefully not ever."
  Thy slowly made their way to where Anna, Bo ad Helge stood.
  "Who are you cheering for?" Susan asked.
  "I'm somewhat in two minds," Helge answered. "I think the Yellow team have the best chances of winning."
  "Yes they do!" Bo said emphatically.
  "But then there's the Competition. Well I like their name, and that they want to fight the Yellow team even though they are clearly inferior," Helge interrupted.
  "But," Bo said, "it's not always the most skilled flyers that win. Luck and pure chance play a part as well. I think the Competition stands a fair chance of winning. At least I hope they do. Harald is good. I don't like that Lukas and Britta are flying. They are not as good as they think. I don't really like what David did. I know anyone is free to put together a team and race, but ... It was done all secret like. He persuaded them ... oh I don't know." Bo ended with a despondent movement of his shoulders.
  With a grim mien Anna said: "I'm cheering for the Yellow team, or for The Competition, David is a cheater and a traitor."
  "Shh!" Lis said, "Don't spoil the race. It has been taken care of."
  Anna looked at her with surprise etched on her face: "Really. But you don't know ..."
  "Yes we do and yes we did. And now please shut up. Everything  ... we'll explain everything later, after the race. But for pity's sake no scenes, and not a word more. We do not want to involve the professors if it can be helped." Lis whispered in a sizzling tone.
Anna nodded: "I'll hold you to it, but if something happens, I'll squeal. Deal?"
 "Deal." Lis said, and Heidi, Veronika, Tage and Susan nodded vigorously.

Meanwhile the racing team members, now adorned with sashes in team colours, went over to where Gilvi and Thora, stood on either side of a curtain like things with lots and lots of long, slim pockets on it. They stood quietly in line, and handed their wands to Thora. Gilvi then checked the wand with the book, and even had the green box with Lirfan at the ready to resolve any doubt. The flyer looked on as he slid their wand into one of the numbered pocket and was given a string with a pendant in the form of a slip of bark with their number in silvery letters. This they put around their neck, and tucked the pendant inside their shirt. The flyer then walked to the broomshed and took his or her broomstick from its assigned parking space.
  The flyers from the yellow team looked critically at their brooms. It was all the same school model, Quaker made, with a flat head held together with green and red stitches in nice patterns, but they had traces of wear and tear that made them slightly different. Fiona, Marit and Astrid, who knew that some of their broomsticks were indeed not the same, and that some of them were hexed, jinxed and contra-jinxed hurried the others along, and ascribed the different feel of the brooms to their excitement and the extra thorough general check up from the day before.
  David's team of course had no problems, they had not jinxed or ruined their own brooms, so none of them were touched.
The Competitors were  last, so even though Hilde, Ingrid and Grani eyed their broomsticks with suspicion, Finnbogi asked them not so kindly to move along, as they were holding up the race.

All 18 flyers stood on a line leaders to the left of their team. And all in the ready position, broomsticks held upright in their right hand, knees slightly bent and left hand hanging loosely at their side. All were tight as springs.
The race began. And at the word "Byrjið" 18  arms grasped at brooms, 18 legs swung up and over, 18 flyers kicked off with perfect synchronicity and soared up and away. David was leading down the first straight part stretch, racing towards the first obstacle, Susan saw his face go pale as he realized that none of the competitors were thrown off by their broomsticks antics. He kept looking behind him, shaking his head and urging his broom onward. He soared over and through the bewildering maze of coloured bars and strings making a perfect pass.
  Martine, Jon, Taavi, Tähti, Birgitta and Torben were at their brooms along the racing course. They all had notebooks, lists and sticks in team colours ready. Susan was not sure how the rules worked, but she saw  Britta failing an obstacle and Torben throwing a red and black striped stick to the ground, where it turned to dust.
  "I could have done better," Anna said tearfully. "Britta sits like a sack of potatoes on that broom."
  "I'm sure you could." Lis said comforting. "Do you want to race me after the race is done. The obstacles are staying up until Friday I think, We could all have a try."
  "Oh, yes. Let's!" Tage said. "You're coming as well Bo, Helge, Veronika and Susan?" Bo and Helge nodded, then looked at Veronika until she, too nodded.
  Susan answered with a teasing smile: "Oh you need someone to triumph over. Well I'm game. Even though I don't really care for flying, racing sounds fun."

David was leading all of the first lap, then he failed an obstacle, flying directly into one of the red- white- and blue-striped posts holding everything together. He and the obstacle tumbled to the ground, and Martine threw four red and black sticks to the ground. David extricated himself from the obstacle, which promptly lifted from the ground and placed itself in the correct place ready for the race to continue.
  While he has been busy doing this, several of the other flyers with Sif and Erwin in the lead had been waved on to the next obstacle by Martine. Now David had another chance and flew slowly and carefully through the obstacle. Fiona was waiting for him to finish, flying in small, tight circles while waiting. As soon as David cleared the last bar, she flew full speed at it, cleared it in record breaking speed and raced David to the next obstacle. She made it, and flew headfirst into the tunnel of red and black bars. Susan gasped, as she saw Fiona flying first head down and then spinning around on her broom.
  "Oh! An anti-gravity well," Anna said. They're taxing your sense of balance to the utmost." As Fiona came out from the other end of the bars still spinning, and nearly crashed into the water outside, Susan understood. Fiona pulled up, sat straight on her broom and continued only slightly zigzagging towards the next one. David flew once again slowly through the obstacle, He was not dizzy and disoriented as he came out, and lay flat over his broomstick to coax every ounce of speed from it. But even though he flew as fast as he could towards the looming grey-green construction ahead, he did not catch up with Fiona's swift form. He only reached it as Fiona was already half inside it. He leaned even more forwards, trying to grasp her broom by the bristles, but a sharp whistle from Jon, who threw yet another red black stick to the ground, made him sit up and give up on impeding Fiona's flight.
  They would have needed many eyes to follow all the flyers through all laps and obstacles. But as the flyers entered the last lap, Sif and Elwin from the Yellow team was in front, closely followed by Grani and Finnbogi from the Competition, and Josh and David. Some of the others were almost a lap behind. It was hard to see who was going to win. 

"Look!" Bo said, "Something's happening." And something surely was. Fiona came sailing through the last of the obstacles, overtaking David, Josh, Finnbogi and Grani.
  "Go go Fiona!" they yelled.
  Fiona took an extra good grip on the handle of the broom and twisted it so that the bristles were at an angle to the ground and almost laid down on the broom. She was whispering something to the broom it seemed, and slowly but surely she caught up with and overtook Elwin, Sif more felt than saw her coming and urged her broom to even higher speed, also laying down ant clutching at the handle. Fiona's unorthodox broom position seemed to do the trick, she inched upon Sif, they flew next to one another, Fiona was in front! crossing the finishing line with the end of her broom handle maybe 10 centimeters in front of Sif's.
  Fiona was rapturous as she stretched her hand into the air, righted her broom and landed with a sweeping motion in front of the Barn, sharply follower by Sif  and Elvin.
An almighty jubilant sound rose from the onlookers and continued while the flyers landed one after another first in rapid succession, then at greater intervals with Britta and Kalle limping over the line almost ten minutes later.