Chapter 31: Victory

River

Blade was breathing down River’s throat the entire second half of the race after the incident where Blade’s lackey stepped out in front of River and almost took him out of contention. With each step, River’s ankle throbbed, and he was pretty sure it was either a bad sprain or possibly even broken, but he kept going.

River could hear the crowd cheering ahead of him and realized he was almost to the finish line. People were chanting his name, so his adrenaline kicked in, giving him yet another wind. The uphill climb was brutal, but he knew that on the other side, on the descent, there would be a clear view of the finish line. They were nearly side by side now. River just couldn’t let Blade get past him.