Team 1; Lap 2; 1 Ribbon?
Just one more! Who on their team had yet to grab a ribbon? The race was very close when Silvia's turn came again. She had her wand back out and ready when she was tagged, but she made sure not to rush the spell-casting; she didn't want to mess it up and spend even more time fixing it. Closing her eyes for a moment she once again concentrated on the image of a coracle. Then with a circular motion of her wand she said "Vegrandis Navis!" and in a few moments the coracle appeared in front of her. She quickly climbed in with her paddle after storing her wand and pushed off.
She was a bit faster this time, as she already knew what to expect from the steering. Still, she wasn't perfect, and her arms were still somewhat tired from her first lap. Sometimes Silvia found herself drifting too far to the side and had to adjust. But the pole finally came to be just ahead of her without mishap. Slowing down a bit, she did her best to steer around the pole. Her turn was a bit wide, but she made it. Her arms were sore and her steering began to get sloppy as she sped up and headed back to land.
Suddenly the boat rocked and her body jerked forward slightly. Quickly she stopped paddling and grabbed the side of the coracle, leaning down inside it and trying to maintain her balance. Luckily nothing worse happened and the coracle was stable again in just a few seconds, which was good seeing as the water here was deep and she couldn't swim. Taking a deep breath, she started off again, more slowly this time and careful to concentrate on the steering, even though her arms ached. When she approached the edge of the lake and the water was becoming shallow, she let out a last burst of energy and sped up until finally the coracle touched land. Silvia scrambled out and tagged the next person on her team.
__________________ The road goes ever on and on... |