Above World - By Jenn Reese Page 0,57

straps . . . straps that were fastened right in front of Hoku.

He grabbed the first of three straps and yanked. Nothing happened. He tugged harder. The strap budged ever so slightly.

“I don’t suppose you’ve got superstrength,” he whispered to Zorro. The raccoon tilted his head. “Didn’t think so.”

Dash was still talking to the creature, commanding it to keep hopping around. But Hoku knew that as soon as the creature tired, the Upgrader clinging to its side would recover his balance and shoot Dash and Aluna.

Hoku grabbed the strap with both hands, took a deep breath, and pulled as hard as he could. The fastener wiggled. He widened his stance, using his feet to push against the earth for more power. He never could have done that in the ocean, but up here, gravity had its uses. He pulled again. The rhinebra jerked up suddenly, and the strap popped free.

He used the creature’s erratic movements to help loosen the next fastener. As soon as it popped open, the third strap snapped. The thick leather whipped across his face. He reached up to touch the bridge of his nose and found it slick with blood.

Zorro squeaked. Hoku looked up and saw the saddle twisting off the rhinebra. In a second, he’d be face-to-face with that horrible Upgrader. Unless . . .

He jumped and tried to grab the flailing straps, hoping they would pull him up the rhinebra’s flank as the saddle slid off the other side. The straps slapped him in the face instead.

The Upgrader grunted as he hit the ground, then yelped as the immense saddle fell on top of him. Hoku scrambled to the rhinebra’s head and found Dash guiding it by the reins.

“The Upgrader is down, but only for a flash!” he said.

Dash nodded and said something to the rhinebra. The huge creature bent its foreleg. Dash hopped up onto its knee and clambered onto its back, the reins still clutched in the hand of his good arm. Hoku scrambled up after him.

“Wow,” Hoku said. Had Dash really told this animal what to do — and it had listened?

“Sit behind me and hold on,” Dash said.

“No, we can’t leave Aluna,” Hoku said firmly.

“I have no intention of leaving without her,” Dash said. “Hold on, or you will find yourself on the ground again.”

The rhinebra’s striped fur was too short, and everything worth clinging to had gone overboard with the saddle. Hoku had no choice but to grab Dash around the waist.

“Here we go!” Dash said some strange words to the rhinebra and jangled the reins toward the left. The creature reacted instantly.

Aluna and the tattooed Upgrader woman were still fighting. Hoku watched her send a searing cone of fire toward Aluna. Aluna dropped and rolled forward. She tried to kick the flame shooter out of the Upgrader’s hand, but it didn’t budge. It was attached! The Upgrader swung her bladed hand down, but Aluna dodged. The black sword plunged into the earth right where Aluna’s head had been.

“Hurry,” Hoku said to Dash. His heart stuttered so fast that he could barely catch his breath. Don’t get skewered, he thought at Aluna. Don’t get skewered!

Dash turned the animal around and whispered to it again. The rhinebra threw back its head and roared. It wasn’t the high-pitched giggle of a dolphin or the distant weeping dirge of a whale. Its bellow crashed over them like a tidal wave.

Aluna and the female Upgrader both looked up, dazed.

“Now!” Dash yelled.

Aluna jumped to her feet. She whipped one of her talons through the air and sent it flying toward the rhinebra. The thin chain wrapped around the biggest horn jutting out of the creature’s forehead.

“Go!” she shouted back.

Dash urged the rhinebra into a trot. The ground thundered with each of its steps. Aluna ran beside it, stumbling, but using the talon chain to keep her balance.

Flames licked Aluna and the rhinebra as the female Upgrader recovered her senses. The creature bellowed again and launched into a full gallop. Hoku grabbed Dash tighter. Zorro seemed safe enough clinging to the creature’s mane. How Dash was staying upright using only his legs was a mystery.

A spear whizzed by the rhinebra’s flank. Another nicked Dash in the ear. Both the Upgraders were up and chasing them now. Aluna ran and tried to jump onto the rhinebra’s head. She got one hand around its horn. Her legs dangled off the side as the creature galloped.

“Hold on!” Dash yelled.

The horse-boy urged the rhinebra even faster. Hoku could feel