Danaël tried a daring maneuver. He entered an inverted loop and found himself behind the troop, pursuing them. They were caught off guard, and two carts collided as they tried to turn off in the same direction.
The third cart flew over those of its two companions, now unusable.
"Yes!" Danaël allowed himself a meagre internal jubilation; now only one cart was on their tail. Danaël's style figure sent Dod and Evangeline flying into the background.
They drew up at the back of the cart. Dod was the first to hit the wall, and just as he was getting up, Evangeline landed on top of him. Dod's breath was taken away, and the princess rose abruptly, dusting off her fantastic canvas pants.
As she got to her feet, she helped herself to Dod's body. The princess didn't apologize; on the contrary, she turned to Dod and gave him a disdainful "Hmpf!". "Come on, Dod, you don't hit the princess...even if she is a tart", said Dod to himself.
"Dan, it would be nice to know when you're doing stuff like this."
"Sorry, sorry", apologized his friend.
For what lay ahead, the boy decided not to take too many risks.
He had already eliminated three of the four carts at his heels, so his aim now was to stall and create enough of a gap between himself and the royal guards to allow him to pass through the barrier unhindered.
They spent ten minutes or so, pursued by the royal guards who, used to Danaël's piloting, no longer fell for any of his feints and stratagems.
However, he had still managed to create a small gap between himself and the pursuing cart. Evangeline constantly scanned behind them and kept Danaël informed of any gaps.
"We're going to need a little more space than that!" she remarked to Danaël.
The young boy had never been under so much pressure; if he screwed up, he and Dod would go down for attempted kidnapping of Princess Evangeline as well as theft of a royal cart. In other words, they'd end their lives in prison, never to discover the secrets of this world.
Danaël's sweaty hands made it increasingly difficult to manipulate the levers. At one point, his hand inadvertently slipped on the brake lever, and the royal guards' cart nearly impaled them.
Danaël wiped the sweat from his forehead with his shirt sleeve and took a deep breath.
Danaël made his way patiently towards the slum, which was the last step before reaching the gate entrance. Nervous but confident, the boy knew shortcuts that only slum-dwellers could know.
He pushed on the gas as he entered the blood-strewn alley leading to the slum. Danaël knew he had to give it his all here and now, and there was no room for error.
"Hang on to something", warned Danaël.
The young boy took to the streets of the slum at a speed that took the driver of the cart at their heels by surprise. Danaël hardly ever slowed down and seemed to be on the limit at every turn.
He zigzagged between dwellings at fantastic speed, the gap already widening with the royal guards who seemed to be on the run in the labyrinth of the slum.
Ten meters away, a crack suddenly appeared before Danaël's eyes, a crack in matter. The crack stretched out like a spider's web. Danaël could feel it, as could Dod and Evangeline: this crack, this impact, emanated a mad fantasia.
A fantasia so insane that it caused heavy turbulence, and Danaël struggled with the steering wheel, trying as best he could to keep control.
The fissure, which until then had been a distortion of matter, opened up, giving way to a black hole that absorbed everything in its path. The intensity was such that it sent buildings whirling through the air, and Danaël pulled the reverse lever, but it immediately straightened out.
The cart was being dragged along by the force of the black hole's attraction.
"MISERY!" (Royal Ordinal expression of distress) Exclaimed Evangeline. "Quick, let's hurry and help him!"
Evangeline and Dod hurried off to help Danaël raise the reverse lever, which was simply fighting against them. The windshield imploded, mainly scratching Danaël's face.
Their six hands combined didn't seem to be enough to slow the cart's advance. At times, faint, fantastic rays emanated from the black hole. Dod felt his lower cheek steaming with pain as the fantasia made contact with his skin.
"Princess! Do you know what this thing is?!" Dod exclaimed, his voice filled with pain.
Dod's words barely reached Princess Evangeline's ears. The breath caused by this fantastic concentrate clogged their ears, and the young girl felt as if she were underwater, this unpleasant sensation persisting and hitting her in the face in the form of fantasia.
"It's...it's..."
The pressure was on, and the princess could barely get her lips to form a word. She pulled her face as far away as possible from the gusts of fantasia before resuming by saying:
"It's a fantastic rift! That's why we're here!"
One of the cart's wings was torn off, and the whole vehicle began to rock sideways, then turned over completely. Dod had to react in a flash, as Princess Evangeline's hand slipped and she was carried away by a fantastic beam.
Dod caught her with his right hand while keeping his left hand clinging to the driver's seat. Now, only Danaël held the lever.
The lever finally broke under the pressure. With his head turned upside down, he desperately held on to the steering wheel, praying that it wouldn't let go.
The back of the cart buckled, feet dangling in the air, Evangeline immediately regretted looking down. The cart decomposed, and the princess's charred boots slipped from her feet, revealing limpid burns running up to her ankles.
Dod glanced in her direction and saw the girl's wounds.
"Hold on, princess!" He shouted with all the air left in his lungs.
The princess couldn't hear him; the meager distance between them was enough to carry Dod's voice into surroundings unreachable by Evangeline's eardrums.
Holding the princess didn't put him in any difficulty; Dod was having trouble holding himself. His left arm was trembling from the load he had to bear, and doing so with his head upside down wasn't helping matters.
Dod let go for an instant, a second, and found himself in freefall. His left hand closed on Danaël's ankle just above him.
A slight grinding noise miraculously reached Danaël's ears. The steering wheel was about to give way. In a last-ditch effort, Danaël tried to right himself, his aim being to hold on to the dashboard, the only part of the cockpit that remained intact.
He lowered his head, the fantastic gusts obstructing his vision, his black hair rising and whipping his face in succession.
The young boy galvanized what little strength he had left in his forearms, lifting not only his body weight, but also those of Dod and Evangeline.
Danaël bit his lips to the quick and managed to get half his torso over the steering wheel, but unfortunately, his effort stopped there.
The steering wheel gave way, and Danaël, exhausted, tried to hold on to the driver's seat, but his hands slipped. Evangeline, Dod, and finally Danaël were swallowed up by the fantastic rift, which closed immediately after their passage.