As contact between the two sides was about to be made, Jaden called out.
‘Now!’
It happened so quickly that the defenders had no time to react. Bo and Dion turned and faced each other, their hands at knee level, connected to form a platform. Jaden had raced and jumped between both, landing in their hands. The next second, Jaden was being propelled into the air, high over the defenders. Their momentum caused them to clash with Bo and Dion who tackled and pinned them down effortlessly. They looked around in desperation, trying to see where Jaden would land, but to their horror, Jaden wasn’t to be seen. The zone was classed as dead, but Jaden was above it. Only when he made contact with the ground again would he be part of the zone. But his feet would not touch the ground yet.
A deafening cheer came from the audience as Jaden grabbed hold of and swung up into a tree. It had meant he was free of both defenders and the zone itself. It had never been done before, and he had made it on his first try. There was nothing the defenders could do to stop him.
With a strong desire to smile, he climbed through the tree’s limbs to get to another tree, and then another, before reaching the rock ledge where he was able to run across the top. No one had expected this to be possible. The rock ledge was seen as an obstacle rather than a route, but now that he was up there, he knew how perfect a line it was. Even if the defenders tried to chase him, he had options left and right that he could use at any time to get past them to the end of the field.
Shouts of excitement continued to urge him on. The finish line was only fifty yards away, clear to the end.
He was not about to claim victory yet though; he still had to deal with Ardim, who would be lurking near the baseline. But where was he? With so little light, he would be almost impossible to see running at this speed. Jaden slowed a little, trying to search him out, and then jumped down from the rock ledge. Wherever Ardim was, he was too late to stop Jaden now, who was only thirty yards from scoring. He raced as fast as he could, Ardim still nowhere in sight.
Where could he have been?
‘ARGH!’
Jaden screamed out in pain as his right leg gave in and he fell heavily to the ground. The crowd’s cheers weakened until they stopped altogether. They were all trying to peek over one another to see what had happened. Jaden was only fifteen yards from the finish line, but unable to get up, clutching at his upper leg. Ardim emerged from a dense patch of trees in a run before jumping on Jaden with all his weight. He then got to his feet with hands well over his head, raised in victory.
‘Victors!’ shouted Ardim to a silent audience. Even the supporters of the Pioneers were quiet in shock.
‘What kind of cheap trick?’ Jaden cried out from the ground before being helped up by Bo and Dion. ‘What did you throw at me?’
‘Trick?’ asked Ardim. ‘You fell.’
‘Because you hit me with something.’
‘Don’t be a poor loser. You hurt your ankle. You fell. Accept it.’
‘What’s going on here?’ The head referee, who was dressed like the others in bright orange lower garments but had a yellow band on his head, had come over to evaluate the situation.
‘Ardim threw something, Elder,’ Jaden addressed him formally. ‘It hit my leg and caused my fall.’
‘Elder, I didn’t throw anything,’ said Ardim. ‘He must have fallen on his hurt ankle.’
‘My ankle is fine, you fool! I faked that injury to confuse your defence!’
‘Just like you’re faking this injury now,’ Ardim teased.
‘Jaden! Restrain yourself,’ called the referee, as both Bo and Dion had to hold him back from attacking Ardim at that very moment.
Jaden calmed, ‘Look, here’s the mark of where he hit me.’
He showed a large red patch just above his knee, where a bruise was already forming. The referee inspected the injury with interest.
‘He could’ve done that when he fell, Elder,’ said Ardim.
‘You’re lying.’
‘Quiet!’ called the referee. ‘As far as I can see, no rules have been broken, and no objects have been thrown. I myself did not see anything—’
‘Obviously you didn’t, it was too dark to see it!’ protested Jaden.
‘One more outburst and I will ban you from playing from here on,’ scolded the referee, and Jaden was forced to hold his tongue. ‘If no attack was witnessed, it must be concluded it did not happen. That is the rule. Pioneers win, thirty-seven to thirty-six. Match over.’
Jaden was whipped away by Bo and Dion before he could say anything more. They knew there was nothing that could be done once a referee had declared the match over, and would not risk losing Jaden as a player for their next match for something that was obviously futile.