The feeling of wind against his face was something Diago loved, it made him feel more alive. However, “alive” was not the word Diago would have used at present. He wasn’t dead by a long shot, but he definitely didn’t feel like living either. He was pretty dazed at the moment. There was the faint sound of a frustrated growl from above him, but he really wasn’t paying attention to it. There was also a sharp pain in his shoulder. Actually, there were pains everywhere, but the most prominent one was on his shoulder. Which would make sense, as there was currently a javelin sticking out of it.

  “…great” thought Diago, with some potent exasperation.

  All he could see at the moment was the never ending abyss of the canyon rushing toward him.

  “Guess I’ll be able to find out if there is a bottom after all”

  That’s when his fall and fatalistic thoughts was suddenly interrupted. A serious pressure against his stomach and the feeling of incredibly strong limbs around his waist and torso became his most prominent sensation.

  His ride had come after him. The jynx wasted no time diving after him after he fell off, keeping him from falling too far past the point when he couldn’t be seen anymore. Now, they were slowly gliding toward the canyon wall.

  Diago was stunned. This is really was a rare creature. Jynx really aren’t the type to care if their riders are in trouble. If it hadn’t been…well, Diago really didn’t want to think where he’d be if it hadn’t been.

  “Good girl” Diago said as he climbed back into her saddle. That motion caused a fair amount of pain, but not as much as he thought it would.

  Once he had reestablished his spot on the saddle, he looked up to see that he had fallen quite a ways. The motion of looking up had sent some pains through his back and shoulder. That’s when he took a moment to examine his injuries.

  Thankfully, the javelin missed anything important. It also didn’t sink very far into his skin. Just enough to cut through a few layers of muscle.

  Wrayden must have thrown the weapon while trying to regain balance, drastically diminishing the force of the throw, otherwise there surely would have been a more serious result.

  “I can manage” Diago said to himself as he ripped the javelin out of his shoulder. He knew it wasn’t deep enough to bleed to badly. He was very thankful for all the things Sulien had taught him about wounds at the moment, otherwise he’d probably be in a panic.

  He looked up again and he saw Wrayden a fair distance away about to make a turn further down the canyon. He also saw multiple jynx racers passing through the bottle neck. Diago shook his head, unsure if he’d be able to catch up now.

  Then his jynx shot for the canyon side.

  “Where are you going?” Diago yelled to it.

  Obviously, there was no reply.

  The moment the jynx made contact with the wall of the canyon, it shot upward. Clearly, she had not given up on this race. She ran at a blistering pace up the canyon side. Diago thought that she might be trying to regain lost ground by heading back to the other racers. Instead, she made her way to what looked to be a cave in the mountain side.

  Diago was not necessarily a regular at these race, but he had seen a good a few and he had never seen this cave before, but he trusted his ride.

  She shot into the cave running at full speed.

  Aylah was completely staggered by what she had seen. Her connection with Thatcher was completely broken. She was so shocked that she had forgotten about her and Thatch’s plan. She was still staring at the spot where Diago last was, with a pit in her stomach.

  Sure, Diago was a pain, but she didn’t want him dead. It felt wrong. Why would the fades call him if this was going to be the result? Did they know what would happen? Or did she and Diago screw it all up somehow? Her grieved thoughts were interrupted.

  “A pity” came the slimy voice from beside her.

  Saarsken sat shaking his head reproachfully. She looked over at him and was met with a smug stare. This was enough for Aylah to remember that she really wanted to punch this guy.

  “It seems our deal will have to be altered” Said Saarsken as he looked away.

  Aylah shot up, remembering very little of the plan, but knowing that giving this guy an black eye was probably part of it. Unfortunately for her, Saarsken’s men were quicker than her desire see this guy decked out. Two pairs of firm hands clasped around her arms and shoulders, keeping her firmly in place. She probably could have thrown them off, but that’s when a knife point came against her throat.

  “No need to be in a rush to die my dear, the race is still on”

  Without looking, Saarsken motioned for his guards to sit her back down in her chair.

  “Lucky for you, not all of my coin was bet on your friend. Otherwise, I’m sure I would be in a rage” he said in a dementedly cheerful way.

  During this interaction, Thatch had been trying to reestablish a connection with Aylah, but whenever he caught a glimpse of her mental threads, they were swirling too much to get anywhere. That, or his own mind was too shaken to see them correctly. He was less startled by Diago’s fall than Aylah was, but he was still shaken. Diago was supposed to be a key element in the answer to his problem…or at least he thought he was. The fades must have been wrong, or he just didn’t understand what they meant.

  Thatch heard a sigh escape Aylah before she said, “what now then?”

  Saarsken looked over to her and smiled, “now the earth splits below you to knock you down to size”

  The knife point pressed a little harder against her skin, drawing some blood. The blood was a bright red. A far brighter red then normal, it was almost pink. Saarsken noticed and squinted at it. He got up from his chair to get a better look. After doing so he reappraised Aylah and as he did a glint came into his eye. He leaned in close and whispered,

  “You are quite far from home aren’t you?”

  Aylah didn’t reply. Instead, she fearlessly met his gaze, hoping that she could see her hatred of him in her look. He smiled again and leaned back.

  “Your fate is still being mulled over if you must know. As is yours”

  The last part of this statement was directed to Thatch.

  “You told me he was a stand in” Saarsken explained in a threatening tone.

  Thatch blinked in surprise, “Sir, he was able to make it through the pass before anyone. Wouldn’t that be-”

  “Enough for you to be satisfied I was telling the truth?” Saarsken finished for him in a mocking tone. Then he continued, shaking his head, “Thatch…a stand in worth my time wins me gold. You should know that”

  “You only asked me to tell you if he was being honest. How am I supposed to know that you-”

  “Enough! Why should you be so worried? You aren’t the one who pays the price for your insubordination” Saarsken’s face twisted into an evil smile.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Thatch’s eyes widened. His demeanor, normally still and calm, became one of fear.

  He looked down and Aylah watched as a tear fell from his eye.

  “Please” Thatch whispered

  Saarsken laughed, “what was that? I couldn’t quite hear you”

  Another tear fell from the angry face of Thatch and he repeated his plea with greater volume, “please”

  Saarsken sighed, “oh, I love to hear you beg”

  Aylah could only sit back and watch these things unfold, trying to make sense of it all. As she understood it, Saarsken was a very powerful man. She didn’t know how powerful, or how he came by it, but he was powerful. He also loved his power, or rather the money that funds it. The more she watched him and heard him speak, noting various inconsistencies in the man, the more she could see that the way he presents himself is merely a thin layer of control masking his true, vicious nature. When Diago came to him and he felt that the boy had lied to him, she assumed that Saarsken had already decided on ruining him. When he was told by Thatch that he wasn’t lying about being a stand in, his mind so bent on money and power had produced a reality where he would come out of this day richer than when he entered. Aylah assumed it must be that if the rider you sponsor wins, your winnings multiply. She also supposed that stand ins must play a factor somehow, seeing as the odds would inherently be against them. So, should Diago win, Saarsken’s winnings would be significant. So when Diago…when he didn’t win, Saarsken began losing his cool rapidly. It’s also likely that the loss of a rider reflects poorly on the sponsor. Of course then the question would be, why would he send in someone he still believed was lying about being a racer? The answer was unclear, but in all likelihood, it was that this man was only slightly sane.

  When Saarsken managed to figure out that she was from Onterrin he gained more control over himself again. This must mean that he thinks he can gain from her. So its either being kept for ransom, or being sold to slavers for Aylah.

  As to his interaction with Thatch, she couldn’t quite make sense of it.

  Whatever was going on, she needed to find a way out of this. She gauged where the knife was on her throat and began thinking through a strategy. The chair she was in is well made, but she could break it if she pushed on the back with enough force. That would be away from the knife anyway. After she was out the knifes reach, it would be a fight for escape. She did not like taking such risks, but she really didn’t have any other options.

  She took a deep breath ready to follow through with her reckless plan. Then she stopped suddenly. The guards that were holding her got distracted too.

  “Sir” one of them said.

  Saarsken whipped around, “Don’t interrupt me! I-”

  Saarsken’s cut himself off when he turned to his guard, because he also caught a view of the race below. For the most part, everything was as it should be. Riders fighting for their place. Jynx running at full speed. Some people falling off their rides. Wrayden, still leading with a good amount of distance separating the next runner up. Or at least that WAS true, before a rider and jynx seemed to appear out of nowhere where.

  The duo shot from the wall of the canyon and on to the track just before Saarsken had turned around and now they were only just behind Wrayden.

  Aylah could see it clear as day, but she wasn’t sure how well she believed it. The rider was hurt, but was now only a few feet behind the leader of the race,

  “Diago”

  Diago was blinded by the sunlight after essentially getting slapped in the face by it after the jynx he was riding shot from the cave they were in.

  It was pitch black in there. Diago could only feel and hear it as the jynx quickly make it’s way through the path in the rock. He sat flat against her, just in case there were any places where rock jutted out. Thankfully, nothing hit him like it did going through the bottle neck.

  Diago could feel a few more things, like the fact that they weren’t making many turns and that they were on a gradual incline. The portion of the race called the long straight, was afore stated to be a bit of a misnomer. On the actual race track itself there are many turns and shifts and places where you have to slow down keep yourself from colliding headfirst into a wall.

  The cave Diago had been in was a straight shot and landed him just behind Wrayden. Diago let out a premature victory cry as he exited the cave and was actually able to see where he was.

  He actually had a shot now.

  Wrayden heard the cry and looked back to see Diago’s jynx flying toward him at a quick pace.

  “I though I killed you” Wrayden cried out angrily.

  “Only a little” Diago responded with a smile on his face.

  The smile faded a little and was replaced with determination when he saw he was not gaining on Wrayden anymore. They were at an even pace with him, neck and neck. The place in the canyon they were in was narrow. Not nearly as narrow as the bottle neck, but still only wide enough for a handful of racers.

  They continued to wind through the pass with the jynx alternating between running on the wall to gain momentum and gliding past various obstacles that jutted out from canyon side, like trees and loose rock.

  Diago was actually beginning to enjoy the thrill of this race. Yes, he was in a lot of pain and things had definitively not gone as he had expected, but he was doing a whole lot better than he feared he might. On several occasions he had come close to falling off, due to a jolting shift in direction, or a shot of pain through his shoulder or back. He stayed on, determined to win this thing.

  Thatch made it clear, the best end for this race would be to win. There is no telling what would happen otherwise. Diago had worked it out earlier, before the race began, the payout for a sponsor whose racer wins is a substantial sum.

  Substantial enough to placate whatever fiendish plots Saarsken was hatching…or at least he hoped so.

  At first Diago wasn’t sure how’d be able to scrape a win out of this tremendously risky sport, but now that he was among the leaders of the pack, he was not just optimistic, he was confident.

  That is until Wrayden decided to make life difficult again.

  The path they were on gets significantly wider before the final push to the finish line. Before that, the path narrows just a hair more. It was there that Wrayden used his last spear to hit a tree branch that was in Diago’s way. It wasn’t enormous, but it was big enough that when Diago ran into it, it almost caused Diago to fall from his saddle. The thick part of the branch hit Diago on the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to lose balance on the jynx that had also lost some balance. It was all he could do to squeeze hard enough with his legs to stay on his mount. As he regained his place on the saddle and his breath, they passed into the wider space and saw that Wrayden had shot passed them and was traveling at a greater speed than Diago was.

  What made things much worse was the few riders that had caught up and were now passing Diago. It also didn’t help the pressure build up when he saw that the finish line was now clearly in view, in the form of long cord of rope painted white that stretched across the canyon roughly a quarter of a mile away.

  “Gotta think of something and fast” Thought Diago as his jynx veered toward the canyon side to run along the wall to gain back much needed speed, like all the others.

  He racked his brain, trying to think of any way to pull a win out of all this. He felt certain that if he didn’t win it, there was going to be heavy repercussions. Not just for him, but for Aylah and…Thatch

  The moment he remembered the weaver, he remembered what he said before the race began.

  “It’s you that has to cross the finish line”

  And

  “Use your hook”

  At first he thought those were just one stupidly obvious thing to say and one kinda dumpy piece of advice in retrospect, but now these words were the catalyst for a plan as he eyed the net that spanned the topmost part of the canyon.

  “I must be out of my mind” he said to himself.

  The distance between the main body of racers and the finish line had halved since he had started formulating his plan and now was the time to put it to action, for better or for worse.

  Most, if not all, the racers had started on their final run toward finish line by running up the wall toward the net and then leaping off to gather speed before their jynx would spread their wings to shoot forward, gliding on the air. Diago had a modified version of that plan. The timing of this would have to be perfect for it to work.

  He followed the other riders up and as they jumped off the canyon wall, Diago guided his ride toward another pair of jynx and rider. Diago’s jynx leaped onto them and shoved off of them as they leaped from the canyon side, propelling herself just a little farther and higher than the others. While that happened Diago had a split second to see the lay of the land.

  There were four racers roughly thirty feet below that were ahead of him already speeding toward the finish line. The leader of that pack was Wrayden, who was now dangerously narrowing the space between himself and the finish line.

  He had to act now or it would be too late.

  They were so close to the net that Diago could have reached up and grabbed it. This was high enough. He grabbed his kurigan and whipped its full length outward toward the net above. The instant he threw it, Diago guided his jynx into a sheer dive.

  They accumulated a lot of speed almost instantly.

  “Please come catch me like you did before” Diago yelled at the jynx, more as a hope thrown than as words expected to be understood.

  About half way through the dive, The kurigan found its mark and hooked to the net above. It was then pulled tight and yanked Diago into a harder swing than he had ever experienced, or hoped to experience again. The speed he accumulated on this swing dwarfed the already staggering pace he was going on the jynx. The wind pulled tightly against his face and clothes and…well everything. The worst of all was the searing pain in his shoulder and back. Nothing but a pure force of will was what kept him on the rope. He focused all his energy on keeping hold until just the right time. He yelled out and didn’t stop yelling until he let go.

  He let go right as he began to swing upward and shot forward like a human bullet.

  He would have continued to yell, but the wind took the breath right out of him.

  He blasted past the three nameless racers and in an instant caught up to Wrayden. Diago’s look of absolute contented glee as he passed Wrayden, probably sent a number emotions through the seasoned racer. Like shock, awe, panic, incredulity, helplessness, rage…all of the above. Whatever was going on in his mind, the look on his face, was a priceless memory. It was only a quick glance for Diago, however, because he shot past him with tremendous speed, and crossed the finish

  line.

  It was over and Diago had won.