Neither Aylah, Thatch, Saarsken, or any of the servants could believe their eyes. They all sat dumbfounded at what had just happened. From the moment Diago appeared from the cave in the cliff side to his daring and crazy stunt, their eyes were glued to the events below. No one uttered a word until the end and even then there was silence as they watched Diago swing from then net, shoot forward, win the race, and begin to plummet down into the abyss for a second time. Only this time they got a clear view of what happened next.

  The jynx he had swung off of continued her dive until she hit terminal velocity, only then did she spread her webbing and shoot forward after Diago. She was behind Diago be a little ways. If Diago had stayed on her, he clearly would have lost the race.

  She caught up quickly though and passed the finish line just after Wrayden did. Wrayden, who was still incredulously silent as he crossed. The jynx stayed her course until she dove after her now rapidly descending, mount-less, rider. She caught him like she did before and grabbed him, keeping him from a long plummet and a gruesome death. Once recovered, Diago scrambled to her saddle as she banked in a large loop to turn back toward where the tents were.

  Diago raised a fist in the air and let out a victory yell and the crowds went absolutely ballistic. Their thunderous roar echoed through the canyon.

  “Well now…this is…unexpected”

  Aylah looked at Saarsken who had a surprised, but pleased, look on his face.

  Saarsken stayed his gaze on Diago for a moment more, grunted, then turned to Aylah.

  “It seems our deal is not so closed as I thought…”

  Aylah shot a quick glance at Thatch, who had gone back to maintaining his ever present stony stare, showing little emotion. Though Aylah knew these events were just as surprising to him as they were to everyone else. He hadn’t reestablished any mental conversation yet, so she had no idea what he was thinking. Before, he seemed fearful that even if Diago did well in the race, Saarsken would still seek some sort of punishment for the two of them. However, Aylah was pretty sure that Thatch had no thoughts of Diago actually winning the race, especially not in the way he did.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sole person who could manage to find words to say at the moment.

  “Clean him up and bring him here,” Saarsken said to a servant motioning toward

  Diago. He then looked at Aylah and sighed, “you have held up your end, I suppose I will have to uphold mine”

  Aylah relaxed internally and even let out a little sigh of relief. It seems Thatch’s fears were not warranted.

  Aylah hoped that whatever Saarsken had to say about Trig would be worth all this effort. She would have to wait till Diago came back to the platform to know for sure.

  Diago…

  As she thought about him, she had a feeling of genuine relief at his being okay.

  She thought about his win and would be lying to say she was not very impressed.

  It was risky move after risky move, but it worked in the end. It took guts.

  Of course she wasn’t going to tell him any of this, or else she would never hear the end of it.

  As for Thatch, he was managing keeping his composure. However, on the inside he was reeling with lots of feelings and emotions. He was taking an enormous risk trusting the fade and this kid. When he thought Diago had fallen to his death, he had to acknowledge that he had some hopes built up. Losing hope again was a tough pill to swallow. However, when Diago reappeared and subsequently won the race in such a fantastic way. That same hope was rekindled.

  The hope grew even farther when Saarsken had seemed to truly be satisfied with the outcome. No doubt the money he just gained, or stood to gain in the future, had much to do with his newfound benevolence.

  Maybe this really was the moment he had been waiting for… for a long time.

  Saarsken now sat in his chair contemplating while sipping from his goblet. He had the guards stand down and they were no longer holding a knife to Aylah’s throat. They were all of them waiting for the return of the person who had not only created the tides of the day’s circumstances, but had turned them rather dizzyingly.

  Diago was laying face down on a table, wincing as the final thread in his back was pulled through and tied off. He had never been stitched up before, but apparently it was a necessary measure for the large gash on his back. The servants had taken him the moment he returned to the stalls. The jynx whimpered as they dragged him away, but there was nothing either she or Diago could do. Diago was sad to part with the animal that had saved his life twice, but he wasn’t given a choice.

  They immediately took him to be washed, which stung his various injuries. They had administered various medicinal pastes to some of his wounds, but decided that the gash on his back needed to be closed. Apparently, the injury on his back was worse than the one in his shoulder, even though it felt the opposite. Go figure. When they finished stitching up his back, they washed him a final time and then put another paste on the wound before covering that in some sort of wrap. Then they gave him a new tan linen shirt to put on.

  They then passed him off to a pair of guards that escorted him back to the platform where Saarsken and his friends were waiting for him. On the way, Diago kept replaying the race over and over in his mind. It was a surreal feeling…not only had he just participated in and survived a jynx race, but he had won it. Sure, he only managed to win due to some crazy unlikely things occurring that were not going to be repeated anytime soon.. but hey, a win is a win.

  Diago smiled to himself while recollecting the moment when he saw Wrayden’s stupefied face as he shot past him, stealing his victory from right under his nose. They passed Wrayden while on their way to the platform, but he refused to even look at Diago.

  “Sore loser,” Diago whispered to himself with a wry smile.

  The track back to the platform was a lot slower on foot than by talard, but Diago was alright with that. He was too taken up with thoughts of the race. A pleasant distraction from the storm of emotions deep in his subconscious. Deep inside, he was still wrestling with the truth of his lineage…who he was… he didn’t know how to think or feel about it, but the general emotions were discomfort and displeasure and dread.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  But this was something Diago was doing a fine job of ignoring and covering up with the joys of victory. These thoughts sustained him even as he passed through the door to Saarsken’s private platform.

  When he passed through the door he saw pretty much what expected to. Aylah sitting near their host with two guards posted nearby. Thatch in his stool by the corner, trying to keep up the appearance of the good, obedient slave. There was also Saarsken who was just dismissing a servant. There was a tension in the room that was not quite there before. However, the mood of the room shifted the

  moment Diago had walked through the door.

  “There he is! There is my champion!” Said Saarsken with a mock look of fatherly approval. Diago smiled, though he was uncomfortable with the new mode of his quasi captor.

  “This is Masha” he indicated to the woman near by, “she is one of my servants and she was just giving me a report of the responses from your audience”

  Saarsken stood with arms outstretched, “‘who is that young rider?’, ‘Where did he come from?’, ‘What a fantastic race!’, and my personal favorite, ‘will he race again?’”

  Diago did not like the look in Saarsken’s eye as he spoke that final phrase. It was the same look he had just before Diago was “forcefully” conscripted into that race. Opportunism. He looked on the verge of mania.

  “As I thought to answer those questions, I realized that I myself didn’t know your name” he said this with a laugh, “silly me, I suppose it slipped my mind to ask”

  “Yeah right, its not at all because you thought I would die in that race and that it wouldn’t matter” thought Diago as he looked back at the smiling face before him.

  “So then, my young friend, what is your name?” Saarsken asked.

  Diago was about to simply share his name, but he caught a look in someone’s eyes. A look of dread, fear, worry, and warning, from a face usually so emotionless. It was Thatch. Diago had only so much information to work off of regarding the situation they were all in, but he understood enough to recognize that to share his name with this man was a very bad idea. He thought quickly and came up with an alternative.

  “Have them call me The Flying Kurigan.”

  Saarsken’s face transitioned from pleasant to confused in an instant. Diago could see Aylah’s head tilt to the side. The predominant thoughts in her mind were “what on earth are you playing at?…and what a dumb name.”

  Thatch on the other hand, nodded in relief, realizing before anyone else what Diago was doing.

  Saarsken was the next to speak and in a rather ill-humored way, “The Flying Kurigan?”

  “Yes,” Diago said smiling wide, “think about it, if a mysterious racer comes in, out of nowhere, and wins a race on his first go and then tells everyone who he is, then eventually he will become just another racer. If he stays a mystery, it will keep people interested for much longer”

  Diago was just making all this up as he went a long, hoping and praying to the Great One that this strange and dangerous man would buy it. Aylah understood now what he was doing, but still shook her head. Needless to say, she did not think this would work. Diago didn’t care what she thought, all he really needed was to get out of here with whatever information this guy had, leave quickly, and hopefully not come back for a very long time.

  Saarsken took in all the information and began to steadily pace where he was. He did this for a moment and then slowly began to smirk,

  “I like it”

  Aylah sat open mouthed, Thatch smirked ever so slightly, and Diago smiled wide in

  Aylah’s direction, before faintly whispering at a level she alone could hear,

  “It behooves you to never doubt me”

  Aylah eyed him and stuck out here tongue, causing Diago to smile wider at her expense.

  “Very mature.” he whispered.

  While this short interaction took place Saarsken had continued to craft this marketing scheme in his head. He was still pacing with a smile on his face. He spoke again,

  “We can build on a legend. People will talk about it and then, as word spreads,-”

  “More people will come and will bring their coins with them” said Diago, finishing the line of thought.

  Saarsken smiled even bigger, imagining the income, “I like it…but I hate the name”

  Diago’s face fell, “what? Why?”

  “…The Flying Kurigan?” Said Saarsken flatly

  Diago saw Aylah begin to laugh, but she restrained herself.

  “The goal is to keep people interested, not make them laugh,” Saarsken remarked, he then turned to think.

  Aylah was still holding it in, but not well. Diago shot her a glare, but that only succeeded in making it harder for her to keep from laughing at him.

  “I’ve got it!” Said Saarsken wheeling around quickly, “we’ll call you The Shadow of Tunaan.”

  It was then Diago that returned with a flat stare, “how is that any better than The

  Flying Kurigan?”

  A loud scoff was heard from behind Saarsken, “It’s so much better!”…it was Aylah.

  “It…really is,” said the normally silent Thatch.

  Even some of the servants nodded in a conciliatory way.

  Saarsken smiled condescendingly at Diago.

  “…fine,” Diago bitterly conceded, “we can talk names another time. We are forgetting the whole reason I raced in the first place. I believe you still have to settle up your side of the deal. Where is Trig?”

  Saarsken’s demeanor remained pleasant, “ahh yes, I had forgotten in all the excitement. Well, first of all, I never said I knew where he was, only that I knew where he last was. Secondly, if I remember correctly, I do believe I said that I would personally help you find him, yes?”

  Diago nodded slowly and Saarsken continued while walking back to his chair to recline.

  “Then by all rights of the deal, I don’t have to tell you where he is or was, I merely have to help you find him. A very vague idea, I’d say. Why, say I was to give you a small inkling of information, such as, ‘When he came to the tents he paid off his debts and hurried off soon after and the men that followed lost track of him heading west.’ There I have settled my end.”

  Saarsken sat back quite pleased with himself. Diago shook his head angrily, “but that’s exactly what you said before!”

  Saarsken raised his hand warningly, while also smiling, “with more detail. I helped and that’s that. Now, back to our new deal.”

  “What new deal?” Diago said, still quite upset

  A wicked smile crossed Saarsken’s face as a guard grabbed Diago from behind and put a knife to his neck. The two guards by Aylah did the same. Saarsken then stood and straightened his garments while saying, “the deal where you race for me as the Shadow of Tunaan and in return, I won’t kill you.”

  Diago struggled against the guard, but the knife against his throat pressed in a little harder and he was forced to stop lest he injure himself. Saarsken walked forward to Diago till he was right in front of him. He spoke again,

  “Yes, yes, the defiant type. As expected. Naturally, I don’t expect you to like this deal and to fight against it every chance you get. This is why I am going to sweeten the deal.”

  Diago glared at the menacing figure before him, “how?”

  Saarsken’s smile remained as he turned to look at Aylah then back to Diago, “if you comply, I won’t sell your companion here into slavery.”

  Aylah looked furious, but couldn’t act on the emotion. Saarsken walked over to her and brushed back her hair, showing the markings on her face more prominently. He smiled and continued, “Onterrin is a place of legend I hear. Home to many incredible wonders and people. I have no doubt that, once talked up appropriately, any number of buyers would spend a fortune for a servant like your friend here”

  Aylah spat at Saarsken. The man retracted his hand quickly and laughed. As his laugh subsided. He looked down at Aylah with a smile and backhanded her hard across the face. Diago tugged against the guard angrily, “leave her alone!”

  Saarsken whipped around and yelled, “WHAT’LL IT BE BOY?!”

  Diago’s furious glare rested on Saarsken. The man was a power crazed, greedy pile of Jynx droppings. Diago wanted to spit at him too, but his furious glare changed when he saw Aylah look up at him. Her expression was angry, but it was clear that the slap hurt. That was made obvious by a trickle of bright red blood falling from a spot on her brow where one of Saarsken’s rings hade made its mark. Diago couldn’t quantify what he felt at the sight. All he knew was that in that moment, he wanted to keep her from more pain. He then noticed the silent weaver.

  Thatch looked at Diago with knowing eyes. The man looked pained and worried, but as he made eye contact with Diago, he shot a quick glance at Saarsken then looked back to Diago. That same sensation from before resurged in Diago’s head. Thatch was trying to get into Diago’s head, only this time he was rushing through the process. Clearly, Thatch wanted to get a message to Diago as quickly as he could. After a moment, Diago got the message, “agree to the deal”. The feeling in his head immediately withdrew. Diago wanted nothing more than to stop everything and ask a million angry questions of the weaver…but as it stood,

  “Fine…I’ll race for you,” Diago said, deciding to trust weaver.

  A flush of relief was felt through Thatch when he heard the words. Aylah looked worried. Saarsken clapped his hands together victoriously, “wonderful! I’ll have a servant take you to your quarters where you can get ready for tomorrows races. I have some work to do. We have to make the Shadow of Tunaan into a legend.”