“Ugh, it smells horrible” said Aylah again as they were walking down the road. She kept saying that and it was getting annoying.

Diago would have defended himself, if his mouth was not so full of raaglin fruit. It was a relatively common fruit to find in the forests of Tunaan. Wild raaglin fruit was very nutritious, but many have said that it’s strong flavor and smell was not worth the reward of the nutrients. However, that’s not the case for everyone. It was one of those divisive things, either you loved it for its juicy strong flavor, or you hated it for the exact same reason. For the most part, it tastes like a mixture of raspberry, lemon, and ginger, but to a strong degree. This is not how it smells though. It was a deceptive little bugger of a fruit, because if it smelled rotten, than it was ripe. If the fruit smelled ripe, than it was either not ready yet, or it was rotten. Most people could not get over the smell as they ate the fruit and thus their sense of taste was thrown off. Diago was not one of those people. Sure he could smell it, but the way it tasted was unmatched in his eyes…or mouth I guess. Aylah strongly disagreed. She had refused it, but Diago convinced her to try anyway. She did, but her sense of smell was too strong and to her, it tasted horrible. She spat it out immediately. Needless to say, this did not do much to build trust in Diago.

“How much farther to the tents?” asked an irritable Aylah

Diago had only just finished swallowing, “you mean you don’t know?”

Aylah rolled her eyes (which seemed to becoming habitual since meeting Diago), “I don’t live here sunburn, of course I don’t know”

“Huh, I just kind of assumed..with the whole seeing everything thing”

“I can’t see everything. I just can see at long distances. So if something is covered…” they way she trailed off was clearly designed to be answered by the one being spoken too. However, no answer came. Instead Diago pretended like he hadn’t been listening

“Huh? Oh sorry, I got board after ‘I can’t see’”

With the snide remarks and the horrible smells, Aylah was walking the razor’s edge of sanity. She decided it was better to keep a level head, but man was he making her unbalanced. Either she was on the side of “don’t talk at all. It’s safer that way” or she was on the side of “if I hide the body in the woods, the animals will probably eat him before anybody can find him”.

This had been their general mood as they were walking the road toward the Jynx race tents. They were walking along the edge of one of the forests. Diago mentioned that, beyond this forest, it was a straight shot to their destination. The site was marked by a particularly small spire that was blocked from view by the trees. The journey to get there wasn’t a terribly long one. One could make it there and back on foot in a single day. However, if someone were to go by foot they wouldn’t be able to spend a lot of time at the races, which is why most people preferred to get there by-

“OUT OF THE WAY!”

“GET OFF THE ROAD”

Two men riding Talards passed by, going on a full sprint. The Talard was another one of the unique animals in Tunaan. It has three pairs of legs, two very powerful ones toward the back for momentum and four in the front meant for control and stability. At the ends of each of it’s strong legs are two claws that faced forward only. Talard’s were excellent at running forward, but were incredibly clumsy and awkward when moving backwards. It has four ears, two sets are near the lower middle part of it’s jaw and two slightly bigger ones above that. It has a pelt of short fur everywhere save for one long goatee under its chin and one tuft at the end of its tail. Talards are a lot like horses, but they are much bigger and stronger and faster. However, they are not nearly as difficult to break. Unlike many of the animals in Tunaan, if you find a wild Talard, approaching and befriending it would be both safe and relatively effortless. Thus they are used much more than horses in Tunaan.

This is what Diago was explaining to Aylah as they continued on the road. She was not startled by the approach of the animals, having heard their coming long before they reached them, but she was curious about the animal and hazarded a question to her irritating companion. Diago actually chose to explain this time instead of making some sort of joke. He also explained that the two that passed by were likely being ridden by either racers or betters that were pretty late leaving to get to the tents. That’s most likely why they were in such a hurry. Aylah listened and had a few more questions about jynx and the races and why it seemed like such a big deal, but her questions were cut short as they walked around a bend. In front of them was a wide expanse of rough looking plane, interrupted by two landmarks: a deep cavernous depression in the land that laced its way through the landscape and a small red spire (small, meaning only about one hundred and fifty feet high).

They continued toward the spire. They came within a couple hundred yards of it when more Talards came racing up toward them. However, this time, the group slowed as they came closer, mostly because Diago waved them down.

“What do you want boy?” Asked a gruff man at the head of the group. In all it looked to be about six or seven of them, all looking like they were anxious to complete their journey. That is, all but the front runner. He was clearly different from the rest. Not only did he carry himself like he expected to be obeyed, but he looked like he should be. He wasn’t a native of Tunaan, but, like many of the dry country’s immigrants, he had the skin tone of someone who had been there for many years. Taller than most, shorter than some. Muscular and capable looking. He was also carrying a rather large looking sword. He was ornately dressed, at least in comparison to his compatriots. Aylah was uncertain about them, but she let Diago take the lead on this one.

“One may reach for a rope” said Diago

“And pray its not a snake” replied the man, then he continued “position?”

This was clearly some kind of coded exchange judging by the way things were spoken, but the man’s reply looked to give Diago pause, like that wasn’t part of the normal way of things. Aylah eyed Diago in the moments before he replied, he was clearly planning to fake something or lie, though she supposed not everyone would be preceptive enough to realize that.

“Stand in” Diago finally said.

The man lit up as he said this and said “well, if that is the case, allow me to bring you down myself” the look on his face made Aylah nervous, but all Diago could see was a way to get in and thus took the offer immediately. Judging by the look of their new friends, Aylah was glad that she’s put her long sleeve linen shirt on to hide her markings. All but the face, but she figured that those markings were subtle enough to go relatively unnoticed, especially if she wore her hair down. She leaned over to Diago,

“I hope you know what you are doing, sunburn” she whispered

“Relax tantoos. This is a way in, count your blessings” Diago whispered back confidently, before the two of them were taken up on two different Talards.

They approached the canyon’s edge and as they did, more of it could be seen. The canyon itself was not terribly wide, being an average of roughly one hundred feet across. What was unique to it was it’s depth. There didn’t seem to be a bottom. The sun was almost directly above them by now and still it would not illuminate the full depth of the canyon.

They came to a trail that descended downward along the side of the sheer drop into unknowable depths. To Diago, this was all as it always had been, but to Aylah the sight was something quite new. About ten feet below the canyon edge there was a net that spread across its expanse and for an unseeable length. As they continued on the trail, that was clearly chiseled out of the canyon side, they came to the level of the net. At that level there was a doorway that was guarded, but not by Honor Guards. On instinct, Aylah took stock of her weaponry, as well Diago’s. She had her bow, but it was currently collapsed, though she still had a quiver full of arrows. She had her knife on her as well, concealed in her boot. Diago had his Kurigan, which currently had a knife attached to the end of it. She was glad that at least Diago had the sense enough to have an actual weapon on him.

They came up to the guards, but instead of being stopped, as she expected they would be, the guards quickly moved to the door and opened it for the group. Diago made a face of confusion.

That’s when Aylah heard Diago whisper, “hey, if I whisper this low can you hear me?”

To Aylah, he was loud and clear, but by the way the other riders responded, which was not at all, she guessed that it was too low for them. She looked over at him and nodded, thankful and happily surprised that Diago had the sense enough to at least communicate what was going on on.

“Ha, that means you can’t reply. So much opportunity”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

She took the mental compliment back immediately. However, Diago decided not to abuse the situation at present, though she suspected he would try in the future.

“It’s unusual that we would be let through that quickly. That could be either really good for us, or really bad”

She looked at him with a questioning stare.

“I don’t know which, but I’ll let you know when I do”

They passed through the door and found themselves in a large, boxy, man made cave. The cave was full of shady looking people gathered around various booths. The booths were clearly set up as areas to place bets, given the amount of coins that were passing between people there. Aylah figured that these must be the “tents” people kept mentioning. At the mouth of the cave there was a wooden platform that jutted out about thirty feet into the canyon proper. It’s width was quite considerable, looking to be about a half mile. On this platform were several large awnings and more tents and underneath those were more booths. Some of these booths looked like they were places where bets were made, others looked like they were where drinks were served. Closer to the edge of the platform, there was only long benches with lots of people on them.

As they continued onward through the cave, it was clear that the party they were accepted into must be very important. Every vendor, gambler, and general passers by, at one point or other, looked toward the group they were attending and made a face of either fear or awe. Diago noticed as well and decided that he really needed to figure out what was going on. He ventured to ask the man he was riding the talard with whose group they were a part of.

“Saarsken” the man seemed to think that the one word reply was enough.

To Aylah it meant nothing, but it was clear from the look on Diago’s face that it was not okay.

“Really bad” Diago whispered, and began nervously twiddling the ring on his finger.

Aylah threw a questioning glance at him, but Diago didn’t seem to notice. The nerves of both built as they passed through the cave unhindered and onward to another opening at the far side. This opening was much grander than the other one, being made of hand carved wood with a gold and blue filigree. Again, they passed through without question. On the other side was another trail, but this one ascended upward toward the spire. The continued on this trail until they were actually elevated above the ground by about fifty feet. From here, one would be able to see a great portion of the canyon below. That’s when they reached yet another platform. This one was not as big, but it was better built and much fancier. The awning was died various colors and there were chairs of fine workmanship, rather than poorly made benches. There were servers clearly in wait for the group, as well a man sitting in the corner with a chalice in hand who seemed quite lost in thought. When the whole party entered the room, the man did a double take and stiffened. He swigged the last of his drink and sat upright at full attention.

Then the voice everyone seemed to be waiting to hear from spoke up, “Sit those two over there” said the man Aylah assumed to be this so called Saarsken person.

Two servers immediately helped move them off their respective talards and into chairs placed beside another chair that looked much more like a small throne. They sat there and watched as Saarsken dismounted and servers tended to both him and his steed. Aylah watched curiously, while Diago watched nervously. After he had removed a pair of riding gloves and taken a cup from a tray placed in front of him the moment he dismounted, the imposing figure spoke,

“They say that this was once the tallest spire in all of Tunaan” Saarsken began, “legend tells of it’s greatness being too much for the land to hold. The land gave way under it’s weight and opened a deep canyon, big enough to engulf the entirety of the spire. Well, almost it’s entirety.”

The man paused to sip his drink. No one moved. He then looked Diago over and said,

“Mostly, people use the story as a moral lesson. ‘Don’t become to big and proud that the ground can no longer hold you, because if it can’t everything will come crashing down’. I have also heard it said this way, ‘do not lie, as lies tend to breed more lies and one day the spire will be too big for the ground to hold it’ and so on”

At this, Diago and Aylah shot each other a nervous look.

Saarsken continued, “Now, its true that lies build up and become problematic, but I have also found that one bad lie said at the wrong time or to the wrong person can be enough to have your whole world come crashing down”

At this point Diago was pretty sure they were going to die. Aylah was aware of the danger as well, but no one wanted to even breath. Saarsken continued to eye the two of them. Then he continued.

“No use beating around the bush. You don’t look like a stand in”

“I-” Diago began, but was silenced by a raised hand.

Saarsken shook his head, “it is better for you if you don’t speak”

After that he looked over to the man in the corner and motioned him to come near. The man rose slowly and walked closer. He looked to be in his mid thirties. He wasn’t terribly tall, but he had a muscular physique that made him look taller. He had quite the unkempt look to him, having a scruffy face and also a bushy mustache. The expression on his mustachioed face was quite blank the whole time he had been walking up to the group. Blank until the very last when his expression shifted almost unnoticeably, from nothing to…was that concern? Nervousness? Curiosity? All of the above? It was hard to tell, especially because the expression lasted no longer than the blink of an eye.

He settled himself next to Saarsken, who looked at him with something that looked almost victorious.

“My slave here is a weaver…Your expressions are gratifying, yes he possess a rare gift. Nothing like the great weavers of old, but then again, no living weavers are quite like they used to be. It is a shame. Anyway, you see, my slave also grew too big and his whole world broke because of it, isn’t that right?”

The last of this sentence was directed at the man. In his eyes there flashed a look of utmost hatred, but otherwise he remained completely still. Saarsken must have noticed the look, but instead of punishing it, he laughed.

“Oh, I am sure he would love to kill me if he could, but alas he knows better. Ahh I have strayed too far from the point. My slave is not the most powerful of weavers, but with his skill, he doesn’t need to be. He can sense the threads of consciousness and interpret them. In other words, he is a mind weaver”

This situation was bad enough already without this bombshell. With it, the situation went from bad to doomed.

“Now, he is going to confirm a suspicion of mine. You!” Said Saarsken with force to Diago, who started on instinct “tell my man here what you told me”

The man stared at Diago, still stony as ever. Diago knew he had no choice, but that didn’t stop him from trying to think of anything that could get him out of this. Aylah on the other hand was trying not to think at all and praying that Diago was doing the same, as they were sitting in front of a mind reader. In the few seconds that passed before Diago spoke, many thoughts passed through Diago’s head, but the last one was ‘guess my luck took the day off’. Finally, Diago sighed and spoke,

“I am a jynx rider stand in”

The expectation was for there to be an instantaneous response of ‘he is lying!’ and for swords to fly and limbs to be lost. Instead, there was a silence. The weaver looked blank, but his eyes went from looking in the distance to looking directly into Diago’s. Diago felt his gaze differently than he had any other’s. There was something a little invasive about it, not like that usual ‘eyes are windows to the soul’ stuff, but different…like his gaze took a detour on there way to his soul and were perusing in various other places (specifically, in his head).

The feeling was quite unique, it felt like there thin wire threading its way through his mind and it kind of hurt. Diago was stubborn enough to resist the urge to recoil at the feeling. Then something happened, Diago’s own mind shifted toward the man, but not of his own accord. His feeling of fear of the mind weaver became one of almost trust, but a very reluctant one. The shift was quite sudden, like someone closed the book of his head and opened a different one entirely. Then it became clearer that what he was feeling were not HIS thoughts of the man, but the MAN’s thoughts of Diago. The feelings of trust ebbed and flowed, turning from hopefulness to doubting, from trust to fear, and so on. Ever so faintly, after a moment had passed and the man’s thoughts came to a place of resolution, Diago then heard a voice whisper in his head,

“You better not disappoint”

Then out loud, the man said, “he is telling the truth”

Diago was stunned. Aylah was confused. The weaver was still. The servants were frozen in suspense. Saarsken flashed in anger and confusion and spoke after the weaver’s proclamation had properly set in,

“I am rarely ever wrong about these things…You better not be toying with me” he said to the weaver, “you know what happens if you do not obey me”

“I know very well” Said the weaver coldly looking directly into Saarsken’s eyes

Saarsken seemed to relent, having shared a conflict of gazes for a moment with his man, “very well, I suppose I was wrong about you” he said to Diago and Aylah, after waving his weaver away in dismissal.

“It’s quite alright, it happens to us all from time to time” Diago said condescendingly

Aylah was burning on the inside wishing to high heaven that Diago would stop pressing his luck. Saarsken eyes flashed threateningly, but he didn’t agitate the issue any further. Instead, he moved on to another topic,

“Well then, my young brash stand in, did you come today to watch or to ride?”

This time it was Aylah who spoke, seeing a way to possibly turn a risky situation into a good payout, “Actually we came looking for a friend of ours”

“Oh? And who might that be?”

“We are looking for Trig” said Diago

“Is that so” Said Saarsken with an arched eyebrow, “you and many others…He was here yesterday morning. Didn’t talk to many people, but left in quite a hurry. He was followed by some men. The men came back, but Trig didn’t. I was told where he was last seen”

Aylah and Diago exchanged glances, Aylah then spoke “would you tell us where that was? It is quite urgent”

Saarsken’s posture shifted curiously, “is it now? How coincidental. You see, I also have a rather pressing need. I see we can be of service to one another” the smile that twisted on his face, reeked of opportunism. “One of my riders has regrettably been discharged from my service. It was his own fault for loosing so often. Ahh well… that leaves me with an empty saddle and a race in less than an hour. Here’s what I propose. You ride for me, make a good show of it, and I will personally help you find Trig”

Even the servants sat open mouthed at the proposal, and they weren’t even the ones offered the position. Aylah was trying to keep an air of cool that would continue to prove their story. It was easier for her to do so in light of the fact that she had very little understanding of jynx races. Diago on the other hand was well aware and was currently in a mental fit over it all. Saarsken seemed quite smug,

“This way I will know for certain that you are who you say you are. Otherwise, you will die and I won’t have to worry over punishing you”

No one spoke. Then Aylah nudged Diago, who then coughed, “Of co-” his voice broke so he decided to start again “of course I will ride for you, my liege”.

“Very good” Saarsken smiled. “I’ll have some of my men escort you to your mount. How very fortunate that we met today”

Yeah, fortunate. Diago was really hating his luck right now.