Aylah and Diago were separated. Aylah was kept close to Saarsken as insurance, just in case Diago felt like he wanted to run off. Diago was concerned for her at first, but he then figured she would likely be able to fend for herself if the worst happened. Diago had other things to worry about anyway. He was currently being escorted by talard to the jynx stalls, where he would meet his mount and ready himself for the race. With him were a few armed guards and along with them was the mind weaver.

He had mixed feelings about the man, but the overwhelming emotion was that of gratitude. The man was currently riding beside him with one guard upfront and the other trailing behind. Diago wished to say something to the man, but knew that it would be too risky to mention anything at present.

He couldn’t help remembering the phrase the man spoke into his mind: “you better not disappoint”

What did it mean? What would this absolute stranger expect of him? That he would win? It was hard to tell what he’d want from Diago. He hoped there would come a time when he could ask some questions or at least talk.

That time came sooner than he’d expected it would.

When they reached the stalls, the two unnamed guards posted themselves by the door and left Diago and the weaver to themselves. When they entered the the stall marked for the jynx Diago was to ride, the man wordlessly approached a wall of riding instruments. Diago, on the other hand, was immediately struck with the animal that was behind the stall’s barrier. As mentioned before, jynx are not incredibly large creatures, but this one was smal, even by the normal standard. Currently, it was pacing to and fro in it’s sectioned off area, looking fidgety and ready to run. As Diago approached, the animal noticed him and froze. It stalked up to him and looked into his eyes. Diago looked into the Jynx eyes and they held that for a moment.

“Interesting”

Diago shook himself loose of the stare of the animal to look at the man who spoke. The weaver was apparently watching the short interaction while cradling a saddle in his arms. He then went to the stall and opened the door that was keeping the jynx out. It immediately jumped into the room and rushed toward Diago. Diago was startled, but knew he was going to have to deal with this creature one way or another, so he stood his ground. The jynx came close and stood on its hind legs, arched it’s back and then unfurled its wing-like limbs and flapped them toward Diago a few times. Then in returned to standing on fours and folding in its webbed limbs. Then it’s whole demeanor changed to one far more playful and it circled around behind Diago and sat down, tail still twitching.

“Have you dealt with jynx before?”

The man asked, while leaning against the stall. Diago wasn’t sure what to feel about what just happened, but he at least knew how to answer

“No, I haven’t”

The man made a face of curiosity and then grunted, “she likes you”

“I haven’t made my mind up about her yet” Diago said, though he ventured to pet the creature’s head. He did and the response was a high pitched wheeze, that seemed to be a good thing, based on the fact that it hadn’t bit his arm off yet.

For the first time, the man let out a laugh, “that is probably why she didn’t try to eat you”

Diago tilted his head in questioningly. The weaver continued,

“Jynx are very sensitive creatures. You don’t seem to be afraid of her at all.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Cautious, but not afraid. Jynx respect a certain level of confidence”

Diago nodded having received the information. The jynx snuggled her head against Diago’s side. Diago responded by continuing to pet her head. There was a short silence. Diago was unsure how to broach…well any topic right now. Thankfully he wasn’t the one who started.

The man’s shoulders slumped as he began talking, “look kid, this is going to sound crazy, but I need you to trust me”

Diago paused, then said “Well, not ratting me out was a good place to start If you want my trust…Thanks for that by the way”

The man only nodded as his reply to the thanks, but he continued, “there’s more… a lot more. We have to work together if we are all going to survive this”

“Work together?” Diago scoffed, “You aren’t the one who has to ride this big old-”

A perturbed warning hiss came from the head of the jynx behind Diago.

“This…beautiful and majestic creature”

The jynx emitted that same contented wheeze as before and looked quite satisfied with herself.

“I don’t mean the race” said the man

“Then what do you mean?”

The man shook his head, “I don’t want to get into it until after the race is over, but…don’t go anywhere without me…Promise”

The man’s tone of voice was hard to interpret. He looked caught up in a lot of emotions regarding that last statement. He was definitely urgent though. Diago wasn’t one to break his word, so a promise was no small thing to him. He thought for a moment. He came to the conclusion that this guy was likely his best chance of getting Aylah and himself out of here.

It was a big risk, but what choice did he have?

“I promise”

The man visible relaxed when Diago replied, “thank you… I’m sorry for all of this. I can’t imagine what you must be thinking”

What a strange situation. Who was this guy? Why does he care so much about coming with-? wait,

“You can’t imagine what I’m thinking?”

The man looked up and shook his head, “no. Mind weaving is not as simple as people think it is. It’s not something you can just do” He said as he traded places with Diago and started strapping the saddle on the jynx.

“But-…you.. just do it”

The man’s cold, blank stare from before returned, but this time it looked quite exasperated, “It takes time to make it work and it’s not always accurate” Diago chuckled a little, “Better hope Saarsken doesn’t hear that”

The man’s expression changed to a poignant expectancy, “if today goes as promised, then he never will”

Diago look confused, “what do you mean?”

The man, still fitting the jynx up with it’s saddle, shook his head, “there is not enough time to explain it all, the race will start soon. All you need to know right now, is that I need to come with you. Oh, and that under no circumstances should you trust Saarsken. He is not as forgiving as he makes himself seem. If you don’t win this race for him…”

Diago was already fearing that as a possibility, but hearing it confirmed by someone made it that much worse. Win the race, or die….great.

Before the man could say any more, a horn blew throughout the stalls. The jynx stood up fast and rushed toward a door on the opposite side of the one they came in from. Apparently, this, while being a stall, was also a waiting room of sorts. When the door in front of the jynx opened, it opened to what looked like a tunnel that led, presumably, to the starting line of the race. The jynx looked back at Diago and then looked at the saddle and grunted excitedly. What a clever animal. The weaver noticed this and shot a curious glance from the jynx to Diago, but whatever he was thinking he clearly decided it was not important at the moment. Diago rushed over and mounted the jynx. The man followed, finishing slapping the saddle down. While doing this he said,

“One more thing I’m supposed to tell you. It’s you that needs to cross the finish line”

The man said that like it was supposed to be profound, but Diago just stared at him for a second before sarcastically saying,

“Any other magically obvious words of wisdom?”

The man smirked, “Yeah, use your hook”

Diago looked down at his kurigan and saw that the knife was still attached. He looked back to the man who nodded, indicating that it was a good idea for some reason.

“Ooookay” said Diago. At that point the jynx began moving forward, but Diago stopped it “wait!”

The man turned to him. Diago had a feeling. This moment, when this man’s path and his converged, was important somehow. He wanted to know more, but he knew there wasn’t time right now… so instead he settled for an introduction

“My name is Diago. Nice to meet you”

Diago extended his hand, the man seemed a little surprised by the introduction, but then he smiled a little and took Diago’s hand. “Nice to meet you Diago. My name is Thatch”