Chapter 8 - The Race Pt. 2

"I just… need to… ARGH!"

Diargo whipped his head back, to see Valor slowly pulling the arrow out of his arm. "Leave it in or break it, idiot."

Valor scrunched his face, and the muscles in his jaw worked as the arrow continued its exit, "I almost… have it".

Diargo shook his head and turned his attention back on the race. The track in front of them was narrowing and they were nearing the tight bend. If they were here, then that meant the other racers were closer to winning than he was. Diargo curled his lip back in anger, and he pushed himself harder.

"I… got it!" The arrow exited Valor's arm with a wet ripping noise, the barbed steel tearing his flesh.

Diargo's arm burned with the phantom pain of Valor's injury, but he paid no attention to it, his vision was tunneling, he was only ten feet away now. Valor threw the bloody arrow down in triumph, the jagged hole in his arm was not enough to trump the relief he felt with the arrow out. Valor glanced back at the track in front of him and felt his stomach turn to ice.

"Diargo the chokepoint!" Valor looked at the track in front of him in horror. The stone walls had closed in, and the height of cliffs was enough to stop any racer from travelling over top. It created an effective chokepoint, that forced every racer to establish their positions in the race. Except no team desired to place behind another.

"HANG ON TO YOUR SEATS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT'S ABOUT TO GET A LITTLE 'ROCKY'!"

"Diargo jump now! JUMP NOW!" Valor screamed at the top of his lungs; his companion wasn't reacting to the panic he was projecting. Diargo was falling for the designer's trap.

***

Valor wiped the sweat off his brow for the hundredth time, the Kypeeran sun beat down on shoulders and he could feel his skin burning. Another long afternoon of training had taken its toll and his muscles ached. He licked the salt from his lips and sat down in the sand, watching his father stride over to him.

"You cannot continue to rely on Diargo like you do." Valor's father said, staring down at him.

Valor shielded the sun with his hand and gazed up at his father in frustration. "You say that, but what's the point? He's the one who's doing all the hard work, I just sit there."

Valor's father brushed his long hair out of his face and took a seat beside his son. "There's a reason why teams consist of racers and riders, why do you think that is?"

"Well, I guess I can provide a defense for him from attackers that he can't see but- "

His father cut him off, "Diargo is an animal, he has animal instincts, his decisions and thoughts are built around those instincts. He may be able to sense things we can't but that also means those senses can be overwhelmed."

Valor threw a small pebble into the sand. He looked up at the gorilla who stood unmoving a couple meters away, keeping an eye on the horizon. The Beast always seemed so human.

"He's more than animal dad,"

"Of course, he is, I know that more than any other person out there, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he needs YOU to keep his instincts in check. You need to be the level-headed one." The man looked at the stoic gorilla, admiring the size of the muscles that seemed to grow bigger each day. "I mean, I'm not sure what good a couple of swords will do when it comes to 'protection' for that guy."

Valor chuckled and pushed himself up to feet, ready to continue training.

"If anything, remember this, each of your roles are equally important, he can't win on his own, and neither can you. Remain calm for his sake and guide him when he gets carried away."

He nodded and repeated those words back to himself, "remain calm and guide him".

***

The pack of teams hit the narrow stone passage at full speed, Valor could hear the shouts of panic from the other riders as they tried to control their racers. Three teams managed to squeeze themselves through the chokepoint before the entire pack collided. Massive and dangerous bodies entangled into one giant cluster. Riders were crushed under the weight of their own racers or from colliding with another. Racers bellowed in pain as limbs were broken, and their bodies were hurled against the unmovable stone walls surrounding them. Diargo leapt as high as he could into the air after he heard Valor's warning, the scent of blood spilling from the cluster of bodies rattled his senses and screams of pain from both animal and human triggered his fight or flight instincts. Valor clung to his neck with all his strength, and he gagged on the overwhelming smell of blood. As they flew, he could see swords and other weapons mistakenly impaled through random bodies. Horns and claws drawing blood, all of which was starting pool on the ground beneath them.

Diargo cleared the initial group of teams with his jump and managed to reach the entry of the choke point. His thick legs absorbed the impact as they landed in the chasm. Valor could feel the powerful thud of the Beast's heartbeat through his own legs that were resting on his shoulders. The Trykoori's muscular shoulders rose and fell as his chest heaved.

"Diargo we have to keep moving, the survivors are starting to pick themselves up."

The ape snarled at himself and picked up the pace. The walls towered over them, creating an effective barrier to any aerial form of movement. The winding path of the chasm also made it practically impossible for Diargo to use his pillars, though his agility proved useful when it came to the tight maneuvers and sharp turns.

Valor sat in silence for a couple moments while Diargo concentrated on precise movements as they sped through the canyon. The boy repeatedly looked over his shoulder for any teams catching up but focused all his energy into creating a calming presence for the ape to feed on. A large gust of whistled in his helmet and ruslted the long tuft of hair on the Beast's head.

"We must be near the exit."

Diargo let out an internal sigh of relief, the constant twisting and turning of the chasm was hard enough to deal with, not to mention the constant stress of maintaining distance against opponents who were faster. He could taste the fresher air as it flowed into the exit. The two of them turned a particularly sharp corner, revealing a final long stretch to the exit out of the canyon, and freedom from the towering walls. Valor's heart dropped at what he saw before the exit. A bushy white tail wagging back and forth in more of a playful manner than he would have expected, and a tall girl sitting with a relaxed slump, as though the race itself wasn't interesting. Beside her was a humongous man practically dwarfing the massive boar that he rode on.

"Of course, he survived that choke-point."

Valor swallowed and lifted a hand up to shield his eyes from the slight cloud of dust that they were running through. "Ameera survived too, but it looks like their riding together, they're not attacking each other."

Diargo shot him a sideways look, "Jealous?"

"Shut up," Valor muttered under his breath as he narrowed his eyes, just ahead of the two teams was a third, a jet-black wolf and its rider whose skin was paler than a moon.

The behemoth swung a giant axe with ease, his long arms making up for the distance between him and the third-party member. Though the weapon was massive, the giant whipped it through the air like a viper, each swing as fast and precise as the next. Regardless of the speed, the blade could not reach its target, the man on the wolf was too quick. He stood with perfect balance on the saddle that was tightly strapped to the back of the wolf, a large cloak draped over his shoulders, as black as the wolf he rode. Instead of a helmet, the man wore a black mask the covered his mouth and nose. He dodged each strike like a ghost, as if the very matter of his body faded in and out of existence. He carried no weapon from what Valor could see and seemed to occasionally deflect the flat edge of the axe with his bare hand. Soon Diargo caught up with the combatants, the end of the chasm was approaching quickly. Sensing their growing proximity, Ameera checked over her shoulder and her jaw dropped as she recognized them. The nonchalant attitude was immediately cast off as her hand shot for the rope strapped to her hip.

Valor grimaced at her reaction and hesitantly let his hand rest on the hilt of his right sword. Diargo sent an approving mental wave and forced his legs to move even quicker, bringing the two of them almost face to face with Ameera and Scooper.

"WHAT DID I SAY VALOR" Ameera's voice was just barely audible over the wind and the angry shouts from the giant.

Valor was about to reply when raw instinct took over his body and he ducked. He could feel the Téad léim whip past his head, nearly scraping the top of his helmet. His sudden reaction sent a ripple effect down into Diargo, who screamed in anger and leapt a couple feet laterally while maintain his forward momentum.

Valor ripped his right sword from the sheath in anger, lifeblood coursing through his veins like adrenaline. "ARE YOU F-" He ducked again as the rope missed a second time, Ameera cried out in dismay and frustration urging scooper forward. The Fearrat's six legs moved into a blur and the animal shot forward, nearly bumping into the boar the behemoth rode.

Valor gritted his teeth and sheathed the sword, the galden was pumping furiously throughout his body. He was able to dodge the Téad Léim, but he couldn't see it, galden was cloaking it from eyesight.

"Did you scare her off?" Diargo said, sending a mental image of Ameera pulling away to join the giant.

"I didn't really do anything. Just dodged."

Valor could feel Diargo's confusion, but he didn't elaborate further, he was trying to process the sight in front of him. The giant was still trying to cleave the masked figure in half but was finding no success. Every swing and miss only angered the man further, his bellowing shouts of anger were even loud enough to drown out the announcer. Even Ameera seemed perplexed by the man's anger her uninterested demeanor was replaced by something new, when she shot a look back at Valor, he saw it. It was the unmistakable look of uncertainty, and Valor smiled. Ameera's face darkened and contorted into something ugly, she whipped her head back to face the track, her hair whipping wildly around. She grabbed the rope again, but the distance between them was too far, she was clearly going after someone else.