DracoStryx Tributes | Badallaioc, Helagnus: Daius - Competition

Tribute to Daius - Prompt: Competition (racing)
Laverito = Laverito (rider, witness for Badallaioc)
Teapot = the casua (owned by SheepMomther, witness for Helagnus)
Badallaioc = Badallaioc
Helagnus = Helagnus

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"And-" Laverito leaned sideways to avoid another branch, “-just once more. We are doing what?"

"Racing," Badallaioc growled. 

"...I still don't follow," Laverito admitted. He reached down to adjust the straps and buckles of the tack Badallaioc barely tolerated. They'd broken camp in quite a rush, and Laverito really would prefer not to fall off, or lose any of his wares-to-be-sold. He liked money.

"We will prove that I am faster than that bowlegged cockatoo," Badallaioc sneered, puffing out his silky chest and holding his head high, until the next low branch had to be ducked under. 

"Slow dirtfeathers," Helagnus snarled, struggling through the undergrowth somewhere off to the side. "Can't even fly, stupid trees..." She muttered a nasty insult that Laverito only caught because his ears were every bit as sharp as their size suggested. Badallaioc must not have heard, because he didn't instantly start a fight.

"I'll beat you even with all this useless junk on my back," Badallaioc boasted. Laverito withheld his offense, knowing full well that denying his useless junkiness would do no good. When Badallaioc was in a mood like this, Laverito could either get on his back, or get left behind.

Ahead of them, the casua drifted through the trees, ostensibly leading them to a good place for racing. Deciphering that intention had been an adventure, since the casua had not once spoken a word. Not even a peep.

But it proved true nonetheless. They emerged from the stunted tangle of trees, into the pastel colors of dawn. Assorted talons clacked over wind-swept stone, as the three stryx and one rider lined up on the edge of a steep cliff. Below stretched a valley, longer than it was wide, half painted by brimming dawn and half shaded by fading night. A river etched a gleaming path across the valley floor, vanishing into a knot of trees. At the far end stood a pile of massive boulders, spotlighted by shafts of sunlight.

"Well, that'll be our finish line, then," Laverito said. "Through the valley, to those boulders."

"Well?" Helagnus squawked, rustling with blatant impatience. "Ready yet, weak-wing?"

Badallaioc bristled and snapped back, "More than you, twig-leg!"

Helagnus snarled. Badallaioc sneered. Helagnus hissed with such rage that she whistled at the end, like a large, furious, bright orange kettle. Badallaioc croaked something harsh and fast that Laverito couldn't quite catch, but going by Helagnus' reaction, it was quite rude.

Either oblivious to it all or simply ignoring it, the casua stood at the edge of the cliff, feathers ruffling in the breeze. The casua looked the picture of contentment, in stark contrast to the squabbling pair Laverito was stuck with.

Then, the casua leaped off the cliff. Startled, but apparently paying more attention than the squabblers, Laverito shouted, “RUN!”

Badallaioc and Laverito had bolted from incoming justice enough times that responding to Laverito's warning shout had almost become an instinct. Badallaioc launched over the edge, chasing the casua down. The incline was so steep that Laverito clung to Badallaioc with all six of his limbs to keep from falling over Badallaioc's head and going splat on the scree below.

Despite her delayed start, Helagnus plummeted past them, tucked into a steep, confident dive, down into the shadows of the valley. Ahead of them, the shade cast by the rocky walls stretched out long and deep, but dawn was advancing and sunlight was spreading.

Helagnus flared her wings to pull out of her dive, but did so clumsily, and lost speed. The casua bounced off the rocks at the bottom and bounded ahead. Badallaioc hit those rocks seconds later, and Laverito squeaked as the force of the impact nearly threw him off. If he’d not tied the saddlebags so expertly, they’d be gone now. 

Clearing the rocks, Badallaioc broke into a hard sprint, talons digging into grass and dirt to haul himself and Laverito and all their worldly belongings along. They didn’t have much. Today, Laverito owned a light and rather shoddy saddle to which he was clinging, and one set of saddlebags, tied behind said saddle with the fastidious knots of someone who didn’t want the resale value beaten out of his wares. Badallaioc could run for hours without rest, but his stride wasn’t exactly the smoothest.

Ahead of them, the casua’s brown tail bobbed and waved. The casua certainly had a lead on the rest of them, but this race wasn’t decided yet.

Badallaioc ran, Laverito scrunched up against the stryx’s rolling back, and both of them squinted as Badallaioc leaped out of the shadow of the cliff and into the morning sunlight.

“Where did that casua go?” Laverito had to shout to be heard over the pounding of Badallaioc’s feet.

Badallaioc didn't bother to answer. He twisted and turned, following a natural path between hillocks. They were so cluttered and small, they might have been stepping stones on a river. In fact -

Laverito sat up, which was risky, but offered more of a view than Badallaioc got while sprinting with his head held low. “Go left! You can jump across!”

Badallaioc went left, which involved a mighty leap. Overhead, Helagnus swooped past, wings pumping furiously. Somewhat foolishly, Helagnus sacrificed some of her barely-regained speed to look down with a sneer and shriek something lost among the sounds of flapping and running and the creak of much-abused leather. Neither Laverito nor Badallaioc offered a reply.

Badallaioc found his footing and started to half-run, half-hop down a row of ridges and rocks, bypassing the irregular serpentine paths between them. Laverito held on for dear life, pressed back down into the black feathers of Badallaioc’s withers, and they shot past the cursing Helagnus again.

The air down here in the valley was still and dead, the soft breeze in the trees above the cliffs passing right over it. There was nothing for Helagnus to coast on; all the lift she had available was that which she could generate herself. Badallaioc, in contrast, relied on traction, and whether in a valley or up a mountain, his talons worked about the same.

Laverito and Badallaioc, experienced with having to evade guards and night watchmen on flying mounts, had learned a thing or two about how best to do it. They were still alive and free, after all. Too bad that wild Helagnus refused to consider that tame stryx could be clever.

They were more than halfway through the valley now. Helagnus left off her cursing and began to gain on them, able to ignore the rough terrain. Badallaioc came to a gap too far to jump, and had to drop into the grass. Fortunately the ground was turning smoother now, and Badallaioc had to turn and twist less than before.

This was when Laverito finally figured out where the third participant had vanished to. Suddenly the casua popped out of the tangle of trees that concealed the valley's river. The casua thundered through a mess of flowers, sending colorful petals and upset butterflies fluttering outward, in a wave of pure undiluted springtime that would’ve sold for a fortune if Laverito could’ve bottled it.

“Bugger!” Badallaioc cursed. The casua’s lead might be impossible to close this late in the race.

Helagnus swooped low, pulling ahead once more as Badallaioc fumbled a rise. The flowers shuddered in her wake.

His pride as a runner at stake, Badallaioc roared and pressed forwards, crimson talons digging down and devouring the ground. Laverito, for his part, took another precarious lookabout with ears flopping from momentum, and then hunched back down and leaned right, guiding Badallaioc in that slightly easier-looking direction without need for words this time.

The terrain on this side of the valley was not as rough. The casua’s lead was formidable, but Badallaioc closed the distance stride-by-stride. Helagnus flapped, trying to rise as the ground rose, up the slope towards the rock pile that was their goal, but then Helagnus staggered and stalled in the air. Badallaioc bolted past her fallen form, eliciting an immensely offended scream.

Ahead of them, the casua continued running, almost leisurely. Badallaioc was gaining quickly – and yet, nevertheless, the casua hopped up on the boulders first, the winner by virtue of experience and cleverness. And currently, the avid chaser of a very miffed butterfly.

Helagnus swooped down as Badallaioc made his final approach up the slope. In her fury she fumbled her landing yet again, and went sprawling into a pool of sky-blue flowers. By the time she struggled upright, Badallaioc stood huffing atop the rocks, Laverito panting on his back, with the casua frolicking in joyful circles beyond.

“I win,” Badallaioc declared.

Helagnus shrieked, and Laverito was pretty sure that was a stryx’s version of a wordless exclamation of righteous fury. He’d heard many a version of that particular sound, usually after stealing something. He was something of an expert on the topic by now.

“You cheated!” Helagnus accused next. “The air is dead in this stupid valley!”

“Not my problem. I don’t fly,” said Badallaioc. “Also, this other casua bested me, which means you lost twice.”

And thus was Helagnus' pride sorely bruised. A pity she likely hadn't learned a thing.