[Mkguild] The Harvest Festival (18/20)

[Hallan Mirayas]

-------

 =


   "Ryuo-sama!"
a female voice called, and the vulpine turned to see Rois trotting up to hi=
m.

 =


   "Rois-sama!"
Ryuo replied, his face lighting up in a sudden smile. Ryuo still felt somew=
hat
awkward amongst others since the events of the past summer, but the familiar
sounds of another from his homeland were comforting. "It is good to see
you," Ryuo said, continuing in their mutual native tongue, "How have
you been, my friend?"

 =


   "Well enough,"
she replied with a grin, "I was hoping I could entice you to come watch me
participate in a competition of strength."

 =


   Ryuo gave a
questioning look. "For the Festival?"

 =


   "Of course,"
Rois laughed, and then went on to explain. "They call it a 'Taur Pull'=97ea=
ch
contestant uses their taur form to pull a large weight on a sledge across t=
he
dirt. The one who can pull the most weight wins.  It's the first time this =
event has been
tried."

 =


   "Sounds like a
typical Western game," Ryuo said with mock-arrogance, "Brawn over
technique." He held his air of superiority only briefly before his face
again broke out in a grin. "Sounds like fun."

 =


   "You're in
rare form," Rois said. "Not so serious today?"

 =


   Ryuo hesitated
briefly. "I have, perhaps, been a bit too serious of late," he said. "This
past summer showed me I have more here than I thought."

 =


   "Yeah, and
maybe after the contest you can explain about that a little more, especially
that." She pointed to Ryuo's three tails.

 =


   All three tails
froze in mid-air briefly, and then relaxed. "Perhaps," Ryuo agreed, "assumi=
ng
you are purchasing the alcohol."

 =


   "Very well.
Shall we head over to the Pull then?"

 =


   "After you,"
Ryuo said, holding back one sleeve as he gestured with his paw. Ryuo follow=
ed
alongside the centauress, making small talk between them as they made their=
 way
to the event.

 =


-------

 =


   The shaggy white
dog ran up to the entry table where a bored-looking young woman was sitting.
She sat up and grinned as the dog shifted to a 'taurform Keeper. "If you
want to enter, I'll need your name."

 =


   "Drift Snow,"
the canine replied.

 =


   She nodded and
scrawled the name down on the parchment in front of her. "Head over to
where the other contestants are waiting and get harnessed up." She pointed
with her pen to where a centauress and a certain foxtaur were waiting.

 =


   Drift blinked a few
times at his first glimpse of the centauress, but he'd certainly seen stran=
ger
things. The centauress noticed his staring and smiled at him, then poked Mi=
sha,
who turned to look.  A wide grin spread
across his muzzle as he waved to Drift. Drift waved back and walked over to
join those two.

 =


   Misha chuckled. "I
almost thought you wouldn't make it, Drift. I was going to have to show up =
Rois
here on my own."

 =


   The centauress
Rois, laughed. "You? Show me up? In your dreams, Misha Brightleaf!"

 =


   Drift smiled and
interjected, "Well, there's a first time for everything," which
prompted another chuckle from Rois.

 =


   "Yes, this is
true," replied the centauress with a smirk, "but there's no way I'm
going to let a fox outpull me." While this exchange was going on, Drift
was being harnessed up. Of the three contestants, Drift had the easiest tim=
e,
actually helping the handlers with the harness with a practiced skill. Rois
raised an eyebrow as she watched. "I take it you've done this a time or two
before."

 =


   "A time or
two," he said, his smile broadening into a grin. "Give or take about
a hundred."

 =


   Rois laughed, "Well,
you've got experience on me, at least."

 =


-------

 =


   Aisha sighed as she
sat at her station beside the large patch of bare dirt where final preparat=
ions
were being made for this event. With Drift's entry, that made three entries.
Rois-sensei, Misha, and Drift. And given that it was almost time to start, =
she
quickly weaved a few threads of air into an amplification spell. "Entries
are-"

 =


   "Wait!"
She was interrupted as a large, muscular equitaur galloped up, stopping in
front of the table. He was breathing a bit heavily from his run, but not
excessively so. "I'd like to enter the contest."

 =


   Aisha quickly
dismissed the weave, nodding. "Just under the wire there. I'll need your
name, please."

 =


   "Richard
Steadman," the equitaur replied.

 =


   Aisha quickly
copied down the name. "Okay then, head over to the others," she
replied, pointing as before, "and get harnessed up." She then wove up
the amplification spell again, "Okay, sorry about that, folks. Now
entries are closed for the 'taur-pulling contest, and we will be starting in
about five minutes." She then dismissed the weave, leaning back in her
seat.

 =


   She wished her
brothers Drake and Colin were here to keep her company, but Drake was overh=
ead,
taking a shift patrolling from the sky. Colin was=85 well, she didn't know =
where
he was at the moment. He better be back soon, as the two of them were to be=
 the
announcers for the event.

 =


   In the meantime,
she sized up the new competitor. He was the tallest of the four, and appear=
ed
to be some kind of large draft horse. She watched his muscles ripple as he
walked around in the harness, making sure it was fastened correctly and did=
n't
restrict his movement, admiring his handsome physique. She must have been
watching him for quite some time, as her inspection was interrupted by a vo=
ice
next to her saying, "You know, if you keep staring like that, maybe he'll
ask you out." She could feel the heat on her cheeks as she blushed,
turning to the source of the voice, her brother Colin, who was sitting next=
 to
her with a stupid grin on his face.

 =


   "Sh-sh-shutup!"
she stammered, realizing it was past the five minutes she'd given earlier, =
and
glared at him. "You're late!"

 =


   Colin chuckled. "Nah,
I'm right on time. It hasn't started yet, right?"

 =


   Aisha grumbled and
sighed again, taking a few deep breaths to regain her composure before
reweaving her amplification spell. "Welcome to the first annual Harvest
Festival Taur Pull!" She announced, her voice carrying over the crowd. She
continued, introducting herself, "I'm Aisha, one of your announcers for
this event."

 =


   "And I'm
Colin," the ARed boy interjected. "Today, we have a contest between four
taurs to see who can pull the most."

 =


   "That's right,
Colin," Aisha continued. "And now that we've introduced ourselves,
let's introduce our contestants."

 =


   Colin nodded. "First
up, we have the fox that rocks, the head of the Long Scouts, Misha Brightle=
af!"
A little ball of light hovered over Misha's head for the introduction.

 =


   The light ball then
flew to over Rois' head. Aisha handled the next introduction, "Next is the
elegant equine, the magnificent mage, Rois!"

 =


   The light moved yet
again, and Colin continuing the introductions with, "And then have the
determined dog, the talented tinsmith, Drift Snow!"

 =


   The light shifted
one last time to settle over the equitaur's head, as Aisha finished the
introductions with, "Finally, the stalwart stallion, the dark horse of
this competition, Richard Steadman." The light then disappeared, and Aisha
continued, "Competitors on your mark." She paused to make sure all
the harnesses were hooked up to their loads and for the handlers to get cle=
ar. "Get
set=85. Go!" And the four taurs took off, pulling their loads across the
wide field to the cheers of the crowd.

 =


   Aisha kicked off
the play-by-play with, "Drift's off to an early lead against the other
competitors. Look at him go!"

 =


   "Well,"
interjected Colin, "that's to be expected, given his previous pulling
experience. However, that won't do him any good if he can't manage to pull =
more
than the rest, even if he can do so faster."

 =


   "Good point,
Colin. We'll have to see if he can turn that experience into enough of an
advantage to win," Aisha replied, as the first load completed. The mages
pulled the sledges back to their starting positions, and loaded them up with
the next weight.

 =


   "Ready to give
up yet, Misha?" Rois called out as the four taurs walked back to their
starting points for the next load.

 =


   The foxtaur let out
a barking laugh. "Hah! Hardly! That last load was nothing: bring it on!"
Misha shot back as the four of them were hitched up for the second load. Th=
is
verbal sparring continued for the next few loads.

 =


   "The
competition is heating up out there, isn't it Colin?" Aisha commented.

 =


   "Definitely,
as are the contestants, I'm sure." Colin smirked, then continued, "It
looks like Misha has fallen behind the others, though. He's pulling, but it=
's
not going much of anywhere fast." Indeed, the foxtaur was straining
against his harness to pull the current load, which had barely moved from i=
ts
starting position. Finally, it just stopped altogether, not moving an inch
farther.

 =


   "It looks like
Misha's hit his limit," Aisha said.

 =


   The judge raised a
red flag and called out, "Misha Brightleaf has hit his limit.  He is out."

 =


   "And the
contest judge agrees," the female announcer continued.

 =


   Colin nodded, "Tough
break for Misha, but he did well, and the other three seem to be nearing th=
eir
limits as well." Indeed, by this time, the other three had slowed their
pulls significantly, and Drift had actually fallen behind the two equines. =
They
all three finished that weight, however, and continued on to the next one. =
"Looks
like Drift is having some trouble with this one," the ARed boy noted as
the three started that pull.

 =


   "Yes, it seems
he can't get it moving out of the gate," Aisha replied. "And, it
looks like he's done too," she continued, as the judge pulled him out like
Misha previously. It was down to the two equines now, Rois and Richard, who
both managed to finish that pull.

 =


   Colin grinned. "And
it's down to the wire folks, the two equines against each other. Which one =
will
be able to pull the most?" The two hitch up for another pull with yet more
weight, and start dragging the sledges.

 =


-------

 =


   ~Two down, one to
go,~ Rois thought as Drift dropped out, ~But I don't know if I can continue=
=85 My
muscles=85 feel like they're on fire.~

 =


  ~Just hang in there!~ Rakurai encouraged.

 =


   Rois watched as
Richard pulled ahead of her, completing the pull. ~I've got to keep going! I
can't let him beat me!~ she thought, but her muscles screamed at her that t=
hey
were at their limits. Her vision narrowed to the end of the track ahead of =
her
as she focused all her energy on pulling and keeping the sledge going to the
end. But it still wasn't enough, as her front legs started to collapse under
her. ~Sorry, Rakurai, I tried=85~ Suddenly, she felt a pair of strong arms =
around
her torso, holding her up. She looked up to see Richard's equine face looki=
ng
down at her, a concerned look in his large eyes.

 =


   "Are you all
right, my lady?" He asked her.

 =


   She blushed, "Y-yes,
thank you. I'll just need a bit of a rest=85" She regained her footing with
Richard's help while the handlers unhooked the harness from her sledge.

 =


-------

 =


   From the start of
this pull, it was obvious that both taurs were showing signs of fatigue, but
Rois appeared to be struggling more than her competitor to drag this weight=
 the
required distance. Richard managed to pull it to the end, while Rois' fatig=
ue
finally got the better of her, and she collapsed, panting and drenched in
sweat.

 =


   "Ooo! And Rois
is down!" Aisha calls out, "She didn't finish the pull. So that makes
Richard Steadman our winner! Truly a dark horse in this competition."
Cheers and clapping erupt from the crowd.

 =


   "And look at
him helping her back onto her hooves," Colin added. "Truly a
gentleman, as well."






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