Wind caroused through the crags and crevasses of the canyon, keening a tune that drew Treaus closer to the edge. The sun was still rising towards it’s zenith on his left forcing him to squint out of that eye. The canyon before him was half a league wide and many times as deep. The river at the bottom, always frothing white, was only a pale line, as if drawn with fine chalk, from this height. His teeth flashed in a grin as he turned back to face Tayun, Flystaff, and Aerol. Flystaff returned the grin then lifted his snout to the breeze and took in the amalgamation of crisp northern winds and warm canyon breezes that dominated the North Edge.
“Perfect day for this, Treaus.” He said as his gaze lowered to settle on the daredevil once again. The muscles in Flystaff’s haunches were beginning to twitch – a sure sign that he was getting anxious.
Aerol glanced at Flystaff then fixed his gaze on the canyon edge as he began walking toward it. “Just be careful this time, Treaus,” he said. “It took your leg months to heal last time because the Elders refused to heal you and while I know Trayun waited on you knees and tail…” he snuck a sly glance at the younger female as he trailed off.
“I did not, Aerol!” she squeaked, her shrill voice unveiling the lie.
“…but Flystaff and me – we were stuck in the ducts repairing a breach. Punishment for not being your common sense, I’m told.” Aerol was standing at the edge and was staring straight down the broke cliff-face.
“He’s right, Treaus,” Flystaff said, hesitating as he stepped forward to crane his neck higher so he could barely see over the rim of the canyon. He closed his eyes and took an easy step back. “You cannot mess up this time,” he said, opening his eyes again.
Treaus snorted and fully extended his wings, nodding when he felt the tendons stretching. “That was too easy last time,” he said. “This stunt will test my skills more, so it should be easier for me to focus. Besides,“ he continued, “that’s why Trayun’s here, this time. I knew sooner or later her training with the Elders would be useful.” Treaus lowered his head while he continued flexing his wings and risked a glance at Trayun.
Her eyes were wide and glistening in the sun’s warm rays. “That’s the reason you asked me to come? I thought…” She turned her head away, wings lowering, tips touching the hard-packed dirt, and started to walk towards the capestone where the canyon’s winds would lift her up and away and back towards Lhrisfan. Treaus sighed, watching her start to walk away. He looked to Aerol and Flystaff, the latter of which was still watching her go. Aerol jerked his head toward Treaus’ sister just as Flystaff looked back and stared at Treaus himself, his leg twitches subsiding.
Treaus rolled his eyes before pursuing. “Trayun…wait.” He jogged a few steps then flapped his broad wings to speed him along. Another wing-assisted boost and he was a tail ahead of his sister and turning broadside to block her path, folding his wings together against his back. “Look, I didn’t mean it that way, you know I didn’t.” he said, raising his head above hers to assert familial dominance. “If you were not here, I’d be stuck with those two,” Treaus gestured towards his friends a handful of tails away, “and you know how I’d be held up with Aerol’s constant suggestions and Flystaff’s overexcitement. Besides, how great would you feel if you got to save me after my newest stunt?” He grinned and lowered his head, evening the playing field.
Trayun turned her head to the side and pulled her wings up tight beside her body, all prim and proper. “Do not try to sweet talk me, Brother. The only reason you want me back is so Mother doesn’t get a chance to question where I have been.” She faced him again and arched her neck in what Treaus knew to be preparation for one of her trademark bobs. “You know,” the head bobbed towards him and back into the arch shape, “that she would come here and stop you.”
“Yeah, yeah, but if you’re here, we won’t have to worry about that, will we? You know that she wouldn’t like that you had intended on helping me before coming home. You leaving is lose-lose, Sister.”
She tilted her chin up and started walking around him. “I’m still going!” She huffed as she passed.
“Fine, what do you want?” He said, keeping pace with her on her left. Treaus knew his sister could rarely turn down getting something from him but he never liked giving her an inch. This worked best as a last resort.
“I want you to admit you’re scared,” she said without hesitation, opening an eye to peek at him. “Admit that you want me here in case you do get hurt, and I’ll come back.”
“Ha!, Me? Scared? I’ve done stunts before without you around. What makes you thi-“
“Treaus, admit it,” she said, cutting him off.
“I was only in that splint for two mon-“
“Treaus.”
“Yeah, fine. I’m scared. Not a lot, though,” he added, not meeting her eyes. “It’s better if you’re here, just in case.”
She turned around without saying a word, puffs of dust from her sudden turn flowing out into the canyon. Treaus paced her again, unfurling his wings and stretching them again in preparation. As they neared Flystaff and Aerol, Treaus called out, “My wings are ready! How’s the wind?”
A grin split Flystaff’s snout as he raised his nose to the breezes again and Aerol, looking down into the canyon once more, lifted his head to turn and look at the brother and sister. “It’s coming straight up the cliff wall. You should make sure you try to get at least four tails out on your jump before aiming down. Probably less of a chance of hitting the cliff that way.” He said, glancing at Flystaff and shaking his head after doing so.
Trayun giggled lightly and Treaus smirked, whispering, “Told you so,” to her so the other Tarcans wouldn’t hear. To Aerol, he said, “Good thing you’re my friend, Aerol, helps keep me in one piece. You should do it with me, though. More impressive with two. Hey, we could go one over the other while going down the cliff wall.”
“Hah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? You would end up ahead and say I lagged. I’d rather watch, thank you.” Aerol paused for a moment, looked over the rift’s edge a final time. “You’re a crazy fool, you know that, right?” he said as he moved away from the edge and stood across from Flystaff, who was watching the edge warily. He made sure to leave a couple tails of space between Flystaff and himself to give Treaus a running start.
Treaus laughed. “Am I the only one in this canyon that wants to learn how to maneuver in it?”
“I’m sure you’re the only one doing it a couple tails from the cliffs,” Aerol said wryly. Treaus simply smiled back, his pointed, pale teeth contrasting with the darker scales on the upper part of his snout, and made his way to the end of the makeshift runway fashioned by the bodies of his friends and sister.
“Just make sure you guys get into the air as soon as soon as possible. Wouldn’t want to miss this!” Treaus spread his wings, stretching them one last time, and scraped his hind claws into the hard ground, bracing himself to make sure he got a quick start and was running top speed before jumping. He looked up and judged the distance to the edge to be about 14 tails, pulled his wings tight against his body to reduce resistance when he jumped into the canyon’s gusts, and began his sprint.
When Treaus blew past his watchers, they began running towards the edge, too, Flystaff bringing up the rear. Five full strides later, Treaus leapt from the rift’s rim at top speed, immediately feeling the rush of wind bursting from the canyon’s depths and taking in the dusty smell of the rock walls carried in those bursts. Without looking to see if his friends had followed, he steeled his resolve against just opening his wings now and coasting across the canyon, which was tempting now that he was actually doing the stunt, and looked down. The power of the wind blowing from deeper in the canyon was enough to push the rest of Treaus’ body behind him, lining up his body, head to tail, as straight as his muscles could hold in the onslaught. The sound of rushing wind was muted, Treaus blocking out the sound as he plummeted, straight as an arrow, towards the pale line far below. Once he was satisfied that he could hold himself straight in such a difficult dive, Treaus carefully opened his wings, allowing the wind to push him closer to rock wall beneath him. With his sharp vision, Treaus began picking out crags of rock that were in his path. He intended to play a game as he dived.
Suddenly, the light from the sun failed, the canyon’s edge blocking it. The lack of sun made it easier for Treaus to focus; squinting no longer being a part of the game. He picked his first rocky target and as he quickly rushed downward. The muddy colored rock rapidly grew larger as the daredevil pressed his luck. At the last moment he tipped the leading edges of his wings out and let the wind rip him out of the way of the rocky projection, his clawtips snapping off of the edge. Having felt his claws clip the stone, he quickly pushed down and launched himself away from the cliff wall beneath him, immediately tipping his wingtips down and letting the rushing force of wind push him back towards the cliff. He chose another crag and launched himself off of it, starting a dangerous game of launching himself from outcropping to outcropping, making it look as if he was a flat stone skipping across the rock face.
His friends spiraled down in his wake, Flystaff laughing in exhilaration, pretending he was in Treaus’ place, Aerol staring in disbelief, and Trayun tucking her wings closer, ending her spiral and beginning to dive. If she was to be there in case something happened, she wanted to actually be close enough to help. The other two followed her example, Flystaff still laughing.
Meanwhile, the river in the canyon’s bowels was more than just a barely visible white line, now. The sound of rushing water was faintly audible to Treaus and he could now make out the thrashing of water against stones. His tail flicked back and forth rapidly as he launched himself from another large stone, his legs beginning to tire of pushing off of a new rock every couple seconds. The rush of water was louder now, and Treaus’ nose could pick up the fresh tang of mist beginning to faintly cloud the air. He decided on one more launch before pulling out and stretched his neck down to heighten the final rush, his pounding heart screaming at how amazing the dive was.
As he came upon the last crag, he caught sight of one of his friends diving down and lost his focus for a short moment. In that moment, his front claws nicked the rock too hard and when Treaus mistakenly looked towards his feet in confusion the wind caught the back of his head and forced it down, throwing him into a forward roll. His wings thrown back by the rolls momentum and useless for the moment, all Treaus could do was continually try to get his bearings and throw his weight to try and balance himself enough to open his wings and stop his fall. The mist was thickening around him as he fell and the edges of panic crept into Treaus’ mind.
Aerol, Flystaff, and Trayun watched as Treaus shot downward towards the river, hoping he would soon pull out. Trayun was already steepening her dive, just in case. She watched as her brother suddenly began a forward roll, losing all control of his wings. She heard Flystaff cry out above her and saw Aerol blow past her right wing in a dive. Moments later, Flystaff passed on her left. Trayun was already in her steepest dive and could gain no more speed from the wind. She would have to hope Aerol and Flystaff could reach him in time.
While she watched Flystaff and Aerol converge on Treaus, her brother’s roll was ended when his back clipped an outcropping of rock, knocking him further from the cliffside but giving him the second of balance he needed to spread his wings and try to pull out of the dive.
Treaus could hear the tendons in his wings pulling as he fought to pull out of the dive, his wings filled with wind and the muscles in his shoulders straining to pull him upright. While he was struggling with the wind, Treaus saw Aerol come out of nowhere and tap him at the base of the tail. The force of Aerol’s passing was enough to tip the balance in favor of Treaus’ beleaguered wings and allowed the Tarcan to end his descent and now glide parallel to the loud, frothing river that was only 30 tails below. The mist was thick this far down and the airborne water helped soothe Treaus’ parched throat as he glided, exhilarated, downriver. He tipped his wings up and flew to where his friends glided, a few tails above him, sister included.
“You’re hurt!” His sister yelled over the sound of the roiling water below them. Treaus could only faintly feel the burning pain of the long cut that ran between his wings and partway down his back. The rush of his fall numbed him to anything but glee.
“Haha! We can worry about that later, Sister!” He shouted back. “I did it! Did you see? Aerol? Flystaff?”
Flystaff glided closer to Treaus, a wide grin on his face, teeth dripping water into the back of his throat from the mist condensing on them. “Oh, we saw, you snake-blighted fool! That was amazing!” Flystaff tipped his left wing down and right wing up, starting a spin. As his legs passed Treaus, Flystaff kicked out and knocked Treaus to the side, both of them laughing now. Aerol shook his head and grinned at the good-natured shove, a byproduct of the incredible rush imbued by the sheer amount of wind that ran over all of their bodies on the way down.
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