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Given the date of this thread I'm just going to break the order completely and post. I hope this is ok! Also, the link in the beginning of the thread, which held the plotted finishing order, is deleted or something. I remember that Dawali was second, though, and that a CdM member was first, so I'm just going to play that out as well as I can without naming anyone.
Word Count: 372
come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops
The track was round, and Dawali knew they were over halfway. His horse decided on her own speed now, and she was as thrilled and eager to finish with a bang as he. Though he couldn't say much about his own position, he knew a few things: there was one who kept ahead of him, and that he himself was constantly ahead or behind someone else, their positions changing rapidly. One moment his succeeder was ahead of him, the next he had regained his upper hand. Adrenaline gripped his heart and muscles tightly, and the Kalona wielded all his strength to stop himself from crying out with excitement. Instead, he focused all his mind on the finishing line ahead, and on the one who kept at it in the lead. Perhaps, if he could only push Belle... a little further? The horse knew her limits, but she also felt the excitement and challenge in the air. His legs hurt and hers were no doubt in worse shape, but still they pushed on.
Belle's four hooves roared on with speed and vigor as the pair, horse and rider, flew forward along the track. Gone from their minds were the dangers they faced at this speed if they should fall; all they saw was the one ahead, ripping their absolute victory away from then. They moved as if one item, movements of the one flowing into the movements of another. The gap between them and the pair ahead sometimes lessened, then increased, then lessened again. They had no way of telling what position they were in, but when they finally thundered past the finish line they could not stop until hundreds of yards ahead. Dawali smiled as he straightened from the position he had kept atop the horse, and now he grinned; he was second across the finish line, but his mood was so lifted and his body in such a rush that he wouldn't have cared if he was last. The male bellowed; a wordless sound of pure excitement, before Belle started trotting him back to the side and back to the finish line on her own accord. His hand reached forward to touch her neck, patting her. Time to collect some prizes!
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[html] Hemming was last x)
Hemming had little experience with horses, and Bayard's sheer strength impressed and exhilarated the wolf. They were not the most graceful pair, mostly by Hemming's fault, nor were they the fastest, but they at least seemed to be in the running. Though his eyes were fixed forward, as if turning them in any other direction would cause him to fall off, the wolf could see other contestants to his sides. He clung to the horse's strong neck, unsure of how exactly he should hold the beast, urging him forward with mutterings that surely the horse couldn't hear anyway.
The grin remained on his face as they crossed the finish line and the horse slowed. Blood pumped through Hemming's head and arms and legs with a vigor greater than it had done for years, and the excitement of the race left a humongous, perhaps comical, smile on the wolf's face. That was fun. The air seemed unnaturally still now that they had slowed down, and the wolf was beginning to realize that, along with being remarkably enjoyable, riding on a horse was rather painful. Still, the grin was unfaded as his excitement blocked out any of the pain that was zipping up from his thighs. It would surely hurt later, but now was not the time to give even a thought to future pains!
It seemed that the other horses were moving to the start line now that they had finished the race, and Bayard followed. Breathing slightly heavier than usual, Hemming regarded the stands, the sky, and the other racers with a smile. With a quiet "Nice job," to Bayard and a few friendly strokes of his neck, he wondered how he had missed out on such a sport for so long. All considerations of the actual standing outcome of the race was beyond him, for, in the long run, fun and camaraderie were perhaps the truly valuable results.
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Okay, getting some replies done. I have my own computer now so there's no reason I shouldn't be caught up.  I think Hanna was 5th, too, and played her as such.
Word Count: didn't count. Worth 0 points.
Hanna was confident that she was going to win on her gallant Galilahi, but the cruel hands of Fate had other ideas. They had moved along quickly coming to within a few horse-lengths of the lead. The femme's eyes widened; she couldn't believe how relatively easy the race had been thus far. "Come on, come on, good girl.." she muttered a chant to Gali, urging her on. She could feel that the mare was not quite giving her all, but didn't want to push her past her limit.
Within second, however, it was irrelevant how hard the horse was running. An errant stone that had not quite been cleaned off the track caught up in the hollow of the mare's hoof not far from the end of the race, causing her to pull up sharply, hobbling. Their momentum still carried them across the finish line, barely salvaging next to last place by just her head.
Immediately Hanna dismounted, watching as everyone else walked toward Jacquez, and extracted the stone with one carefully extended claw. She observed Gali's gait as they trailed behind and then, satisfied, turned her attention to the King, making her way toward the throng.
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