Percy had done an excellent job thinning out the competition so much so that Everett could only see two riders on horseback anywhere even near him. They're still ahead of him, but the mule is surprisingly keeping pace despite its huffing and puffing. 

Everett carefully pushes himself to ride a bit more upright and gathers the reins back up at least enough to loop them over the front of the saddle so they don't fall down and entangle the mule's front legs as it runs. 

One of the riders in the lead glances over their shoulder, briefly perplexed by how the only one in pursuit is the amateur on the pack mule. They must have not noticed the shark taking out the rest of the riders. If only they had stayed blissfully unaware of what was happening behind them instead of looking back and locking eyes with Everett. For a moment they seem to have an internal debate on if they should focus on the rider they're neck and neck with or the donkey on their tail. 

The other rider doesn't debate and suddenly swerves their mount over to side-check the other rider while they're distracted in hopes of knocking them off. The distracted rider shouts angrily at them and jabs the toe of their boot in the flank of the other rider's horse. This makes the horse light up bucking, throwing their rider forward and overtop its head. 

Everett winces as he watches the horse trample right over its fallen rider and then bolt off course. Then Everett realizes the downed rider is right in the way of his own mount. 

"Oh crap!"

He scrambles to pull back on the reins or steer the donkey around the guy. The donkey already had its own plans to avoid the guy and sidesteps suddenly in the opposite direction. Everett feels his center of gravity lurch to the side and he nearly slips clean out of the saddle. It's only by throwing his weight forward and holding onto the mule's sparse mane with all his strength to keep from tumbling to the ground.

It's a good thing he's pretty used to using only one arm, otherwise, he might not have the grip strength to latch on tight. This still isn't ideal, as the mule is pulled to the side by Everett's weight. They start to lose ground on the lead horse and rider, but Everett does manage to drag himself back up.

With all the chaos, Everett nearly loses sight of where exactly they are headed, and it's only when he catches his breath that he looks around to realize they already are well within reach of the turn-around point of the track. There's a flag on a wooden stand out in the open field which marks where the riders need to turn back towards the starting line. They got lucky this was a simple out and back and not a more complicated loop through the countryside. 

At least that's what he thinks before the other rider loops around the flag and starts heading right back at him. Everett tries to pull the mule to the side so they can pass one another, but then the rider pulls their own mount to mirror his position. It dawns on Everett what this guy is up to.

Was this guy seriously playing chicken right now??

The man then pulls out a crossbow and looks down the sight right at Everett and the mule. Ah crap, they are out in the open and there's no cover to dive behind for miles!

Everett feels all the hairs on his skin stand on end as the crossbow bolt is released and flies right toward him. A ripple of electricity spikes off of his body, and just as the bolt is inches from his face, it's suddenly deflected and it flies off into the grass.^[1]

The other rider is shocked. Everett is shocked. The mule can't care less, and just as they nearly careen into each other, it strikes forward and bites the other horse on the face. The horse rears up, throwing its rider off backwards into the grass before thundering off back home. It would still beat them to the finish line, but you only won the race if your rider was with you, right?

Everett doesn't have time to think about it as he recovers from what just happened and clumsily guides the mule around the flag and back to its owners. The poor beast is absolutely drenched in foaming sweat by the time it tiredly trots over the finish line with Everett still in a daze about the whole situation. 

The crowd goes into an uproar over this major upset, with none of the big time bidders having even given the donkey a second glance. Many of the folks are in such a rage that a fight could break out any second as accusations of cheating and the race being rigged fly through the air.

Everett doesn't listen to the vitriol and jeers as he just looks for the donkey's owners or Percy, praying they'll show up so he can just be done with this whole ordeal before he gets punched in the face. Again. 

---

[1] Static Field

On the one hand Percy gets a few side ways looks with all the dirt and apparent beatdown he received, but one mean look from the triton shuts them up. He slips back into the crowd to try and get a bead on the runners coming around the bend.

Holy mother of whatever dead god was in charge of luck, is he winning? Percy was honestly shocked, he could smell the sea salt on Everett and the man also voiced his concerns about his inexperience so he half expected the man to be out cold being dragged behind the mule. He's actually on top though....and....WINNING?!

In the chaos that erupts after the upset, Percy is quick to break through the scrum and elbow past people. He quickly makes his way through the crowd, straight up palming one man's face and shoving them out of the way as he approaches Everett.

"Let's feckin go, I'll grab the mule, yer followin me to get the coin, then we find the farmer and get out of this shite town." The triton just scoops the mule up and puts it over a shoulder. Normally it would protest, but it is still way too exhausted.

The occasional flick of a hoof does clear enough space for them to make their way to the bookee.

"All right, give the kid 'is winnins and me mine."

"Th-there needs to be an in-in-investigation into the ch-cheating, make sure it was fair."

"C'mon mate, s'no feckin rules posted so if there ain't rules to break, then it ain't cheatin then is it?"

"I guess not?" The flop sweat on this bookee rivals the horse. With shakey hands two sacks of coins are handed over to the pair after which Percy recommends booking it.

Thankfully, the pair find the man and his son sitting under a shaded tree. Having some time to sit and get water seems to have helped the father, the donkey once sat down just flops by the water bucket and begins to down it.

"We didn't see anything....how'd it go?" The father wipes his mouth and looks up at the pair.

"I promised a win didn't I? Do I look like the man to break a promise?"

"Yeah...often even." The kid pipes up.

"All right listen here ya little shite, take yer part o' the winnins and shut yer trap." After taking about half of the betting solars himself and shoving them in his pocket, the bag is tossed over.

"Th-thank you....we might save the farm with this...and be able to afford a new mule."

Percy nods as the father and son embrace to celebrate this miracle. He takes a step away to give them their moment before looking to Everett.

"Well, ye feckin held up well out there, keep that bit yerself ye earned it." Percy motioned towards the bag of winnings. Seemed the triton was oddly letting himself take the worst end of the deal, but he seemed OK with it.

Finally, Everett spots Percy approaching him and keeping some of the angrier spectators at bay. It's probably a very rare thing that someone is actually relieved to see the shark-man approaching them, but Everett has nothing but gratitude. He swings his leg over the back of the donkey and dismounts to the ground only to nearly stumble from how shaky his legs are from holding on for dear life. 

He watches as Percy just slings the mule up over his shoulder in complete awe. The mule probably weighed over 1,000 lbs given its comparable size to the average racehorse. Just how strong was this guy?

Everett decides to let Percy handle the talking since he seems to have a handle on things. What he can do to help is just stay out of the man's way and make sure none of the jealous bidders try to take a petty shot at them. 

When they get around to returning the exhausted mule to the father-son pair, Everett is pretty grateful to be away from the chaotic crowd. Somehow they pulled it off, and they hadn't seen hide or hair of the bearded dwarf who had given them grief earlier. He's happy to leave things that way. 

The kid's remark gets a laugh out of Everett, but he's quick to cover his mouth, hoping that Percy didn't hear him laughing at the shark-man's expense. He waves at the father and son as they depart with their share of the money in hand. 

He then looks at Percy as the man offers him the other bag of coin. Wait. That wasn't an equal share. Why was Percy taking the scraps? He did most of the work and all the half-elf did was hold onto a saddle for dear life. That doesn't make any sense.

He opens his mouth to argue, but then shuts it again. Would Percy be insulted if he refused? Or was this intended as some sort of olive branch? Huh. Maybe this guy was as bristly on the inside as he is on the outside. Everett takes the bag and feels the weight of it in his hand before smiling at Percy. 

"Drinks are on me, unless you'd rather not black out again."

"Buddy, I live me life between feckin blackouts." Percy may have forgotten Everett's name, but at the very least not calling him some idiotic nickname is a sign of some sort of respect. It's the closest Percy gets to being nice with most people.

"I mostly steal my liquor anyways, people piss about it, aye, but ye flash them the shark teeth and lean in at an angle to really emphasize the," He gestures to his eye bandages and scarring underneath. "Most people would rather just take the loss on a bottle o' rum."

He grins and pats Everett's shoulder and motions to lead them towards the tavern in town. Maybe tonight he wouldn't start a fight....maybe.

"S'good deal though fer me, I'm tryin to save every sorry solar I can scrounge up to get back to the feckin sea. This land shite ain't natural fer me especially."