by Jeff Schanz
She hissed a loud, “Shhh!” with a finger to her lips. Her eyes shifted side to side in an attempt at hammy acting. “Spies will hear you.”
Brandt chuckled. “Can your enemies turn themselves into seagulls?”
“Perhaps giant, ugly ones.”
“Well, I see ugly ones, but I don’t see giant ones. So I think you’re safe for now.”
She waved her hand and shrugged.
Brandt remembered the path they took and began to climb down one level to a ledge that they had previously walked across for about ten feet. It looked like there was another direction that the ledge could go and Brandt wanted to see if he could glimpse the other side of the island from there. As long as he had been on the island, he had yet to see over half of it. He carefully worked his way along the narrow ledge and got to the backside of the peak. There was a large rock obstruction that was in the way of further progress, so Brandt had no other choice but to turn around. He went back to where they had pushed up onto Lia’s perch and Brandt edged past it in the other direction. Below him were two things: A sheer drop-off that looked deadly and a craggy system of rocks that looked like it was almost a staircase. It led down to a smaller path below that had a few interesting plants. He wasn’t sure he would recognize if they were useful plants, but he thought if he brought a piece back, Lia might know what they were with her vast book knowledge.
He worked his way down, cautious with each foot placement, hoping the rocks were as solid as they looked.
“Be careful,” called Lia.
“That’s the plan,” said Brandt.
He slipped down once, not far, then found decent footing to go the rest of the way. He didn’t think it would be easy to get back up, but he was sure he could do it if he just didn’t look down. He found stable ground on the little path and walked over to one of the flowering plants. It had little yellow flowers and slender leaves.
“Do you know what this plant is?” he called up to her.
Lia was about fifteen feet above him, and when she leaned over, he could see her face clearly. “I’m not sure,” she said. “Why?”
“I wonder if it has any medicinal or scientific value to your experiments.”
“I don’t think so. But since you’re already there, please cut off a piece and bring it with you when you come back up.”
Nodding, he removed his knife and snipped off a small branch that had a few leaves and a couple of flowers, then tucked it into his backpack.
Lia leaned over again and waved the shiny MRE package. “This is quite interesting. Really,” she said.
“We need to work on your taste, my dear,” said Brandt.
She grinned and smacked her lips playfully, acting like the MRE was especially delicious.
Brandt was about to remark when his heart missed a beat. Three of the seagulls had left their perch and were diving toward Lia. Two of them snapped at each other, and one escaped the melee and swiped at the MRE in Lia's hand. She ducked just in time and gave a half-hearted swat at the gull. The two other squabbling gulls ended their feud and also took a swipe at the alluring MRE package. One gull was successful, while the others followed it attempting to steal the prize. As they passed by, one of them dislodged Lia's wide-brimmed hat.
The wind on the peak was not high, but there were little gusts that tugged at Brandt’s shirt. One of those gusts sailed Lia’s hat up and out over the ledge. The hat’s momentum was arrested by one of the overhanging bush’s limbs, and the hat nestled into a tangle of leaves and twigs.
The gulls had only wanted the MRE package, and when Lia stood up, none of the other birds paid her any attention. The hat dangled precariously over the ledge. Should it fall, it would descend down a sheer rock face that led into a crevasse which didn’t have a good way in or out to rescue it. Possible perhaps, but not easy.
Lia shuffled her feet and got closer to the ledge.
“Oh sweetie, don’t do that,” said Brandt.
She gave him a frown. “I won’t have a way to get back to the house without exposing my face.”
I know, but… “You can – use my shirt to hold over your head.”
She shook her head. “I made that hat. It’s my favorite one.”
She inched closer and held onto one of the thicker branches above. It creaked but seemed to hold her weight. Plus, she was lighter than a normal human, so maybe the branch would be strong enough. She stretched forward and pinched her fingers on the hat brim. It jiggled, but it escaped her grasp. Stretching a touch more, she closed her fingers on the hat and pulled it back toward her.
“There!” she said in triumph.
The branch snapped. Lia lurched forward. She was airborne instantly. Still close to the edge, she spun around with agile quickness and struck out a hand to grasp the ledge. The hand clutched dirt and unfortunately nothing solid.
She fell. The slope descended more than forty feet. There were bushes and some jagged-edged rocks that stuck out from the cliff edge. Because she had thrown herself toward the ledge while in the air, she was close to the cliff face. Bushes tore at her dress. The rocks bit into her flesh. She tumbled and landed on her back on a pile of rocks below.
“Lia!” shouted Brandt. Oh, God!
She coughed once, expelling blood from her mouth. Then she lay still.
CHAPTER 20
Brandt held his breath, wishing he could give it to Lia. She wasn’t moving. Her body lay crumpled across the rock, legs bent, but not at angles that looked obviously broken. Blood pooled and ran down the sides of her right leg. The fall down the cliff had torn her clothes, splitting and shredding her skirt, leaving one of her legs completely exposed and the other halfway exposed. Her sweater has ripped at the shoulder, peeled down to her abdomen, with the sleeve torn away. None of that would matter if she didn’t breathe, and he hadn’t seen her chest move yet. Just the one cough when she had settled.
Come on, breathe!
She coughed again, forcing a blob of mucus and blood to bubble over the corner of her mouth.
Then her foot moved and her head wobbled. Her chest swelled, then shrunk, then rose and fell again.
Brandt released a massive exhale of his own. He still assumed the worst, but maybe there was hope. I’ll take it. She’s alive right now. He was going to keep it that way. But how?
Think! The drop was possibly forty feet and virtually sheer. There was no way to free climb down there, and if he jumped, he’d break his own legs. Brandt looked up and gauged the sun. It was still behind the mountain, but it would sneak around the side soon. Maybe in a half-hour? Then it would be bearing down on Lia’s exposed skin. If she didn’t die before then, and before he could get to her. How? How, how?
He briefly considered jumping and trying to grab one of the bushes that clung to the cliffside. It might slow his fall. But he’d probably still break both legs, plus other things, and then how would he be of help?
“Lia?” he called. No response.
He paced back and forth before it hit him: there was rope in his backpack. You idiot! He yanked the pack to the front, pulled the rope out, and looked around. Where the heck was he going to tie it? He could throw it like Indiana Jones and have it loop around one of the little bushes on the cliff face, but that wouldn’t hold his weight. And he didn’t have the grappling hook. He’d have to be next to a bush to tie it and he couldn’t reach the ones on the cliff. The only thing that might work was the bush that Lia had broken. Its trunk might be strong enough.
He scrambled back up the craggy rock formation and threw himself over the ledge back onto Lion King Rock. He glanced down again at Lia. Her head lolled as she lay on the rock and her legs were completely covered in blood. If she didn’t die from internal injuries, she’d die from loss of blood, or sun exposure when it got around the mountain. He needed to get down there yesterday.
“Lia! Hang on, I’m coming!”
The rope was looped into the overhanging bush and pushed through the m
aze of root stalks, giving the rope more than one stalk to spread the pressure. It was tied in a slipknot and he tossed out the slack end over the edge of the cliff. He should take a moment to gauge the strength of the bush or the length of the rope, but he didn't think he had a second to spare. His life had offered to the gods before, and neither Heaven nor Hell would have him, so it would be a cruel joke now if they decided to accept his death jumping down a cliff to save a vampyre.
He leaped.
The bush creaked and groaned against his weight, but it held. It jerked him hard in the air and the rope slipped in his hand, but he gripped tenaciously and held on. He swung to the cliff face and slipped a toe into the tangle of a slender shrub that had torn Lia's dress earlier. Carefully lifting a hand, he placed it lower on the rope and walked down a length. It took too long. There was about twenty feet to go. He risked a letup in his grip and slid very suddenly down. The rope burned his hands as he re-clutched it, and he assumed some flesh might have come off, but it didn't matter. He had fallen about seven more feet. There was an area below him that had a flatter surface if he could just swing a little left, he could drop onto it. He swung and let go.
His ankles crumpled when he landed heavily on the hard ground. The ankles were already tender from the explosion a week ago, and the landing brought back the problem in white-hot pain.
“God – damn it!” he spat.
But he was on solid ground. And Lia was only eight feet away.
He limped over the boulders and bent over her. She was still breathing, but blood was oozing from the side of her mouth.
“No, no, no, Lia. You are not dying on my watch. You hang on and I will get you home.” How? I don't know, but I will get you there.
He looked up at the rocks and sediment that acted like walls around him. Nothing was a remotely easy climb and would be even less so holding a limp woman in his arms. But Lia was lighter than a regular person, so... Maybe – maybe.
He looked at the sky. The sun was peering around the edge. Its rays were warming his face, and once he stood up carrying Lia, the sun would burn her to death.
Brandt kicked into the sediment dirt with a stiff toe. The hard dirt crumbled slightly, but held his weight, and he pushed up a little higher. Lia was heaved over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry with his arms bracing her. He had checked her ribs earlier and they didn’t seem broken, so he risked putting her on his shoulders.
Brandt was nearly naked, except for his boxers, socks, shoes and a backpack. His t-shirt was covering Lia’s torso, and his khaki pants were covering Lia’s legs, cinched by his belt tied in a knot (Lia’s waist was considerably smaller than his). The belt still had his pistol and knife hanging off it, but he had no time to rearrange his weaponry. Lia’s wide-brimmed hat covered Brandt’s head, which blocked some of the sun from her, as well, as she lay across his shoulders. Her hair fell limply down, its mass would block the sun only partially when he moved into the sun’s path. There was no way to shield her completely. He had to make it up the severe slope, a nearly impossible task, but there was no other way around. And his rope was tied forty feet above him, and on the wrong side.
Brandt pressed another shoe tip into the hard slope and pushed himself up. He slid down. The foothold crumbled away. Shit. He remained calm and tried the same path a little further to the left. The sun was fully above them. Lia’s skin felt warmer.
Come on, come on.
Lia moaned something. That was a good sign. It sounded like it might have been his name.
“Hang on,” he said soothingly. “We’re moving as fast as I can go.”
Brandt put every ounce of strength he had into digging his foot into the dirt. He pushed up. The foot stayed solid. He dug the other toe in a little higher. That held. Grunting, he slammed another foot higher. Lia was lighter than a normal human, though not exactly a feather, and he was trying to ascend a more than forty-five-degree grade. It felt like ninety, but it was probably closer to sixty. He had risen four feet. Six feet to go. And that final six was steeper. Using at least one hand would be necessary. Damn. He balanced Lia on his left shoulder, hoping she didn’t try to move, then curled his left arm around her and put his right hand out and gripped the dirt. The compressed dirt barely gave him any purchase. It felt like he was trying to squeeze concrete between his fingernails. He stretched upward.
The final six feet were excruciating. Half a dozen times he slipped, each time having gained a few feet higher, which gave him hope until he ultimately slid back down almost to where he started. He moved a few inches to the side hoping the surface held on his next attempt. His fingers were raw and bloody after several minutes of determination, and he made it over the rise. The core strength he thought he had was being put to an extreme test, and all his muscles were on fire with acid accumulation, but that was the least of his problems. Lia needed shade or shelter immediately. Brandt pushed himself over the top of the slope and looked around. His heart sank.
Nothing but jagged rocks and scrub brush on a harsh downward slope between him and the house. There were no trees or tall things that could offer adequate shade, and nothing was easily traversable. They had taken a much different path up, for obvious reasons. This terrain was simply not a reasonable climb, with pointed upright rocks, tangled low brush, treacherous fissures, and steep slopes. The house was a long way away, even though he could see it clearly. There was just no way to get through that obstacle course of stone, brush, and crevices fast enough that Lia wouldn’t die while she was on his shoulders.
Brandt looked up at the sky. “You son of a bitch!” he yelled at God. “You won’t take me, but you’re gonna take her?! What did she do to you!?”
God didn’t answer. Brandt flipped him the finger.
He readjusted his hands around Lia and she moaned as he stood. Something smelled like it was burning, and unfortunately he knew that smell. His sore ankles screamed at him as he pushed himself forward, climbing one boulder, sliding down another, and lifting Lia over a tandem of bushes. That process was repeated, again and again, ducking and turning as often as possible to keep Lia’s face and partially exposed skin away from the sun, feeling like he was traversing Everest, and yet he was still not much closer to the house. He fell to his knees. His energy was sapped, and Lia’s situation was getting dire. They were still a half-mile away from home, the smell of burning flesh was stronger, and he could see smoke. He lifted Lia one more time, mounted another boulder, descended it, then dropped again to his knees. Even if he had all his energy, he wasn’t going to make it home before she burned to death.
Lia was laid upon the flattest surface he could find and he stretched himself on top of her, holding himself up by his elbows. The exposed areas of her skin were turning red with a few raised bubbles. He shifted his head a little so that all the sun was being blocked by him. Lia’s leg was bleeding again through the pants he had given her. Though he had cleaned the deep cut with his bottle of water before he covered it up, the wound had opened wider. Even if the sun could be blocked forever by his body, she would still lose too much blood.
Something impulsive occurred to him, which he had no illusions would work, but it was at least something left he hadn’t tried, he yelled, “Viktor!” Filling his lungs, he yelled louder. “Viktor! Help us!”
Brandt panted as he held himself above Lia, shaking his head from his pointless shout to wind. Viktor would be in the basement, resting far away from the deadly sun. Even if he could hear the plea, what could he do? If he projected himself out, he would burn to death the same as Lia. Yes, Viktor would probably sacrifice himself for his daughter, but Brandt wasn’t sure he had the right to ask. It probably wouldn’t matter. Viktor wasn’t going to come. He wouldn’t have heard anything behind the stone walls of the house, the stone walls of the basement, and the thick wood of the coffin, not to mention the distance. It was a fruitless thought. Brandt was all Lia had. And that wasn’t going to be enough, because even if he could stay where he was an
d protect her against the sun until nightfall, she would either die of internal injuries or blood loss.
Blood loss. That gave Brandt an idea. Lia would hate him for it, but she’d have to be alive to hate him. He could accept that.
He reached behind him, twisted painfully to dig into his backpack, and found what he was looking for: The bottle of water and the other MRE. His teeth pulled the water bottle’s cap until it tore open, while his other arm kept him balanced above Lia. He glugged the water upside down, which was uncomfortable, but so what? The MRE package was then ripped open with his teeth. He didn't care what flavor it was this time and sucked at the package's contents. Spaghetti? Something Italian. “Saved by Spaghetti,” would be his story if this worked. If it didn’t, there was a possibility of two deaths. The meal went down with a hard swallow and he let the package fall to the ground. That would have to do.
He took his now freed hand and patted Lia’s face. “Lia? Lia? You need to wake up. Lia?”
She groaned and made a raspy sound.
“Natalia Viktorovna Zakharyina, I need you to wake up.”
She groaned again and this time clearly said his name. He patted her face harder. “Wake up! You need to wake up, right now!”
Lia’s eyes fluttered. “Wha – wha – ss – aaa…”
“What’s going on is that you’re dying. You’re losing blood and burning in the sun, and you are not going to make it home unless you help me keep you alive. You got me?”
Lia swallowed something, maybe a wad of blood, and tried to nod.
“Good,” he said. “I can get you back, but it will take too long, and you are going to need blood energy to heal. Maybe if you have enough it will hold off the injuries until we can get you into the house. Follow me?”
She pinched her brows in either pain or confusion. Maybe both.
Brandt said, “You are going to stay alive and you will need blood to do it, and you need it now. And there isn’t any around except for me. So I’m going to ask you to do something against your code, but you’re going to do it anyway. Understand?”