“We did a bit of climbing yesterday,” answered Mistake, “and we have more ahead of us today. It will probably be more strenuous too. I figured if you were still sleeping that your body needed it.”
“Well I am up now,” yawned Rejji as he slowly rose to his feet. “Let’s get going.”
“You might want to get a bite to eat first,” laughed Mistake. “You will need your energy.”
Rejji walked to the edge of the cliff and stretched. He gazed out over the forests and followed the path they had taken the day before. As his eyes reached the base of Mount Kiator, he shook his head and looked again.
“Jiadin!” he shouted. “An army of them and they are coming this way. Get Bakhai. We have to get out of here.”
Bakhai had heard the shout and was already running towards Rejji. He stood on the edge next to Rejji and watched as the Jiadin army rode towards the path at the base of the mountain.
“We have to slow them down,” stated Bakhai. “With horses they will be on us before high sun.”
“Maybe not,” interjected Mistake as she looked up at the trail above them. “They may be able to ride to where we are now, but not much further. Look at the trail above us.”
The trail above the trio began to rise steeply and started to switchback for several hundred feet up. After that, it became a narrow ledge running along a sheer vertical wall until it passed out of sight.
“Start going up,” called Bakhai as he raced down the path. “I will catch up to you.”
Rejji started to ask him where he was going, but Mistake pulled his arm and proceeded up the path. They raced up the windy path as swiftly as they could scramble. Rejji turned to see if Bakhai was following and froze. He saw Bakhai running up the path towards him and hundreds of mountain goats heading down. It was a solid stream of mountain goats that took up the entire trail for many paces and all of them were on a collision course with the Jiadin army. He laughed as Bakhai caught up with him and turned to see Mistake shaking her head in wonder.
“It ought to slow them down some,” grinned Bakhai.
The trio was panting with exertion by the time they reached the end of the switchbacks. Mistake halted and looked at the trail ahead. This section of the mountain was a sheer vertical face of rock with a very narrow ledge passing along it.
“I don’t think we want to run along this,” cautioned Mistake. “In fact, if there weren’t a hundred Jiadin coming up the trail behind us, I think I might be rethinking how bad I want to get to the top of this mountain.”
“How long is it?” Rejji asked.
“No way of knowing,” frowned Mistake. “It curves around the mountain so I can’t see the end of it.”
Shouts came from below mixed with the sounds of horses and goats. The sounds appeared to echo off the walls of the mountain. The shouting increased and then they heard the scream of a man falling a long distance.
“Whatever distance we put between them and us now, is what it should remain,” suggested Rejji. “I doubt they can go any faster than we can once they get down to single file.”
“They will still have bows,” commented Mistake. “I don’t want to be dodging arrows while we try to walk this ledge. Just staying on it will be hard enough.”
“What happens when we reach the top?” queried Bakhai. “There is only one way down this mountain and they will be coming up it.”
“Let’s worry about that when we get to the top,” frowned Mistake. “If we don’t move now, we won’t have to worry about the answer.”
Mistake stepped out onto the ledge and started walking cautiously. Rejji followed her at a distance and Bakhai came last. Rejji looked down at the tiny tops of the trees below and started to waver. Bakhai caught up to him and put his hand on Rejji’s shoulder.
“Don’t look down,” warned Bakhai. “If you get dizzy, it will affect your balance. Watch Mistake and follow her.”
Mistake’s eyes were glued to the path in front of her feet. The morning sun was well above the horizon and shining into her face, but she squinted her eyes and searched for weak sections of the trail or loose debris that might cause problems. Several more screams were heard echoing off the walls, and the sounds of the pursuing army appeared to get louder, but she did not dare to turn around and look. The ledge before them looked as if it went straight to the sun itself and Mistake just kept on walking forward.
As the sun rose higher, Mistake began to see the trail far in the distance. The trail in the distance, however, did not appear to connect to the trail they were walking on. As she got closer she saw that the mountain curved inward and then back out again, like the curves of a snake as it slithers along the ground. A few more minutes of walking along the edge brought them to the bend in the path and the alcove formed by the mountain was bathed in gray shadows. She could easily see the sheer walls above and below the path they had to travel. She stepped into the shadows and marched forward.
The trio marched silently into the gloom for over an hour before they made the next bend and headed back towards the sunlight. As they looked over at the portion of the trail they already conquered, they could see the sunlight from the rising sun starting to penetrate the large alcove. They also saw the first Jiadin warriors as they turned the first bend into the alcove. They Jiadin shouted at the sight of their prey. The shouts echoed off the walls and reverberated loudly.
Mistake pressed onward as fast as she thought they could move safely. It was hard or her to keep her eyes upon the trail as the Jiadin line of soldiers poured into the alcove one by one. Some of the soldiers stopped and unstrapped their bows. A few arrows flew across the void between the trio and Jiadin soldiers, but none could reach across the distance of the alcove. Still, the closeness of the Jiadin was nerve-wracking. Mistake tried to listen to the fall of the arrows as they fell into the abyss, but either the shouts of the Jiadin were too loud, or the height of the drop was too great, because she never heard them land. Several screams of falling men were heard, but never the thump of the bodies landing.
“They are running along this ledge!” shouted Bakhai. “They do not care how many men they lose as long as they catch us. We can never hope to lose them. They will catch us.”
Mistake ignored the warning and continued at the fastest safe pace she could maintain. Occasionally, she looked across the void and saw the line of soldiers still entering the alcove. Suddenly, the rear of the line of Jiadin halted at the first bend and a tall lean man with long flowing black hair, glared across the alcove at them. Mistake caught his eyes across the distance for an instant and immediately broke contact and returned to watching the trail before her. Still the contact troubled her.
All of a sudden, the mountain trembled and Mistake halted and hugged the rock wall. More screams echoed through the alcove as some Jiadin fell to their deaths. Streams of pebbles cascaded down from above.
“What in the name of Fakara was that?” Rejji shouted.
“Whatever it was,” warned Bakhai, “the Jiadin are getting closer. We have less than an hour lead on them now. If they keep running, they will catch us sooner.”
“If they don’t fall,” answered Mistake as she let go of the wall and started moving forward again.
She glimpsed across the canyon and saw the dark Jiadin raising his hands. The mountain shuddered again and Mistake hugged the wall as the shower of pebbles rained down on them. Only one scream came from the Jiadin army this time. Mistake took the few moments she was hugging the wall to look past Bakhai at the head of the Jiadin army. The trembling of the mountain had not even stopped before those in the lead started running again. She turned and started walking. As she walked she kept her attention divided between the trail before her and the tall, dark Jiadin across the alcove. When she saw his arms rise, she shouted.
“Hug the wall!”
The trembling was much stronger this time and several screams came from the chasers. The rocks that fell were larger and more numerous also. Mistake looked at the trail before her and saw
that they were almost at the last bend and would soon be out of the alcove. She turned and pushed forward, hoping to round the bend before the next tremor hit. The dark Jiadin had other ideas as his arms went skyward again. Mistake shouted a warning to her friends and hugged the wall again. The trembling this time lasted for several minutes and at least a dozen Jiadin fell to their deaths. The fall of debris was also worse and a fist sized rock hit Mistake’s shoulder. She grit her teeth as the pain jolted through her body. Worst of all, she felt the ledge under her feet move and looked down to see a crack that had not been there before.
“The tremors are getting worse,” Rejji said. “If they get any worse we will be tossed off this mountain.”
“They are getting worse because he is getting more desperate,” responded Mistake. “We only have a little ways to go and we are out of this alcove.”
“What do you mean?” quizzed Rejji. “Who is getting desperate?”
“The Jiadin’s wizard is getting desperate,” answered Mistake. “The tall one with the long flowing black hair.”
“You mean this is magic?” asked Rejji. “They are trying to kill us with magic?”
“Unless he just happens to raise his arms before each tremor,” replied Mistake. “Let’s get out of this alcove.”
Mistake rubbed her shoulder and started walking again. She found herself staring at the Jiadin mage, waiting for his arms to go up, and forced her eyes back to the path before her. She heard loud arguing across the void and ignored it as she saw the last bend ahead of her. The sunlight flooded her body as she made the turn to head eastward again. The Jiadin mage was now directly behind her and she could not afford to turn and watch for his arms rising, so she kept her eyes glued to the ledge in front of her. Her shoulder ached and she tried to force the pain from her mind. The ledge before the trio stretched out in front of them as far as they could see, always rising. Mistake began to wonder if it went on forever.
The next tremor came without warning and was the most severe of all. The shaking threw Mistake to the ground and she felt her legs starting to slide off the edge as the mountain continued to tremble. Her fingers scrambled for some crack or crevice to cling to, but she found none. Just as she felt she was about to be dragged over the edge, she felt a hand grasp her leg.
“Try to crawl a little forward and get your thighs back on the ledge,” called Rejji.
Mistake tried to crawl forward as the shower of rocks began cascading down. The pebbles bounced off her back, but luckily none of them were very large. The trembling continued and she felt it would go on forever. She ignored the shower of rocks and inched forward as Rejji pulled her legs onto the ledge.
“Thanks,” Mistake gasped as a huge rumble rent the air.
She lifted her head and saw a giant slab of the vertical rock wall separate from the mountain. Less than two hundred paces before them, the slab slid down as if in slow motion. Tons of rock slammed into the narrow ledge and a great cloud of dust rose into the air. The ledge the trio was on bounced and bucked and they clung nervously to each other. For several moments rock cascaded down the side of the mountain. Finally, the trembling stopped and the wind caught the cloud of dust and tossed it away.
The trio remained still for a moment after the shocks subsided and eventually rose to their feet. Mistake gasped as she gazed upon the trail ahead. A large portion of the ledge had been sheered off the face of the mountain and descended into the abyss with the slab.
“That ends this journey,” she sobbed. “I am so sorry for making you bring me here. We should never have come.”
Chapter 21
Sage of the Mountain
Rejji helped Bakhai pass him on the trail and then pulled his sword.
“Go to the break in the trail,” ordered Rejji. “See if there are enough rocks there to throw at the Jiadin as they come around the bend. If we can force the Jiadin to retreat, maybe we can get out of this.”
“They aren’t going to leave,” sobbed Mistake. “That wizard does not even care how many of his own men die, as long we die.”
“I will go,” volunteered Bakhai as he stepped carefully past Mistake. “I cannot think of any better plan.”
Rejji stood nervously as he waited for the first Jiadin to round the bend.
“They won’t be here for a while,” offered Mistake. “Rest while you can. Bakhai said they were almost an hour behind us.”
Rejji nodded and sheathed his sword. “Maybe there is another break in the ledge behind us,” he offered. “Maybe they can’t even get to us.”
“Come here!” shouted Bakhai. “I found something.”
Mistake and Rejji made their way to where Bakhai stood on the edge of the broken ledge. The sheer rock wall of the mountain had been torn away revealing a small cave where the ledge used to be.
“Maybe we can hide in there and they will think we fell with the ledge,” offered Bakhai. “After they leave, we can make our way back to the bottom of the mountain.”
“That is quite a leap to get in there,” frowned Rejji, “and an awful long fall if we miss.”
“What other choice do we have?” retorted Mistake. “I don’t think throwing rocks at the Jiadin is going to prolong our lives much. Even if they suspect we are in there, they will have to make the leap to find out. They can only do that one at a time.”
“All right,” agreed Rejji. “We will need a running start to make it though. Let’s back up and give Bakhai some room.”
The trio moved back several dozen paces. Bakhai cleared loose rubble from the trail on his way back.
“Go just fast enough to help you jump,” warned Mistake. “Too fast and you will fall before you get there. Remember the screams of the Jiadin we heard.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” frowned Bakhai.
The running start required for the leap was not the only problem. To enter the hole in the wall required a leap to the left of the path and not straight-ahead. Without warning, Bakhai started running. He misjudged the end of the path and jumped slightly before he should have, still the upper half of his body entered the hole and only his legs dangled out. He swiftly pulled his legs in and rolled out of the way so the next person did not land on top of him.
Mistake went next and Rejji was amazed at her grace as she dove into the hole without even touching the sides. Rejji gave Mistake a few seconds to clear out of the way and started running. He ran right to the edge and pushed off for his dive, but the edge of the broken path crumbled under his feet. He felt himself falling as he stretched out his arms towards the hole. He saw the hole rising as his body fell lower and thought he would miss it entirely. His arms entered the hole and he tried to grab onto something as his body slammed against the rock wall. He could find no purchase inside the hole and the weight of his body started to drag his arms back out. He managed to get his left hand on the lip of the hole while the glove on his right hand snagged in a crevice. Mistake and Bakhai rushed to the entrance and each grabbed one of his arms.
Mistake leaned over the edge and looked down. There was nothing below Rejji for hundreds of feet and what she did see was a huge pile of broken rocks that used to part of the mountain.
“There is nothing that Rejji can put his feet on,” she told Bakhai. “We have to pull him in without his help.”
“All right,” nodded Bakhai. “When we start to pull, Rejji, you will have to let go.”
Rejji barely nodded and his friends started to pull him up.
“I can’t pull him up,” yelled Mistake. “His glove is stuck. Grab the lip again, Rejji.”
“He can’t grab the lip again. Cut it quickly,” Bakhai shouted. “I will try to hold him by this arm. Cut the glove and then grab whatever part of him you can.”
The knife appeared in Mistake’s hand almost before Bakhai finished speaking. She quickly shoved the knife into a finger hole and slit the fabric along his knuckles. Then she ran the knife along the top of Rejji’s hand and dropped it as the cloth separated so she could grab his
hand before he dropped away.
“I have his hand,” she yelled. “Pull!”
Bakhai and Mistake pulled in unison as they backed into the cave and soon had Rejji into the hole. Nobody moved for several minutes and the only sound was the heavy breathing of the trio. Finally, Mistake sat up and looked at Rejji’s hand.
“It is not bad,” she said. “I was afraid I would slice deep into your hand, but it is only a couple of scratches.
“I thought I was done for,” groaned Rejji. “My body aches all over. Sorry about your knife, Mistake.”
“I have others,” she responded. “Your glove will give us away though. I don’t think they will miss seeing it there.”
“They also won’t be able to get in here now that Rejji crumbled more of the path,” stated Bakhai.
“We won’t be able to get back out either,” added Rejji.
The trio sat in silence for a while as each of them reflected on their predicament until they heard the sound of another Jiadin scream.
“We had better get ready for them,” Rejji sighed. “They may use that wizard to find a way in here. Search the cave for anything we can use to throw at them.”
“Wish we had a torch,” muttered Bakhai as he moved deeper into the dark portion of the cave.
“I don’t feel anything larger than a pebble in here,” complained Mistake. “We have a sword and four knives left. That is about it.”
“Hey,” called Bakhai from the darkness. “I found a tunnel back here and I can feel air flowing. It might be a way out.”
Rejji and Mistake hurried towards the sound of Bakhai’s voice. Mistake kept going past Bakhai and started crawling down the tunnel. Rejji and Bakhai followed. The tunnel was barely large enough to crawl through, but there was an airflow, which lifted their spirits. After a while the tunnel grew larger and they were able to stoop at first and then stand.
Eventually, the tunnel widened and they saw the soft glow of light piercing the darkness ahead. The air also picked up a foul scent, but nobody seemed to mind. The tunnel made a gradual bend and as it did, Mistake halted and backed up.
Web of Deceit Page 25