Again, she frowned as she considered. Her lips were full from the exertion of our hike and moist from the perspiration running down her face. Her thin shirt was drenched with sweat and I could see the shape of her stomach muscles and the outline of her breasts beneath the light brown fabric. I recalled our conversation a few nights ago and decided that spending the night up here might be a better idea. That way there would be no one to interrupt us.
I think she noticed me admiring her body. Her cheeks flushed and her frown turned into a playful smirk.
"Okay. One more hour, then we go back. Yes?" I nodded before I set off through the jungle, long sword drawn and hacking through the thick dripping foliage. The excursion would dull the blade quickly, but it would have taken me forever to rip a path for us with my bare hands.
The inside of the jungle smelled heavily of life; the wind couldn't penetrate the thick blanket of vines, trees, and mud. As I cut through the branches, small animals scurried out of our way and disappeared into the surrounding foliage. I hadn't seen creatures larger than my hand since we began the journey, but I guessed larger fauna lived deeper in the jungle from the far off trampling noises I heard.
After an hour of cutting, we made it out of the foliage and into another clear area that ran for the next eight hundred yards. I knew we were running short on time, but that was Nadea's prerogative. I didn't want our companions to worry, but spending the night alone with her was what I preferred. The canyon switchbacks to the north seemed to straighten out, and I figured that we were close to the guard post. We skirted the edge and worked our way as close to the next jungle patch as possible before crawling to the edge.
We had passed the guard post by a few hundred yards. It was made of large logs and stood two stories high. There were fifteen alert guards milling around the timber gates, and about twenty travelers with wagons waiting in line to enter. I glanced to my right and saw the road continue on for another eight hundred yards before it turned into another set of steep switchbacks. This part of the canyon was two hundred feet above the guard post, so it would be much easier to descend.
I crawled back from the ledge and stood up over by the tree line. Nadea looked back and forth a few more times and then joined me.
"Maybe we can climb down over there," I said, as I pointed down the road toward Brilla. She nodded.
"I just worry about Jessmei making that climb."
"It will be okay," I said and smiled at her. If we attached the rope at the top it would be easy enough to pull them up the sheer face.
"Good idea," she said as she pointed at me and then at my head. “Let’s go back.” I smiled to indicate my assent, though I was disappointed that we would make it back on time.
We checked the entrance to the canyon on our way back and saw that the number of soldiers had increased. There were almost two hundred of them now, pacing in neatly packed lines. They must have known this would have been our only way out.
"We should climb up tonight," I said to Nadea. I wanted to explain why, but I didn't know the words. She nodded and we jogged back to the spot where I had left the rope. The sun would set in another hour, and this climb would be tough to pull off at night. How important was Jessmei? I hadn't understood royalty or what a king was from Paug's explanation. I was trying to compare it to what I knew of the Elven culture, which was coming back to me in spotty pieces of fog. I assumed that it was similar to a chieftain and his or her offspring. But the amount of guards here made me think that she was significantly more valuable than I had guessed.
Nadea quickly set up two of her larger pitons in the rocks, hammering them in with practiced ease and running the rope through them. Then she tied the rope off to a nearby tree and tested the line by yanking on it. It didn't budge.
"Try," she said, as she handed me the rope. I tensed my body and tugged. The tree bent slightly under the weight but did not snap. I walked toward the edge and prepared to go down first while she inspected the lighter rope she had tied us to on our way up the cliff. With a quick motion she untied it from the top and lashed it around her waist. Then she nodded at me and I went off the cliff.
My hands burned against the rope as I used my feet to push off the edge and release my grip. I slid down twenty feet before I tightened my hands again. Next time, I controlled my release and went down with more precision. It seemed that Nadea had done this before, since she was right above me, easily keeping pace. The rope she tied around her waist slipped through the loops attached to the face of the cliff and made a soft sound while she descended.
Suddenly, the taut rope above us slackened. I looked in horror as the top of our tether, which should have been tied to the tree, came loose and began to slip.
It happened in slow motion. Nadea's body fell away from the wall of the cliff a split second before mine. I reached out with my right hand and made a grab toward the line. I missed and started to fall, while she let out a surprised gasp.
Another jut of rock came out ten feet below us and I tried to grab onto the edge. This time my right hand connected and my fingers dug into the soft rock. My other arm snaked out and made a grab for Nadea's body. Our hands and arms slipped around each other and made a snapping connection. I grunted in pain as the full weight of her fall impacted my left hand, traveled through my arms and shoulders, and into my right hand. My whole body numbed for a second, and I realized I was about to lose my grip. Luckily, the feeling came back almost instantly and I held on to the rock my hand grasped.
Nadea hung three hundred feet off the ground, her right arm extended as my hand gripped hers. I thought she would be terrified, but her face wore an intense mask of determination. The rope made a soft scraping motion as it continued its fall past us, but neither of us could make a move to grab it.
I looked up to the top of the cliff, wondering if someone had cut our rope. No one looked over the edge to see if their work had been successful. I guessed that an animal might have chewed it off, because if the tree had been uprooted, the slack would have been more gradual in nature.
"Kaiyer," Nadea called out below me to get my attention from the top of the cliff. I looked down at her, dangling like a fish at the end of my arm. "Swing me over there," she pointed with her other arm toward the hooks on the cliff face. I slowly moved my arm back and forth. It was easier to hold her now after the first impact. After a few swings, she reached across and grabbed the rope that ran from the ground, up through the loops and hooks to the top, and back down to her waist. She muttered quick, angry words that I guessed were curses that Paug had not taught me yet. She shook her head in frustration and began to untie the line from her belt.
I lost track of time. I tried to see any movement on top of the canyon, until Nadea called me. I looked through the rocks and foliage to see her moving down the line quickly. She had tied off the top part to another hook so it was stable. I pulled myself up on the ledge and waited for her to get down to the jungle floor. Within minutes she was there and waving up at me.
With a quick glance back to the top, I leaped down to the rope, caught it, and made my way down its length. A few rocks were disturbed by my quick descent, and they tumbled down with a painfully loud crescendo. I hoped that Nadea had moved out of the way.
“The rope was cut,” she said with concern as she handed it to me. It did look like a single blade had cleaved it cleanly. “Let’s go back to camp.” I nodded and followed her into the thick jungle as the sun set behind the cliffs and the coolness of the night crept upon us.
Chapter 7-Paug
“And then I called out: ‘HOLD THE LINE LADDIES!’ as the Vanlourns hit us. Within ten minutes we won the battle. We lost a few brave men, but their entire brigade was crushed! Even with my great intellect, I couldn't count how many of the greasy bastards I killed. Perhaps eighteen of them, of course, I was a much younger lad then, a few year’s junior to our studious Paug here. I can easily slay a score or so of them at my current state of experience and physical fitness.” Greykin finished, with a l
ong guzzle from his coveted wine skin. We had drunk from it a scarce few times during the trip. Greykin passed the skin back to Iarin.
"Twenty is a large number Greykin. I also have problems counting that high and would need to call upon the aid of my toes," Iarin said with a deadpan face before taking a sip from the skin. His mouth contorted and I imagined the big man had put something stronger than wine in there.
"A hero's greatness cannot be measured in numbered feats lad." Greykin didn't seem to understand Iarin's sarcasm. The bowman's face turned into a smirk as he tried to hold back laughter.
A very stressful dusk descended around us and Greykin helped pass the time with some stories that may or may not have been true. Jessmei tried to look interested while she nibbled on a piece of bread, but I imagined that she had heard all of these accounts already. The tales were new to us, so Iarin and I were fascinated. Without warning, Nadea and Kaiyer bounded into the small clearing as Greykin took a deep breath, ready to begin his next tale.
“We need to leave as soon as possible,” Nadea said through ragged breaths. Kaiyer went over to his horse and began to unpack it. He glanced at me and smiled with excitement.
“There are two hundred guards at the entrance to the canyon now. Come morning they are going to be combing the jungle. We don’t have a choice. We need to leave the horses and climb up the side of the cliff.” Nadea turned to Greykin, ready for him to argue. He got up, nodded, and went over to begin rearranging his packs off his horse.
“How am I going to climb up that cliff face?” Jessmei asked. She didn’t bother preparing her bags. Greykin would do it for her.
“I will carry,” Kaiyer said as he pulled a pack on to his shoulders. He patted the muzzle of his horse and began to chant soft words to him.
“How are you going to carry her and your gear?” Greykin shot over his shoulder.
“I climb up. Make rope. Climb down. Carry Jessmei,” he said with confidence.
“You can’t. The rope was cut at the top. There is someone waiting for us,” Nadea said. She had already transitioned her gear from her horse to her shoulders.
“Wait. Wait. I don’t understand. What rope was cut from the top?” Iarin asked over his shoulder while he frantically rummaged through his belongings. The horses had been carrying a lot of our gear. It would be tough to decide what to leave and what to carry. I had my bag of books, along with another bag that contained small pots, my tent, and a few sets of clothes. The vision of dragging it all up the side of the cliff made me shiver in a cold sweat.
“We tied a rope to a tree at the top. Halfway down someone severed it cleanly. Whoever cut it did it from the top with a knife or sword,” Nadea said.
“And this person still might be up there waiting for us?” Jessmei voiced what we had all feared.
"This sounds like a great idea," Iarin said sarcastically. "How about I go up last?"
“No. I’ll go up. Kill someone. Tie rope. Come down, get Jessmei, and climb up,” Kaiyer spoke as he helped me put on my bag. It must have weighed half as much as I did.
“I’ll carry the girl. It’s my duty. My axe weighs more than her,” Greykin said as he tugged on the straps to his pack. “Is everyone ready?” Kaiyer shrugged.
I looked around the camp. The horses were untied and unsaddled. Part of the soup I had prepared for dinner was still simmering, waiting for Nadea and Kaiyer to come back and claim it. Packs filled with horse feed, extra tents, and cookware lay discarded around the campfire like abandoned trash. Kaiyer disappeared into the jungle before I replied that I was ready. The rest of us looked at each other for a few precious seconds before following him.
We had been through a lot already. I thought bringing the O'Baarni back to life was going to be the toughest part of this adventure. I didn’t consider that our problems would get worse after we woke him.
We should have expected the trip home would be more challenging than the journey down to Vanlourn. Actually, I hadn’t even known what to expect. None of us did. I had pictured him sitting up, offering his help, and then leading us against the Ancients, just like the legends told us he had done so many lifetimes ago.
I imagined he would be different, more powerful, less confused, like a God with all the answers. Did Nadea’s father think the same? How about the king? I doubted it. I was just a stupid boy. The only reason Nadea invited me was because I could speak the language, and it turned out that I was poor at even that task.
Now it looked like we would all die, either falling from the face of the massive cliff, our screams filling this hot, sticky night with life, or captured by the soldiers of Vanlourn. At least they wouldn’t rape or hurt the women. Jessmei was the princess and Nadea the duke’s daughter. If Vanlourn captured them alive, they would be significant political clout against Nia. But we would be tortured and murdered.
I thought of my home next to the lighthouse on the bluffs overlooking the sea, gulls flapping in the wind and cawing their horrible song. The picture was beautiful in my memory. I should have never come here.
I taught the little ones every morning for a few hours before they went back to their homes in the nearby village of Desai. Grandpa would tell me what I had done well during the lectures. Later in the evening adults from the village would come, eager to learn how to read, write, and do math. Grandfather taught them, but I listened and learned as well.
A sinewy green vine smacked me in the face, stinging my eyes with the wet, verdant chlorophyll scent and bringing me back to the task of throwing myself off of the cliff or getting captured by an enemy nation’s army. I wiped the tears from my eyes and hoped that no one else noticed them. Among these warriors I was already the weakling, I didn’t need them seeing another testament to my vulnerability. Grandfather told me that crying never solved anything. But I knew that he cried sometimes when he didn’t realize I was able to hear him. He missed my mother and grandmother. So did I, though sometimes I felt I only missed the idea of them, a warm, yet strong protective feminine presence. My real memories of them were dreamlike and difficult to grasp.
I tripped and Iarin grabbed my arm with an iron hold. I hadn’t realized he was behind me.
“It will be okay Paug. The Spirits of the Forest protect us.” I looked at him through the dusk light. It was the time of the evening where the orange light filtered down from the sky and made it difficult to notice details of close objects. The features of his strong, angular face were obscured and softened, his eyes looked kind, not pitying or condescending. I realized that despite his reassuring words, he too had doubts and fears about our mission, and I actually felt better about my own trepidation knowing even this confident warrior felt fear. I wondered how dark it would get tonight, and if we would be able to move through the jungle with the moons out.
“The Spirits of the Forest? I didn't know the forest had spirits.”
“Ha! I’ll tell you all about them when we get to the top.” He stopped and I realized we had reached the rock wall. I almost couldn't see Kaiyer; he was already beginning to scale the face. The man moved up the jagged facade like a spider, smooth and graceful, not even stopping to look for holds, pulling himself up with ease. I was clumsier climbing the ladder up the lighthouse.
“There is also a rope here.” Nadea pointed off to the side, where she had hammered the spikes into the wall and ran the rope through them. “We’ll each go up the main rope that Kaiyer ties to the top. We’ll use a smaller piece of rope,” she showed one with a weird looking loop tied to the end, “to anchor into this line over here, it almost goes to the top. You’ll have to unlatch it like this.” She demonstrated that one side of the loop was made like a door and could be opened if you pushed on it. “And take it off the line that is under each piton and attach it to the line that is above it. Understand?” We all nodded.
"That was fast," she said when the thick rope that Kaiyer pulled up leapt next to us. Nadea grabbed it and tugged a few times.
“Paug, you first, Iarin behind him, help Paug wi
th his line.” Nadea handed us each ropes with the metal circles on them. “Those are the only two I have, so send them down when you get to the top.”
The lump in my stomach gave birth to one in my throat. My hands grew cold and my body seized. Iarin touched my shoulder and walked, no, practically dragged me over to the rope. He tied the safety hook on my belt and clamped it into the line on the wall.
“This is going to be easy. Use your legs like you are walking. I’ll care for your safety line. Take as long as you need. There are outcrops you can rest on top of,” he whispered to me. I nodded as my hands wrapped around the rough, fibrous rope. Even my hands were soft and weak, I thought bitterly, wishing I had been more physically active to train and prepare myself for this mission.
The first fifty feet were as awkward as I feared. I kept losing my balance and sliding against the wall on my right side, sending showers of pebbles and dust down to signal my ineptitude. Each mishap stretched my body and mind to their breaking point, as I forced myself to keep from crying out in fear. After each blunder, I stayed still for a few moments until the night wind blew cool against my back, calming yet terrifying as it reminded me that I still needed to ascend farther. I was glad that twilight had descended and I couldn’t see the ground beneath me. When I tried to look down I just saw a dusk-lit Iarin and then endless darkness.
I couldn’t stop shaking, my hands were wet with sweat and blood, and my forearms burned, my muscles were so unused to this much activity. The pack on my back weighed so much that I wondered if Iarin was hanging on it and trying to drag me down in jest. I wished he would have carried it, but his pack looked three times the size of mine and I knew that I wasn’t really carrying my fair share.
My slick hands slipped and I gasped in horror. Iarin grunted and his hand pushed up on my pack. I took a deep breath and continued on. It felt like we had been doing this forever.
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