by C. Gold
“Don’t go.”
Amira’s eyes grew watery. She had to blink several times and suck in a gulp of air to recover her composure. He doesn’t expect to return.
“You know I have to. I need to make sure everyone is safe.” He lifted her up and handed her back to Radcliff. “You stay with Radcliff now. He’ll look after you.” When he looked at Radcliff, the wizard nodded without hesitation. In a surprising move, Maleko clasped Radcliff’s arm, warrior style. “I was wrong about you. You are worthy to be a warrior.”
Amira stood there unsure whether to laugh or cry. Poor Radcliff didn’t know the significance of what just happened.
Maleko reached out and clasped her arm as well. “Adopted sister, safe journey.”
She had to swallow a couple times to soften the sudden ball in her throat before she could speak. “Fight well and come back safe.” The sad look in his eyes spoke more than words.
The warrior turned and put his arm on Ekewaka. “You’ve done your duty old man,” he said with clear affection. “It’s time to let the warriors do theirs.”
“As elder I’m responsible for everyone. I will be the last to leave.”
“You forget. We are now at war. That makes me in charge. I need you to lead our people to safety.” He waited until the elder nodded his reluctant agreement before saying a final goodbye to the group.
“Papa! I love you.”
“I love you too, Nalani. You be good.” He gave her an affectionate kiss on the forehead, then ran off to join his warriors.
Ekewaka looked like a kicked puppy but he didn’t follow.
Amira had to dry her eyes. It was time to get back to work. “Well, I better get these people climbing. Radcliff, I would like you to go up first and help me.”
“I’ll stay here and organize things.” The fierce look on Ekewaka’s face said ‘don’t push me on this’.
She didn’t want any part of that particular battle, but thought of something he could do. “Actually, could you help translate what I’m saying? I don’t think everyone speaks Common do they?”
“Of course. I’d be delighted.”
Amira patted herself on the back for getting that excited gleam back in his eyes. Plus, it was yet another thing she hadn’t thought of. What else am I going to forget?
She ignored the leery faces and launched right into a discussion about ropes, safety, and how to climb. While the Shae looked grim, a few perhaps fearful, all had that gritty determination she admired. Encouraged, Amira put the safety ropes on the first three people in line. “Radcliff, do you think you could go up first?”
“Sure. Nalani, hang on tight.” Before she could grab a spare rope, Radcliff launched himself up the zig zag rod ladder. For someone so clumsy at combat, Amira was shocked at how agile he was going up, almost like a Westspire native. She should have known better. That man had so many surprises up his sleeve and he didn’t even realize it. “Great, I forgot to tell him how to handle the guide rope up top. It’ll take two people anyway.” She looked around for a potential volunteer.
Ekewaka tapped her arm. “You go up. I’ve studied your knots and can take over here.”
“Are you sure?” She was reluctant to leave the people here without her expertise, but the top guide rope was a straight pull and required two people at a bare minimum.
“When I was a young man, I went on a spirit journey. I traveled throughout much of the empire though it wasn’t united back then. I spent a year in your mountains and learned a few basics.”
“You could have told me.”
He grinned while tying a rope around a young woman with a baby strapped to her back. “It was more fun to surprise you.”
Amira grinned back. “Well, in that case, I’ll be up top. Keep them moving and only one person along each guide rope.” With one last look around, she scrambled up the wall until she reached the shelf where Kaholo was waiting. At least he was standing closer to the edge and had lost that pasty, ‘lose my lunch any second’ look.
“You ok?”
“Just fine.”
“The first wave is coming, so be ready.” She resumed her climb.
Once at the top she looked down to check on the rest. The first person had reached the shelf and Kaholo was hooking her up to the next guide rope. It wouldn’t be much longer before the top guide rope would be needed. She looked at the outcropping of rock where she attached the longest rope she had. Nalani was balled up against it next to Radcliff who looked at a loss for once. She wouldn’t know what to say to a kid who was probably about to lose her father either. Well, perhaps being involved in the upcoming operation would distract her.
“I need you two to help me anchor this rope,” Amira said while giving it a final inspection. Nalani was unresponsive but Radcliff climbed to his feet. She showed him how to position the rope around his body and loop it under his foot to help keep it from slipping. After doing a few practice runs, she took the end and formed a body sized loop before lowering it over the edge. That way, a climber could put their arms through the loop and have a safety rope for the remainder of the climb.
Amira cheered when she pulled the first person over the edge. Her idea was working! After the fourth success, she breathed easier and was chatting with the latest arrival, a scout not much older than Kaholo and his baby sister, when she heard a scream. Running back over to the edge, she could only watch helplessly as a woman dangled from the topmost guide rope. A man had his arm out to grab her but she kept swinging away before he could get a good grip. Amira held her breath until he finally caught a foot and was able to haul her back to the rod just above him. The woman looked ok but shaken and wasn’t in a hurry to resume climbing.
Amira called for a quick rest break and walked over to where her pack was stashed. Somehow the staff was laying over it instead of lying next to it. Perhaps it got knocked over. Shrugging, she went to move it aside but at the contact…
Her vision zooms out until the canyon’s river is a shining ribbon in the afternoon sun. To the north, abominations stream into the canyon. To the east, the land is completely blackened. Like a bird, she soars that way and flies over another pack of mutations rapidly heading their way. Banking, she sheds height for speed as she returns to the canyon, so low now she nearly grazes the heads of the warriors. Just past them, she lands on a rocky perch and watches.
The abominations already in the canyon engage the waiting Shae. Maleko is in the lead with two others. He thrusts and spears a three legged, two handed beast right through a dog-like mouth filled with far too many teeth. The man on the right takes care of a smaller creature with two heads. The left ends the movements of something snake based. The motions of all three are almost a blur as they rack up a waist high pile of bodies. Then they fall back and the next three men take their place. Step by agonizing step they make the enemy pay for the ground they take until the river runs black with ichor.
Then they arrive at the last stretch before the canyon opens up. Maleko is resting in the back and sees the danger. He tells his men they can no longer retreat. They fight viciously but the pile of bodies becomes a problem. A cat-like creature claws its way to the top of the pile. She tries to cry out a warning, but no sound emerges. Like a slow motion nightmare the thing leaps and lands behind the line. It gets a bite in before being noticed. By then it’s too late.
One by one the warriors are ripped apart as more things leap from the pile and join in. Maleko stands alone, defiant to the end. His spear whips around his body holding them off. But more pile around him. Then they see the people. A pack splits away and runs for the villagers. Maleko leaps after them and kills them. But the distraction costs and he is bitten from behind. Two more join in and tear him apart. The swarm rushes over what remains of the body and engulfs the villagers.
A larger, human-shaped fiend with red glowing eyes spots the people climbing the wall. A thousand or more abominations reach the base of the climbing ladder and dissolve into a pool of black. A snake-like tube emerges a
nd rises up from the pool. The people climb faster to escape but some fall to their deaths and are absorbed into the pool. Others make it to the top and flee with the rest.
The tube reaches the top of the cliff and vomits thousands of hare-sized four-legged things built for running. They chase down every last Shae. All are absorbed. Her vision zooms back out until she sees the entire world covered in black.
Amira gasped as she returned to the present. Somehow, she wound up on her backside, still clutching the staff with a death grip. She hurled it aside and stared at it in growing fear. What is that thing?
“Are you ok?” Radcliff asked, and stretched out his hand to help her up. A whole group of Shae were looking at her with concerned faces.
“I’m fine,” she lied. Taking his hand, she got back to her feet and let go before he sensed her shaking.
“You look like you’ve seen your own death,” Radcliff pressed.
That’s because I saw everyone’s deaths. But she wasn’t going to tell them that. Amira stared at the staff as she tried to decipher what she just saw. It felt like a true vision, but what if the staff was messing with her? Then again, could she afford to ignore it?
“Really, I’m ok.” Amira brushed off the dirt and acted like everything was fine even though her stomach coiled with nausea and her limbs wanted to turn into pudding. Deep down she knew what she saw was real, staff influenced or not. But to pick up the pace would mean forgoing the safety lines.
She kept silent as she hauled the shaken woman up to the top. But once that woman was safe, she called down to the helpful man and told him to pass the message—they were out of time and everyone needed to climb up without the ropes.
It went better than she thought. Ekewaka must have already guessed they’d need to move faster. He put stronger climbers in between weaker ones and in some cases that prevented a fall. Still, it was nerve-wracking to watch people slip, only to recover at the last second. Between that and her vision, she was short tempered and nearly snapped when something tugged at her wrist.
“You watched my papa die didn’t you?” Nalani asked.
She didn’t want to do this now or ever. “What I saw was only possibility, not truth.”
“He’ll be the last to leave. He’ll die.” Her chin was nudged up in defiant conviction and pride, marred only by a single tear sliding down her cheek.
Amira felt her heart breaking. “I saw what happens if those creatures find out we’ve escaped the canyon. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen, ok?” She pointed down at the line of frightened climbers. “Maybe you could sing something to ease their fears?”
Nalani studied the climbers before nodding. She cleared the ladder area and perched on the edge of the cliff facing north. Then she began singing something that sounded sad but defiant.
The people on the wall settled and were making steady progress when a group of warriors ran towards them. Amira’s heart lurched and her stomach twisted, but she didn’t see anything chasing them so hopefully they still had time. Unease rippled from the bottom to the top climber as word spread—Maleko was holding them off but there wasn’t much time. Spurred on, people began climbing faster. Amira helped drag them the last foot over the edge. Several were pale and shaky. Radcliff stepped in with water and snacks. Once they recovered enough, he sent them to rest with other groups of family and friends.
Everyone was off the ground when the horde rounded the bend and streamed into the area. Nalani stopped singing, and a hush descended. Amira dropped to the ground so only her head peeked over the edge. If any of those things looked up, they were dead. Nobody dared to move as thousands of hideous things ran past.
As she looked down the ragged line of climbers, she noticed that the last person, Ekewaka, was only on the first rod. His feet were just a couple of feet off the ground. Amira watched in dread as the human looking thing from her vision paused right under the base of the ladder and looked up. She thought for sure they’d be discovered, but the thing stared a moment longer before trotting off with the rest. Her racing heart didn’t slow down until the last of them vanished. Then Ekewaka fell and lay still.
Amira stewed with impatience as the last climber reached the top. She almost shoved him aside as she dove for the ladder and rushed to the bottom. The elder was still breathing. She jumped out of her skin when Radcliff landed next to her.
While her heart was still lodged in her throat, Radcliff spoke. “He cast a small illusion to hide the climbers even though he was already depleted.”
“We need to get him to the top before more of those things come.” Amira knew that second pack would be closing in soon.
“I can carry him.”
“That’s unlikely.” With no rope to take the weight, he’d be too off-balance to climb up the rods. Unless… “I do have an idea though.” She just hoped to have time to implement it. Scurrying up to the top, she undid the loops securing the long rope around the rocky outcrop and formed a loose coil she slung around her shoulder. She grabbed a second, short safety rope as well and wrapped that one around her waist. While climbing back down, she paused at the bottom of the first guide rope and threaded the long rope through. Then she climbed to the bottom. There, she securely tied Ekewaka, forming a quasi-cradle he could dangle from.
“I need you to stay here and pull him up.” Handing Radcliff the other end, Amira then climbed the first set of rods and told Radcliff to pull while she did what she could to help. Inch by slow inch, Ekewaka reached the first ledge. While Radcliff kept the line taut, she stepped onto the shelf and pulled him over. “Ok let it go slowly.” Once he was on the ground, Radcliff climbed up and they both rested for a few minutes. “Stay here, I’ll be back shortly.”
Amira removed the first guide rope, which took far too long; that pack would be close to the canyon by her estimation. She scrambled back down and swapped ropes with the longer one before climbing up to the top and securing it back around the outcrop. This time she formed a smaller loop, hoping the little extra distance would allow the ropes to reach.
The real test came when she grabbed the line fastened to Ekewaka and climbed up to slip it into the bottom loop of the top rope. Of course it was too short. But she had another idea.
“Radcliff, I need you to climb up and tie the end of the rope around your waist. Then use your weight to pull him up. I’ll help from below.”
As Radcliff climbed up, she watched the north. Still no sign of them. When Ekewaka began to shift, Amira climbed onto the rods and helped guide the dead weight around obstacles and push when she could. She carefully climbed past Radcliff on her way up and breathed a little sigh of relief when Ekewaka was finally snug against the top rope. Here, she attached the smaller safety line to the top rope and wrapped it around the unconscious man.
“Ok, it’s safe to climb up. I have him secured.”
She had no choice but to leave him dangling until she could pull him up from above. When she reached the top, quite a crowd had gathered to watch the rescue operation.
“I need some space here and volunteers to help pull.” All the warriors and scouts stepped forward as well as many of the non-combatants. “I only need a few.” Amira pointed to the ones who looked strong enough to help. Once Radcliff made it to the top, they began to pull.
Amira kept a lookout and thought she saw something moving when they got Ekewaka to the top. “Get him away from the edge now!” she called out and dropped to the ground right as the first wave of monstrosities cleared the choke point. This group was even larger than the first. She stopped watching the dark tide of doom and crawled back before standing up.
“We need to get moving. The canyon will take them far enough away that we can beat them to the capital if we don’t stop.”
Four warriors rolled out the stretcher they used to carry Radcliff. Placing Ekewaka onto it, they lifted him easily. One of them turned to Amira and asked, “Where are we heading?
Amira pointed to the white capped mountain in the distance. “See that
peak? That’s where we’re going.”
The warriors took off, and the Shae followed. Radcliff gathered up Nalani while Amira stowed away the rope in her bag—it might come in handy again. Giving the staff a wary glance, she decided to take it as well. At least she didn’t get any visions when picking it up this time. She touched Radcliff’s arm. “Thank you for your help.”
He smiled. “I’m glad you figured out how to take him with us. He deserved to be saved after saving us.”
Amira smiled. “I’m glad too.” She wanted to tell Radcliff how much she missed him but he didn’t really know her today. Her smile faded. “Let’s go.”
As they ran side by side to catch up, Amira calculated that if nothing else went wrong, they should reach safety before sunrise. And then she could work on fixing Radcliff’s memory. Because he deserved saving too.
CHAPTER 18
The Mountain
The Shae ran non-stop until the sun set. They paused only long enough to bring out their lamps before resuming a ground eating pace that Amira was going to feel for a week. Despite her fatigue, she dared not breathe a word about stopping. Just the thought of those foul abominations catching up had her reaching for newfound depths of endurance.
Now as they hiked up the final ascent leading to the fortress city of Caladon, Amira glanced back and saw the Shae strung out like a glowing ribbon of light in the predawn hour. With the strangely stretched shadows, Amira realized how their approach might be taken as an invasion by the soldiers manning the wall. She forced a spurt of energy from her burning legs and caught up to her sparring partner Wikolia, who had taken Maleko’s place as the warrior leader.
“We should probably stop and send someone to talk to the gate soldiers. They might mistake us for an invading army.” She felt quite proud to get that out in between wheezing breaths.
Wikolia took a quick glance back and grinned at Amira. “We’d scare ’em good, yeah?”