Chapter 31 #2
“A horse would not be very beneficial in reaching areas like this,” he remarks, beginning to take up the steps.
However, I only stare at it, unmoving. “Or we could just find other places to train that are more accessible. Maybe starting, uh… now?”
“Not today—”
“I really don’t want to go up those.”
Abaddon finally stops moving, looking over his shoulder at me. “Would you like me to carry you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then how do you plan to get up the stairs?” His eyebrows furrow. “Do you think they’re unsafe?”
“No, it’s not the stairs. It’s me. My… injuries.” Or, more accurately, my current proneness to further injuries. I’ve had enough embarrassment for today. I’d like to not make a fool of myself again.
“Ah, that’s right.” He nods, seeming to put two-and-two together. “Your ‘fight with the stairs’.”
As he comes back down to me, I take a breath of relief, thinking we’ll be going somewhere at ground level.
“Well, it was more the punching bag that got me good—Abaddon!” My hand is suddenly in his, and he’s pulling me towards the stairs. “I said I don’t want to be carried!”
I dig my heels in, stopping us just as we reach the bottom step, and his eyes flash in annoyance. “I am not carrying you. I’m merely helping keep you steady so you do not fall again. Injuries are counterproductive to your training.”
Well, I can’t argue with his logic. Caveman as it may be.
“Fine,” I grumble, reluctantly letting him guide me up the stairs. The feeling of skin against mine, however, is far too distracting. My heart pounds as my eyes stay glued between us—a foolish mistake—and I slip on the edge of a step.
Abaddon yanks me up by the arm right before my head hits the stone.
“I told you,” he huffs, looking down at me in irritation. “You should have let me carry you. You do not know what’s best for you.”
“Oh, spare me the lecture,” I snap. “If you hadn’t let your angel friends give me experimental procedures, this wouldn’t even be a problem.”
“I thought you were going to die, Kae,” he growls, grabbing my arm harshly to look me in the eyes.
“You did not see the state you were in. Your body wouldn’t stop convulsing, not even when you were sedated.
Of course I let Raphael take extreme measures.
It was the only way to keep you alive! Do you expect me to apologize for that? ”
The sound of his voice, so rough and raw, feels like I’m walking over hot coals. My heart thumps wildly in my chest. “No. I don’t.”
“Good. Because I won’t.” He releases my arm, storming up the stairs without me. I stare after him a second before sighing, running a hand along the wall, and slowly beginning to ascend the treacherous, evil stairs again.
They could have at least put a handrail in here. I feel my life flash before my eyes every time my leg wobbles a bit mid-air, and I have to make sure the ground is firmly underneath both feet before taking each step.
Eventually, I make it to the top, where Abaddon is waiting for me on a small ledge before an unremarkable door. I know he must have been watching my strange safety measures, but he doesn’t say anything, pushing the door open for me without a word.
It takes us out to the castle’s roof.
I’ve never been up here. I didn’t even realize it was accessible until now. Curiosity has me walking to the forward-facing edge, stealing a view of the city.
When my job here is finally done, this is how I’d like to remember it—peaceful, humming with its unusual rhythm, unbothered by the troubles of the surface. Like a Garden of Eden forged from the pits of Hell.
“This is one of the best views of the city,” Abaddon says from behind me. “Other than from the air. Does it still trigger your fear of heights?”
“I’m not afraid of heights, okay? I’m afraid of falling.”
“I do not understand the difference.”
I shake my head. “The answer is no, it doesn’t bother me. Is this where we’re training?” The roof is fairly flat with few interruptions, and as wide as the castle, but I still don’t understand its advantage over the cliffside we normally go to.
“No, we’ll be crossing that bridge.”
“What bridge?” I turn around, then follow his eyes.
Sure enough, there is a rickety rope bridge leading from the roof to a hole in the cavern wall. He starts to walk towards it, talking to me without looking back. “It goes to the mouth of the Blackwater River. There are other entrances, but this is the quickest and easiest route for walking.”
Reluctantly, I follow him up to the edge of the bridge. It’s the worst, most insecure-looking bridge that I’ve ever seen. Made solely of wood planks and rope, it sways in the slightest breeze. “You’re kidding, right? When was the last time anyone used this thing?”
“It would be a waste of my time to keep track of such things.” Abaddon tilts his head, inspecting me and my nearly hysterical state. “Do not worry. Nothing bad will happen to you. I can assure you of that. I’ll be right behind you.”
I know he’d catch me if it broke, but I’d rather it not break in the first place.
“I think our definitions of ‘bad’ are significantly different,” I mumble, testing a foot on the edge of the planks.
It starts fairly strong, where it’s still supported against the castle stone, but it’s all downhill from there.
The moment it starts to sway with our weight, I freeze, locking my knees and gripping the single ropes on each side so hard that the material digs into my palms. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“It’s okay,” he calls behind me, placing his hands gently on my hips. “One step at a time.”
“I really don’t see why this is necessary.”
“It is just a bridge to get over. Do not think about falling. Think about… What is it that calms you? Horses?” I hear him inhale. “I may know of the perfect horse to give you.”
I take a deep breath before moving a foot forward, careful to keep my weight as balanced as possible. “I thought you said you’ve never had one?”
His fingers slowly lift off my hips as I make my way forward, and he creeps behind me.
Compared to me, he has the preternatural balance of a stalking jaguar, but the bridge still moves slightly under his shifting weight.
I wish he’d turn off the stupid wind completely, because I’m sure he’s capable of it, but I’m already acting too ridiculously insecure as it is to ask him about it.
“Not in the Abyss, but it’s only a matter of time before the red horse arrives, wherever that may be. I’d be honored to capture War for you to ride.”
Wait, isn’t that…
“Abaddon,” I say in a stern, chastising voice. Suddenly, I’m not even thinking about my slow steps across the bridge anymore. “Please tell me you’re not referring to the four horsemen of the apocalypse horses.”
He’s silent for long enough to answer my question.
A groan rumbles out of me. “Just when I thought I’d heard it all! I can’t even fucking believe this… What of the other three? Are we going to break up the herd of doomsday ponies?”
“Only the first horse has arrived, and its location is currently unknown. We assume the Adversary found it first. Which is most unfortunate… You’d have been an even better rider for Conquest.”
“They’re literal fucking horses,” I grumble quietly to myself, noting I’m almost across the bridge now. “And he wants me to ride one. To be an apocalypse-heralding horseback rider. Is that job not already taken?”
“It is not. The Council does not seem to have a plan for the stewardship of the horses after they’ve arrived.”
I don’t know if it was the sarcasm or the rhetorical question that was lost on him, but I still bite back, “I wasn’t talking to you.”
“…There is nobody else here.”
“Exactly.” Finally, I’m blessed with the last step off the bridge, and I make room for him on the rocky ledge to join me.
He pauses, looking over me with an annoyingly innocent look of curiosity. “Do you talk to yourself often?”
“Lately? Yes.” I sigh, grabbing his arm to plead with him in all sincerity. “Please, Abaddon, do not get me an apocalypse horse. That’s just asking for trouble, and I have enough on my plate as it is. An earthly horse will be more than fine.”
“Noted.” He nods quickly. “I will see to it.”
His eyes slip down to my hand, and I release his arm, averting my gaze. “Great. Arabians are my favorite, but I’m not picky. Now, where do we go from here?”
To avoid fueling any further absurdity, I decide not to talk for the rest of the walk.
The hole in the cavern wall spits us out onto a viewing ledge with a sad rope strung along wooden posts to poorly barricade the edge.
When I walk up to it, it reveals a small canyon below us with a pitch-black river at the bottom.
I can just barely see another walkway along the walls, only a few feet above the water level.
Abaddon leads us down a set of stairs carved into the canyon walls, likely five stories worth of height to descend, and we finally make it to the narrow walkway.
My legs are aching from all the climbing and walking, not to mention the damage I inflicted on them this morning. The next time he offers to air taxi me, I might just let him…
After a few minutes, we suddenly divert off the pathway to a—
Cave.
Seriously? All this for an empty fucking cave?
“Why did we have to come all the way down here for this?” I put my hands on my hips, leaning my weight to one side, as I stare down the angel. God, I am so cranky today. I can hardly bear it.
“We needed better isolation.” He walks toward a large boulder, taking a seat on it with his legs crossed. “We’re going to uncover what you can do. We’ll start by seeing if you have access to the Aether—what your specialty is, if anything.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?” I don’t think I have the patience for two more months of mind-numbing meditation.