Chapter 19 #2
Rune got her bearings and then ran off toward the course again. She hoped one of the three of them would win, especially because the rest of the fae had tried to trick them into not even taking part in the mission.
She finally found where she was supposed to go and had to maneuver over a water obstacle. She walked across a log that moved in the water as she hurried to the other side. When she reached it, she faced a large wooden wall.
It was about eight feet tall, so she couldn’t jump and catch the edge. It was smooth, with no railings on this side to hold on to.
She saw a few boards, grabbed one, and placed it against the wall, but she knew that if she tried to walk on it, the board would slide and she would fall.
She needed something to block it so the plank wouldn't move.
She found a heavy cement block and finally moved it to the plank, blocking it.
She saw more blocks. She could climb on top of them and then jump for the wall's edge.
But the blocks were terribly heavy, and she might not be able to stack them up that high.
She tried the plank with a running leap and managed to grab the upper edge of the wall, then pulled herself over. On the other side was a railing, and she planted her feet on that and then jumped down onto the ground.
A trail headed in the direction she needed to go. She hurried off down the path.
Next, she saw a tower she had to climb. Then she had to cross the rope to the other side of the river and, once she was on the other side, take the trail through the woods.
That's when she saw Xena racing to catch up.
Ugh. She had to have used Rune's method to climb the wall. She wished she could have moved the plank and cement block so Xena would have had to figure it out for herself.
Her heart racing, Rune hurried to the top of the tower, then started shimmying, hands on the rope and feet crossed at the ankles over it, to move across it.
Stone’s body was a tightly coiled spring, ready to explode into action as he surveyed the vertical challenge ahead. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, the anticipation of competition driving him forward. It was a test of will and skill, and Stone was determined to come out on top.
A fae in charge of Stone’s climbing gear tied one end of a rope to an anchor at the top of the route.
As Stone ascended, the person, called the "belayer," used a belay device to take in slack on the other end of the rope.
By keeping the rope taut, the belayer minimized the fall distance if Stone slipped.
He also had a pickaxe to use on the way up.
Stone was hooked up to climb the thousand-foot rock face when he noticed there were two more hookups. He figured some of his competitors would be racing him up the mountain too. That made sense.
He started the climb, glad it was just him at this point. He concentrated on the rock face, looking for hand and foot holds, hoping Rune and Lolita were reaching their flags soon. He figured he had the most strength to make this climb, though Rune might have been able to do it too.
Lolita would have had trouble reaching hand and footholds because of her smaller size. And it took a lot of strength to climb all the way up. Of course, he worried the girls had insurmountable tasks also. He didn't figure that any of them would get off easy.
Especially not when they had to face off against their competitors. If they had all day to do this, they would do just fine. He was about a third of the way up when he heard two people running across the ground to meet up with the people hooking them up.
He'd hoped he would be halfway up the mountain by now, but it was pretty sheer, and finding handholds and footholds was hard. He slammed the pickaxe into another crevice, yanked on it to make sure it held, and pulled himself up further.
He glanced down; he shouldn't have, but he wanted to see who his competition was. Vesper, naturally, and Elon. He knew Vesper was a good climber, having navigated the rocks as well as Stone when they were trying to escape that one room. But he didn't know how well Elon would do.
He continued up, hoping he could reach the flag first. Though if Elon got it, he wouldn't be as perturbed as he would be if Vesper did.
He really was torn about the whole situation.
He didn't want to rule the two contentious packs, yet he wanted to win all the competitions, showing his competitive nature.
He kept moving up further and further, trying to get into a rhythm, but it was impossible because in some areas he could really climb faster, and in other areas he had to be really careful. He didn't want to fall and have to start all over again.
Elon hadn't gone very far when he cried out. Stone looked down to make sure Elon was all right and saw he had dropped back down to the start. But he wasn't hurt. Vesper was taking a lot of risks to try and catch up to Stone. He figured Elon had been too.
Vesper was gaining on him, and Stone wondered if he had picked a spot where he could climb up easier. But maybe not. Maybe he was just more skilled or stronger in this kind of challenge. Stone wanted to think he was on an easier part of the rock face.
Stone wanted to say something about the others delaying them by putting up the fake challenge, but he needed to save his breath and energy. He kept climbing, trying to concentrate on that and not keep thinking about Rune and Lolita either.
But the look Vesper gave Stone when he happened to glance down at him told him the fae meant trouble.