37. Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter thirty-seven
My breaths come in sharp, shallow pants, fingers wrapped painfully tight around the knot as my feet scrabble for purchase against the glassy surface of the rock face.
"Alyxia." The command in that voice is too powerful to be ignored.
My eyes snap up to meet Zenn's piercing blue staring straight into me.
"Take a deep breath, now." I obey without question.
"Good girl. Do it again." I fill my lungs, and the band around my chest relaxes a little more.
"Eyes here. I've got you." I nod, feeling my heart slow as I take another deep breath.
"Get your feet solid against the stone then lean back for me.
Do you feel secure enough to push back off the wall with your legs? "
"I think so," I reply shakily.
"I'm ready when you are." Taking one more breath to steady my nerves, I bend my knees and push, managing to drop a little way down, my stare never leaving Zenn, heart racing the entire time.
"That's it. Keep going. Do not look down again." He talks me through every step, our eyes locked as I repeatedly push off the wall, and he lowers me, the growing distance doing nothing to lessen the heat building within me. Now is so not the time.
The makeshift rope gets me almost to the narrow shelf halfway down.
I freeze, knowing what I have to do but hating the thought of being completely untethered.
"Ok, Aly, you're doing amazing. Are you ready for the next step?
" I shake my head, panic rising. "I get it.
If I'm honest, I'm not all that excited about it either.
I know you can do it, though." For the first time, there's a hitch in Zenn's voice.
"Ok." The word is so quiet, I don't know how he managed to hear me.
"Good. Let's go. You're going to have to pull yourself up until the vine loop slips free and you can lower yourself through it to the ledge.
" I follow his instructions, grateful not to have to think about what I'm doing as I drop and my bare feet scramble for purchase on the meagre section of flat stone, eventually finding my center and standing straight.
"Perfect. You did it perfectly," he calls down from somewhere too far away.
"Time to let go of the vine and show me that impressive balance you're always bragging about.
" I laugh weakly and force myself to let go with my right hand, realizing too late I would have been better off releasing both at once as I lose my equilibrium and nearly stumble before opening my other hand and slamming it into a crack in the cliff.
"Fuck," I hear Zenn swear. I have to tune him out. There's nothing to stop me from falling except my own grip. No, I can't think about that. Focusing on the consequences of falling will only get me, and Willa, killed.
Now I've made it this far, I'm realizing how insane it was to come down here without knowing how I'll make it any further.
Varistia said to trust my intuition, though, and if I can do it for anyone, it's Wils.
When I was at the top, I felt an internal nudge, like a promise there was a way to get to her.
Only the gods know what I would have done if I'd made it to this point and been wrong. Thankfully, I wasn't.
There are tiny ridges and crevices underneath this shelf, running all the way down to disappear beneath the dark mist. A laughable excuse for a ladder of sorts; the distance between will require me to stretch further than I'd like at times, but I think I can make it.
Not giving myself a chance to process or let the fear grow, I inch across the narrow length of the sill, facing the wall of stone until I run out of space and it's time to start my descent.
Gripping with both hands, I balance on one leg, slowly sinking into a crouch so I can lower my other leg, jamming my toes into the first decent-sized crack I find before finding purchase with the opposite hand and dropping my weight.
I have to navigate this first section, leading with my right leg over and over, or I'll end up too far away from Willa's ledge.
My arms start to shake before I make it through four steps, not even a quarter of the distance I need to cover.
Stopping to rest isn’t an option. Not allowing my eyes to drop any lower than my next foothold, I stretch and find purchase on a small shelf with the ball of my left foot.
When I transfer my weight, the shelf crumbles, and I slip.
The world drops out from under me, rocks tear at my scrambling feet, and hands wrap around a slight protrusion, halting my momentum long enough to take a deeper breath and steady my nerves.
I don't dare look up, choosing instead to keep jamming my fingers into too-narrow crevices, wincing when my nails shatter and the surrounding skin scrapes open.
I'm barely breathing; it's taking everything to hold on.
The mostly flat cliff face is surprisingly warm to the touch.
Even the air feels more humid, making sweat sting my eyes.
My arms are wracked with trembles now, and every time I lower myself, my muscles cramp and protest.
The sight of my crumpled friend is all the motivation I need to keep pushing.
I'm almost there. Stretching as far as I possibly can to grip one final shelf, I drop my weight, less gracefully than I'd like, and swing myself toward the ledge, where Willa lies.
For a moment, I'm suspended in mid-air, then my feet hit the rocky ground, and tears of relief spring to my eyes as I crash to my knees next to her, overjoyed to see her chest rising and falling, even if it is too fast.
Her pulse is erratic, skin ice cold, and she's shivering, despite the extra warmth down here. Not surprising, given the amount of freezing blood I'm kneeling in. Her clothes and hair are soaked and streaked with the gold too.
"Aly?" she whimpers, so softly, I almost miss it.
"I'm here, Wils. We're going to get you out soon.
I just need to check you out first, ok?" I don't mention I have no idea how we're getting her out of here.
One thing at a time. Conscious my hands are shredded and I have to protect her from my blood, I grit my teeth and force myself to put on the clean pair of gloves from my pocket before opening the closures of her jacket with trembling fingers.
My mouth falls open in horror at the two jagged stab wounds in her side and just below her ribs.
Blood gushes as soon as I peel back her jacket.
Thanks to the repelling magic, only the insides of our leathers are absorbent and hers are soaked through.
I toss my jacket aside and rip off my leather top.
Turning it inside out and folding it, I lay it against Willa's wounds.
Then, I tear the bottom third of my undershirt off and add it before forcing the buttons on her jacket closed to create much-needed pressure and stem the blood flow.
Willa whimpers at the compression of the fabric, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.
I have to swallow past the lump in my throat before I start crying too.
It's excruciating to see her like this when she's usually so formidable and full of life.
"I know, I'm so sorry. I wish I had something for the pain," I whisper, brushing her hair back from her pallid forehead, smearing her pale golden blood across her skin.
Then, with a start, I realize I do have something.
Lurching for my discarded jacket, I rifle through the pockets to find the boxes with the salixa fronds we picked earlier.
The bristles have all fallen off now, so I wipe my gloved hands on the cleanest corner of my shirt and gently place two of the green anticlockwise coils in Willa's mouth.
Two is probably excessive, but I can't bear the thought of her suffering, and she's going to need a hell of a lot of rest to recover from this.
"I need you to chew these, ok? They'll help you sleep.
" She grimaces at the taste, doing as I ask, her head lolling against the makeshift pillow I create from her empty satchel.
After confirming she doesn't have any other wounds, I cover her shivering body with my dry jacket, wishing I could do more, wishing I had saved that fucking tonic.
I'm vaguely aware Zenn is calling out to me, and I realize I haven't so much as looked at him since landing next to his sister.
I manage to call up that she's ok, hoping he can hear me.
Ignoring the ominous black fog swirling beneath us, I turn to see the entrance to a dark passageway hidden against the cliffside.
So that's how Xaavi and Willa got down here, although the why is still an unanswered question.
If Zenn can find the entrance I'm assuming is in the forest somewhere, he should be able to get to us through the tunnel, and we won't have to figure out hauling Willa up.
It takes four attempts for me to yell loud enough to tell him what I found.
He immediately disappears from the top of the cliff, leaving me alone with my thoughts, which quickly turn to Xaavi.
The mist swallows the sound when I try to call out his name, and then there's nothing to do but wait.
Avoiding the congealing pool of blood and the edge of the rocky shelf, I pull Willa's head into my lap and try not to wonder what will happen if Zenn doesn't find us before nightfall.
The humid air and the adrenaline are keeping me warm enough for now. Who knows if that will last though?
An hour or two passes, Willa doesn't wake.
The salixa is potent, and I'm grateful she's not conscious or in pain.
I monitor her pulse, not daring to check her wounds without Lira here to stop the bleeding.
All I can do is keep the pressure on and try to keep Willa warm.
The sound of shuffling from the tunnel and a hoarse rasp of my name is like music to my soul. "Here, we're here."