38. Chapter Thirty-Eight #3
I grab the next indent, and my arms shake from exhaustion.
She no longer pursues me, but I’m stuck high in the air.
It seems I will have to drop back down to the tree, but I take my knives and jab them into cracks in the wall, using them to get me higher until I find a stabler rock shelf.
It gives me a moment to rest before I climb again.
I pull myself up onto the path at a much higher location and roll onto my back to catch my breath and calm my trembling arms. Whatever creature that was, the encyclopedia hadn’t mentioned her like the swarm.
It’s becoming clear that maybe no one survives the mountain to accurately report on the life here.
All that made my climb possible was Zyon making me practice climbing over and over.
So many times, I wanted to throw him off a few cliffs.
My pride is unsure if I will notify him that his annoying chastising saved me.
That’s if I ever see him again to tell him anything.
I take much too long on the ground because my muscles plead for me not to move anymore.
Strength is difficult to pull from anywhere, and everything hurts.
I sit up and lean against the lone tree surrounded by only rocks.
About ten feet above me, appears to be the peak, and there is only a small portion of the trail left.
The stings burn and itch, so I take the time to put more ointments on them. The bandages on my feet are pretty worn, so I rebandage them and cringe at the cloths that have burrowed into blisters and cuts. I put on cream to soothe the gashes and rewrap my feet.
A bluebird lands on a branch of the tree and disappears into a small hole in the trunk.
I pack my bag back up and check my daggers.
Several were lost along the way, but I have three left.
Lazzus said the way down would be easier.
That the key would unlock something that would help my journey down, and it is a hope I cling to.
My sword shimmers in the afternoon sun, surrounded by yellow grass that grows to the left of the tree.
I force myself up and hobble to retrieve it.
The black blur strikes my hand as a viper sinks its teeth deep into my hand, all the way to the bone.
I scream and throw it off. It rebounds and strikes me in the heel.
I fight to get to my sword and am struck a third time in my other hand.
The poison is burning deep under my skin, and it’s a death sentence.
There is no cure for a wood viper’s bite.
Not even a venom extractor will help. I chop off its head and kick it far from me as I collapse to the ground, laughing at the irony of fighting so many monsters to be taken out by a snake.
Hysteria takes hold, and I sit in it for a moment before the tears take over.
I scream my rage to the sky, and the bluebird flies from the tree, like I’m a lion about to devour it.
It takes a minute longer to remember I still have the magic water and can use it to be fine.
However, if I take it now and am injured on the way down, I’ll have nothing to save myself.
The venom will kill me in eight hours, but I have to be down the mountain before that, or nothing will matter.
There's plenty of time to drink the remedy at the end
Everything will be fine until the seventh hour mark after I was bitten, and then I will take terribly ill. I know it’s futile, but I rub the venom extractor on each of the bites. It does nothing, so I put pain and infection creams on before bandaging them up.
The continual clock at my back ticks louder, and I push myself to move forward to make it to the top.
The sooner I can drink the water and stop the assault of venom, the better it will be for me long term.
Unless the water fixes all the damage done to me and not just saves my life. All the tomes I read made that unclear.
The last bit of the trail is steep, and my energy is failing miserably. I’m nearly crawling the last several steps to the top. There’s a wide opening to what appears to be a cave, and in front of it is Lazzus sitting on a rock, facing me.
His shoulders drop, and he heaves. “You made it! I knew it! Everything worked. Finally.”
“I’m not the first one, so you can’t be entirely surprised.”
“No, Neera, you are.”
I narrow my eyes and turn my head. “You said others had made it, and that’s how you knew it was possible for me.”
“I lied so you would believe you could too. It was one thing I changed this time. One of many. It worked.”
“Okay. That makes me wonder what else you have lied about, but you owe me a story.”
He heaves so greatly I worry the wraith may hyperventilate, even though I’m not even sure he actually breathes. “Yes, I owe you a story. We will finish it.”
“And then I get to guess your regret?”
“Yes, you’ve certainly earned it.” He pats the spot next to him. “Rest while I finish.”
I limp over to him and lean against the rock as the mountain disappears back into Lazzus’s castle.