I’m falling.
Chapter 32
I’ve had many close calls with death since this journey with Thane Valkor began, but clinging to a rotted rope from a shattered bridge as water rushes beneath my feet has to be the closest yet.
I yelp as I dangle above daggerlike boulders.
“Zaira!” Algar peers over the edge, his eyes wide and panicked.
I breathe raggedly as my nails dig into the rope. My raw palms sear with pain as I hold on with all my might. Algar throws a hand down for me to grab.
I let go with one hand to reach up, my other arm burning under my weight, then yelp again as the rope shifts.
Snap.
“No,” I whisper.
The rope is rubbing against a sharp edge of the gorge, the threads fraying one by one.
“I can’t reach!” I wail.
“Just try!” Algar sticks his hand down as far as he can while pressing his belly flat to the ground. But right as our fingertips brush, the rope sways left from a rush of wind. My body hits one of the rocky walls, and I slide down the rope several feet.
Anothersnapsplits the air like the crack of a whip.
The water sounds louder, or perhaps it’s all in my head, or really, it’s the drumming of my heartbeat. The rope has now severed almost all the way through. It won’t hold me much longer.
“I refuse to let you die like this, woman!” Algar says. He shouts something over his shoulder. Seconds later, Zephra climbs down his arm with a thick, dark-green vine. Her eyes are desperate as she spits the vine out of her mouth and pushes it toward me. Algar grips the other end while I reach for it.
Two moresnapsecho in the canyon.
The rope lurches downward. I can’t help but scream as I drop several feet, panic rising in my chest. I try to steady myself before I reach up to grab the vine with both hands and hold on tight. As soon as I do, the wood and rope crash into the rapids.
Dangling from the vine, I gulp for air, watching the rope I was just holding hit the raging water and get swept away.
“There we are!” Algar grunts as he pulls me up. I imagine how hard this is for him to do at this moment, considering he’s lost some of his strength.
I dig the tips of my boots into the slick crevices of the gorge, but I keep slipping. I can’t get proper footing. My foot slips once more, my hands skidding down, blood now coating the vine. I look up at Algar, who curses as the vine slips farther out of his hand. He loses his grip on it, and I sail downward.
I plummet and scream until I’m jerked to a stop. The abruptness causes my back to slam into the jagged edge of the gorge with enough impact to knock the breath out of me. Hands stinging and muscles trembling, I focus on trying to find a toehold in the rocky cliff.
I can hear Algar calling my name, demanding that I keep hanging on as he tugs on the vine. As he does, I can’t help wondering where Thane is. Is Rynthea okay? I hope Kelrean hasn’t been killed by the assassins. King Draedor would never forgive us. Well…if any of us even survive.
I need to keep going. Ihaveto keep going.
Analla needs me.
But I’m so lightheaded. I blink several times and breathe deeply, trying to pull myself together.
It doesn’t work. If anything, I slip farther down the vine.
Just like the fraying threads of the rope before it snapped, my strength is failing. I blink back tears. This is it.I’m sorry, Analla.
As I continue slipping, something with dark, massive wings flies by. The sun is too bright to catch it, but it circles around again, revealing outstretched talons.
Great. Something else wants to kill me.
It hovers directly above me and, with a screech, clamps its talons around my body. To my surprise, it doesn’t pierce me with its sharp claws as it lifts me higher in the air. Its wings create their own wind as it squawks.
