My stomach clenched. None of my teammates had realized it yet. From the look of the weather, we had about two hours maximum before the winds would pick up, and the rain would fall.
I kicked up my speed, breathing through the dull complaints of my ankle.
Focusing inward on what I needed to do, I used the first hour of the run to think through the risks, keeping an eye on my teammates up ahead as we made our way inland.
Even though it was gargantuan, Mount Kael might not be visible, if the storm reduced our visibility enough. The outpost wouldn't be on our return journey. We'd have to rely on our directional navigation training to get back, and it was likely we'd have to rely on it to get there, too.
Yeshar outpaced me, running past me a few yards away. That was fine, this wasn't a race.
My memory around King Protea flowers was fuzzy, but my gut told me it wouldn't be as simple as finding them and returning with them. They'd given us enough time with this midterm to make two round trips to Mount Kael. Something wasn't adding up.
They weren't poisonous. At least I didn't remember them being on the list of poisonous vegetation.
Opae River unfurled up ahead, water gurgling as it ran toward Lake Mirae. It was only a few yards across to the other side, but it stretched out for leagues in both directions. There were three low palmwood bridges visible from here. I hurried across the nearest.
This landmark was roughly the one hour mark, so I still had another hour and some change to go before I reached Mount Kael. It grew larger and larger as I continued toward it.
My ankle was thankfully only an irritation at this point. It hurt enough to distract, but not so much that I couldn't keep running.
I kept tight control of my breathing as I ran, monitoring my ankle as a slight limp started another thirty minutes later. Thankfully, I was close now to the target.
When I reached the edge of Mount Kael, no fellow trainees were in sight.
That's when the first drop of rain splattered my cheek. The dirt began to mottle with darkening spots, insects scattering. Within a few scant seconds, it was pouring, and I was soaked.
I hugged my arms around myself, trying to ward off the chill.
Pushing back wet leaves, there wasn’t any sign of the mulberry color of the flowers.
Dismay bubbled up when I saw them. They were growing out of the sides of the cliff edges of Mount Kael.
This is what I hadn't remembered from my notes on Mesmorian vegetation. King Protea wasn’t a ground plant, it only grew out of the crags of mountainsides. Climbing was necessary to reach them. Using my recovering ankle.
And the mountain was rapidly becoming slimy and treacherous from the downpour.
The cliffside was jagged, with plenty of hand and footholds I could use to leverage myself up. I could see a route to the nearest cluster of flowers.
Hastily, I went to the side of the cliff and began to climb, finding each grip and foot groove with as much patience as I could allow.
I risked precious seconds trying to shake the water off my hands as I went. If my hold became too slippery, I would lose my progress and have to start again. Or worse, injure myself falling.
It felt like years before I reached the first King Protea cluster, two large flowers peeking out their glossy petals. Balancing, I reached for the flowers, tearing their roots from the rock. Spiny bracts pricked my palm. My ankle was beginning to burn.
“Hey, Lisia!” A male voice called from below. I craned my neck, seeing Orin roughly twenty feet below me. “Toss them to me!” He held up his arms.
Holding out the hand they were in, I relaxed my grip. I waited with bated breath until he caught them with both hands, careful not to damage them. Another cluster of five flowers poked out from a small outcrop ledge another ten feet up.
Laboriously slow, I made my way toward it. Multiple times, my boots and fingers slipped, and it was only because of the snail’s pace I maintained that I didn't fall to my death.
The sky lit up white. A loud growl of thunder almost broke my concentration.
Heaving myself sideways, I reached the ledge, bending over to catch my breath.
“Great job!” Orin called from below me. I gave him a thumbs up.
This outcrop was only a foot or so wide, barely enough to stand on. Plucking three of the blooming flowers from the cliff, I wrapped their stems through multiple layers of my braid to hold them in place. Their thorny bracts kept them secure, it would be enough to make it back to the ground without them falling out.
With the remaining two, I tucked one into each pocket. They barely fit. Starting back down the cliff, my muscles strained to hold my weight vertical with nothing but tiny ridges in the rock to hang onto. The path I took back down was more difficult than the path I'd managed to find going up. Sweat blended with rainwater as it made tracks down my face.
