For me, climbing required only a little more effort than blinking.
That’s why, when the soapy rock slid out from beneath my grip, it took me an extra second to process what had happened before I could attempt to roll as I landed. My feet met the ground with a jarring crash.
My healing ankle screamed.
Collapsing down to a kneeling position on the ground, I took greedy gulps of air. Luckily, I’d only fallen a few feet. My foot still moved properly, albeit with louder objections.
Lightning strobed above.
I could have licked the ground; I was so relieved to be off the cliff wall.
Orin came over, holding out his hand to help me up. “Nice haul!” he said as I stood.
“Yeah.” I took the two King Protea flowers from my pockets and held one in each slippery hand. “I hope the rest of the team got plenty before the rain started.”
Orin looked from the two blooms in his hands to the ones in mine.
“I wish I had more.” He eyed the flowers I'd interlaced through my braid.
“How would you carry more than two?” I asked. The stems were robust and spiky enough that I doubted I could hang onto more while running.
“I can tuck them into my belt.” He shifted his woven belt so that it was snug against his waist and fitted his flowers into it.
“But one of us would have to go back up there to get more.” I cast an apprehensive glance at the slick cliff face. My ankle didn't like that idea. The odds of another successful climb were spider-silk slim, since we still needed to get all the way back after this and my ankle had settled into a constant throb.
“Not necessarily,” he said.
I faced him. “Where else are we going to get more of them for you?”
“You've already got more than two,” he replied. My shock must have shown on my face because he took on a placating tone as he continued. “We agreed we'd only try to take two each. It's not fair that you and Mikalyn get to bring back more because you have long hair,” he said. “Besides, I'm the one who knew where they were.”
“Life isn’t fair,” I said, shrugging.
“No, it isn’t.” He swiped forward with his hand, trying to grab my braid. I leaned back, instinct taking over.
“Oh, that's rich.” I wiped the rain and sweat out of my eyes. “So what, you're going to steal mine?”
“You can keep the two we all agreed on,” he said. As if that would pacify me. “But I'll take the rest.”
“Like hell you will,” I snapped, taking a step away from him and assuming the defensive posture I'd used duringgrappling training. I tossed my two flowers behind me to free up my hands.
“Look, I don't want this to get messy,” he said.
“Little late for that,” I spat. “You can climb up there and get yourself some more, or you can take your chances with me. Your call.”
He looked at the wall, then back to me. There was a measuring, evaluating weight in his gaze. I saw the moment he determined I was the lesser threat.
“You're the slowest on our team,” he tried to explain. “You were limping when you got here earlier, I saw it. You might not even make it back to the outpost, so isn't it better for me to take the extras and get us a better team evaluation score?”
The calming breath I took barely kept me from snarling at him. My voice still sounded ugly even to my own ears. “I am not the one not pulling my weight, you are. You didn't climb the cliff to get these, I did. They're scoring us on more than team total, they're judging us based on individual ability. Which you've demonstrated none of. Besides your capacity to stab your teammates in the back.”
“Hey, that's not what—”
“Oh, but it is,” I cut him off. “You tried to coerce me into giving you mine, when you didn't climb up to get even a single one. And you had the time, you got here before me. You'd show up to the outpost with a surplus, even though you earned none of them yourself.”
For a brief moment, he looked upset, but then his brows turned down.
“Fine, I'll prove it. I'll prove you're the weakest link,” he lunged at me.
