by Ben Wolf
“I’m just glad we finally got some palatable food.” Coburn gnawed on a roasted chicken leg leftover from lunch. “I imagine we’ll need an abundance of strength once we arrive.”
“It sounds like it’s a three-day journey to this temple?” Noraff asked.
“Probably closer to three-and-a-half days,” Garrick said. “And it’ll be uphill most of the way, into the mountains.”
“And once we get there…?”
Noraff was probing for information, but Garrick wasn’t going to reveal anything unless he had to.
“I’ll be clear in my instructions when we arrive. Until then,” Garrick motioned toward the rolling Etrijani hills all around them, “just enjoy the view.”
Three and a half days later, the temple came into view. One side was carved out of a sheer cliff face, and the rest sat atop the cliff itself, set into a mountain. Falna’s directions had proven true.
“Is that it?” Noraff asked.
“Has to be,” Garrick replied. “Who else would hide a fire-worshipping temple high up in the mountains but a bunch of idiot cultists?”
“If Mountain Onni were more religious, I could see them doing it,” Noraff said.
Noraff had explained to Garrick about a year earlier that his people were Forest Onni, and they mostly lived in forests where they maneuvered through trees faster than most other species could run along the ground. That’s also why Noraff had brown hair—to blend in with the trees. By contrast, Mountain Onni had hair in a range of shades of gray.
“They’re not Mountain Onni,” Garrick said. “Guaranteed.”
The temple’s position, embedded in the mountain, would make the approach difficult. They’d either have to approach it via whatever jagged mountain roads led up to its front entrance, or they’d have to scale the cliff face.
What I wouldn’t give for a couple of wyverns right now, Garrick mused.
“Let me guess,” Noraff started, “you want me to climb the cliff, sneak inside, and let you in the front door?”
“I didn’t hire you for your personality,” Garrick replied. He scanned the horizon, now painted with vivid purples, pinks, and oranges as the sun sank toward the mountain peaks. “We’ll wait for the cover of nightfall before we approach from the front.”
“And what will I encounter when I get inside?” Noraff asked.
“Nothing you can’t handle. Probably just a bunch of monks praying. Some of them might try to set you on fire, but you’ll be fine if you’re careful.”
“I’d prefer to take someone with me. Having someone who can watch my back is always useful,” Noraff said.
“I’ll pass, thanks.” Irwin patted his flimsy arms. “I couldn’t climb that, not in a millennium. I’d fall before I got twenty feet off the ground.”
“I’m out, too,” Garrick said.
“Why?” Noraff asked. “Afraid of heights?”
“Not specifically. But I’ve stayed alive thus far by managing the risks I take in this line of work,” Garrick said. “Trying to haul my 400-pound body up a cliff face like that, plus gear, in the dark, is a recipe for catastrophe. So take Pheasant with you.”
“Phesnos,” a voice behind them said.
It was Phesnos. He’d hardly said anything to anyone but Noraff over the last few days of travel, so much so that Garrick had actually forgotten his name.
“Right. Phesnos.” Garrick gave him a glance. “Take him.”
“I don’t climb,” Phesnos said.
“Of course he doesn’t,” Garrick mumbled.
“I am known for my magical prowess, not for my physical attributes,” Phesnos continued.
“I don’t think you’re known for anything,” Garrick countered.
“Maybe not to you.”
Garrick turned and faced him. “So remind me again why we’re paying you to be here?”
“Phesnos will prove his worth, I assure you,” Noraff stepped between them. “It just won’t be by climbing. So if none of the three of you will be joining me, then either I’m going alone or…”
Everyone turned toward Coburn.
Coburn looked at the cliff face, then he refocused on everyone else and sighed. “You’re not serious, are you?”
As the sun set behind the mountains, Noraff and Coburn started to scale the cliff. Meanwhile, Garrick and Irwin headed toward the temple with Phesnos trailing behind. As they cut through the forests painted on the mountain’s slopes, the night sky darkened to midnight blue, punctuated with twinkling white stars.
They trekked upward in silence along a rough path tainted with encroaching vegetation. Garrick led them, ever watchful of the woods surrounding them as they advanced. With only Irwin and a so-called mage of unknown ability, if something or someone attacked them, he’d have to do most of the fighting himself.
They reached the temple a couple of hours later and took cover behind some bushes. The temple stood roughly four stories high, with four tall pillars of dark granite denoting the entrance. To the temple’s left, the mountain continued to rise to its zenith, and the gray rock framed the temple’s left side in a solid wall.
To the right, a tall, man-made wall of stone formed an imposing perimeter, especially because the mountain dropped off into open air just a few feet beyond the edge of the wall. The wall also extended out from the mountain’s side on the left, and it met the right side of the wall in a center arch, forming a small courtyard.
But the wall didn’t have a door or portcullis of any sort. It just stood there, open to the empty courtyard beyond. Nor did Garrick see any guards patrolling on top of the wall. Stranger still, the place was totally dark on the outside. For this being a Crimson Flame temple, Garrick had expected more fire and more light.
“What do we do now?” Irwin whispered.
Garrick pulled his battle-axe from his back and held it. “We wait for Coburn and Noraff.”
“And if they didn’t make it?”
“Then we go in ourselves. We’ll give them an hour.”
Not two minutes later, a voice hissed at them from ahead, on the right side of the perimeter wall. Garrick’s grip on his battle-axe tightened at the sound, then he relaxed once he recognized Noraff’s voice. He scanned the area, searching for some sign of Noraff under the moonlight but not finding anything.
“There.” Phesnos pointed.
Garrick looked and saw Noraff’s silhouette clinging to the wall like a spider and waving to them.
“It’s safe,” Noraff rasped. “Come over.”
Phesnos started toward Noraff, but Garrick grabbed him by his shoulder and stopped him.
“I’ll go first,” Garrick said. “You come with Irwin once I’m sure it’s safe.”
Phesnos frowned at him but shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
Garrick stepped past the bushes, his head swiveling back and forth. No one came at him, so he walked forward, battle-axe high and ready. Still nothing.
Satisfied, he waved back to Irwin and Phesnos, and they emerged from the bushes as well. They met up with Noraff, who still clung to the wall, his body parallel to the ground.
Now close up, Garrick saw Noraff’s claw-tipped fingers and toes gripping crevices in the wall, some of them incomprehensibly shallow. Somehow, the green-hilted knife in his belt stayed in its sheath no matter how much he swung or swayed or scampered along the rocks.
But Onni could climb anything. It’s what they did.
“There’s a secret entrance. Coburn spotted it while we were climbing,” Noraff said. “Good eyesight, that one, even in the dark.”
“He’s a thief. Has enchanted vision,” Irwin said. “I’ve been trying to replicate the results with a more scientific approach, but thus far I’ve been unable to—”
“Where is he now?” Garrick broke in. A part of him worried that Coburn hadn’t survived the climb.
“He’s waiting for us at the door,” Noraff replied. “He’s a passable climber, too—for a human, anyway. We decided to try it instead of risking going in a window or something.
”
Garrick studied the edge of the wall and the narrow path—if he could even call it that—of uneven rocks that extended beyond it. In some places, it was only two feet wide. Not ideal for someone of Garrick’s size.
“I wish you’d just stuck to the plan,” Garrick grunted.
“Nonsense. Why make things unnecessarily difficult on ourselves?”
“This way is ‘unnecessarily difficult’ for me.”
Still clinging to the wall with three of his limbs, Noraff waved Garrick’s concerns away. “Just watch your step. Wouldn’t want to tumble down that slope.”
Thanks to the moonlight, Garrick could see clear down into the valley below. His heightened healing, durable bones, and tough skin wouldn’t be enough to save him from that kind of fall. Not even close.
And one misstep could send him there.
Noraff released all of his grips except for his right foot. His body swung toward the ground and then back up to the other side like a pendulum. His limbs latched onto a new set of grips immediately, and he began crawl-climbing along the wall.
“Show-off,” Irwin muttered.
Phesnos stared at Garrick with those keen blue eyes. “Well?”
“You go first this time,” Garrick said. “I’ll bring up the rear.”
“Whatever you say,” Phesnos replied, his voice flat. He took hold of the stones in the wall and started to navigate the rocks at his feet.
“Do you want me to go next?” Irwin asked.
“Yes.” Garrick added, “Be careful.”
Irwin mimicked Phesnos’s approach and stepped onto the path.
Once Irwin had progressed several steps ahead, Garrick shifted his battle-axe to his right hand. He didn’t want it somehow bumping the wall and throwing off his balance. His size alone was enough of an issue.
“So much for managing risks,” he muttered. Garrick glanced around once more to make sure no one was following them, then he too stepped onto the path. His fingers found a grip in the cold rock, and he started forward, taking each step with the utmost caution and care.
As he advanced, he tried not to think about all the things that could go wrong at that moment, but they came to his mind anyway. He tried to push them down and focus on the task at hand.
The path narrowed as the wall curved around the mountainside, and Garrick cursed Coburn’s eyes and Noraff’s climbing skills. He cursed his thick fingers more, though. If he couldn’t manage to find grips, his strength wouldn’t matter.
Ahead of him, it looked like Phesnos had reached the secret entrance, which as far as Garrick could tell was just a cave, but he didn’t have a good angle on it. Irwin was still several yards away but progressing smoothly.
Just pay attention to your own self, Garrick told himself. You’ll get there just fine. This isn’t how you’re gonna die. Falling off of a mountain like some jackass isn’t your end.
Two steps later and with only a mediocre handhold for his left hand, Garrick considered securing the battle-axe on his back again instead of carrying it the rest of the way. He was strong, but it was a heavy weapon, and it had threatened more than once to sway him off-balance.
A gust of frigid night wind howled against the side of the mountain and threatened to knock Garrick loose, but he pressed himself against the wall and held on with all of his strength.
It worked, and he didn’t fall.
But Irwin did.
Chapter Three
“Irwin!” Garrick shouted.
There was no way Garrick could’ve gotten to him in time, but Irwin somehow grabbed ahold of a rock on the way down. Even more miraculous, he managed to hold on, even with his flimsy arms.
But it wouldn’t last. Flimsy arms weren’t good for much.
“Noraff!” Garrick shuffled toward Irwin, careful with each step, but the wind kept howling. He bellowed, “Noraff, get out here!”
The wind swallowed his calls. He’d have to help Irwin himself.
“Hold on, Irwin!” Garrick called to him. The path had shrunk to its narrowest right where Garrick was, so much so that only his toes balanced on the rocky edge.
Irwin hung from the rock two feet below the edge of the path. Even with Garrick’s height, and even if he could manage to reach down despite the narrow ledge, his arms would never reach that far down while crouching.
But he had his battle-axe. He’d kept it in his hand, and now he could lower it to reach Irwin. Or at least, he could try to.
“Hold on!” Garrick called again. He maneuvered his left hand to secure grips as he advanced, and he finally reached Irwin’s position. But the edge of the rock was still narrow, and with Garrick’s size, he couldn’t conceive of how to adjust his footing so he could lower the battle-axe. “Noraff! Get out here! We need your help!”
The raging wind continued to devour his words.
“I—I can’t hold on much longer,” Irwin yelled. “Please hurry!”
Garrick lowered his battle-axe toward Irwin, but it didn’t reach far enough.
“Lower, please?” Irwin begged.
“I’m trying!” When Garrick tried to lower it, his hip pressed against the rock. He was strong, but he couldn’t move the side of a mountain with his hip, so whenever he tried to crouch, he bumped the wall and started to lose his balance.
“I’m sorry to rush you, but my fingers are slipping!” Irwin called.
“I said I’m trying! Noraff!” Garrick had to get lower, but the only way to do that was a wild risk. But he couldn’t let Irwin fall, so he had to risk it. He shouted down to Irwin, “Hang on! I’m going to try something.”
He positioned his left foot parallel with the edge, grabbed a lower grip on the rock wall, and let his right leg dangle over the valley below. Then he squatted down, lowering his whole body and leaning away from the wall.
If his left foot slipped, or if his left hand lost its grip, he was going over. No question about it. But now the head of the battle-axe reached below where Irwin was hanging on.
“Grab the undercurves of the blades, and I’ll pull you up.” Even as Garrick said it, his right arm ached, but he had to do it, so he would. “And don’t grab the sharp part like an idiot.”
Irwin reached for it with his left hand and got his fingers around the battle-axe’s undercurve like Garrick had said. His other hand still gripped the rock. “Alright. I’m going to—”
The rock crumbled under Irwin’s grasp. He reached his other hand up and grabbed ahold of the battle-axe’s other undercurve as the rock tumbled into the valley below.
Irwin’s drop wrenched on Garrick’s arm, and the battle-axe handle slid through his hand. It stopped sliding at the pommel, and Garrick managed to hold on even though every inch of his arm and his shoulder screamed at him to let go.
Worse yet, the jolt from Irwin started to pry Garrick’s fingers from his hold on the rock wall. Now his fingertips barely held his grip in the stone. He fiercely dug them into the stone.
I’m not gonna fall. I won’t.
Garrick inhaled a deep, frigid breath, and roared as he pulled his battle-axe—and Irwin—up. Irwin rose slowly, and Garrick’s back and arm muscles burned.
A brown, hairy arm reached out, grabbed Irwin by his collar, and pulled him to the rocks. Noraff’s voice said, “I’ve got ya!”
Noraff’s help enabled Garrick to readjust his grip on the wall, and he steadied himself. Together, Noraff and Garrick hauled Irwin back up to the rock wall and helped him get a grip.
Once he found his footing again, Irwin said between heavy breaths, “Thank you. I owe you both a great debt.”
“About time you showed up.” Garrick glowered at Noraff, who clung to the wall by all four limbs again. “I yelled for you at least three times.”
“Sorry. Didn’t hear you. I only came out again because you were taking so long.”
“We can’t all climb like you can, Noraff,” Garrick snapped.
“Alright, alright.” Despite hanging from the wall, Noraff held up one of hi
s hands in surrender. “We’re almost there. Can you make it the rest of the way?”
“I believe so,” Irwin said.
“Yes,” Garrick replied, “if you move.”
Noraff complied, and despite the violent winter winds, they completed the rest of the journey across the wall without incident.
The secret entrance was more of a hole carved into the side of the wall than a cave like Garrick had thought. Inside there was room enough for them all to stand but not much to spare beyond that. Recessed in the hole was a weathered wooden door.
To Garrick’s relief, Coburn was alive. Coburn said, “I’ve picked the lock already, but the door is either stuck or too heavy for any of us to open. Do you think you could—”
“Yes,” Garrick answered. His right arm was still sore from hauling Irwin and his battle-axe up, but if yanking an old door open meant he wouldn’t have to go back out on that ledge, he’d do it in a heartbeat. Garrick strapped his battle-axe to his back and grabbed ahold of the door’s iron handle. He looked at the others. “Stand back.”
With one mighty pull and a loud scrape, Garrick wrenched the door open, but only a few inches. Two more hefts got it open wide enough for Coburn and Noraff to slip through, and they worked together with Garrick to get it open even wider.
Phesnos and Irwin went in next, and Garrick entered last.
The interior of the dark room they’d entered stank of rotting meat and fruit. Irwin pulled a vial from his pack, and it glowed with yellow light, illuminating the small space.
They’d entered some sort of antechamber, but the room was empty, so Garrick couldn’t figure out its exact purpose. A door on the wall opposite of the secret entrance was the only other way out.
“Do we shut the secret door?” Irwin asked.
“It was pretty hard to get open. I say we leave it,” Noraff replied.
“We should shut it,” Garrick said. “If anyone comes down here and sees it open, it’ll raise concerns.”
“I don’t think we’re in danger of that,” Phesnos said. “By the way that door refused to open, it’s clear no one has been down here in some time.”
