by W.O. Cassity
***
Adam’s head swooned at the sudden rush upward. Although he knew it was coming, it still caught him a little off guard as their weight came crashing back down and he lost the grip he had with his left hand, momentarily dangling by one arm at Donadeir’s waist. Adam was relieved to know the tree limb he selected to be the pulley was strong enough to hold the weight of both of them, although he was not sure how long that would remain true. The original plan was for him to use two separate ropes on two separate branches, but putting the plan into action took longer than they actually had before the proverbial dinner bell rang.
Adam realized the crowd of goblins had fallen into complete silence after the unanimously shocking sound of awe escaped from them on their prisoner’s daring escape. Adam knew they were only halfway to their destination and were suspended in midair, aligned to the top of the ridge, but they still needed to land on safe ground. Talia’s next action would be to use the makeshift boat hook they made from a long tree branch to grab the rope and pull it closer to her so she could cut them free. Adam looked over to her and realized they miscalculated the boat hook’s reach, and she couldn’t get the rope caught.
Realizing the peril of their predicament, Adam began to swing his body, legs first, toward Talia so they would come closer to her reach.
“What are you doing!” Donadeir cried out after regaining his voice. “You’re making us fall, you’re getting us killed!”
“Closer!” Talia cried out to the both of them. “I can’t reach!”
Panic began to overwhelm Adam at their situation. He looked over to see Talia as she tried to remain focused on the task of securing the line to pull them to safety, but the restlessness and anger from the crowd of enemies below became ominous. Outbreaks of obscenities in some guttural language began emanating from the crowd, and many started to throw rocks and sticks at not only Adam and Donadeir but Talia as well. Other goblins began taking up arms and running back up the valley and he knew they were planning to make their way up to her in order to stop all of them.
Adam had spun halfway back around again and could see Talia over on the cliff’s ridge. She was standing upon another boulder, reaching toward them with the end of a hooked stick as she dodged several incoming rocks the goblins threw at her.
Fear gripped him as he felt something give an inch or so. Their lifeline was about to release them. Adam struggled to keep his grip as Donadeir panicked, using his arms and what movement he could in his legs to try to join with Adam’s swinging motion.
“Swing harder!” Donadier croaked at Adam as he frantically pumped his legs back and forth.
Adam looked up to check the tree branch rustling with their weight, but it looked secure. He then looked to see if the rope was taut. Unable to see where the problem was, he looked down and was paralyzed by fear. Several of the goblins were trying to smash the vine rope tied to the boulder below. Although they didn’t have a knife, they did manage to fray some of the rope Talia wrapped around the boulder, and that is where the tension was starting to give.
“Hurry!” Adam exclaimed to Talia. “They are cutting the ropes!”
“Get off me, River Rat!” Donadeir barked at Adam, as he tried to kick himself free. “There’s too much weight!”
If Donadeir was trying to be a better person like Talia said earlier, Adam couldn’t see it. Looks like old habits die hard, he thought. Adam knew Donadeir was right though. There was too much weight and Donadeir was afraid he would pull them both back down to sudden death if the goblins succeeded in severing their pendulum tie.
Adam cried out to Talia, “Reach!” as they came back into a heavy swing toward the ridge.
