Living Legends

25) Ascension

The cliff face seemed larger than life as Hayley struggled onto the nearest ledge.  In a matter of seconds, she was already breathing hard and wishing she hadn’t taken Jack’s place.  I’m a runner, not a rock climber.

            Every few feet she advanced, she looked up at the Tree of Death to see if she was making any progress.  Its haunting features only taunted her, and she didn’t dare look down to see how high she was above the camp.

            “Hey, Cat Eyes!”

            She shoved her toes against the stone gripped the ledge as hard as she could.  “What?” she called, sneaking a glance over her shoulder.

            “Catch!” It was Clyde.  He tossed her a small black object.  Hayley automatically reached out to grab it, forcing her body to lean back away from the cliff.  A spike of fear jolted through her limbs.  She quickly grabbed onto the ledge with her free hand, shuddering.  That had been close—too close.

            Fortunately, she had caught a string wrapped around the object between her fingers.  She draped the string around her neck and glanced down.  Binoculars.

            Ten minutes later, Hayley had advanced only a third of the way up the cliff.  Her fingers were stiff and sore from latching onto nooks and crannies.  A cold sweat broke out on her forehead.  She knew it only took one misstep for her to fall to her death—or end up with several broken bones.  Or become paralyzed.  Or—

            Dang it, don’t think like that, she scolded herself.  Still gripping a ledge like her life depended on it, she looked up at the Three and groaned.  It didn’t look any closer than before.

            She continued zigzagging up the cliff face, pausing constantly to plan her route and decide where to put her hands and feet.  She never once looked down, though Clyde shouted at her every once in a while.  She wondered what Jack was thinking.  Was he worried sick? Was his heart pounding erratically in his chest, anticipating a slip or tumble? Once again, a rush of fear shot through Hayley’s system, and she forced herself to continue.

            She had no clue how she was going to get down.  The thought had crossed her mind multiple times.  She knew sometimes it was easier going up than it was going down.  Midway up the cliff, she stopped on a large ledge and rested, trying to keep her thoughts focused on one thing and one thing only: the Tree.

            “Easy, now,” she told herself.  With her feet firmly planted on the ledge, she continued to grip the cliff with one hand while grabbing the binoculars around her neck with her other.  She fumbled for a moment, her fingers slipping on the string, before finally bringing the binocs to her eyes.  She slowly raised her head and stared up at the Tree of Death, which was ringed with gold due to the rising sun.  It gave the Tree an eerie orange glow.

            Hayley realized her hand was shaking as she peered through the binocs.  It took her about a minute to make the necessary adjustments to focus on the Tree.  Once she did, she carefully panned from the top of the Tree to the bottom, studying all the intertwined branches.

            “Do you see anything?” Clyde yelled.

            “No!”

            “Then go higher and keep looking!”

            Those were the exact words she didn’t want to hear.  She was already so high up that one slip would mean certain death.  How much higher did Clyde want her to go?

            Instead of reaching for the next crevasse, Hayley stayed rooted to the spot and looked through the binoculars again.  This time, she thought she saw something carved onto the bottom of the trunk.  A hopeful smile grew on her face when she realized it resembled a triangle.  Yes!

            “I think I’ve got it!” she hollered.  A chorus of whoops and cheers reached her ears.  With trembling fingers, she slowly focused in on the faint triangle until she could make out the words written inside: l’eau.

            Her smile disappeared.  The word meant ‘water’ in English.  Again? she thought hopelessly.  Maybe when she and Jack closed their eyes, the accompanying clue would help narrow things down a bit.  Or not.

            She dropped the binocs and prepared to head back down.  As soon as her free hand gripped onto the cliff face, one of her legs automatically stepped towards the ledge directly beneath her.  The sudden shift in movement caused her foot to slide down a few inches.  The ledge she had been standing on began to crumble.  Before Hayley realized it, she was sliding down the face of the cliff, her hands frantically grabbing for something to hold onto.  She screamed, her eyes wild with fear.  The feeling of weightlessness made her heart jump into her throat.  She was falling—falling to her death.