Ander - Part 1: Subchapter 8
8
"This is the worst idea ever!" Kiana grumbled, wrenching her cloak free of pesky brambles for what felt like the hundredth time. Honestly, the way they were constantly grabbing and tearing at her clothes you'd almost think they were doing it on purpose!
She picked the night of the new moon specifically so she wouldn't be spotted sneaking out of the village, but that decision was coming back to bite her. The woods were so thick, the trees so suffocating, barely any light from the sicklemoon shone through the canopy at all, and the mountain wasn't doing her any favours either, looming up on either side as if it wanted to give her a great big hug.
She happened upon this gap in the mountainside out of pure happenstance. She thought of it as a kind of 'crack' zigzagging its way through the mountain, but it was far too wide for that title. This was more like a natural pass, wide enough so she could barely see the walls of solid rock through the gaps in the trees, rising up to the East and West. Of course, some light would've helped. Regardless, she was thankful for this stroke of luck, since it meant she wouldn't have to go all the way around this accursed mountain.
She looked to the sky, hoping to determine if she was still going in the right direction, but the glimmers of starlight shining through the leaves as they shifted in the wind made the most horrible faces, and it was all too easy to imagine those were the faces of the gods themselves looking down at her in disapproval.
Unnerved by her own imaginings, she decided to mind her feet from now on, and damn the sky. Probably safer that way in any case. Wouldn't want to fall down for a second time. As if falling wasn't the least of her worries right now.
Not wanting to delve into her limited supplies too early, she figured she would be able to scavenge some berries from these woods, or some mushrooms at the very least - she knew which ones were safe to eat - but she hasn't seen anything like that since she left the village border. How long ago was that? It felt like hours and hours. Her feet were starting to sting with every step she took; the dead leaves, sharp rocks, broken branches and even the ground itself seemed intent on cutting into her footpads. And that's not even mentioning the burn she could feel building up inside her calves, made even worse by the steep incline.
In the dark, it took a while for her to realize that the ground was evening out. She didn't let that get her hopes up, though. This 'path' (for lack of a better word) has evened out before, even dipped down on a few occasions, but it always soared right back up again a dozen steps later.
But that wasn't happening this time. If anything, the angle was steadily declining, going downhill at a sharper and sharper rate. But surely she couldn't be past the halfway mark already?
Throwing caution to the wind, she slipped and slid her way down the mountain pass, miniature landslides of pebbles and dirt preceding her progress. This mountain always looked so huge from the village, so impossibly tall and imposing. And, in a way, she supposed it was, but something she never knew (and she was pretty sure even the Elders didn't know about this) was just how thin the mountain was!
Tall? Undoubtedly.
Wide? Undeniably.
Thick? Hardly! This was more like a giant wall than anything else, and how fitting that image was, Kiana thought as she dug her heels into the dirt too keep from sliding too fast. Yes, a giant wall that has kept her inside that village her whole life. Of course, she never considered the village to be anything so crude as a prison, quite the contrary. She loved the village and the Foxes therein (mostly, anyway) but that didn't change how she never had the option of leaving if she wanted to. That right was reserved for the hunters and traders, and even they hardly ever ventured beyond the mountain's shadow. And if you are denied such freedom, isn't that the exact same thing as being locked in a prison, even if it is a prison you love?
Kiana was so caught up with the question of whether a prison you love could still be called a prison that she didn't even notice the steep drop-off rushing to meet her. Even if she was fully focussed, she might have missed it anyway. In the dark, it was just a solid sheet of black against black.
All Kiana knew was that one second she was happily clambering her way down the mountainside, leaving all her problems behind, the next her feet passed over nothing but empty air. Apparently skidding down a mountain pass at night wasn't the smartest thing to do.
Too startled to scream, she fell onto her back and made a mad grab for anything she could reach, but all she managed to do was cause even more avalanches of rock and shale. She twisted her body around and dug her hands as deep into the earth as she could, gasping as some of her nails tore free under the strain. She could feel the teeth of the mountain even through her dress, scraping against her belly as she started to slide over the edge.
No! Your story can't end like this! Your story hasn't even begun yet! she thought, desperately seeking purchase. Were the gods watching this right now? Did they deem this a rightful punishment for going against her parents wishes?
She looked up, but there were no faces in the branches, no shards of light leering down at her. Either they simply didn't care whether she lived or died, or they have abandoned her, just like she abandoned her own family.
Or maybe they're just a stupid bunch of leaves dancing in a stupid breeze, Kiana! Now stop this foolish fancy and grab something already!
Reaching blindly, her hands closed over the first solid thing they came in contact with: a pointy piece of rock jutting out of the ground. It tipped back as her weight pulled on it, and a tiny stream of dirt trickled down into her face, stinging her eyes. She turned her face away and fought the urge to cough, but even this slight movement caused the rock to tilt even more.
Breathing in harsh, uncontrollable gasps, she realized she was literally holding on for dear life, hanging above a black expanse of nothingness.
Kiana was on the verge of panic, desperate to find a foothold of any kind, but unable to move freely out of fear of dislodging her only lifeline.
Moving slowly, but urgently, she tried to find purchase with her feet, feeling around for anything that could hold her weight. They scraped against the rough edge of the mountain, dislodging loose rocks and chunks of earth. She could hear them clattering down, bumping against each other as they raced to the bottom.
"Oh, dear Gods, please no..." she whispered as the burn in her arms started to intensify. It felt like her shoulders were about to be torn right out of their sockets.
Gritting her teeth, she lowered herself ever so slightly, reaching down with her toes, hoping to -
She was so accustomed to things going disastrously wrong as of late that she didn't immediately believe it when her feet touched down on solid rock.
Before she allowed herself to fully trust in this piece of good fortune, she felt around a bit to determine its dimensions. It stretched off to the left and right as far as she dared to reach with her feet, but stuck out no more than a quarter of a stride from the base of the drop-off, forming a ledge just broad enough for her slender frame.
Still holding on to the stone above her head for balance, she lowered herself onto this ledge, and the relief she felt in her arms as the strain lifted was even better than sinking into the hot springs at the end of a long day, which was a funny thought to have, considering her body was pressed up against a slab of rock as cold as winter snow.
She blew out her breath in one long, shuddering sigh, her heartbeat still wild in her chest, but slowing down. She could feel her whole body shaking from the shock as the adrenaline started to leave her body, and that left her with an even more unpleasant sensation: the hot throbbing in her right index and middle fingers. Where her nails used to be.
"Calm down, Kiana, calm down," she whispered to herself. "You're perfectly fine, so just calm down..."
Wait, 'perfectly fine'? Just how in the name of all that is holy do you intend to get down from here?
Oh dear. A valid question.
This ledge was too thin, and the slab of rock it was attached to had a slight backward slant to it, so Kiana had no choice but to lean back a little. That meant there was no way she could possibly let go of that rock above her head, at least not without falling who knows how far.
Well, let's start with that, then.
Kiana cautiously tried to look back over her shoulder, but it was simply too dark to see exactly how high up she was. Those pebbles earlier sure sounded like they fell a good ways, though. She nudged another rock off her ledge with her foot and listened very carefully as it clickety-clacked its merry way down, bouncing off its fellows. It only lasted for a second or so, then stopped. But does that mean she's close to the bottom, or did it get stuck?
Kiana strained her ears, willing them to tell her something a bit more useful. At first there was nothing, but then, so softly she couldn't tell for sure whether it was real or just an illusion created by her tired mind: the sound of running water.
She held her breath and listened to that soft sound until she was absolutely sure it was real. Unfortunately, that still didn't tell her much. It could be a tiny little stream just a stone's throw away, or it could be a massive river carving its way through the landscape miles below.
Use your head, Kiana! It hasn't rained in weeks. Even the Farmer's River back home isn't much more than a trickle right now.
That thought was slightly reassuring, but it still didn't tell her how she was supposed to get down from here. She might be able to survive a fall like that, but if she broke her legs she'd be as good as -
The rock she was holding onto tilted alarmingly in her hands and she suddenly found herself leaning back and staring straight up at the starry sky, terrified. Breathing heavily, her eyes wide, it felt like her stomach somehow managed to flip itself upside-down.
Don't move! Don't move! she thought in a desperate kind of mantra.
It didn't help.
The rock slipped free of its meagre blanket of earth. She could see its every movement even as she felt gravity take hold of her with its greedy fingers. The way it flipped up a small cloud of dust as it escaped its moor, bowing forward as if to bid her farewell. The way it tumbled, end over end, never coming closer, never going farther, because it was falling, just like her.
She could feel the scream building inside her chest, ready to burst, but all thoughts left her mind as she looked past the rock that seemed to float before her and saw the Face shining through the gap in the mountain above.
It was smiling at her.
Kiana screamed, not in fear for her life but in horror. Horror at the realization that those Faces really were the faces of her mother's gods, and not only did they have no compassion for her strife, they found it amusing.
Her scream, as well as her thoughts, were cut off instantly as she struck the ground.
For an instant there was only pain...
... and then there was nothing.
I'm back, and here are two subchapters for your enjoyment, just as promised. :)
This has been the eighth subchapter in my serial novel, "Ander". If you enjoyed it, please help keep my face un-mauled by irritable ostriches by dropping me a donation. Thank you! ^_^
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