of the intensity of the road
ahead.
I reach to
take hold of the vine. It surprises me how fuzzy it is. I was
expecting it to be smooth and to have to fight it for grip all the
way to the top. I flex my open palms over it a few times and give
myself a stern talking to. Ok
I can do this. I say to myself so that I
don’t look weak in front of Kolt. He comes up beside me and takes
hold of the neighboring vine.
I know he can sense my fear, even though I
don’t detect even the slightest hint that he might feel the same,
and graciously offers to go first.
‘I will climb first, you watch where my feet
touch the rock, study my technique and repeat.’ He instructs me and
trusts his full weight to the vine after tugging on it as hard as
he can. I guess there is no other way to test whether or not it
will take his weight. I do the same and mine uncoils somewhere at
the top. My heart stops as it snakes around and plummets to the
floor around me. It misses my head by inches and slaps the dirt
below my feet with a loud clapping noise.
I hold my
breath and wait for the beast to howl then come running to discover
us. Nothing. I breathe out slowly with a genuine sigh of relief and
try the next vine over. Kolt has stopped to wait for me. I tug it
again and again but it doesn’t give way. My heart is racing. I need
to calm it down or I’m not going to have the energy to make it up
the cliff face which is a sheer vertical wall with no forgiving
recess in which to take rest.
I dig the tips of my toes onto the first
jagged edge and balance all of my weight on my arms. I reach up as
hard and as high as I can with my right hand and pull as hard as I
can. That forces my feet to run up the slippery and slimy rock
face. Kolt watches me stumble up the wall from above and races
ahead every time I catch up with him.
My forearms
start to burn quickly but I know I can’t let go. Even though my
muscles are screaming at me to do it. I hold on with all my will
power and keep pulling and dragging my feet up the wall. I glance
down and realize just how far we have
climbed. I lose all my depth perception right away and my heart
skips a full beat at the sight of the ground below. I tighten my
grip and push on. We climb, grimacing and shouting from the pain of
it, for another few hundred yards into the sky.
The high
pitch shrieks coming from below stops us dead! My foot slips at the
wrong time and my shattered arms relent. I fight the urge to let go
and tighten my grip once more. I only slide down the vine a few
feet but it felt like I fell for a lifetime. My heart races again
and I glance down to see a pack of five beasts salivating below at
the prospect of an exotic meal. They are long, sleek and patterned
with green’s and red colors. Their scaly
skin glistens in the odd sparkle of light filtering through the
dense canopy above. Their jaws snap together like a crocodile’s and
they keep leaping in turn up into the air trying to catch a
flailing limb and pull us down to tear into our fragile
bodies!
I start to breathe erratically but manage to
hold it together.
‘Climb!’ Kolt
shouts at me from high above. I can barely make out his voice for
the muffling effect and through my own consuming fear. I have to
take his advice though or I was dead and eaten. Of all the ways I
can think of to die, that has to be one of the lowest on my list of
least favored ways.
I fight the
burn and numbing pain and slam my boots back into another crack of
the wall. I can see Kolt is only a few meters higher than me so the
beasts below are only leaping and snapping for me. How flattering? I pull hard on my tired arms and snap my foot into another
gaping hole in the soaking wall. I scream in agony as I can feel
the muscles in my arms snapping and creaking to keep up with
demand.
Kolt hangs on
his vine with one tensed and bloated arm. He stretches out his
other, enormous and powerful arm for me as I climb higher and
higher. He grabs for my hand and heaves me up
ahead.
I reach to
take hold of the vine. It surprises me how fuzzy it is. I was
expecting it to be smooth and to have to fight it for grip all the
way to the top. I flex my open palms over it a few times and give
myself a stern talking to. Ok
I can do this. I say to myself so that I
don’t look weak in front of Kolt. He comes up beside me and takes
hold of the neighboring vine.
I know he can sense my fear, even though I
don’t detect even the slightest hint that he might feel the same,
and graciously offers to go first.
‘I will climb first, you watch where my feet
touch the rock, study my technique and repeat.’ He instructs me and
trusts his full weight to the vine after tugging on it as hard as
he can. I guess there is no other way to test whether or not it
will take his weight. I do the same and mine uncoils somewhere at
the top. My heart stops as it snakes around and plummets to the
floor around me. It misses my head by inches and slaps the dirt
below my feet with a loud clapping noise.
I hold my
breath and wait for the beast to howl then come running to discover
us. Nothing. I breathe out slowly with a genuine sigh of relief and
try the next vine over. Kolt has stopped to wait for me. I tug it
again and again but it doesn’t give way. My heart is racing. I need
to calm it down or I’m not going to have the energy to make it up
the cliff face which is a sheer vertical wall with no forgiving
recess in which to take rest.
I dig the tips of my toes onto the first
jagged edge and balance all of my weight on my arms. I reach up as
hard and as high as I can with my right hand and pull as hard as I
can. That forces my feet to run up the slippery and slimy rock
face. Kolt watches me stumble up the wall from above and races
ahead every time I catch up with him.
My forearms
start to burn quickly but I know I can’t let go. Even though my
muscles are screaming at me to do it. I hold on with all my will
power and keep pulling and dragging my feet up the wall. I glance
down and realize just how far we have
climbed. I lose all my depth perception right away and my heart
skips a full beat at the sight of the ground below. I tighten my
grip and push on. We climb, grimacing and shouting from the pain of
it, for another few hundred yards into the sky.
The high
pitch shrieks coming from below stops us dead! My foot slips at the
wrong time and my shattered arms relent. I fight the urge to let go
and tighten my grip once more. I only slide down the vine a few
feet but it felt like I fell for a lifetime. My heart races again
and I glance down to see a pack of five beasts salivating below at
the prospect of an exotic meal. They are long, sleek and patterned
with green’s and red colors. Their scaly
skin glistens in the odd sparkle of light filtering through the
dense canopy above. Their jaws snap together like a crocodile’s and
they keep leaping in turn up into the air trying to catch a
flailing limb and pull us down to tear into our fragile
bodies!
I start to breathe erratically but manage to
hold it together.
‘Climb!’ Kolt
shouts at me from high above. I can barely make out his voice for
the muffling effect and through my own consuming fear. I have to
take his advice though or I was dead and eaten. Of all the ways I
can think of to die, that has to be one of the lowest on my list of
least favored ways.
I fight the
burn and numbing pain and slam my boots back into another crack of
the wall. I can see Kolt is only a few meters higher than me so the
beasts below are only leaping and snapping for me. How flattering? I pull hard on my tired arms and snap my foot into another
gaping hole in the soaking wall. I scream in agony as I can feel
the muscles in my arms snapping and creaking to keep up with
demand.
Kolt hangs on
his vine with one tensed and bloated arm. He stretches out his
other, enormous and powerful arm for me as I climb higher and
higher. He grabs for my hand and heaves me up
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