The Fly Guild by Todd Shryock Page A

excitement. He moved up and across
several more feet. At one point, he couldn’t see the line anymore and wondered
if he had left it, but Red eye said nothing, so he moved on. He could see the
holds below from the alternate path. He was right; had he taken that path, he would
have been stuck. But now there were a few narrow cracks to stick his fingers in
to and a few stones that stuck out just enough to put a toe on, though they
were covered in algae.
    He moved his right hand out, found
the crack and locked his fingers into it. His left hand found another crack
slightly above that. He carefully placed his toe on a small outcropping and
found another one for the other foot. He was pressed against the wall as much
as possible. He managed to slide over a few more feet using similar cracks and
he found the line again; this time, it went almost straight up.
    Quinton glanced up and could see
the bell fifteen feet above him. The climb was now agonizingly slow. Every
crack and toehold was damp or slippery. The wall seemed to lean out, as if
trying to dump off this climbing parasite.
    Red eye continued to yell curses
and threatened to end his climb many times, but he ignored him and pressed on.
The other boys began cheering him on. Carefully, he searched out every crack
and felt along the wall for every small outcropping on which he could later
place a foot to steady himself. His fingers were aching and bleeding in places,
and his knees were bruised and sore, but he kept slowly pushing upward.
    The handholds were very tenuous,
and his right foot kept slipping off its small perch, threatening to bring him
down, but each time, he was able to replace it and keep to the wall. He could
see the bell as he kept his face pressed to the stone. He thought he could
probably reach it, but to remove one hand to try to ring it was a huge risk. He
wasn’t sure what to do.
    “You have ten seconds, maggot,”
said Red eye, “And then you are done.”
    Quinton thought about reaching for
the bell, then decided instead to try to find one more crack to pull himself up
into reach of it. He put most of his weight on his left hand, which had the
best grip, then did a quick search with his right hand. He was starting to lose
his grip with his left hand when his right hand found a surprisingly big hole
that had rough stone in it. He grabbed hold and pulled himself up another foot,
finding a similar hole for his left hand. His feet finally slipped out, but his
hands held him. The boys were yelling like mad below him, though he wasn’t sure
whether they were cursing him or cheering him anymore. Using only his left hand
to hold his weight, he reached out and slapped the bell.
    The bell slapped from side to side,
ringing out crazily from his blow. The boys were cheering below. He regrabbed
with his right hand and began working his way down the slippery wall, which
took some time. When he was within five feet of the ground, he kicked out from
the wall and landed on his feet, exhausted.
    He was mobbed by the other maggots,
all of whom were slapping him on the back and mussing his hair.
    “Silence!” yelled Red eye. The
noise immediately subsided. He approached Quinton, the boys parting before him
like the waves part for a large ship. “Do you understand what you have just
done?” he said, anger in his voice.
    Quinton looked at him for a moment,
then replied. “Yes, I have won, Master Red eye.” For a brief moment, Quinton
thought he saw a smile start to form in one corner of the man’s mouth, but then
it was gone.
    The man’s bloodshot eyes went wild
for a moment, his pale hand reaching into his robe. Quinton took a step back as
it flashed back out. In it was a large piece of bread. The boy gladly took the
bread, and the boys cheered once more. He stuffed a large piece in his mouth
and was so elated he began handing out chunks to those around him, which
increased the cheering even more. Red eye turned away and walked back down the
alley to the