Return to Inheritance

Chapter III

"That's because you gave me no reason to be afraid," she told him for the second time since he seemed to be insisting on the idea.

They stared for a few moments without speaking, and all of a sudden, Cinder took out his sword again and pointed it at her so quickly he seemed to have teleported. But the girl wouldn't even move a muscle. Seeing her so calm, he sheathed his sword back and muttered: "you really are weird!" The girl smiled.

"Anyway, how long is it until we get there? I'm growing tired."

"Well," he started, taking a moment to think. "We have to get to the other side of this big city so we should be there by sundown if we were to walk at this pace all day without stopping. But we also need a few hours of rest, so we might get there tomorrow morning the soonest." He seemed disappointed.

"Is there no quicker way?"

"Of course there is, but I don't want you to get more hurt than you already are," he pointed out, looking at the girl's wound on her right side of the ribcage.

She had completely forgotten about it as she was busy talking with Cinder.

"Well, the blood clotted so it's all good," she said cheerfully, although expecting it to open if she were to start running.

"Trust me, it won't be good if you were to climb on the roofs and jump from one to another," he said with a weird calm, so that Jade couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or serious. "I'm sure you never climbed a building before. You would surely have more to worry about than that wound of yours." For some reason, the girl gave her answer in a smile.

"Back on my ship, I could climb every mast dozens of times without getting hurt or even tired, and whenever we went treasure hunting on some island, I was the one to climb up the tallest trees to get a better view. I'm sure a building can't be much harder."

The smile she could see under his hood in the dim light seemed to show he was rather impressed, and that gave the girl confidence. A moment later, he started talking.

"In that case I suggest we test your climbing skills until the market opens so we can eat. After that we can have a rest before moving on."

"Sounds like a plan." The girl smiled wildly, waiting for instructions.

Cinder looked around before talking.

"Can you climb this building?" He pointed to the one closest to them, two stories high.

It only had a couple of windows so not much she could hold on to. She looked closer. It was made of stone, so the surface was far from flat. Each hole in the stone meant one more step for climbing. The shadows of early morning made them easier to spot. She was ready to try now.

Little by little Jade gained in altitude as Cinder was right underneath her, ready for a catch if she were to fall off. Seen how hard it was to hold on to those holes in between the stones, she was thankful he was there. Once her foot missed the spot and she lost balance, but as close as she was to falling, she managed to stay up there. Cinder was with his arms wide open, ready to catch her, but sighed in relief when she regained balance and continued climbing. Soon she reached the top, very tired from staying tense for so long, and carefully looked down to see the hooded man looking at her. She was surprised he could see her at all with his hood always hiding his face.

"I did it," she exclaimed.

"You did, congratulations. Now let me show you the speed with which you're supposed to do it."

What took her long minutes to climb only took him a matter of seconds because he didn't lose his balance, didn't spend any time analysing his next move and generally moved his body quicker than she did. Jade stared in wonder.