Past Pirate Adventure

Chapter 2

Danny's P.O.V.

We reached the base of the monolith to the left – there was a small island at the foot of it - and pulled the row boat to shore.

I ran over towards the side of the monolith and ran my finger over its surface, "Just remember to be careful. The surface is very hard and jagged, we can easily hurt ourselves." I cautioned. I turned towards Theo and I inspected his arms, "Hmm... I think you'll be able to do it." I said with a teasing wink.

"Dove, I've scaled the side of buildings before and I've had quite the bit of climbing experience with the ship's ratlines. Besides, as Captain I have to be quite strong. I think it's more you we should be concerned about, you have such skinny arms." Theo shot back. I stuck my tongue out at him and lightly pushed him.

I looked up and started mapping out a safe route to climb in my head.

"Try following my path as precisely as you can and don't try to be 'macho'. I know you're Captain, your men and I respect you, and I know you're used to giving orders instead of following them, but today it's going to work differently – you'll be following my orders." I said.

"Aye aye Cap'n." Theo said mockingly.

"Whatever." I said pushing him again.

With a deep breath, I began climbing.

Deep, even breaths. Get your rhythm. Left hand. Left foot. Right hand. Right foot. Left hand. Left foot...

Once I got my rhythm, things went by smoothly.

"Let's stop for a minute." I yelled down at him over the slight wind.

I stretched my muscles and looked up then down. We were about halfway and my arms were starting to burn a bit. I flexed my fingers and loosened them up. While I was playing with different ideas on what to do next, Theo seemed to think something was the matter.

"What's the wrong?" Theo asked from under me.

"I'm just thinking. There's a chunk of rock gone from the side of this monolith. We can't go around it; there's no openings for our feet and hands. We're just going to have to be careful. Also, my fear of heights is starting to catch up with me; I've just been able to suppress it a lot with rock climbing because I've been doing it for so long." I said truthfully. I took a few more seconds to gather myself and then continued.

I placed my foot carefully onto the next foothold on my right and followed with a handhold to the right as well. A few more moves in a diagonal line and the difficult part arrived. I told Theo to stop for a moment and then looked down at him, averting my eyes from the ground.

"Okay, I'm basically going to be doing a very small jump," I'm emphasizing 'small' so Theo doesn't start freaking out, but that doesn't mean I still didn't get a look from him, "It's more like a stretch. Make sure you mirror my movements precisely so you don't slip or fall. Also, make sure when you jump, you use your legs and not your arms." I instructed.

Alright, before I chicken out...

I firmly grasped onto the handhold just above the missing section of rock and placed my foot on the ledge the niche made. My other hand and foot followed site. Next, I stretched even higher and grabbed on with both my hands onto the next set of holds. I gritted my teeth painfully as I pulled myself up and safely positioned my feet into secure places.

"Your turn." I called after moving up so he could go next.

Theo took a deep breath - as I had, but his had no signs of fear - and followed suite. He clearly had less of a difficulty than I had had pulling himself up. He securely grabbed onto the next holds and smirked at me. "Did you ever have a moment of doubt?" I simply rolled my eyes at him and continued climbing.