Novel Jumper

Chapter Twelve

 Lilia was so utterly shocked that her mouth fell open as if to cry out, but no scream emerged. Connor dangled in midair far above her. His shout - he had had no problem displaying his surprise, or possibly his pain - still echoed around the forest and he was already struggling against the rope tied tightly around his ankle, his face turning red from the rush of blood.

"Connor!" Lilia shrieked, finally finding her voice. "Oh my god!"

Connor tried to pull himself up with sheer upper body strength alone to reach the rope, but fell back down again with a gasp, his face redder than ever. His duffel bag had been ripped from his arm as he had rocketed upward, so Lilia could only hope he had a dagger in his boot or on his waist to free himself.

Something crashed to the forest floor next to her, making her jump about two feet into the air. On closer inspection, Connor's knife holster was now dangling, empty - gravity had worked its magic on the blade

"I can't cut myself down!" Connor called in the most irritated voice he had used since the hours after her arrival, and Lilia's heart, still beating wildly, missed a step. It was now up to her to get Connor down.

She glanced wildly around the forest, assessing her surroundings, and dug into the contents of her duffel bag until she found her dagger. Dashing over to the tree on which the rope and Connor were tied, she cautiously began to ascend it.

"Please be careful," Connor begged her. Lilia was momentarily touched by his concern until he added, "If you fell, nobody else would be around to cut me down."

"I'm sure whoever set that trap would be around presently," Lilia retorted through gritted teeth as she weighed the options of two possible handholds above her and decided to take the left branch. It was a good choice - the limb held her weight steadily.

"Very funny," Connor responded, sounding breathless. Lilia knew, what with the blood rushing to his head, that he was in danger of passing out soon. She climbed faster, trying not to think about the five feet or so that was already below her. Get to Connor, get to Connor, get to Connor.

Finally, she reached the branch where the rope was tied and had a rather important thought that she was very glad she had thought of in time. "If I cut you down now, you'll fall ten feet onto your neck," she pointed out.

Connor started swinging himself back and forth until he finally managed to twist upward and grab the rope so he was now facing the right way up. "Pull me up!" he demanded, voice tense. Lilia could only imagine how much physical exertion it took to do what he was doing.

Lilia doubted that she could do so, but ignored this and grabbed the rope, bracing her back against the tree's trunk and pulling with all of her might. Connor helped by ascending the rope slowly with his hands and feet. Slowly but surely, he got closer and closer to the tree branch.

Lilia's arm muscles strained with the effort - and she was hyped on adrenaline. She could only imagine how Connor's felt, what with having to support his entire weight and move himself upward.

It seemed like an eternity before he flopped across the branch, panting for air. Lilia weakly tugged at his sleeve to make him crawl closer to her and climbed carefully down to the branch below them so there wasn't too much stress put on one tree limb at a time. From there, she was able to cut the rope completely off of Connor's ankle.

They slowly ascended the tree, Connor favoring his right ankle, the one that the rope noose had closed around. Lilia could only hope that it wasn't sprained or worse, broken.

When they reached the bottom, Connor sank down and rested his back against the tree trunk, breathing hard. Sweat beaded on his forehead. "Bag," he managed, and Lilia, not knowing or caring which one was whose, grabbed both bags and brought them to him.