The Book of Trials || ONC 2019

Chapter Fourteen

Evyne burst out the back door, myself close behind her. The grass brushed against my feet and the small stable peeked up from beyond the front fence, the wind making the distance seem desolate and empty. We raced along the field, crossing the yard in moments, and crashed through the gate into the stable. Evyne's head whipped around in search of Birdy, then her eyes locked on the very steed in the far corner and she cried out, jumping forward and patting her for injuries.

"So I guess the curse isn't referring to Birdy, then," I said, leaning against the wall.

Evyne turned and glared daggers at me. "Yeah, next time I'll joke about your pet dying."

"It wasn't a joke!" I raised my hands in surrender, but as she joined me in leaving the stables, I lowered them again. "On a more serious note, though, who is the curse referring to?"

That seemed to be the question, for she simply shook her head and ran ahead of me.

Atlas and Lefeli were on the porch with curious expressions. As we passed them, Evyne explained that no, we had not discovered anything, and no, we were not planning on running away, either. She had an interesting way of wording it, though, so it got the point across quite clearly that she did not intend to answer any further questions.

I lagged behind, chewing my lip and pretending to fix my skirt. That was the first time I had been wrong about the book and it kept itching at the back of my mind, refusing to go away. If not Birdy, who could possibly be the traveling horse? What did it mean by "fall"? Was there something I was missing?

Someone tapped my shoulder and I jumped rather unceremoniously, running headlong into Atlas' annoyingly attractive gaze. I pushed him away.

"What do you want?" I snapped.

"Woah, I just..." He backed up and spoke very slowly, almost as if plotting out the words in another language. "Wondered... what you were thinking."

"A penny for my thoughts, huh? Why do you care?"

Even as I watched him squirm under my scrutiny, my heart thudded against my chest and my mind spun a hundred directions—too many of those being the infinite replay of our last encounter. The warmness of his embrace, the scent of his clothes, his gentle touch—

You lunatic. It had just been an awkward hug after I broke down sobbing like a complete mess. That was all.

I stomped away from Atlas midway through his response to my question.

+++

The next morning after making breakfast for Mrs. Mafe and cleaning every nook and cranny of their home, we loaded the cart, hooked Birdy up, and started off toward Azareba.

We were dead quiet, the four of us. Lefeli studied the cursed book, Evyne reigned Birdy, Atlas sat with his hands on his lap, and I sat on the opposite end of the bench trying not to stare at him.

Something was clearly wrong with me. I had a cursed book telling the future and trying to kill us all, and yet all I could think about was how soft Atlas' hair looked. Even though my body was covered in bandages and bruises and my hypothermia still hadn't fully healed, I couldn't stop staring at his hands. Where had they been? What was his story?

Why did I bloody care?

I grumbled, blatantly frustrated with myself, and pulled my hood up over my head. I stared at my own hands folded in my lap, at how dark they were, how fair his were, my eyes deep brown, his a snowy blue. While my face was rounder, his jaw was prominent, his face sharp and purposeful, and his hair was much prettier than mine, which was always curly and fuzzy and up in my face. I always pulled my hair back because it was so unruly and yet how could his be so straight and dark and beautiful?

Atlas glanced over at me and I quickly looked back down at my hands.

This was just childish. I was childish. How could I so openly ogle at a boy like him? He was horrible. How was this fair? Stupid mind. Stupid, stupid—

"Woah, woah!" Evyne called, yanking Birdy to a stop and jumping over the wagon bench to the road.

I looked up ahead to see a sudden drop where the path had crumbled to a ravine below. Looking farther, the narrow portion of the road that remained hung over the gap in a thin layer of dirt and rocks like a hunting trap waiting to fall at the simplest touch. I shuddered.

Evyne was already swearing under her breath. "Any ideas?"

"Can we go another way?" I climbed off the bench as well.

"No," she said. "Any other way will take us at least two weeks longer and we don't have enough food to last that long."

"And what about building a bridge?" Atlas suggested.

She thought about it for a moment, glancing at various trees and branches before huffing once. "No, it would take all day to build a bridge with the tools we have on us."

We went silent for a moment, all of us racking our brains for a solution.

"What about that?" Lefeli piped in, pointing at a patch of fallen trees a little ways down the hill. "What if we took a tree and used it as a brace as we push the cart across the mountainside beside the path? It's not that far and it won't take as long as building a full bridge."

We all stared at it, calculating. Finally, Evyne nodded. "It just might work. If we put a flat tree on top of the remaining path, I think it will be strong enough to support the cart if we push the rest of it on the mountain."

"Okay," I said, clapping my hands together. "Evyne and Atlas can bring a fallen tree from the dead patch and Lefeli and I can clear off the mountainside next to the path for the cart to cross. Good?"

Everyone agreed without a better plan and we set in motion. Lefeli blasted up ahead and I followed her, clearing out large weeds and pulling back branches to form a haphazard path. Meanwhile, Evyne and Atlas hoisted one of the dead trees up the incline toward our makeshift path.

The roots grated against my hands as I yanked them out, throwing them to the side and pulling the next potential obstacle for Birdy and the cart. I parted bushes and helped Lefeli clear a small tree, then by the time my whole upper half was covered in soil and a few scattered thorns, Evyne and Atlas had brought a long, circular tree from the dead patch down the incline. Lefeli and I watched as they both took a side and slowly lowered it down over the crumbled road, the log making loud grinding noises, snapping and crackling against the pebbles on the path until it thumped down on the other end of the rockslide. I felt the impact in the ground beneath me, then we all waited an anxious moment before Lefeli whooped, a giddy grin on her face. Evyne pinched her and she recoiled, her smile turning instantly to a pout. "We haven't gotten to the hard part yet," Evyne snapped.

We all then headed to the cart, Evyne taking a spot next to Birdy and the rest of us supporting the front and back of the wagon. Thanks to Birdy's strength, the cart easily scooted up to the ledge, but we all paused for a moment to stare down the ravine at the steep, jagged rocks jutting from below. Before them, hundreds of trees and bushes and vines pushed up from the earth and spiraled in mazes of matted, wooded plant life. The sheer distance down the mountain made a visible jitter echo between us.

Then we carried on. Evyne coached Birdy along the log very lightly, the wagon pulling along behind them and hitching its way up onto an angle off the path. My breaths became tight as I stepped onto the aging deadwood bridge, the bark peeling and crumbling into the vast fall beneath us. I guided one of the cart's sides, Lefeli beside me and Atlas on the other end, and we inched across the narrow path of our making, each of us silent as though our voices were lost somewhere on the other side of the mountain.

Suddenly, a loud crack of wood broke the quiet and Birdy's startled neigh followed, her front legs rearing upward in a frenzy and causing the log beneath us to splinter. Atlas and Lefeli moved forward to stop Birdy, but the movement on the log only caused it to creak and groan more.

Then, with a final, breathtaking snap, the very wood beneath us gave through and tumbled downward toward the gaping ravine.

————— • —————

Hiya! Have you ever fallen down a ravine? I haven't, but I doubt Veia and the crew will be able to say that about themselves for much longer. Who knows, though, they might surprise us! If you enjoyed this chapter, give it a vote and share your thoughts!