Aaron
"INDIGO!" I yelled, forgetting about my plan to stay quiet. Her wide eyes bulged with shock and fear as she fell into the chasm.
I lunged out and stretched my arm as far as it would go, trying to grab Indigo's hand. Her fingers latched onto mine at the last second, and I felt a giant yank on my arm, nearly pulling it from its socket. The momentum sent me falling off the trail too, but in a fit of desperation I twisted and stabbed my sword hard into the cliff side, hoping to stop our fall. Surprisingly, it actually worked. But we were now suspended in midair with a thousand foot drop below us and no way up.
My palms began to sweat. Indigo kicked her legs and tried to get a tighter grasp on my hand. Even so, I could feel her grip slipping. What do I do? What do I do?!
"Aaron, there are Evils out there," Indigo gasped. I looked down at her pale face. "I'm pretty sure we just alerted them to our presence. We need to get out of here now."
"Okay. Okay. Um..." There would be time for apologies later. Right now, we need to find a way up. No doubt Lucian and the rest of our friends had heard the commotion, but by the time they found us it would be too late. And I can't hang here forever.
A loose chunk of dirt hit me on the face. I looked up and saw that my sword was bending, dangerously close to being dislodged. We needed to act fast.
"Indigo, I'm going to swing you up, okay? I think I can call on the wind to push us up a bit, but I'm not sure if it will carry our entire weight," I called down to Indigo. She nodded grimly, understanding my plan. I began to rock back and forth like a pendulum, gaining momentum.
My arm burned. The strain of holding Indigo up was catching up to me. Gravity didn't exactly help either, constantly trying to tug us down. Up above, did I hear the rustling of Evils?
"Ready, Indigo?" I called out, sweat beading my forehead. "On the count of three, I'm going to try and get you up there." I pointed at a lower part of the trail to the right of us with my chin, within reach. It would be easier to climb up there.
"Okay, Aaron." Indigo struggled to hold on to me.
"One—two—three!" I swung my arm one last time and let go, calling on a gust of wind at the same time to cushion Indigo. She sprang, using the momentum we built up, and her hands clawed at the edge of the trail. I concentrated, strengthening my control over the wind, until Indigo successfully climbed onto the trail.
My sword creaked, and I saw cracks forming above my head. It wasn't going to hold.
"Aaron!" Indigo held out her hand, and I took it, letting go of my sword. She hauled me back onto the trail and we both collapsed, panting. I crawled over the edge and carefully grabbed the hilt of my sword, trying to dislodge it. Indigo pushed herself up and tried to see over the top edge of the chasm, checking on Evils. She turned back to me, her face pale. "Hurry, I think I see movement."
With a final yank, I managed to pull my sword from the cliff. The bad news is, cracks began to spread right underneath my feet, like a spider web. Could that one stab crack open an entire cliff side?
With no time to pause and think, Indigo and I clambered down the narrow trail, slipping on loose dirt and tripping over rocks. Behind us, a low rumble sounded, and the entire cliff side began to shake.
"Earthquake?" I called out to Indigo who was a few paces ahead. She whipped back with round, frantic eyes.
"I think the cliff is falling apart!" She pointed at something behind me. I turned around to look. Sure enough, the crack that my sword had caused had widened, and large, boulder-sized chunks of the chasm were falling into the gorge below. I picked up my pace, not wanting to fall to my death amid the trembling earth.
A war horn sounded, far above us, followed by the movement of a considerable size of people—or monsters. The Evils have been alerted. We were now practically running down the steep slope, which was probably not a very good idea.
Sure enough, just as we reached the bottom, Indigo slipped on something and toppled forward. Not stopping myself in time, I tripped over her and fell face first into the dirt. Ignoring the bruises and scraped skin I pushed myself up and reached out to help Indigo up. "Come on! We have to move!"
Indigo seemed oddly pale as she wobbled to her feet. A fleeting thought in my mind said that she's probably still recovering from the shock of almost falling off a cliff. A pang of guilt stabbed me in the gut, and I grabbed her hand, supporting her as we hurried along. The mist had thinned a bit, and soon I could make out the figures of Jason and Rachel running towards us.
"Where were you guys? What happened?" Jason asked breathlessly.
"Long story. But we have to move. The cliff is breaking apart and there are Evils above, alerted to our presence. We need to find a different way out." I spoke rapidly as we made our way to our cave.
"What?! Evils? They're really here?" Rachel exchanged a look with Jason, who cursed under his breath.
"What's wrong?" Indigo asked, picking up the subtle expressions.
"It's Katherine," Jason said grimly. "She went outside to stretch and just suddenly collapsed. She was feverish when we got to her, and she started screaming, just like that day in the inn. Said Lord Victor was trying to get into her brain again."
"She's stable now, but just really weak and pale," Rachel added. "We suspected that the Evils must be near, just not right above us and awakened. How are we supposed to fight with our best warrior gone?"
"The rest of us still have our powers. We can do this, guys." Indigo, a true leader, was trying to instill confidence into ourselves.
We came within sight of the cave. Lucian was supporting Katherine, one of her arms slung over his shoulder. Ashley rushed out of the cave, carrying our satchels and whistling to the untied horses. They trotted over, neighing nervously.
"Aaron! Indigo! Thank the gods, they found you two." Ashley caught sight of the four of us. She frowned slightly as she took in the battered sights of Indigo and me. "Oh dear, more injuries. Anything serious?"
"Um, I don't think so." I shook my head.
Indigo straightened, pulling her hand from mine. I didn't realize that I was still holding her hand in my grasp. "We need to move out. The Evils know we're here."
"Back the way we came?" Ashley questioned. Indigo shook her head.
"That path is destroyed." Rachel answered. "We need to find a new way out."
A rumble above us showered us with small pebbles and dirt. We scrambled for cover. "Everyone, get on your horses! We need to move!" Indigo yelled.
"Katherine, are you able to ride alone?" Lucian asked worriedly. "I can ride with you if you want."
"I'll ride with her," Ashley volunteered. "Jason, can you ride alone this time?"
"Sure," Jason said, though he seemed like he didn't want to leave Ashley.
I whistled for our black stallion and helped Indigo up into the saddle before mounting myself. I made sure that her arms were wrapped securely around me; I didn't want her to get into an accident again. "Where to?"
"Straight forward," Indigo commanded, peering around my body at the empty ravine in front of us. "Everyone follow close!"
We took off, thundering down the chasm. Up above, I could hear the commotion the Evils were making as they tried to find a way down. The bleary landscape seemed to stretch forever in front of us. I knew that if we couldn't find a way up we might as well be trapped here forever.
"How long is this chasm again?" I asked Indigo as we rode.
"I'm not sure. Maybe a hundred miles? But we kind of cut in with about three quarters of the distance behind us," she replied.
"There's got to be a way out," she added, as if reading my thoughts. "We'll find one, Aaron, don't worry."
"I'm sorry for almost pushing you off the cliff," I blurted out. "I didn't know it was you; I thought it was an Evil or something."
Indigo was quiet for a few seconds. "It's okay," she said softly. "You pulled me back up, didn't you?"
"But you almost died, Indigo. If I was only a second late—"
"You weren't." Indigo said sharply. "Aaron, you saved me. I thought I heard something as I was coming down, but I wasn't prepared. Yes, I could've fallen off, but I didn't, because you caught my hand and pulled me up."
"But—" I didn't think my apology was enough.
"Aaron, Indigo, duck!" A voice screamed from behind. I flattened myself against the saddle as Indigo pressed herself against my back. A split second later an arrow whizzed by, landing in the sand. I straightened and looked up. Through the hazy mist, I made out the dark shapes of Lord Victor's army that he sent after us. It consisted of both human soldiers and Evils, with the archers lining the edge. The sunlight glinted off the metal tips of the arrows strung in their bows.
"Guys! Huddle close!" I yelled, twisting around in the saddle. "Jason, I need you to call on the wind with me and create a protective layer above us, okay?"
"Got it!" Jason flashed me a thumbs up as his horse pulled up beside ours, the others following closely behind.
"Fire!" Someone screeched from above us, his voice piercing the air. The twangs of bowstrings and the whizzes of arrows filled my ears as I stuck my hand out, palm flat, and concentrated. A powerful gust of wind arose, whipping up dust and dirt. I raised my arm to the sky, and saw that Jason did the same. The wind rose with our arms, and positioned itself over our heads, acting as a deflective shield. The arrows that hit the wind were swept off to the side, littering the desolate ground.
I felt the power coursing through my veins. It's been so long since I used my elemental power that all the pent up energy I had fueled the strength of the wind Jason and I called up, making it stronger and more solid.
"Aaron, let's give them a taste of their own medicine!" Jason shouted to me over the roar of the wind. I understood what he meant and nodded. In one sweeping gesture, we commanded the wind to pick up all the arrows the army had shot at us—believe me, there was a lot—and sent them all flying back up to their archers. As I released my hold on the wind, I heard cries of pain and panic as the arrows found their marks and the tightly packed army tried to dodge the flying missiles. I felt a surge of satisfaction. I no longer had any qualms about fighting back. In this world, it was kill or be killed, and I had every intention of staying alive till the very end.
"Follow them! Don't let them get away!" A voice commanded as we put on a burst of speed and left the chaos behind. The army would take a few moments to regroup. By that time, we would've gained a big head-start.
"Rachel, did our maps mention any possible ways out of here?" I heard Indigo ask.
"Uh, I don't recall anything!" Rachel replied. "But then again, we don't have detailed maps of Dead Man's Chasm!"
"We won't be here forever, right?" Lucian asked. "Because I don't want to end up like one of those." He pointed at an animal skull among the brushes as we galloped past.
"We found a way down, so we will find a way up!" Indigo said confidently. "Everyone keep your eyes open."
We encountered plenty of false alarms: a trick of the light, a raised ledge, a crack in the cliff that made it look like a trail from afar...I heard the thunderous steps of Lord Victor's army again, a little ways behind us. We need to get out of here!
"Guys! Look!" I snapped to attention at Ashley's voice. But to my extreme disappointment I saw the approaching end of the chasm. Why didn't I notice the gradual narrowing of the chasm earlier? Had we really traveled like twenty miles already? I turned the horse around and looked at the others hopelessly.
"What do we do now?" I asked, the dread pooling at the bottom of my stomach. "We're trapped. And the Evils are coming."
"There's got to be a way out." Rachel insisted, pacing along the cliff walls, looking.
"Please tell me we don't need to climb out of here," Lucian groaned.
"We don't have any other choices," Indigo pointed out. "But I really doubt we can climb up a vertical wall." The seven of us looked up the sheer cliff sides in despair.
"What do we do?" Ashley echoed, pulling up next to our stallion.
"Are you sure we didn't just miss a narrow trail or something?" Rachel wasn't giving up yet. "We were galloping pretty fast."
"It's too late to go back and check," Katherine spoke up. She looked slightly less pale, but still seemed tired. "But I'm pretty sure there weren't any other paths up. We just got lucky the first time."
Our horses pawed the ground restlessly. The army was getting closer by the minute; we're losing our head start. We all lapsed into silence, having run out of ideas.
"If only a path could rise up from the ground!" Lucian exclaimed in frustration. Indigo suddenly jerked to attention.
"Brilliant, Lucian, brilliant!" she said excitedly. "Why didn't we think of this earlier?"
"What? What's so brilliant?" I asked eagerly. "Did you find a way out?"
"Absolutely brilliant, Lucian." Indigo ignored my questions and muttered to herself, looking at the cliff sides, gauging distances, all the while nodding vigorously. "Apparently you're useful for something other than eating."
"Hey! There's a reason why I'm part of the Rosewood Seven," Lucian said defensively.
"What is it, Indigo? We're running out of time," Rachel reminded Indigo.
"Right. Okay, Jason, we need your elemental powers." Indigo looked at Jason. "We're depending on you. I need you to build a path for us with your earth powers."
"Why didn't I think of that?!" Jason clapped a hand to his forehead. "I'm the elemental master; this should be second nature."
"Hurry, Jason." Ashley chided him, glancing back behind us. "I think some of the Evils might have found a way down."
"Alright. Here goes nothing." As we watched, Jason nudged his horse forward and furrowed his brow, concentrating. Then his hand shot out, and the earth began to shake. With a great rumbling sound, a giant mound of rock and dirt rose out of the ground, jagged and uneven. Jason made a series of hand gestures, manipulating the small mountain of earth into a sloping path that stretched all the way to the top of the chasm.
"Come on!" Jason beckoned to the rest of us as he admired his handiwork and sped towards the new path. "I assure you, it's perfectly safe!"
I urged our stallion forward to follow Jason up the new path. Thankfully, Jason had made this one wider and less steep, so that it was easier to ride up. However, all the commotion that Jason made while creating this path also attracted the attention of Lord Victor's army.
"There they are!" I heard someone shout. "I see them!"
"Everybody go! Gallop as fast as you can!" Indigo yelled her own command. Without having to be told twice, our four horses shot off, leaving a trail of dust behind us.
"Indigo, where are we headed next?" I asked over my shoulder.
"The Desederium Forest," Indigo replied. "We should be approaching it soon. After that, we will reach Devil's Peak."
I risked a glance behind us to check on the progress of the Evils. The good news was that we had a good head start. The bad news was that they were catching up fast, especially the horsemen and Evils that ran faster than the rest.
"Indigo! Are we heading to the Desederium Forest?" Katherine asked as hers and Ashley's stallion was running alongside ours.
"Yes. We'll have to go inside and come out the other side in order to reach Devil's Peak," Indigo answered.
"I was sort of hoping you wouldn't say that," Katherine muttered darkly. I looked at her in confusion.
"Why? I thought we had agreed on this plan already."
"Aaron, just look at those trees." Katherine pointed at a spot far ahead as we crested a small dune. I saw a dark mass of trees that huddled together like an impenetrable fortress, stretching in all directions formidably.
"It's a very dense forest. So what? It actually seems like a good hiding place to me," I said quizzically, not understanding Katherine's concern. "We will totally lose the Evils in a place like that."
"No, Aaron, you don't understand." A grim look came over Katherine's face as her eyes met mine. "The Desederium Forest will drive you insane; that place could very well be our graves."