Library

2. Hayden

2

HAYDEN

I don’t want to die.

Truth be told, I have every reason to want that. I’ve been tortured and forced to do things I didn’t want to do for my entire life. It’s been never ending, and I have no reason to think that it’ll ever be any different.

But that’s exactly why I want to stay alive.

I have to know. If there’s a better life out there, if there’s a place for me, no matter how small, I have to find it. Even if it takes my whole life, I can’t give up.

I start falling down the cliff faster than I expected, but I’m able to grab onto a jutting rock a few feet down. A bolt of pain shoots through the arm with the arrow in it, and I hold back a scream.

The rock is slippery with moss, so I struggle to hang on. My hands keep slipping, it’s impossible to get a grip.

“No,” I gasp, trying my best to not lose my hold.

I glance down, which turns out to be a huge mistake. The ground is so far away, and there’s nothing to break my fall. If I make it all the way down there, I’ll be splattered on the rocks within seconds.

My fingers start to slip again, but I regain my hold once more. I can feel myself starting to panic, but I ignore it. Panicking is not an option right now. All that will do is make this worse.

“Fucking bitch!” an orc shouts. “She jumped!”

He sounds like he’s a bit farther away. My eyes bug out as I realize that falling isn’t the only thing I need to worry about. If they look over the edge, they’ll see me right away. Either way, I’m dead.

I take a deep breath in and let it out slowly, before looking down again. This time, I’m not looking at the ground, but instead at the rock wall I’m clinging to.

It isn’t just one smooth wall. There are cracks everywhere, and there are rocks jutting out, but most are too small for me to use. And the ones that are bigger are way too far from me. There’s an outcropping nearby, but that’s also too far.

“We can still find her. She’ll be down there somewhere,” an orc says.

“She’ll be long dead by then.”

“Even better.”

I listen to their conversation in horror, not because of what they said, but because of how close their voices sound. I probably have seconds until they see me.

Looking down, I focus on the outcropping. It’s far, but if I can make it there, I can find some place to hide for the night. That’s all I need.

I look for the closest large rock. There are none next to me, but there’s one directly below me. The only problem is that it’s way farther down.

In my mind, there’s only one way I can do this.

I look at the arrow still sticking out of my arm. It’s thick and looks like it’s made well, so it won’t snap easily.

Not letting myself think about it any longer, I grip the rock as tight as I can with my injured arm, freeing up my good arm. With the good arm, I take hold of the arrow and grit my teeth, pulling it out.

As I pull it out, my right-hand slips on the rock. I try to grab it with my left hand, without dropping the arrow, but I’m too late.

I start free falling down the cliff again, but I stick with my plan. Before I can fall too much, I plunge the arrow into the rock. It’s a gamble, since it’s impossible to aim it into one of the cracks, but it works. I come to a pause midair, holding onto the arrow with one arm.

The arrow is more than halfway into a crack in the cliff. That coupled with how small I am, allows it to hold my full weight. For now.

I look down, breathing hard. The rock is only a few feet below me now.

I hear the orcs burst into laughter. My head snaps up towards the top of the cliff, but no one is in sight. Maybe they aren’t going to look over the edge after all. Maybe they’re already figuring out a way to get to the bottom to find me.

Still, I need to be quick about this. I shove my right hand into a nearby crack and find a larger crack near my feet to stick them into.

Once I’m sure that my feet and my hand are snug enough, I start to slowly take the arrow out of the wall. If I yank it, I’ll just fly back and fall, so I need to be careful about this.

My feet start to slip just as I get the arrow fully out, so I place the arrow in between my teeth and stick my left hand into the same crack my right one is in.

Slowly, I begin scaling down, finding divots that my hands can go in, and cracks for my feet. My muscles are screaming at me to rest, and my right arm hurts so bad from the arrow. If I hadn’t built up so much endurance and stamina over the past few years, I would’ve fallen a long time ago.

Turns out, all those times the orcs chased me, has actually done me some good.

The large, jutting rock below me is so close. It’s nearly level with the outcropping, so if I can use it to get to the next rock, and so on, then I’ll be okay.

I let myself drop the last two inches, clutching the wall. The rock is big enough for me to stand flat on, but it isn’t much wider than that.

“Fuck,” I mutter.

Since I’m level with the trees, I’m also level with the fog that likes to hang up here. It becomes hard for me to look around and find new footholds. Even squinting does nothing to help.

I wait for a cloud of it to pass before setting my sights on a rock sticking out that’s about two feet away from me. Taking the arrow out of my mouth in case I need it, I stretch out a leg, grabbing hold of another rock to help move myself over.

Once I’m standing on the new rock, I keep repeating the same process, moving horizontally along the rock wall, finding new footholds and inching my way closer to the outcropping.

I’m feeling confident, until I hear another voice. This time, I have no doubt they’re right at the edge of the cliff.

“I don’t see anything! We should go down there!”

“Let me look,” a different orc says.

I freeze, not wanting to look up. I can’t bear to see the smug look on their faces when they realize they can still get me.

“I don’t see anything on the ground down there!” someone shouts.

The more they talk, it becomes obvious that they can’t see me. Puzzled, I glance up. As I do, I realize why.

I can’t see them either. A thick cloud of fog is above me, blocking everything from sight.

I get a burst of hope, and continue scaling along the cliff, getting closer and closer to my target. Sometimes, I have to use the arrow by sticking it in the wall to sort of swing myself to the next foothold. I hate doing it, terrified that the arrow will snap, but it’s my only choice.

“Wait, I think I see something!”

“Where?”

“Over there, where the fog is thinning. Don’t you see it?”

“No, I see nothing.”

When I glance up, I see that the fog is in fact, thinning. And I’m still several feet away from the outcropping.

“Here, let me try something,” an orc says.

I move to the next foothold, trying to speed up without being sloppy. Just as I’m about to reach for the next chunk of rock, I hear it.

That same, familiar whizzing sound.

An arrow goes flying by me. I turn my face down and away from the direction it came, trying to at least protect my face. The rest of me, I can’t do much about.

More arrows fly by, and they seem to be getting closer and closer to hitting me. When the next round comes, I gasp, clenching my teeth as one of them sinks into my good arm this time.

A ringing sound fills my ears as I fight through the pain. It’s way worse than the first one, and it takes all of my strength not to cry out, but I don’t want them to hear me and confirm that I’m down here.

I hear their voices still, but they’re muffled. When I look above me, the fog is still there.

Tears pour out of my eyes and my arm begins to shake, but I squeeze my eyes shut, begging my body to just do this one last thing for me.

Through sheer willpower, I open my eyes and do what I have to do to make it the last few feet.

As soon as I set foot on the outcropping, I collapse on the ground, closing my eyes. Already, I can feel myself slipping. I’m so tired, and with my injuries, I need this rest so badly.

Tomorrow I can worry about where I’m going to go or how I’m going to survive. I’m sure the orcs will have moved on by then, and probably forgotten about me completely.

After a minute, I open my eyes and look up towards the cliff, where the orcs had been. I don’t hear them anymore.

A grin slowly spreads across my face. It feels foreign, but so damn good. And for a moment, all the pain in my body is irrelevant. My bleak future is irrelevant.

Because I survived.

Comments

0 Comments
Best Newest

Contents
Settings
  • T
  • T
  • T
  • T
Font

Welcome to FullEpub

Create or log into your account to access terrific novels and protect your data

Don’t Have an account?
Click above to create an account.

lf you continue, you are agreeing to the
Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy.