Renaisterre
By Lieuten Keen
Chapter 10
At the edge of the cliff:
Day Four: Late
"NO!"
Malcolm scrabbled to the edge of the cliff where he had last seen the woman, visions from the past blurring his vision. Another woman, another night, that time in the rain; he had been so close then too, but unable to save her. She fell. She fell right out of his grasp. Malcolm thought he might throw up. Sarin on their first mission at an outpost called Rigel X, the Antarctic research team transformed into something not quite human and heading for the Delta Quadrant, Ensign Burrows who died in the line of duty just a few meters away from Reed, Hoshi who had been removed from her post on the bridge, and Hayes who died trying to get her back; the faces of those he'd failed to protect were never far from his mind. He could remember all the names of the crew who had fallen in the Expanse as though he had pulled the trigger on them himself. His knees wobbled. He was a piss-poor armory officer who was unable to save the life of the daughter of the foremost medical doctor on Earth.
He was going to be haunted by her wide open eyes for the rest of his life. At the moment he couldn't differentiate between the dark eyes of his first love or the chameleon gaze of his last charge.
"Son of a bitch!"
That wasn't his voice. He inhaled deeply, feeling the burn of oxygen in lungs that had been starving. Malcolm scrambled closer to the edge of the crumbling cliff. "Doctor?" he tried to call out. Something was choking his voice. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Andrea?"
"Stupid bush! I'm tangled on a shrubbery!"
She sounded petulant and out of breath, but she was definitely alive. Malcolm gave silent thanks to the universe, which looked after children and fools with such care. "Are you all right? What can I do to help?" Hesitantly he crawled closer to the edge of the cliff that had given way so unexpectedly, trying to peer over. He didn't think she'd had fallen very far; her voice seemed close.
"If I could just turn around," she grunted. Reed heard another grunt and a heavy thump. "That's better," she murmured calmly, sounding much more composed. "If I toss you my satchel, you think you can grab one loop and help me up?"
He couldn't even see her from his position at the top. "I'll try," he promised. Seconds later a sturdy canvas loop flopped into view. Gingerly Malcolm scooted to the edge of the precipice and grabbed it. He wrapped it around his hand and tried to brace his body against the cliff, praying the thin fabric wouldn't tear from the weight. Soon a dirty hand appeared over the cliff and in one smooth motion buried a thick Klingon blade in the chalky dirt in front of his nose. Using the blade handle for leverage, Andie pulled herself over the top of the cliff with a grunt and immediately flopped onto her back with a sigh of relief.
He couldn't help but search her body with his eyes, looking for signs of blood or trauma. Aside from some scratches on her face and hands, she seemed in good condition. Relief made him weak. He flopped down on his back beside her with a sharp exhale.
"I love that knife," she panted lying on the ground with her eyes closed.
"I thought you'd fallen," Malcolm gulped air into his lungs as his breath returned to normal.
"Oh, honey, I don't fall! I fly!" Andie mocked lightly. Her humor drifted away as suddenly as it arrived, as though it took every ounce of strength to keep up the façade. In a moment she opened her eyes and sat up slowly. Wiping the blade clean with her dusty tunic, she slipped the weapon back into her boot and gestured to her pack. "I told you! That's my survival kit. I can't live without it." Her flippant facade faltered again. "It got tangled in a bush and stopped my descent."
Malcolm could still see her body being dragged over the edge of the cliff by the advancing man, like a movie that kept replaying in slow motion. His queasy stomach didn't settle as quickly as the rest of him. "What happened to Herak?"
Exhaling deeply, Andie looked at the drop-off so close to her location. It took her a moment to answer and when she did it was brief. "He didn't have a survival kit." She turned her head to look at the lieutenant, and winced. The fingers gingerly probing the back of her neck came away red with blood; she reached for her satchel and dug around until she found a medical scanner. She had marginal success trying to run the instrument over the nape of her neck and she finally offered the machine to Reed with a scowl and a quiet 'please.' He took the instrument and had a moment to notice it wasn't Starfleet issue before running the scan and presenting the results for her perusal. Her scowl deepened. "Looks like I picked up a few pricks from that thorny bush. You had the advanced medical course; you think you can pull them out?"
"I'll do my best," Malcolm promised. She placed a small tweezers in his hand and lifted the hair off her neck. By the light of a flashlight he pulled eight sharp barbs out of the skin, enduring her every wince of pain with a jab to his own sense of guilt. Andie dropped one barb in a small vial and secured it in her pack; the others she left in the dirt. When he was finished, she squeezed a hefty portion of disinfectant over her neck and rolled her head around with relief.
He had steady hands, she had to admit. Steady hands probably helped him slip something into her drink, she thought bitterly. She shook her head; she wasn't ready to be mad at him now. There was too much work to do. She could hold a grudge later.
"Archer and Tucker?" she inquired, wiping her hair out of her face.
"They had things under control," Malcolm assured her. "I tried telling them that you didn't need any help, that you could take care of yourself, but they insisted I follow you." He forced his lips up into a smile. He didn't want her to see how rattled he was; he didn't want to attempt an explanation why. She seemed willing to play along.
Andie chuckled tiredly. "Let's go get those two and get back to camp before T'Pol kicks all our asses."
Malcolm rose on wobbly knees and offered the doctor a hand. She accepted gratefully and felt the muscle strain in her shoulders from the jolt of dangling off the side of an unexpected cliff. Slipping her hand out of his grasp, she shouldered her satchel onto her back and followed Reed back to the campsite.
The walk back to the clearing took longer than the mad dash away had done. They picked up the remains of the scanner Andie had used to lead her into the forest, which had fallen and been crushed under a boot. She passed the rest of the time talking as she fiddled with the broken pieces. Or rather, she asked a lot of questions. "What the hell was all that nonsense before?" she inquired. "What happened to Archer? Where'd you meet our foursome? What's with the key? Does your face hurt?"
"Captain Archer noticed a man pursued by the four horsemen when he was walking Porthos. He tried to intervene and was captured. Commander Tucker and I attempted a rescue and were caught. They wanted to know about the strange lights in the sky a few nights ago, and where was our camp, and did we have any special reason for traveling here. They kept demanding a key. Commander Tucker was able to pick the lock on his cage and Captain Archer told him to return to camp. While Trip was gone, Archer was able to overpower his guard and then free me and we escaped into the woods. We thought we'd lost them until they caught us shortly before you returned." He risked a look back at the female. "Thanks for the scalpel by the way."
"Do you still have it?" she inquired, ducking under a brush.
"No, I planted it in the thigh of the large fellow," he told her.
"Hmm," she grunted. "I liked that scalpel." She took the hand Reed offered to assist her over a fallen log and asked, "Did Archer explain why he thought I should be part of this, instead of a team of marines?" she queried crossly.
"Perhaps he thought he needed medical treatment in order to return to camp," he responded. They were coming up on the tree with all the blood and Reed tried to place his body before Andie's and prevent her from seeing it. His efforts were needless; she was a doctor and not traumatized by blood.
"I whacked him in the face with a tree branch," she pointed out. "Then I poked him with my knife."
"I was afraid the blood was yours," Reed admitted quietly.
"I'm hard to kill," she answered easily, slapping him on the back affably, as though they were trading tall tales in a pub over drinks. "I also damaged his groin." She added the last with gruesome cheer. Her attempts to downplay the fright she felt being hunted through the woods in the dark seemed to make her companion moodier rather than less so. Funny, black humor had worked so well in the past. She shrugged. Reed was an odd one.
"You're a lucky woman, Doctor," Reed told her, staring straight into her eyes. Standing this close to her in the blue light from the display screen of the handheld scanner, he could see that her countenance was darker than normal, and he wondered for the first time if her cheery demeanor wasn't covering for shock. "We should hurry," he urged, placing a hand at her back and nudging her forward.
The clearing was empty when they arrived. The fire had been covered with dirt, the bodies of the two unconscious men were removed, and there was no sign of the captain or the commander. The pair spent several minutes looking around. Andie crowed triumphantly when she tripped over her Mag Pulse Pistol in the foliage at the edge of the camp, but retracted her joy with a sigh when she discovered that the extreme energy output had nearly drained the battery. "We'll have one maybe two shots," she pouted, holstering the weapon in frustration.
The fallen body of Lucan remained where it had dropped. She bit her lip and knelt down beside him. "Strange that they left him here with those carnivores roaming around," she mused sadly. "Maybe they don't have any burial rituals." She ran her medical scanner over the body. "My Mag Pulse has never done that before. It's supposed to exert an electrical charge but it's never overloaded like that."
"Everything down here registers on the metallic scale," Reed pointed out, glancing around the clearing with growing unease. "Perhaps an abundance of metal in his blood stream caused the severe reaction."
"If that's true, I can't use this on anyone else, even if I could use it," she noted dejectedly, fondling the weapon secured against her thigh. "What about the others?"
"There's a spot or two of blood here and there. Scanner says some of it belongs to our men. They put up one hell of a fight." Swallowing hard, Malcolm moved further out in concentric circles according to his unspoken search grid. "There seems to be a trail here." His voice grew muffled as he ducked his head to peer under the thick growth at the edge of the woods. "There seems to be a set of wheel tracks over here." He sat back on his heels and looked frustrated. "I think they were carried out of here in a wagon of some sort."
"Which way did it go?" Andie inquired, joining him and peering over the tangle of brush into the darkness beyond. "What's out there?"
"The tracks go that way," he gestured to his right. The foothills rolled away to the dreary plains in that direction. "They were probably taken that way." The tactical officer sounded tired.
"Maybe the conveyance offered them a ride?" Andie suggested helpfully.
Malcolm just raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Yeah, that doesn't sound like their kind of luck, does it?" she conceded. "What else is out there?"
"There's a bridge in that direction about three kilometers," he pointed to the left. "It spans the gorge. The dirt track on the other side meanders through another valley before turning into a steep and rocky incline." He sighed heavily and kicked at a rock with his toe. "That castle we could barely see from camp is in that direction."
"The castle is that way?" Andie repeated, pointing. "Then that's where I'm going."
"Going?" Malcolm repeated. "But in all likelihood, the captain and the commander were taken in that direction!" He pointed to the conflicting path.
"Then you should go that way and rescue them," she nodded sensibly. "I'll meet you back in camp tomorrow." Andie wiggled through the gap in the brush and when Malcolm appeared by her side, he found her digging through her survival pack.
"You can't be serious!" Reed was on his feet. "You can't go off by yourself!"
"The captain gave me an order. I have to go the castle and help the wounded man. It was the last thing he said to me and he made me promise. I intend to keep that promise." Stubbornness crept into her tone, emphasized by the mulish jut of her jaw.
Malcolm remembered Archer whispering in her ear as Lucan fried. "It would take the better part of the day on foot to traverse that bridge and make your way to the castle!"
"I don't plan on taking the bridge," she announced calmly. "If the bridge-builders chose that spot because it's simply the shortest place to cross the ravine and then the road curls back around to a rocky outcropping, then it stands to reason that the castle is just on the other side of this ravine and that rocky outcropping. I'm going to take the shortest route and hopefully it will take much less than a day to get there."
"You've never bothered to obey the captain before," Malcolm pointed out. "Why start now?"
"I'm trying something new," she retorted. "Maybe you should head back to camp and get some more help?" She stopped fussing with her bag and withdrew a small coil of rope and began untangling its length.
Her intent seemed clear. "You intend to scale that cliff! Are you insane?" Malcolm boggled at the thought.
"Sometimes crazy helps," Andie added unhelpfully, wrapping the line around her forearm to judge its length.
"It's the middle of the night! You can't see where you're going! The MACO's wouldn't climb that ravine in broad daylight and you think you're going to do it at night!"
"I'm a very good climber," she stated simply. She removed something else from her satchel and Reed cringed to note that it was a thick metal coupler called a carabiner. Several other carabiners hung from its closed mouth. She fastened this to her belt where they jangled together.
"This is madness!" he protested.
"Is it madder than the captain wandering away from camp in the middle of the night without an escort for no good reason?" she challenged.
"He had a reason!" Malcolm defended the man.
"What was that?" A handful of glow rods joined the supplies she was laying out; she slipped them into one of the many pockets in her gray civilian pants.
"He hasn't seen fit to tell me about his plans," Reed concluded. "But that doesn't mean he doesn't have them!"
"Well, I have a plan too," Andie insisted, pulling the pack onto her back again. "You should try and get word back to T'Pol before you go after the captain and Trip. Do you have a notepad?"
Malcolm grabbed her arm and pulled her up short. "You can't do this!"
Andie looked at him soberly although her jaw tightened. "Yes I can. You're going to want to remove that grip."
"I mean, we should both go back to Starfleet Hollow and get reinforcements," he tried again, relaxing his fingers and releasing her forearm.
"You go. I have another path to follow." Andie looked at Reed. "So do you. You should be the one to rescue the captain." She seemed very intent that he should leave her be. Her aim only made him certain that she should not go anywhere alone.
"I don't even know where they are!" Malcolm burst out. "They could be at the bottom of that ravine, for all we know!" He was instantly ashamed of his burst of temper, but the female ignored him. She had that calculating look on her face that was beginning to raise hairs on the back of his neck.
That damned smirk returned. "You're just determined to find the glass half empty, aren't you, Reed? Don't worry; Archer doesn't strike me as the sort to let someone else tell him when he's ready to die. You'll find him and he'll be fine." She headed back into the forest in the direction from which they'd just come.
"I am the superior officer in the field!" he tried desperately. "If you persist in this ridiculous idea, I'll have you brought up on charges!" Watching her fall when he could do nothing was awful; knowing that she'd break her neck while under his direct command was too much.
Andie took a moment to consider his words. "Good luck with that," she offered facetiously.
"Andrea!"
"Do what you gotta do," she argued passively, disappearing into the dark with implacable calm.
Reed looked back over his shoulder and mentally calculated how long it would take to get back to Starfleet Hollow from this point. He also calculated how much trouble it would be to knock the doctor over the head and drag her back to camp unconscious. The memory of one particularly steep climb on the path was sufficient to know he would never make it with her in tow, especially not if she woke up and carried a grudge against his second assault on her in a matter of days, which he was certain she would do, with extreme prejudice.
There really wasn't another choice he could live with, was there?
Malcolm dragged his feet all the way back to the cliff's edge, cursing under his breath. Andie was there; she snapped and shook one of the glow rods and a weak golden glow lit up the night around them. She tossed it over the cliff where it fell so far it ceased to give off illumination to the pair standing above it.
The thought of scrambling down the dangerously sharp outcropping in the dark was making Reed's stomach turn over. This was not some nice safe cave in the middle of a planet undergoing a bloodthirsty military coup where some nice passive Denobulans would be found camping at the bottom and have to be dragged out by the skin of their teeth! This was a serious danger!
"Let me put it another way, Reed," Andie said quietly as though he'd continued to verbally protest. Her unruffled voice did not hide the danger that lurked under her words. "I am going to climb down this mountain. That is my choice. You can make your own choice. You can go back to the Hollow for reinforcements, which would be very sensible. You can follow a track in the dirt and hope it leads you to Captain Archer and Tucker, which is less sensible and relies heavily on luck. Or you can follow me on my mad adventure, which will most likely end in your untimely demise. You can make your own choice." Her tone hardened. "But you're not going to deter me from mine."
"You're not going alone," Malcolm told her resignedly.
"Suit yourself," she shrugged. She was already sitting on the edge of the cliff and driving an anchor into the earth to support her weight. She removed the braided rope that served as a belt for her green tunic and made a couple of quick loops which she handed to Reed. "Tie yourself off and let's go." Andie swung down into the dark crevice without waiting for his agreement.
There were so many ways this could go wrong. He couldn't help but think if he had a few minutes to really consider the problem he could find another way around this. But that damned woman was not waiting for anything; as usual, she was rushing headlong into danger without considering the consequences.
And he was tailing along for the ride.
Drawing a deep breath, he slipped the loose loop around his body to secure him to the rope and then dropped his feet over the edge of the cliff and dropped down into darkness.
Midnight Climb:
Day Four/Five: Hours later
Reed breathed a sigh of relief when she dropped into a seat next to him. The rocky face was full of sharp, jagged edges; it was like climbing down a wall of knife blades. Each handhold was carefully chosen and gingerly held. They'd paused after a few meters and used a roll of duct tape from the survival kit to wrap around the tender skin of their palms. Every fifty meters or so they paused on a ledge and she pulled the rope down behind them and fastened it on a new carabiner to keep them aloft. It was a reckless stunt they were pulling and it shocked Reed that they were actually pulling it off. He never failed to be amazed at her agility. Every displaced stone had caused Reed's stomach to tighten, but none had signified a suddenly freefalling female. She had a strong grip and a stubborn streak that wouldn't let her fall.
At the moment they weren't quite halfway down the steep embankment, sitting with their backs against the cold rock as they took a well-earned rest. The walls of the gorge actually narrowed down here, so technically they were closer to their goal than they had been. But Malcolm didn't even want to contemplate the climb up on the other side. They were already halfway through the safety clasps and they would have to climb the other side without any aid. With every step and every handhold he was convinced that this was a foolish mission and he should have tried harder to talk her out of it. Perhaps he was hoping that he would slip and fall and then he'd never have to explain why he let the doctor lead him into this mess or why he allowed the captain to disappear from his view.
Andie didn't seem perturbed. She was humming quietly as she rummaged in her satchel. Malcolm was convinced the pack had magical properties because she kept pulling things out it as though it had no bottom; like a genie's bottle, she could conjure whatever she wished from the dark depths. He shook his head. He'd nearly drifted off to sleep, and she was pushing something into his grasp. It was a silvery pouch that signified emergency rations. This one seemed to be labeled Beef Stew. She also handed him a water flask and he drank a mouthful gratefully. He looked over to see she had several small cans on her lap.
"Stop your wandering eye," she commanded easily. "The pudding cup's mine and I'm not sharing!"
"You can't live on pudding alone," Reed demurred. "Do you want to share?"
She smirked even as she shook her head. "I'm good." Her pile also included a small can of beans and half a protein bar.
"Did you raid the stores before you left camp?" he inquired mirthlessly.
"What kind of person do you think I am? I would never steal from the crew!" she objected hotly. "They're left-over from several meals." Her voice grew smaller. "I like to save some stuff just in case..."
"Just in case you need to take a midnight mountain climb?" he teased.
"Shut up!" she growled, snatching the water flask from his grip. In the dark she couldn't see his grin. Down here the weird orange glow that passed for moonlight didn't extend. Their only illumination was the fading yellow light from the glow rod that rested on the ground between them.
Malcolm tore open the silver pouch and poured a mouthful of tepid beef stew into his mouth as he considered his companion out of the corner of his eye. Andrea always carried a weapon with her; usually more than one. She had nightmares. She hoarded food away from her allocated rations. All those habits were beginning to paint a picture of a woman whose security was not something she took for granted but something that she made for herself. Once upon a time her close companion had sold her into slavery to pay his gambling debts; her paranoia was probably warranted. Malcolm knew he was considered paranoid by some, but even he didn't take to hiding parts of his meals in case he might need to survive without food unexpectedly. He did wonder what it would take to make her feel safe. Courtly behavior and gentle reassurances certainly didn't work.
They ate in silence for a few moments, both grateful for the sustenance and the chance to rest. Andie even saved the last bit of chocolate pudding for Malcolm, allowing him to swipe the final remnant out of the individual serving cup with his index finger. He savored the sweet flavor on his tongue. It was the perfect end to a meal.
"Are you ready to get started again?" she inquired brightly.
"Your boundless enthusiasm is offensive," he grumbled listlessly. He was exhausted. He'd been on his feet one whole night and day, and this evening didn't seem likely to end anytime soon. Although the other side of the gorge seemed close enough to make with one flying leap, the landing would be horrible. Each sliver of rock would slice through his hands, leaving minor trails of blood all the way down. Jumping was out of the question; they would have to climb the rest of the way.
"We won't have to climb all the way down," she noted with cheer.
"What makes you so sure?" He could hardly dare to hope.
She nodded with her chin and he turned his head. The dark shape of a large slender pole rose out of the ground several meters away. Closer inspection indicated that it was a slender tree that tapered into a narrow rod at the top, its roots clutching firmly to the rocky incline that offered it foundation.
"And this tree is good news?" he inquired dubiously. "Are we going to cut it down with your knife and build a bridge?"
Andie didn't take offense to his sarcastic tone. "I'm going to climb it. My weight will bow it over and I'll get off on the other side. You can follow if you like," she offered generously.
"It'll snap under your weight," he stated plainly.
"I don't think so," she refuted, ignorant of the crack about her weight. "Everything here seems to be fortified with metal. I think it'll bend, not break." She tucked all their refuse into her bag and stood up. Picking her way carefully on the treacherous rock ledge, she had to clutch at the prickly shrubbery to keep her on course and to aid her progress.
Malcolm sighed and followed reluctantly after. There really wasn't anyplace else for him to go. He had followed her this far; he had no choice but to follow her further. The tree seemed to be supple and it was tall enough to reach the other side. But it was still a dangerous proposition. "This is crazy," he objected. He knew that was the wrong thing to say.
"Sometimes crazy helps," she grinned again. She already had her arms around the trunk.
"Andie!" The weight of the night pressed down against him; he wasn't up to a big argument about safety at the moment. Exhaustion was his biggest problem at the moment. He wondered if she had any stimulants in her pack; although he acknowledged there probably wasn't a suave way to ask for one without opening an entire can of worms.
"If this fails you have to climb back up and rescue Archer," she said determinedly, wrapping her legs around the trunk. "I have to go first."
"I can't get up there without you," he pointed to the top of the crevice.
Her only answer was to sling one end of the rope over his shoulder and pull herself up by grabbing the rough bark. The dull gleam of the glow rod around her neck indicated her location. Malcolm tried not to panic when the creak of the tree coincided with the tilt of the dim light. The dirt at his feet shifted in response to the transfer of weight as the roots scrambled to hold onto their patch of earth. The loop around his shoulder played out as she scrambled further away from him while wearing the other one.
"Your turn!" he heard the words with their strange echo in the cavern. One large root was poking up at the edge of the cliff. It didn't fill him with confidence but he wasn't about to leave her alone. Spitting in his hands to aid his grip, Malcolm shimmied up the trunk of the bowed over tree and sidled along its overturned edge. He could feel the wind eddy around his body and leaned in closer to the bark. The tree responded with an agonizing groan. He pulled his body forward again, trying not to snag any of his body parts on any protrusions from the tree.
"Reed? You might want to hurry." Andie's voice had that tone that people got when they were trying not to panic. She waved the weakening glow around to evidence her location.
"What have you gotten me into?" he called out, hearing the distant echo of his words blur in the stone corridor. His progress was tilting downwards now. He should be feeling gravity pull him toward the ground with greater force with each passing shift.
"If you make it across we'll call it even on that sleeping pill thing from yesterday," she called out helpfully.
"If? IF I MAKE IT ACROSS? This is not the time to talk about ifs, Andrea!" He was beginning to feel the downward motion now. The tree was creaking more ominously now.
"Hurry your sweet little ass up and we won't have to talk about ifs, Malcolm!"
There was definitely a noise behind him that he didn't want to think about. He made his living making certain that the risk was reduced for every crewman on board, and here he was climbing blind across an unknown tree over a sharp unlit gorge on the advice of the adrenaline junkie ahead of him! "Bugger!" he hissed agitatedly as he swung his legs down into the free air.
Immediately he could feel a pair of hands settle on his thighs and guide his legs to ground that was more or less sturdy. He let go of the tree branch and the slender pole swung upright with a twang, followed by a scuffle of dirt. There was more noise and the sound of something heavy falling.
He could barely make out her features in the weird orange light of nighttime on this strange world. "The tree fell down, didn't it?" he demanded to know. Malcolm could see the pulse at the base of her throat was working overtime.
She shrugged and grinned weakly.
"It didn't have the deep roots to maintain its own weight bent over the canyon, did it?" he demanded further.
"You want to lead the climb up?" she offered. "I'll follow." It was the only apology he figured he would get.
"If I had another sleeping pill, I'd drug you again right now!" he hissed.
Her smile widened. "Then you'd have to carry me uphill," she pointed out. "Good luck with that, Reed."
He turned to assess the rock wall they would have to traverse against gravity. She tapped him on the shoulder.
"Don't drug me again, Reed," she cautioned. "I'd hate to have to kill you now."
"If you kill me, my specter will haunt you until the end of time," he warned her. He made preparations to start climbing.
Her next question stopped him cold. "If I pleasure myself sexually while a ghost watches, is it still considered masturbation? Or does that fall under voyeurism?" She sounded genuinely curious about the outcome.
Reed clamped his jaw firmly shut with a loud clack. "I think that falls under depraved," he muttered when he was certain he wouldn't giggle.
"Hunh," she grunted, swinging her body up onto the next ledge of rock.
One dangerous stunt and one degenerate joke should not have cleared the air between them, but the rest of their climb was conducted peacefully. He would reach out a hand to help her up and she would accept it, offering her own when he needed it. A couple hours later when they reached the peak, they had developed their own rhythm.
Day Five: Just after midnight
"But will it hold?" Malcolm asked again.
"I'm certain it will hold," Andie answered through her clenched jaw. "But this still hinges on you being able to get a line all the way over there." The wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped even lower than normal.
"That won't be a problem. Our new friend turned out to be quite helpful." Malcolm's toe tapped the man lying on his face at their feet. The man was not happy and tried to protest through the cloth gag in his mouth. He was unsuccessful. Even if he could have raised his voice, it would be hard to hear him over the waterfall that covered every sound they made as well as their physical presence.
Reed and the doctor had found a shortened passage to the far side of the gorge through a narrow slit in the wall. It was so close together that they had to walk at an angle and the doctor had had to remove her satchel and carry it behind her instead of on her back. However when they reached the other side, they found a sight for sore eyes. The castle was directly in front of them. They seemed to be facing the rear of the stronghold. The two tallest towers were right in front of them. Then two more towers, closer to the front of the fortress, were slightly shorter in height. The two towers facing the front were still two stories high, and tall enough to keep enemies from climbing over. Yet the towers and the men guarding them with sharp weapons and torches weren't the hardest part. The castle itself was surrounded on all sides by churning water, fed from the waterfall spilling out of the sharp and jagged wasteland of rock extending far above the tallest turret into a river that only the most daring or desperate of men would attempt to traverse.
Swimming over was not an option. Neither was climbing down and knocking on the front door. The rocks on this side were not only harsh and unforgiving, but also slick from the mist sprayed out by the falls. As they had contemplated their precarious position, a guard had attempted to jump them. He wound up face down, in his underclothes, with his hands tied and his mouth muzzled.
But his crossbow would help them tremendously.
Andie finished securing the last of her carabiners into the rock behind her. She threaded the cord through the end and Malcolm tied the other end to the metal bolt that was intended to be shot by the crossbow. The bolt was nearly as long as an arrow. Lieutenant Reed intended to fire the bolt across the moat, lodge it horizontally in between the merlons on the upper battlement wall and use the taut line to shuffle hand over fist across the water and into the castle. He couldn't believe this was their plan to enter the royal domicile, but it wasn't any worse than any other plan they'd had today.
"Give it your best shot, Sparky," Andie encouraged with a lopsided smile.
"Give me a little elbow room, Red," Malcolm taunted in return. "The master is at work."
Andie offered a look to the fallen guard that seemed to say 'can you believe the ego on this guy?' but the guard was in no position to agree or disagree. He grunted and wiggled and earned a sharp pinch to his cheek to remind him to be quiet.
Taking careful aim, Malcolm held his breath and squeezed the trigger. There was a hiss of wind as the bolt flew through the air. The ambient light from the torches was sufficient to see the projectile soar through the air, but the waterfall made it impossible to hear the clatter when it hit the ground. The line was at its maximum reach. Gently Malcolm pulled the line taut and the dart flopped horizontally and caught between the two upraised portions and the armory officer flashed a grin at the doctor.
"I'm going first," he told her in no uncertain terms.
"Knock your self out," she gestured with an outstretched arm in the cold damp air.
"Why do you want me to go first?" he asked suspiciously. She shrugged and grinned. "You think this is going to fail and I'm going to get wet, don't you?" he demanded.
Andie continued to smirk. "Better you than me," she teased. She checked the line she'd tied around his waist, made from her own braided belt. It would help keep him secure if his hands should slip.
"Wish me luck," Malcolm grinned. The adrenaline rush was going to his head. God help him, he was becoming a junkie too!
"May the Great Bird soar with you under his wings," she offered instead.
"I'll take that as luck," he answered, leaning his weight onto the harness and pulling his ankles up over the secured line. He began the slow process of moving hand over hand and dragging the rest of his body forward. In a matter of seconds he was out over the water and he tried to concentrate very hard on the movements of his hands and to forget the waves and tides that roiled beneath him. His imagination filled in the sound of great bird wings fluttering in his ears, making him remember what Andie had said as she drifted off the other night, that there were no birds on this planet.
From the other side Andie kept watch on the location of the torches as they moved across the battlements closer to the front. Whoever held them seemed to be concerned with enemies attacking from the front rather from the rear. It was a small scrap of luck, but she'd definitely take it. With no way down from the steep incline, and no way to knock politely on the front door, they would have to take their chances where they could find them.
Malcolm dropped his legs down when he felt the cool stone of the castle wall behind him. He turned his body and grasped the rim of the embrasure and his aching muscles screamed in protest but eventually dragged him over the lip of the wall. He lay gasping on the upper deck of the tallest tower. Dragging his tired body to his feet he checked the security of the bolt and the cord connected to it before waving Andie over.
She hadn't drawn an easy breath until he waved. Once he did, she wasted no time. She secured the pack around her back and a harness around her waist, created from the belt that had held the guard's scabbard in place, a scabbard that was no longer necessary as his sword had fallen soundlessly into the water when the guard had been unarmed. Her feet were pulled up around the rope and it was her turn to shuffle along its length. It felt like hours that she dangled from the slender cord she'd stuffed in her pack at some time in the past. She tried to focus her mind by remembering what had prompted her to place the length of rope in her kit, but she couldn't remember.
Just five meters away she could see Reed as he watched her, intent on her progress. It was at that moment that luck deserted her. A guard wandered along the walkway near the middle towers to see why the guard on the outer slope hadn't checked in. He saw the body wriggling next to the falling water, and then he saw the rope. His gaze followed the cord to the upper turret and that's when he shouted for reinforcements.
"Hurry up, Andie!" Malcolm shouted from above. He reached out a hand trying to urge her to hurry.
Andie knew she wasn't going to make it to Malcolm's location. There wasn't enough time to finish the journey and pull her aching body over the wall before the contingent of guards was upon them both. It would be difficult to explain why they were coming in the back door rather than the front; Reed would probably be pleased to hear that his opposition to this plan would prove correct. She drew a deep breath. She might not escape Scot free but she could distract and disperse the guards that were gunning for the lieutenant.
Malcolm knew the second she shifted her weight that she was about to do something stupid. He couldn't call out to her without giving away his position, but he tried anyway. He reached out to touch the line that was taut in front of him, shaking it to get her to look his way, but she never glanced up. One of her arms wrapped itself around the cord while the other reached down to her boot in a gesture that was becoming familiar. The Klingon blade flashed in the dim moonlight just before it slashed through the thin rope, severing the lengths.
"Damn it, Andie!" Reed hissed under his breath.
The woman held tight to the severed line and silently swung through the chilly night to hit the side of the stone castle hard enough to jar every bone in her body through the cushion of the pack on her back. Now she was dangling off the castle like a tea bag and the shortest distance to solid land was above her, in the form of a balcony jutting out from the wall. Andie eyed the terrace thoughtfully before releasing her grip and sliding down several meters to the next available landing pad, putting her further away from Reed but also further from the guards who had presumed she would climb the shorter distance.
Shouts and cries directed other guards to split up. To confuse their directions, Malcolm pulled the metal bolt and the rope over the edge of the turret; it would be difficult to estimate which level the intruders were on without the length of rope indicating how far Andie had slid. He used the length of cord to secure the door of the nearest entrance. He didn't think the watchmen could get through without a fuss now; then he turned and raced across the walkway to the turret on the other side.
Down below on the second floor landing, the multi-colored glass windows were thrown open and a tall, slender sentinel stepped through. The badge on his shoulder indicated his rank in the military of this world. He scanned the empty parapet and then craned his head upward to the now empty wall embrasure and down again, checking for bodies on the rocks below. There was no sign of any intruders here. He made certain to swipe aside the curtains as he stepped back inside, hoping to uncover the trespasser, but without success. The window latch was dropped into place and his curt voice directed the rest of his men to other windows and other access points, growing fainter as he departed.
Once he was gone a slender hand reached over the top of the railing and gripped the stone tightly. A pale head appeared shortly thereafter and finally a pair of legs swung over the edge. It hadn't been easy to grip the smooth wall underneath the overhang and out of sight of anybody standing on top of it, but this wasn't the first time she'd pulled this particular stunt either. Finally on solid ground, she heaved a lungful of air before employing a slender blade as a lock picking device, pushing the latch up and swinging the stained glass window open.
The room seemed to be some sort of study. There were hand-written books on every surface and a few intricately carved chairs and a few tapestries adorning the walls. Andie moved carefully through the dark and unfamiliar room until she was standing next to the small crack of light on the floor that indicated the door into the corridor of the castle. She listened intently to the noises that were fading outside the portal and when they had all but disappeared, she took a chance and opened the door.
In front of her was a narrow stone corridor. Across from her was another door, presumably into a similar room, and the other direction led into a wider corridor, filled with more noise. By her estimation, Reed was at least two floors above her. She would need to find a disguise and a stairwell, and if time permitted, the patient she was supposed to be looking after according to her promise to the captain.
It was going to be a very long night.