Disclaimer: The plot, I OWN IT. Nothing else though.
"Oh my god," Ashelin breathed. "Look at that!"
Torn crawled out of the crevice between the rocks and stood next to her, brushing grit off of his weather-beaten clothes and out of his hair and eyes. He shielded his eyes from the glaring sun and looked where she pointed. His heart sank.
The entrance to the city, the grand metal gates that Baron Praxis was so proud of, were completely buried by sand. Only the very top of the city wall showed up. There was no way those gates would open for a long time.
He groaned inwardly. Now how would they get back to the city? And they were rapidly running out of water, and there was so little food left…
Ashelin noticed the look on his face. "Chill out," she said. "I know how we can get back into the city." Then she added, "But it'll take a couple of days, maybe a week."
"We don't have much water left," Torn said, still in shock over the buried city gates.
"I know where we can get some. It's relatively clean."
He looked at her strangely. "How do you know? You say you were a captive of the Bahzre, but they never roam this close to the city. They know we'd wipe them out."
She shrugged. "I lived out here for three years before I was with the Bahzre." She laughed dryly. "I was out here with my sister Natasha and our trainer in combat, Wendel. Supposedly we were to be learning survival skills and hand-to-hand combat."
"Umm… okay," Torn said cautiously. This was the first time she had offered any information about her past, and he was reluctant to believe her since her story appeared to have some holes in it.
"C'mon," Ashelin said. "We should get to the place with the water before nightfall, and then tomorrow we can head toward the city." She picked up the bag that contained their remaining food from where Torn had dropped it. She began to head west.
It was nearly nightfall when the two of them reached the oasis that Ashelin had told him about. It was in a ravine in the center of a massive structure of rocks, and Torn doubted anyone could find it if they didn't already have some idea where it was. It was extremely well hidden, a tiny pocket of green within such a vast dry land.
Sure enough, small springs ran cold and clear out of a rock. They both drank deeply, and Torn filled the canteens. "We'd better camp here tonight," he said, looking at the sky, which was rapidly darkening and showing orange and pink.
Ashelin glanced back at him. "We can't afford to stop. I'm needed in the city as soon as possible. They'll send more Bahzre warriors after me, and since they need me there too, I'd just as soon get as far away from them as possible, considering they want to kill me and in Haven I'll be welcomed."
"Y'know, I don't really think you'll be welcomed. Usually delegates from settlements around the city are arrested for spying, and interrogated until they are of no more use. Then they just … disappear," Torn said.
"Oh, I assure you, they sent for me and they have yet to see how much use I can be to them. I was sent for two years ago, and Wendel tore up the letter, but then when I was being interrogated in the Bahzre prison, this man came in saying he had intercepted a message from the city asking for me. I knew from that day that I had to get to the city and tell them what was going on out here." Her face was troubled. "There's more happening than you know. Halland and the other Bahzre leaders have sold their souls to some darkness in exchange for the freedom of the Bahzre people and their deliverance from banishment to the Wasteland."
Torn looked skeptical, and set down his pack. "We're camping here," he said firmly.
"As you wish, Commander," she snarled. "But when we've got the Bahzre on our asses and we're trying to fight them off, remember I said we should keep going. It's not even sundown." She sat down and would not take the food he offered her. She kept glancing toward the horizon. "This is not a good idea."
"Ashe," Torn began.
"Don't call me Ashe," she snapped.
"Okay, chill out," he said. "But… we're not going to have to climb up that cliff up there, are we?" He gestured toward the sheer wall of rock that was in front of them.
She glanced at him. "Yeah, we do. Why?"
He looked nervous. "I… don't like heights too much…"
She rolled her eyes. "Are you serious? That is the last thing I need right now."
He shrugged apologetically. "Can't help it. I lived on the tops of apartment buildings when I was little. One time my cousin was up there with me and he fell off. I tried to catch him, but he died. I've hated high places ever since, except flying. I don't mind flying," he added, as if to reassure himself that he was not completely weak for having admitted that he was afraid of heights.
"Oh well," Ashelin said. "I trust you can handle yourself on the cliff anyway?"
"Yeah."
They trudged along in silence, Torn watching as the shadow of the cliff drew nearer and nearer until finally they were within its darkness and the sun stopped oppressing them. Now it was only a quarter of a mile until they reached the cliff, he noted.
"Now listen, this is an easy cliff. Buck up and climb it. There's practically a straight path to the top; Metal Heads have been using it for aeons. Look for footholds and follow me." They had reached the bottom of the cliff. Ashelin slipped her foot into a groove in the rocks.
"This is dangerous… can't we find another route?"
She turned to glare at him. "Do you want to stay out here and die by hunger, thirst, or Bahzre? I sure as hell don't. If you want to stay, then stay. I have no problem with it. But make up your mind now because I'm climbing this and not waiting for you."
He made up his mind and began to follow her up the cliff, still wondering how he had just managed to act childish enough for her to treat him like a child. Ashelin too was having her doubts, wondering if perhaps she could have been a little more compassionate. But for goodness sakes, he was a grown man, probably older than her. He should have learned long ago in training that fears were death for a Guard. And the only way he was going to listen to her was if she was sure of herself.
"Ashelin, hang on a second. I can't jump that. There's no way anyone could jump across that." The shouted words echoed over the rocky chasm as Torn pointed to a large gap between two rocks. Ashelin had just leapt across it and was waiting for him on the other side.
"I just did," Ashelin pointed out. "Therefore someone can."
He rolled his eyes. "I know that. What I meant was I can't."
"You can," she said simply. "Now do it."
"I'll…" he searched for a way out. He looked up and saw, very faintly, the outlines of what were once footholds. They led to a ledge above, which was on the main path the two of them had been taking. "I'll take that way," he said triumphantly.
"I don't know…" Ashelin murmured, looking at the footholds. "That looks like it could crumble away any second."
"It won't," Torn reassured her, anxious to prove himself to this woman who seemed to always make him feel stupid. "I'll be fine."
He began to slowly make his way up the side of the cliff. Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down… The words pounded in his head, urging him on. Don't give in, don't give in, don't give in.
"Don't look down," he muttered, gripping the handhold tighter.
Ashelin was going up the cliff around him on sturdier handholds and footholds, and she stopped above him on a small ledge. "What did you say?" she asked.
"Noth-" Torn began. At that moment the rock beneath his feet went tumbling to the ground. He slipped and was left dangling by one hand from the great height.
"Ashe," he tried to croak, but no words escaped his dry lips. "Ashe!" He rasped louder this time, and she turned her head toward him.
"By the Precursors," she screeched, throwing herself stomach-down on the rocky ledge. She reached one bare arm down toward him. It was in easy reach, but Torn would not take advantage of the opportunity. "You can't hold me," he insisted. "We'll both fall. I'm too heavy."
"How much do you want to bet that I can lift you up onto this ledge? Take my hand and let me help you!" she yelled.
Against his better judgment, Torn reached his hand as far up as she could. Quicker than the blink of an eye, he found himself upon the ledge with her. He stood, his knees weak, his heart full of gratitude. "Thanks," he said grudgingly. "But you may just be the death of me yet."
She threw back her head and laughed. "I was thinking the exact same thing about you."
He shook his head. "Well… let's get off the cliff here, before we get into anymore life or death situations."
Ashelin shrugged. "I don't know… that's what makes it exciting."
"No… what would be exciting would be getting out of the sun somewhere. I'm baking out here." He looked up. "Thank the Precursors we don't have far to go."
The top of the cliff was a flat stone mountain. The sun was even hotter up here, and there was no shelter whatsoever. "So… where do we go now?" Torn asked, unsure of where they were.
Ashelin surveyed their surroundings. "I think the stairs ought to be… over there," she said, pointing to the place where they could see the top of a very tall tree peeking up over the rocks. "That should lead into Haven Forest. Then we can make our way into the Precursor Mountain, and from there, the city."
"Okay." Torn followed her to the other side of the narrow cliff. He saw, too his surprise, a stone staircase leading down from the cliff. The rocky wall was shorter on this side, much shorter. Torn estimated it was about twenty feet to the bottom.
"Welcome," Ashelin said dramatically, "to the place where most of the kids in Haven used to hang out before the security walls were built."
Torn followed her closely, unsure of what he would find in this part of the forest he had never seen. Metal Heads had recently overrun the place, and a battle was not what he wanted to deal with right now. It could mean death for them both.
