A HERO
-"Hold on to my rifle!"- shouts Roxton, his voice wrenching, sagging to his waist from the precipitation,- "Hold on to my rifle Marguerite!"-
Marguerite Krux hangs precariously (meters below) clutching by her bloody fingers a sharp stone, her legs suspended fully in the air flailing limply in the force of the wind, her long dark hair falling heavy and wet over her face and forehead.
-"I can't John, I can't make it!"- she says in a whisper, exhaustion, pain and despair beginning to take their toll.
-"It's okay¡...don't worry, I'll come down and get you, but don't let go, darling, for the love of God, don't let go, please hold on!"-
Roxton slowly pulls back from the edge of the cliff not daring to break the visual connection with his fiancée, the fear for her precarious situation is making his heart pump so hard that it's coming out of his mouth, his stomach clenched in a tight choking knot making it difficult for him to breathe.
He dreads the moment he turns to call his companions, for fear that when he looks again she has already disappeared into nothingness. Her body hangs so limp in the void...and she is so small...no, he must not give in to fear, she is a survivor...she will hold on...she has to hold on...the other option is unthinkable.
He turns in despair only to see another desperate situation,
His companions are fighting fiercely to try to bring down the group of raptors that have cornered them at the edge of the cliff.
Malone bravely covers Veronica with his rifle, who has been wounded in the very same tail of the savage animal that threw Marguerite over the edge of the cliff. She carefully clutches her side and the rictus of pain on the blonde's tanned face and the short, shaky breath clearly show the signs that at least one of her ribs is broken.
Challenger had taken one of them down with his own rifle and was now trying to tie a rope to the nearest tree with the intention of helping to get Marguerite out of the predicament she was in...,
Roxton let out a sigh of relief, and silently thanked the God (once again) for his friends.
He looks back over his shoulder for a second to make sure that Marguerite is still holding on (and he can't help but notice the look of suffering on her face) and then he loads his rifle and fires, channeling his rage against one of the three animals that are still alive.
His shot is so accurate that the raptor falls dead instantly, causing a slight tremor on the ground that reverberates in the air. He reloads the rifle with the speed and skill that comes from years of handling weapons (and with unparalleled marksmanship) and takes down the last two animals with a couple of deft shots.
Malone looks at him with surprise and admiration, few men really live up to the reputation they have created for themselves in life but Lord John Roxton certainly does, this man is a living legend.
-"Quick Challenger, the rope!"- shouts the hunter, not wanting to waste another second.
The man who has just secured the knot of a second safety rope throws it in the air as he hurries over to him-"How's she holding up?-
-"Badly, we have to get her out of there"- Roxton replies nervously as he ties one of the ropes around his waist and drops the other over the edge of the cliff.
Veronica, who has approached the cliff with Malone's help, opens her eyes wide when she sees her friend's desperate situation as she drops to the ground in pain.
-"She won't last much longer Roxton¡, the blood on her fingers is making her slip"- she moans in fear.
-" Hang in there Marguerite! Roxton is coming down for you¡"- shouts the journalist, looking down into the void below him.
-"Malone, keep your eyes on the jungle¡ , the smell of blood may attract other scavengers,"- the hunter chides-"Challenger, help me hold on!-
John throws the rope that held him over the cliff and holding on tightly he leans out into the abyss.
Veronica clenches her fists in rage, impotent at not being able to help. She doesn't allow herself to express any feelings (her features completely blank) she doesn't want her friends to read her thoughts, she knew that the situation doesn't look good and she thinks that the luck (that has always seemed to accompany Marguerite) has finally run out, (it definitely couldn't last forever) ...little more than a miracle seems to separate her friend from a free fall of several hundred meters. She looks at the hunter and senses how anguish and worry come in waves from him, and could not help thinking what will become of that great man if he loses Marguerite.
Slowly and worriedly Roxton lets himself fall horizontally down the rocky wall letting the rope go little by little, a shudder hits him when the wind whips him almost causing him to lose his balance, his hands hold the rope tighter, inside he prays to all the Gods he knows - "Hold on darling, I'm coming"- he cheers as he keeps going down the wall below.
Marguerite looks up and her eyes make a connection with his.
And it's at that exact moment when John instinctively knows he's never going to make it in time, she's glaring goodbye,
Marguerite is not going to hold on.
In a matter of milliseconds Roxton makes the decision of his life.
A life that (it is very clear to him) he will not want to live without the woman he is trying to save.
A world without her is not a world he wants to be in, (not anymore anyway).
Not after all those years on the plateau.
Not after all they've been through to be together.
Not after all the countless trials they've had to overcome, all the layers of onion he's had to peel off of her.
No, there's definitely no damn way.
Unimaginable at that point to end up apart.
So he makes his bet
Double or nothing
Either he lives with her or he follows her to death
Both or neither.
Either way they'll end up together
And he goes for it.
Time seems to slow down and the whole sequence passes in slow motion. At the same instant that John Roxton jumps off the rope, Marguerite slips from the sharp stone to which she was attached, Challenger lets go of the rope he is holding due to the sudden pull of the hunter's body, and Veronica screams with fear distorting her face.
And suddenly, a sepulchral silence only broken by the sound of the wind.
When the three explorers look down into the abyss in terror, they see only part of a rope dancing loosely on the rock, but no trace of the man or the woman.
They have lost them both
.
.
.
But suddenly, far below, they see the recoil of John's body swinging to the other end of the safety rope. The hunter's swing lifts him high in the air and it is then that they see clearly how Roxton holds Marguerite's body tightly clinging to him. A loud gasp of surprise is heard followed by cries of joy and jubilation at seeing them both safe.
-"Marguerite Krux... you are the luckiest person I have ever met in my life!" -shouts Veronica in deep surprise (and relief) as she painfully clutches her ribs.
-"Well done old man, well done," -sighs Challenger gratefully.
Malone drops to his knees beside his partner.
- "Damn...I can't believe what he just did, that was..."-Malone, the journalist who writes words for a living, suddenly runs out of words.
- "Heroic?"-finishes Veronica for him, smiling.
He looks at her with his deep blue eyes overflowing with joy, and would have kissed her at that moment had it not been for the piercing, desperate cry Challenger lets out just then.
As Malone turns she watches in shock as the scientist swiftly picks up the rope that has snapped in two with a shattered face. The swinging of the rope against the rock has severed the fiber finally dropping his two friends into the void.
Gone.
.
.
.
When Roxton notices how the tension of the rope loosens and gives way, he thinks that they have really reached the end of the road. He hugs the woman he loves tightly and prepares himself for the worst, when not two seconds after falling into the void their bodies collide with a hard, rocky ground, his mind takes a little while to assimilate what has just happened.
Something has slowed them down.
Dryly
And it's painful
He opens his eyes and looks down at the woman lying beneath him, Marguerite has taken the brunt of the blow as he lands, partially, on top of her, but she still looks up at him disturbed and bewildered, eyes wide, huge, incredulous at what has just happened.
Roxton lets out a short gasp of relief, holds her face tightly and kisses her hard, desperate and amazed to still be alive. Seconds later he pulls back - "are you okay? are you hurt?"-
- "I don't know, I don't think so, but I can't tell for sure"-she tries to maneuver painfully under him-"...get off of me John, you're so heavy, and you're not exactly light you know?"-she gasps with bated breath.
Roxton rolls onto his side, relieving his weight, and lies down next to her, his hand reaches for hers and squeezes it gently. He lets out a deep sigh and begins to laugh, (with uncontrolled, nervous laughter from the endorphin rush the situation has created) he turns his head to face her - "I didn't think we were going to tell this time."
Keeping eye contact, Marguerite's face expresses anger in contrast with his joy
- "I can't believe we're alive either...you came after me". She reproaches him
- "yes"
- "Are you crazy?"
- "possibly"
- "don't ever do that again!"
- "Marguerite..."
- "you could have died!"
- "Marguerite..."
-"You could have died and it would have been my fault Roxton!"
-"Marguerite!"
-No, no Marguerite, I, I..."- she stammers and sits up -"I can't believe you did that stupid thing Roxton, what the hell were you thinking?"-
-"And what did you want me to do? Let you die? Do you know what that would have done to me?"-
-"If it's my time it's my time Roxton, and you won't die with me...I swear if you had died because of me there would be no place in hell where you could hide from my fury!"-
- "at least we would be together!"
- "but dead...both of us!"
- "but together...both of us!
"...together, dead and in hell? Now that's what I call a great plan Roxton."
He can't help a sympathetic smile, he understands her fear perfectly but he doesn't share it (Marguerite doesn't understand that he can't stay without her, that he can't live without her anymore, that scares him more than death itself, he makes a firm promise to himself at that moment, if they can't die together he will go first, no more talking).
-"...Do you have any idea how absurd you sound, darling?"- he tries to soothe her by stroking her face with one hand and brushes away a strand of curly hair that has caught on her damp cheek.
She blinks in puzzlement and she thinks she must be in shock because she blurts out a - "I love you...does that sound absurd too?"- before her mind registers her words
-"No, absolutely no, that sounds just perfect" -and he smiles and thinks that she must be somehow in shock because she has just confessed that she loves him with astonishing sincerity (and it's not that she hasn't told him before, it's just that she doesn't usually say it so easily) so before she realizes what she has just confessed and tries to cover her slip he holds the back of her neck with his hand, brings his lips to hers and kisses her intensely.
-"Come on" -he says after a moment, helping her up, "let's let the people upstairs know we're still alive".
He walks a few steps towards the edge of the cliff and before looking up he turns around thoughtfully.
-" hell huh? Don't you think we deserve something more Marguerite? After all I'm a hero right?"-
- "Hero? really?" - she scoffs - "A suicidal madman I'd say..." -
- "so… a thieving spy and a suicidal madman? ... I guess this time I have to agree with you my dear... hell is too little for us"- and he pulls her back into a fierce kiss.