Well, it appears that I missed the weekend by about half an hour. Sorry all! In recompense, here's two chapters for the day instead.
Got rid of something from the original that didn't seem to fit, and came up with a new way up the Cliffs. I hope it all works for you!
Enjoy!
"We'll reach the border of Oz by morning, and then it's only the cliffs between us and the end of this," G smugly leaned against the rail, looking at Heero as though he were a treasure of gold. In a sense, Heero thought that might be true enough.
When his words garnered no response, he turned to the other two members of his crew. Trowa was sitting not far from Heero, looking out to the port side, but Wufei sat at the stern, turned backwards.
"Why are you doing that?" G asked.
"It is prudent to ensure no one is following us," Wufei answered simply.
"That would be inconceivable."
"Not necessarily," Heero put in, feeling churlishness warm his expression. "Prince Zechs is an accomplished warrior and hunter. He will probably find and kill you all himself. He does not hesitate to spill blood."
"Of all the blood in this boat, you should really worry more about your own, perfect soldier," G sneered. Then, rolling his eyes, "Wufei, stop that!"
"Are you certain no one is following us?"
"Of course! No one in Oz knows what we've done, and no one in Sanc could have gotten here so fast." Heero noted that G didn't say that no one in Sanc knew what they had done, but before he could point it out, G raised an eyebrow and asked, "Out of curiosity, why do you ask?"
"Oh, I'm certain it's nothing," Wufei said condescendingly, "but I just happened to look and I believe someone is there."
G and Trowa both rushed to the stern to look, and Heero toyed with the idea of breaking free and swimming for it. But their next words stopped him.
"It's just a small boat. Probably some local fisherman out late or lost. It's not like it's the pirate Shinigami. Then we'd have a real problem," G said slyly.
Heero's entire body tensed in sudden, blinding rage. If it had been the ship Deathscythe, the ship of Shinigami, he would have broken his arms from his body to escape if that's what it took. Even the merest chance of killing the man who had taken Quatre from him was worth anything. But a lowly fisherman didn't interest him. Not for an instant.
Heero closed his eyes to wait for the dawn.
He woke out of a doze at Wufei announcing that the other boat was "right on top of us."
"He must be using the same wind we are using," Trowa said dryly, winking with a small smile when G's face reddened and he shouted.
"It doesn't matter! Look! The Cliffs of Insanity! Get us to the landing point at once! Speed it up! Move the thing! And that other thing!"
They rounded a granite mountaintop rising like a sentinel out of the water to a small dock, or, at least, a post and a few stones flat enough to stand upon. The boat had only just bobbed against the rocks when Trowa was already out of it, leaping to climb the cliff with the deft speed of a squirrel. Heero stared upwards at the impossible height, wondering how exactly anyone could plan to get up that, let alone with a prisoner.
"Hurry up!" G bellowed, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"You don't think he's actually going to respond to you, do you?" Wufei asked with disdain. "He's climbing the unclimable cliffs."
"I do not accept excuses," G frowned. "Faster!" he yelled.
"He's nearly to the first pull-rope," Wufei said calmly.
"And just in time," G turned back to the mouth of the inlet, where they could hear the water lapping against the side of an approaching boat. "Our persistent friend will have to sail around for hours to find a harbor. No one is strong enough to do this without our mindless friend."
"He's not mindless," Wufei scowled.
Heero looked between the two with something approaching interest, but a moment later he was distracted by a rope that had been thrown from partway up the cliff. It looked like half the cliff-face was rigged with some kind of series of ropes, looped around stones and sometimes wooden pegs. Wufei caught the rope bundle and quickly drew Heero to his side.
"I know you do not value your life, but unless I have warranted death from you, do not resist or you will kill us all. Kill yourself later if you like, but I'd prefer to remain alive."
Heero's chained and bound hands were hooked around Wufei's right arm, even as he found himself pressed into a leather sling like a seat. G affixed himself similarly on the other side. Wufei, having gotten them both situated, ignored them for a few moments, his lips moving silently as he concentrated on calculating something only he understood. Then he drew the rope through the leather vest that linked the three together.
"Now, Trowa!" he shouted.
Above, Trowa had continued to climb, reaching about midway up the cliffs. He leaned over to where a particularly large boulder seemed slightly out of place. The thin man levered himself between the cliff and the boulder and began to push.
"Hurry!" G demanded. Heero turned to see that the other boat had rounded the inlet and was drawing up close, but before he could make out any details, he felt himself jerked violently upwards. He curled his fingers into Wufei's vest instinctively as the ground dropped away. The clattering was deafening as the boulder from above crashed into the sea, narrowly missing the second boat. Meanwhile, the ropes above tightened across the lattice of them, until the three hung suspended at the midway point of the cliff. Only then did Heero realize that Wufei's hands were tight on not one but two ropes, and he began to carefully walk them up the wall using both ropes to steady himself as he pulled at them.
"Now it's your turn to go faster," G growled.
"I already warned the soldier," Wufei never looked away from his task. "If you value your life, do not distract me. This is not as easy as it looks."
Above, Trowa was now only a few stone-throws from the top, tugging on some part of the rope rigging, and Heero saw that Trowa was assisting in hauling their weight up the cliff. It looked like brutal, back-breaking work, and his heart stirred in sympathy. Without knowing quite why, he found himself bracing his feet on the rock and beginning to take some of his own weight.
Wufei looked sharply at him the moment he shifted his body, but nodded once tersely. Heero found that if he jutted his hip out to one side he could actually serve as a bracing leg to hold fully his and half of Wufei's weight while the latter moved his foot another step higher. In moments Heero was sweating and his shoulders burned from the unnatural angle they were bound in, but he kept going. He noticed with disgust that G was doing nothing at all but complaining.
Until that complaining turned to alarm.
"Look!" G gestured. Of course, Wufei couldn't look away from the climb, but Heero did. Below, where their trailing ropes hung all the way down the cliff, he could now see a masked figure in black climbing, and making remarkable time up the ropes.
"He's climbing and he's gaining on us," Heero found himself saying aloud.
"Faster, both of you!" G ordered.
"We are going faster," Wufei grit out.
"You are supposed to be this genius, and him the unstoppable acrobat, and yet he gains! I should have hired a giant instead."
"Well, he is only carrying himself, while we have to contend with you!" Wufei shot back.
"Do I need to make it clear that your job is at stake!?" G was yelling now, and his anger caused him to sway, and Wufei nearly missed a step. But Trowa yanked on one of the ropes at just the right time for him to right himself. By this point, Trowa had actually reached the top of the cliff, and within moments he was stretching down to help them.
"Soldier first," Wufei said between his heavy, exhausted breathing. Trowa nodded and caught Heero's bound wrists in his grip. Wufei shifted enough to let Heero crawl out from under his arm, and Trowa pulled him to the top of the cliff in one smooth motion. A wave of dizziness hit Heero, bad enough that he was grateful Trowa had moved him away from the edge. Heero watched through swimming eyes as Trowa yanked G, not gently, either, from Wufei's other side. Without waiting for Wufei to clear the top of the cliff, G ran to the anchor point of the ropes at the top and began sawing through them. Heero meant to make a noise of warning, but dizziness struck again and he could only hold his head as spots exploded before his eyes while the rope snapped.
The lack of indignant screaming suggested Wufei had not plummeted to his death, so Heero was able to look up after a moment of stillness. In fact, he lurched forward to join where the other three leaned over the edge of the cliff in silence. Heero's feet were still slightly unsteady, but he only bumped into Trowa a little before the acrobat grabbed his manacled hands and held him firmly. Piercing green eyes looked at him sharply.
"When was the last time you ate?"
"Hn," Heero considered. "Before the tournament."
"So the morning before yesterday. You fought a tournament, passed an entire night, and then of course we didn't feed you at all yesterday. No wonder you look like death," Wufei commented.
"He didn't fall! Inconceivable!" G exclaimed angrily.
Heero peered over the cliff's edge to see, indeed, a figure in black clinging to the rocks. The ropes were all limp and useless around him, and he looked like nothing so much as a spider amidst a broken web.
"You keep using that word," Wufei said dryly. "I do not think it means what you think it means." Then his eyes widened. "Not only did he survive, but look. He's still climbing."
"He's obviously seen us with the prince's betrothed, and must therefore die. You," he gestured at Trowa, "help the soldier along. And feed him if it'll keep him moving faster. You," he looked at Wufei, "handle him. If he falls, fine. If not, the sword."
Wufei looked as though he was going to say something but simply turned away to look at the man climbing the cliff below. Trowa put his free hand on Wufei's shoulder for a moment.
"Be careful. He wears a mask, so you cannot be sure of his identity, but those who are hidden are the most dangerous."
"Yes," Wufei's expression hardened. "But if the mask conceals the face I know, there is no more dangerous man than I."
"I'm waiting!" G shouted.
The two shared a look and a nod, and Trowa set off after G, pulling Heero along.
Wufei settled down to wait.
-==OOO==-
"...'Do I need to make it clear that your job is at stake!?' G was yelling now, and his anger caused him to sway, and Wufei nearly missed a step. But Trowa yanked on one of the ropes at just the right time for him to right himself..."
"Oh, he's really annoying. Somebody's going to kill him, right? 'Cause they should!"
"Have you been talking to that braided maniac...I mean, your other uncle, again?"
"Maybe."
"I'm sure your father wouldn't like to hear you talk that way, but as it happens, I agree with you."
"Does Wufei throw him off the cliff? He probably should!"
"Listen and you'll find out..."