A/N: This update is dedicated to the anons who let me know that people are in fact reading this story. :)
The next morning, the group of bandits and their prisoner had reached shore. Jack tied a harness on Tiny and threw a rope to the top of the cliffs. She motioned to Snow, and the two lifted Regina onto Tiny's back before catching hold themselves. Within seconds, Tiny was climbing, carrying the group up the Cliffs of Insanity.
Regina was out of her mind with fear at the seemingly infinite climb, but she vowed that her captors would not see her squirm. She desperately tried not to look down, and of course, when a person tries not to look somewhere, he or she has to at least glance in that direction, so Regina did look down, the view making her even queasier than before. Yet, in the corner of her eye, she saw a person in all black with a mask over his eyes and a bandana covering his hair climbing up behind them. Gathering her courage, she boasted, "Look, the Prince has already sent someone to save me. You may as well hand me over before your lives are totally forfeit."
"Princess, what are you talking about?" Snow looked mildly annoyed. They'd been over this. "There will be no rescue. The Prince will go to war with Oz. It's been fated. What is that man doing climbing behind us? Tiny, go faster!"
"I'm climbing as fast as I can," Tiny complained. "You try climbing with 3 people on your back and see how fast you can go."
"I need a new giant," Snow muttered.
"Don't say that, Snow. That hurts," Tiny pouted at her. Before Snow could respond, Tiny took the last part of the climb at an inhuman speed, throwing them all over the cliff top. Snow and Jack jumped down, landing next to the stone ruins, but Regina stayed exactly where she was because Tiny was the only one that Regina trusted not to throw her off the side of the cliff. Snow moved swiftly to cut the rope held by the man in black, but it was to no avail. He continued to climb.
Snow called over to Jack, "Tiny and I are going to go ahead with the princess. I expect you to keep this man otherwise engaged. Do not let him reach us, understood?"
Jack looked at Snow and then eyed the man in black, "Absolutely."
Snow and Tiny ran across the ruins with the princess, leaving Jack alone to face the man in black. She waited and waited, but the man was climbing so slowly without the rope even with incredibly firm biceps, and she was growing impatient. Jack called down, "You have very nice arms."
A distinctly female voice answered her, "Sorry, but this isn't as easy as it looks. I'd appreciate it if you didn't distract me."
"You're a woman!" Jack cried out incredulously, noticing the clear lack of Adams apple now that the woman was close enough to her.
The woman in black scoffed, "What, you thought a man could climb this mountain? Please."
"This changes nothing. I still have to kill you," Jack said, the disappointment in her voice masking her true feelings.
"You realize that's kind of a turn-off, right?" The mysterious woman grunted, grabbing onto the next boulder. "I liked you better when you were complimenting my arms."
Jack laughed, "As if it was my fault you upset my boss. I can at least wait until you reach the top. You know, fighting fair and all that. Here, let me throw you a rope."
The unnamed woman accepted the rope happily despite her enemy's previous threats. She had no reason to fear falling—that was one of the first spells she had learned once she discovered she had magic. She was still a relative novice in the ways of magic though, so she continued to do everything without magic as much as possible. Remembering her manners, she said, "Thank you."
"Out of curiosity, do you have six fingers on your right hand?" Jack inquired as the mysterious woman reached the last boulder and hoisted herself over the edge of the ruins. She asked this of every swordsman and swordswoman she met ever since she lost James.
The woman laughed, unsheathing her sword and holding it in her left hand, "What a strange question. If you wish to fight left-handed, all you have to do is say so."
Jack responded, unsheathing her own sword and moving it to her left hand, "My brother James was killed by a swordsperson with six fingers on his right hand. I learned to use a sword to one day avenge his death."
"Interesting story. Sorry to disappoint you, but my right hand only has 5 fingers, so I guess you are just going to have to continue your hunt," she answered, easily parrying the first attack and responding with a strike of her own.
Shrugging, Jack continued the sword dance, "I suppose so. That's why I pick up these hired sword jobs. They pay the bills for me to search."
Guarded, the woman in black asked, "So my death is only about money for you then?"
"That about sums it up. You know, it's a real shame to kill a fine swordswoman like yourself," Jack complimented, as the woman landed a glancing blow on her shoulder. "What is your name if I may ask?"
"Why should I give my name to a woman who plans to kill me?"
"Fair enough," Jack agreed. "What shall I call you then?"
Grinning, the woman replied, "No need to worry yourself about such things. I am no one of consequence."
"You're better than me," Jack smiled back, letting herself be pushed back against the stone ruins.
"Yet, you are smiling," countered her opponent.
"That's because I know something that you don't. I'm not left handed," Jack laughed, changing hands swiftly and beating the other woman back.
Switching hands with her own blade, the woman in black quickly matched her opponent's moves, "That's wonderful. Neither am I."