No. 10: Stranded

Nikolai woke to the familiar grogginess of post transformation. The first thing he registered was that he was not tucked securely back in bed, nor were there chains keeping him confined after he'd been fetched by his keepers. Squinting at the harsh morning light, he discovered he was still out in the countryside. A sweeping vista of wood and farm land stretched out before him, and he next realized his vantage point was rather high up.

Rolling over, he came face to face with a sheer rock face. His sluggish mind failed to put the pieces together, and he pressed a scarred hand against the rock to leverage himself up. Only then did he finally take in the full scope of his surroundings—he was on a ledge on the side of a cliff face.

Nikolai scooted over to the edge and looked down. The drop was far too long for him to make a leap, and the climb up was too far and treacherous for him to attempt. The damn demon had flown them up here and stranded him.

He scanned the area, hoping to spot Zoya and the twins, but there was no sign of them. He never knew how exactly they were able to track the demon when it escaped at night, but he prayed this wasn't the night it would finally elude them.

This high up, there was a wind chill that buffeted his bare torso, and he pressed himself back against the rock and drew his knees up, folding over himself in an attempt to shield from the cold. It did little good. He tucked his hands under his armpits, but his bare feet were exposed and his toes quickly went numb. If the demon was trying to kill them both, it might actually succeed.

A spur of defiance drew Nikolai from his huddle, and he once again evaluated the drop versus the climb, debating whether to try one or the other after all. Both were extremely dangerous, but so was remaining up here exposed to the elements. He couldn't let himself just sit down and die, not when he had a country depending on him.

But he really was at a loss in his current predicament. He needed his friends to find him, and quickly. He drew in a large breath and shouted at the top of his lungs Zoya's name, hoping her affinity with the wind would carry his voice to her somehow. Then he sat back to continue waiting.

The sun hadn't risen very far before he heard a distant voice ringing from below, and when he peered over the edge, his heart leaped with relief at the sight of Zoya, Tolya, and Tamar.

"Up here!" he yelled and waved his arms.

They looked up, and then Zoya was moving her hands, and her voice carried up to Nikolai with the clarity as though she were standing right next to him.

"What have you gotten yourself into?" she said with the whiff of a snort.

"Not me," he replied sullenly. "And I hope you have a way to get me down, before someone else comes along to see this spectacle."

He could only assume she would be able to hear him, and sure enough, she turned to Tolya and Tamar and the three of them conferred for a few moments. Then they looked back up at him again.

"You're not going to like it," Zoya's voice warned.

"I expect not. What is it?"

"Step off the ledge and I'll catch you."

Yep, he definitely didn't like that idea, but what other choice did he have? Wait up here for hours while his friends found some kind of rope or contraption to get him down? In which time someone somewhere would see something and more rumors he didn't need would abound.

"All right," he said grudgingly. Zoya had caught him once before, albeit resulting in a few broken bones. Still, it was better than some of the alternatives.

His heart began to race as he peered over the edge, and he took in several shaky breaths, working up his nerve. He felt the upstart of wind as Zoya prepared the currents to catch him. Nikolai closed his eyes and forced himself to step off the ledge.

The free fall that hit him stole his breath and had him instantly flailing, even as the wind gusts tried to cushion his descent. The gales buffeted his body in an attempt to slow the effect of gravity, but even so, Nikolai tucked himself into a roll as he hit the ground hard. Something snapped with blinding white pain, but he didn't have the breath to cry out as he tumbled to an ungainly stop.

Zoya and the twins rushed over to him.

"Sorry," Zoya apologized.

"I'm alive, that's all that matters," Nikolai replied through gritted teeth. He didn't try to get up just yet, instead focusing on catching his breath. And the pain in his arm and shoulder began to make itself known. "Um," he said breathlessly. "I think…something's broken."

Tolya and Tamar both moved their hands over him, soothing the pain without needing to be asked.

"Collar bone," Tamar informed them. "We can stabilize it, but we'll need a sling to keep it in place until we can get you back to the palace and to a trained Healer."

"I don't suppose the carriage is nearby," Nikolai asked.

"No, and it wouldn't be gentle on your injury anyway."

"Then I'm going to need a cloak or something."

Tolya got to his feet. "I'll see what I can find nearby. Will you be all right here?"

"Yes," Zoya answered. "But be quick."

Tolya nodded and jogged off.

"He's going to steal something off someone's laundry line, isn't he?" Nikolai said.

"He'll leave more than enough coin to replace it," Zoya said indifferently.

"What were you doing up there?" Tamar asked.

"No idea. Perhaps the demon has a twisted sense of humor."

"We need to take more precautions," Zoya added.

Nikolai sighed, then winced as the motion pulled on his broken collar bone. So many problems, so little time. And he was still momentarily stranded where he couldn't get to work on any of them.

At least he wasn't alone and had friends by his side, figuratively and physically.