Chapter 4

.

"It's no use," Jake grumbled as he stopped pulling uselessly on the immovable trunk. "The thing won't budge." He then slapped the tree before storming over to where his younger red-headed teammate was sitting down with a grimace, softening his gait and facial expressions as he got closer to her.

…

…

…

"Hey Stone," Baird called out just a couple seconds later, having watched as the historian helped remove a couple of splinters from Cassandra's palm. "Let's try switching places. You've got more brute strength than I do, that'd probably be best suited done here."

"I guess it's worth a try," Jacob stated, yet again in a sullen tone, the leader, although unenthusiastic about the plan, then moved to the lower end of the trunk, which had sunk deeper into the dirt, just as Eve instructed.

However, despite their effort and change in positions, things were not getting any easier. And as the ground below Stone grew slippery, his footing went from under him, sending him hard into the mud.

"GOD, DAMN'IT!" Jake clenched his fists in anger, his arms quivering as dirt dripped from his clothes. "This is pointless."

"It's not a problem of strength, Jacob. More an issue with the angle and distribution of force." Cassandra quickly explained as she helped her frustrated teammate up, brushing more dirt from his arms as she continued to speak. "But if we use a rope, we could tie it around various points of the log and angle the ends to form an anchor point on which we can all pull, spreading our strength out evenly.

"Great idea Cassie, but where are we going to get rope from? We're in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but the clothes on our backs. I mean…" the historian shook his head and shrugged for a moment. "Maybe if we tied some of our clothes together, we could fashion some kind of tether? Here, take mine, I got a few layers on, it might be enough." He then shrugged once again, this time as he undid the top buttons of his shirt ready the slip out from under his sleeves.

"God, keep the flannel on cowboy, nobody wants to see you in your skivvies."

"Well I wasn't seeing you making any offers, Jones?" Stone snapped, still angry at the thief for his lack of help this last quarter of an hour. The lazy little git just laid in the grass napping as per usual, whilst the rest of us worked at getting out of here and back to the annexe.

"And I ain't gonna. Not when Baird keeps a rope on her keychain?"

"What are you talking abou…"

"Oh yeah!" And before the lead librarian could finish his question, Eve's head sprung up, her shout almost saying eureka with its tone. "I forgot all about this." She then mentioned softly, as she pulled out a small set of jingling keys. "Hey, how did you know I had this, Jones."

The thief just shrugged in response and rolled his eyes before answering. "Noticed it once when I was practising my lifting skills." he then took the keyring that looked like a braid of some kind, wrapped around itself, in an intricate pattern in shades of brown and green. Giving the end a quick tug, the thread then unravelled until it was one long piece of thin but sturdy rope. Jones then handed it back to his guardian who then passed it to Stone so he could follow Cassandra's instructions.

Not that the guide helped that much, Jacob just got confused and even more frustrated as his hands tangled themselves around the thin twine until his fingers were tied into knots. He just couldn't understand what he was meant to be doing based on the witch's explanation. "Jesus. Give it here." The thief soon snapped, tired of watching what he saw as incompetence at its finest example. "I thought you were from Texas. What kind of cowboy can't tie a knot?"

"I told ya already, I'm from Oklahoma, not Texas. And I worked oil, no need for tying knots." The argument, however, fell on deaf ears as Jones pulled the rope from Stone's callused hands, scoffing at the indignant sound his fearless made in response.

Still, the historian wanted to argue some more but his words fell silent at what he saw.

"How the hell do you know how to do all this?" Jacob asked, his eyes fixed on the thief's fast fingers as he winded the rope with ease and dexterity, creating intricate knots as if he were simply tying his shoelaces.

It was fascinating and well worth the praise that was bubbling in the librarian's chest, but before he could comment any further on it, Ezekial just shrugged and stated, "Sometimes I use zip lines to get past pressure plates in floors, I need to know which kind of knot to use and how to tie it based on the weight and size ratio of the item I'm stealing. Here try this, Baird." The thief then handed his guardian the firmly tied twine, watching as she slipped the loop exactly where Cassandra had directed her to, as the rest of the team gathered to try to shift the log one last time.

"Come on guys, let's get this thing moving. On the count of three. One… Two…"

And just like that, as if the trunk was made of feathers and was lying on an oil slick, it slid out of the dirt it had been wedged in and rolled easily down to the riverbank.

After that, it was just a simple matter of two people pushing on the log's end to keep it steady, whilst the other two guided it over to the other side where it could rest steadily in a shallow ditch.

"Finally," Stone sighed, wiping the mud and sweat off his brow. "Right, everyone, let's get across this thing and out of here," he ordered, as his teammates took turns carefully walking across the makeshift bridge. However, before the thief could make his own journey, Jake stopped him a moment so he could whisper, "Good job, Jones."