Chapter 12

"Your hands all bloody, you know," Anna said while wiping tears away.

I looked down and noticed she was right. It was covered in blood from the spear. "Oh, uh, sorry..."

I started to pull it back, but she suddenly grabbed it.

"... stupid. Living for revenge. But I do think you made some good points. Somehow, you made being selfish and seeking revenge sound like a good thing. If we just run away, or give up, they'll hurt more people."

I pulled her up to her feet with a smile. She looked annoyed by the smile, but I saw a hint of a smirk as she turned away.

Daniel and I got back under her arms to help her along.

"I thought you were a hero? Never heard a hero tell others to be selfish and seek revenge on others. Don't think I really agree with all the points you made, either." Daniel said with a half-joking tone that felt kinda serious.

"Yeah. Maybe I never was. I don't care about that anymore, though."

We trudged along in silence for a while. We got to the area above where I had been before I rushed to them. Still no soldiers. I guess they were having a hard time climbing in armor. It still worried me how slow we were going, but It was better than rushing and someone getting injured. I started to wonder if we would ever find the others, or if we would get lost in the mountain range. Maybe they already left. How long could they really afford to wait?

Eventually, we made it high enough to see the other side. It was a never ending mountain range ahead, and a view of the world at least 1000 feet below us to the left. We were almost as high as the clouds now. I was afraid of heights, but it still looked beautiful. In the silence when I really listened, I could hear the distant shouts of the soldiers far behind us.

"I see them! There!" Daniel shouted excitedly.

I followed where he was pointing until I saw a small open area down the mountain ahead of us. There were no trees or plants there. It was just flat stone near the East edge of the mountain. I could see who I thought was Scott and Simon, but not Betty. I could also see 3 other people that didn't look like soldiers. They had their backs to us, but from what I could see, they were approaching a nearly vertical cliff face.

I asked Daniel. "Are those people with them part of your group?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Ca-can we just... take a short break?" Anna panted.

She wasn't doing well. Looking at her small and thin body, it was already a miracle she made it this far. She had wings, but it seemed to exhaust her a lot more when she had to use them to climb or jump, even with Daniel and I helped her. Speaking of, Daniel and I weren't doing too great ourselves. My calves were on fire, so I could only imagine how Daniel felt after having spent months in a prison cell.

"Can't you go just a bit further? We're close, and I'm a bit worried about the wyvern we spotted earlier." Daniel said urgently.

She didn't answer.

"I can carry you on my back if you need." I said.

Again, she didn't respond right away. For a moment, I thought she might tell us to leave her behind again.

"...Ok. Sorry."

Hearing that was a major relief.

"Don't worry about it. You're super light anyway."

I got low for her, but Daniel had to help her onto my back, as she was too exhausted for even that. Once she was on, she wrapped her arms around my neck, which felt nice, and I hooked my arms under her legs. She really was super light.

It felt like she passed out on my back immediately, with the way she rested her head against it.

"Switch with me if you start to get tired, ok?" Daniel said as we started off.

"Yeah, thanks."

I didn't want to burden him when he was probably worse off than I was. Thankfully, it was much easier to head down hill, and I used the spear like a walking stick as much as I could. I just had to be more careful now with Anna on my back. While it may have been easier, it was starting to get a bit scarier. We were trying to move around the peak of the mountain, but it kept getting steeper on our right, and pushing us more to the left, which was just a drop all the way down. Eventually we were forced down onto the path we saw the others on. It was flatter, but now there were no other options. Directly to our left was a drop to certain death, and on our right was a never ending series of sheer cliffs. I knew Anna wasn't actually passed out when she began to squeeze harder around my neck as we were forced closer and closer to the edge as we continued. Looking down made me dizzy, so I kept my eyes forward. After what seemed like hours of marching, I was nearing my limit. I didn't realize just how thirsty and tired I was until we stopped, so Daniel could take Anna. It was starting to get cold, too. If we got lost or left up here...

One foot in front of the other. Focus on moving forward.

"Hey! They made it!" Simon shouted from up ahead.

I wanted to cry, I was so happy, but I didn't have the energy. They had made a camp in a flat, circular clearing. Low ledges to the right, and a short wall that ended halfway along the ledge and left an open view of the setting sun to the left, overlooking the countryside. No fire, but they had food and water! Scott, Simon, and 3 people I didn't recognize wearing gray cloaks with black markings on them. We finally made it.

Simon left his sword on the ground as he ran up to us first.

"I'm sorry! I thought you were right behind me. Scott said as long as you continued up, the mountain would force us to the same spot, so we just kept going, but I should've comeback."

One of the cloaked figures handed me some food and water. I drank the water like it was the most delicious thing ever, while he spoke.

"Your friend was sure you were going to show up. Can't say I had the same faith."

I didn't blame him. The other 2 cloaked figures attended to Anna and Daniel. I turned my attention back to Simon.

"Not your fault. I turned back for them." I gestured to Anna and Daniel.

But that didn't seem to reassure Simon.

"No. I should've made sure you were ok. I said I was going to teach you, and I... I left you behind." He clenched his fists at his side.

He seemed more angry with himself than he was relieved that we made it. He continued.

"How could I... again?"

I started to respond.

"Hey, it worked out. So don't beat yourself up about it. By the way, Where's Bet-?"

3 Wyverns zipped up past us from just past the ledge. I covered my face from the sharp wind and loose stones. A loud booming sound came from the center of the clearing where Anna and Daniel had been.

"... Mage, dealt with."

I turned to see Lawrence with a sword I didn't recognize standing with 2 wyvern riders where Anna and Daniel had been just a moment ago.