Page 90 of Dawn of Hope

He sniffles and nods, reaching out to clasp my hand tightly.

“Now, let’s see where this goes. It could be important.”

We keep hugging the side of the mountain and make our way up. I run my fingers along the side, searching for any false rocks or seams, anything that might lead to an opening. Fin trails me, but still grips my hand tightly, his sniffles getting less frequent as we trudge on.

Just ahead, the path catches my eye, and stops me dead in my tracks.

“Can you see that?” I ask him, crouching down and pointing up ahead. “Does it look like the path is missing to you?”

Fin steps beside me and squints his eyes. “I think so. Maybe we should go back.”

“No, you just stay here. I’ll go look and see if there is a way we can get across.”

I slowly approach the gap, assessing whether or not it is safe to get too close. The ground disappears a few steps ahead, a chunk of the mountainside missing. I look across and notice that the path doesn’t continue on the other side, whatever was here before, lost to the rest of us.

I take one step closer, my boot crunching in the gravel as a huge explosion thunders in my ears. I am thrown backward, my body slamming into the sharp rock behind me. Dust and rock rain down over me and I frantically try to cover my face.

Then I am slipping, the explosion causing the ground under me to crumble and slide down the side of the mountain.

My body follows, sharp rock scraping and cutting me as I fall. I dig my fingers into the rock, grasping for purchase. I can barely see through the debris as I feel myself falling down the side of the mountain.

The ringing in my ears blocks out everything except my thoughts.

Fin. Where is Fin?

“Fin!” I scream, at least I think I do. I can’t hear myself, only a loud, high-pitched noise as I still try to grab onto anything around me.

This is it. This is how I am going to die. Falling from the side of the mountain, trying to save my mother, to save Fin’s sister, Mara’s family. Hopefully Fin cannot see me, so he doesn’t have to watch another sister die.

My grip on the rock is weakening, my muscles straining to keep hold. But there is nowhere else to hold. Nothing around me to grab.

I hope my father will find an heir he is proud of.

Something hits my hands and I look up, squinting through the dust and dirt.

A dull sound surrounds me, but I still can’t make anything out.

It hits my hands again, and I focus on it.

It is the end of a bow. Fin’s bow.

I raise my gaze higher and see something take shape. Fin is above me, kneeling over the edge with the bow, and yelling at me. I eye the bow that is still resting on my hands.

I can’t pull on it like I’m sure he’s telling me to. He is too little, too light, and I would surely pull him over the side with me.

My voice sounds distant in my ears as I yell up to him.

“Hook the bow around a rock so I can pull on it!” The dust is settling now, and I see him nod in acknowledgement. He pulls it up and hooks the edge on a large rock jutting out of the top of the path.

I hope it holds.

His actions put it just out of reach. I kick my feet along the side of the mountain, trying to snag on something I can stand on, but the rock face below me is too smooth. My fingers start slipping, and the panic in me rises. If I do nothing, I will fall.

I will die.

I have to get to that bow.

I flatten my boots onto the face of the rock so I can pull up and scale the side of the mountain. My arms strain, pain flaring through them as I pull. A scream slips through my lips as I pull my body up with all my might, and hold myself suspended in the air. I let go quickly with one hand and reach up to snatch the end of the bow, hooking my hand between the wood and the string.