The King with Six Friends

The Second Trial

Zar had to lean back to see the top of the cliff. It cast a behemoth of a shadow over the coast. They stood on a causeway of rocks that stretched out into the tide. Waves churned and crashed against the cliff, leaving a perpetual mist around the base.

The second trial was to scale the face of the cliff, reach the top, and travel over the plateau to find a chest. It seemed easy in thought, but actually navigating the shards that jutted out of the water to the base of the cliff, timing it right as to not be crushed against the rocks by the waves, and finding the best path of climbing while in a mist where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, was going to be difficult.

Gulls and vultures perched on ledges, waiting for the show to start.

Zar surveyed the cracks that ran up the cliff. It seemed like he could climb up the large vertical one near the base. He would then follow a series of ledges that switch-backed their way up to the top. The only issue was that the lowest handholds might be in the mist or quite a distance above reaching distance.

It was low tide. The waves looked decently consistent, but it was the pullback that would drag them down and grind them to death against the cliff. There would be no room for mistakes here.

On the path to the actual base of the cliff, it looked like they would have to leap from rock to rock, moving as the wave was pulling back. They would reach the base as the wave would be crashing down. They would have to find an alcove in the cliff to brace against the force.

Or, find a structure strong enough to withstand it.

"Furze, Eryx, Edge, I won't demand it," Zar requested, untying his scabbard from his belt and handing it to Dumble. "But I need your help."

"We're here. What's the plan?" said Edge.

"I've found a path to the base, but we need to be quick and time it right. Once at the base, I need you, Furze, to become a tree to hold us until the wave passes."

Furze furrowed his brows and shifted nervously. "I'm not exactly the fastest runner present, Zar. I'll only slow you down."

"I'll carry you. That's all we need to focus on now." Zar looked over the rhythm of the waves and the path through the rocks one more time. Eryx and Edge gripped at the rock with the toes of their shoes. It was wet, but rough enough to find friction.

Furze climbed onto Zar's back, holding as best as he could for the race against the ocean.

"One." They leaned forward. "Two." The wave crashed against the cliff. "Three!"

They surged forward, Zar leading them across the tidepools.

Off the first rock.

Foot off the next.

Two steps off the barnacled one.

The wave was pulling back.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Run up the tallish one.

Don't step on the algae.

Jump to the round one.

They were almost there.

The swell reared up to strike.

Don't slip, don't slip.

Avoid the tall overhang.

Watch that loose stone.

Get to the low one just beneath the water.

Cold water.

Into the mist.

"NOW!"

The wave broke over them, spraying brine water into the air.

Dumble, Agus and Kindle watched in anticipation from the rock. They couldn't see anything or anyone in the water.

A second wave crashed over the rocks. The longer they waited, the more worried they were. If they hadn't survived-

Then, stretching out from the mist, a tall, wet mass emerged. It was a tree. A person- no, three people clung to the trunk of the tree as the ocean berated them. Furze lifted them out of the swells to the top of the cliff.

"They made it!" cried Agus. The three waved at them from the branches. It almost looked like the tree was waving a limb as well.

Zar, Edge, Furze, and Eryx made their way to the top of the cliff. The plateau was barren with little vegetation. The strong salty wind from the ocean blew them this way and that across the rocks. After walking for some time, they came across a wide chasm- too wide to jump.

"Eryx, could you. . ?" Zar gestured to the chasm.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."  Eryx turned into his serpent form and made a bridge for the others to cross. The other three windmilled across to the other side. Eryx turned back into a human and held a hand to his ribs. "Some of you have really heavy boots, you know," he grunted.

After scouring the rocky plateau until the sun was low in the sky, they eventually found the chest buried under a pile of rocks. It was locked and a key was nowhere to be found.

"Edge, would you mind. . . turning into an axe so I can break the chest?" Zar asked.

"Sure." Edge folded his arms and began to shrink down. His body turned to braided leather and his head shaped into a metal blade. He became an axe before their eyes, standing balanced on the ground at the handle.

Zar picked Edge up and hoped he couldn't feel anything. After a few solid strikes, he pried open the chest to find a small bejeweled egg nestled in a velvet cloth. It was as light as breath and equally as fragile.

The four carefully made their way back with their prize back to the causeway. Then they traveled back to the South Kingdom's palace.

King Invictus was delighted to see their return with the egg. Kiera, however, was silently puzzled and passively annoyed.

They passed the second trial.