The gift of Eywa

chapter 9: ride or die... literally

Tsu'tey leads three direhorses up the trail. Two teenage hunters alongside Jake and I. The horses hooves clop right next to a sheer drop into the misty canyon. Which is making me feel a little bit... exhilarated. But nervous, yeah... exhilarated and nervous. 'Hahahhaa I'm dead'

Ikinmaya roughly translate to as a stairway to heaven. It is a test that every younger hunter must pass.

Suddenly Tsu'tey signals to stop. Up ahead in an astonishment formation causing my mouth to hand open. Thick vine like trees have trapped large floating borders of unobtanium in their gnarled grips. A hundred meters above the are more borders woven into the twisted vine trunk.

Jake must of seen my face because he chuckles before living his hand up and holds chin before closing it which caused me to flush in embarrassment before looking away. Unbeknown to bothe Jake and Nova, Tsu'tey saw their interaction and was boiling with rage. He had already figured out why he was so overprotective of Nova as the jolt of electricity that corsed throughout his body when their eyes connected notified him. And he wasn't going to let some sky person get in his way.

There is a thundering roar, like an artillary barrage, that shakes the ground causing me to break out of my trance of embarrassment and look around. One of the floating mountains is grinding against the flank of a nearby mesa. The mountain is drifting towards us, filling half the sky.

The hunters dismount as Jake and I follow in pursuit. Jake turns to me with and unsure look to which I return with an excited look.

"We doin' this?"  

"Hell yeah!"

Jake and I leap up to catch it as Tsu'tey and the other hunters swarm the base of the beanstalk. 200 meters up the beanstalk the hunters, as well as Jake and I, nimbly climb along side the vine trunks. We chamber over one of the unobtanium borders which is lifting up this incredible tree.

I look down seeing the once massive trunk dwindle to the size of a licorice stick. A chunck breaks off the bolder as me and Jake climb over it as we reach the upper rand of the beanstalk.

Above us I'd the craggly underbelly of the Mons Veritatis looming. Sprays from one of the waterfall hits us and it honestly feels so refreshing. And very calming... although that sounds weird and very bizarre... anyways...

Some of the hanging vines brush over the upper branches of the beanstalk with a crackling hiss. One by one the hunters grab onto the vines as they pass, leaving only me and Jake. Looking at eachother before shrugging we leap to a passing vine as our feet dangle over nothing whilst we climb towards the floating islands above.

Our tiny figures cross a causeway of vines connecting a small island of unobtanium to the main mass of Mons Veritatis. Banshees circle next to the cliffs, flashing in the shafts of sunlight as waterfalls dissolve into nothingless below.

A waterfall thunders down intot he void like a faucet of the gods. Jake and I look down the sheer cliff at the world far bellow. A view from Olympus.

With a shriek and the sound of wings flapping Neytiri's banshee swoops down in a perch at the edge of the grotto. He dismounts it, like a falconer, covers its eyes with a woven hood. It waits docile as Neytiri joins up with our group, facing everyone before letting his eyes linger on me for a while longer before turning away, with worry.

Tsu'tey once again leads us through a cave until we emerge onto a cliff face. The first thing Jake and I noticed are the banshee rookery. Hundreds huddled on a rock out cropping as far as the eye can see. They cling to the walls with their fore claws on their wings or perched on ledges.