Jack Strong and the Red Giant

Chapter 32: The Volcano

"Vyleria! Vyleria!"

Jack kept calling her name, but there was no reply. What had happened to her? Had the earthquake somehow interrupted the signal? Or since his spacesuit was ripped in several places perhaps whatever had allowed him to speak to her before had become damaged. Should he go back and look for her? What would he do if she was hurt... if she was dead? He looked in the direction of her spaceship. Could he make it? The instant he thought it he heard the creatures howling again. He'd escaped them once but he didn't think he'd be so lucky next time. He didn't have the energy for a start. He would have to keep on going and hope that Vyleria was okay. There were no more options left.

The ridge he was on looked like a dinosaur's back: steep, sharp and very dangerous. All along its rugged course it rose up into a series of peaks before each one plummeted down hundreds of feet, rising again in a great vertical thrust. After that lay the volcano, rising like a tsunami of rock, acrid black smoke billowing from its summit. What made for a path was no more than a foot or so wide, much of which crumbled apart as soon as he touched it. Either side of this was a five-hundred-foot drop, at the bottom of which was a maze of jagged rocks. One slip and it would be all over.

Jack looked down at the precipice. He felt his knees wobble, his head sway and his heart tremor. But instead of turning back he took a deep breath, pushed his fear to one side and kept on going. It was his decision to try and look for Ros; he would see it through to the end now.

The first peak reared above him like a huge wave. He climbed it slowly, his arms and legs shaking, the wind buffeting and shrieking.

He tried not to turn round and look down, but he couldn't help it. The instant he did he felt his body totter and lurch in the wind. Instinctively, he grabbed at the rock, hugging the cliff-face.

Everything was swirling, he felt like he would fall off at any moment. He tried to turn his head, but stopped half way, too afraid to look. He could feel his heart beating like a drum as his fingers dug deeper and deeper into the rock.

He looked up, hoping to see the top, but there was still another hundred feet left. His heart sank. He couldn't make it that far. It was too high, too dangerous...

What would Vyleria do? If she was in his place she would carry on regardless, no matter what. If she could do it, then so could he, even if he was scared out of his mind.

He slowly put one hand forward, then another, followed by his legs, as he ascended the hundred feet of rock, inch by heart-stopping inch.

He arrived at the summit an hour later, sweating and panting. One down. Seven more to go. And each one higher and steeper than the one he'd just climbed.

Jack took a deep breath as he clambered over the edge. The cliff-face dropped almost vertically for fifty feet before rising up again into the next peak.

He was about half way down when a rock came loose in his hand. He thrust out a hand just in time to stop his fall, the sharp rocks at the bottom grinning back up at him as he dangled in the air like a rabbit wriggling in an eagle's talons.

He twisted about for a few seconds, his legs scraping up and down the hard rock, seeing nothing but the big gulf of air and his own impending doom, until he managed to stretch out his right hand and grasp the thinnest of handholds. Then he slowly hoisted himself up over the edge, his arms burning, and rolled his squirming body to safety.

Jack gasped for air as soon as he was back on the ridge, heart pounding like a cannon. Then he got to his feet and kept on going.

Jack climbed for hours.