Eyes of Emerald

Chapter Thirty-Three (2)

IN SHORT, I HATED THE Crescent Moons. The leader, who's name turned out to be Tam (short for Tamlin), seemed to have it in for us. First, he threw throwing stars at us (apparently called shurican or something like that), then he tipped us all into a pile of manure filled with thorns (long story short; we stunk to high heaven for days), and then he told us we had to climb a cliff without a rope.

                I was sure they had it in for us. Maybe they were on Balthazar's side and were here to try to kill us.

                I stared up at the cliff and grimaced. My arms were still on fire from the exercise we'd done that morning - hanging from a tree branch for as long as we could while trying to avoid getting hit by the ninja people who had sticks.

                And I'd thought that training with Wynn and Ffi was bad.

                "I swear they're working us to death." Keira said, kicking the cliff. I agreed, watching Tam scale the cliff like there was nothing to it. He didn't even seem to be afraid of the height. My stomach turned as I thought about being that far from the ground.

                "What if we fall?" someone asked as Tam reappeared down in the shadow of the cliff. I shuddered - it was creepy how the Shades could just walk into a shadow and reappear somewhere else.

                Tam gave us a strange look, like why on earth would you fall off a cliff when you have no practice climbing?

                "You die." he said simply. "Of course, you might live if your healers are good enough, but chances are, you'll die."

                Great. I gritted my teeth and grabbed the rock, hoping it wouldn't collapse under me. It held. Good. Keira grunted beside me as she managed to pull herself up a little further. I tried not to think about leaving the ground. I tried not to think about falling; my body hitting the ground with a terrible thud, broken and lifeless. I swallowed, trying to moisten my throat. It didn't work.

                "Don't pull with your arms," Tam appeared at my side. "push with your feet. Your arms are only there to balance you out. Always look for a foothold before a handhold." He pointed out a small crack where I could shove my foot into. "Try again."

                Once I followed his advice, I found it a lot easier. My arms didn't hurt as much, and as long as I didn't look down I was okay. It got harder as I climbed; the wind got stronger and my fingers went numb. But I was in the lead - if you didn't count the ninjas, which I didn't.

                I'm safe I'm safe I'm safe I'll be fine, maybe I can Shift into a bird in time before I hit the floor -

                "Shut up." I muttered to myself, trying to muster the courage to move another step. I felt like my hands were slipping off the rock - the world swam around me and I grabbed a hold, not caring what it was - and then caring very much when it broke off in my hand and I slipped.