𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒! percy jackson

iii. River Of Fire

━━ chapter three
river of fire

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

    THE last thing Fiona wanted to do was get them killed, but when she reached the ledge, she felt as though she may as well have signed their death warrants. The cliff dropped down more than eighty feet where at the bottom, stretched a nightmarish canyon far bigger than Fiona has seen. At the very bottom, a river of fire cut a path through jagged obsidian crevasses, glowing red with a current of horrible, flaming blood-red shadows.

    Even from the top of the canyon, the heat was intense. The chill of the River Cocytus still hadn't left Fiona's bones, but now her skin was raw. Every breath she took, it was like she was breathing in through a tube of sand. Her hands were bleeding, and she had to rip off more of her shirt to wrap around them. Despite putting her knee back into place, it pained as if she had dislocated it again. But she knew that wasn't the case. This place was killing them, little by little in the most horrible, painful ways. 

    Assuming they could make it down in the first place, however, Fiona's crazy plan seemed more than crazy; it was insane. 

    Percy scanned the cliff. "Uh..." his voice was hoarse and dry. He pointed to a tiny fissure running diagonally from the edge to the bottom. "We can try that ledge there. Might be able to climb down."

    He didn't say they'd be crazy to try, which Fiona was grateful for because she knew how insane her plan was. But she also felt guilt; Percy had fallen down with her, and now she might be leading him to his death, and he was trying to stay hopeful when she knew he was miserable. 

     But they had no choice. They were going to die up here. Blisters already formed on their skin from the air, and Fiona could feel Percy's lifeforce get fainter and fainter.

     He went first. The ledge was barely wide enough to allow a toehold. Their hands clawed for any crack in the glassy rock. Fiona tried to remember her Roman training, climbing up and down war towers built specifically for events to reach the top first. At least, this time, there weren't eagles swooping down to try and take them down.

     But she also hadn't had a terrible, swollen, screaming-with-pain leg that she had to put most of her energy in trying not to buckle each time she put weight on it. 

     A few steps below her, Percy grunted as he reached for another handhold. "So ... what is this fire river called?"

     "Don't distract yourself," Fiona told him, but it was weak. Her arms were shaking from the effort, and she took a deep breath. We can do this. We're going to win. "It's called the Phlegethon, but you need to focus on going down, Percy."

     "The Phlegethon?" he shinned along the ledge. They had made it roughly a third of the way down the cliff━still high enough that they would be killed if they fell. "Sounds like a marathon for hawking spitballs."

    "Percy," Fiona whimpered, "please, don't make me laugh right now."

    "Just trying to keep things light."

    And I love you for that. "I don't want to fall," she said. "And I don't want you to fall, either, okay?"

    She almost slipped, her bad leg missing a foothold. Fiona gasped and clutched the nooks she found with her fingers tighter. There was a breathless moment as she steadied herself. Once she was sure she was okay, they kept going, one step at a time. Fiona's eyes stung, her arms and legs trembled. But━to her amazement━they finally made it to the bottom of the cliff.