Of Caverns and Casters ✓ [TLRQ #1]

Chapter 13 - Leavi

The jagged path of disconnected ledges descends at a sixty-degree angle, forcing me into a crabbed combination of walking sideways and hugging the wall of the mountain, my view limited to the craggy dirt facing me. Even worse, frost dusts some of the stones, slicking the handholds I rely on for balance. I never was a good hiker, even after doing the topside fieldwork for my masterate. Instead, I relied on my sturdy leather boots to keep me from slipping and the better instinct of my professor to pick and keep a path.

Luckily, I brought the same boots and Sean seems strangely confident making his way down the mountainside. Either he's more familiar with this type of terrain or his natural cockiness is leading us down to our doom. Surely the latter if he wants to meet up with marauders. He's betting our survival on people who make a living by preying off topsiders, and idiot me is following him. Again.

A frozen chunk of rock breaks under my foot, and I cling to the mountainside, cheek pressed against stone, breaths hard. My heartbeat thumps in my ears as the pebbles I dislodged rattle down the slope.

Sean glances over. He's upright, as if staring a hundred feet down a mountain with nothing to hold onto is as comfortable as walking down a flight of stairs. "You know, this would be easier for you if you walked like a normal person."

"Easier for me to fall, maybe." I'm still afraid to move, not sure I can trust my footing anymore. In front me, a spider crawls down the rocks, a thread of web anchoring it. "Why didn't we bring rope?"

"Rope's heavy, and you're making a bigger deal of this than it is, Riveirre. There's a stable spot about five inches to your left. Keep up." Then he's ten feet further down, hopping ledge to ledge with the surety and disgruntled frown of a mountain goat.

I grit my teeth. "Thanks, Sean," I grumble, glancing down at this supposed spot.

The world swirls beneath my feet as my eyes take in the distant ground. The tops of the trees look like moss floating in a pond, and the group we're trying to reach is further down still, a tessellation formed of carts and colors. Nausea creeps over me, and I sway, simultaneously weightless and terrified of gravity.

Sean's voice breaks through my floaty hysteria. "Don't look down, Riveirre."

Irritated with myself, I snap my head back up. The vertigo that flooded my body drains away to leave behind a knot of dread. "Not exactly new advice, Sean."

"If it's so obvious, how come you weren't following it?"

"How exactly am I supposed to find whatever spot you mentioned without looking down?"

Annoyance edges his voice. "Feel for it. You act like you've never been topside before, Riveirre."

"Two full months! And two visits before that. That's more than most undergrounders." I've just never enjoyed this part of it.

"Well, then, you must be an expert. A whole two months. I deeply apologize for critiquing your mastery."

Irritation overriding fear, I peek down to scowl at him.