Aylia Holmes

10. Back Towards Civilization

After finding a few things to eat and each taking a long drink of water, Elwin and Aylia set out to look for Louis and Enola. Their first matter of business was locating how far they had gone from the tracks. Once they had found them, they decided to try and find some sort of tracks to lead them to Enola and Louis. Neither thought it likely they had crossed the bridge, but even so, they did not want to set out without some sort of trail. It took them about an hour to move far enough along the river to the cliffs from which they had fallen.

Looking up at them, Aylia said, "That's where they fell."

"Now the question is," Elwin said with a frown, "how we're to get up there."

"We could climb," Aylia said, studying the wall.

"Climb?" Elwin repeated in surprise, his eyes widening.

"But of course," she replied distractedly, her brows furrowing as she looked at it.

Elwin watched in shock and growing panic as she sat down, took off her heeled shoes and stockings and stuffed them in her concealed and surprisingly large pockets. Rising back to her feet, she tied the front part of her skirts up and out of the way and surveyed the wall, choosing her spot and beginning to get a grip on the rough stone before she finally realized Elwin hadn't moved and was instead fidgeting from foot to foot nervously.

Turning back towards him with a frown, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Elwin said quickly, pressing his fist against his mouth as his shuffling increased.

"Elwin," Aylia said cautiously. "Are you afraid of heights?"

"Me? No, of course not," he said even more quickly with a forced laugh. "What would make you think such a thing?"

Aylia raised an eyebrow at him, meeting his flighty gaze until he finally admitted, "Fine. I'm scared of heights."

Unable to hold back a half-amused, half-fond smile, she turned from him to look at the rock and hide her expression.

Glancing back at him, she said, "Trust me, Elwin."

He sighed, watching her a moment before he nodded and said, "Tell me what to do."

"Take off your shoes and socks," she said, studying the wall for another good place to climb.

Once his feet were bare and the socks had been stuffed in his shoes, Aylia tied together the laces and told him to put them around his neck and out of the way.

Standing in front of the cliff, she pointed to the hold she herself had been going to take and said, "Start there. Grip as tightly as you can with both your hands and feet as you go up."

"What if the rocks are sharp?" he asked.

"They're not," she replied, placing her hands and beginning the climb.

Elwin hesitated, watching her progress before he too began to follow. It was a long, tiring climb with more than a few near-falls before they reached the top. Aylia had reached it first and was already lounged, dripping in sweat, on the grass when he pulled himself over the edge.

Collapsing beside her, Elwin wiped at his forehead and said, "I can't believe that worked."

"Me neither," Aylia replied.

Looking over at her in shock, he exclaimed, "I thought you said you've climbed before."

"I never said that," she replied nonchalantly. "I just suggested we climb."

"How did you know we couldn't wear shoes for it?" Elwin replied in shock.

"Logic," she said with a shrug, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the sun. "Shoes have less traction and would therefore not hold to the rock as easily as feet which are not only more flexible but also create more friction."

Elwin stared at her so long in silence that she finally opened her eyes and squinted up at him curiously. He was staring at her with something of awe in his expression.

"You reasoned that it would be more to our advantage to climb barefoot than with shoes? You knew nothing of it before?" he said, his tone unreadable.

"Yeah," Aylia said uncertainly. "It wasn't a hard conclusion to come to."

"But-" Elwin began before breaking off. After hesitating another moment, he said, "You came up with that within seconds. You had time to process all of that in mere moments."

Aylia shrugged, closing her eyes again as she explained, "You learn to think fast with someone like Sherlock around."

Staring at her in wonder another moment, Elwin sat up and finally rose to his feet as he said, "We should get going."

Aylia hummed, opening her eyes and accepting his extended hand. Taking hold of her smaller hand in his own, Elwin pulled her gently to her feet. Brushing her loose hair behind her ear, Aylia let go of his hand and turned her attention towards the grassy patch around them.

"They went this way," she said after a moment.

Elwin, brows furrowed, followed her gaze with confusion. Aylia led them like that the rest of the day, seeing things Elwin failed to see. He thought to ask her once what she was seeing, but never once did he quite get the words out.

The sun was just beginning to lower when Aylia stopped, crouching down by a fallen tree as she said, "Look."

Elwin approached as she raised in her hand several tuffs of brown hair.

"Is that-" he began.

"Looks like someone got a haircut," Aylia said, dropping the strands and straightening. "They definitely stayed the night here."

"Which way did they go?" Elwin asked.

Aylia was silent a moment before she pointed and said, "That way. They're going to London."