Chronicles of The King- Rise of Legends

Chapter 10.1

Chapter 10.1

Over the edge

‘Almost there…..I’m almost there!’

King ran at full speed towards the cliff edge. Maria was barely hanging on by a thread and as the seconds passed, the thread was beginning to unravel.

King could hear the sound of steel hitting claw, demented howls and victorious cries from behind him. He couldn’t tell if his troops were winning or were the beast men winning. But that didn’t matter to him at the moment, all that was important was saving the unconscious Maria.

King could tell that the branch which was holding Maria was going to break any second. His heart skipped a beat every time the branch dropped lower. King wasn’t going to make it. He was still too far.

‘Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT!!!’, King cried as he thundered forward.

King couldn’t let her die. Anna had sacrificed herself for this. He wouldn’t let her die, even if he did in the process.

*SNAP*

‘No……’, King mouthed as he saw the branch holding Maria break. He was still 10 meters out. King pulled out whatever reserve energy he had to increase his speed.

‘I can make it……I can make it…..’, King repeated to himself, even though he knew it was lie.

Maria’s head disappeared from King’s sight. 5 meters left.

Even as King covered the last few meters, he knew that there was no safe way to save Maria. He only had one other option.

‘Here goes…..’, King mumbled to himself before jumping off the cliffs edge.

Maria had not fallen far, only a few meters. But it was still a trouble for King to grab her and find a crevasse on the cliff for him to hold on to at the same time.

King grabbed at the back of Maria’s shirt with his right hand, barely grabbing on to her collar. As he did, he reached out with his left hand, grabbing at the cliff, hoping to get something to hold on to. King’s luck held as he felt his hand touch a branch and he, instinctively, grabbed on to it. Instantaneously, Maria’s weight took full effect on King’s right arm and he thought it was going to rip right out of its socket.

‘Damn! She’s a lot heavier than I thought….’, King thought as he and Maria stopped falling, now hanging a few hundred meters above the raging river.

King let out a relieved sigh, calming down now that he had Maria in his hand. Now all he had to do was get back up.

‘Right, let’s get this done.’

King tried to pull himself up with his left arm alone, stopping when the branch began breaking due to the combined weight of the two.

‘Guess that was a stupid idea…… Better took for a footing first’.

King felt at the surface of the cliff with his right leg, looking for a rock or branch to use as a support to climb up.

King felt around for a few minutes before his foot hit a rock which was a few centimeters below his knee.

‘Perfect.’

 King stepped on the protruding rock, testing it a few times to see if it could hold Maria’s and his weight. When he felt satisfied, he used the rock to give him momentum to push himself up. He was aiming to grab on to the edge of the cliff, which was just a meter or two away from him.

‘Almost there…..Heh that was a lot easier than I expected’

Just as he was about to grab the edge, the rock gave way, plunging the two into a freefall. King was fast to react and was able to grab on to the branch (again) just as it passed his hand.

‘Me and my big fucking mouth!’, King cursed, gripping Maria’s collar tightly.

King cringed in pain as Maria jerked slightly from the fall, her weight sending waves of pain through his arm again as he tried to hold on to her and the branch. He looked up at the branch to see that the small break in it had grown larger.

‘Damn! Not sure this thing can hold us much longer….’, King thought as he looked up at the cliff edge.

‘Gragg! So close too!’, King shook his head, disappointed that he was unable to get back up.

King looked down and to his utter disbelieve, saw that Maria was still out cold.

‘How the fuck can she sleep through all that!?’, King though as a bewildered look formed on his face. He swung his right arm around slightly, trying to wake up the sleeping beauty.

When that didn’t work, King decided to get vocal.

‘HEY TITS!’, King shouted at Maria.

No response.

‘OI!’

Still nothing.

‘For God’s sake! WAKE THE FUCK UP ALREADY!’

King’s irritation rose as he heard Maria mumble softly in her sleep before going silent again. He was really thinking of dropping her then.

‘Ah forget it!’, King cried before turning his attention back to their predicament, looking for another solution as he ran his gaze across the cliff wall.