King of Crows

Chapter 7

Daren lay with his back to the jagged stone slope of the chasm, hands laced behind his head. Kera lay across from him, curled up and lying on her side. Her eyes were shut, lips slightly parted. In her hand, partially concealed by her makeshift cape, she clutched her remaining throwing dagger. Daren would bet his life that she would slice him up if he tried to wake her. Above him he could witness the sky changing. A purple hue, deep and somber, engulfed the inky shades of night. Stars winked out like failing candles, the color grey returned to the forest in the form of mist. Dark shades softened and became brighter as the day dawned early.

Daren narrowed his eyes. The opposite side of the gorge was now visible, grey and green with granite and moss. When he had leaped across the chasm with Kera in tow he did not even know if his decision was the right one. The possible outcomes of his leap into oblivion had run circles in his head. His heart had stopped beating when the doubt of surviving implanted itself in his mind. The last night had been dim, nearly impossible to see past his nose, and still he had jumped.

Daren remembered hitting the ledge hard and feeling his leg wound trickle with blood. Kera had been lighter on her feet and had rolled to cushion her fall. After the landing he remembered only a short moment of darkness and red flashes of pain. The rest of the night he could only recall the pure darkness of sleep. Daren blew a stream of warm breath into the predawn air. If he had not seen the ledge and jumped, he and Kera would be either dead or slaves. Gingerly, he touched a finger to the cut above his forehead, it had finally stopped bleeding. The gash on his leg had clotted as well. They were only flesh wounds, nothing too serious. He allowed himself a grin. His lips trembled slightly as a shock of cold bit past his cloak. It was the price he would pay for his reckless jump. But he and Kera were alive, that was what mattered.

Daren craned his neck and stared up at the canyon's edge. The grey slabs of cliff had been their sanctuary; hiding them from the archers. Now it was their prison.

"What a lovely morning", Kera grunted. "It's a perfect day to die of thirst."

"Good morning to you too." Daren croaked, the sour taste of his morning breath coated the back of his mouth.

He licked his lips and let his gaze roll lazily to his left and saw Kera sitting upright. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, lids narrowed against the ashen pre-dawn light, "I hate mornings just as much as I hate jumping to my death."

"And I know you hate slavery even more." Daren fished out a slice of dark bread, tore a smaller chunk of bread for himself, then tossed the remainder to Kera. "At least you are not in a prison camp in slave chains. You are alive, aren't you?"

"Not for long, if I keep traveling with you", Kera ripped into the slice and noticed Daren's smaller portion. " You're rationing the food."

Kera stopped chewing and shot Daren an accusing glare, " Now we're going to die in this forsaken crack. What possessed you to jump into a chasm?"

"A simple 'thank you' would suffice", Daren said, his voice above a whisper, "How is the bread?"

"Don't change the subject", Kera nibbled at the bread's crust. She continued to glare at Daren. Unfortunately, she could only hold his gaze for more than two heartbeats. Her clear emerald eyes were always searching, bright with wariness.

"How do we get out of here?", Kera mumbled then swallowed her last scrap of bread, "A better question is, can we get out of here? I didn't bring any rope with me."

"Neither did I." Daren stood and brushed bread crumbs from his cloak. He winced and tried to ignore the hunger pangs twisting his gut. Slowly he pressed his hands across the vertical cliff face.