A Breath of Mars [Open Novella Contest]

11 | The Inexorable

Seren heaved frenziedly, hauling Daria through the close-packed snow. His grip on the front of her jacket was fierce, protective-like. Seren used his bodyweight to pull Daria through the wind and mist, just as Ravi did beside them with his sister. With the knots increasing exponentially, they were facing winds like that of a cyclone.

"Seren!" Daria bayed to be heard over the howl of the wind. "We need to find shelter." Daria looked to Tallie who wore a mirrored expression of dismay.

Seren didn't answer her, either not hearing her or ignoring her purposefully. Perhaps he had found shelter?

Daria cowered, ducking her head down and letting Seren pull her through the Mar's domain. Daria couldn't think of a more intolerable situation in her life. She was cold, her lips chapped and raw, her face wind-burnt and blushed. Her mind . . . her mind was a whole other matter.

"What's the first thing you're going to do when you get back to the Hub?" Seren asked out of the blue. Daria couldn't figure out what she was more surprised about. That he was trying to converse in the wind or what he wanted to converse about.

"W-What?" Daria yelled back, glancing periodically at the twins to make sure they didn't get separated as well.

"What's the first thing you're going to do when you get back to the hub?"

Daria was dumbfounded that Seren had suddenly started to believe they would be rescued.

"I'm just speculating, Daria." Seren assured.

Daria nodded. Of cause. "Sleep in my warm bed," Daria said off the top of her mind. Now that she said it aloud, she wanted nothing more in that moment than to be enveloped by lustrous sheets, heated to match her body temperature, it's soft caress like a–

"You wouldn't want to see your fiancé?" Seren yelled over his shoulder. He was focusing on trekking across a particular stretch of ground and so Daria couldn't see his face.

"How do you know I'm engaged?" Daria asked, surprised. Grief soon followed. How could she not have said her fiancé? Neiko was supposed to be the only thing she desired back on the Hub. How could she forget? Daria felt like her core was turning black. Selfish, selfish ....

"People, talk, Daria. You don't think people would talk about the youngest recorded captain the Commander has ever promoted?"

Daria shivered, and not from the cold. People on the Hub knew of her life? Daria felt invaded and violated.

"What have you heard?" Daria asked hesitantly.

Seren spun. "Only good things, I promise," he assured.

Daria smiled sillily in relief. She knew that wasn't true but Seren trying to reassure her anyway made her heart flutter. She had come to enjoy talking with Seren. He was just so ... riveting.

"Captain! Captain!" Ravi yelled from a few paces ahead. "I-I think I see the others. Maybe Kasen..." Ravi suddenly took off at a run. "Kasen! Kasen!" he called, waving his hand around frantically. Tallie quickly followed, yelling for her brother to slow down.

"Ravi!" Seren called. "Ravi, wait!" Seren took off with Daria stumbling behind. A large incline in the ground surprised her and she went tumbling to her knees in the frigid snow. Seren hardly slowed, pulling her back to her feet and tugging her along as if nothing had happened. Daria's knees burned.

One moment Ravi was there, a black figure in the fog growing smaller and smaller as he chased a phantom. The next, he was gone.

Tallie collapsed, hunched. "Ravi! Ravi!" Tallie sobbed. What was she doing? Why was she sitting in the snow?

As soon as Daria reached Tallie's side, she understood. Dangling precisely over a chasm was a panicking Ravi. The only thing preventing him from falling into its depths was, somehow, his twin.

Seren skidded to his knees, wrapping his arms around Tallie's waist to stop her going over with her brother. A spark of jealously hit Daria, then detestation. Her crewmembers were in a life-threatening situation and she was thinking about her feelings? Daria felt sick at herself.

Ravi hung there, arms latched onto both of Tallies. "Help me. Help me! Get me up!" Ravi screeched. But it wasn't that easy. Ravi was over 6ft and thick in muscle, no easy feat to pull up out of a chasm.

"Hang on. Ravi, just . . . hang on." Daria felt stupid saying it, but reassuring Ravi would hopefully prevent him panicking more. Daria sank to her sore knees by the edge of the cliff next to Tallie and Seren, peering over cautiously. They needed a ledge or a hand hold...

"Any time now, Daria!" Seren said, red-faced. His heels, digging into the snow, were starting to inch closer to the cliffs edge.

"I'm trying!" Daria called back, unnerved. She had no rope, no platform, no . . . there. To Ravi's left perched a three-centimetre-wide ledge. It would be marginally large enough for Ravi's thick fingers to grip but it was their only chance.

"Ravi! Ravi look at me," Daria bellowed over the wind. Ravi pulled his gaze up from where he had been gazing into the black depths of the chasm. There was no bottom as far as they could see, but everything had a bottom.

"Ravi! There's a ledge to your right. Slowly let go of Tallie and grip that ledge, then maybe we can figure out a better way– no!" Daria screamed.

Ravi, in a panic-induced state, reached for the ledge with the wrong hand, putting his form off-balance and missing the ledge narrowly. Ravi dangled with only one hand holding Tallie. Seren, under the change in mass, slid further toward the edge. Daria jumped up and perched behind Seren, trying to give what little body weight she could. Her efforts were completely futile.

Sweating and clammy from his elevated heart rate, Ravi's hand slipped clean free of his sister's grip.

"No! No, no, no," Tallie sobbed.

Daria sat back, dazed. Not another one. Not another crewmember. Daria placed her head in her hands. Daria could hear Tallie's wails, hear Seren's words trying to comfort her. When Tallie's tone of voice changed, Daria looked up, surprised.

"Why? Why did you save me? Why couldn't you just let him pull me with him!" Tallie sobbed, hitting Seren in the face, the chest, anywhere she had access. "Why?" She screamed in his face. Seren pinned her arms by her sides in a hug, stopping her from striking Seren, or from jumping over after Ravi.

Daria had to look away before that jealousy returned. Her eyes stung, and her composure threatened to break into a sobbing mess. How could she have let Ravi die? He had been right there in front of her, within arm's reach. She hadn't even attempted to pull him Ravi up to help take off some of the weight. She knew it would have only caused her to go over with him, but maybe that fate would have been better than one stuck on Mars.

When Daria locked eyes with Tallie over Seren's shoulder, Daria knew she was thinking the same thing.