Free Fall - Into Other Worlds

Chapter 16 - Crossing the Gorge

After a long morning of trekking the three came to a halt in the early afternoon, as there was no more ground to walk on. Standing at the edge of the sharp cliff, Eron and Mage Wix looked down into the ravine. The raging river that had once carved out the gorge over thousands of years had dried up, and was now just a tiny line of trickling water in the middle of the canyon floor.

"This gorge is the border that separates the deep forest from the outer forest, just like the river we crossed before," explained Eron as he crouched at the verge. "The predators of the deep forest can't cross it. So once we're over, you won't need to be so jumpy."

Kara's knees felt weak and anxiety rippled through her at seeing Eron and Wix standing so close to the edge of such a steep drop. She herself couldn't move her feet closer than a foot to where the ground fell away. Even a foot was too close, but she had wanted to see just how deep and wide the gorge was. Heights had always been Kara's main weakness. Because of it she had always avoided any activities like rock or wall climbing and competitive diving.

"How are we going to cross?" asked Wix as he looked over to the other side of the gorge.

"It's up to you both. We could pass over it using vines to swing across, or we could climb up one of these trees and go across using their branches..."

Kara froze at the thought of going even higher to cross over.

"Or we could climb down and then climb back up the other side," continued Eron. "Like I said, it depends on what would be best for the both of you. For me, any of them are easy."

"Hmm..." Wix stroked his chin in thought as he considered each option. Turning to Kara, he asked, "Which way do you think is best?"

None of them, she thought, but she couldn't answer with that. They had to cross over, so she would be forced to face her fear one way or another. "I don't want to go up into the trees," she decided to reply with. It was better to at least veto the worst option of the three.

"So that leaves us with swinging across, or climbing down." Wix pondered over the two while looking over the terrain. "What vines would we swing across on?" he asked. " I don't see any within reach."

"I'd climb up to that branch overhead and swing those ones hanging in the middle over to you," replied Eron while pointing over to the long vines reaching almost to the valley floor.

"But aren't vines difficult to control? What if they attack us?" asked Wix.

"If you look closely, you can see that those vines are already withered and dead. But don't worry, they're still strong enough to carry your weight." Seeing the doubt in the mage's eyes, Eron continued, "I'd be testing them out first to be sure it's safe."

Kara could see from the conversation that both men were leaning towards swinging across the ravine. Just thinking about it turned her legs into jelly, and so she sat down to try and hide the fact she was shaking. She really wanted to pull the both of them away from the edge as it was making her incredibly nervous. What if the ground gave way? Or one of them slipped? They would fall to their death, or at least to grave injury.

"Should we test out the vines then? If it won't work then the only option is to climb down," said Wix decisively.

"Okay, I'll head on up then." And with that Eron went and began climbing up the side of a tree, using magic when necessary to make nodules to grip onto.

As things were being set into motion, Kara started getting even more nervous. Should she just tell them that she's scared of heights? But even if she did, it wouldn't change that fact she would have to cross the deep gorge. Apart from carrying her across while she kept her eyes closed, there was nothing they could do to help her through this situation. Mage Wix was quite weak for a man, and would struggle to hold her weight if he carried her. And it seemed that Eron needed to be up at the top of the vines to help swing them over, so he wouldn't be able carry her either.