Free Fall - Into Other Worlds

Chapter 17 - Unexpected Saviour

Even though heights terrified her, Kara's eyes were fully focused on the figure below getting further and further away. She'd seen the struggle with the beast, and knew Eron was injured.  At that moment she couldn't worry about her own situation at all, and her only thoughts were whether Eron were okay, and how she could get down there to help him. It wasn't as if she'd never been forced to climb ropes in gym class, and so she knew how to descend a rope. Surely a vine was no different? Kara thought her protective nature was overriding her fear, but in truth it was simply that her fear of losing someone around her was much greater than that of heights.

"Wix!" she called out after seeing him leaning over the edge of the ravine. Once he looked up she continued shouting, "Eron's hurt! I'm going to make my way down! You should find a way down as well!"

"Understood!" he called back. "I'll find a way to climb down... somehow."

Kara closed her eyes before unclenching her thighs to allow the vine wrapped around her leg to loosen. "Okay, you can do this! Just lower one hand after the other," she instructed herself. It was hard to block thoughts of guilt from lashing out at her. It was bad enough her absentmindedness had gotten Eron in trouble before, but this time he'd gotten hurt saving her, and all because she was too much of a wimp to jump. Yet she'd hung on to the vine just fine, and was now even climbing down it without much difficulty. If only she had just toughened up and jumped, then Eron wouldn't have had to fight with that creature and gotten hurt. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she mumbled as she made her way down with her eyes sealed shut. "Please be okay!"

Stumbling to the cliff wall, Eron collapsed to his knees as he reached it. He struggled to turn and prop himself against the rocks, as he couldn't treat himself lying down. Luckily, thanks to his previous wounds, he still had plenty of medicinal plants that he'd picked along the journey. He fumbled trying to open the bag on his belt as his fingers were wet with blood. Roughly wiping them on his trousers, he tried once more to open it. His hands began to tremor as he took out the leather pouches that contained different ingredients. The rate the poison was taking effect made Eron lose heart. The chances of him being able to make and use the antidote before losing consciousness or death (whichever came first) were slim to none, but even so he'd die trying to live. So he mustered up the strength to get what he needed from his pack and get working on the antidote.

It felt as if she'd been descending for a long time, and so Kara risked opening her eyes to see where she was. The jagged rock wall of the gorge stood before her, and rather than looking down she looked up. It was only after seeing the cliff ledge far above her that she dared to glance down towards the ground. Phew, she thought seeing she was only a couple of metres from the ground. Scanning the area below, she spotted Eron over by the cliff wall. The red colour his shirt had become sent a cold chill through her, but at least she could see he was still moving. Turning to look at the opposite cliff face, she located Mage Wix who'd already managed to climb down halfway using the foliage growing on the rocks. Kara continued to lower herself down the vine until letting go a mere foot from the ground. Her heart was racing from the adrenaline pumping through her as she hurried across the dried-up river bed to where Eron was. Her chest constricted as she came to a halt next to him. His condition was much worse than she'd thought as her eyes scanned over him. He was focused on sorting the ingredients beside him, and didn't seem to care about the blood streaming down his arm and chest. At his lap, a pool of blood had already formed on the surface of his trousers. The sight left Kara feeling as though she'd been plunged into ice water, but she soon shook her head to gather her senses.

"Eron, what can I do?" she asked as she crouched down beside him. It seemed pointless to ask if he was okay when he clearly wasn't.

"Grind these down with a rock," he told her while pushing a bundle of leaves towards her.