The Mysteries of Tiber

Chapter 10: Escaping

Nightbreeze's PoV

I walk out of the room and I head to a storage room and look around for rope. I need a lot of rope to get us down the mountain. I find a box filled with rope so I pick it up and walked outside with it. One of the soldiers asks “Do you need help with that?”

“No I don't.”

I continue walking when he says “Wait a second...your eyes are green…”

I quickly drop the box and rush over to him. Before he has time to react I grab one of his knives and cut his throat. He falls to the ground dead. I pick up the box and start walking. I make sure not to make eye contact with any of them. Some more soldiers notice something is wrong so I throw the box closer to the room then grab the knife and sword I took from a soldier and start fighting them. I duck down and slide underneath them and stand up behind them. I cut them in the throat while they started to turn around and face me. I'm fighting the soldiers while moving the box with my feet. I kick it a short distance then keep fighting and kick it again. I get back to the room and open the door. I throw the box in while I'm still fighting them. I see some arrows fly through the door and I know someone gave them weapons. I slip through the door and close it. The soldiers are trying to break through on the other side. The Gnomes with Farrows help quickly start moving all kinds of inventions to the door to block the way. I drop the knife and sword and go through the tunnel entrance with the box. I open the box and take out the rope. I make a knot at one end and throw it up into the air. It lands perfectly on a tree branch and I pull the rope down to tighten it. Nava comes over and gives me my bag and weapons. I get my stuff then I go out onto the rope to test it. It's working but I don't know how much weight it can hold. I tell Nava “Have a couple Gnomes come out and come down with me. I'll signal you at the bottom when we should have more come down.”

She asks “How many Gnomes should I get?”

“Start with ten. When I get to the bottom, I should be able to figure out how much weight it can hold.”

I start sliding down while Nava gets some Gnomes. They start sliding down when I'm close to the bottom. So far the rope is holding eleven peoples weight. But Gnomes weigh less than we do. It could possibly hold two or three of us Elves at once. I stop myself when the rope abruptly stops. It's about a ten foot drop to the ground. The Gnomes see something is wrong and they try to stop themselves. They stop right above me and I'm still trying to hold on. I'm only holding on with my hands. I look up and see Nava looking over the edge with a worried expression. She can tell something is wrong. I look around and I see a tree nearby. I tell the Gnomes “Keep holding onto the rope.”

I start awkwardly swinging it back and forth until I've picked up enough momentum to jump to the tree. I grab the branch and climb down. I get to the ground and look for a way to get everyone safely to the ground. I look around and walk towards some more trees. I see a lot of vines and I quickly cut it off the tree with my knife. I take it back to the rope and throw it up. The lowest Gnome grabs it and awkwardly ties it to the end of the rope while his friends help hold him up. When he's down I pull it on the bottom to make sure it's stable. I give the Gnomes a thumbs up and they slide down to the ground. I wave my hands at Nava to try and signal to send some more down. Ten more Gnomes slide down and get to the ground. This while take a long time if it's only ten at a time. I ask the Gnomes “How can we tell her to send more down?”

One of the Gnomes slowly says “Having us form a number? There's….um?....twenty of us here? How many do you want?”

“fifteen. Then we can slowly go higher depending on how much weight the rope will hold.”

The Gnomes quickly start moving around to try and form the number fifteen. I climb up a nearby tree and help direct them into the number. Hopefully Nava understands what I'm trying to tell her.

*Picture at the top of the chapter is rope*