The Mirror Guardian

Chapter Seven: This Is Why I Don't Socialize.

Mailee dangled from the stone wall of the palace, her legs trembling as she dug her chalk-covered fingers and toes into the cracks between the giant blocks. Someone shouted something at her seeing her scaling the mansion walls, but from seventy feet up, the wind carried their words away. There was only one way to tell which highest point of the palace was to climb up and size everything up from the top. It would be a lot easier if it weren't for the binding spell too, but she can't win them all can she. She gritted her teeth, inching her hand upwards, and pulled herself up another foot.
Twenty feet up and about thirty feet away was the top of the roof. The plan was simple: climb the mansion to where the roof at ninety feet in the air and size up the tallest place. Surprisingly, she hadn't fallen yet-perhaps because the path she choosed to the roof was fairly easy: balconies, windowsills, and trellises covered most of the space.
Mailee scooted up another few feet, her fingers aching. Looking down was always a bad idea, even if her father had forced her to stand on the ledge oh his castle's highest peak for hours on end to become accustomed to heights when she was a little girl. She panted as she grasped another window ledge and hoisted herself up. It was deep enough that she could crouch within, and she took a moment to study the other candidate who called up to her.
Sure enough, it was a male Athean, and he had taken the easiest path towards her, that was below her. It wasn't hard to see that he was from Athea with the colors he wore as he struggles a little to get to her spot. It was reflected in the realm's flag, which has two small crosses in light blue, pink, white, and silver. Their coat of arms are also two arrows under a key. As he finally got right below her, she was able to see him better once he looked up with a gasp when he saw Mailee staring at him with curiosity.
Forest green, short hair tightly in a pony-tail reveals a long, wild face. Bright amethyst eyes set lightly within their sockets, watching in wonder at Mailee and Nooroo. A birthmark reaching from bottom of the right cheekbone, running towards his left nostril and ending on his right cheekbone leaving a memory of his birth rights. To Mailee he seems to stand common among others, despite his tough frame and weird hair and eye colors.
"What are you doing up here?" The male Athean questioned once he was able to get out of his daze.
"Who are you?" Mailee responded back with her own question instead.
"But I asked you first," He gave her a tooth eating grin as he just dangled there before her on the windowsill.
"Don't be annoying or I'll throw you off this here ledge, Athean." She was not in the mood to start something with any of the other candidates during her stay.
"Alright, please don't throw my ass over. The Name is Rinaru, Lieutenant Rinaru Hisashi at your serves, my Lady..." He left his sentence hanging hoping she would fill in the blanks.
"Crown princess Mailee Galanodel of Ashia." She crossed her arms as she introduced herself. She saw his muscles stiffened as she stared who she was like most tend to do. Honestly, she really didn't want to scare him or make him on the defence around her for some reason. "Calm down, lieutenant. I'm not gonna bit...yet." She tried to easy the tension with a mischievous smirk at the man. Mailee watched a deep shade of red spread across his cheeks.
"So...ahm...what are you doing up here?" Rinaru tried to get rid of his nervousness as he questioned her.
"Climbing." Mailee gestured to the wall, poorly hidden distaste written on her beautiful face.
"I can see that," he paused for a second in thought. "May I join you? I seem to lost my friend and maybe looking from up high I can spot them better." She gave him a hard stare as he batted his long eyelashes at her as he begged her. He reminded her of someone who was a lost puppy who wanted attention.
"Fine," Mailee gave in replying, her voice low. "Don't fall. I'm not going to save you if you do, alright." She turned around, and before she stepped out of the shade of the sill, she rubbed a little more chalk on her palms. She didn't wait for him as she began again. Her hands suctioned into the stones, and Mailee heaved herself upwards just in time to hear a low shriek, a thump, and then silence, followed by a low 'shit' from the Athean.
She couldn't help herself and looked down towards him to see him cursing under his breath on what he dropped. To her surprise it was a brown leather book that had dropped from him.
She shimmered up a drainpipe, her thighs clinging to the iron. She fought her frustration as she worked her way up higher and higher, following the course of the drainpipe. Rinaru shuffled along, following her path. There were a few more shouts, and she looked down long enough to see that he couldn't manage to get on the downpipe like she did. Smirking, Mailee braced her feet on a stabilized bracket holding the pipe in place. She'd soon be directly parallel to the flat part of the roof. And then only thirty feet of bare stone would separate her from it.
Mailee eased further up the pipe, her hands sticking to the metal. Fifteen feet below her pipe, Rinaru was clutching the horns of a gargoyle as he set about fastening his role around its head. He seemed to be taking the faster route across a cluster of gargoyles. Then he'd have to swing into a landing eighteen feet away, before making his way to the other gargoyles.
So inch by inch, she moved up, the wind battering her ponytail this way and that way. It was then that she heard Rinaru shout, and Mailee looked in time to see him slip from his perch stop the gargoyle's back. Rinaru swung wide, the role wrapped around his middle going that as he collided with the castle wall below. Mailee froze, her breath catching as the Athean scraped his hands and feet against the stone to catch hold.
If the Athean died, it was one less competitor or threat in this he'll hole. Mailee knew she should keep moving, but something kept her rooted to the spot. Rinaru couldn't find a hold on the stone wall, and without a nearby ledge or gargoyle to grasp, he had nowhere to go but down. Once the role broke, he'll fall.
One by one, the threads of his rope snapped beneath Ninaru's weight, and Rinaru, sending the vibrations, looked up at her in horror. If he fell, there was no chance of surviving with these bindings on. A few more minutes and the rope will snap entirely. The rope groaned. Mailee moved. "God damn it all to hell!" She cursed her stupidness.
She slid down the drainpipe, the flesh of her hands tearing open as the metal cut into her skin, but she didn't let herself think of the pain. She tried one end of her climbing rope around the gargoyle's neck; now she seized it and tied the other end around her own waist. The top was long enough -- and strong enough, and the four gargoyles perched beside her would provide enough space to run. "Stay still you idiotic fool!" She warned the Athean and readied herself.
"No don't!" Rinaru shouted at her, and she dared a look at the Athean's eyes. There was a sharp snap of rope breaking, and Rinaru's cry of fear and rage, and Mailee took off, sprinting across the backs of the four gargoyles before she launched herself into the void.