Blood of the Abyss

Blood of the Abyss Part 20

Chapter 20

The Celestial Library

Caspian

Cool air whipped around us as we ascended further into the mountain we were climbing. No one spoke, so either we were all deep in thought or we were all tormented by what we saw that we didn't want to discuss. I most definitely felt the latter. I shivered and shook my head, trying to erase the hallucination that was burned into my mind. Part of me wondered what the others saw, and part of me wanted no part in it. The air was thinning as we climbed up and snow trickled down around us. A drastic change from the church we had left earlier. Lysandra's arms clung loosely around my neck and she rested her head against the top of mine. It was comforting, easing my anxieties after what had happened.

Lysandra suddenly shifted and pointed. "LOOK!" She exclaimed. A tower nestled in the mountain was just ahead of us.

"Is that the library?" I asked, hoping it was and that we had finished our fourth trial through this treacherous hike.

"I hope so! My feet hurt!" Illine groaned as she leaned against a tree and rubbed her feet gently.

"Small problem." Thelran called back to us as he moved closer to the tower. "There's no way across."

"What do you mean?" I set Lysandra down next to Illine and moved to stand by Thelran. Sure enough, a giant chasm separated us from the tower in the mountain.

"I'm sick and tired of this nonsense." Alwine grumbled. "Haven't we been through enough?"

"What is it?" Lysandra called.

"A giant chasm. We can't get across." I answered. She frowned, deep in thought and looked around at our surroundings.

"It must be the fourth trial. We've gotten this far, faced the other trials, this can't be it. There is a way across." She pushed off from the tree and limped toward the edge where we stood.

"Lys...I wish you would stop doing that." I sighed and pulled her gently against me to steady her.

"Can we build a bridge or something?" Thelran asked trying to measure the distance from where we stood to the tower.

"Well look ahead. See those structures?" Lys said, leaning forward. True to her word there were different towers jutting out of the ground. Each seemed to be a couple of yards across but evenly situated as if a bridge had once existed but was lost to time. "Each of those structures will be able to help us out, we just need a way to get to the structures." As she said this she started to limp away from my side. But I held fast and stopped her from moving any farther. Looking down to her I gave her a smile.

"No, you are injured and have to keep pressure off of your leg. You are staying right here where I can keep you still." I said sweetly. Lys frowned at me and started to pout. "Let the others find what we need." She rolled her eyes but didn't move from my side.

"What should we gather?" Alwine asked. His burly arms were folded across his chest as he stared down at the jutting towers.

"Fallen trees, maybe?" Lysandra shrugged. "Anything with a pole like structure. We are going to have to balance our way across." Thelran nodded and he and Alwine took off to look for poles.

"Cas, you can go help. I'll stay with Lys. Her dressings need to be changed anyway." Illine moved toward us and took Lysandra's arm to help her sit in the soft snow.

"Just don't let her try to walk." I winked at Lys, who responded with a scowl. Illine nodded and I went off to try and find poles.

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