‘Ulysan, stop swinging your legs!’
‘I’m going to fall!’ he cried. ‘Don’t let me fall.’
‘I’ve got you,’ said Auum. ‘But you must stop moving. I’ve got you. Ulysan, look at me. Look at me!’
Auum had him, but he couldn’t say for how long. His feet were dragging by fractions and he couldn’t keep the pressure of his back on the wall for long with Ulysan’s weight on his arms and shoulders. Ulysan was gasping in shallow breaths, still trying to get his feet on to the wall. But he’d forgotten everything he’d ever learned about climbing and all he did was weaken Auum’s grip.
‘Ulysan! I am your Arch and your friend. Look at me, see my eyes.’
Ulysan looked up, and Auum saw all the pain of his memories etched on his face. Tears had streaked the dust on his cheeks and his eyes were wide and terrified.
‘It’ll be just like before only it’ll be me this time.’ Ulysan wailed a cry that echoed up and down the fissure. ‘It’ll be me!’
‘No, it won’t, because I’ve got you. Ulysan, keep looking at me. Tell me what happened before. Did you die?’
‘No,’ said Ulysan, and a flicker of hope entered his eyes. ‘I held on and I was saved.’
‘You held on and you were saved,’ said Auum, holding Ulysan’s gaze. ‘And you’re holding on now and you’ll be saved now too. Yniss is watching over us. He is saving you for greater tasks ahead.’
‘Like saving your sorry hide?’
‘Exactly that, and you can’t do that hanging there.’ Auum’s feet slipped a little more and Ulysan dropped an inch. He whimpered. ‘And now it’s time to put you right. Are you with me?’
‘I can’t get my feet right.’
‘That’s because you’re facing the wall. Turn your body out a quarter and brace a foot against each wall. I’ve still got you.’
‘Don’t let me go.’
‘If I do that, you won’t be able to save my sorry hide. You owe me.’
Ulysan actually smiled, and Auum thought they might get out of this alive. The big TaiGethen turned his body and Auum braced himself while Ulysan jammed his feet against the walls. The relief through Auum’s arms was more welcome than he would ever admit; he’d been closer to letting go than he thought.
‘You did it! You did it, Ulysan! You’re halfway there.’
Auum could see the control return to his friend’s body. Ulysan moved his legs to get better purchase and his arms moved reflexively.
‘Good, you’re ready,’ said Auum. ‘I’m going to let your left arm go, and you’re going to get it on the wall above your left leg. Can you do that?’
‘Yes,’ said Ulysan.
‘All right then,’ said Auum. ‘I’m releasing my grip in three, two, one, now.’
Ulysan’s hand slapped against the rock and he pressed his palm in hard. He jerked on his right hand and Auum placed it against the rock and let go. Ulysan steadied and looked up, down at his body and the drop below, and up at Auum.
‘I did it,’ he breathed.
‘Yes, you did. You can do anything; you’re Ulysan. And now I want you to follow me into the angle and do exactly as I say when I say it. Can you do that?’
Ulysan looked up at the tightening of the walls and the slight angle to the new incline. He swallowed hard.
‘Don’t let me get stuck in there.’
‘Follow me.’ Auum began to inch backwards, watching Ulysan all the way. ‘The wall is angling above your head. The moment you feel it touch, tip your head away and bend at the waist. . now. That’s it. Pause there.’
Ulysan was gasping again, his hands groping for the next grip point but his legs rock steady.
‘You’re doing fine, Ulysan. You’re almost there. Now, move your legs up, keep your body where it is and push very gently. Reach your arms ahead and try to flatten out.’
Auum watched Ulysan come forward inch by grinding inch. His body was tight in the crack and his head rubbed the walls, his ears bending over closed.
‘It’s so close,’ said Ulysan, a note of panic entering his voice again. ‘It’s getting tighter. I’m sticking, Auum.’
‘No, you aren’t, you’re still moving. Keep coming, Ulysan. Slowly. Smooth movement, that’s it. Now pull with your hands and brace your back up. That’s it, you’ve got it. Your legs are coming round. I can see them.’
Auum crabbed a little further back, aware of his own precarious position. Above him the fissure widened again. He needed to turn before he lost the pressure of the wall on his back. Ulysan inched on. Auum could see the fear on his face, the tautness of his skin and the desperation in his eyes.
‘Just a little more. . Ulysan.’
‘What?’
‘You’re in. Yniss preserve you, you’re in! You’ve done it! Now come on, keep moving just like you are and come up where I am.’
‘Auum.’
‘What?’
‘You’re facing the wrong way. That’s a poor way to start a race.’
‘What?’
Ulysan’s desire to get away from the seat of his terror gave him strength and pace on the climb that Auum could only wonder at. By the time he’d turned himself the right way, Ulysan was past him and up into the wider final section of the fissure. Auum tried to close the gap, but Ulysan was practically climbing hand over hand, his legs propelling him upwards at a reckless pace.
Auum was only too happy to let him have his head. He climbed in Ulysan’s wake, feeling the ache in his muscles and the emotional fatigue draining his strength. But his relief kept him moving. He saw Ulysan crawl over the lip of the fissure and stand, looking back down, shooing away the figures that came to his side.
Auum moved up the last few feet. Hands clamped over his wrists and hauled him bodily out of the fissure and onto a freezing cold, wind-blown and snow-covered plateau. He thought there might have been a cheer, but Ulysan’s embrace eclipsed it. The big TaiGethen crushed him in his arms and against his chest. His breath heaved in and sobs shook his body.
‘Thank you. Dear Yniss, thank you for Auum. Thank you.’
‘It’s all right, Ulysan,’ said Auum. ‘You’re safe now.’
‘Safe,’ said Ulysan, and the word must have sounded like blessed peace because the strength went from his legs and Auum let them both sink to the ground, still locked together. ‘Safe.’
Auum didn’t register for how long, but there they stayed until hands and gentle voices ushered them into the warm.
There was no desire to move further that day. They rested in the sanctuary that magic provided. Ulysan slept for the most part, and Auum watched him in case the nightmares took him. With night falling and the TaiGethen scouts returned from the ice shelf Merrat and Grafyrre had found the day before, their course was set for the morning. Stein sat down next to Auum, bringing two cups of hot broth.
‘How’s he doing?’
Auum’s smile was fragile, his lips trembling despite his best efforts.
‘I don’t know,’ he said, putting a hand on Ulysan’s shoulder.
‘He’s your best climber,’ said Stein. ‘You don’t have to tell me, but what happened in there?’
‘We all have our demons,’ said Auum.
Stein held up his hands. ‘Then there’s you too. You were down there with him the whole time and yet you’re trying to pretend you aren’t affected. Talk to me, Auum, let it out. The tension is radiating from you.’
Auum thought for a moment, wondering if what he wanted to say — and to a human of all people — represented betrayal.
‘You will never repeat what I am going to tell you,’ said Auum.
‘I am your brother. I will never betray you.’
‘We’ll make an elf out of you yet,’ said Auum. He paused to gather his thoughts. ‘Ulysan was young when it happened. It was back on Hausolis, the old elven homeland. A freak set of circumstances. . He was exploring a cave system when there was a rockfall that trapped him and Ellarn. There had been heavy rainfall too, and while they were trapped another storm struck the hills. Water poured down the tunnel they were in. It was powerful enough to loosen all the earth and rock that had trapped them. They were washed back down towards the sinkhole they’d climbed. Ulysan managed to grip on to a root and stop himself going over the edge but Ellarn was swept down. His body was never found.’