She heard the crowd gasp slightly as she pushed her way through the leaves before Eydeth, smiling a little as she picked up her pace. A few moments later Eydeth rustled through the canopy behind her and the cheering increased. Jahrra risked a look back and saw that he was within three feet of her boots. She also noticed that they had been shielded from view by a thick screen of leaves.
The sun had already gone down over the western wall of the valley, and Jahrra shivered from the cooling temperature seeping into her bones. The icy water trickling down the wall had successfully soaked through her blouse and skirt, coating her skin with goose bumps and causing her to shiver. She quickly regained her focus and continued to pull herself upward, despite her numb fingers. She was almost there, a few more feet and she would be the winner.
Jahrra smiled triumphantly as she reached for the final hand hold that would aid her past the top of the cliff. Just as her fingers grazed the rough tree root, however, something tugged on her foot and she slipped, losing her grip and falling off balance. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Eydeth was just beneath her, his right hand wrapped tightly around her ankle.
“Hey!” she shouted in frustration as Eydeth tugged again.
He was tightly wedged against the cliff with one arm hooked around a sturdy root, the other free to pull on Jahrra. He yanked again, even harder this time, forcing Jahrra to grab onto a clump of weeds, gratefully anchored securely to the soil. She hung from the side of the cliff like a fish on a hook, her now free feet kicking and scraping against the rock wall.
“What’re you doing!?” she screeched, starting to feel herself panic.
“Do you really think this was about a competition?” Eydeth breathed. “Please, I wish you weren’t even here, so now you’re going to pay.”
With a glint of malice in his eyes, Eydeth reached out, grabbed hold of Jahrra’s ankle once more, and jerked down one last time.
With a stifled scream her grip failed, her icy fingers unable to hold on any longer. Jahrra grasped desperately for anything that might stop her from falling down the canyon wall, but it was no use. All she could get her hands on were the slicks of muddy earth that had been dampened by the fall and a few larger roots that snapped as she caught them.
She slid down the cliff face at an alarming rate, becoming muddied and scratched as she did so. She crashed into the canopy and broke through, screaming in fear. Just as she prepared herself for impact, something caught her leg and jerked her to a stop, throwing her violently backward to hang upside down fifteen feet above the ground. She glanced up and noticed her entire leg, from the knee down, was entangled in a net of branches. Jahrra swallowed past her tight throat as she tried to fight back the coming tears and overwhelming nausea.
“JAHRRA!!!”
The combined voices pronouncing her name sounded familiar but so far away.
Gieaun and Scede sprinted toward the cold, hard paving just below their best friend. The sight of Jahrra falling suddenly through the tree tops and then becoming caught in the trees’ bows was enough to give them each a heart attack.
Jahrra simply hung where she was, too stunned to register what was being said to her.
“Jahrra! Jahrra! Oh no, are you alright!?” Gieaun was screeching in panic, still clinging to the jacket as if this would offer her some comfort.
Jahrra groaned and tried to piece together what had just happened. She looked around and saw that she was hanging in mid-air; she hadn’t hit the ground. A wave of relief rushed over her, but she soon realized she was stuck, and when the shock of the ordeal gradually passed, she felt the pain slowly crawling up her leg. Oh no, I’ve broken something! she thought despairingly. Master Hroombra is going to kill me! But she knew she couldn’t stay there, hanging and dripping muddy water in misery forever.
“I n-need help-p-p ge-eh-etting d-down-n-n!” she chattered through clenched teeth and tears of pain, her frustration and embarrassment growing by the minute.
She was becoming light headed from her upside-down position and her shin felt like it was on fire. She blinked at the strange distorted world below her and wondered if it looked strange because of how she was hanging or because of the sensation of blood filling up her head. She did notice the entire class gathered around beneath her, looking glum and slightly worried.
“Quick! Someone go get help at the house!” Scede yelled to those surrounding them.
Two ginger-haired children, a brother and sister Jahrra recognized from coming to her aid before, hurried off to fetch help. Fifteen agonizing minutes later they returned with a servant from the house.
“Sorry it took so long, but he was the only one who would listen to us! Everyone else was too busy dancing and talking!” the boy yelled up at Jahrra.
She could barely see the people standing below her through her blurred vision, but she spotted the two children who’d run off to fetch help and a taller, dark-haired young man standing next to them. It was funny how friendly and concerned everyone became when she was in actual danger, Jahrra thought bitterly.
The young man promptly told Jahrra to hold on just a bit longer and began to climb the tree as fast as he could. Jahrra was comforted that help was finally here, but she was growing cold and tired, and her leg was throbbing, her head pounding.
What bothered her most, however, was the thought of what Hroombra would say when he saw her. She’d ruined the nice new clothes he’d gone to so much trouble to get for her and she’d let her anger and stubbornness get the better of her. She felt hot, fresh tears forming in her eyes again and knew that they were not meant for the pain and humiliation she felt at losing to Eydeth. They were for the shame she felt for letting Hroombra down.
The young man reached Jahrra in no time and managed to gently untangle her, carrying her back down the tree like an over-sized rag doll. Once on solid ground, he set her down to see if she could stand on her leg, and surprisingly she could, but not without a little help.
Everyone was gathered around to gawk at her as if she had narrowly escaped death, and Jahrra was starting to think that she had. She shivered and lowered her head, feeling suffocated by all of the staring faces. Her hair had come loose from Gieaun’s earlier efforts and it was now tangled with twigs and dead leaves. Her palms and arms were covered in cuts and abrasions beneath the dirt and grime, and there was a raw scrape running down her shin.
Gieaun pushed her way through the crowd and flung her arms around Jahrra, her face shining with tears. The force of it knocked her off balance and both girls fell to the ground, adding a few more bruises to Jahrra’s already bedraggled state.
Jahrra barely noticed. The entire unfolding of events had her dazed and all she wanted to do was get to somewhere warm, even if it meant being in a stuffy mansion full of disapproving, haughty party guests.
Scede came over and pulled them both up, looking very relieved that his friend was finally safe from immediate harm. Jahrra murmured a weak thanks as the young servant draped a blanket around her shoulders. Once she was able to walk without collapsing, the entire group began the journey back, Jahrra in the middle with the young man on one side and Scede and Gieaun on the other to help. Everyone clamored timidly around Jahrra like guilty marauders waiting to catch a wobbly vase before it crashed to the ground.
As they began their slow progress back towards the house, it was clear that Jahrra had become the center of attention. It was no surprise, then, that nobody noticed Eydeth’s form climbing carefully down the canyon wall except for his sister. Once both his feet were on level ground Ellysian stalked up to him in that obscene dress of hers and demanded, “What on Ethoes just happened?! Did you push her or did she fall?”