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29
Day 193
The first full moon since spring equinox is coming soon. It is glowing brightly off the balcony outside the king’s chambers. In Balfour, Delineation Day is usually on the first full moon when spring starts. Sighing, sadness spills out of me as I think about our families celebrating without us.
I wait for the sky to darken fully to see the expanse of stars on the clear night. The breeze blows through my fresh clean tunic. I have retired all my ratty furs from the winter and wear one of the king’s shirts. They are a little big on me, but it’s good to have new clothing and a new season to enjoy.
“Ledger?” Hollis enters the chambers.
“Out here,” I call.
She finds me sitting on the wide stone railing along the balcony edge.
“Delineation Day is in three days and Kava is planning on accepting your brother’s proposal.” She looks at me with a dreamy smile. The bluish-gray tunic she is wearing makes her eyes look bright blue. She is back to wearing pants again.
“Really? Did she tell you that?” I try not to think about how strange I feel looking at the shape of her slender legs in tight black trousers.
“Yes.” She climbs up next to me. “I’d like to do something special for her. I want to collect some flowers.”
I laugh, sounding much like a goose, and inspect her face to see if she is teasing. She has a worried look on her face with eyebrows pinched together and lips pushed to the side.
“Oh, you’re serious.”
She nods and continues, “We aren’t too far from the ground and the wild flowers are so beautiful in the fields below. I thought you could lower me out of Tristeh’s cave with the rope and pulley.”
I think for a moment and wonder if it’s possible. “I don’t know if we have enough rope.” Since we left the mountains, we are gliding over a high prairie in full bloom.
***
We spend a good part of the morning collecting ropes. We toss them over the balcony railings and they land in a heaping mess in the courtyard. Hollis reaches the pile before I do and heaves the whole jumble of ropes over her shoulder nearly wrapping herself from head to toe. Thick ones, thin ones, brown ones, and white ones.
I chuckle at her. “Want me to carry some?”
“That’s okay,” she says. “I’ve got it.” She prances off happily to the dungeon with no more sign of a limp.
We walk around the empty dragon’s cage together. I haven’t been down here in months. I notice Hollis must have come down here at some point because the dragon’s gate is closed. She sighs as we turn the corner toward the outside. The breeze pushes her hair back from her face tickling her shoulders. It has grown a little since it was hacked short. Kava helped even it out from the jagged way it was slashed off her head. I’ve never seen a girl with hair cut to the jawline. I think it suits her.
At the edge of the cave opening, we can see the prairie beneath us. It is beautiful. The few trees are all budding light green leaves. In several spots, there are patches of yellow and purple wild flowers.
“I hope there is enough rope,” Hollis says as her load hits the ground in a plume of dust. I notice a second pile of ropes near the cliff’s edge.
“Where did all of this rope come from?”
“I collected it all over the castle before I invited you,” Hollis says out of breath.
“How long have you been awake? The sun is barely up.”
She beams proudly at me and I can’t help but chuckle. I find it weird that she wakes up chipper. I wake up feeling dull and when anyone talks to me before I’m fully awake it’s as if they are eating my soul.
I wrap the pulley’s anchor rope several times around one of the few large stalagmites jutting up from the cave floor. I knot it and double knot, it making sure it is secure.
Hollis ties all the ropes together end to end. She hands me the first knot and says, “Tighten, please.”
I pull at the ends so hard the rope scrapes my palms. She hands me another and another to tighten. As she gets to the last one, she ties it to the rope already threaded through the pulley and tosses the rest of the rope off the side of Ellery and howls into the wind.
“Wooohooo,” she yells, her voice echoing behind us through the cave.
The ropes topple and whip out of view below. I can’t stretch my neck out far enough to see how close it is to the ground, so I lay on my belly and crawl to the edge. So much for my clean shirt. The rope doesn’t reach the ground.
“We need more rope,” I state. Relief pours over me. I’m glad to postpone this daring idea, even for a few more minutes.
Hollis says, “I have an idea,” and races back toward the dragon’s cave. Moments later she returns with another rope and an armload of leather straps. I secretly hope it still doesn’t reach. I don’t want to die trying to drop to the ground to fetch her stupid flowers.
I already regret agreeing to this as I reel the dangling ropes back up, hand over hand. She ties the extra rope on the end, including one leather strap with a metal loop on the end. I tighten them. An idea strikes me and I wrap the leather straps around my thighs and torso to ensure I don’t splat my guts all over the pretty flowers below.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“I’m making a harness, so I can hook it to the rope.”
“You’re making the harness for me, right?” She nods with her eyes wide. Pausing, I consider the fact that she wants to do this dangerous stunt, and realize that’s the way it has to be. She’d never be able to pull me back up with her little arms.
“I’m making a harness for you, apparently.”
“Thank you,” she says, dancing and clapping.
Suddenly it’s as if I’m doing the wrong thing again, following along with another one of Hollis’s ridiculous schemes that isn’t going to end well. My ears start to ring. I want to drop everything and back out but listening to Hollis whistle as she tucks in her shirt, changes my mind momentarily.
“Please don’t break your other leg,” I beg. She is overly thrilled to do this because she bursts into that obnoxious high-pitched laugh.
It startles me. I take a deep breath, giving myself a moment to get my hearing back.
Hollis steps excitedly into the harness. Trying not to touch her, I secure the top around her waist. She asks me to tighten the thigh straps. I am embarrassed as I accidentally graze her butt with my knuckles. She makes me even more uncomfortable when she shoves an empty grain sack down the front of her tunic. She doesn’t even notice that I almost saw down her shirt. It’s getting hot out here.
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I say, “Please be careful.” I latch the hook from the harness to the loop on the end of the rope.
“I think that might be on you, Ledger. Just lower me gently.” She sits on the edge.
I snatch up the ropes, worried she’ll plummet before I am ready. Uneasy about letting her descend to the ground, especially alone, I imagine the look I will get from Tolliver if this goes badly. My gut gurgles.
I nod as she rolls on her stomach and climbs downward. I keep the rope tight and watch it scrape on the edge of the cliff, sending rock shards over with it. Gently releasing more and more rope through the pulley, I lower Hollis down the side of Ellery toward the ground. I can’t look out over the edge to assess how she is doing, but she hasn’t cried out yet. So she must be okay. Once all the rope is gone, I gently let the pulley take all of her weight by catching on the huge double knot. I lie down on the edge and see her swiftly walking along the ground with her harness still hooked to the rope. I am thankful she made it.
“Unhook it,” I yell. She must not be able to hear me from up here, but she finally gets the harness loose. She lets the straps and ropes hang as she runs off toward a patch of purple flowers. I wish I could hear her. The more flowers she finds, the more she dances and jumps. She gathers them into her arms and races off toward the tree line. Her little legs are a blur.
“No, that’s too far,” I call, still unable to reach her with my voice.
She is struggling to rip flowering branches from the bushes. I should have sent a knife down with her. She finally yanks off a few branches and tucks them under her arm. I am wildly out of breath as she darts for the next patch of flowers. My head buzzes with a wave of nausea. Bracing myself for something to go horribly wrong, I imagine a wild animal attacking her and I’m stuck up here unable to defend her.
Finally, she comes back to the rope. She places the armful of flowers into the sack and straps it on her back by the drawstring. She reaches for the ropes, having to walk at the same time and tries to hook her harness to the end. Once, twice, three times it takes for her to hook to the drifting island. I run to the pulley and yank on the rope. It is harder to pull her up than let her down. Suddenly the rope snaps loose. I scramble to my belly and peer over the edge. She has fallen on her back on the hard ground. She might be crying or maybe gasping for breath.
“Get up, Hollis,” I yell. Her lips move but the wind is battering against my ears and I can’t hear her.
Regret clamps down on my chest and I can’t help but mutter under my breath, “What were you thinking? You let her risk her life, for what? Flowers?”
Hollis shakes her head and is on her feet running toward the dangling rope. She holds it up at me and shakes her head. Her mouth is moving but I can’t hear her. Something must have broken. I pull, pull, pull until the end flops over the side.
I run to the dragon’s cave into the storeroom. “Please, please, please,” I plead. Flipping over the saddles, I find one strip of leather with hooks at either end underneath the last one.
I sprint back outside, latch it to the bottom, throw the whole thing over the side, and scoot to the edge. She is red-faced walking beneath the island. Inspecting the new piece on the end, she looks up at me confused.
“Put your foot in it,” I scream as loud as I can.
She tilts her head, pinching her eyebrows together.
Then I stick my bare foot over the edge and wrap the rope around the bottom of it. I hold for a long moment then look over the edge again. Sure enough, she stuck her foot into the loop and is ready for me to hoist her back up.
I pull with all my strength, ignoring the scratching pains in my hands as the rope rubs against my skin. I groan with every pull, frustration gnawing its way through me. I punish myself with every yank, glad that my hands are bleeding.
“You are supposed to protect her, Ledger. You are such a powerless fool for putting her in danger—again.” Tears sting my eyes.
Finally, her choppy blonde hair pops up over the ledge. Tugging one more time, she scrapes her way onto solid ground. Quickly wiping the tears away, I drag her from the overhang. She lay, gasping for breath, looking up at the high ceiling. I inspect her from head to toe to make sure she didn’t break anything. There aren’t any limbs laying at odd angles. Thankfully.
“You are never doing that again,” I groan.
“Yes, that was a stupid idea. Who came up with that?” she asks with a wild grin.
“I don’t know, but they should be punched in the neck,” I say, and we laugh.
