chapter
15

Climb for Your Life!

“Hurry, Shawn!”

Craig was waving frantically at his brother from across the valley. He and the others had already scrambled on top of a pile of boulders heaped at the bottom of the cliff. Shawn sprinted across the clearing towards them. Behind him, he could hear the snickering of the flames as they chewed their way through the dry grass.

When he reached the clutter of rocks, Petra stretched out her hand. Taking it, Shawn swung himself up onto the boulder beside her. “Glad you could make it,” she said, with a tense smile.

“Oh, you know me,” panted Shawn. “I wouldn’t miss a good time like this.”

“But are you up for that?” asked Tony, jerking his thumb at the cliff rising above them.

“There’s a path,” said Craig, pulling at Shawn’s sleeve and pointing. “There. See?”

Shawn ran his eyes over the rugged rock wall and finally spotted what Craig was optimistically calling a path. A narrow ledge of crumbling rock ran diagonally up the rock on a sharp incline.

“It’s, um, pretty narrow,” said Shawn.

“It’s wide enough for a sneaker,” argued Craig. “In most places.”

“We should have rock-climbing gear, man,” said Tony, shaking his head. “You know, ropes and helmets and stuff. We’d be crazy to tackle a climb like that without proper equipment!”

“We’ll be dead if we don’t,” said Shawn grimly. It was true. The fire was mowing its way across the grass towards them. Soon, very soon, this stone-walled valley would be a cauldron of fire. And the only way out was up.

Pressing themselves flat against the cliff face, the five young people inched their way along the treacherous path. Rocks rolled away beneath their sneakers and went rattling and bouncing down into the valley below. Shawn was leading. Craig had argued, saying that since he saw the path, he should be the one to go first. But Shawn had vetoed this, pointing out that his longer arms and legs made it easier for him to feel out the safest route, checking for the best handholds and footholds. A brief headlock convinced Craig that Shawn was right, and he followed behind his big brother with only a minimal amount of grumbling. Petra came after Craig, with Colin behind her. Tony brought up the rear.

The smoke wound itself around their necks and limbs as if it was trying to pluck them off the cliff. Shawn blinked his stinging eyes and reached for a tree root protruding from a crevice. He gave it a cautious tug. It held. He gripped it firmly, and pulled himself across yet another gap in the ledge.

“There’s a break in the path there,” he called back to the others. “Use the tree root to help you get across.”

Craig swung himself quickly across the gap, and edged along the ledge to where Shawn was waiting. Petra came next. She grabbed the tree root, but just as she shifted her weight to step over the gap, the tree root came loose, slithering out of the crevice like a snake. Petra flailed backwards over the yawning valley with a small, strangled shriek.

“Petra!” cried Shawn. He lunged back towards her, knowing that she was impossibly out of reach. A hand snapped out and grabbed Petra’s arm, pulling her back against the cliff face.

“You okay?” asked Colin.

“Sure,” gasped Petra. She gave him a shaky smile. “Thanks, Colin. You saved me again. It’s a good thing you’re here.”

Shawn gritted his teeth and looked away.

“Don’t worry about it, bro,” Craig told him in a low voice. “You couldn’t know that the root would let go.”

Shawn shook his head without looking at his brother. He didn’t trust himself to speak. It was his fault that Petra had almost fallen off the cliff. He should have tested that tree root more carefully. He was leading. He couldn’t afford to make mistakes. One misstep, one wrong decision, might cost his best friends their lives. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Shawn closed his eyes and pressed his sweaty forehead against the cool rock of the cliff.

“Hey, kid—you all right?” It was Colin’s voice. “You want me to take over? I could lead for a while.”

Shawn shook his head fiercely. “I’m fine.” He forced himself to look at the precarious route ahead.

“Shawn?” Behind him, Petra’s voice was anxious.

“It’s okay,” he croaked. “Follow me. We’re almost there.”

“Shawn, buddy—I don’t want to rush you or anything,” called Tony from the back of the line, “but we should probably pick up the pace, or that fire’s going to beat us to the top of the cliff!”

Shawn looked around and realized with a sinking feeling that Tony was right. The fire had spread out from the mouth of the valley in both directions, following the treeline up the steep, rocky ridge and onto the clifftops encircling the valley. Soon the two lines of fire would meet, closing the circle at the top of the back cliff wall that they were now scaling.

“Climb!” cried Shawn. “Everybody, climb for your life!”

They did.

There didn’t waste breath on talking. They climbed as fast as they dared, grabbing at rocks and roots, ignoring scraped knuckles and knees, hugging the white wall of the cliff. Small rivers of dirt and gravel, knocked loose by their scrabbling feet, showered down into the valley below.

“Almost there,” grunted Shawn.

The top of the cliff jutted out in a pouting lip. It was a hairy lip, too—shaggy with fine, spidery tree roots and lichen that dangled beneath the earthy outcropping like a crazy moustache. Shawn pulled himself up beneath the overhang. To reach the top, he would have to swing himself out, away from the cliff, then up and over the underside of the ledge.

Craig eyed Shawn’s chosen route nervously.

“How are you going to get up there, Shawn?”

“I’ll manage. You wait there until I can help you up.”

“Shawn,” called Petra worriedly, “I think we should try to get up someplace else.”

“We don’t have time,” Shawn said. “Once I’m up, I’ll be able to pull you guys over the top.”

“Be careful, kid,” said Colin.

“Good luck, pal,” gulped Tony. “Try to think like Spider-Man!”

Shawn reached up and grabbed two fistfuls of the tree roots hanging down around his ears from the roof of the overhang. Wrapping them once tightly around his hands, he yanked hard. The roots held firm. Gripping the roots, Shawn pulled his knees in to his chest and kicked his feet up hard, so that they were braced on the underside of the ledge.

“Just like the rings in gymnastics,” he grunted.

“Way to go, Spidey!” cheered Tony from somewhere below.

Shawn inched forward. He felt like a beetle crawling along the ceiling. At the edge of the overhang, he threw his right arm up and over the top ledge, his fingers scrambling to find something, anything, that would bear his weight. He knocked a rock loose. It fell past his head and went bouncing down the cliff.

Shawn felt around blindly. Aha! An old tree root, thick and gnarly, met his exploring fingers. The root was pressed tight into the earth. Shawn scraped at the dirt with his fingernails until he could worm his whole hand underneath the root. It pinched his hand against the ground, but at least he would be unlikely to lose his grip.

Under the overhang, Shawn was now forced to let go of the tree-root moustache with his left hand. He flung his left arm out and up as fast as he could, trying to get two hands on the gnarled root above him before gravity kicked in.

An impossible move.

With no way to brace his feet, Shawn fell, dangling by one arm as his body went swinging out over the valley like a pendulum.

Dimly, Shawn heard the cries and shouts of his friends, but the sound seemed to come from a great distance. Pain shot up his arm. His hand was pinned under the tree root like a vice, while his body hung from it, twisting helplessly in space. He could feel his shoulder starting to part from its socket.

His brain clouded over with pain and terror. It was hopeless from the beginning, he now realized. Nobody could survive this. We’re all going to—

“SHAWN!” Colin’s voice roared, cutting through his panicked thoughts. “Are you going to hang around like a Christmas ornament all day or do you want me to come up there and hold your hand? GET UP ON THAT LEDGE RIGHT NOW!”

Anger jolted through Shawn like an electric shock. He kicked his legs furiously and managed to touch the cliff wall with the tips of his sneakers. It was all he needed. Pushing off with his toes, Shawn launched himself upward. His fingernails caught the edge of the ledge. Every muscle in his body was screaming as he hauled himself up, inch by painful inch, and then suddenly—he was over the top! He lay still for a moment, trying to breathe through the red-hot pain in his shoulder and hand.

“Shawn?” Petra called. “Are you okay?”

Shawn started to get up, and then fell back—he was still anchored to the ground by the tree root. Gingerly, he worked his fingers loose and pulled his hand free of the root’s life-saving grip. His fingers were a rosy purple. There was a black bruise running across his palm, and his knuckles were starting to swell to an impressive size. Wincing, he wiggled his fingers carefully. They hurt, but at least he could move them.

“Shawn?” It was Craig’s voice now.

Shawn poked his head over the cliff and looked down. Dizziness washed over him as he realized just how high they had climbed. His friends and his little brother still clung to the wall like ants.

“I’m okay,” he said, stretching his good arm down over the ledge towards them. “Come on up and take my hand. I’ll pull you over the tricky bit.”