Climb/Descent

Mouse expertly climbing up a steep mountain face to prepare ropes for a rappel

The hare departs, no doubt headed for shelter from the storm. Tully shrugs off her long cloak, removes her heavy boots, and laces on a lighter pair of shoes with reinforced toes. She takes a coil of rope out of her large pack and carefully examines each inch for weakness. Satisfied, she lashes it to her back. Finally, Tully buckles a small bag around her waist. It’s filled with white, powdery chalk which she dusts on her paws. Seeing your puzzled expression, she explains that the chalk helps her paws keep a tighter grip on the rocks. Her shyness seems to vanish as she moves through these preparations.

Leaving the rest of her equipment behind, Tully walks to the rock wall, studies it for several moments, then delicately places her foot on a ledge you can barely see. Next, her paws explore the rock above her. She pauses, testing her grip, then steps her remaining foot off the safety of the ground. Smoothly, methodically, she finds more paw and toe grips, inching up the wall towards the trees. Her body is relaxed, her movements deliberate. She seems completely unfazed by the massive drop below.

At the top, Tully wastes no time anchoring her rope to a tree and then lowering the end back to Halpra, who begins knotting it more rope, forming one long, unbroken chain. Finally, she turns to you and Roth.

“Right. The next step is to loop you in, then I will lower you down the side of the mountain. Who is going first?” she asks. You can barely squeak. Roth looks positively ill.

“Nope.” he says sickly. “Not me. No no no no.”

“The rope is fully anchored to the tree. Are you afraid of heights?” Hapra asks.

“Funny thing you ask. Turns out I am. Excuse me.” Roth walks around a pile of rocks and begins retching loudly.

“It's you first then, Tolo,” Halpra says. You are numb with fear as she loops the rope around you, creating a harness. She braces herself on rocks, then instructs you to face the mountain and use your feet to “walk” down. “At the bottom, cut off the loop, give three tugs, and I will reel everything back up for the next mouse.”

It takes all of your courage to walk to the edge of the cliff. The tight cinch of rope around your waist is the only reassurance you have as you slowly turn on your stomach and slip over the edge, your boots dangling into nothingness. There is a moment of sheer panic as you feel yourself falling, then a tug as Halpra takes up the slack on the rope. Slowly, you are lowered down the cliff. The air around you feeling thin and unsubstantial. One of your paws clutches the rope, the other is pressed against your lucky sprig of rosemary in your pocket.

You don’t know how long the descent takes; you only remember the feeling of massive relief when your boots finally touch solid ground. Quickly, you cut the loop and give three tugs. The rope whizzes back up the mountain. Minutes later, you see the dark shape of Roth lowering. As he gets closer, you see that his eyes are squeezed tightly shut. He lands, shaking.

“Yes, I kept my eyes closed the entire time. And yes, I threw up thrice more. Let's never talk about this part of the journey ever again," he says weakly.

Chuckling, you offer him a tincture from your apothecary bag to settle his stomach. Soon Halpra lowers to joins you, and then you all anxiously watch as Tully begins her descent.

All appears to be going well.

Then, there is a sharp snap as her rope breaks. She plummets, scraping down the rock, showering you with dirt. She catches herself, giving a shout of pain as her arms strain.

“Tully!” Halpra screams. There is a horrible moment of stillness, then Tully’s practiced foot reaches out for a hold. Her paw explores for a crevice and finds one. Slowly, she downclimbs. She is only using one leg, and when she finally joins you on the ground you see why. There is a long, deep gash in her leg, bleeding heavily. You immediately bandage it using strips of cloth in your apothecary bag, but you know that much more work will need to be done on it. More bad news…you are now down to one rope, which has been severely shortened by Tully almost-fatal fall.

“Do you think you can you walk Tully?” you ask.

Tully nods, but in her eyes, you see the truth. She is badly injured and can’t walk for very long.

CONTINUE

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