Riverfall
Koze stood at the cliff’s edge, the azure vista of the Suvan Sea spread across the horizon before him. To his right, the Bluevein continued its eternal violent assault onto the larger body of water three thousand feet below. He briefly pondered his own impact on that water, or much worse on the rocky outcroppings that he likely would not clear en route. And then he lept. A thousand moths seemed to cry out in terror from deep within his gut as he fell into empty space. Then his hand was jerked backward and up by the rope tied fast to the wooden rail-post above. He felt the heat the braided hemp generated against his leather glove as it raged through his tightened fist, and an instant later the straps tightened in a painful embrace about his body when the harness attached to his end of the rope arrested his fall. His downward momentum thus contained, the only place to go now was straight back into the face of the cliff, which was exactly where his swing was taking him. The laws of motion that the gods saw fit to govern the world with did not fully agree with Koze’s own intentions, and his outstretched legs meant to brace against the oncoming surface were now twisting away, following the rotation of the rest of his body. His side slammed painfully into a jutting rock, twisting his face into grimace, but he managed catch hold of one side of a wide crack with his free hand and prevent himself from bouncing off and spinning even more wildly. He looked up at the twenty feet of rope he was now hanging from. Only about a body-length was actually visible above him, the rest disappeared around an overhang which he was currently clinging below. The drop was designed to take him to the facade beneath the tricky outcropping, a path he wasn’t sure he was skilled enough as a climber to traverse more deliberately without getting stuck. That was his justification anyway. He turned his attention back to the rock face he was grasping, and brought all four extremities in contact with it, securing hand and footholds. Then he reached down and released the first clip on his harness, which allowed him to unwind another thirty feet of slack in the rope wrapped about his body. With his safety line extended he started edging, slowly and carefully, along the rock face toward the immense and powerful surge of water gushing out of the high cliff-side. He relied on his natural agility and strength for much of his progress, as his instincts for recognizing hand-holds were not yet well developed. His shoulders felt the strain of holding his not inconsiderable weight on a vertical surface, but he remembered his few lessons and kept his hips and center tight against rocks. He clambered around a corner, and could feel the power of the falls now so near to him. He had made it into the gouge the flowing water had carved into the stone over the years, the surfaces here becoming slick with moisture from the cascade. As Koze neared the end of the rope's slack, he spotted his temporary respite. A small ledge jutted out above his position, just within reach. His outstretched arm grasped its lip, and in a few more careful movements of hands and feet, he hoisted himself bodily upon it. He sat on the small ledge, leaned his back against the rock wall, and gazed out again toward the Suvan. His panorama was now significantly narrowed: to his left the outer edge of the crevice he just entered; to his right the huge stream of water from the Bluevein spilling past, and which he would soon be skirting behind. His nostrils filled with the smell of vaporized water. An undercurrent of his own sweat was there, very familiar, and in the background of his awareness. Other musty notes, lichens and moss from the wet rocks, rounded out the present smells. And something else, just a little hint of it right now, a tiny olfactory melody that just barely trilled in his nose, and flittered away the next instant. He was close. His brief rest enough to let the burn bleed from his muscles, Koze carefully planted his feet on the ledge and stood. He unbuckled the rope, which had run out of slack, and wedged the metal clasp at the end into a small crack. Then he continued on. |