“It could be a trap.” Cassie muttered, although she didn’t quite believe it. She just thought she should beat Thorn to the negativity.
“That’s likely.” Thorn still beat her. Cassie pretended to sigh heavily as Thorn ignored her, going forward to get a better look at it “Or it got carried down and beached by mistake.”
“Flip a coin?” Cassie suggested.
“Don’t have one.”
“Hmmm—“
“We’re going.” Thorn decided for the pair, pushing the boat into the water, and quickly turning to drag Cassie into it as well. She felt like a limp rag doll for a brief moment before she had to kick and scrabble to get into the boat without getting a foot bitten off. She unfurled from the unceremonious ball she made and slid up onto the primitive bench. The boat rocked heavily from side to side, threatening to capsize at any moment.
They drew closer and closer to a light source, and slowly, Thorn’s face was illuminated. It wasn’t just a skin condition, and he realized she could see it the moment she realized it. One side of his face was pale normal looking skin, with a blue eye and chapped lips. That wasn’t what was remarkable, because the other side was far more interesting. It was patchy gray black skin mixed with a mottled green that seemed scarred, grafted or tattooed, all at the same time. His arm, the one he barely used to haul her into the boat, expended into a long black hand tipped with sharp, dog like claws. The eye on that side was yellow, imitating that of a fierce predatory animal of some sort.
“Go ahead, get a good look. Ain’t going to murder you for what it’s worth.” He sounded as if she wouldn’t believe him. That was absolutely ridiculous, as they already determined that he wouldn’t eat her.
The light continued to filter in, and his image became brighter and more vivid, “I didn’t think you were—“ She was cut off when she saw the opening of the cave—dungeon—whatever—it was—thing. Water poured in what was likely a very large waterfall; one that Cassie figured a little wooden boat wouldn’t survive. “Uh Thorn, we should get out—“
He pushed the boat to the side, tossing her up onto a ledge, and following her before the boat fell and crashed into the water below.
“Well that’s a clever failsafe.” Cassie giggled madly for a moment, pressing up against him to keep from falling, “This is such a bizarre dream.”
“It’s not.”
“Who knows? Most people in my position would assume it was the more likely situation.”
“Dream or not, we need to get down.”
Cassie looked down the cliff side, “Uhm we could climb down—“
“Or we can fall, die, and hope that you’re right about the dream thing, and wake up. Doesn’t that sound like a great idea? I think so.”
“I sense sarcasm.”
“No.” He replied, only he elongated the “O” sound making it sound like “Nooooo.”
“A negative attitude won’t help us either.” Cassie shifted, slowly putting herself on the outside to get a better look, “If we had a bit of rope, that would be something—“
“We don’t.” Thorn replied flatly.
“I know that!”
Thorn sighed heavily, “I’ll be able to climb down—“
“That’s great.” Cassie clapped, although he didn’t seem too amused, “But not for me.”
Cassie was very aware of the fact that Thorn was getting annoyed. It was a twitch in his human side that gave him away. While Cassie was fairly certain he wasn’t going to toss her off the cliff like a sack of radiated potatoes, she didn’t know about him just leaving her there to die, which would be arguably worse. Despite the fact that she could be abandoned or killed at any moment, she noted the beautiful rolling landscape and the ragged mountains that seemed to form a distinct and narrow valley. It was a rift, likely created by plates splitting apart, with the river created by the waterfall cutting a deeper path within the canyon.
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“Look. See that little ledge?” Thorn pointed and Cassie nodded, “I’m going to lower you down to it and have you look around for our next step.”
“Okay.”
“You agreed to that far too quickly. It might not work.”
“If you were just going to toss me, you would’ve already.” Cassie edged a little closer to the drop. She let Thorn take her arms—it was a strange sensation, one hand being smooth and normal, while the other felt much like the surface of a cat’s tongue. He was careful to keep the knife like talons at the end of his fingers from touching her skin, his hand being so big he could do so. Cassie only got a moment to marvel before she felt him yank her from the ground and lowered her as far as he could. “Okay, drop me now.”
He did. She landed, feeling only a slight stinging in her knees from the impact. Her jeans were slightly torn and blood was making an appearance, but other than that, she appeared unscathed for the most part.
“See anything useful?”
“So far—“ Cassie pressed a rock that slid forward. The mountain rocked and shuddered. “Holy—“
Stairs protruded from the mountainside and extended down against the otherwise difficult to maneuver walls.
“I guess this is how the sorcerer gets out.” Thorn landed next to her.
“If I were a sorcerer, couldn’t I just like, teleport where I wanted to go?”
“That’s ridiculous. Who can just appear wherever?”
“And magical stairs aren’t?” Cassie wondered if maybe sorcerers enjoyed showing off. She certainly would if she had the power to trap a powerful looking creature like Thorn or make stairs appear.
“No, why?”
Cassie shrugged, “My grandpa always said something about not looking a gift horse in the mouth or whatever.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means—well I don’t know exactly. Something about not complaining about good fortune.”
“But wouldn’t it be bad to have a horse with an infected mouth?”
“Look, don’t examine this too closely, it’s just something my grandpa said. He also called me a whippersnapper.”
“What—“
“I don’t know.” Cassie peered down at the stairs. “I guess we’ll figure out if this is safe by not dying a horrible crushing death.”
Thorn shoved past her and began walking down the stairs gingerly. Upon finding that they were solid, he continued more confidently. Cassie figured that she didn’t have much to lose and followed him.
“This is going to take forever.” Cassie hadn’t exactly been physically active since the second grade. She even managed to get out of P.E. most of the time by grading papers for the health teachers so it was no surprise that she was breathing heavily by the twentieth step. “I’m tired!”
“I know.”
“It’s so far!”
“I know.”
“Uggh—“
“Cassie, I’m not going to carry you.”
“I wasn’t—“
“Yes you were.”
“Fine, I was.” Cassie stuck her bottom lip out, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “If you did, you’d be my best friend forever.”
“I don’t need a friend like you.”
“I come with many benefits!”
“Like what?”
“I’m walking entertainment.”
“You’re a walking pain in my ass.”
“Then why are you still talking to me?”
Thorn sighed, turning around, “We are taking a break.”
“See? I knew you’d keep me!” Cassie flopped down next to him, taking deep steadying breaths, “I’m sure I’ll get used to this soon enough. The next step will be finding my way home…cos this is certainly not home. Actually, I don’t know where we are at all. Oh well.” She shrugged, sliding next to Thorn, “At least I’ve got a friend.”
“I’m not your friend.”
“Quit arguing. You’ll learn to love me.”
The fact that he didn't attempt to argue with her only strengthened her conviction.
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