Tales from the Haberdashery

Two

Eldric’s grip threatened to budge off the rough curve of the boulder jutting from the cliff face.

“Anytime with the rope, Mathias!” His words came out strained between breaths as his arms laboured to hold up the weight of his pendulous body.

“The rope is coming, it’s coming.” Mathias's words wafted down from above. Somewhere farther than Eldric hoped for.

His words grew more exacerbated, and he puffed them out in shallow spurts. “I wasn’t made for climbing, Mathias.”

“Then why did we come to the climbing rocks?”

Eldric took in a ragged breath, failing to go unprovoked, “You know perfectly well.” He tried to bend an elbow at a time to keep from hyperextending the joints. “That Wyvern nest will be full of bones. If Thalia catches us in the graveyard again digging up the old corpses, she’ll go ballistic.”

“You know if you allowed me to go on a solo mission, she wouldn’t see a thing.” An even farther shout this time. Eldric tried to slow his breath, but it escaped in short bursts as he attempted to inch his finger pads up the rock. He tried again to bend the elbow, however, the tendons screamed in protest against the attempt.

“I could never allow a solo mission, Mathias. What if something happened?” His shoulders trembled involuntarily. The only respite in the tight canyon was that the long cast shadows kept the sun from baking him to the cliff’s edge.

“Like, what if I tracked a Wyvern through the Wilds and ended up repelling, diving, and climbing through these canyons only to seize up at the last moment?”

“What are you implying, Mathias? You know what I always say, never split the party!” Eldric felt a moment of relief as the rope appeared. He let out a choked sigh of relief. He looked up at his arms, now hyperextended and losing blood, clutching the rock, then back to the rope dangling beside him.

“Mathias?”

“Yes, Eldric?”

“What in Avernus am I to do now?”

“I was thinking, grab the rope?”

“My muscles are completely seized up, Mathias!”

“You’re the one who said, ‘toss down a rope,’ so I tossed down the rope!”

“Well, I’d applaud you for your high comprehension in following directions, Mathias, but I am a little busy struggling for my life!”

“Okay, okay,” the rope ascended back up the cliff's edge. “You’re right, what would I do without you?”

“Sure, hurt me while I’m down.”

The rope was thrown over the edge once again. When it landed next to Eldric this time, there was a loop at the end.

“Slide your foot in there, it should take the edge off, and you can grab on.”

“Sure, just thread my dangling foot through a limp rope.” Eldric blinked away the sweat obscuring his vision. He closed his eyes and pressed them against his arms, doing his best to steady the ragged breaths coming from long-worn-out lungs. His legs hadn’t been able to find purchase against the rock face. They were buzzing with a lack of feeling; however, they were not locked up like his arms. He reached a discombobulated foot toward the loop. Though his view was obstructed, he could feel the buzzing in his limb disrupted and tried to step down. His foot stepped onto nothing and knocked against the other. The buzzing pulsated, rattling his constitution from the leg up. A gasp escaped his breath while he summoned the fortitude to steady himself.

“Are you enjoying yourself down there?” Mathias taunted from above.

A desperate laugh forced its way out of Eldric. “I feel I might not be myself if I part with the rock now. I’ve become all too attached.” A groan escaped against his will. Mathias let out a hearty chuckle.

Eldric strained the muscles in his neck to peer around his shoulder. Better assessing the loop. There wasn’t much room for his boot to slip in. He began to use his right foot to push down on the heel of his left boot. He kicked his leg, shaking with as much vigour as he could muster until the boot relented. Plummeting to the canyon below, taking the sock with it.

With his free tootsies, he felt again at the rope. He confirmed that he could feel the rope around each side of his foot before taking a confident step to relieve the pressure on his arms. He didn’t have time to enjoy the relief; he grabbed the rope one arm at a time, trying to hold some of the tension.

Mathias felt the weight shift on the rope. With bent knees, he leaned back in his stance. Hand over hand he heaved the rope until Eldric was visible at the edge. With no room for courtesy, he reached over the edge to brace his friend as he clambered up.

Eldric collapsed to his stomach. He lay there on the rock for a moment, catching his breath, feeling the relief of solid ground holding him, followed by jolts of tingling accompanied by screaming pain from his entire body.

“There we are, barely a scratch on yah.” Mathias came to sit beside the laid-out Eldric. “Good timing too, the sun’s just startin’ to set.”

“Set?” Eldric peeled the side of his face from the ground to crane it towards the sun. The sky was overfilled with sun pouring up from the horizon in soft pink and brilliant warm orange. The boulderous landscape was bathed in the orange light. Long shadows coated the crags. He rolled over to sit up with Mathias. His gaze fixed before him.

“Come on, Eldric, let’s set up camp. No going back today. I’m guessing you’ll want to change that vest too.”

“Vest?” Eldric looked down; his purple vest was completely shredded down the front. Tatters of white and purple hung on by threads to the untouched back. He let out a long sigh. “Very well, Mathias. Let’s call it a day.”