Fantasy of Fire (The Tainted Accords #3)(13)

It takes a long time to get to the first island. By the time we touch down, I’m hardly breathing, though I can hear Hamish’s breath coming fast. I signal to him to wait and unstrap my Soar, scanning the area before circling back. He takes off his own Soar and we approach the rope bridge before us. It should be easy enough. The bridge is one unit made of wooden planks roped together. It’s stretched out between four heavy studs, two on each of the connected islands. Thick rope coils around the studs to hold the walkway in place, providing a rudimentary handrail either side of the suspended walkway.

“Saw.” Hamish holds out his hand toward me.

I stare at the outstretched limb dumbly. “What?” I jerk around to look at the Soars. No bag. “I thought you had the saw!”

He turns and we share a horrified look.

“Axe?” he whispers. I shake my head and cover my mouth.

We don’t have time to go back and get them.

“Maybe we could catch up to the next group and get one off of them,” I say. Hamish shakes his head.

“Not enough time. Fuck!” he hisses. “How did I forget them? They were right next to us in a bag,” he says in a louder voice.

I place my hand over his mouth. “I know, I saw them there. We both screwed up. But we’ll figure something out,” I say.

“I brought you a saw and axe,” a voice says from the darkness. I clamp down on a scream and whirl toward the voice.

“Who’s there?” Hamish demands. I crouch, darting furtive looks around the rest of the clearing for signs of an ambush. The person comes out from behind the rock. I straighten and scowl at the young boy.

“Jimmy. What are you doing here?” I demand. His mother was going to kill me.

“W-well, I saw your tools lying there and thought you might need them,” he stutters.

I frown down at him. “You mean you took them so you’d have an excuse to follow us.” No wonder I’d thought Hamish had them, and he’d thought I had them. The brat had swiped them before we left. “This isn’t a game, Jimmy!” I whisper furiously. “What if something had happened to you and we didn’t know where you were or weren’t able to destroy the pathway?”

Jimmy looks down at his stitched shoes. Hamish is silent behind me. I glance at him and see he almost looks relieved. I frown at him until he gets the hint and attempts a somber expression. He achieves the same half-annoyed expression he gave me at the training rock.

I take the tools from Jimmy and pass them to Hamish, who hastens to get started on the first support.

I turn back to the young boy with a sigh. “You’ll have to come with us now. I can’t send you back by yourself. Jimmy, I realize I’ve asked you to disobey your mother and Adox in the past, and that was very wrong of me,” I say. Jimmy looks up, eyes wide.

“The time will come to have your adventures. It will come sooner than you think. But what is the point of having those adventures if the people back home don’t trust you and cannot rely on you?” I ask, feeling a bit hypocritical.

“I guess not much,” he mumbles.

“No, not much at all. Plus, I don’t think Adox is far away from confiscating your Soar. Better to fly where you’re supposed to, than not fly at all,” I say. His whole body spasms at my words and his eyes are wide in disbelief. He shakes his head in horror at the future I’ve laid before him. I don’t know why Adox hasn’t done it before now. The boy drives me crazy and I’ve only known him for a few months.

It takes awhile to sever all the ropes. The pathway was made to last, and our work must be done slowly so the sound doesn’t carry. Hamish is cutting the final strands when I join him. I strap myself into the Soar and guide the weight of the bridge down so it doesn’t crash into the other island. The bridge still makes a slight clatter as it connects with rock. All three of us still pause for any sign of alarm.

Soon we’ve cut the other side and hauled the bridge up. The soldiers will reach this island tomorrow and not be able to cross to the second—not without wasting materials and time. Between us, we fly the mass of ropes and wood over to an isolated island while Jimmy watches with riveted attention. The Solati will never find the support, but having the bridge close will make it easier to fix the pathway once the army returns to Osolis.

It must be somewhere in the early hours of the morning. Maybe two or three. It’s hard to tell in the darkness, but it took us a few hours to fly here and get rid of the first target. The second support is two islands away. And due to the zig-zagging and up-and-down nature of the pathway, the support is closer again to the Solati Army, but beneath their current position. I wonder how many of my people are sleeping on the various flat surfaces and caves throughout the Oscala.

We land on the island behind our next target.

“I don’t like it,” I decide, lips pursed. “If we land at the top, then anyone looking down from the islands above us will see us.” This support is to aid in scaling a sheer cliff face. There are no footholds at all, so without the rope currently hanging down the side, it will be almost impossible to scale. It’s similar to the one I’d saved Sole from when he slipped. It was luck and timing which saved the delegate. I’d thrown myself over the side to catch him, rope in hand, earning myself a dislocated shoulder and broken wrist. Though, I’d come to think the pain was worth it because that was the turning point of my friendship with the delegates.