A Valley of Darkness (A Shade of Vampire #52)(52)

We followed a narrow stone path out of the city. I was covered from head to toe, given that these areas were not protected from direct sunlight. It was getting a little too hot for my taste, but I kept up with Hansa nonetheless. She came to a halt at the end of the trail, and I stopped behind her. We both looked down and noticed the almost-vertical descent. The area below looked as though someone had scooped out that part of the mountain with a giant spoon, several tall trees casting their shadows over the water lapping at the shore.

The Five Lords had previously told us a little bit about the eastern mountainside, snippets dropped in conversations at the Spring Ball, so we had a good idea about what we were getting ourselves into. I remembered Vincent’s accounts of Imen climbing down the wall using rope, so I had brought a lot of it with me, carrying the entire thousand-foot roll on my shoulder.

“Are you sure this is going to hold?” Hansa asked, her voice unusually weak as she glanced at the eight-millimeter braided rope.

“Yeah, this is heavy-duty stuff,” I assured her. “It’s a metal fiber cord in textile braid. Remember, I was pretty specific with the store owner. Given they’ve lived their whole lives on this mountain, I’m pretty sure they know their rock-climbing gear.”

We’d stopped by a building equipment store, a small place up on the first level that sold a variety of cables and construction tools, the go-to place when new residential expansions were carved into the stone walls on the northwest side, and Imen workers needed safe ways to rappel. The old Exiled Mara had been quite adamant that the rope he’d sold me was the best for what we were about to do. I’d used my strength to test it, and it hadn’t snapped. I called this method the “Fiona Quality Check”.

“Okay, well, let’s get this show on the road then,” Hansa muttered, and pulled out two long and thick metal bolts with the top ends curled into eyes. “I didn’t bother to bring a hammer, seeing as… you know…”

She smirked at me. I chuckled, then switched places with her on the edge.

“Hold this, give me these,” I said, handing over the rope as I took the bolts, then dropped to my knees and shoved them both, hard, into the path’s rock. They went in deep inside the limestone. “Better than a drill…”

I wiggled them, just to check how firmly I’d implanted them. They didn’t move, so I took the rope back from Hansa. I used a pair of shears I’d gotten from the same supply store to cut it in half, and looped each rope middle through the bolts’ eyes. I tugged and pulled in different directions, but the bolts didn’t budge.

“Nice!” Hansa grinned. “I should take you out more often. You definitely come in handy!”

We both laughed lightly, then prepared our descent. The base of the eastern wall was about three hundred feet below, and held a small strip of sandy beach, closed off from both north and south by giant boulders. It was private and secluded, and the water seemed deep even by the shore.

With the bolts firmly anchored into the stone, I held both sides of my rope together, pulling them through my legs, around my hip, then over my right shoulder, around the back of my neck, and down my left arm. I watched Hansa as she carefully mirrored my movements with her rope segment, then nodded at me. Her eyes were wide and her shoulders tense. I had to take a wild guess and assume she’d never done this before.

“Not used to rock climbing?” I asked, giving her an understanding half-smile.

“I’m not good with heights, in general,” she muttered, glancing over her shoulder. “In fact, I think I can share a little secret with you. Remember the accounts of our battle on Luceria’s platform?”

“Yeah, you cut off Goren’s head and kicked Azazel’s ass six ways from Sunday. Of course, I remember.” I chuckled, as that war was already being beautifully chronicled in Eritopia’s historical records.

“Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but I was scared out of my mind the whole time I was up there.” She sighed. “I wasn’t scared of Destroyers or Azazel. I was terrified I’d fall over the edge. Trust me, I am not good with heights…”

Not that it made her any less fearsome, but it was nice to see Hansa in a different, slightly more vulnerable light. She didn’t need me to comfort her on the issue, so I simply winked.

“Meh, it’s fine. You’ve got the rope all looped up, so just follow my lead and we’ll get down there in no time,” I replied.

With our feet apart, we walked backward off the edge and started rappelling down the rocky wall. I could hear Hansa’s gasps and the swish of rope friction against our leather combat suits. As a vampire, I could leap this distance with her on my back if I had to—but now that I knew she was afraid of heights, it was a good thing I hadn’t suggested that.

“Gravity’s doing most of the work,” she croaked as we both let the ropes slip through our gloved hands in short sequences, until our boots sank into the soft sand at the bottom.

We had made it down smoothly, but I could still hear Hansa let out a sigh of relief. We then looked around and noticed some aspects of this side of the mountain base which had not been visible from above.

This enclosure was quite big, the mountain’s limestone wall curving inward, leaving room for a half-moon strip of sand to serve as a small, secluded beach, tucked away between giant boulders and crests peeking from the ocean. The water was, indeed, significantly deeper at the shore.