Doria Falls by Michael Pierce

Author:Michael Pierce [Pierce, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ParousiaSix Press
Published: 2015-12-11T06:00:00+00:00

Oliver Remembers (iii)

“What do you see?” I called to Logan. He was now four branches ahead of me, nearing the height needed to see over the great wall surrounding Lorne Castle. We had ventured into the neighboring forest. Logan spent much of his time out here when he wasn’t stealing food from the butchers and bakers and sneaking around the castle.

“I’m almost there,” he exclaimed, reaching for another branch.

As we ascended, the branches grew thinner and increasingly bent under our weight.

“I don’t think I should go any higher,” I said.

“Don’t be a scaredy-cat.”

As soon as he finished talking, I heard a crack.

Logan shrieked, but nothing else happened. The branch he was standing on had a jagged break near the trunk, but the break only extended halfway through the branch. It sagged and moaned, but still held Logan’s weight. He slowly pushed his way up to the next branch.

“Be careful of that one,” he called down.

“I’m turning around,” I said.

“Com’on! I can almost see over the wall,” Logan whined.

I reached for the next branch, still several below the broken one. My sweaty hand slipped from the new branch and I grasped wildly to regain my balance. My hands were sweating even more now; I gripped the branch for dear life.

“You okay?” Logan asked.

“Yeah,” I simply said, my voice shaky.

I heard another crack and my gaze immediately shot up to Logan, but he was fine. The crack hadn’t come from his branches—it had come from the broken limb below him, which had now almost fully given way and swung down in an arch toward the trunk, and straight toward my head!

I clung to my branch with one arm and raised the other over my head in a poor attempt to shield it.

The branch hit the trunk in front of me, with only small offshoots scraping against my body and stuffing leaves in my face.

My legs shook uncontrollably at the near miss of the branch now hanging limply against the trunk of the tree. I didn’t know how much longer the branches would hold me up and they definitely wouldn’t allow me to climb any higher.

“Whoa, that was close,” Logan said from far above me.

“Too close,” I said. “I’m heading down.” Or at least I would be in a moment, when my legs would finally allow me to move.

“Okay, I’m coming, too.”

I didn’t believe him, so I looked up to see if he was really changing direction.

Logan stepped down to the next branch, and then to the next. When he reached where the broken branch had previously extended, he had to stretch much further than usual to reach the branch below. When he did, his feet landed hard, and that branch, too, cracked. Logan’s footing fell out from under him as the branch arched down to the trunk, and he was suddenly in a freefall, quickly plummeting toward the ground. He screamed and flailed violently, trying to catch himself on branches that he struck on the way down. His arm slapped against mine as he passed, but neither of us could grab hold of the other.

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