The Forever Gate by Hooke Isaac

Author:Hooke, Isaac [Hooke, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Hoodwink walked his feet along the rocky surface and raised himself hand-over-hand. He hadn't known what to expect, but this wasn't that bad. "Aid climbing," the Users had called it. Rope laid over a route to make it easier for future climbers. He couldn't imagine what those first two climbers must have gone through to lay the rope.

And to be honest, the climb proved a little monotonous. Similar to trudging along snowpack on the ground, bent-over, holding a rope for balance. He understood now what it felt like to be a crooked old man like Leader. Except Leader was only twenty-nine, prematurely aged by the power that flowed through him. The same future awaited Hoodwink and his daughter. Well, whether or not he'd see that future was the question, wasn't it? He had to make it past the next few hours to start with.

The first rope went by easily enough. He was traipsing along, hand-over-hand, foot-over-foot, when the second rope came into view. It overlapped the first route by some paces, so that he could've switched or used both of them if he wanted. The first rope ended in an anchor of small cords that passed through metallic loops wedged into the stone wall.

One segment down. Nine more to go.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed. Maybe a little more than half an hour. He bounce-tested the second cord with a quick pull, and when he felt the faint answering vibration, he slowly transferred his weight until the rope carried his entire body.

He climbed onward, hesitant at first, and then faster as his trust confidence grew. He was growing tired, true, but he covered the second segment almost as vigorously as the first.

He started slowing down on the third rope. The climb was beginning to wear on him.

By the fourth, he felt like going back. His shoulders ached. His biceps throbbed. The sides of his back behind his armpits felt numb. His extremities throbbed painfully from the cold.

By the fifth rope, he was thoroughly beaten. He couldn't go on. By his reckoning, he'd been climbing at least three hours.

He knelt against the rockface, secured the bottom of the next rope around his waist, and rested. He ate some of the salted meat from his duffel bag, and balled his hands beneath the gloves to warm his fingers. He released a trickle of electricity into his extremities, and it was enough to improve the blood flow to fingers and toes, and prevent frostbite.

The urge to look down was almost overwhelming. Just one peek. He was secure. What was the worst that could happen?

He'd lose heart, that's what. Not to mention the vertigo would probably overwhelm him. The same vertigo he felt if he looked up too far, and saw the hopeless, infinite grade above. By focusing on the rockface before him and nothing else, he made the climb doable. And by not knowing how far he'd plummet, by pretending he was only a few feet off the ground, well, that helped calm nerves that would otherwise paralyze him, or lead to a fall.

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