Page 63 of Queen's Griffon

“You got something better?” barked Lenno with fists clenched by his side. “Because otherwise, shut your trap. I’m not happy to be here either, but the faster we get this done, the faster we’re out of this accursed place. If you don’t like it, then you’re welcome to go back by yourself and explain to the captain and the emperor why you abandoned your mission.”

The men ducked their heads.

“Now, if you’re done whining like women, let’s get going.”

With Lenno’s inspiring threat galvanizing them, they once more began trying to make their way to the mountain, only the closer they got, the more obstacles sprang up in their path.

Avera eyed the massive fissure that blocked them and sighed. “Guess we’ll have to detour again.” Which disappointed because beyond the crack only a single line of buildings remained between them and the mountain.

“Fuck finding another path,” Lenno grumbled. “We’ve already wasted enough time. We need to get across and soon if we’re gonna be inside the mountain or one of those buildings before nightfall.”

“What happens after dark?” a shaky voiced Ron asked.

“I don’t know, and don’t want to find out,” Lenno muttered.

“How do you suggest we cross?” Avera waved to the crack. “It’s too wide to jump, or were you planning to build a bridge?”

“If I thought any of the wood in this place would hold, I would. I’m thinking we should climb down and across.”

“Down into the hole?” Ron’s eyes couldn’t get any wider.

“It ain’t that deep. You can see the bottom.” A statement that had them all leaning over the edge for a peek. Sure enough, while a good thirty or so feet below them, they could see the lumpy bottom. “We’ve got some rope in the packs, enough to get down, cross, and come up the other side.”

Avera actually found no flaw with his plan and his comment about being inside before dark struck a chord. “Let’s do it.”

Lenno already had a coiled rope pulled out which he looped through an open window and doorway, the firm stone—of a type she’d never seen as it appeared to have been molded—held firm despite him and Munro leaning their weight against it.

“That’ll hold us, but just in case, we’ll go down one at a time.”

“I ain’t going first,” Ron huffed.

“Didn’t think you would. I’ll go and then Munro will pull up the rope and harness her highness to lower her.”

“I can climb,” she insisted.

“If you fall, I ain’t catching you,” Lenno warned.

“Believe it or not, I’ve done this before. At least this time the house isn’t on fire,” she muttered.

Lenno went over the crevice lip, and they watched as he rappelled down without issue, the rocky chasm providing toeholds that minimized the strain on the arms. When he reached the bottom, he hollered, “Let’s go, your royalness. We ain’t got all day.”

A pity the snake hadn’t chosen to crush him, she thought as she gripped the rope and wrapped it around her forearm. She drew in a deep breath before lowering herself over theside, wondering at how she’d gone from a pampered existence to wearing filthy men’s clothes to climbing into a fissure on the devasted Verlorian continent in the company of the emperor’s thugs on a mission to find some rocks.

The only positive? Zhos’ influence didn’t appear to extend this far.

Avera focused on the climb, her grip on the rope tight, her eyes focused on the rocky face as her toes sought purchase. She went slowly to Lenno’s annoyance.

He kept cajoling, “Move faster. Could you be any slower? Fucking women.”

She made it safely to the bottom and then it was Munro’s turn. The big man struggled a bit, his weight making it more difficult for him to hold on. When his foot slipped, he fell the last few feet. He grunted as he hit but stood up immediately.

“You hurt?” Lenno asked.

“Nah. Just a few bruises.”

Frisk came down the quickest, rappelling agilely, the gloves he wore allowing him to slide his grip on the rope as he bounced down.

“Show off,” muttered Lenno before he glanced upward. “You coming, coward?”

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