Page 41 of Taurus's Quest
Thud. The impact lacked the grace of the previous jumps, and he quickly huffed, “Sorry, honey. You okay?”
“What happened?”
“Last anchor let loose.”
Her worst fear.
“It’s fine, though, because I do believe I see where we need to go.”
He prepped a new anchor for their spot before launching them. Jump. Tap. Jump. Tap.
“Okay, now for the tricky part.”
Trickier than what they’d been doing? “What do you mean?” she squeaked, afraid to look.
“We’re on the wrong side of the cliff.”
“Do we need to start over from the other side?”
“Nope. We’ll zipline across soon as I get my mini harpoon launcher from my pack.”
Harpoon? Geezus, did he shop at the same store as Batman? “You going to fire it backwards?” Because he currently had her pressed to the cliff, his body bracing them against it.
“Better if I face forward, which means I’m gonna have to secure you to the cliff so I can properly aim.”
A good thing her mouth was too dry to speak or she might have yelled, Are you insane?
She tried to control her panicked breathing as he tapped in some metal rings and tied her off them so she couldn’t move. Probably a good thing because she regretted opening her eyes and seeing the exact situation. The ground, far below, offered no soft landing. If she fell, she’d be nothing but a bloody spatter. While she appeared secured to the wall, her feet dangled, which only fueled her fear.
As for Taurus, he seemed nonplussed by the fact he dangled from an anchor as he unsnapped something from his pack. He dug his heels into the wall to stop himself from swaying before aiming the device.
The barbed harpoon, which had a rope attached, shot across the gorge and embedded into the stone face on the other side. Taurus then proceeded to reload the harpoon launcher with another metal barb and said, “Close your eyes,” before he aimed at a spot overhead.
A minute later, “We are good to go. I’m gonna untie you now, so remember to hold on tight.”
Like an anaconda.
She wrapped herself around him so well they could have meshed bodies.
“Pity we’re not naked,” was his naughty whisper. “Get ready to fly, honey.”
Before she could retort or even mentally brace, they were off. Wind rushed past, and she heard a strange noise, a whizzing, as they traversed his rope bridge. A short trip, as it turned out.
“Mmph.” Taurus made a noise as they impacted, but in good news, they didn’t fall.
“The entrance is right below us,” he stated.
“You’re sure it’s the right cave?”
“I’m sure.” A grim reply.
He didn’t state why the certainty. Perhaps the hairs on his body all stood at attention, too.
It took him a moment to create a new rappelling rope, which he tethered to his harpoon anchor. Once secured, they moved slowly, as he chose to descend hand over hand. The strength that took carrying her weight plus his weapons and the packs…
Such a bad time to be getting aroused.
When he stopped moving, she lifted her head to see they stood in the mouth of a cave that had partially collapsed.
