The Evils Found Us

---Aaron---

"INDIGO!" I yelled, forgetting about my plan to stay quiet. Her wide eyes bulged with shock and fear as she fell backwards into the chasm.

I lunged out and stretched my arm as far as it would go, trying to grab Indigo's hand. Her fingers latched onto mine at the last second, and I felt a giant yank on my arm that nearly pulled it from its socket. The momentum sent me falling off the trail too, but in a fit of desperation, I twisted and stabbed my sword hard into the cliff side, hoping to stop our fall. Surprisingly, it worked. Now we were suspended in midair with a thousand foot drop below us and no way up.

My palms began to sweat. Indigo kicked her legs and tried to get a tighter grasp on my hand. Even so, I could feel her grip slipping. What do I do? What do I do?!

"Aaron, there are Evils out there," Indigo gasped. I looked down at her pale face. "I'm pretty sure we just alerted them to our presence. We need to get out of here now."

"Okay. Okay. Um…" There would be time for apologies later. Right now, we need to find a way up. No doubt Lucian and the rest of our friends had heard the commotion, but by the time they found us it would be too late. I can't hang here forever.

A loose chunk of dirt hit me on the face. I looked up and saw that my sword was bending, dangerously close to either snapping in half or being dislodged. We needed to act fast.

"Indigo, I'm going to swing you up, okay? I think I can call on the wind to push us up a bit, but I'm not sure if it will carry our entire weight," I called down to Indigo. She nodded grimly, understanding my plan. I began to rock back and forth like a pendulum, gaining momentum.

My arm burned. The strain of holding Indigo was catching up to me. Gravity didn't exactly help either, constantly trying to tug us down. Up above, did I hear the rustling of Evils?

"Ready, Indigo?" I called out, sweat beading my forehead. "On the count of three, I'm going to try and get you up there." I pointed at a lower part of the trail to the right of us with my chin, within reach. It would be easier to climb up there.

"Okay, Aaron." Indigo struggled to hold on to me.

"One—two—three!" I swung my arm one last time and let go, calling on a gust of wind at the same time to cushion Indigo. She sprang, using the momentum we built up, and her hands clawed at the edge of the trail. I concentrated, strengthening my control over the wind, until Indigo successfully climbed onto the trail.

My sword creaked, and I saw cracks forming above my head. It wasn't going to hold.

"Aaron!" Indigo held out her hand, and I took it, letting go of my sword. She hauled me back onto the trail and we both collapsed, panting. I crawled over the edge and carefully grabbed the hilt of my sword, trying to dislodge it. Indigo pushed herself up and tried to see over the top edge of the chasm, checking on Evils. She turned back to me, her face pale. "Hurry, I think I see movement."

With a final yank, I managed to pull my sword from the cliff. Cracks began to spread right underneath my feet like a spider web. Could that one stab crack open an entire cliff side?

With no time to pause and think, Indigo and I clambered down the narrow trail, slipping on loose dirt and tripping over rocks. Behind us, a low rumble sounded, and the entire cliff side began to shake.

"Earthquake?" I called out to Indigo who was a few paces ahead. She whipped back with round, frantic eyes.

"I think the cliff is falling apart!" She pointed at something behind me. I turned around to look. Sure enough, the crack that my sword had caused had widened, and large, boulder-sized chunks of the chasm were falling into the gorge below. I picked up my pace, not wanting to fall to my death amid the trembling earth.

A war horn sounded far above us, followed by the movement of a considerable size of people—or monsters. The Evils have been alerted. We were now practically running down the steep slope, which was probably not a very good idea.

Sure enough, just as we reached the bottom, Indigo slipped on something and toppled forward. Not stopping myself in time, I tripped over her and fell face first into the dirt. Ignoring the bruises and scraped skin I pushed myself up and reached out to help Indigo up. "Come on! We have to move!"

Indigo seemed oddly pale as she wobbled to her feet. A fleeting thought in my mind said that she's probably still recovering from the shock of almost falling off a cliff. A pang of guilt stabbed me in the gut, and I grabbed her hand, supporting her as we hurried along. The mist had thinned a bit, and soon I could make out the figures of Jason and Ashley running towards us.

"Where were you guys? What happened?" Jason asked breathlessly.

"Long story. But we have to move. The cliff is breaking apart and there are Evils above, alerted to our presence. We need to find a different way out." I spoke rapidly as we made our way to our cave.

"What?! Evils? They're really here?" Ashley exchanged a look with Jason, who cursed under his breath.

"What's wrong?" Indigo asked, picking up the subtle expressions.

"It's Katherine," Jason said grimly. "She went outside to stretch and just suddenly collapsed. She was feverish when we got to her, and she started screaming, just like that day in the inn. Said Lord Victor was trying to get into her brain again."

"She's stable now, but just really weak and pale," Ashley added. "We suspected that the Evils must be near, just not right above us and alerted to our presence. How are we supposed to fight with our best warrior gone?"

"The rest of us still have our powers. We can do this, guys." Indigo, a true leader, was trying to instill confidence into ourselves.

We came within sight of the cave. Lucian was supporting a barely conscious Katherine, with one of her arms slung over his shoulder. Rachel rushed out of the cave, carrying our satchels and whistling to the untied horses. They trotted over, neighing nervously.

"Aaron! Indigo! Thank the gods, they found you two." Rachel caught sight of the four of us. She frowned slightly as she took in the battered sights of Indigo and me. "Oh dear, more injuries. Anything serious?"

"Um, I don't think so." I shook my head.

Indigo straightened and pulled her hand from mine. I didn't realize that I was still holding her hand in my grasp. "We need to move out. The Evils know we're here."

"Back the way we came?" Rachel questioned.

Indigo shook her head. "That path is destroyed. We need to find a new way out."

A rumble above us showered us with small pebbles and dirt. We scrambled for cover. "Everyone, get on your horses! We need to move!" Indigo yelled.

"Katherine, are you able to ride alone?" Lucian asked worriedly. "I can ride with you if you want."

"I'll ride with her," Ashley volunteered. "Jason, can you ride alone this time?"

"No problem," Jason said, though he seemed like he didn't want to leave Ashley.

I whistled for our black stallion and helped Indigo up into the saddle before mounting myself. I made sure that her arms were wrapped securely around me; I didn't want her to get into an accident again. "Where to?"

"Straight forward," Indigo commanded, peering around my body at the empty ravine in front of us. "Everyone follow close!"

We took off, thundering down the chasm. Up above, I could hear the commotion the Evils were making as they tried to find a way down. The bleary landscape seemed to stretch eternally in front of us. I knew that if we couldn't find a way up, we will be trapped here forever.

"How long is this chasm again?" I asked Indigo as we rode.

"I'm not sure. Maybe a hundred miles? But we kind of cut in with about three quarters of the distance behind us," she replied.

"There's got to be a way out," she added, as if reading my thoughts. "We'll find one, Aaron, don't worry."

"I'm sorry for almost pushing you off the cliff," I blurted out. "I didn't know it was you; I thought it was an Evil."

Indigo was quiet for a few seconds. "It's okay," she said softly. "You pulled me back up, didn't you?"

"But you almost died, Indigo. If I was only a second late—"

"You weren't." Indigo said sharply. "Aaron, you saved me. I thought I heard something as I was coming down, but I wasn't prepared. Yes, I could've fallen off, but I didn't, because you caught my hand and pulled me up."

"But—" I didn't think my apology was enough.

"Aaron, Indigo, duck!" A voice yelled from behind. I flattened myself against the saddle as Indigo pressed herself against my back. A split second later an arrow whizzed by, landing in the sand. I straightened and looked up. Through the hazy mist, I made out the dark shapes of Lord Victor's army that he sent after us. It consisted of both human soldiers and Evils, with the archers lining the edge. The sunlight glinted off the metal tips of the arrows strung in their bows.