~ 65: The Night of Blessings and Curses - Part 10 ~

A hand landed on my shoulder, almost ripping the soul out of my body, and pulled me back. I stared at his face with relief although I knew what was coming. How had he come back so fast without using magic?

"What were you thinking?" he asked sternly. "Have you lost your mind?"

"There was something I needed to know," I said after a moment, gulping with relief as I lay my head on his lap. "The fact that we are on this strange land which has too many casualties... there must be a reason."

"When you don't follow the rules, that is exactly what happens. We aren't allowed to use any superpower and must depend purely on logic, and perhaps, intuition."

"Then how did you come back so fast without having teleported?"

"I have my human ways of doing things without the sight or hearing of anyone, even at a hair's breadth away from me."

'It is very inhumane to walk up behind me like that without a sound and totally unacceptable that you snuck up on me without my knowledge or approval.'

"Will you ever learn to shut that wall?" he chided me as he wove the leaves into a cup upon my instruction and aid. "Your thoughts are so loud that I can hear them up here."

I pursed my lips and shut the wall up firmly, ensuring all the while that not a nanometre of a gap was there for him to hear from and scold me about it. As painful it was to hold the wall up, it was not worse than hearing a constant nag for disobedience.

We drank the freshwater of the stream with the slightly porous makeshift cups, that we made using our clean fingers, with Lucas taking the first sip to test for any venom. With the river bank being situated a little higher than the stream, one of us carefully took the water while the other watched the first one's movements. After a refreshing drink with this alternating pattern, we washed our sweaty faces and made our way back to the shaded area.

We made finger caps using the leaves and wrapped our palms with a few if they were ripped in places. I was no longer given the task of handling the barks of the Detrochia tree. But before we could set to work, Lucas commented on using a different tree for the job, which started as a heated discussion and then turned into an argument.

"Why would you not use the barks of Detrochia when they are sturdy and thick?" I shouted, finally losing my last bit of forbearance.

"What if either of us gets the poison again?" he yelled in annoyance. "What if, while aiding me or vice versa, you touch my poisoned hand? Do you want to suffer again?"

"Then why are we wearing these ridiculous makeshift gloves on both of our suggestions? What is the point in wearing them?"

"Just what if they were to shred apart during a crucial time? You going to hold the rope in mid-air and fix it, where there won't be trees around?"

"Then we'll wash our hands after this."

"What guarantee do you have that it has gone from either of our bloodstreams?"

"The fact that my wounds have healed and haven't opened up again even after touching the river water."

"Do as you wish. Since there's only one knife and now that you aren't in charge of the case, I can do as I will."

"Fine! Don't come back later telling me that such and such was right. I'm not going to hear it from you."

"Well, great then. Finally, we're on the agreement to not speak to each other for the rest of the journey and continue on it independently."

I immediately cursed myself for saying that statement as I let my bad temper take charge of my thoughtless words. I couldn't unwind them as I meant some of it, and I wasn't in my right mind to ask for him for forgiveness when I knew that my opinion was partly right.

I was upset that I had spoken rudely and got him to tell a horrific statement. Now there was no way on heaven or earth I could talk him out of it with my stubborn heart and mind pulling me back.

'I totally need his guidance, comfort and companionship,' I said to myself with a sigh. 'Why did I sign up for this in the first place? And why can't I bring myself to say sorry?'

'Because it was never in your heart to do when you know what is right,' answered my brain. 'You follow your gut so you know when something is right.'

'I hope this time you're right. I don't want a rip followed by a huge distance in our friendship.'

'Are you even 'sure' this closeness is friendship? I think —'

'Your thought doesn't matter. Let me work in peace.'

We were contented with I working on the ropes while Lucas had gone to cut the barks of some common tree somewhere far off. The only common trees I had seen here were thin-barked, slender trees that wouldn't give us enough protection from that eel's current. It was only by the Almighty's grace that I was alive.

The vines on this part of the forest were fragile so winding them and braiding them took a good amount of time. They had to be thick and long to create a good grip as we placed them on a high branch of some sturdy tree. I created many pairs, two of them being for emergency uses.

Lucas came out into the small clearing after cutting off the barks and bringing out the thin flakes to assemble. I approached him to help as the only thing I needed was strong planks to attach to the ropes, in case there were any strong branches to attach the ropes to that would bear our weights. But without an axe, that was impossible so I eventually gave up on the idea.

He brushed me off aggressively and I returned to my place to watch him make the leg case, hurt that he would rather have nothing to do with me. After a while, I went off to search for a good spot to hand the noose of the rope, hoping it was close enough to the river.

I found two diagonal spots upstream, the spot of my side of the river being higher up the tilted ground than the other side. I climbed the broad stemmed tree as swiftly as a cat and attached the noose of the rope far end of a stout, hefty branch.

The other side of the river proved tricky as there weren't many strong trees on my side to climb and get the noose on the other tree's branch as close as I would want it to be. There was not a stone bridge that existed or could be made to get across except the method I had in mind.

After multiple painful tries, I got the noose on the right branch at the right place only after tying a small rock to it. Both the ropes were thankfully close to the river to be hauled oneself upon. But my only fear was the rope vines being washed away. So just as a precaution, I used another little rock and tied it to the first rope.

I came back to see that he had finished making a pair of the leg cases, which had tiny holes with threads made from my leftover vines. Every small piece of thin bark was brought together like a mosaic, with the only thing holding them together with little space being the threads.

I went to report to him about where the ropes attached to the trees were, but he shut me up with a wave of his hand, signalling that he had no interest to listen. Now my guilt was eating me alive and as much I wanted to apologise for my crudeness, I couldn't bring myself to do so as I wanted to say it at the right time.

He wore the leg case and just picked up one of the ropes I made, marching off uphill whilst avoiding me constantly. He tied one end around his waist and the other to the Detrochia tree near the tree I had hung the first rope. I was not given any opportunity to help as he refused anything I offered.

I just sat on the forest floor with a heavy heart as I watched him prepare himself for the challenging jump. A part of me told me to go apologise immediately while the other told me to keep shut. With the brain winning over the heart, I kept my golden silence as I watched him grab onto the rope and steady the swings to make the leap.

My fidgety soul couldn't sit any longer as it saw him go into the water. The stream was narrow, but not narrow enough to skip touching the water. He let the current push him towards the next rope on the other bank.

With him bobbing in and out of the water surface, I stood on my toes, trying to see if he was alright. But the horrors didn't stop there. In a moment, the rope he had chosen to tie him to the tree snapped. The river pushed him hastily without the support, and a few seconds later, the head that had gone down didn't resurface again.