They hiked without talking, and as quietly as they could, careful where they placed their feet. Both of them kept an eye and ear out for any sign of other life. They didn't want to run into Luey in the bush or alert him to where they were if he was trying to find them.

It wasn’t until they reached the bottom of the cliff that they started up conversation again.

“Why do you think those guys killed the hikers?” Kass asked as they dropped their pack on the ground.

“I don’t know, perhaps they weren’t hikers,” Cat replied as she started to climb up to bottom of the rope.

“Hang on, I should go first,” Kass objected.

Cat looked back down at her. “It’s probably easier if I get up to the bottom of the rope and you hand the bags up to me.”

“Right,” Kass agreed and watched Cat climb.

Once Cat had made it to the bottom of the rope she slung one leg over a jutting out tree branch, made herself comfortable and looked down expectantly at Kass.

Kass slung her pack over her back and then started to climb up to Cat. When she got close she made she sure she had a good hold of the rock and solid stance then with one hand she pulled her pack off and handed it up to Cat. Cat grabbed it easily and then stuck it between two branches behind her.

Kass climbed back down to get Cat’s bag. This one was heavier so it took Kass a bit longer to climb up. At one point she glanced down and immediately regretted it. While the ground was not far enough to be a fatal fall it would still hurt and most likely end in at least a twisted or broken ankle. Falling was not an option.

She was relieved when she reached Cat again but was quickly stopped by the realization that she might not be able to hand this one up to Cat. She gripped the rock tightly aware that she couldn’t stay like this forever but also unsure at how to proceed.

Cat helped her out by locking her legs around the branch and reaching out sideways to pull the pack off Kass’s back.

Normally Cat would have had no trouble lifting the pack and herself back on to the branch but as she started to pull it back in she winched and instead of going up she ended up swinging upside down so she was hanging from her legs with her body beneath the branch, the pack still clutched tightly in her arms.

“Have you considered using your powers?” Cat asked in an unnecessarily calm tone.

Kass sucked in her top lip and eyed Cat and the pack warily. She sucked in a breath of air. “Nothing breakable in your pack right?”

“Just my knives,” Cat replied still calm and still upside down. She could feel her wound throbbing.

Kass noticed a bit of blood seeping from beneath Cat’s shirt where the makeshift bandage was.

Cat raised an eyebrow at her impatiently.

“You could just drop it,” Kass replied.

“Then you’d have to go fetch it again,” Cat told her. “Just lift it up telekinetically.”

“Mmm,” Kass grumbled.

Cat started swinging. “Ready?” she asked.

“I’m not lifting you up.” Kass said afraid at what Cat was going to do.

“No, I’ll throw the pack up you just make it keep flying up and over the top of the cliff. Ready, three, two, one.”

Cat threw the pack more sideways than upwards and she gave Kass no time to object. Kass sought the pack mentally and thought ‘up.’

The pack did fly up but it also flew sideways and not quite in the right direction. They heard it come down somewhere is the bushes below and off to the side.

“You were supposed to move it up not sideways.” Cat told her as she pulled herself back up on top of her branch. Blood from the front of her stomach rubbed off on the wood and she was looking pale and sweaty.

“You’re the one who threw it sideways,” Kass replied as she started to down-climb.

“Don’t climb down, just lift it from there.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t see it from here.”

“You have to be able to see it?” Cat asked incredulously.

“Yes.”

Cat gave an exasperated sigh and leaned back on her branch. She waited like that while Kass climbed down and went to look for the pack.

Kass soon found it and was back at the base of the rock wall in a few minutes. She swung it on to her back and looked up at the cliff.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

It was then that Cat leaned over the branch and looked down at Kass. She frowned. “Don’t climb back up with it, just use your magic from there.”

Kass opened her mouth to protest but Cat interrupted her again.

“What’s the worst that can happen? You’ve got lots of space.”

The worst? Overuse of power, unlikely. She could hit Cat and knock her off the branch, more likely. Or even summon that crazy guy over to them with all the noise. But climbing up had been hard. Even without the extra weight of the damp gear, Cat’s pack had still been a few kilograms heavier than Kass’s pack. And Cat was looking down at her with an expectant bored look. It was annoying Kass and part of her almost wanted to knock Cat off the branch. She shook her head, it was a bad idea to think like that. Using magic was a bit like steering a bike. You think about what you want to happen, not what you don’t what to happen, otherwise you end of doing exactly what you don’t want.

Kass took the pack off her back again and sat it on the ground. She thought about where she wanted the pack to go. She imagined it flying up and over the cliff top. Then she focused and sent her magic into the bag. It flew up. Too fast. Kass pulled her magic back. The bag went high. Much higher than the top of the cliffs but in her surprise at how fast it had gone up Kass had lost her focus and forgotten about moving it forward at the top. The bag came crashing down almost as fast as it had gone up. Kass had to leap out of the way as it hit the forest floor and sent leaves flying everywhere. In her hurry she tripped over a rock and found herself staring up at the canopy above.

Relieved to find herself uninjured she picked herself up and glanced up at Cat who had her lips pushed tight together in what appeared to be an attempt to not laugh.

Kass furrowed her brow and stared intently at the bag again. This time it almost hit Cat. It went flying past her, halfway up the cliff and smashed into the rocks before careening back down again.

“You know maybe we should just take it up the rope,” Cat suggested peering carefully down past her branch.

But Kass was frustrated now and intent on getting it right this time. She tuned Cat out. Alright, one smooth arc, up and over. It didn’t matter how high it went. Just up and forwards. Kass pushed her magic into the bag. Up and forwards, smooth and curved at the top like a fishhook. Relaxed but in control, like firing a gun. Kass imagined it was a bullet and the bag behaved like one. Much like the first time it went considerably higher than it needed to only this time Kass didn’t let go. This time she gave it what was supposed to be a small nudge but which looked like a little bit more from where she stood. Oh well, at least the bag was at the top of the cliff now.

“Where’d that go?” Cat yelled down.

“Over the cliff.”

“How far over the cliff?”

“Far enough,” Kass replied grumpily. She looked up at Cat and noticed a drop of blood drip off the edge of the branch below Cat and fall to forest floor below. Cat didn’t notice and didn’t look too concerned. Kass climbed quickly up to her.

Cat was leaning back against the branch when Kass got there. One hand rested over the wound in her stomach.

Kass didn’t ask if she was alright. Cat would insist she was fine until the moment she dropped dead. The sooner they got back to the others the better. Amanda would know what to do.

She looked up the cliff. “How are we doing this?” She asked the question out loud more so she could focus on the problem than to get Cat’s opinion. But Cat offered one anyway.

“You climb up. I tie this pack on. Then I climb up. Easy.” She flashed Kass a smile.

Kass gave her a doubtful look but didn’t voice her concerns.

Cat just fixed her with a hard stare that dared her to make her objections heard.

Kass dropped her eyes and stared at the bottom of the rope thinking. She never had been very good at maintaining eye contact. She couldn’t just tell Cat that her climbing straight up wasn’t an option even though she was pretty sure Cat would probably pass out before she got to the top. She needed to present another option.

However, before Kass could come up with another idea, Cat pulled herself off the branch and onto the rock wall. She was on her way up and out of reach before Kass even had time to open her mouth.

“Cat!” Kass yelled in protest.

“I’ll see you at the top,” Cat yelled back down with a grin. She used the rope in both hands to pull her way up while he feet found footholds in the cliff. She moved reasonably fast and Kass watched half in awe, half in fear that she’d fall down. Cat made it to the top then peered over the edge with a wicked grin. “You coming?”

Kass sighed. She reached for the bottom of the rope and tied her pack into the end with a swiftly tied figure eight. Then she pulled herself onto the wall. She quickly found that going up the rope was not as easy as Cat had made it look. Instead she found climbing directly up the wall, where she could lean her weight inward, made for an easier climb. She almost regretted that decision two thirds of the way up when the rock under one of her feet suddenly collapsed. She gave a high pitched yelp and made a wild grab for the rope.

One hand held the rope and one had the held the rock wall leaving Kass split between the two. The move had pulled her off balance and left both feet dangling. It was an awkward position to be in so she twirled the rope around one leg then shifted her other hand over as well. She took a moment to get her breath back but was in for another surprise when she felt the rope move.

“Aghh!” Kass yelped. Then in an annoyed tone growled, “Cat!”

Cat had begun pulling her upward. Her and the pack that she’d tied in at the bottom. Kass wasn’t sure how Cat was doing it but she didn’t think she could hold on like this all the way to the top.”Stop! Stop!” she yelled upward. Cat stopped. Kass hesitantly and carefully got back on the rock wall.

She continued her climb up as fast as she could, taking care on good foot placement. The rock got crumblier in a section nearer the top so she switched back to the rope briefly then back to wall again.

At some point during her climb Cat must have let the rope she’d pulled up down again because by the time Kass made it to the top Cat had her hands free enough to help pull Kass up and over the last edge before collapsing back on the ground.

Cat was pale and sweaty and looked as tired as Kass felt. Neither said anything for a few moments.

Eventually Cat crawled towards the top of the rope. “Time to pull the pack up.”

Kass put out an arm to stop her. “I’ll do it.”

Thankfully this time Cat didn’t argue. She did come over and give Kass a helping hand after watching for a little bit though. Once they got the pack to the top Kass fished some muesli bars out, as well as some other snacks, and shared them with Cat. They ate in silence for awhile, getting their energy back.

“What’s the time?” Cat asked eventually.

“Don’t you have a watch?” Kass asked surprised.

Cat nodded. “I did, it’s in my pack.” She placed extra emphasis on the last word then added, “it got waterlogged in the river.”

Kass made an ‘oh’ shape with her mouth. She rotated her wrist. “5pm-ish. We should probably find that pack before dark.”

“We should probably try get back to the cave before dark.” Cat added.

“Especially since your sleeping bag’s still wet,” Kass agreed. She glanced at Cat. The woman was pale and coated in sweat. Her jet black hair was sticking to the side of her face. “You should rest. I’ll look for the pack. Cat didn’t argue which also added to Kass’s worry. The sooner she found the pack the sooner they could get to the cave. Kass left Cat sitting at the top of the cliff with her own pack and while she trooped off into the bush in the direction she thought she’d sent the pack.