Sabit plunged into the darkness. The cool night air whistled past her face, as a thousand thoughts crowded her mind at once. She had borne much misery in her years. The rocky brook offered an end to that suffering. “And Sabit vanished on a her quest and was never heard of again.” That would be the end of her tale.
The tale that Kehnan would laugh at over his wine.
Never.
Not until he was finished could Sabit rest.
She found her arms already extended., dirt and pebbles boring beneath her fingernails. As her body slammed against the muddy wall of the ravine, Sabit’s grip came loose. She slid further down toward the water below, stones and roots nipped at her tumbling form.
Almost quicker than thought, Sabit grasped the stub of her spear. With one mighty thrust, she drove iron point deep into the rock and mud of the ravine wall. The makeshift piton held. Sabit hung from it , her arms jostled from the sudden shock.
A brook bubled somewhere deep in the darkness below. Looking up, Sabit could see the lightening sky running in a jagged streek of the ravine’s open ceiling. Sunrise was nearly here. At the far edge of the gorge, she could pick out the angular silhouette of the shrine’s rooftop against the rosy sky of first light.
The Shrine was too far above her. No one could climb that far in so little time. She had failed. Perhaps the jagged rocks below would offer her final respite from her wanderings?
No rest. Not while Kehnan lived.
Digging her hand into the rock and mud of the ravine wall, Sabit began her ascent.
— — —
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Wayfarings of Sabit: Dawn is copyright (c) 2018 by Michael S. Miller. All rights reserved. New chapters post every Thursday (and the occasional Monday). You can support this and other stories on Patreon: https://patreon.com/michaelsmiller Find more sword and sorcery fiction at http://ipressgames.com/fiction/.