Trail of Fate

rope with both hands, but my feet and legs trembled.

Maryam peered down at me. “Do you want us to pull you back up?” she shouted.

“No! Do you see anyplace where I might be able find a foothold?”

Maryam was silent while she studied the surface around me.

“Hurry up and do something!” Robard shouted at Maryam. “He’s getting heavy!”

“Tristan, about ten feet below you on your right I can see an outcropping. You should be able to reach it. You’ll have to push out and swing over to it,” she yelled.

“What? Push out and swing? I’m barely hanging on as it is!” Push out and swing indeed! Even though Maryam and Robard held most of my weight, my legs and arms were losing strength.

“I didn’t know Templars frightened so easily. You are tied off and we are holding on to the rope, after all,” she shouted down to me.

“Maryam!”

“Relax. Trust me. You can do it. Push out and to your right, then we’ll let you down about ten feet. It’s right there. You’ll see!” She tried to sound encouraging. It didn’t matter, though, because I definitely could not stay where I was.

Gently, I pushed out with my legs and tried to swing to my right. But I stumbled against the wall and tried to scrabble back into position with my feet. I couldn’t regain my footing and slammed my shoulder against the rock, grimacing as it went numb.

“Ow!” I shouted.

Grabbing the rope as tightly as I could, I pushed back from the cliff face. My momentum swung me out into space. Robard let out more rope and I dropped another five or six feet. As I swung back toward the wall, I thrust outward with my legs to keep from smashing into it.

“You’re right over it!” Maryam shouted. “You should be able to reach it with your feet.”

Feeling around with my foot, I found the outcropping of rock. It felt solid, with enough room for me to stand. My legs and arms shook from the strain, and I was glad the rope was tied securely around me or I would surely have tumbled the remaining way down.

Below me, another rock ledge jutted out from the side of the cliff. It looked wide enough for Maryam and I to stand on. There was also a small bush there, jutting out from the side of the mountain. I could tie the end of her rope to it as an anchor in case she slipped on the way down.

From up above, the sounds of shouts and cries came from Montsegur. Sir Hugh was attacking again. The longer we delayed, the dearer the price to those in the fortress.

“Robard! I need about six feet of slack!” I shouted up to him. He complied, and I grasped the rope and pushed off with my legs, scrabbling downward. I managed to make it to the ledge in a few seconds.

“I’ve found a good spot!” I shouted up to Robard and Maryam. “Maryam, you come down next and then we’ll help Robard!”

Robard released his grip on my rope and dropped it down to me. Wrapping it securely around the bush, I gave myself enough slack to move about on the ledge but not enough to fall.

Whereas I had struggled like a fish tossed up on the shore, Maryam took to the mountainside like a goat. It must have come from growing up in the desert with lots of rocks nearby. With the rope lashed around her waist she attacked the cliff fearlessly, and, in less than ten minutes, had made her way down the cliff to stand shoulder-to- shoulder with me on the small ledge.

“Roomy,” she said sarcastically.

“Isn’t it, though?” I said. “We’re ready, Robard!” I shouted up to him.

We waited, but Robard didn’t say anything back. And the rope didn’t move.

“Robard?” I hollered up again.

“Yes?” came the reply.

“We’re ready,” I repeated.

“I know,” he said.

“What are you waiting for?” Maryam shouted.

“I’m just thinking,” he said.

“About what?” she yelled back.

“About how much I don’t like heights,” he said.

Maryam and I looked at each other. Oh no.

“Why didn’t you say something?” I cried.

“Because I didn’t think you’d actually be crazy enough to try this!” he yelled.

“We can’t go back now! Come on!” Maryam shouted up to him.

“It’s okay. I think I’ll just go around,” he said.

Robard stood fifty feet above us, his eyes locked on ours. He didn’t move.

“I can’t climb down,” he said finally.

“Yes, you can!” Maryam assured him.

“No, I can’t,” he asserted.

Maryam looked at me. “Now what?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“Robard, I know you’re scared. But you have to do this,” she coaxed. “You’ll be fine. Just keep your feet against the cliff and follow the sound of my voice. I’ll talk you down.”

Robard silently shook his head in defiance.

We were wasting more time, but I couldn’t leave him stranded on the side of the mountain. Then I had an idea. Robard had yet to release Maryam’s rope and had his own length still looped over his shoulder.

“Robard, remember what I said earlier? Take your rope and loop it around the small boulder.” If I could just get him moving, maybe he’d start climbing.

“All right,” he said.

“Now tie your rope to the end of Maryam’s, put one end around your shoulders and waist, then drop the other end down to us. We’ll lower you down. You won’t even have to climb!” I tried to put my most reassuring look on my face.

“I don’t like the look on your face right now. You look as if you’re trying to sell me a lame horse!” he shouted.

“Robard, please. . I know you’re frightened, but we need to get going. Celia won’t be able to hold off Sir Hugh forever.”

Robard stood still a bit longer, but, gathering his will, slipped the coil of rope over his shoulders. He tied the two ends of the rope together and vanished from sight briefly, then returned to view and tossed the rope to us.

“I’m ready,” he said. “But squire, if you drop me, so help me, as soon as I recover from the fall, I will give you a thrashing like you’ve never imagined.”

“What if Maryam drops you?” I asked.

“Don’t try to change the subject,” he insisted. He backed up toward the very edge of the rocks. Maryam and I took up the slack on the rope, and he slowly inched his way over.

Robard was considerably larger than the two of us, and it took all of our strength to control his descent. But slowly, he climbed farther down the mountainside. Maryam constantly reassured him.

“You’re doing fine,” she said. “Keep coming, you’re almost there.”

About twenty feet above us he paused for a moment, frozen in place.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said.

“Just a few more feet.” Maryam’s voice was soothing.

Robard kept backing slowly toward us and I could see he was straining hard. The muscles across his back were hunched, and his legs trembled as he dug into the cliff with his feet.

“Relax,” I said. “You’ve almost got it.”

Then the rope went slack in our hands. Robard screamed, and we could only watch in quiet desperation as he lunged away from the wall and fell.