Kapitel 598: Crossing the Rift
Many arrow-shots westward, the group spotted what Reyan had found.
Like stones in a river, a few towers of rock remained above the bottomless gap in the earth. Somehow they had resisted whatever had caused the world to shatter around them and stood as pillars in the midst of the void.
While not a complete bridge, it was far superior to anything they had up until this point.
"Are they solid?" Devrim asked the most obvious question.
If they wouldn't hold the weight of the horses or people, then it was not going to be a viable option.
Rather than answer, Reyan took to the air. His gossamer wings looked like clouds as he rose into the sky and headed across the gap.
Looking past him, Aurora noted how close they had gotten to the desert itself. The dunes which had been on the horizon were much closer now. They seemed almost within reach.
Like it had been cut with a knife, the rift continued all the way into the desert lands. Unable to resist the chasm's pull, sand slowly sifted into the hungry hole.
Aurora shivered, hoping she would not join the golden granules.
Devrim put his arm around his wife. "Are you cold?" The air around them was only a little cool, but the wind whipping across the open space dropped the temperature significantly.
"I'm warmer with you beside me," Aurora leaned against her husband.
She did not feel the need to share her fears just now. Devrim's presence was all the comfort she needed. Shifting her vision back to the original target, Aurora watched the fairy finally land on the first perilous tower in the gap.
The group all held their breath, unsure of what would happen. One moment passed. Nothing changed. Reyan jumped up and down. But the rocks still held his weight.
Giving an affirmative gesture, he moved to the next, and next. At last the tenth and final tower was tested and found to be stable. Reyan floated back to them with a triumphant grin. "Another act of heroism by yours truly. I could have died at any moment, but I carried on. You're welcome."
"You wouldn't have died," Brinn scoffed, unamused. "If even one rock had shifted slightly, you would have flown into the air without looking back."
"Thank you for testing it out," Aurora glossed over Brinn's point. "I hope they will hold the horses as well as they held you. We just have to figure out how to get them from one platform to the next."
"I assume that is why Reyan had us bring the wood," Nurlan was already measuring the distance with his thumb raised and one eye closed. "If we make one solid medium-sized bridge, we can shift it to span each of the gaps as we go."
"My thinking as well," Devrim chimed in. "Only we won't be able to fit everyone on each platform. We will have to move the bridge back and forth to travel in groups."
"How about we build one, and while that group crosses, those left behind build a second? If they have time to finish, great. If not, then the first bridge will be carefully returned to the starting point to be repeated." Aurora tried to find some middle ground. The longer they talked, the more daylight was being burned.
"Sounds like a lot of extra work," Brinn pursed her lips. Even without her magic, the elf was pretty sure she could run and jump over most of the gaps. Probably.
"The alternative is leaving the horses and the supplies that they carry behind. Do you want to walk all the way to the ocean, Brinn." Alvar raised his eyebrows at his wife.
Even though he was chastising her shortsightedness, Brinn always liked it when he made that face. Alvar's calling her out on her antics was one of the reasons the elven princess liked the dashing he-elf.
"Fine, but when I get my magic back, I'm coming back here to have some real fun." Brinn stuck out her tongue.
When no one had any more objections, the group got to work. One of the soldiers was an army engineer, and he led the others in the best method for spanning the gap.
They needed something sturdy but not long-lasting, and also had to take into account the supplies they had on hand.
With a plan made, the work was divided and the structure assembled in a couple of hours. The bridge was ready to be tried by mid-afternoon.
It took many men to counter the weight of the bridge over the gap. Even then, one end of the bridge teetered perilously over the chasm, threatening to fall in.
One man began to slip in the dry, arid ground. Even without a covering of snow here, the dirt was hard packed and smooth. He rammed into another man, and both lost their footing.
Aurora, who had been watching from a short distance, rushed forward to stop the two men from cascading into three or more. Every unused soldier followed her lead, adding weight to the back end of the bridge. It was barely enough to slow the downward pull and stabilize the structure.
"Hold it steady!"
Together they eased the long lever onto the other side. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Then came the issue of who would cross first. Rather than risk human or animal life, the group pushed some of their gear to the middle of the structure with a long pole.
When it did not crack or fall, they attached a rope to the lightest soldier and had him take the gear the rest of the way across. All went well. The soldier untied the rope from himself so the next person could go.
Incrementally, they tested the bridge until they finally felt comfortable taking a horse across it.
"I'll do it," Nurlan grabbed the reins of his horse and walked calmly forward. With all that had gone before him, he was confident that the bridge would hold.
It did.
The group of people and horses on the other side grew until around a third of the group had made it across. Aurora and Devrim looked at one another. The Empress already knew what her husband would say.
"I should go with them." He gave a pale smile as he kissed the woman's head.
"Nurlan is already with them. You can go with the second group. I already know you will make me travel with the final contingent." It was Aurora's turn to grin.
She knew there was no way the Emperor was going to let her cross until they had perfected the passing of the bridge.
Devrim caressed his wife's. "On that last part, we agree."
"Ugh, too much lovey-dovey happening here. I'll go with the general. Gandr will go with the Emperor and Alvar will go with you, Rory." Brinn pushed between the couple on her way to the gap.
The couple didn't mind. Once in a while it was nice for someone else to make the decision for them.
"I'll monitor from overhead," Reyan puffed out his chest.
He knew his part in this could not be undersold. The fairy was the eyes and ears of the operation. And, in an emergency, Reyan was the safety net.
Without his magic, he couldn't sustain a grown human in the air for long, but he would at least be able to glide them to a safe point... as long as only one fell at a time.
With the entire group assembled on the first massive landing, the bridge slid toward them. This time, ropes were tied to the back end of the bridge to help the soldiers left behind to help stabilize the structure's path. In this way, it moved smoothly from the edge of the canyon onto the flat surface of the first tower.
Ahead, Brinn and Reyan were already on the second stone tower. Its surface was larger than the first but smaller than the third. After the bridge was eased to the edge of the first tower, two ropes were shot with blunted arrows to the next platform.
While Brinn and Reyan could not stop the bridge from falling, they could guide it into place at the last moment. The two cords would aid them in that ability.
And it was good that they were there. At the last possible moment when the bridge drew near, it dipped and rammed into the pillar. The whole platform shook.
"Stop!" Brinn screamed across the chasm, though it was unnecessary. "Pull back!"
That was easier said than done, but the soldiers managed to give the bridge a small gap to try again. This time, Brinn smoothed the stone so that it would slide up like a ramp.
The rest of the gaps were easier to breach and the last one was so small that the bridge was not even needed, the horses were able to jump it without incident. That was a relief.
One group was across.
Two more still needed to go.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein