Capítulo 600: Not Good
"Almost there, men!" Alvar urged them on. "Steady the course!"
Even without magic, the elven prince was stronger than two human men. Hundreds of years of exercise and trying to keep up with Brinn had made Alvar quite muscular.
His golden skin glistened with the sweat of hard work. The wind whipped through his hair, matting it against his forehead.
"Easy. Easy!" Reyan yelled. He fought the currents as he navigated around the bridge.
The structure was about to close yet another gap. This was the most perilous as it had previously been two spaces before the tower fell.
After this obstacle was conquered, there was one more gap and then the small space which the horses would be able to jump in order to get to safety.
The end was in sight.
"Watch out!" The fairy's warning came too late as the bridge tilted to one side.
An inhuman wail suddenly filled the air.
A gale barreled down the canyon. It beat against the underside of the wooden tresses. Like a kite, the wide surface was lifted into the air as the soldiers tried desperately to stabilize it with their bodies on one end and by pulling on the ropes with the other.
Like a child about to lose its favorite toy, the men and women fought to keep the bridge from falling into the gorge. The structure upended and stood on its side, threatening to flip over entirely. No one was sure if the supports would hold upside down, and they didn't want to find out.
So they fought.
"Push!"
"Pull!"
The two orders came simultaneously. The advance party, who had returned the bridge in order to help it across once more, pulled on the ropes while those stationed with the horses pushed the bridge sideways to guide it forward.
It was no use trying to pull it back on the stone tower even if the wind might let them, they were too close to reaching the other side.
"You are going to make it!" Reyan watched from below in the shelter of one of the towering monuments.
A moment later, the bridge made contact with the second stone plateau looking like a wall with no floor. Now having more resistance, the wind pressed harder against the bridge and the people supporting it.
The edge of the bride scraped along the dirt.
"Get the horses back!" Alvar called.
Heedless of the fact she should be in charge, Aurora let go of the bridge and tried to herd as many of the horses as she could away from the mayhem. The space was limited, and her actions were not a moment too soon.
The wooden structure continued to slide on its side, the scaffolding groaning against the abuse. It lurched as it caught on a rock.
The sudden movement caused a soldier to fall over the edge. He barely yelled before Reyan was on him, pushing him back against the rock so he could climb back to safety. It was the first real rescue the fairy had had to make, but Reyan figured it would not be the last.
If things went wrong, he would be rescuing a bunch of people from the gaping maw of the darkness below.
"Hold it steady! Hold..." Alvar paused. Just as quickly as the sheer wind had come, it suddenly abated.
No longer under the strain of two opposing forces, the bridge began to tilt in favor of the soldiers.
"Out of the way!" The elf's order had not been necessary.
The bridge hit the dirt, sending cracks through the platform as the ground shook.
"Is everyone ok?" Aurora looked around at the faces of her people.
While she was pretty sure at least one horse had been spooked into taking a plunge off the ledge, it looked like all the soldiers had remained unharmed. Even the man who had fallen was being pulled back up. Reyan had helped him maintain his grip when the platform shook.
"We should get across as quickly as we can. I don't like the look of things around here." Alvar gently tried to urge Aurora into action. She nodded.
"Let's go, everyone!" She called. Then she added a little more quietly. "The other tower doesn't look in much better shape, but at least we will be closer to the other side of the canyon than we are now."
At that moment the wind started again, though this time it was softer. Unconsciously, Aurora peered over the edge.
Something was churning restlessly below in the darkness. Aurora could deny it no longer.
The Empress had been looking into the void as little as she could, but it was no use. But her eyes were always drawn downward.
There was something in the void. And it was getting closer.
Aurora closed her eyes, trying to process what she had just seen. Did the thing have eyes? Or was it more of a slithering fog. The Empress wasn't sure.
"I think the wind is not entirely natural," Alvar whispered.
Cutting her eyes toward the elf, Aurora could see that he hadn't meant to speak aloud.
"What do you mean?"
Alvar hesitated, "The wind itself is natural enough, but that gust--It felt...calculated. It hit at our weakest moment."
The Empress could not disagree. "You don't think it was a coincidence? What could have caused it? Surely not magic?"
"If the being were powerful enough, it could have stored enough magic to cause a force like that before running out. But I don't want to run into a creature that large." Alvar furrowed his brow.
Aurora opened her mouth to tell him about what she had seen in the darkness when one of the ropes on the bridge snapped.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty," Alvar took a spare cord from the back of one of the horses and ran to reinforce the weak point. The Empress barely had time to step out of the way to let him pass.
"We need to hurry," she said to no one in particular.
The nervous horse beside her stamped her hooves. She seemed anxious to leave as well.
Aurora had been keeping the mare company throughout the journey. The cloth was still around the skittish horse's face. It gave the Empress something to occupy her mind and push her forward. Now the strange thing approaching in the darkness was a second, more potent, motivator.
With so many men working on repairing the parts of the bridge that were damaged in the struggle against the wind, it was up to Aurora and a few others to see that the animals and supplies got across. They took things across in smaller batches than before, trying not to put extra strain on the structure as they passed.
At last the final person was brought to the penultimate platform.
"Just one more to go and then a short jump to safety!" Brinn cheered.
The call rallied the weary soldiers.
But not for long.
The ground shook.
The final stone tower seemed to come alive, rocking like a man who's had too much to drink.
'No!' Aurora's heart clenched. Losing the last tower had been difficult, but this loss would be devastating. It could either strand the group in the middle of the chasm making getting the horses across impossible, or worse...
If it collapsed, it could take out the tower they were currently on in its downward plunge.
Dropping to her knees, Aurora kept close to the shaky ground. Watching the chaos would change nothing. There was no action she could reasonably take that would change the outcome. And judging by the soldiers' faces around her, it was just as well that she was too low to see.
The rumbling continued for what felt like an eternity.
Really it was only moments.
When the dust settled, Aurora was glad to find that she had not fallen into the abyss. That had to be a good sign.
Reyan appeared at her side and helped her to her feet.
"How bad is it?" she asked the fairy.
His face was tense. Rather than answer, he pointed.
The last platform was still standing, but barely.
Most of the rocks supporting the flat top were eroded away. It resembled a plate that a circus performer balances on a pole.
But unlike a carnival, there was nothing amusing about the sight before the Empress.
Aurora spoke the only words that came to mind, "Well...that's not good."
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