“Well, I’m stumped,” I exclaimed, leaning back on my elbows.

  There didn’t seem to be a way of lowering the drawbridge from this side of the bottomless moat. Nor was there a way to scale the rampart without taking a huge risk. I was beginning to come to terms with that being my reality though.

  I packed my rations back into the bag, stowing the jar of jam into a separate pocket where it lay protected, its glass sides bolstered by socks. In a way, it was my most prized possession.

  I’d spent my time talking to Sera as I snacked. Apparently, she hadn’t ever spent too much time beyond the walls, but knew the place well enough to know that it would never be left unguarded in normal circumstances. I figured as much already.

  None of the lower layers of the Empire could have made it protected themselves from the Scourge’s onslaught. They were the very point from which the Scourge originated. The fact that the upper layers had been able to survive was surprising almost beyond belief. But that’s where the majority of the Empire’s forces had been gathered when it all first happened.

  I tightened the backpack’s straps tight around my shoulders as I stood back up. My legs didn’t protest anymore. The short break had been enough. But even with a fresh pair of legs and all the power Burst could grant me, I could not jump the hundred meter gap. And I wasn’t particularly anxious to find out if it just looked like the moat was bottomless, or if it actually was.

  I groaned and muttered, “Shit.”

  Grabbing a handful of threads I started braiding them together into a long rope and tied one end to my dagger. When my magic ran out, I sat and waited for it to recover until I could repeat the process. After a few hours I held a pale blue rope of more than a hundred meters. I tied one end of it to the handle of my dagger and coiled the other end around my wrist.

  Then, after backing up a bit, I Burst forward, using the momentum to throw the dagger with all the power I could muster. It shot across the gap like a silver bullet. Trailing behind it, my pale blue rope uncoiled like a spool of thread being unwound from my arm. It burned my skin, but this much was nothing. The dagger slammed deep into the wall a few meters below the parapet and sent pieces of white stone scattering into the abyss.

  After giving the rope a few tugs to make sure it was secure, I backed up to pull it taut and tied my end around Stoneflow’s handle. The sword was quickly becoming one of my favorite accolades, so I felt a bit naked without it hanging at my hip, but I had no other way of securing the rope to my side other than this.

  Activating Burst, I shoved the blade into the ground. The rock split and let my blade sink all the way down to its hilt.

  “That should be good enough,” I said and flicked the taut rope with my hand.

  It thrummed in place like the string of a guitar.

  I walked back to the edge near the gorge, and hopped up to grab my not-so-slack line. It bent slightly from my weight, but neither the dagger nor the sword budged. Please just work for once.

  Wrapping my legs around the thread I began my slow ascent up the diagonally fastened line. It swayed up and down as I crawled, making my heart catch in my throat. No matter how good I was in a fight, or how clever I thought myself to be, falling from this height would be my demise no matter what I tried. But I had faith in my strength. Even if the dagger or the sword came loose, I should have been strong enough to cling fast. As long as both of them didn’t lose hold at the same time.

  I shook my head, ridding myself of the thought. Not now, Cal. Disaster thinking would have to wait until I crossed the gap.

  As I dangled over the edge, praying that I’d zipped my backpack shut completely, the only sound was that of my legs and hands scraping farther up the rope. I took my time, making sure to not make any mistakes. In a fit of confidence, I craned my neck to look down into the abyss. The viscous dark below seemed like it was without end, so deep and hypnotizing that I thought it moved for a second.

  Surely not.

  After continuing for a few more minutes, I finally found myself hanging close to the dagger. There were about three meters up to the rampart that I needed to clear. Using the parapet, I could just heave myself over the ledge. If I could just stand, I would have no problem reaching it. But the line was awfully shaky this close to the wall. With just a slight move it started vibrating like crazy.

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  I turned around, placing my feet closer to the dagger and eased close enough that I could rest a foot on the hilt. Using that point as leverage, I awkwardly wrenched my body up on the foothold. My heart raced as I gazed out on the nothingness below. If I had been a smarter man, I would have made a lifeline too. Something to secure myself to the rope.

  “Curse my hubris,” I muttered and lifted my arms.

  I pressed my back to the wall and reached as far up as I could, just about able to feel the smooth edge of the parapet sticking out. As expected I was not quite able to reach it—I needed to jump. Lining myself up with the rope, so that I would have something to grab onto if I missed, I took a breath.

  “Here goes!”

  Straining against the dagger made foothold, a resounding crack echoed down the chasm. My heart dropped, and the dagger too. Still, I managed to jump, although not quite as hard as I had intended. The tips of my fingers grasped stone and I activated Burst to give them the strength needed to hold my mass.

  With a loud gasp and my legs dangling beneath me, I shifted my grip into something more comfortable and swung my legs back and forward like a pendulum. When I’d gathered enough momentum, I kicked hard and swung myself up to the small ledge of the parapet.

  I straightened, raising my arms above my head and striking a pose. “10 points,” I announced, my voice drowned out by the immeasurable deep below. I smirked to myself and looked down at my rope as it fell down. The pale blue magic emanating from it illuminated the depth ever so slightly. I unsummoned and resummoned both Stoneflow and Silent Scream and let the rope sail down like a fallen leaf.

  “What the…” I muttered with my brow creased and leaned over the edge. Something moved. This time I wasn’t imagining things. A long tendril of something black and glossy retracted from the light, writhing as if just the presence of my thread was hurting it. Something was down there.

  A low groan escaped the chasm with a rumble, making my footing shake. I stared, wide eyed as the enormous being shifted in place. The dark hadn’t just looked like a viscous liquid. It was one. And inside it, the crazy bastards kept a monster. It had black sleek skin and sported more tentacles than I could make out from this distance. It didn’t really seem to have a main body, and was just a tangled mess of appendages.

  I swallowed, suddenly a lot happier that I was already across. If I had fallen, I would have been swimming with that thing. The mere thought of it made me shudder, so I turned away and looked inside the bailey instead. To my sides, small guardhouses lined the ramparts in even intervals from each other. The walls were thicker there, and as I peeked over the edge to look inside, I saw that the reason for it was because they housed thick staircases leading down to the street level.

  Well that makes things easier for once.

  I started walking to the closest one and gazed out at the intricate work of art that was the bailey. A town, built as a half circle surrounding the large castle that had been etched into the cave wall. Wherever I turned my sight was filled with buildings of polished white stone.

  If the water had been a better place to bathe, the town might as well have passed as one of those quaint Mediterranean cities near the sea. If you managed to look past the giant walls surrounding it, of course.

  Though pretty, most of the little buildings paled in comparison to the looming castle. It stretched hundreds of meters into the sky, safe from winds in the underground environment and held straight by the wall. Every open window in the stony facade was heavily ornamented and lavish. Like the Chambers of Crushing, it felt a bit too extravagant for a people who were forced to build homes underground. A testament to their adaptability perhaps. Or their determination to never yield.

  I made my way to the closest guard station. It looked like a sugar cube with a hollowed out pocket inside. There was no door, and so I just stepped inside. The insides weren’t unique enough to make me stop and stare. Just a run of the mill guardhouse with a chair and a desk.

  Walking down the stairs, my thighs reminded me of the day’s earlier toils. I pushed through all the way down to the street level. Gazing up at the height of the castle, I whistled. If it looked impressive from the ramparts, it looked daunting from the street.

  The streets were easy enough to navigate. The entire bailey was built like a half circle, and the streets weren’t any different. They separated the little town into six different layers. The closer to the castle center, the gaudier the building.

  Out here though, near the walls, most buildings were spartan. They wore no fancy ornaments; a few didn’t even have doors, but almost all of them had chimneys.

  That explains the soot crusted tips of the spires.

  I stepped into the closest building to take a break. My eyes lit up at the realization of what it was. A smithy.

  The main work area was square. In one corner there was a fire pit with a large air pump pointing its muzzle toward it. Adjacent to the pit stood a coal basket large enough to be a bathtub. I glanced inside and confirmed that it was half-full. There was an anvil, hammers and tongs of all kinds, along with all other necessary equipment. I laid a hand on smooth surface of the chimney and practically shivered with excitement. This had to be every crafter’s dream.

  I gave the chimney a few reverent pats and explored the rest of the building. There was an empty bed, a kitchen without any food to speak of, and a crude toilet.

  Unpacking my things, I considered my next course of action. Obviously I needed to explore the castle at some point. But before then I wanted to have a good idea of what obstacles the bailey held for me. And of course, I needed a base of operations. The smithy would do just fine. It was close enough to the wall that I could make a swift escape if needed. I could also spend my downtime learning metalwork. Well, after I made sure that there were no ghosts or anything lurking in the area.

  Smiling, I couldn’t help but look forward to what the coming month had in store for me.

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  Bless you all!