CHAPTER 39
We started the climb, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I climbed with various scenarios going through my head. What if Dagdar wasn’t there? What if it was a trap? What if the Royalty failed us? All these thoughts were swirling around my head and I knew I had to think positive.
We stopped, after we had been climbing for a couple of hours, to catch our breaths. I had never climbed anything in my life, except a flight of stairs, and I was gasping, my chest tight. I sat for quite some time before my breathing returned to normal and my heart had stopped racing.
We set off again but I had not even been climbing for an hour when I signalled to stop again. The Huldafolk looked at me despairingly, from way up the hill and made their way back down to see what was wrong. I was gasping for breath, and they had to tell me, step by step, how to fill my lungs. I was not up to this, I knew, and to be honest, I screamed out loud in frustration and despair. We had to decide what we could do. Even if we went at a much slower pace, I would not be able to finish the climb.
The Huldafolk brought out flasks they had made up, with hot sweet tea and gave me a drink. They then handed them round to the others. When I had calmed down enough, we resumed the conversation about the climb ahead. We had four amongst us who could fly, but only two of those could hold the weight of another being. The Huldafolk could carry on ahead, they would be able to climb up the hill in no time, without our hindrance. Eirickr decided to go on with them, as he too was used to this terrain.
Oswald would carry Aage to the top, and Corisande would carry Grenville. They would have a short rest and then come back down for myself and Gwent. Selena and Lucia could fly to the top by themselves. The hikers set off before us, and the rest of us took our time sipping on our tea, and resting. When we felt we had rested enough, Oswald and Corisande set off with their first two passengers, while the rest of us packed the cups and flasks away. It was just under half an hour, when they returned. The hikers they said had made great progress and would the top within the hour. Oswald sent Selena and Luna on their flight, while they got ready to carry us. Corisande was to carry Gwent and Oswald would carry me and the two back packs we still had with us.
He set the backpacks on both shoulders and then scooped me in his arms like a baby. I clung to his neck, even though I trusted him with every bone in my body, I was taking no chances. We took off, slowly at first, and then gained speed and height, and flew easily up the side of the hill. I saw Corisande up ahead, with the child sized Gwent on her back. He too clung to her neck and kept his head tucked down between her shoulders.
Oswald told me to look down, and as I did so, I saw the hikers, not far from the summit. They had made great time and still looked strong and confident.
At last Oswald set me down on the top of Pendle hill, and I joined the others who were there already. We didn’t have long to wait before we were joined by the hikers and we set off to a small flat area where we could set up a kind of camp, as we still had a few hours until our meeting with Dagdar.