Completed Hanging Upside Down

[Kristen Pirian]

Swaying gently.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Kristen Pirian's eyes opened slowly, her vision clouded and out of focus. There was a soreness on the side of her head, some blood in her hair. Her ponytail dangled, the tip of it pointing down to the ground some thirty feet below. One of her legs was straight up, something tight around that ankle. Tense, sinewy groans of taut rope above her.

She was hanging upside down.

Patchy, foggy details came back to her. This was a castle deep in the forest. Long abandoned from the Age of Expansion. Its massive walls (and they were massive, by Aionus, she remembered being so impressed!) had waterfalls of greenery draped over them, nature reclaiming the formidable stone where it hadn't crumbled. She remembered seeing someone, hearing a snap and a loud whipping noise, the pain in her head--

Seeing someone!

Kristen, dangling from the overgrown castle's perimeter wall, looked left and looked right. Ah! There was someone else! They had likewise tripped the same kind of trap she had, and they, too, were dangling from a rope, ankle snared in the same manner as Kristen's own. They were in this awful predicament together now!

"H-Hey!" Kristen called out. Or tried to, her voice felt groggy and disoriented leaving her throat. She redoubled her effort, and more properly called out this time, "Hey! Can you hear me? Are you alright?"

 

[Delaney Lennox]

The someone was Delaney Lennox.

A very very pissed off Delaney Lennox.

Her purple eyes glared at Kristen as she called out. Kristen must have hit her head pretty hard because she had been out for some time. Delaney's shadows had cushioned her head but unless she wanted to break her neck with this fall, her shadows were now useless.

The rope that had tightened itself around her ankle seemed to grow tighter if she moved too much so she hung there. Her long white hair in a braid that had long since started to come undone from the fall and the gravity.

The Initiate did let out a breath of relief when Kristen called out. She was alive. Thank Kress.

"Yes, Kristen, I am fine. You have been out for a while. Are you alright?"

She would worry about killing her partner later...once they were down from this wall.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Now more was coming back!

They hadn't exactly been on a mission--more of an errand. Something rather pedestrian and routine, and was only meant to take a few days. But the errand was done, and she and Delaney were on their way back to the Academy. A path "off of the beaten trail," as the saying went, brought them within sight of the overgrown castle. And Kristen thought she recalled something of it! Something important...maybe something that was said to be here...now...or in the past?

Her head throbbed. The ache was like a faint, pulsing spot of red somewhere behind her eyes and along her temple--this where she had struck the ground when the trap had been sprung.

"I'm," Kristen winced. The blood pooling in her head from hanging upside down was a most unpleasant pressure. "I shall endure."

Kristen's armor clanked against the stone castle wall as she swayed gently into it, bouncing ever so softly. Looking over, she and Delaney were far out of arm's reach of one another. But perhaps not completely out of reach with the lengths of their ropes. Worrying about why there were unsprung traps here in a long abandoned ruin had by necessity to come second. First, she and Delaney needed a way down. Safely! Safely down! That was the most important part!

"Delaney, do you have something sharp upon your person? A knife or...something?"

Obviously a sheer drop down wouldn't do...but cutting one or both of their ropes may be part of the eventual plan.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney rolled her eyes at Kristen's response. I shall endure was such a fucking Kristen answer.

Kristen's next questions made Delaney roll her eyes again. Yes, cut the ropes and then they would fall to their respective deaths. Did Kristen really think Delaney had not thought of something like cutting themselves down?

"I have my tendrils but they want me to break my neck as much as I do."

Which, of course, was not at all. Her tendrils would cease to exist if she did so they were keen on keeping her alive and well.

"They can cut through the ropes but what are you thinking before I send them over?"

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen glanced around. Delaney's shadows being able to cut their ropes was a good start, but it would lead to nothing except a heap of broken bones, or worse, if they didn't come up with another piece of the plan.

Shaggy green vines and mossy tendrils draped down from the top of the castle walls, all of it distressingly out of reach. Sunlight filtered in through the tops of the giant Falwood trees, with their overarching branches and large leaves stretching out and shading Kristen and Delaney both as they dangled on the interior of the ruins' perimeter wall. Within the fold of the perimeter wall and standing before the Keep itself were a collection of dilapidated buildings, so old and ravaged by time that it was difficult to tell what once their purpose had been.

But, beyond Delaney, Kristen saw a large mound of rubble--this where the wall had partially collapsed, a U-shaped breach in the aged defensive structure. Jutting stones were covered in a near complete bed of moss. And it wasn't too far. Maybe...?

First, though.

Kristen began to rock her body. Hard swing to the right, hard swing to the left, building up momentum. "Delaney, I've got an idea! I'm coming over!"

Shortly into Kristen's pendulum-like swinging, however, it became clear that she wouldn't be able to swing close enough. Delaney had to swing too, and they had to time it just right to grab hold of one another.

"Delaney, swing! Swing and reach for my hand!"

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney was one hundred percent not going to swing like a fucking idiot. She was enjoying the view of the auburn haired Initiate rocking her body and trying to make the momentum. Yeah, this was so entertaining.

She let Kristen do this for a few minutes before she finally responded with a simple, "no."

She knew Kristen would protest, or huff in the most polite Noble way, so she sent a tendril shooting out to grab Kristen's rope. She commanded the tendril to pull her and it listened. She loved her shadows so much.

Once they were close enough, Delaney took Kristen's hand with a smile. "I was not going to swing like an idiot, Kristen."

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

No.

Ahhhhh, why??

"Delaney, please! Forsooth, I am quite serious! I truly do have a plan! I just...need...!"

Kristen, despite Delaney's clear refusal, still kept up her swinging momentum. She flailed her arms at Delaney, woefully out of reach no matter how hard she tried. It just physically wasn't going to happen with what forces Kristen was able to muster.

Something tugged on Kristen's rope. For a second she almost panicked, thinking she may have frayed it down with all of her back-and-forth swinging. But the shadow was able to slide the rope closer to Delaney, and Kristen (still acting as though it were an immense struggle) had her outstretched hand slip into Delaney's own.

She breathed a sigh of relief when their hands clasped.

"Okay...good...all is well." Kristen winced, shutting her eyes for a moment and then opening them again. To her, Delaney appeared to be standing rightside up, but her long white hair said otherwise.

"Are you not at all dizzy or lightheaded?" Kristen said, somewhat amazed. Hanging upside for even this short a time was a torment--she felt as though she were harboring an anvil's weight inside of her skull.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney held Kristen's hand tightly and squeezed it gently to remind her that this was real and she was here for her. Kristen could swing from composed to panic in a few moments and panic was not what they needed right now.

"Yes, I am incredibly lightheaded and I have a headache, but I didn't hit my head. This feeling is simply from hanging upside down while you were having a nap." Delaney offered a small smile. That was all she could offer.

"What is your plan? My tendrils will do what I say..."

Delaney swayed slightly and immediately felt like she was going to throw up. The longer she hung here, the worse she felt. She couldn't let Kristen know what she was freaking out internally.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Oh...how long was I...?"

By Aionus, had it truly been so long? The smack to her head had been grievous enough to jumble her memory a bit, much like waking from a deep, deep sleep, but, gosh...maybe it would be best to see Gemma or another of the Academy's resident healers when they returned. Just to be safe.

"There's a mound of rubble over there," Kristen said, jerking her chin to where Delaney wasn't looking. "Behind" her, in effect, since she was looking at Kristen and Kristen at her. "Even with the moss, I'm aware that it will not be the softest of landings...but such is infinitely preferable to what would otherwise be a sheer drop."

She took in a breath and let out in an anxious huff, slowly coming to realize the potential dangers involved. "I propose that your shadows cut one of us free. We'll have to grasp one another's hands tightly--most certainly! Once loose, you or I shall be free, once sufficient swinging momentum has been built, to be thrown to the mound, whereupon it can be investigated how to lower the other down safely."

Kristen flashed a nervous smile. "I, um, so...how...strong would you say you are, Delaney? In your arms and thereabouts, I mean?"

Whichever of them was still attached to the rope would carry the responsibility of holding desperately onto the other. All of that weight. And one slip meant...oh, but it was too ghastly to even confront the thought!

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

"Not very long, Kristen. It may have been five or so minutes. It is hard to keep track of time while hanging upside down," she chuckled. She was trying to put Kristen at ease with all of this. She was not really sure if it was working or not.

Delaney had to admit that Kristen's plan was a surprisingly good one. Not that Kristen wasn't smart or anything but she did tend to overcomplicate stuff sometimes. This plan was not overcomplicated and Delaney was proud of her little bird.

"I am strong enough to swing you over, Kristen. I think it's a great plan."

She thought for a second and then added, "you may not like this but can you drop some of your armor? That may help some."

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Yes! Good! Kristen worried about the strength of her own upper body for this endeavor. As far as her athletics were concerned, she had seen the most improvements in her running endurance and in her abdomen. The first from Proctor Magomo's relentless regimen of laps around the Academy perimeter, the second when Zael had introduced her to a funny little activity he called "sit ups," which were exactly that: laying down, sitting up, repetitively. But she found them much easier and more enjoyable than working her upper body and arms!

Which, coincidentally, would be relevant here. Dropping her armor would require her to "sit up" to reach what needed to be reached for some of it.

"Oh! Brilliant idea, Delaney! It could be all the difference! Spare me but a few moments."

Upside down and with one hand--quite the challenge! Kristen had to switch her hands often to be able to keep hold of Delaney and also to reach the clasps and ties holding everything together. Her gauntlets fell, her gorget, her pauldrons, her tabard and belt, her chainmail coat, even her weapon and book of verses. Her one free sabaton she kept on, along with (obviously) the sabaton which was ensnared by the trap's rope.

Her arming doublet and undershirt, unsecured by her belt, folded down and in on themselves at gravity's beckoning. Such revealed Kristen's flat stomach and the tiny, nascent nubs of abdominal muscle peeking through.

Where otherwise she might have been embarrassed or bashful, she was too focused on the task at hand to really notice. "There we are! That should certainly help."

She reached over with her other hand, holding each of Delaney's. And she was ready to hold on for dear life once she was cut free.

Kristen let out an anxious breath, and looked into her best friend's eyes.

"I trust you, Delaney."

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney huffed out a laugh at Kristen asking for her to spare me but a few moments. Where was Delaney going to go? She was quite literally hanging out with nothing else to do at the moment. She didn't voice her thoughts though. She did not want to distract Kristen from the job she had to do here.

Piece by piece, Delaney watched Kristen undo her armor and drop it. It was definitely going to make this little endeavor easier when it came to swinging her and how far Kristen would be able to fly. The Shadow Queen hoped that shirt would fall down a little more but it didn't. Very rude of it and gravity for working against her.

"I trust you, Delaney."

Delaney smiled as she held her best friend's life in her hands. A moment later, a tendril shot towards the binding that secured Kristen. It was only a few seconds before Delaney grunted as Kristen's full weight free and Delaney held on tight.

"Ready to swing?"

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The rope snapped when the shadow cut it and Kristen felt the sudden inversion of the world come rushing at her with a terrifying intensity. She let out a sharp yelp and her hold on Delaney's hands tightened mightily with fear. But the swing which had her right-side up again and hanging from Delaney's grip ended swiftly, and her feet dangled some perilous height above the ground which, if she made the mistake of looking down (which she did), she could now well see.

"Oh! Oh ho! Ohhhhh! Oh, oh, oh my god!" Kristen exclaimed. There was clear terror, yes, but there was a hint of excitement, thrill even, which surprised her. Had it not been for the intervention of the Academy and she found herself in a similar situation regardless, she would have been utterly petrified! Mayhap this was the cornerstone of courage she'd heard spoken so poetically of in plays and stories.

"Okay! Alright! Yes! I am ready! We must start swinging!" Kristen swung her legs back and kicked them forward, building the first stirrings of the momentum they would need. The two of them started to swing in shallow little back-and-forths at first, gradually growing wider.

"Delaney! Please let me know 'when'!"

Oh, this must be so terribly strenuous upon her! Neither of them were Sable, neither would've been able to hold the other for long. And in this slim time before Delaney's arms reached critical exhaustion they had their one chance to get this right!

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney let out a low chuckle at Kristen's excitement. Delaney was so used to being the stoic one that she surprised any fear she felt. If she dropped Kristen...if Kristen died...Delaney wouldn't be able to live with herself. She loved this girl so dearly even if Kristen would only ever think of Delaney as her best friend. She took what she could get with Kristen.

They started swinging and within a minute it seemed like there was enough momentum to get Kristen to where she needed to go. It was a good thing too because Kristen was strong but not that strong. She couldn't hold the giant much longer.

"When!" She said as they swung back towards the mound and when they hit the point before they would swing back, Delaney would let go of her best friend and hope this worked.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

When!

Overcoming every single sinewy instinct in her muscles telling her not to, Kristen let go of Delaney's hands at the call. She let out an anxious and then quickly fearful shriek as she flew, the mound of rubble rushing up at her too fast, all too fast, so incredibly--!

Kristen struck home, landing on the mound, a great portion of the shock of landing transferred into her legs and knees—good thing she was still wearing her sabatons, they padded the impact to a significant degree! But she didn't stop there. The momentum propelled her to keep rolling, rolling, rolling down the mound and knocking loose dust and bits of ruined stone and clumps of moss which likewise all began to tumble down with her.

Finally, at the base of the mound, Kristen's feet found the ground (by a miracle straight from Aionus) and she stumbled along for a few looping and hazardous steps, arms flailing, until at last her balance was secure and she stopped and stood for a moment. Her hands and arms were a little cut up and battered, and there was a tiny gash on her cheek, and there were red marks scattered over her body underneath her garments, all this the result of the tumbling, but she was okay!

Kristen let out a wildly incredulous laugh. "I'm alive! I'm alive!" She turned around and looked up. "Delaney, I'm alive! I made it! You were fantastic!"

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

The momentum that sent Kristen rolling and tumbling further than planned also sent Delaney swinging even faster than she was before. She missed all of Kristen's landing because she was too busy trying not to throw up as the swinging finally started to slow.

She opened her eyes slowly at Kristen's wild laugh and her exclamation of being alive. Delaney smiled at her friend and just shook her head. Kristen was all cut up but still as beautiful as ever.

"You were fantastic!"

"I know," Delaney replied with a soft chuckle. "Now can you please get me down!?"

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

"Oh right! Of course! But of course!" Kristen said, glancing around the mound of rubble to the greater breach in the castle wall. "I need to go around and see what the rope is secured to. Don't worry, Delaney, I shan't be far! And I will let you know exactly what I'm doing, no surprises!"

Kristen started to briskly walk around the pile of rubble, then vaulted through the massive breach and to the outside of the castle wall.

About two minutes passed. Nothing of any importance, Kristen presumably searching around for the other half of the trap, where the rope was affixed.

Then, abruptly, Kristen vaulted back through the breach and ran around the rubble and crouched down on one side of the mound, breathing heavily and looking back over her shoulder as if something might have been chasing her. She looked up to Delaney and pressed a finger to her lips, eyes wide with uncertain fright.

Soon, perhaps Delaney might hear it. On the other side of the wall.

Voices. Deep voices.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney watched Kristen run back and crouch down. Kristen, who was no coward, would not give up on getting Delaney down so easily so something was wrong. She watched her friend look up and put a finger to her lips.

One white eyebrow rose as Delaney telepathically tried to ask Kristen what happened. Obviously, it didn't work.

Then she heard it. Voices. Heading their way.

Fuck. Me.

This was not good. At least Kristen had a chance to get away or to fight. Delaney was solely dependent on her shadows and the hope that her being stationary didn't make her the perfect target.

Fuck!

She thought about having the ropes cut and taking her chances with the fall but that would certainly lead to death or at least being paralyzed for the rest of her life. Her only hope was to give her shadows a last ditch order.

Cloak me, make me look like a shadow. Do your best. Her tendrils grew and elongated until they covered Delaney's body in a mass of darkness. Yes, she was still noticeable but it was more of why is there a bunch of darkness there and less of why is there a teenager hanging there. She could only hope it worked at least a little bit.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The voices were getting closer. And, accompanying them, footsteps. Heavy footsteps.

Kristen down below looked a little relieved when the shadows obscured Delaney. Then she seemed to be having second thoughts about her own position beside the mound. She glanced around, looking to some of the ruined buildings within the castle grounds. Hee muscles tensed as if she were but a whistleblow away from sprinting off in a race to them, but, as the voices were now very close, she decided not to and stayed pressed up against the rubble mound.

From around the breach, they came.

Ogres.

"—set those traps. I told you he was cunnin'."

"Yeah, I am cunnin'."

"Alright, alright, first bite o' the pot is yours, Stalug."

Three of them, at least, came around the breach. They were easily nine, ten feet tall, bulky with rippling muscle. They carried crude weapons, heavy and massive—makeshift clubs, axes, or spears made from the chopped trunks of trees. Lightly armored and clothed, their big guts hung out over enormous belts. The Common tongue that they spoke had a deep and rumbling quality to it.

They stopped. The three ogres on one side of the rubble mound, Kristen on the other, out of their sight.

"Oi!" one of the ogres called back through the breach. "Hold up a minute! Don't lower it yet!" Then he shaded his eyes with a free hand and squinted up to where Delaney's shadows merged with the wall. To his mates he said, "Are you two louts seein' this?"

"Yeah, I sees it."

"What...is it? Doesn't look edible."

As the trio of ogres puzzled over the sight, Kristen clenched her teeth down below and stayed still, almost willing herself to sink into the rubble mound itself and hide there.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney cursed in her head as the ogres came into view. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! She could see Kristen and she, of course, was worried about the better person in this team over herself. She could die but Kristen was too good to be lost this young. She had things to accomplish while Delaney did not.

"No, it don't but we need to sees it."

"Yeah, kill it and reset the trap!"

The ogres headed in Delaney's direction and she willed herself to stay as still as possible. There was nothing she could do until they let her down and she could send her tendrils at them.

For now...she just waited and hoped that Kristen could get away from here.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

Kristen made herself as small as possible, a little Pirian bundle pressed to the mound of rubble. In her periphery two of the ogres were stomping forward. Oh god! Her heart was racing, the thunder in her breast she was sure would get her discovered. A hand she had clapped over her nose and mouth, trying to keep her breathing under control.

She was in plain view, if they only looked to their right there she was be, clear as day, cornered against the mound and the castle wall. But the two ogres had their attention affixed to the amorphous shadow concealing Delaney, gazing up with looks that were both bewildered and irritated—bewildered at the sight, and irritated that they didn't know what it was.

The third ogre, standing back on the other side of the mound where Kristen couldn't see him, calling back through the breach.

"Lower the ropes, boys! Nice and slow."

Not long after he said it, one of the two ogres close by to where Delaney was hanging noticed the cut rope on the ground...and all of the armor. He crouched down. Said aloud as a meaty hand touched the items on the ground, "What's all this, then?"

The second ogre looked down at the cut rope and discard armor then too. "Huh. Somefing broke out. Weren't no antelope, neither."

Delaney's rope was slowly being lowered. Closer and closer to the two ogres who, currently, had their attention turned downward.

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney was very happy to see that the ogres were distracted by the cut rope that once held Kristen and her armor. Yes, pay attention to that! She thought as she came closer to them.

The Queen of Shadows dispelled the shadows around her and shot her tendrils out. They were hungry too. They had been working without any living flesh for a bit now and they got very hangry. Four tendrils shot out with two flying at each ogre. One of each went to create a gage around their massive heads so they couldn't make too much noise and the other wrapped around their legs. The tightening of the tendrils around their legs caused them to stumble forward and fall.

While they struggled to figure out what the fuck was happening, Delaney had another tendril cut her down. She landed on one of the ogres backs and sent that last tendril in the ear ogre she was standing on. He would provide a nice meal while she focused on getting Kristen safe before she killed the other two.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The massive bulk of the two ogres shook the ground as they collapsed in tandem. They had dropped their weapons, instinctively clutching for the tendrils which gagged them, thunderously flailing on the ground as they tried to wrench themselves of the oily shadow magic constricting them.

The third ogre slammed the ground with his tree-trunk mace and called out, "MAULGAR!" The name of his people in their brutish tongue. "We've got a live one!"

And he started the stalk forward with a savage glint in his eye, gaining some speed for a horrendous and fearsome charge. Absent was any semblance of fear, even for the well-being of his fellow ogres. His great mass shifted with the eagerness of an invading warrior on the cusp of securing his spoils in the sacking of a city. His guttural battle-roar erupted from the depths of his gut and echoed off of the castle walls.

Kristen stood, shooting up to her full height with an almost panicky swiftness. She lacked her book of verses, and though it would have helped with the potency, she knew the words, speaking them under her breath, beseeching Aionus the Holy Sentinel through her Divine magic. Withering Chains burst up from the ground, wrapping around the third ogre's legs, arms, waist, and the weight of aging fell upon him—the tragic fate of ogres who grew to be too old, their great mass overcoming the waning strength in their bones and rendering them helplessly immobile.

The third ogre collapsed down to his hands and knees, shocked, trying to keep himself from collapsing entirely. Still he had the wherewithal to shout to his unseen comrades around the wall, "They've got magic!"

Kristen started to inch along the wall toward her friend, wary of getting too close to the third ogre even though her Withering Chains had proven highly effective. "Delaney! We must make haste!"

Delaney Lennox

 

[Delaney Lennox]

Delaney had been moving towards the third ogre at the same time he started towards her. Neither collided because Kristen used some of her badass Divine magic to take the hulking mass down. Gods, she was impressive and beautiful.

She took the chance to run back to where the other two ogres had been incapacitated and her shadows had retreated back into the ether. Delaney grabbed the most important pieces of Kristen's armor (that she could carry) and headed in the direction of her friend.

"Delaney! We must make haste!"

"No shit, Kristen!" Delaney snarked as she held out some of the discarded armor for Kristen to start donning as they moved.

Kristen Pirian

 

[Kristen Pirian]

The two fallen ogres, shocked and bewildered, had a slow-going of getting back to their feet. Plenty of time for Delaney to nab some of Kristen's armor.

Kristen fretted for her book of verses, but there was no time! No time! Already she could hear the crashing feet of more ogres from the other side of castle wall, these making haste toward the breach. Blessed Aionus, as if three whole ogres weren't enough!

The ogre weighed down by her Withering Chains began to fight back as well. He was taking hold of the chains and ripping them off with his gargantuan strength, flinging them away one by one, panting heavily with the effort. Kristen certainly wasn't going to stick around to find out how long it might take him to free himself!

Kristen caught her mail coat, flung it over her shoulder, and caught her pauldrons, carrying one in each hand. And together she and Delaney went into a mad dash through the castle grounds, ruined buildings flashing by and the shout of "AFTER THEM!" trailing on their heels. Thunderous footsteps echoed around the dilapidated homes and rattled the rubble.

"The keep!" Kristen gasped as she ran. "Surely there's an underground. Small, narrow passages! It should be perfect!"

And, coincidentally, it was where Kristen had originally wanted to explore. Before...yeah...before stepping into an ogre band's set of game traps.

Delaney Lennox