Page 135 of Once Upon a Fable

Stop.

I ground the heels of my palms into my eyes, trying to rub such images away.

I swallowed hard.

I’d done this. He was down there because of me.

If I hadn’t jumped on him, he would still be whole.

There wasn’t even the question of leaving. Not yet. I wouldneverbe able to live with myself if I turned my back on someone in agony.

Someone crippled and bleeding and—

“Just focus. Stay strong.”

It didn’t matter how he’d treated me. I didn’t care that I was trading my last chance at freedom to go after him. If he was dead, I would bury him. I would ignore the awful pang in my soul and would honor his remains as any loved one would.

It was the least I could do.

He had no one.

He deserves to have someone.

God, he deserved so much more than what he had.

And if he’s alive?

I couldn’t answer that question.

Because if he was alive. If he was okay. It meant I’d chosen his survival over my own. I would never get another chance. I was turning my back on my family for a man, and I didn’t even know his name. I was admitting to myself that for all my bluster and bravery, something had blossomed inside me.

Something I couldn’t even acknowledge without cursing my stupid,stupidheart.

Hurry.

I exploded into action.

Leaping to my feet, I grabbed my overstuffed backpack from where it’d waited patiently by the tree and shrugged it on. Securing the straps tight and buckling additional ones around my waist, I stepped off theedge and descended.

If he’d survived, I’d need supplies. I’d need every tool and trick I had to fix him.

My backpack upset my balance as I climbed faster than I’d ever climbed before. I shut off every thought and focused.

Toe hold, traverse, hand grab, drop.

Repeat.

I yelled at my panic-pounding heart the entire way down, forcing myself not to think about him, not to second-guess or fret. Not to worry about anything until my feet touched earth safely.

If I fell too, then we would both die.

Side by side, entombed in his valley forever.

My knees threatened to buckle as the distance to the valley floor decreased. Sweat poured down my back, and my hands slipped on a few rocks.

Don’t rush!

I made the mistake of looking down. There, obscured by leaf matter and lower crisscrossed branches, a foot existed.