Page 58 of Last Rites

The first ladder got us to the top of the outcropping. There, we had just enough space to stage the second ladder to reach the narrower ledge farther up. There wasn’t room for a ladder there, so the rest of the way was a ten-foot climb to the top of the cliffs.

I ascended first, followed by Hugo. We were the tallest of the lot, so we could best help the others through the final climb. My arms and fingers ached by the time I reached the top and turned to sprawl out on my belly so I could reach down for Penny while Hugo boosted him from below.

With everyone nervous of the altitude, the climb went more slowly than we’d hoped. Handholds weren’t hard to find in the cliff face, but not everyone had the upper body strength necessary to pull themselves up the sheer rock without significant assistance from Hugo and me. By the time we’d gotten everyone else up and it was his turn, I needed Penny and Thoma to help me haul Hugo up the last few feet and to safety.

The four of us lay there on the narrow clifftop, sweating and panting for as long as we dared, before we got to our feet and followed Philippa around the rim of the corrie that contained all of Ashpoint. With more sheer rock to our right and only a few feet of mostly level ground curving along the wall, it was an arduous trek to the steep banks of the mountain stream we intended to reroute.

We heard it before we saw it. It rushed down the side of the mountain, nestled into a depression in the rock worn away after years of constant flow. It was swollen from snowmelt and was only a few inches below the top of its stone banks. Were it not for a wall of rock that jutted several feet straight up near the edge of the cliffs, it would have poured down on the outskirts of Ashpoint and created a lake in the recess where the cavern openings were.

The hole in the roof of the chamber where the Vessel was stored lay a few feet farther down the mountain from the edge of the stream. A narrow channel between the banks and the opening diverted a small amount of water into the cavern below.

“We’ll need to build some walls to direct the water into the cave,” Philippa said when everyone gathered around, “to keep it from running off the edge and into the little courtyard they have down there.”

“Flooding that wouldn’t be a terrible idea, either,” I said.

She shook her head. “No, but not as effective at causing damage to the Vessel. Inundating specifically this cavern is our best bet to cause structural damage. With any luck, it will also flood the other chambers and spill out into the courtyard.” Her grin flashed white in the moonlight. “But the Vessel is our priority. It’s too close to completion. If we can’t damage it beyond repair, we’re almost out of time to do anything else. And we’ll need time to root out every last one of Merrick’s cronies if we want to take them all out for good.”

“Then let’s get started,” Isla said.

While everyone got to work gathering stones to funnel the water into the cave, Hugo and I used the largest rocks we could lift to bash away at the opening in the ceiling to make it large enough to admit as much water as possible. It was as tedious as hammering away at the ceiling of the tunnel less than a week before, and by the time we broke away the last of the jagged edges of the hole, my muscles were screaming.

Penny paused in shifting rock to offer me a hand up. I took it gratefully.

“You look like you could sleep for a week,” he remarked once I’d found my footing.

“You don’t look much better.”

He chuckled, and blush stained his cheeks when I leaned in to press a soft kiss to his lips.

When I pulled back, I spotted Philippa over his shoulder. She caught sight of us and was beaming like a proud mother hen. I returned her smile, which made Penny glance back and blush even darker when he realized we had an audience.

Once we built the walls of the channel high enough, we shifted our focus to damming the stream to force it up over its banks and turn it on the Vessel in the cave below. Wading into the freezing water left us soaked to the skin, and the current whipped around us as we pressed rocks into the jagged channels of the stream bed, creating the tightest fit possible.

The line of people passing rocks and stones from hand to hand reminded me of the workers Merrick had clearing the tunnel, and the thought made me grin. He’d have to do the same here, but hopefully irreversible damage would already have been done by the time he discovered the cause of the flood.

The moon tracked farther west above us, marking two hours passed by the time we’d fully diverted the stream and reinforced the channel walls. For several minutes, we stood together around the opening to the cave below and admired the gush of water spilling into the darkness. Then, Philippa led us back the way we came, and we began our descent. Though sore and exhausted, the way down felt far easier than the way up had been.

Back at the base of the cliff, we broke down the ladders. Everyone took a few pieces to burn in their fireplaces to destroy the evidence of what we’d done. Then, one by one, they drifted off into the night to their respective homes.

Penny and I stayed with Philippa until everyone else was gone. When it was just the three of us, I tucked our portion of the broken ladders under one arm, and slung the other around Penny’s shoulders as I turned us to face her.

“Thank you for this,” I said. “For the idea, and for helping with the execution. I spent too long sure that there was nothing lasting I could do, and then there you were with a solution I never would have come up with on my own.”

She took my free hand along with Penny’s and pressed them together between hers.

“It means so much to me that you trusted me with this,” she said. “I’m glad to finally be able to do something to help. And if this doesn’t work, we’ll find another way.” She leaned in closer, and her smile turned devious. “I’m sure we can come up with other ideas together.”

Penny yawned, and Philippa and I chuckled.

“But that’s for another day,” she said. “You get this poor man home and into bed before he drops.”

She gave our hands one last squeeze, then let them go.

“Goodnight, Philippa,” I said as I turned Penny and I back toward the house. “Get home safely.”

“You as well,” she called after us.

Penny was nearly asleep on his feet by the time we made it home. I dropped the broken bits of ladder by the couch and got him changed and into bed with the promise that I’d join him soon.