Olimpia

Leeroy crawled out of the river, and once he was sure his chest would land on stone, he let his arms give out, flopping to the ground. As he rested, he could feel cold water lapping at his waist and dripping from his body, pooling beneath him. He assumed it was cold, but his skin had long since numbed to the point that he could no longer tell.

Sucking in long ragged breaths, Leeroy calmed his racing heart and tried to relax his body. His day wasn't even over yet, and he was feeling sore. Or he was cramping. He couldn't really tell at the moment.

After they leaped from the cliff into the cold river, the current swept Leeroy and the others along.

The trip wasn't a floating-on-your-back and relax-in-the-soothing-waters kind of trip either, as it demanded constant attention and struggle.

A strand of psy could slow a fall enough to survive the hundred-foot drop, so long as those jumping weren't trying to achieve the biggest bellyflop in history. And there was plenty of water to land in. The downside was the water was moving faster than a galloping horse.

The Twins was a weird river. Everyone who lived around it knew that. Rivers in the Republic generally followed the rule of flowing north to south and west to east, but the Twins spit in the face of that rule.

The southern fork of the river started farther south within the Weeping Mountains than where its end emptied into the Rush. The first stretch of that section of the river flowed north for a few hundred miles before nearly turning back on itself and flowing west.

The reasons why had something to do with how the Steps were formed and the mountains acting as damns. But other than the facts everyone in the area knew, Leeroy didn't bother to learn more about it.

What he did know was that because of the extremely dense fog the Weeping Mountains were known for, the river was always between raging and a deluge of water. It didn't help that the walls of this section of the Twins narrowed as they rose, going from hundreds to less than ninety feet across.

Leeroy didn't care to learn the quirk of geology or casting history that led to its formation. But he did look up once and think that this was what it must feel like to float at the bottom of a long-necked pitcher.

Strange thoughts aside, what did concern Leeroy and the others was the higher the water rose, the faster it became, making the dangers of hitting the walls worse.

There was very little debris in the water, as anything impeding its flow couldn't hold up to the overwhelming force, but that didn't mean it was easy to stay afloat. Constant waves were forming as the river turned, which seemed to build upon each other to create crashing waves that would try to swamp them.

From trying to avoid smashing into the walls and getting a decent breath of air, it was a struggle not to drown. For a moment, Lun attempted to form a Union as they were all momentarily clumped together in the river's center for more efficient use of psy, but it didn't last long as they were quickly torn away.

Short as the trip was, most of those who jumped into the river with Leeroy weren't crawling out of it, not on this outcropping, at least. He could always hope they were somewhere downstream, but he cast it away even as the thought crossed his mind. Leeroy wasn't one to dwell on the past and the decisions already made.

Besides Leeroy and Jankens, only five others were crawling onto the small outcropping. The bowl-like slope of the shore and how the spray of the river kept everything wet added to the rock's slipperiness meant that the farther one crawled, the more challenging it became.

This was precisely why Leeroy still had his feet in the swift current, not because he was too lazy to crawl all the way out of the water.

Not that Leeroy was complaining about the solid ground under him because it was a miracle it was there at all. The walls of this section of the river had opened up, and the water of the Twins slowed and swirled around the widened ravine a large whirlpool. Even the walls had a slight outward angle letting in more light.

"Get out of the water Leeroy," Ordered Optio Lun. "We're getting out of here."

With a grunt of effort, Leeroy lifted his body up enough to get his arms under him and get a proper look at Lun. The first thing he saw was Jankens' feet were just to the side of his face. Leeroy followed his legs up and down to his heaving chest facing the sky.

Past Jankens was another figure with knees to his chest curled into a ball.

For a moment, a wave of shame washed over Leeroy, as he was the only one who was still half in the water, not climbing up onto the granite ledge, but it quickly passed. Spending the effort to climb higher wasn't worth it when they were destined to go back into the wat—

"We are climbing up the wall." Stated Optio Lun.

Giving the Optio a blank stare, then glancing at the two legionaries with their back's to the wall next to their Optio to make sure he didn't hear things, Leeroy asked, "How would we do that? Sir."

It was a stone wall. A smooth stone wall that the best handholds were the slight half circles denoting different water levels. Leeroy couldn't imagine anyone climbing the walls unless their hands could stick to them. Opening his mouth to say as much, he snapped it shut with a click as he watched Lun pull back a fist and drive it forward.

The resulting clack was like two stones smashing together.

That might have been the sound, but the sudden cloud of rock dust around the Optio's fist spoke to something else going on. And when he pulled back his fist, a piece of the wall fell away. It was only a few inches deep and wide, but it was more than enough for a foot to stand on.

"My father quarried rocked for a living in the Steps. Not much of a call for it in the legions with all of the Knights, but I never forgot the trade. Not a glamorous life, but I always planned on going back to it after my service." He placed his hand on the stone, and this time there was a grinding, and powder started falling from his hand.

The steady stream of dust stopped after a few moments, and then there was nothing before another crack sounded, making Leeroy jump. Before he pulled his hand away, chunks of stone were clattering to the ground.

With a few quick movements, the rubble was pulled from the hole, and Optio Lun was studying the wall even higher now.

"It's all about finding the weak points in the stone. A block might look solid, but there is always a weak point if you know where to look." At this point, Lun was talking more to himself, and his voice had fallen to little more than a murmur, but Leeroy could hear just fine.

He and the others had stood up and moved to gather around Lun, watching him work. Though what they were really seeing was the hope of life manifesting itself before them. "Apply the proper force, and it will crumble with ease." At his words, he placed his hand on another spot and soon broke away from the wall revealing another handhold.

When Lun reached out a mental strand probing Leeroy's mind, he accepted it without hesitation. Offering Lun all of his psy and willpower he had.

Climbing a multiple-hundred-foot wall was a monumental task. But huddling next to a cold river while the sun set and you were being hunted was asking for death.

If you weren't found and the cold didn't kill you, then you would probably be too tired to survive another trip down the river.

Getting out of this death trap was a now-or-never deal, and Lun was offering them their best chance.

Foot after foot, Lun drove handholds into the rock. When the area he could reach on the ground disappeared, he started climbing up the wall.

He would hang with one hand gripping the rock with both feet planted into a divot.

None of the seven were at their best. Physically they could lie down a fall asleep in a second. Mentally, their willpower was petering out, and their psy was nothing but the last few drops in a wineskin.

But they could still move, so they had the willpower to spare, and their psy was enough to form a strand.

The psy strand was like a frayed rope. Nearly whole at one end, with the other shrinking to barely a string of wool.

It was only together that Lun could continue to work, and they didn't have enough psy to have the Optio far from them. So as he moved up the wall, the others climbed after him.

Leeroy was the first to pull himself up the wall, but as soon as there was enough space, the others took their own spots.

Climbing the wall wasn't hard, almost like going up a ladder. Or a flight of stairs.

A really steep flight of stairs that had a new step appear every minute. It was like standing in line waiting, except if they let go, they fall and die. So nothing to worry about.

At first, Lun made quick progress up the wall. After fifty feet and over a hundred holes, he had slowed down to a crawl. It was lucky if he made one a minute. After the next fifty feet, he slowed down even more, settling into the grind.

A weary resolve filled the union. Everyone was fighting the temptation of just giving up and accepting their death. Some might have if they were alone, but the thought of them being the reason for the rest of the remaining century dying kept them going. Everyone could feel that while they were all hurting, none of them were working as hard as Lun.

He was the reason they had a chance, and so long as he kept going, so would they.

By this point, the sun had gone down, and the stars were shining high in the sky as if they were mocking them for being down in a hole.

While the lack of light was making climbing harder and causing Lun to curse as he struggled to find weak points in the rock, those weren't the real problems.

The cold was seeping into their bodies, and it was getting hard for everyone to take the next handhold up. Not because of the effort to lift their bodies, though that was an issue, but because of their tenuous grips on the stone divots.

Lun, as tired as the rest of them and controlling the psy strand to drill out the stone, had almost fallen from his perch multiple times. The last time it was only thanks to Leeroy's quick reaction of slamming his fist into the Optio's ass — a moment he will always treasure — to push him back into the wall that Lun didn't tumble from his perch.

From then on, Lun started making other steps off to the sides, so Leeroy could place his feet astride his body, allowing Lun to lean against his chest as he made the next handhold.

Time passed, and they slowly worked their way up the cliff.

At some point, Leeroy started whispering encouragement. "We can do this. We're almost there. Make one more, just one more."

The others join in with the quiet prayers. And their faith in Lun shone through the link.

Lun's will might have been worn down to nearly nothing, but the faith in those who he commanded only grew.

In their exhaustion-riddled minds, they knew, with every fiber of their being, that they would make it out of this alive. That all of their struggles wouldn't be fruitless.

It was insanity.

But the insane can muster far more will than should be possible.

So while Lun's skill deteriorated, his tendril was backed by a sledgehammer rather than the toy that he was wielding before.

Slow and steady, they climbed up the side of the wall.

Then Lun stopped, slumping against Leeroy. Luckily, one of Leeroy's arms was under Lun's arm as he slumped over. Otherwise, Leeroy would have never caught him in time, as his mind was filled with fog.

With some clarity returning to Leeroy's eyes after he looked at Lun for a long moment, he looked up.

They were close, so very close. Less than one of his body's lengths away, and the slope of the rock face got to the point they could climb up it without needing handholds.

But close didn't matter. Six feet might as well have been as far away as the moon.

Can we climb down? Leeroy thought to himself, No, we won't make it, especially with Lun. Then what can we… Huh.

Leeroy still had the mental energy. Most of it, anyway.

He couldn't say exactly when, but they had entered into linked control of the psy. As the name implied, it was where everyone within the union had almost equal control over the psy in a mental link. There were many downsides and dangers to it, with the only real upside being that the death of one person wouldn't cause the end of the union.

Though it made sense, it would happen, as each of them was almost solely focused on keeping the tendril from breaking as it ran along the length of their bodies. No one had the willpower to care about the rest.

Even now, Leeroy could feel the focus radiating off the others' minds. There weren't aware that Lun had collapsed, and if they learned about it, Leeroy could guess that they would collapse soon after. They had no choice but to continue.

If Lun couldn't, then Leeroy would do it. He had seen and felt how it was done more times than he could count over the last hours.

Wrapping an arm around Lun's waist, Leeroy let out a grunt of effort as he stepped up to the next hole, pulling the Optio along.

Placing his hand on the wall, he pressed his psy into the stone while shaping it to look like a wide drill bit. Like the beating of a rapid drum, he started twisting it while driving it forward.

Leeroy expected a struggle, but the stone crumbled away with ease. Like it was sand. When the psy was deep enough, he expanded the psy from inside the hole, causing the rock around it to crack.

With a grunt effort, Leeroy moved on to the next.

His usage of psy wasn't nearly as efficient, but it didn't matter.

Half an hour later, even though he only had to make eight handholds, Leeroy was climbing up a slop of loosely packed dirt, dragging Lun behind him to get to the promised flat ground.

As soon as he was sure they wouldn't slide off the ledge, he collapsed to the ground, already asleep.