It wasn't exactly Rhojeka's favourite activity, though she had lots of experience with it already. As she looked at the mountain path ahead of her and the rest of the group, all she could think was: Oh, great! This again...

By now the pattern was pretty obvious: Whatever annoying, senseless or disgusting thing happened to them, it would be another one of those tests that they had to undergo to prove their worth. The journey to the camp had been as well as this vampire from last night. And when the leader of their little troop introduced herself, a grey haired woman by the name of Avise Renshaw, she couldn't help but feel that this was the same woman who got Mervella into participating last time. Another one on Mervella's list whom she would strike down with her sword if ever given the chance.

The best way to raise the spirits of the people while on a journey like this was to sing. So she started humming a tune - only to realize that the people around her started singing the "Never Ending Story" that she had sung in the bus. She joined in, helped people with the lyrics, and within an hour that felt like only five minutes, they had reached a cliff. Morale was high. She felt proud. Even without her magic powers, her bardic talents were good for something.

Then she reached the edge of the cliff... and heard the grey haired woman say: "We will go down at this point. I have some mountaineer equipment with me." As Rhojeka turned around with a shocked face, looking at the woman to see if there was any hint that she was joking... Renshaw misunderstood this as interest. "You go first," she said, pointing at Rhojeka.

The hell I will, Rhojeka thought by herself. She looked over the edge of the cliff again, and the enormous drop that was lying behind it. "I... have never done this before," she said out loud. Though this was not the first mountain she had to climb, getting lowered down on a rope that might or might not break in the process was not her idea of adventure. Besides, whatever this "mountaineering equipment" was, even if it involved a pair of wings, it was not safe enough for her to trust it.

Another camp follower stepped forward, a young girl, even younger than Rhojeka, but eager enough to try. Renshaw nodded and pulled out a strange collection of ropes, rings and belts from some weird material. Within a few minutes the girl was put into what turned out to be a harness, with a long rope attached to it. Rhojeka shivered. This was not the same, not in the slightest, but she didn't like that at all - the girl looked like someone tied her up. Even the thought of put into one of those harnesses herself raised all her hairs on her neck. The other members of the camp helped securing the rope, so the girl could use it to climb downwards.

Her descent began. Rhojeka kept a watchful eye on her while she lowered herself down an inch at a time. She didn't even seem to be scared, something that Rhojeka couldn't understand. Wasn't she aware of the danger she had placed herself in? In hindsight Rhojeka was very glad to have refused. She would rather be tied up than having to climb down into this abyss.

A sound made her turn around again. A metallic snap, as one of those strange rings keeping the climbing rope in place gave in. The rope began to slip.

"Look out!" someone in the group yelled an alarm. The other ones realized one moment too late what was happening, and nobody stood close enough to stop it. Except for Rhojeka.

She grabbed the rope and tried to pull it, but the sudden movement some metres further down almost yanked her off the cliff. She cried out in shock, tried to keep her balance and put her feet into the ground to make her and the climber stop. "Help!" she screamed. The weight was almost pulling her arms out. The girl on the other end of the rope was heavier than she looked. Could have been the harness as well.

At last someone rushed to help her and grabbed the rope as well. Her forward movement was slowed down for a moment, but not entirely stopped. Another camp member came to help and held on. And another one, until the entire group held the rope tied in their hands. It was enough to keep the girl from falling to her death - but not enough to pull her up again.

Renshaw stood there and looked at the scene, doing nothing. "For the Gods' sake, woman!" Rhojeka barked at her. She never had felt so furious in her life before - no wonder Mervella wanted to see this woman dead. "Come and help us here! We need something to help us get her up again."

After a moment of hesitation, Renshaw took off her backpack and showed the contents. The other ones holding on to the rope looked at the contents and shook their heads. "An old telephone?" one of them asked. "What the hell did you bring this for?"

"Toilet paper?" another one commented. "Yeah, she's gonna need that if she survives this, along with those pants, but right now this is not helping."

Rhojeka looked at the backpack, too. It reminded her of the box with items that Mr. Dev had presented to her. "This is no time to make jokes! There is a life at stake here! Do something!"

"This is all we have," Renshaw answered calmly, as if the fate of the young girl didn't matter in the slightest.

Oh, you... Rhojeka couldn't even think of an appropriate slur at the moment, though there were some colorful enough to express her feelings towards Renshaw. She looked around and found a long branch that had fallen off a tree. "Careful!" she warned the others before she let go of the rope. The others managed to hold on - guess her own bodily strength didn't make a difference at all. She ran for the branch and picked it up, holding it by the thick end. This was hardly of any help - but still better than the entire backpack of Renshaw.

Lying flat down on the ground, she held the branch in both hands, reaching far enough down so that the girl could reach it. "Hold on!" Rhojeka called out to her. The girl reached out for the branch and grabbed it. Slowly she began to climb up with its help - not that the branch supported her weight, but it helped so the others could slowly pull her up again.

Within a few minutes she was up on the cliff again. "Thank you!" she said to Rhojeka under heavy breathing. Everybody was panting as the crisis was over. Rhojeka looked to Renshaw who had watched all of this, and she toyed with the idea of throwing a rock into her face. What was this woman thinking? The girl could have died!

"We're going back to camp," she decided and got back on her feet again. She didn't care whether Renshaw protested, and neither did the others. They just left.