A/N: READ PLEASE!!!
So I need help from all you readers! This chapter needs to be cut. Help me please? I've tried cutting out parts and changing things around, out of the entire book this is the most difficult chapter for me! I've especially tried turning it into two separate chapters but can't seem to find a good cut off point to separate it. IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY. I've actually rewritten this chapter FIVE TIMES and this is the best I can do! Help please!

VENNY
   "What's it, Alie? I looked down at her. "Lookin' like you're havin' some trouble there."
   "I was made," she gasped, "for climbing," another rasp, "snowbanks." She leaned her head against the rough stone. "Not rocks." She finally finished.
   I grinned and went back down the side of the cliff so I was next to her. "Here, I'll help you."
   She turned her head so I could see her sweat-covered face under her shaking arm. "You've grown at a ridiculous," she swallowed and gasped, "pace in the last few months, but I'm still at least... at least twice your weight."
   "Doubtful." I said dryly, then  shrugged with a grin. "But suit yourself." I scattered up the side of the cliff easily. "Fine!" She called up. "Fine, fine!"
   I grinned down at her and put one hand to my ear as if having problems with my hearing, teasing her. "What's it?"
   "Help me. Sweet Mother, help me."
   "I'm no goddess," I said, going back down, "but I will help."
   "You're a mountain goat in disguise." She grumbled.
   "Need help, Alie?" Geac called down from where he stood on the ledge about thirty feet up.
   "No!" Alie called, but her squeaky voice made him frown. I waved at him to stay up, mouthing that I had her. He nodded but kept watch. No doubt if she fell, he would jump down after her and learn to fly.
   "Here." I said and gripped the tan rock with one hand, wrapping my other arm around her waist. "Put your foot in the hole about a foot above your left one, then reach your right hand up about two feet and an inch of so to your right."
   "It's too high. I'm not that tall."
   "Kick up a bit. I won't let you fall."
   "Mountain goat." She mumbled and I felt her take a deep breath before she leaped up a bit. She almost missed the ledge but I steadied her.
   "Good." I hopped up so I was next to her again. "One more time, then you're past the hard part. The rest is easy."
   "How will I get over the ledge?"
   "Geac is waiting to pull you up. Now come on." I wrapped my arm around her waist again and held her tight. "There's nowhere to put your foot so you'll have to jump a bit."
   "What?" Her squeak was now a squeal. "What about where your foot is?"
   "My foot isn't on anything."
   "What?" She squeaked again. "You're just hanging there by one arm?"
   "I'm fine, s'long as you hurry it up. Left hand up to where mine is, then right hand on the ledge about a foot above it, then you should be able to put your foot in the ledge you're nearly banging your nose on."
   "Should?" She echoed, looking at me with a panicked expression.
   I looked at her blandly. "Hangin' by one arm here." I reminded her.
   Her look went even more fearful but it did get her moving. I had to hold her weight for a second as she found the right ledge with her fingers, but then her fingers clasped it and her foot hooked and she was fine.
   "Good, should be easy now."
    She grumbled about goats again but moved the last dozen feet to where Geac waited. The second her feet touched the ledge, she shoved her face inside Geacobs cloak and let out a scream as if she'd been holding it in so long that it needed to come out or she would choke. Geacob let out a laugh and wrapped his arms around her.
   I went down to where Hark was waiting on the wider ledge below with Loryn and Lenny. All three had orders not to climb until they could be attached to the ropes. We had several ropes, but none of them long enough for this ledge so Uncle Jack was climbing down half way and acting as an anchor. Hark had that piece missing from his shoulder and was too weak besides. Loryn was actually a good climber, but she didn't have the muscle strength to keep it up as long as we needed. She nearly fell twice simply because her muscles gave out on her so she was told to use a rope. Lenny could climb, I was sure, but he was missing four fingers on his left hand and half of one on his right from a bit of trouble with kingsmen a few years back, so was unable to.
   "Ready!" I called up to Uncle Jack who dropped the rope down to us. Lenny himself tied it around his waist, needing very little help but at least the rope would catch him if it fell. He got up about half ways, then another rope was dropped down and Uncle Jack removed the rope from Lenny and replaced it with the other. He waited until Lenny was a few feet up before dropping the rope again.
   Loryn waved the rope away. "I still need a rest." She said, but I knew she was actually worried about Hark who seemed to be sapping strength even by standing there. I tied him on myself.
   "Think you can make it?" I asked.
   "I'm fine." He said, but weakly. I frowned but nodded and helped him get started, then watched him get more pulled to the top then climbing it himself.
   "He's not doing well." Loryn said quietly.
   "I know." I snapped at her, then grimaced. "Sorry, I'm not angry with you."
   She smiled slightly. "I know. I... I know you don't want to talk about it, but I only bring it up because I think you should know that he's been spitting up blood."
   "What?"
   She gave me a sad look. "He tried to hide it from you, but he tends to forget about me. I just thought you should know. I'm sorry, I feel terrible."
   "Quit saying you're sorry." I snapped. "Not everything is about you." I quickly jumped up, catching the ledge and climbing up quickly, effortlessly. By the time I reached the ledge, Hark had already been hauled over and Alie was pushing a cloth to his mouth and checking his forehead as if expecting a fever.
   When he pulled the cloth away, it was tinted red. Alie looked at it, then pretended she didn't notice as she folded it over and handed it back, telling him to keep it with a smile that disappeared the second she stood and turned away.
   Geac stopped her from going anywhere but didn't say anything, only looked at her with both concern and question.
   Alie shook her head and he wrapped his arms around her.
   And with that, I knew what I had already suspected--- my friends time was very nearly up.
   I went through the Rangers and sat next to Hark, pasting a smile on my face. "Finally some rest, eh?"
   "Aye." He said, putting a smile on his own. "I've decided that I like the sea better than the air." He paused. "Or the ground really."
   I snorted. "You can always head home."
   "And miss all the excitement?" He grinned. "I gets t'see a bloody dragon, Venny. Up close even! What a story that'll be t'tell me da!"
   I lost my smile, forced as it was, this was easy. "You wont be telling him any stories if you don't go home now, Hark."
   He smiled without falseness now. "It wont be me tellin' it." He glanced around briefly and kept his voice low. "It wont be some lowly shipboy tellin' the story of young Hark an' his companions, siftin' quietly into the dragons lair. Aye, it'll be the King of Tark tellin' it, eh?" He grinned at me. "Imagine how proud me da'll be when the king himself tells a story like that? About how his own son traveled from east to west, north ta south, climbed the greatest mountain in all the land 'long-side ye, all the way into the dragons lair none has seen since King Arow Dargoyln was alive."
   "That's all this is for? A story?"
   "Of course, Venny! Every time I sets off on a new a'venture, me first though is what story I be gettin' this time."
   I felt an uncontrolled anger rise up. "And if you don't make it to the dragons lair? If you dies in your bloody sleep t'night? What story would I tell then?"
   "If that happened, then ye better well bloody lie and add me in, y'fool!"
   I'm not entirely sure why, perhaps it was the words or the completely serious expression he wore while he said them, or even if it was just the stress of the whole situation. Perhaps all three reasons were the cause. Whatever it was, this struck me as the most funniest thing in the land and I started laughing. Great gales of laughter that came up from deep in the belly and shook everything from nose to toes. It only took a second for Hark to join in and the two of us howled together like we used to, shaking the mountain, ignoring the odd looks from the others as we clutched our bellies and gasped for breath in between.
   It was the kind of laughter that was rare, even among the best of company in the best of times. It was a laughter that came for no reason but was never forgotten once it faded away.
   It didn't occur to me until much later that I would never share that rare, perfect, child-like laughter with another ever again.

ALIE
   Spring had come in full force before we started climbing, with an obsessive amount of birds chirping their enjoyment, young saplings forcing their way from the ground and the strongest of the early flowers baring the night chill with suffering but showing their glory as the sun gave them warmth of morning. But now that we were so high up where the air itself was thinner and the wind stronger, it was cold enough for our breath to cloud when the wind stilled long enough to see it.
   We had stopped for the night on a ledge barely five feet from the cliff wall and slightly slanted. We were too close to the goat trail to have a fire, so all twenty-two of us, Rangers and commonfolk alike, slept crammed together in a straight line with our feet curled up to prevent them from hanging over the edge.
   I had yet to learn how to actually sleep this high up, so I dozed in fits and starts crammed between Loryn and Geacob. Loryn seemed to literally die when she slept, curled into Ritch's side as if it were a feather-stuffed toy she'd surly had as a child and didn't notice my tossing and turning, but Geacob woke every time I shifted so I tried to keep myself as still as possible.
   Sometimes, I forgot though, like now when I switched from my side to my back and nearly cursed aloud in irritation. His eyes squinted open and his hand found my arm.
   "Still not sleeping?" He whispered, then noticed the sky. "It's near morn."
   "I'm sorry I woke you." I whispered back. "Again."
   He smiled. "I'm getting used to it." He teased then moved his arm and tucked it under my head. "C'mere." He whispered even as he pulled me closer, wrapping his cloak around us both then tucking his arm under my fur and wrapping it around me so we were both covered doubly. "Better?" He asked.
   I tucked my fingers under his wool against his belly and he hissed in a sharp breath at how icy they were. I grinned at him as he gave me a scolding look for that trick but then both his hands found mine and he pulled them up to his mouth, blowing on them as he rubbed gently. "Better?" He asked again and when I nodded he tucked my fingers under his chin and put his arm back under my head, his other arm going around my waist once more. "Good. Try and get some sleep before we have to get moving again."
   "It's not the cold. Or comfort. It's just... I can't understand how you can sleep when undeniable death is threatening your toes."
   He chuckled and I felt him tugging at my hair. "Uncle Jack says there's a crevasse a bit further up. I think we'll be stopping there for a day so we can move toward the city at nightfall. Maybe you'll rest better inside there."
   "I hope so." I said, grimacing. "I'm sick of being useless."
   "You're not useless."
   "On these mountains I am entirely useless. I'm used to people relying on me now, I suppose. For food and such. But up here, I'm just a... a girl."
   He had to turn his head into his arm to muffle his laughter for a moment. When he quieted, the laughter still shined in his eyes. "You can never be just a girl. You can never be just anything." He searched my eyes a moment. "Not with those eyes. Liquid silver." He whispered. "Or a particularly shiny snow-topped mountain if snow-loving you would prefer."
   I snorted indelicately, a sound that would have had my mother cringing and my father passing along a scolding look. "My eyes. You're always looking at my eyes." I said with a small shake of my head. "Every time I look over at you, you're looking at my eyes. It's been months, aren't you sick of seeing them by now?"
   "I'm not looking at your eyes, you silly girl. I'm looking at you."
   "You... you are?"
   His eyes were crinkled in amusement. "Yes. I'm always looking at you. And no, I don't think it's possible for me to ever be sick of looking at you."
   My breath caught. "It's not?"
   "It's not." He promised and he glanced at my lips before searching my eyes again.
   I don't know if that had been his way of asking permission or not, but I didn't bother to ask his. I leaned up and kissed him gently.
   He took over quickly, his arms tightening around me and pulling me in until I felt small against him. My hands at his neck felt his pulse speeding up before they both went around him by their own accord, following the path of some instinct I didn't know I had. I became lost in the kiss and delved deeper with no hesitation despite the flare of nervousness at the unknown.
   But like a smack, Jacks words came to me. About how until Geacob knew the truth, the way he looked at me was a lie.
   I knew this wasn't entirely true, but it was true enough that I pulled back. Would he still kiss me like this on a mountainside surrounded by twenty others if he knew I was due to be the Crowned Queen Aliena Greyor of Nascia?
   I doubted that very much.
   "Something wrong?" He asked quietly, at some point, his hand had come from my lower back to my neck and now it moved to brush the hair from my face.
   "I...I have something I need to tell you."
   His fingers stilled for only a moment before the continued brushing continued. "What is it?" He asked calmly, his eyes gentle and trusting.
   "I..." I hesitated under that look, the one I didn't want to loose. I lost my courage. "It's my birthing day."
   His brows furrowed even as he smiled. "Happy birthing day." He said and waited, knowing there was more. I opened my mouth to spit it out, but lost my courage again and snapped it shut.
   Instead of prying, he kissed my forehead. "Whatever it is, you know it won't change anything with us just because you didn't tell me before." He said. "I mean, I'm sure we all have secrets."
   "Do you?" I asked, curious now.
   His lips twitched. "Well... no. I don't actually, but I'm sure I'm the exception. As a Ranger, I don't have much else to hide seeing as my cloak says enough about me at first glance."
   I smiled at that but didn't feel it. "I suppose that's true."
   He waited some more but when I didn't say anything, he tucked me into his chest and rested his chin on my hair. "Just tell me when you're ready. It wont change anything."
   I clutched tighter into his warmth but didn't smile because I wasn't so sure that his words were true.

GEACOB
   "Alright, this is it everyone." My uncle said over the stone floor of the crevasse where he'd drawn a crude map of the goat trail. "From here on, it's absolute silence unless necessary. Geac, Darci and I will take the head. Venny and Loryn, I need you to be out ears for the next rises, climb up, get a sight, and come back to us. Can you do that in the dark?"
   They both nodded.
   "Good. Ritch, you'll climb up with Alie and cover her back while she's using the crossbow. Arch, you'll do the same for Hark. Angus to Gerry, Garg cover Fork. Got that?"
   Everyone did.
   "Alie, you say your eyes are good at night?"
   "They are." She said firmly.
   "You'll take point and give orders to fall back if it's needed." He waited for her to nod before he looked to Niko. "I need you right behind me but stay in the shadows. Join us only if we need help."
   "I got your back, Uncle Jack, as always."
   My uncle clapped him on the shoulder and looked at the rest. "The rest of you will stay back behind Niko until we hit the upper foot trails. There will be more guards there and they have the ability to drop boulders down on us if they have the chance, so keep your eyes up, though our goal is to hopefully not be noticed at all or it will make this much more difficult. After about fifty yards past the start of the foot trail, there's a wide opening between the two mountains. That is where we'll need every sword. While we all fight, Alie, Ritch, I'll need you to race the east side of the clearing and reach the bridge. Cut it down to prevent anyone from leaving and calling for aide, then get out of the way. Once that battle's done, we should be able to reach the passage without interception."
   He had already gone over these plans before leaving The T, and once again at the base of the mountain. But my uncle knew that repeating things each time with the same amount of seriousness as if the words were new, tended to stay in your memory better while under pressure. I've learned that he was correct and so had many others here, so when he asked if we understood one last time, none of us said it by habit of repetition, but by honestly considering and agreeing that we did, indeed, understand.
   So we repacked our bags, leaving the furs and anything else heavy here in the crevasse so as not to weigh us down (they'd come back for it after the fighting was over), then we headed out quietly in the newly made night. I stopped Alie before she started climbing and kissed her hard, knowing she was troubled and so was keeping a bit more of a distance than usual from me, but determined to kiss her before I ran head long into a possibly deadly battle.
   But she seemed to have the same idea as I had because she kissed me back just as hard, her hand resting just above the dragon claw on my chest. She no longer wore her furs, but only her wool and the silver eye glinted in the starlight when we pulled away. I didn't believe in the Mother, but I took comfort knowing that she did and would clutch at her belief to give her strength before she aimed her first arrow.
   "What if I hesitate?" She breathed. "After Leafinton---"
   "You wont." I said, knowing this was true and judging by her change of face, from worry to calm, she could hear the absolute certainty in my voice.
   "I wont." She agreed and started climbing.

ALIE
   The path crossed over eight times before it reached the bridge that would take a traveller the remaining three miles to the city, but seeing as we weren't going all the way up, we only had to climb eight dangerous cliffs before we rested.
   That was all.
   Even my thoughts were sarcastic.
   So far, we hadn't come across many people and I watched Geac, Jack, and Darci handle person after person who guarded the way with seemingly little effort. Twice someone turned to run back up the dangerous path but we were waiting by then and Fork, closest to that way, easily took them down.
   So far, none had come down the slope to aide, so I had yet to use my bow.
   But we were just reaching the spot that the jagged goat path ended and the smoother foot path began.
   Already I could see this was going to be different.
   Silent, we paused at the top of the edge without actually going over and catching the attention of the six that stood there, chatting quietly and huddled close to a small torch. That was good; they would be fireblind. I suspected they were supposed to be spread out along the path, but the cold and boredom had moved them together. Looking to my right, I could see the curve of the footpath and knew more would be only just above. With the paths narrower here, a shout may be heard easier than before, though I supposed it depended on the wind.
   First, Fork quietly slid onto the path and then Garg who would cover him. Then Gerry and so on until Ritch slid up and helped me over as he had all the other times (I was not improving on my climbing apparently).
   Venny and Loryn headed down to let the others know we were in place.
   A few moments later, the guards caught sight of Geac and Jack coming up the path and five went to meet them while the other ran uphill, presumably to warn the others above.
   Fork took him down almost casually.
   I watched as four were taken down by shadow that were Geac, Jack, Darci and a fourth that must be Niko, making his first appearance so far. But just before they took the fifth guard down, the guard let out a long, loud shout.
   Ritch cursed. "Here we go." He said.
   Three came round the corner and started coming down the hill.
   Mother aide me.
   I raised my crossbow, aimed...
   I didn't hesitate.
   Two went down, one from me and one from Gerry. I dropped my crossbow and whipped out my shortbow for faster release, shooting an arrow before the third could even turn around.
   Quickly, Gerri and I ran up the slope, followed by Ritch and Angus to guard while the others climbed quickly up the cliff to the next slope to cut off any that went that way. Only three guards had come down at the shout, assuming there were six on each level, at least three were running up. If word of our arrival crossed the bridge, chances are we would all die. At best, we would be forced to retreat and all this climbing would have been for nothing.
   The second I turned the corner, I had my arrow sighted and took down another guard running but though two were still running up, I'd misjudged the number and three were running down, keeping close to the shadows until they were nearly on me. Greg shot one while I dodged a blade coming at my head. Ritch raised his axe to take that one down.
   And froze.


................... part two coming up in a few minutes, hang on, lol.