Chapter 140
"Make sure you have a foothold first before you try to pull yourself up." Rynax called down from where he was directly on the side of Tempest.
He was connected to her by a length of rope. It was the only rope that they had.
That meant both Mexyn and Gerax were not secured.
Tempest tried not to think about that too much. Tried not to think about the fact that one wrong step could send the both of them plummeting to their death. Neither of them had complained too much about it, which surprised Tempest.
If anyone, she thought, at least Gerax would have said something about scaling up the steep hill.
The only reason that she could think that he wouldn’t say anything was because he knew this was the only way.
"How much further?" Tempest yelled to the side.
"The more you ask that, the further it’s going to seem." Mexyn said as she grunted and pulled herself up.
Tempest continued to put one foot in front of the other. They just needed to get out of this basin.
"She needs to rest." Gerax called out.
Tempest didn’t know who he was talking about, but when she looked around, she realized that they were all looking at her.
"Ugh...I’m fine." Tempest barked back.
"You’re not." Gerax shouted back up.
Of course, even climbing up a cliff he would still be monitoring Tempest’s vitals.
If she wasn’t so grateful to have someone who cared so much, Tempest would have been aggrevated.
"There’s nowhere here for her to rest." Rynax shouted. "It can’t be that much farther." He turned to look at Tempest, "You’re strong. You can do this."
Tempest nodded her head, but the sudden motion of her head caused her mind to spin.
It was too hot, and she was exerting herself too quickly. She knew that Gerax was right. She wasn’t okay.
Maybe it was the adrenaline from being in a near fatal crash or the fact that they were being chased by the natives, but it felt like all the strength in her body zapped away.
"I can’t... I can’t go anymore." Tempest whimpered. In that moment her grip slipped and almost in slow motion she could feel her body starting to tip backward.
"No!" Rynax roared and reached back with one arm to catch Tempest.
Tempest didn’t know what was going on, but one second she was trying to convince everyone that she was fine and the next moment it felt like the world was on the wrong axis.
"I’ve got you. I’m here." Rynax whispered, and it was then she realized that he’d caught her.
She was never a particularly proud woman, but she felt like the weakest individual on the planet.
She wasn’t even strong enough to get up the side of the cliff. She was going to be the one to get all of them killed simply because they had to look out for her.
"Hold on. Just hold on to me." Rynax whispered as he managed to push Tempest in front of his body. Tempest managed to wrap her legs around his large body and her arms around his thick neck.
It was a very intimate embrace but she didn’t think of it in that way. She knew it was simply a way to get her up the cliff.
Honestly, Tempest was impressed that Rynax was able to secure her and still work as hard as he was to get up the cliff.
All Tempest had to do was keep her grip on Rynax, she was sure that he would make sure that they got up to the top. She had to believe that.
"There...the lip of the cliff is right there." Gerax yelled out.
It’s almost over.
What felt like hours must have passed as she waited for them to get to the edge of this cliff.
Finally, she felt Rynax heaving her nearly limp body up and over the cliff edge.
Tempest couldn’t do anything but lie right there. She wanted to help the rest of them but she was utterly useless.
She closed her eyes for just a second.
A moment later, a splash of water hits her face.
"We have to conserve that. I didn’t account for how severely her body would react to the environment."Tempest heard Gerax talking.
Tempest opened her eyes again and realized that they were no longer on the side of the cliff where she assumed they made it once they finished climbing.
They were somehow in a cave.
"She’s shivering." Mexyn whispered.
"Maybe she’s cold." Rynax whispered in a hushed tone.
Tempest blinked a few times. "I’m fine." Everyone in the small cave groaned.
"Okay, I’m not fine now, but I will be."
Tempest struggled to get into a sitting position.
Finally she was able to get a good look at her surroundings.
She gasped at what she saw. It wasn’t like the caves she would see on Earth. Tempest should’ve known better, but she didn’t expect this.
The walls of the cave were lined with what looked like perfect rubies or garnets. They were so large it looked like they were the size of volleyballs.
"What happened? Where are we?" Tempest asked once she was able to get her voice back.
"It looks like you’re suffering from heat exhaustion." Gerax rubbed a hand down his face.
"I believe it. The heat is oppressive." Tempest once again tried to get all the way up but Rynax pushed her down.
"Be still. I don’t want you to pass out again."
Tempest knew that was the best thing for her to do but she also knew that the longer she was laying here in the cave the greater the possibility it was for someone to find them or even worse that they weren’t able to find Dron at all.
That’s what they were here for. To find her mate.
"We can’t stay here. We need to keep moving."
This time it was Mexyn who forced her back down. "We can’t. We used all the water we had to cool you off. You won’t survive in the elements without anymore."
Rynax sighed and drop his head back for a second before he looked back down at Tempest, "I’ll go find us some water. You have to promise that you’ll rest."
"No, I should come with you." Tempest argued.
"And do what? If I let you come, I’ll be waiting for you to pass out or worse, wait for some beast to come out from the sand and kill you. No, you stay here and wait for me to get back. Once we have more water, we can talk about the next steps."
Tempest huffed but laid back down where they were all hovered around her.
Tempest hated feeling this way and she made a promise that once she was on her feet again she would do something to change it. She had to learn how to adapt better.
She would learn how to search for her own water. She would learn how to protect herself. She would be less of a liabity.
"Are you sure you should be going out there on your own?" Gerax looked up at Rynax as he readied himself to go back out.
"What else would you have me do, rope you into coming with me and leave the omegas here on their own?" Rynax said it with a bit of bite in his voice, but Tempest knew it was a bit of a compliment. Basically, Rynax was telling Gerax that if anything were to happen while he was away he thought Gerax was man enough to protect the more vulnerable of the group.
Tempest was a little worried when she watched Rynax wrap a piece of fabric around his face and walk out of the glittering cave.
Gerax instantly got up and walked to the entrance as if to stand guard.
Tempest took that moment to speak with Mexyn. She wanted to know what she’d missed in the time that she was knocked out.
"Are you okay?" Tempest questioned when Mexyn got close enough to her.
"I’m fine. A little uncomfortable." Mexyn pulled at the neck of her clothing.
"How come you all aren’t suffering from the same side effects as I am. I know you are more adapted to the heat, but this is a bit extreme, no?"
"You’re not wrong. This level of heat is more than what we are used to. I’ve checked the conversion with the typical earth rate, and it says that right now we are about 49 degrees Celsius."
Tempest quickly did the conversion from Celsius to farenheit.
"Holy crap, that’s about one hundred and twenty degrees." Tempest just couldn’t believe it. No wonder she was passing out from heat exhaustion. It was like she had tried to climb a mountain in a freaking sauna.
"Yes, that’s exactly right. How are you feeling?" Mexyn asks.
"I’m okay. Still got this gnawing feeling in my stomach, but I guess that’s just from the heat."
"It’s not from the heat. It’s from Dron." Gerax answered.
"What are you talking about? How can it be from Dron?"
"It’s the sickness. It’s already starting to take hold." Gerax grimaced slightly.
Tempest squeezed her eyes shut.
Great. Just what she needed: more reason for her to be an invalid.