12 those tasks overcome
Rhine was beginning to see the truth of why he’d come to Pillar’s Shadow. Maybe it hadn’t been a rolling of the dice, maybe he was supposed to be there, and maybe he was supposed to climb. Rhine tried to explain how they could have dreamt the same thing, or possibly how Penelope could have known about his. Rhine hadn’t told anyone, not even Peleos, who had asked him every time they met with each other what Rhine was dreaming about.
Penelope needed help and, despite her urgings that she was fine, Rhine led her to a nearby house and told them to get help. She elbowed Rhine to leave, told him he had to climb the Pillar. That it was his destiny.
She placed her hands into Rhine’s hair and pulled him tenderly closer.
“Please come back,” she whispered, “please come back for me.”
She kissed him softly on the cheek. Rhine felt the hairs on his arm rise up and his heart race. Rhine looked into her beautiful and sparkling brown eyes. He placed his lips to hers, felt a strong and powerful sensation surge through his body on contact. It lasted only a second, but it had felt like a lifetime.
“I will,” he whispered back, “I promise.”
It was time for Rhine to go. The sun would be rising soon and he knew that if he waited any longer he wouldn’t be able to leave his house without being spotted. He was already being eyed suspiciously by the woman he’d brought Penelope to for help. Her eyes told Rhine she thought it was all his fault, that he had done something. He gave one final look to Penelope, a soft smile that she returned, and then he left.
Pillar’s Shadow was still covered in darkness, a chilling air surrounding it. No one was awake yet, but Rhine knew that would soon change. He had to move quickly.
He ran as quietly as he could back into his house, the empty house with little more than a hard bed in the corner and the leftovers from what Onyx had brought to him the previous night. Rhine entered and grabbed the plate of corn and bits of chicken. He ate it all and drank what remained of his water. He hoped it would be enough. When he was finished he stepped out and stared at the Pillar, its size always caused Rhine to step back in awe, and now he was going to climb it.
He had never climbed anything even remotely as high in his entire life, and he reminded himself of this fact more than once as he walked towards its base. But he also reminded himself about his dreams, and Penelope’s dream, and the look she gave him just before he walked out; it was a look that gave him strength and a sense of confidence he’d never felt before.
He kept his eyes and ears alert as his feet darted softly across the sand. He couldn’t afford to be spotted, not now that he was supposed to stay in his house at all times. He wondered what they would do to him if they found him out there, what Peleos would do. They would probably banish him, but Rhine shrugged at that, thinking it wouldn’t be so bad. He could escape with Penelope and never return to that place or think of the Pillar and its mysterious lights ever again. But Penelope wanted him to climb, she wanted him to discover the secret and deep down Rhine wanted that as well.
He reached the base of the Pillar and walked around it to the right. He decided to climb where the man had fallen a few days prior. If that was where they climbed, he reasoned, it must be the easiest way to the top, though Rhine knew it would be almost impossible not to picture the man’s helpless body rocketing down to the ground.
Rhine looked around him once more. There appeared to be nobody and Rhine heard nothing but the whistling sand as it toppled over the nearby dunes in gusts of wind. The air was still cool and dark. Rhine had wiped the sweat from his brow to quell the shivers and was now comfortable and felt as ready as he could be.
When he arrived at his destination the first place he looked was up. He saw the flat expanse of rock above him leading to the swirling clouds that disguised its peak. If all went well he would be in the mysterious clouds soon. He placed his hands against the cold rock, dug his hands into the sand at his feet to dry them off, and whirled around as he heard the sound of approaching footsteps.
It was too dark, even with his acclimated night vision he couldn’t see where the sounds were coming from. They were loud and slow. Rhine thought that he’d been found, that someone from the Shadow had seen him sneak off and was coming to get him. But as the footsteps came closer he saw who it was.
“Hello, Rhine,” Peleos said, his body appearing out from the shadows and into the moonlight. The old man had two sticks rising up from the sand and digging into his shoulders to support him. “I have something for you.”
Rhine had expected a scolding, expected Peleos to yell for others to come out of the shadows and grab him, take him back to be punished. What could he possibly have for him?
Peleos reached beneath his shirt with his hand and came out with a folded over piece of paper.
“I would like you to take this with you,” he said, struggling to move towards Rhine. Rhine stepped forward and grabbed it, his eyes narrowed in confusion.
“What is it?” Rhine asked as he held it in his palm.
The old man struggled for air and coughed.
“It… is… a letter,” he said.
Rhine stared at the man, unable to understand what was going on. He watched as the old man’s gaze drew from him to the Pillar beside him, watched as he looked up the rock face.
“I… wish I had been able to climb this… more than once.”
Rhine didn’t understand. Peleos said he’d once been a climber and Rhine had been told he was the leader before he’d gotten hurt. Onyx had told him on his first day there that Peleos had fallen and ruined his legs long ago, but he didn’t say that the old man had only ever climbed it once.
“And, did you reach the top? Do you know what’s up there?” Rhine asked.
The old man drew his gaze back to Rhine and nodded.
“I fell on my way down,” he said. Peleos struggled to find the right words. He gasped for air, lost his balance, and leaned up against the rock. “Just… deliver the letter… please… to my daughter… if you see her… up there…”