“Are you okay?” I cried.

“Take Lizzie, and get Sully,” he called back. “You can probably be back in an hour.”

“Are you crazy? I’m not leaving you up there for an hour!” His hold looked tenuous as it was. I didn’t even know if he’d last five minutes.

“Adelaide—”

“Be quiet. I’m smarter than you, remember?”

My tone was harsh, but it was only to cover my own fear. Cedric had fallen far from the rope he’d been on; it was too high up now. He’d placed another, lower rope just before his fall, but he could no longer reach it. I had a few extra pieces of equipment at my feet, most of which didn’t seem to be of use—with a few exceptions.

That last rope he’d placed was just barely too high for me to reach. Picking up two sharp metal stakes, I practiced plunging them into the rock. To my surprise, I had the strength to embed them and get a secure hold. What was more problematic was pulling myself up. The muscles in my upper body just didn’t have the capability to do it with ease. So, I did it with difficulty. I told myself over and over that I only had to go up a few feet. I told myself it was no problem. Most important, I told myself that Cedric’s life depended on it.

“Don’t do anything dangerous,” Cedric said.

“You can’t even see me,” I yelled back.

“Yeah, but I know you.”

With every muscle in my body screaming, I managed to use the stakes to claw my way up enough to reach the rope. I gripped it and was surprised to find it harder to hold on to than the stakes. My hands immediately began to slide, and I yelped in pain as the rope tore at my skin. Using every bit of determination I could muster, I managed to stop my descent and hold on to the rope, bending my body at an angle so that my feet stabilized me on the rock.

I contemplated my next move as a light wind blew strands of hair into my face. I needed to get the rope over to Cedric. If he could reach it, he could climb down safely. Lifting my feet, I hopped to the side, attempting to swing over on the rope. I moved only a little and soon realized the problem. This low on the rope, my weight wasn’t enough to move the line a significant distance. I needed to climb up.

Again, all my muscles were pushed to their limits as I raised one hand over the other. I’d seen laborers in Osfro climb ropes my entire life. I’d had no idea how much work it was. Having skinned-up hands didn’t help either. When I thought I was high enough to swing myself and the rope over more effectively, I told Cedric, “The rope’s coming in on your right. Grab it when you can.”

I then launched off again to the side and, as hoped, I moved the rope significantly closer to Cedric. But still not enough. Another ungainly swing got me within grasping distance.

“I can see it,” he said. “I think I can do it.”

Peering up, I held my breath as I watched him scoot over on that tiny ledge. A few rocks skittered down as he did, and I hoped it would hold him. His hand stretched out and grasped hold of the rope—but now he needed to get the rest of him over. With what sounded like a muttered prayer, he jumped off the ledge, reaching wildly for the rope with his other hand. Once more I had that terrible image of him falling, but he managed to make contact and grip both hands on the line.

The sudden change in weight on the rope made me lose my foothold, and we both swung wildly for several moments. I slid again, doing more damage to my hands, but managed to keep my grip and finally plant my feet on the rock again. Above me, I felt Cedric do the same. Before we could take any comfort in that momentary security, I felt the entire rope shift, jerking me down. I realized what was happening before Cedric spoke.

“The hook on this line wasn’t planted deeply enough to hold us both.”

In an instant, I knew what I needed to do. I had to get off the rope. I began shimmying down it, which was slightly easier than going up but still required great care. When I reached the bottom of the rope, I felt the whole thing shift again, but it continued to hold. I couldn’t reach the spikes I’d used to climb up to the rope. The distance from where I was to the ground wouldn’t kill me, but it would probably hurt. Cedric falling from his height would be much worse.

Without hesitation, I let go of the rope and jumped to the ground. I’d feared I’d break my leg or ankle, but I managed to land in a way so that my hip struck the ground first. It was a jolting, teeth-rattling landing, but at worst, I thought I’d have only a bad bruise on that hip tomorrow. Freed of my weight, the rope held as Cedric quickly scrambled down. He made the same jump I had, and his greater height gave him less distance to cover.

“Are you okay?” he asked, helping me to stand.

“I think so.” But as I spoke, I looked at my hands and winced at what I saw. Broken skin and blood. I’d ignored them in my frantic attempt to come down, but now the pain hit me full force.

Cedric held my hands gently. I could see small cuts and scrapes on him as well. “Oh, Adelaide. You shouldn’t have done that.”

“And leave you up there? No way. What happened? You seemed to be doing so well.”

“I thought so too,” he said, leading me away. The clouds were increasing and growing darker, which seemed fitting given the turn the day had made. When we reached the shanty, he helped me wash and wrap my hands in clean cloths. “Mistress Marshall will have some kind of salve for you. I’ll take you back now.” He began unbuckling the harness and started to toss it aside.

“Wait, let me look,” I said, reaching for it. Cedric might be an amateur at a lot of these frontier tasks, but I knew he hadn’t been careless with the harness or disregarded the directions he’d been given. This mishap wasn’t his doing. I turned the harness over and examined each part, with a feeling of dread in my stomach that intensified when I found what I’d feared. I pointed to a small metal loop. “Look.”

It was one of two that the rope had fed through, wrapping around so that it kept him secured while still letting him move. The loops were made of a single strand that had been bent so the ends met to close the circle. One loop’s ends were brought together tightly, leaving no space between them. But the one I indicated had bent ends that appeared to have been strained to a point where they pulled apart and released the rope.

Cedric leaned forward. “It looks like the ends were never attached properly . . . or they were pried apart.”

We both sat there quietly as those words hung between us. “Maybe it was an accident,” I said at last. “But if it wasn’t . . . why? It’s in their best interest to know what’s in there. Warren’s fortune is at stake too.”

“He’s out of town,” Cedric reminded me. “Maybe this was all Elias’s doing. He’s a petty man. I can see him being vindictive. And he’s never liked us.”

“But this is all speculation,” I said. “Maybe it was an accident.”

“Right. Maybe it was an accident.”

But I knew neither of us believed that. Trust each other, Aiana had said. But no one else.

I pulled out the gold nugget, which I’d tucked into a pocket before my climb. Its glitter was hypnotic. “I don’t think we should wait for Warren to get back to get this gold out.”

“Agreed,” said Cedric. “Tomorrow we’re taking matters into our own hands.”