Chương 84: Book 3; Chapter 83; Just in time

Rainee was slowly travelling through the forest. She was fully submerged in her thoughts and didn't pay much attention to her surroundings. She didn't even control her horse and allowed Aspen to choose the route and speed. The thoughts that occupied her so much were related to where she was going, but not on this trip, rather in her life. It had been a good ten years now since she had been roaming the world on her own, rarely visiting home.

Even those visits were not real visits, as most people would understand visiting. She would not travel home but instead would be taken there by members of the King's Army at times when their roads would meet. Her mother made arrangements that every time she was located and recognised by someone in the King's service, she would be taken back home for a brief visit and then taken back to the place she was picked up from. That way, Rainee's freedom wouldn't be affected, and her family would see her sometimes.

At least that was what her mother thought. It was a strange arrangement, but Rainee didn't fight it. So her mother was happy, and Rainee herself had a chance to see Angus and Ruffus from time to time. This arrangement had a heavy toll on Ruffus, who wanted to come with her, but no one would take him, as he was told by his mother that if he wanted to go with Rainee, he had to find her himself, instead of being 'delivered', then he would be able to travel with Rainee.

Otherwise, it would not be fair if he were just taken and dropped there. And he believed it. Rainee found this rule very unfair to Ruffus, as such a task was unachievable to him and just made him seek something that otherwise he would never want. If not for this strange rule made up just for him, he probably would live a carefree child's life, while now he was trying to train himself into something he didn't want to be, just to satisfy his mother's unreasonable demand.

Rainee herself could not take him with her, as she didn't have a dragon, and members of the King's Army would not listen to her. She asked her father to do it, and he promised that he would as soon as Ruffus sought his help. Rainee found this suggestion very fair and reasonable, as it was Ruffus' life, and it was he who had to make a decision and seek help from those who were able to help him, instead of listening to those who were restraining him. But Ruffus never did.

Instead, he put all his effort into resolving this task by himself and never sought his father's help. Still, nevertheless, it was very nice to see him time after time. But in the past few weeks, Rainee felt a stronger and stronger wish to go back home. Not because she didn't like travelling any longer. No, she enjoyed it even more. But in addition to that, the feeling of wanting to make changes was growing bigger. To make changes not just in her own life but in the way things were understood around.

When travelling, she could influence the lives of those she met, but even then, after leaving, all her teachings and advice were quickly fading. The more she lived, the less she could understand people's life choices and understandings. And with every day, she realised more and more that all they were lacking was a good education and guidance to understand more about life in general, instead of just being helped to achieve something.

The more she thought that way, the more she could see how much effort the King was putting into this task. However, people who were supposed to help him didn't understand most of the things themselves and would mainly curtail his efforts instead of helping. And the desire to get involved was growing daily until she realised that this wish was bigger than her desire to travel or even to discover more about herself and her own abilities. So now Rainee was making her way back home.

It wasn't home that was calling her, but she understood that the only place where she could make these changes was in the Capital, in the Royal Palace, at the King's side. And that's where she was heading. The thought of joining the King's Army was still appalling, and she wasn't going to do so; the thought of returning to the King's Academy wasn't that attractive either. So she didn't even know yet what she would do on her return, but she was willing to find it out when she got there.

However, she wasn't in a hurry and was allowing herself to take as much time as she wanted and maybe even more. Then, in the blink of an eye, everything changed. A loud, fierce scream broke the silence, and in no time, Rainee was galloping at full speed towards the sound that had reached her. The sound never stopped, becoming more agonising and full of despair with each passing second, and she was urging Aspen to go faster and faster, reaching speeds never known to her before.

Surprisingly, this scream didn't disturb anything in the nature around her — only her.. Most of the people would not even understand what she meant by "scream", as there was as much silence in the forest as could be, and all its daily life was disturbed only by the mad dash of Aspen's hooves. However, for a person like Rainee, this scream was much louder than any sound made by the mouth. No verbal sound could ever transmit such an agonising scream of a soul full of terror and despair.

Only people who have ever heard it will understand it, and Rainee was hearing one now, crisp and clear. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Soon they flew into an opening, and there she saw it — a canyon, in front of her, deep and wide, with straight, steep walls of stone on both sides. She could hear an angry river raging like a storm at the bottom of the gorge. The other side of this abyss was much higher than this side.

Trees of the forest were closing right to the edge of the cliff on that side, some trees even leaning across the edge down towards the abyss below, holding on with roots stuck in between stones. One of these trees was growing much lower than the others. A person was hanging from that tree, with one hand holding onto the branch while holding with the other a black furry animal. Both the person and the animal were very quiet, but the desperation could be felt even at this distance.

This soundless, desperate plea for help was exactly what urged Rainee to rush towards this place. The situation was dire — there was no foothold under these two. They were like a little live chain in the air, nowhere to land or stand on. The person was looking up again and again, but it was obvious that he didn't have enough strength to pull himself up with one arm only. Rainee's horse suddenly halted to a dead stop, not daring to come any closer to the edge of the deep opening in front of them.

Without a second thought, Rainee jumped off and started to run as fast as she could towards the unlucky couple on the other side. Rapidly, she was covering the distance towards this side of the canyon. She knew that just by herself, she would not be able to help those on the other side. She didn't have the strength of a Royal officer to jump such a distance; she didn't have a dragon that could carry her across to reach those in need.

However, the thought that all she would be able to do was just to approach this side of the ravine and then watch helplessly never even crossed her mind. Nor was there any shadow of doubt that the help she needed right now would come. She was here, at the time of need, which meant that she was the one to help. And she would receive all she needed to achieve this goal. And sure enough, soon she felt that what she needed right now was approaching rapidly.

Rainee looked over her shoulder, and here it was — high in the sky, a large winged creature was catching up with her. Rainee was getting close to the person on the other side and could see now clearly what was happening. It was a little boy, much younger than her, who was desperately holding a medium-sized dog, or rather a large overgrown pup, clutching the skin of the dog's back badly with one hand, while holding himself onto the branch of the tree with the other.

The dog didn't panic or show any stress, even in this dangerous situation; he hung silently, with his head tilted up, and kept looking at the boy who was holding him. The boy was silent too; he didn't scream or shout for help, as if knowing that there was no one who could help them right now. He was very determined in his actions. However, at the same time, desperation, terror, and helplessness were pouring out of him.

For someone like Rainee, this scream was way louder than any sound one could make with their lungs. The situation was at a critical point — the small child was losing the strength he had. If he let go of the dog and held on to the branch with both hands, he might be able to save himself by pulling up onto the tree. However, all his attention was on the hand that was holding the dog, and the situation there was even worse, as the dog was slowly slipping out of his fingers.

If he could adjust his grip or change the way he was holding the dog, he might be able to hold on for a bit longer, but it wasn't possible to adjust anything, and to his horror and distress, he was losing his grip no matter how hard he tried, and by now, he was hardly clutching the dog's fur in his fist. Rainee reached the edge of the cliff, cleared her head, inhaled deeply, and made a powerful jump forward and high into the air without slowing down.

She was flying up for a few seconds, and then her body halted in the air at the moment when she had reached the peak of her momentum before starting to fall down. Right at that moment, she saw and felt a feathery body under her feet and landed softly without crashing. A massive, oversized falcon was under her feet, carrying her forward towards her aim. They didn't manage to reach the other side in time.

The boy lost the battle; the dog slipped out of his grip, leaving just a few black hairs in his fist, and fell into the abyss below. For the first time, the boy made a sound — a desperate, heartbreaking "Noooo…..!" came out of his lungs as if his own life had just slipped out of his hands. Seeing the dog slipping out of the boy's hand, Rainee leaned close to the bird and then again made a massive jump.

This time, not a light one, but pushing the bird down with all her might, while at the same time pushing herself up into a massive leap towards the screaming boy. In a split second, she and the bird flew in opposite directions. She gripped the branch of the hanging tree next to the boy, right at the moment when, in despair at losing his dog, the boy lost all attention to what he was doing. His hand that was holding him to the tree lost all strength, and he was ready to fall down after his friend.

At this very moment, a firm arm wrapped around his waist, and he was pulled back up by a person who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. However, at that very moment, he was neither able to understand nor appreciate the miracle that just happened. All his attention, all his heart, was drawn down to the bottom of the canyon where his furry companion had fallen. Heartbreaking sobbing and screaming were difficult to bear. The despair and pain that radiated out of him were even more unbearable than the screams.

"It's alright, don't be afraid and don't cry. He is saved; no harm happened to him," the calm and reassuring voice next to his ear brought the boy back to his senses. Just then, he realised that at this very moment, he wasn't holding onto anything else but his face while covering his eyes full of tears. A gentle and fragile-looking arm wrapped around his waist was pressing him firmly against another person. In disbelief, he turned to see who was holding him.

There was a young girl, hardly a teen yet, with one hand holding onto the same tree that he had let go just seconds ago and with the other arm holding him safely pressed to her side. Seeing him coming back to his senses, the girl smiled at him and said again.

"You don't have to be afraid anymore. I have you, and your dog is safe too. All is in the past now." - Rainee reassured again. Seeing that he was staring at her with no response, with wide-open eyes, she smiled gently and added.

"If you weren't so afraid, then you would be able to look around. Once you look around, awe would chase all the fear away, as the views from here are so outstandingly beautiful that there is no room for any other feeling left." The boy was still in shock from seeing another person next to him, but to hear such words in this perilous situation left him completely stunned. To look around? … To look around where? … Still, he obediently turned his head to inspect the surroundings. What he saw terrified him even more.

Under them, a very long way down, there was a wide and angry river. The waters were flowing rapidly, making a violent sound. Stones were sticking out of the water here and there. The height was unbearable, and he was stuck in the middle of nowhere above this abyss, being held only by this scrawny, shabby tree that could give way at any minute. He froze to the core, seeing all of it, and a full realisation of the situation hit him.

The girl next to him sighed silently as if she had suddenly become sad and started to swing them forward and backward." She is going to jump!!!" – the frightening realisation cut through the boy's mind. But there was nowhere to jump but down...!