Chapter 106: New Fear Unlocked
Whenever Sir Gunnar thought he had tapped out on things to fear, he was faced with a new twist in his life that made him realize he was never done learning. Such was the life of a knight.
"Don’t follow me just yet," he ordered the two apprentices.
The knight was the first to dare climb up over the trail that was partially blocked by a rockslide. He could feel himself holding his breath as he went over because if he slipped on the loose rocks, there were hundreds of feet of drop on the other side. When rocks slid from where he stepped, he would pause for a moment before being forced to press on.
However, that wasn’t what he was so scared of.
He wanted to go first because he had a long, thick rope in his pack. He could hold onto it so that if one of the apprentices started to slip, he would be able to rescue them as long as they could hold onto the other side until they could be saved.
Felix insisted that Irene go before him and he dutifully waited for the younger apprentice to go, making sure that if she fell, she wouldn’t fall towards him and he could catch her from that side if it ended up being like that.
Irene’s anxieties became worse as she watched Sir Gunnar crawl up the mountain slowly but surely. Since his weight didn’t disturb the rocks too much, she tried to convince herself that hers wouldn’t either.
"Are you ready, Iro?" Gunnar called to Irene.
He could read the fear on the child’s face, but that had never mattered in the past.