Return of the General's Daughter

"What do you have in mind, Kane?" Asael asked, his voice sharp as he glared at the three soldiers who had been chattering too much.

"We need plenty of vines. There’s an abundance of them over there," Lara said, pointing toward the dense jungle that clung to the steep slopes of Hainai like an emerald wall. "And we’ll need branches or bamboo poles—if we can’t find planks."

Asael nodded, already forming a plan. His men could scale down the ravine’s sheer walls and climb the other side to construct a bridge. It was risky but necessary.

Without hesitation, the group retraced their steps toward Hainai, weaving through tangled undergrowth and towering trees. The journey took twenty minutes, but when they emerged into a clearing, they found what they needed—bamboo—a whole forest of it.

Slender green stalks rose high into the sky, swaying rhythmically with the wind. Lara and Asael exchanged a glance; they had the same idea.

"Cut twenty stalks," Asael ordered his voice firm. "Strip them clean; remove the thorns."

The soldiers got to work immediately, hacking away with short, efficient strokes. Meanwhile, Lara scouted the area for a sturdy tree they could use as a central pillar. After a few moments, she spotted the perfect candidate—a towering coconut tree with a slender but strong trunk stretching over ten meters into the sky.

She reached for her bolo—but realized she didn’t have one. Sighing, she turned, intending to find Asael and ask for a blade.

But before she could take a step, a figure moved from behind the tree. Aramis.