Chapter 4

Twenty-five years before...

Standing atop a sheer, craggy cliff face overlooking the ocean, were two people.  One was a tall rugged looking man with scruffy dark brown hair and a strong face.  Standing beside him was a strikingly attractive girl, with red hair tied up in a ponytail.

The man was standing close to the edge, unable to take his eyes off the massive waves below.  They were crashing hard on the base of the cliff.  It did not look pleasant.  He feared very few things in this life, but it would have been a lie to say he wasn't scared at the moment.  Although scared might not have been the best word; apprehensive was probably a closer fit to how he was feeling.

"The water looks really cold," said the man.

"You don't have to do this, Anton," said the girl, "I have a bad feeling about this."

"You really should know me by now, Maruska," said the man, whose name was indeed Anton DiManlen, "I already made up my mind a long time ago that I was going to do this."

He finally tore his gaze from the monstrous waves below and looked around at the view around him.  It was sometime in the afternoon and the sky was full of pale grey clouds.  There was no blue in sight.  It was a dreary day and there was a bitterly cold wind blowing.

"I guess I'd better get this done," said Anton.  He took off his tunic and pulled off his boots and now he was standing in his underwear in the freezing cold.

Although she had seen it many times before, Maruska could not help marvelling at his muscular frame.  Which at the moment was shivering slightly.

"You look cold," said Maruska.

Anton reached down to one of his boots and pulled out a knife that he kept sheathed on the side of it.

"Not as cold as I am about to be," he said, "Um, tell me again what it is that I am looking for?"

"It's called Dahrion's Tear," said Maruska, "Down there, you will see some giant clams.  If you pry them open, one of them may contain a light bluey-green coloured pearl."

"And you need this to make those potions of yours," said Anton.

"Well I don't need it," said Maruska, "But it would allow me to make some of the more powerful formulas.  I didn't realise it would be so dangerous!  We could ask around, maybe there's another place where we can find these clams."

"No," said Anton, "That guy said here is the surest bet to find them.  And we're here already.  I'll see you when I'm done."

He put the knife between his teeth, took in a deep breath and then leaped off the cliff face!

Down..... down.....down.... towards the tumultuous ocean.

Splooooooosh!

Maruska, standing up on the cliff, watched the surface of the water.  She was holding her breath.

Sunddenly Anton came to the surface, he was kicking around in place as giant waves were tossing him up and down.  He looked up at Maruska, and waved.

It put her a little more at ease to see he was okay.  She could breathe again.  Then she saw Anton dive back under the waves and disappear.

Maruska stood there watching the waves, waiting to see Anton.  She was counting in her head, to time how long he had been under there for.  He had told her that when he was a kid, he used to compete with his friends, to see who could stay under water the longest.  He told her he could hold his breath for over two minutes.

Eighty-nine...

Ninety...

Maruska was counting.  She was beginning to get nervous.  She looked everywhere down there, trying to spot him.

And then she saw something that caught her eye.  It was a dark shape moving in the water!  She looked again and saw nothing.  She prayed hard that it was just her imagination playing tricks on her.

Then she saw Anton!  He had surfaced!  He had a big smile on his face and was waving to her.  He was holding something in his hand.  At such a far distance, Maruska couldn't see what it was, but really at this stage she didn't care.  All she wanted was Anton out of the water.

"Get out of there, Anton!" she shouted down at him.

But she didn't need to.  Anton  was already swimming towards the base of the cliff.  Once he reached there, he would be safe.  Anton was the best rock climber Maruska knew.  He would make it up the cliff no worries once he reached it.

Maruska was starting to relax.  Anton was very close to the-

Suddenly, a green scaly.... thing.... came out of the water and with its mouth wide open, dived at Anton!

"Anton!" shouted Maruska.

There was a huge splash and both Anton and the.... (Maruska actually didn't even know what it was.... except that it had pale green skin and red fins) vanished under the water.

"Anton!" she shouted.

All she could see when she looked down were the terrifying waves.

Nothing.  She could see nothing.

Without thinking, she stripped off her tunic and threw it to the ground.  She fumbled on the ground and picked up Anton's other boot, which had another knife in it.  She drew it, then put it inbetween her teeth.  She didn't even know why she did that, except that she had seen Anton do it.

She looked down at the water and jumped.

She pointed her body towards the water and held both her arms as straight as she could.

You can't even swim good! the voice inside her head said to her.

Splash!  Maruska entered the FREEZING cold water.

If she didn't have a knife in her mouth, she would have screamed!

Now she was underneath the water, arms and legs flailing  around.  She forced herself to open her eyes.  She was amazed that she actually see fairly well.  She spun around and then saw them!  Anton and the sea monster or whatever it was, were fighting, wrestling...

Maruska swam through the water, kicking hard.  She reached Anton and the sea monster.  It had arms!  It looked like a half-man, half-fish!  Maruska really didn't care at this point what it looked like.  She took her knife out of her mouth and stabbed it!  She wasn't aiming, she just had stabbed randomly.  Somehow she managed to catch a softer spot on its scaly skin.  Her knife sank in deep.

Aaarrrggghh!

She heard the monster scream in the water.  It turned to look at her and then suddenly she felt an excruciating stinging pain spear her in the back!  She looked and saw that the monster had stabbed its tail into her!

She pulled out her knife from the creature and tried to reach around to cut its tail, but just couldn't turn enough to reach.  Suddenly, she realised she was running out of oxygen.  Seriously!  She looked up and the surface of the water above them seemed so far away!  She was going to die, she knew it.  She resigned to that fact and decided to stab the creature as many times as she could.

But then, just as Maruska had completely given up hope, she saw a splash of dark blood spurt out of the creature and it started to flail a bit and then stop.  She saw Anton come over to her, push the dying monster away.  She felt his strong arm wrap around her waist and then he began to swim up to the surface.  Maruska felt her knife slip out of her hand and she looked down and watched it vanish into the darkness of the water below.

PLOARR!!!

Fresh air!

Maruska breathed!  They were on the surface!  She breathed in again and again.  She had never experienced anything as wonderful as the fresh air right then and there.

Anton was swimming towards the base of the cliff, dragging her along with him in the water.  Maruska felt a sharp pain on her back, near her shoulder-blade; each time the water splashed on it, it really stung.  She tried to move her arms and legs, but they felt numb.  She looked up at the sky.  What a day she was having.  The sky looked nice..... seagulls...

"Maruska, can you hear me?"

Maruska suddenly realised she had been daydreaming.

"Maruska," said Anton firmly, "I need you to climb onto my back and hold on really tight.  I'm going to climb up the cliff.  Can you do that?  Can you hold onto me and not let go?"

"Yeah....." said Maruska, "I..... cannnnnn....do that...." She could hear her voice like someone else was speaking for her.  She was shivering and slurring at the same time.  Why was she slurring she wondered?

Anton positioned himself so that Maruska could climb piggy back on him.  She wrapped her arms around his neck, and held on tight.  She felt Anton testing her grip around him, to see if she was holding firm.

"All you need to do," said Anton, "Is hold on tight and don't let go.  We're going to get up this cliff face and then we're going to laugh at what a day we're having.  Are you ready Maruska?"

Maruska nodded and said, "I'm holding tight."

Anton started climbing.

Maruska watched as he climbed.  She had never had such a good view of his climbing before.. from his back!  She saw him reach at the edges of the rock face and make his way up.  He was going really fast too.  Maruska felt so safe.  She really trusted Anton.  She felt so lucky, to be with someone so trustworthy.

Her hands were beginning to get tired, but she just squeezed her grip even tighter.  She just had to hold on and Anton would do the rest.  She closed her eyes.  it seemed to make it easier, but not for long.  Soon her hands were getting really tired.  She just thought of Anton to distract herself.

He must be having an even harder time.... climbing and carrying me, she thought.

"No!" said Anton.

Maruska felt Anton's arm holding onto her butt.  She realised her hands had slipped.

"Hold on!" shouted Anton.

"I'm sorry," said Maruska.  She clasped her hands around his neck again.  And then her world started to go dark.  Her hearing went all weird.  Her body went all numb.  She found it so hard to talk.  And that wound on her back was throbbing!

Then..... relief.....

She felt the ground underneath her back.  She was looking up at the sky.  Where was Anton?  She turned her head to look.  She saw him lying on his back, arms and legs spread out wide.  His chest was heaving up and down.  He looked exhausted!  She glanced at his hands; the palms and fingers were red with blood!

"I'm sorry..." Maruska tried to say, but she could barely hear her own voice.

Anton turned to look at her.  He smiled at her, and in that moment, she felt alright.  The pain, it was nothing.  Anton was smiling at her.

"We made it," she heard him say, but the sound was all muffled.

Suddenly, Anton's face looked concerned.  He said something, but this time she couldn't hear him at all.

"I love you," Maruska tried to say.  She knew she was going to die.  She hoped he heard it.

Reviews

[ScarlettTheDreamer]

Great chapter! Just the right amount of everything. I think the first line should be 'twenty-five years before' instead of ago. The details were awesome though I think you should cut down on the (...)s. Seems like you use that too often. Love the story so far :)

[thuaners]

thanks for the advice Scarlett! Will do :D yep i use the '...' as im typing, cos its coming out of my head as im writing.. and i'm pausing to think maybe!! hahah.. its a habit cos thats how i write my messages on the internet! ill weed them out of the writing when i edit! thanks for the tip.. its really nice to know!! :)