Drifters

Where the Amazon meets the Andes, Bolivia

Sophie woke up to the smell of food, grabbed at it, and was halfway through her second sandwich when her tastebuds recognized liver pate.

She somehow felt betrayed. Not that she disliked the stuff, it was just… something that shouldn't be served without informing everyone that's what it was.

After deciding to write a disappointed letter to whoever was in charge of scheduling meals during these contests, Sophie swallowed and asked the empty air for lemonade. A bottle appeared on the platform next to her, and it helped wash down the next four sandwiches.

When she was done, Nop flew down and told her she had seven minutes left with the platform. Sophie thanked the raven, then got to her feet and began stretching.

By her estimate, she'd been asleep about forty minutes. That was enough time for her burning muscles to grow cold and stiff. Rani had warned about climbing with stiff muscles.

Nop was still while she stretched, then finally fluttered and hopped up. "Thirty seconds. Please move off the platform."

Sophie thanked her, moving to grip at the rock face. She felt confident in her ability to finish the climb.

The platform vanished, and she started down.

"Thirty seconds until the barrier will be removed."

Peter pulled the hat off his face, muttering a thanks to Nop. He stared up and found only two creepy monkeys watching him, not over a dozen. They must have gotten bored and wandered off. He hoped they were gone for good.

"Where's Razan?" Marie asked, climbing to her feet.

"He left shortly after you fell asleep," Nop reported. "He's close to the button, but moving slowly. If you follow the path he cleared, you ought to reach him about the same time Sophie does."

Marie smiled. "Well done, samurai."

Peter got up, adjusting his clothes. He knew the rostari were able to clean clothes until they seemed new, but he'd never given them things covered in monkey poo before. He hoped it wouldn't be a problem to get out.

Also, he hated monkeys now.

With a blue flash, the barrier vanished. The monkeys above them twitched, but didn't stop picking at fruit with their weird little hands. Peter glared at them.

"Lead the way, cowboy," Marie said, motioning into the jungle.

"Yes, Captain," he said, giving the monkeys one last glance before moving.

It wasn't exactly easy to follow the trail of broken plants Razan had left behind, but it was easier than trying to get through undisturbed jungle. Peter climbed over logs and around bushes, too busy focusing on where to put his feet for conversation. He found himself enjoying the challenge, climbing around ancient trees the size of houses humbled him, but he was glad he'd be going home at the end of the day. A full week out here would have been far too much.

They left the monkeys behind, thankfully. Marie kept pace with him, cursing at the difficult terrain, eventually finding a stick to walk with. At a small stream they were yelled at by a flock of bright green birds, but the birds didn't throw anything.

Peter decided he liked birds.

Razan tripped over a vine and crashed into a boulder. He grumbled, wiping his hands off, and walked into a spiderweb.

Jungles were terrible places.

After removing the spiderweb and its upset owner from his face, Razan pushed through a bush and came face-to-face with a cliff. He checked the compass, walked left a few paces, and found a metal plate just wide enough to stand on. There was a button set into the middle of the plate.

He knelt down, pushed it, then scanned the cliff for Sophie. She was almost to the bottom, but quite a ways away from him.

Razan leaned against the rock, resting his eyes. Then he opened them and frowned at the plate.

"Miss Nop, is it allowed to move the plate?" he called.

With a flash, the raven appeared. "Yes, it is."

"Thank you," he bowed.

Then he picked the metal plate up, tucked it under his arm, and made his way towards Sophie.

Sophie stopped just above the jungle canopy and sat on a ledge. She finished off her water and almonds, admiring the view.

A carpet of green stretched out before her, sending up bird songs and a fresh-scented breeze. She wished she could capture this view precisely, and use it to cover her bedroom wall.

Maybe she could. She decided to ask Nop about it when she got home. There were paints available, after all, so painting a wall shouldn't be forbidden or anything.

Growing bored once the food was gone, she sighed and continued down.

The rock was more sloped here, but it was also looser. And there were more bugs. If she was going to fall, it would be here.

Sophie was so focused on finding good handholds she almost missed the grumbling curses coming from below. She stopped, scanning the jungle floor, and spotted Razan crashing his way through the plants.

He had so many random leaves and things stuck to him he almost looked like a plant himself. He was using a metal pot lid or something to beat trees and bushes out of his way, and cursing when they didn't stay down.

Sophie hung off the cliff by three fingers, focusing on the lid thing. "Razan! Is that the button?!" she yelled at him.

Razan stopped attacking a plant and glared up at her. "Yes."

"Wonderful!" She swung in, dropping down to the next ledge. It cracked, and she let herself slip to the next ledge down before it broke off completely. She looked around the jungle again. "Where's everyone else?"

"Somewhere behind me, I assume," he called. They were close enough now he didn't have to quite yell. "I left them sleeping at lunch."

Sophie nodded, judging the distance between them. The ground was steep, but nothing lethal. If she were to run down…

"Do you think you can catch me?" she called.

Razan frowned, judging the slope, then put the lid down against a tree. "I'd rather not."

"You…" She swung, getting her back against the rock. "Would rather…" She crouched, studying the cliff between them. "Not be here at all." Sophie gave him her brightest smile. "Ready?"

He rolled his eyes, adjusting his stance. "If I die, my spirit will haunt you."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Deciding that was acceptable, she pushed herself off the cliff into a run. Gravity took hold, and the next thirty seconds were the most terrifying of her whole life. One wrong move and she'd break a leg, followed by everything else. This was absolutely the worst decision she'd ever made.

She loved it.

Screaming, Sophie crashed into Razan. He stumbled back, turning as he grabbed her arm. They spun, and she fell reasonably softly to the ground. Razan was pulled down to his knees next to her. Sophie closed her eyes, giggling uncontrollably.

"You're insane," Razan decided.

"You look like you're disguised as a bush," she countered.

"You look like a half-eaten cherry."

Sophie opened her eyes and looked at her sunburned, mosquito-bitten arms. "I feel like a half-eaten cherry."

He almost laughed, then got to his feet and helped her up. She let her hand linger in his, wondering what he'd do if she didn't let go. And then the smell hit her.

Sophie gagged, holding her nose as she backed away. "What is-"

"Monkey excrement," he answered.

Sophie quickly checked to make sure she hadn't gotten any on her. There was a greenish-brown smudge on her hip that she wasn't about to sniff to check, but she assumed it wasn't from a plant. As she began to panic, Razan got the button and held it out to her. In desperate need of a shower, she pushed it.

Inti's Watcher

Marie watched the blue glow fade as they landed in the transport area. She was still holding her walking stick, and wondered if the rostari would try to sell it.

Sophie looked them all over warily, sniffing. "Why are you all covered in…"

Marie grinned, taking her jacket off. "Monkeys. Very territorial."

Nop appeared. "It has been requested for sanitation purposes that you three remove your outer layer of clothes before we move you to your rooms. Please place them on the ground. Sophie, we will take you now, if you wish."

"Yes, please," the girl said quickly. She vanished in a blue glow.

Marie dropped her jacket to the ground, kicking off her boots. "Will we get these clothes back?"

"If possible," Nop answered. "If not, you will receive a replacement free of charge."

"How generous," Razan said, stripping down. "Does 'outer layer' include my swords?"

"Yes, but those will be easy to sanitize," the raven assured him. "We will have all your weapons back to you by tonight."

Marie set her hat on top of her pile of clothes, noticing Peter still hadn't moved. "Everything all right?"

"I'll… wait." He looked profoundly uncomfortable.

Marie glanced at Razan, who shrugged and finished undressing. Once free of clothes, he was taken away with a flash of blue light. Marie went quickly after him, ending up in her room.

Nop appeared next to her. "Louis has requested to be transported here, now that you've returned."

Marie considered it.

Nop cleared her throat. "He says, and I quote, he can 'help get the shit out of your hair'."

"Is there any?" Marie asked. "I thought it was all caught on my hat."

"Most of it was," the raven said apologetically. "However, there is a bit of- well-"

"Is he in his room? Alone?" she asked.

"Yes."

Marie didn't know how long Sophie was going to be in the shower, but she could commandeer Louis' shower immediately. "Take me to him, if it's allowed."

Nop bobbed and hopped away, and a few seconds later Marie was transported into Louis' room. He beamed, stepping up to her.

She stopped him with a hand on his chest. "And who gave you permission to watch me during the contest?"

He took her hand, his eyes locked on hers. "No one, my love, for my desire to watch your every move clouds my judgement to the point I forgot to ask."

"See that it doesn't happen again." Truthfully, she didn't mind at all, and had expected him to watch ever since learning his group wouldn't be joining.

"You have my word, it will not," he said seriously. "Unless I forget, or some unexpected circumstance arises where asking is impossible."

"Or you don't want to, fearing I'll say no."

"You won't say no."

"Won't I?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"You could never be so cruel."

Marie gave in with a laugh. "Of course not, my love." She motioned towards his bathroom. "Now let me wash the jungle off."

"By all means," he said, smirking. "While you have no sense of smell, I do, and-"

"And it's in your best interest to not finish that sentence."

"Understood."

Peter walked out of his room and Sophie immediately grabbed his arm.

"Peter! I'd like to ask you for a favor," she said, pulling a small bottle out of her pocket. "I'm supposed to put this on everywhere I have a sunburn, but there are some parts of my back I can't reach. Would you be so kind as to put it on for me?"

"Sure," he said, taking the bottle. "How bad is it?"

"Fairly terrible." She pulled him back into his room and waited for the door to close before taking her robe off. There was nothing under it.

Peter tried to not look horrified at her skin. Everything where her clothes hadn't been was bright red and covered in bug bites. He schooled his expression as she giggled, moving to sit on his bed.

"I told you it was terrible," she said, turning her back on him. "Nop says there's a cream to prevent sunburns, as well as this one to treat them, so next time I'll ask for some."

"Or you could wear real clothes," Peter muttered, sitting next to her and carefully starting to rub cream onto her back.

Sophie shivered, leaning against his hand. "Why should I? Getting a massage from you is worth a bit of pain."

"It's not- Never mind."

She was quiet for a few seconds, then turned to look at him. "Before coming here, I wasn't allowed to choose my clothes. The ones I owned, or the ones I wore every day. Everyone here has a style, a unique way of dressing that shows who they are. I… don't know what my style is yet. But I can't let anyone decide for me."

Peter put his hands on her shoulders, then ran them down her body to rest on her hips. "Sophie, you're gorgeous. I can't help being jealous if you show off to everyone. I want you all to myself."

"I understand."

He spent a few more seconds rubbing her back. "So, will you wear less revealing clothes?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

Sophie sighed, annoyed. "It's not about that for me. I just want clothes I can climb in, fall in… move around without worrying about them tearing. So far, that's clothes which are tight and don't cover a large part of my body."

"That's fine, but there are people watching. You really don't mind showing that much skin to- to Razan?"

"He said I look like a half-eaten cherry, I really don't think you have to worry about him."

Peter paused. "When did he say that?"

"Before giving me the button. I called him a bush, and that was his reply."

"Oh. I thought you'd asked him to put this cream on you or something," Peter said.

Sophie moved to face him, smirking. "I lied. I don't strictly need help putting it on. I just wanted an excuse to get your hands on me."

He forgot what they'd been talking about, which was fine because he also forgot how to speak. Which wasn't a problem, because she kissed him and all problems faded away.

Razan watched the other groups as they finished their climbs.

A good portion had their "captured" person simply untie themself and find a good place to wait as the rest of the group climbed up. The clever groups had the captured person tie a rope to the rope they'd been hung from, and climb down as far as it went. Given the restrictions on what they could bring, this meant they'd had to wear the rope as a belt to get it into the contest.

The Wasps had their captured person enter wearing rope as a belt, bracelets, anklets, and hair tie. This meant it had to be fairly thin. Razan wondered if they'd tested the strength of the rope before having someone trust their life to it.

Of the groups with people brave enough to climb down without rope, only two had pushed the button before the Drifters; Stars and Diamonds. Rani had reached the button first, and set off into the jungle to find her group. The Diamond members, who Razan still hadn't met, had reached the button at the same time.

In Innoka's group, Mateo had been the one tasked with climbing. He mostly waited, only daring to move a few steps down once an hour or so. Once the rest of the group reached the button, Antoni pushed it and declared his part in the contest had been completed. He sat down and ordered the women to climb. Knowing Innoka had died falling off a cliff, Razan really wanted to go down and punch Antoni in the face.

Aside from that, Razan couldn't help but notice that most of the mountains people had to climb weren't quite as flat and vertical as the one Sophie had been tied up on. He knew Nop had chosen that one for them, and wondered if it was a punishment or a sign of confidence.

Deciding not to ask, he sat back and continued watching.