Pup's Arc

Chapter 3 of 6

The path narrowed on the icy slope. Pup marched ahead of his two guides, chin high. Behind him walked Fenrir, the gray wolf man who had climbed the Spire twice and agreed to lead him up. Beside Fenrir came Gorbov, the blue slime who guarded the tunnel below and had joined the climb for reasons he kept blushing about. Pup did not hear the two giants murmur behind him. "Look how he holds his little head up," Gorbov whispered. His voice tried to be quiet and failed. "So brave. So handsome." Fenrir huffed a laugh through his snout. "He walks like a king twice his size." His yellow eyes stayed soft on the small man ahead. "Keep your voice down. He'll hear you." "Let him." Gorbov pressed a wide hand to his chest. "I would tell him myself if my mouth worked right." Pup stopped short. Ahead of his boots the ice broke open into a deep ravine. He could not see the bottom. Cold air rose from it. His short legs would never clear that gap. He turned back to the giants, and for once his proud face cracked with worry. "We can't go around," Fenrir said. He crouched at the edge and measured it with his eyes. "But we don't have to." Gorbov moved first. He backed up three steps, then ran and leapt. His huge blue body sailed over the ravine and landed hard on the far side. The ice cracked but held. He spread his thick arms wide and grinned at Pup across the gap. "Now you," he called. "I will catch you. I promise." Pup looked down into the dark ravine, then up at Gorbov's open arms. His stomach twisted. He was thirty years old and small, and he had trusted these two with everything else. He set his jaw and nodded. Fenrir knelt behind him. "Trust me," the wolf said. He wrapped both strong arms around Pup and lifted him off the ice. "On three." He counted low. Then he threw. Pup flew. Wind tore at his mohawk. The ravine passed beneath him in a blur of blue-white ice. Then Gorbov's arms closed around him, firm and cool, and stopped his flight cold. Gorbov held him a beat longer than he needed to. Blue color rushed into the slime man's cheeks. His small eyes went shy. "Got you," he said softly, close to Pup's tiny head. "Safe." "You can put me down now," Pup said. His own face burned. Gorbov set him gently on solid ice. Fenrir leapt the gap and landed beside them with a grunt. Pup stood on the far side and looked up the slope. Higher above them, the path turned to sheer black rock. Ice gave way to something worse. He had crossed the ravine, but the true climb had only just begun.