The brambles dug into my forearms as I pushed them aside and peered through the opening. In the darkness of night, a faint silhouette was all I could see of the opposing team’s guard as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. No others were visible, but faint whisperings reached my ears from way over on the left. To the right... nothing.

As soon as the guard turned and paced to the right, his attention elsewhere, I eased out of the bush and snatched the rope dangling from a tree. Knowing I had only a few seconds before he looked back towards me, I placed my feet on the trunk and then ran up the trunk, going hand over hand on the rope. My bare soles made no sound on the rough bark.

It was several minutes later and a hundred feet higher before I reached my two teammates, panting lightly and fingers sore from gripping the rope. I alighted onto the branch just below them.

“How many?” Amber asked, her voice scarcely louder than a breath.

I replied, “At least three, probably more. Odds that don’t go well for us.”

“So we’re sticking to the plan?”

I nodded, and immediately heard a sharp intake of breath.

“Kaelea...” she whined.

I inwardly winced at the sound and gritted my teeth. “Amber, be quiet. We’re not that high.” Although my tone was forceful, I kept the volume soft and could barely hear myself over the wind, which was fiercer in the lofty heights of the treetop than it had been in the shelter of the forest.

The moonlight glinted off Amber’s brown eyes as they widened. “Not that high?” she yelped, although this time lowering the volume to match mine. “Yeah, we’re only a hundred feet off the ground standing on four-inch branches. Great plan, Kaelea.”

I glanced down and my head spun as I saw the distance to the ground. It was a long way. An intimidatingly long way. If it hadn’t been for the countless times before, steeling my resolve to have no fear, I might have lost heart right there. As it was, experience allowed me to wrench my gaze from that dizzying view of earth and brush below and turn it back to the small girl just above me. With a small shrug, I reminded her, “Fifty feet, a hundred feet, doesn’t matter. If you fall, either way you’re dead.”

Amber glared. “Well thanks, that makes me feel so much better. You know, not all of us are fearless like you. I could do with a little encouragement for once.” With a small hmph she turned her back and took up the end section of the rope, manipulating it deftly into a tight knot. I felt a twinge of guilt but reasoned it was better to not offer reassurance. Fear would serve her well in her coming ordeal. I instead got back to work and began to haul the rope up from where it dangled below, and, once finished, tied the end around the trunk of the tree.

As I continued to prepare for our next move, lashing the rope around my waist, my other teammate dropped soundlessly onto my branch. The sudden lurch of the branch caused my footing to slip, and for one heart-pounding moment, I began to fall off sideways, but the rope anchoring me to the tree served its purpose well. I jolted to a stop and found myself eating a faceful of pine needles.

A strong hand gripped my arm and pulled me back to safety, and as the hand let go, I looked around to see a familiar face with an easy smile. His dark brown, spiky hair had a brilliant contrast where it overlapped the moon’s lustrous surface, but it was his blue eyes I found myself looking into before wiping my hair out of my face. “You could at least warn me next time you’re about to knock me off,” I muttered, spitting out a few stray, bitter-tasting needles.

He chuckled quietly and pulled a few pine needles out of my tangled red hair. “I thought you were supposed to be good at this sort of thing.” His lilting tones were uncharacteristically soft.

I raised an eyebrow and folded my arms, leaning back against the tree for support. “Meaning?”

“Like, not getting caught by surprise.”

I punched his shoulder just hard enough to hurt. “Darak, some day you’re going to wake up with no ears.”

“Ooh, now I’m scared.” He glanced downwards and reconsidered that statement. “Jokes aside, are you sure this is really a good idea?”

Amber neatly swung down from her branch, feet dangling in the air and fingers gripping the rough bark tightly. “Of course it isn’t. But since Kaelea thinks we’ll die anyway, we might as well go through with it.” She dropped agilely to a limb just beneath her. With her thin lips twisted into a mischievous smile and eyebrows slanted, I could see through the Amber I knew to the flyer Amber; this was an Amber that knew what her job was, knew how to do it, and knew how to do it with style.

“Rope attached? Knots checked? Shoes off? Warmed up?” I ran through the checklist. After she confirmed everything she needed to start, I smiled for the first time that night and asked, “Ready to fly?”

She returned the smile. “Flying.” It was all part of the protocol.

“Fly on.”

This type of flying isn’t anything like the winged soaring that falcons engage in, where only the air and warm sun exists as you wander higher and farther, all worries beneath you. Nor is it like the buzzing of flies or bees, erratically zooming from one destination to the next. Those are for the winged, the feathered, the creatures of nature. This is the flight of humans.

The first thing fliers will tell you about their craft: the union between themselves and the forest, how every branch is only one leap away, how every leaf glitters before your eyes before you rip past, how the bark seems to brush gently against your skin, caressing rather than grazing, how you know that as you fall through the air, adrenaline screaming without a sound, freedom singing without a voice, you will always manage to catch on at the eleventh hour.

Perhaps this was why Amber’s face was unlined and peaceful as she stood balanced on the end of the sagging limb and bent her knees slowly, crouching as if about to dive into a swirling river. The exhilaration you feel flying is tangible in a way that fear never could be. Without another moment of delay, she sprung. Her legs pushed, her body slid forwards, and she sailed out of the pine and into the air.

The rope slid through my fingers, faster and faster, burning the skin as it whipped by. Although it was barely a second I stood there, it seemed far too long. The forest was too dark for me to catch a glimpse of Amber’s falling figure. Surely she should have caught onto the next branch by now?

The rope stopped, a branch on the tree ahead of us was suddenly bobbing up and down, and my breathing relaxed fractionally as the rope moved again and I saw a small figure leaping through the branches at full speed. When she leaped into the next tree just before the riverbank, she began to climb the swaying trunk. It was then that there was a shout from the ground, “Red team, red team up in the trees!”

Having been spotted, Amber stopped for a moment to take the rope from her wrist and transfer it to the tree. Seconds later she dropped through the tree towards the ground, where she would be on foot and more able to evade capture. Her job was done and now she just needed to get away.

I turned to Darak, who was biting his lower lip. His eyes followed Amber’s path below. Not wanting to find out whether she was going to make it, I gave him another light punch on the shoulder. “Come on, stop staring after the girl.” His eyes flickered over to me. “It’s our turn next, remember?”

He nodded, sucking in his cheeks. “Yeah... right.”

The plan was fairly simple. Amber was both a distraction and a way to secure the end of the rope high in a tree. Where she tied the rope around a branch would be the axis of a pendulum: the rope being the “rod” and Darak and I being the “bob”. (It was to my satisfaction that paying attention in technical class paid off once in a while.) Darak and I would swing on the end of the rope, and as long as the axis was farther from the ground than where we were from the axis-- about the rope’s length in height--we would just miss hitting the ground at the equilibrium and then swing back up over the river.

The river was the key to the entire plan. I predicted since everyone had to cross it to get to the other side, the blue team would position most of their guards along the banks closest to us. As long as no one crossed the river, no one could steal their team’s eagle and set it free to win the game. However, if we could find a way to slip past the guards...

That was why we had the pendulum. Although Amber would lure some guards off to one side, there were sure to be more, waiting for an invasion. We were to wait just long enough for them to start feeling comfortable, thinking she was a random flyer attempting to get lucky, and then swing over. Hopefully they wouldn’t notice us, and even if they did, we would be long gone before they made it across the river and after us.

Pulling out a knife with a serrated edge, Darak began sawing through the rough rope where it attached me to the tree. I had to hold onto an upper branch to keep myself steady as the rope jerked back and forth. The newly cut ends of the rope frayed as they were parted, and finally, the last thread separated with a snap. I slipped out of the loop left on the end and put a foot in it.

“Ready?” I asked. Darak stuck the knife back into his belt and nodded, his cheeks hollow and the cords in his neck slightly more tense than usual. Without another word, he pushed off the tree with both legs and leaped to grab the rope high above my head. Instead of trying to keep us there on the branch as his full weight hit the rope, I allowed us to fall, grabbing on tight just above where Darak’s feet were anchoring themselves on the loop’s thick knot.

My stomach dropped as we accelerated towards the ground. Although I knew (in theory) our pendulum motion would skim just above the dirt, over the river, and then into the trees on the other side, I couldn’t help but to squeeze my eyes shut and clench my teeth, hoping no scream would escape my lips. The buffeting wind roared in my ears; the fringes of branches lashed at us as we passed by, leaving bloody lacerations that stung in the rushing air. My knuckles ached and twinged from the force of my grip. I hoped my foot, cramping from where it dug into the rope, would not slip out of its position.

Finally, as the seemingly bottomless drop ended and we swung upwards, I dared to open my eyes. We were now on the other side of the river that cut through the woods. In the split second that we hung at the apex of our path of trajectory, I found a sturdy-looking branch just under where we would fall.

All that mattered, in those two seconds, was the branch. My brain seemed to work in overdrive, taking in quickly the rate we were accelerating back downwards and what angle I would fall at when I jumped. I barely noticed as Darak let go and went his own way; rather, I was focused on what I had to do.

Then I let go. Arms straight out before me and fingers reaching, body stretched, location pinpointed. The whole world seemed to hang around me for a long moment before it rushed forward, slightly blurred and distorted. I couldn’t breathe or think; this was a more mind-numbing adrenaline than before, for nothing stood between the ground and myself. It was amazing how much a difference a thin rope can have on your conscience.

Thwack, the heels of my palm struck something violently, causing pain to lance through my entire hand and forearms. My fingers closed desperately around the coarse, knobbly wood; splinters shot into my skin and tore at the flesh. My shoulders shrieked in fiery agony as my full weight continued to hurtle downwards, and for a frightening moment I was sure they would rip from their sockets. They instead held firmly as the branch dipped dangerously under my added weight and then bounced back up.

I hung there for a second, dazed and wincing with the stinging pain all throughout my upper half. It was all I could wish for to have the accursed Game end. Nonetheless, I knew my duty.
With only a slight hiss escaping my lips, I swung my legs up and hooked them around the branch and then grabbed the base of a stray twig and hauled myself over on top of the branch. It was only then that I heard a deep male voice calling, “Come on, across the river. They’re on the other side.” We had been spotted. Not wasting another moment, I sprang onto my feet and bolted down the length of the limb to the trunk. From there it was easy, dropping from one branch to the next until I finally hit the dirt and tumbled.

I took in a great, deep breath before pushing myself off of the ground with trembling arms and staggering to my feet. I saw Darak tumble out of the tree ahead, landing in a cloud of dust. I sprinted over to him, dragged him to his feet, and hissed, “Come on.” Still off-balance, he staggered after me as I darted deeper into the trees away from where the blue-clad guards were emerging, splashing, from the river.

We ran for a while, bare feet pounding silently in the cool dirt and hearts pounding wildly from exertion and wild-eyed fear. It was only until I could no longer hear anything but us and the forest, sense nothing but the cool air and blood throbbing in my veins that I stopped. I signaled for Darak to halt as well and closed my eyes, letting my senses take over. The smell of dirt and sweat mingled with fresh pine, and now I could hear the soft hooting of a great horned owl. Relaxing, I allowed my eyes to flutter open and whispered, “We made it.”

Before I could feel any satisfaction at our achievement, Darak’s voice cut across the night air. “Kaelea...” His tone was strained.

I turned around and glanced at him; he was bent double and clenching his left shoulder. When he looked up at me, his brow was furrowed in pain and his forehead oozed blood from a dirty gash.

“Oh, Darak...” I moaned, “what happened?”
He straightened, wincing, and released his shoulder. I would have gasped if I hadn’t seen so many injuries throughout my painful sixteen years. The short sleeve of his shirt was stained red, but more than that, I could now see it was twisted horribly out of the normal position.
“Freaking branch got in the way,” he muttered, wiping his forehead. “I hit my head on it and it knocked me off balance, so I hit the branch I was aiming for with my shoulder. Barely caught on with my other hand, nearly tore my arm out.”

“Shoot.”

“Yeah, that sums it up.” His lips quirked into a smile.

I stood there for a moment, thinking quickly. Darak could hardly go around climbing trees and---

*
*
*


Something nudged me in the side. “Kaelea, get up.”

I flew to my feet, grabbing the knife I kept in my belt, and spun around to face my assailant. The cold air rushed around my bare skin, and I blinked rapidly as my eyes tried to adjust to the light streaming through a single window. A figure slowly came into focus.

Small and lean, a middle-aged man with a roughly cut stubble of black hair appraised me with a single raised eyebrow and cold green eyes. He pointed at the knife. “You’re gonna have to stop sleeping with that thing.”

Still breathing hard, I lowered the knife gradually and sheathed it.

“Why?”

“‘Cause I like both my eyes where they are.”

I rolled my eyes. “Dad, I don’t throw it, I take it out. Now why did you wake me up?”

He shouldered a haversack and looked uncomfortable. “Um, well today’s.... it’s...” His voice, normally rough and angry, was now soft. “ Kae, it’s the day your friend died.” He scuffled the dirt with the tip of one old, worn boot and continued, “I thought since it’s a year after, you might want to go to the graves or something before school starts.”

“Right.” The word was flat and lifeless in my mouth.

Still looking distinctly awkward, he walked to the door and opened it. Looking back, he muttered, “Well, I’m off,” and then left, shutting the door quietly behind him.

As if that would help. I glared at the rotting piece of wood with a hatred so intense I was surprised it didn’t burst into flames. My eyes, still gritty from sleep, slowly rimmed with burning tears. When they began to leak over I flopped back onto my old mattress, allowing grief to wash over me.

I could still remember everything that happened from where I had woken. We had tended to Darak’s injuries the best we could, and then set off to find the blue team’s eagle since the entire point of the Game is to set it free. Quite amazingly, after fighting through a few guards scattered throughout the forest, we heard it just above our heads. I scrambled up the tree, and even though Darak was incapacitated, he followed, not wanting to miss out.

We won. We set the eagle free.

But on the way down, Darak’s foot slipped. With one arm in a sling, useless, he couldn’t stop his fall. I cried out. I hurtled down the tree without a thought of my safety, without a care for my own burning, aching limbs.

It was no use. I was too late.

I cried now, just as I cried a year before. It didn’t change a thing.