Page 63 of Flameborne: Chosen

But I could see no other way except to do as he said, so with a hurried prayer that if I died, it would be quick, I did my best. I sank deeper into the crouch until my extended arm was almost level with the edge of the net, and threw the other arm back. But when I finally got a hand on that leather—an inch thick and several inches wide—I faced a new challenge.

My hand was too small to get a solid grasp of both sides of its width. I would have to try and lift it with only my thumb above and fingers beneath.

I tried twice—once squeaking when the wind eased suddenly and my weight shifted forward. But I caught myself on the edge before my knees hit the net, and pushed myself back. Then tried again.

“Well done, Kearney! Keep going!” Ronen called.

I tried again. And again. Growing in confidence that I could lean my weight back against the weight of the strap, but every time I did, my fingers slipped from it, or it simply wouldn’t budge.

“It’s too heavy!” I muttered.

‘Assess and overcome,’Akhane said in my head.‘Don’t give up, Bren.’

And so, I tried again. And again. My numb fingers slowly beginning to tingle and ache. But reaching for it as I was—all my weight on this side of the edge of the net—I couldn’t raise it high enough to throw my weight against it and step back.

I had to reach further down. But that would mean having no real counterbalance.

Shit.

I was panting. My legs shook. I had to get this done or my body would give out before my mind.

‘Akhane, be ready,’I instructed her without thinking.

‘I watch for you, Bren. Always.’

Then I leaned forward over the edge of the net so I could grasp it a foot or more below its base. I’d just gotten my hold on it, the rough side of the leather under my fingers, my thumb on its smooth side.

But the net shifted and my center of gravity suddenly tipped.

I screamed, scrambling for a life-saving grip as I pitched forward and my upper body dangled over the edge, leaving me gaping at Akhane’s rump and the raging sea far,farbelow.

17. Cast Off

~ BREN ~

Hands over my head—which meant closer to the ground—I gripped the thick leather, desperately trying to lever myself back up onto the net. My knees and half my thighs were still safely on the net, but if I hadn’t had my toe hooked into the twine, I would have fallen.

Panic made me scramble, and for a few seconds I heard nothing but my own panting and the strange, squeaking cries breaking in my throat.

‘You’re safe, Bren. I won’t let you fall. Assess and overcome. Think!’Akhane’s voice in my head was tight, but calm.

I tried again to push myself back and up, but once again was stuck. In order to pull myself back onto the net, I needed to reach back with one hand. But it felt like if I let go of the strap with one hand, my body would be too heavy and I’d lose my grip with the other.

I was stuck.I was fucking stuck!

I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I wanted to curse the God who’d toyed with me, giving me that glimpse of beautiful freedom up here when I could never, ever be strong enough to do this. And I wanted to curse the day I met Ruin and the Furyknights became real and…

And I had to get my ass back on that net.

Akhane flew below me, positioned to catch me if I fell. The shadows of other dragons rose and fell over me and her, all of them watching while I tempted death. Somewhere in the back of my mind I registered that voices bounced off the air around me, but I couldn’t hear anything except my own breathing.

Unless I figured out a way to get back upbackwards, I would die.

‘No, Bren,’Akhane sighed.‘I won’t allow it.’

I tried one last time to push myself up by my grip on the thick strap, but all I managed was to twist it sideways and make myself squawk. But then as the leather twisted, I lost my grip with my right hand and felt my weight shift.

I screamed as I slipped further—but then stopped.