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”Come on! You can do it!” I yelled to Patroclus, as he stood hesitantly on the other side of the ravine. It was hard to hear him through the wind and the rain, but I heard him saying something about falling. I waved at him again. ”You won’t!” I shouted again, and he looked up at me.
We had left the cave and went out exploring the whole day, forgetting all about time and place as we raced each other through the woods. While it had been a wonderful day, we had also forgotten Chirons warning. A storm would be passing over us during the next couple of days, starting this afternoon. We had ensured him that we’d be back before it hit, but then we had found a stream we’d never seen before, and it had been so hot so we thought a quick dip couldn’t hurt, but then we’d stayed for longer than planned, and suddenly we heard the murmur of thunder from far away. We got up and dried ourselves as quickly as possible, but soon realized it was for nothing as the rain drenched us once again. The journey back home had been going as well as it could, until we reached the ravine. It wasn’t very broad, and we had no problem jumping over it when the rocks and earth were dry, but it was another thing when everything was drenched in water and the wind was strong enough to throw a person off balance. I had jumped over without a second thought, but when I looked back Patroclus was standing still, hesitant. It wasn’t a big jump, but if you slipped it was a long fall..
”It’s alright! I’ll catch you!” I yelled once more and held out my arms, incase he couldn’t hear me. He seemed to understand and nodded. He got ready, and I steadied myself. He looked up at me again, I smiled and nodded, and he took the leap.
I reached out and grabbed for him before he even landed, and for a second I thought everything worked out alright. Patroclus looked like he thought so too. Then, I saw how his eyes widenend and looked down just in time to see him lose his footing. Patroclus acted on instinct and reached out and grabbed my tunic, trying to pull himself up to me. This would have been a great idea, if it weren’t for the fact that I started feeling the earth moving beneath me. The rain had loosened the earth near the edge, and our jumping had caused it to start falling down over the edge, dragging us with it. I realized what was happening and quickly reached down and wrapped my arm around Patroclus waist, just as we started toppling of the edge. I heard him yelp and felt him bury his face in my neck, bracing for the fall.
We fell. We stopped. I breathed out. My hand had found a steady root at the edge of the cliff, and we were now dangling from it. I felt Patroclus lift his head slightly, figuring out why head stopped. He held on to me tighter, his arms slung around my neck. I felt his heartbeat against my chest and his rapid breath against my neck. I took a deep breath.
”I need both hands free to pull us up. If you wrap your legs around my waist I can turn us around and climb up. Is that alright?” I asked, and I heard him breath out a ”yes”. His legs moved so he was fully holding on to me, and I let him go and started to turn us around. The chance of him falling would be smaller when he was held between me and the wall behind us and it would be easier for me to climb. My free arm reached up and fumbled after something to grab onto. I hade to brush away earth and gravel and soon found a hatch in the rocks. It was slippery, but I only needed it to push me upwards, I still had a steady grip on the root above us.
It was a slow process. It was not heavy for me, and if it hadn’t been for the worry of loosening more earth and rocks or slipping due to the rain I could have pulled us up quickly. But this was no time for rash decisions. I was keenly aware of how Patroclus back was scratching against the rocks and earth as I pushed us upward, but I had no way of pulling him away from the wall. I could finally see over the edge, but nothing was near enough to grab with my other hand and my arm was fully extended. I considered my options. I got let go and pull us up by just the root, but I was scared I would just send earth tumbling down over us, and I did not know for how long it would continue to be sturdy. I needed to reach up further. Slowly, I started lifting my leg. Deep breaths. My arm shot up from the hatch where I had been holding us up and my foot came up to replace it. I was quick enough the make the switch, but we still slipped back down, my leg being stretched as far up as I could with my knee bent. Earth and gravel tumbled down on us, having been shook loose by my sudden movements. I held us still, waiting for it to pass.
”It’s alright.” I quickly said to Patroclus, who had no way of understanding my plan. My now free hand found it’s way to his shoulders, and I stroked them in what I hoped to be a comforting gesture. ”I’m gonna pull us up, and when we reach the edge I want you to move your arms back and sit down on on the edge, and I’ll be right behind you.” I explained, and I felt him nod. I started pushing us up, my free hand leaving Patroclus to look for other hatches as we went upwards. This time we got further, and soon I was standing straight up from the hatch, the root I was holding onto close. I guided Patroclus arm to it, and he pulled back from me. We came face to face. His hair was plastered to his face and I could almost see the adrenaline rushing through him. We nodded to each other, the briefest movement, and Patroclus started pulling himself up. His legs unwrapped from my waist, and I pushed him upwards with my free hand. Soon he was sitting on the edge, and could pull himself up and into the forest. Now it was my turn.
I lifted the leg that had been hanging free and slung it over the edge and found a somewhat stable position. Just as I thought I was in the clear, and was lifting my other leg, I felt the root starting to loose from the ground. In a moment of panic, I hesitated and felt my feet lose it’s grip. But before I could even think about what to do next I felt my arm being gripped and pulled. I looked up as a stumbled forward. Patroclus had gotten up to a standing position, and while holding onto a tree branch he was now pulling me from the edge. We stumbled in to the forest, tripping and falling down on the ground. I heard Patroclus groan next to me. I turned my head towards him, and he did the same. We laid still, and I felt the rain hitting my body and watched as it did the same on him. I shivered and I missed the warmth he had radiated when he was wrapped around me. Our eyes were locked, and I reached out to brush hair away from his face.
”We-” He swallowed. ”We should probably get back. Chiron will kill us if we get sick from this.” His voice was quiet, almost washed away from the rain. But I heard him as clearly as my own thoughts. My hand was still resting at the side of his face.
”We probably should.” I agreed. Neither of us moved.
”At least I’m not coming back with a broken arm this time.” He said, and I smiled. I knew we had both been thinking about that when we were hanging down the ravine.
”I’m glad.” I told him and he smiled back at me. I was cold and drenched, the ground was hard and dirty but I could have stayed there forever. It was a dangerous feeling to get lost in, I knew this. It happened far too often for it to be good for either of us, but I couldn’t help it. Patroclus had a way of pulling me in, dragging me somewhere I knew I should not be. It was moments like this when I looked at him and I saw him that day on the beach and wanted nothing more than to pull him close and feel his lips pressed to mine His breath hitched. Without noticing I had traced my fingers down after his jaw. I knew I needed to break the moment.
Just as I started to pull back my hand, Patroclus jerked back his head. We looked away from each other as we got up and started walking back towards the cave.
”Is your back alright?” I asked him, glancing at him where he was walking behind me. He looked at me, brows furrowed. ”When we, uh, when I pulled us up, your back must have scratched the wall.”
”Oh.” His hand briefed over his back. ”It’ll be bruised, and I think I have some cuts but it isn’t anything to worry about.” I nodded. We kept walking, no other major obstacles for the rest of our way. When he finally reached the cave Chiron was standing with his arms crossed, looking at us with one eyebrow raised.
”Where have you two been?” He asked, and we looked at each other and smiled.
And it kept going like this. Everyone once in a while a moment would arise and it was like I felt every movement in the air around us. And each time we had to break it. One of us would step back or turn away and we were back into the world of living and I thought it would go on like that forever. I never thought we could. But like everything that had to do with Patroclus, I was surprised once more. And the next time we found ourselves far away from the warmth of the cave, caught under the pouring rain, he was holding my hand.
”Do you know where we’re headed?” I asked him, looking around at the unfamiliar trees. His brows were furrowed in deep concentration.
”I was sure it was this way.” He said. I could not tell if he were wrong or right, I had lost all sense of direction long ago. We thought, after the years we had spent here, we would have explored every part of the surrounding woods. But we had been wrong. We had been sent out to locate and pick a rare plant that only grew a short short period of each year, and while we had found the plant we had completely lost our way. And it was getting late. The clouds had caused the day to be dark, but it was getting harder each minute to see the ground ahead of us.
”Patroclus, I think we should focus on finding shelter for the night rather than finding our way home.” He looked at me with the thoughtful look on his face that told me he was considering the options very carefully. His skin was prickled, he was cold. I moved closer to him, so our arms were touching. He smiled at me, and then nodded.
”You’re right. We won’t be able to find our way through unknown territory in the dark.” Our strategy changed. Instead of figuring out which direction to go, we looked for the nearest and best cover. While he had not explored this parts of the woods before, we knew that to look for. Chiron had taught us there were patterns in the forest, you only needed to be able to find them.
We trekked through the forest, avoiding falling over rocks and walking into trees. While I was busy getting a branch out of my hair, Patroclus started pulling on my hand.
”Over there!” He exclaimed, and I looked up. A cave! We ran, as fast as we could, towards it and when we got to the entrance I stopped him, bringing out my hunting knife. He understood, and stayed back while I went into it. The opening was big, but it soon got smaller inside. It was big enough for sit down and lay down, but we’d have to crouch if we wanted to get around. It did not go far in, some cracks running deeper into the mountains, but it was enough for shelter for the night.
”It’s empty.” I said, having walked back to Patroclus. I took his hand again and guided him in. It was dark, but our eyes had adjusted from being outside. We traced the walls and got as far in as we could, stripped out of our wet clothes and laid down on the ground. We had been walking the entire day and it wasn’t until now we realized how tired we were. I ran my fingers through his hair, squeezing the water out and soon he was doing the same to me. Everything we had carried with us had been drenched, so there was nothing we could use to dry ourselves or start a fire. I saw Patroclus shiver. I sat up, leaning over him, and rubbed my hands on his arm. He grabbed my arms and pulled himself upwards, so we were sitting from across each other, our knees touching. I continued to rub his arms and he leaned forward, putting his head onto my shoulder. We were still not quite used to this new part of our relationship. I’d still catch myself diverting my eyes if I had been looking at him for too long and I saw the way he’d hesitate before reaching for me, as if reminding himself he was allowed to. He’d catch me by surprise when he kissed me, and I’d be taken back for a moment before answering him. It was exhilarating.
I felt his hands running over my back, I pulled him closer to me and he followed. We sit there and I stare at him through the dark. I could make out the silhouette of his hair, curlier than it usually due to the rain. I can just make out the features of his face and I lift one hand to trace it. Over his forehead, down over his nose, out over his cheek and down after his cheekbones. He turns his head and kisses my knuckles and I smile. I move my hand to cup his cheek and lean forward to kiss him. His lips part under mine, and I wrap my arm around his waist, pulling him closer. Thunder cracks outside. I pull back, just barley, and whisper against his lips.
”Patroclus.” I feel him smiling.
”Achilles.” He whispers back. I lean back, pulling him down with me once again. We stay there until dawn breaks.