A Bit Tied Up At The Moment

Author’s Note: This is the fourteenth part of a series about Farren’s journey through a limbo world where everyone is trying to reach the peak of a mountain but have a rope tied to their ankle. Catch up by reading Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, and Part 13

Farren stared at the rope stunned, utterly unsure about what he was going to do. Botha had tied Farren’s ropes, the ones he’d spent months collecting into a massive knot. The man who’d done it all was now passed out, either dead or sleeping, next to the mess. And all of this was made even worse by the fact that Farren was unable to move because Botha had tied him and gagged him. Farren crookedly lay in the grass of the desert his face rested against the damp sand of the oasis. All he could do was stare at the mess Botha made of his rope until the night was too dark to see in and his mind eventually drifted off to sleep.

Farren was jarred awake by Botha pulling on his rope. The man was tightening Farrens already restrictive bonds. When he was finished, the man took a tight hold of the cord and rolled Farren over to face him.
“You saw what I’ve done?” Botha asked.
Farren wanted to spit at the man that looked down at him. Unfortunately, with the rope running across his mouth the only thing he could do was glower in the man’s general direction.
“I hope that you’re stuck here for eternity. If that oasis were full, then I’d throw you into the bottom of it hoping you’d drown. Eternity should be plenty of time for you to atone for all the people you’ve tried to lead astray with your stories about turning around and getting your rock.” Botha rolled Farren over, so he was face down in the sand and pulled tight on Farren’s ropes. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to leave you here and start making up some of the progress that I’ve lost humoring you.”
Farren laid in the sand wiggling against his restraints after he’d heard Botha’s footsteps disappear. His entire body was in a painfully uncomfortable position. Botha had pulled both his legs and arms behind his back and tied them together. This position made it impossible for Farren to crawl or wiggle. He merely wobbled back and forth pulling his hands against his ropes.
The sun rose high into the sky as he struggled and the sand beneath him became warm absorbing the sun’s heat. He ran out of sweat and knew that he was in the heat of the day. The bonds weren’t getting any looser despite the effort with which he struggled against them. The sun had drained his body of energy and moisture. He knew he’d be passing out or dying soon if he didn’t get some liquid in him. He questioned the point of trying to stay alive, knowing that he could chew on the grass that grew in the oasis for moisture.
Concluding that it was better to be alive and bound rather than dead and facing the black void Farren resolved to munch on the grass. He bit into the bitter turf and ground it as best he could with his back teeth. It didn’t give him much energy, but he knew from the day before that it would give him enough moisture to survive. Unfortunately, he quickly found out that it was fruitless to fight against his bonds as he ate the grass.

The sun dipped into the horizon as he wiggled in the sand. Soon the cool night air was blowing around him. Farren was worn out from his day of struggling, but his feet were in too uncomfortable of a position to sleep. As he lay on his stomach in the dark of the night, he heard liquid dripping in the distance. It sounded like a single raindrop falling into a puddle. However, there was no moisture in the air. The faint dripping sound combined with the uncomfortable position kept Farren from sleeping.

After a whole night of struggling against his ropes, Farren figured out how to move himself around with the momentum of his body. It was a slow process, and occasionally a patch of grass would get in his way. However, as the sun rose in the sky, he was able to move. Farren wouldn’t be able to make it to the top of the mountain this way. He settled for moving towards the dripping sound. It had gotten fainter as the day progressed, but he had listened to it all night and formed a guess on where it might be.
When he reached the edge of the pit that Botha claimed used to hold the oasis Farren was stunned to find a small pool of water at the bottom of it. There wasn’t much water in it, but considering it was empty the day before Farren was stunned.
Looking over the edge, he debated if he should roll himself down the hill. He was still sweating, but he knew from experience that he would soon be out of sweat and thirsty. His stomach was upset from the copious amounts of grass that he had to eat to stay hydrated and he made a decision. Using his bound arms and legs, he shifted his weight back and forth.
Farren built up enough momentum to push himself over the edge of the pit. Once he was over the edge gravity, and the slope of the hole took care of the rest. His body flopped end over end. Every rotation his body crushed his awkwardly placed arms, and then he’d fall on his exposed stomach. For a few seconds, he worried that he would hurt himself, but then it came to an end. He landed face first in the puddle of water.
The chill of the water felt like a slap to his dry face. Whatever fed it was protected from the heat of the sun. Unfortunately, he was face first in the water. Farren wasn’t eager to drown again, so he forced himself to roll over. He made it to his side and was able to lift his head out of the water. Farren dipped himself back into the puddle to get a drink, and the liquid felt refreshing to his lips. He kept drinking until he was full. As he sat back copiously hydrated, he noticed that the dripping sound had stopped.

Farren was exhausted from a night of not sleeping. The chilled water felt relaxing on his skin. He rolled to his back to keep his head from falling into the water and positioned his arms to hold him balance him above the water. Using his buoyancy in the water and the wet sand under him Farren got himself into a position where he was able to sleep.
Farren slept the morning and part of the afternoon away in the shallow pool of water. By afternoon it was too hot for Farren to sleep without shade and the pool had absorbed most of the sun’s heat. Uncomfortable in the water but eager for another drink Farren wiggled and rolled his way to the edge of the puddle. As he moved he noticed that his wet bonds felt tighter than they had before.
The more he moved against them to investigate the tighter the wet bonds became. His heart sank as he realized that his attempt to get water jeopardized any chance he would have of getting free. Now his only and best chance for to be free was someone wandering by him and setting him free.

Even with all of eternity, Farren felt like that wasn’t likely to happen.
As the afternoon sun heated him, he was grateful that he had water. The sun-dried his wet linens and his tightened bonds. Slowly the water line receded away. By the time the wall of the pit cast shade over Farren, he was no longer at the water’s edge. He was merely on a moist area of sand. The ropes around his wrists and ankles had dried out, and the bonding was stiffer than usual. It also seemed that the heat of the day and the change in moisture had also made them a little looser than they were initially. He wiggled against them, but his hands were still stuck.
As he fought against his dried out bonds in the shade of the pit, he heard the dripping begin again. This time it wasn’t a single drop. Instead, it sounded like a dozen drops dripping at random intervals. He looked to the water in the dim evening sun and saw that the water level was growing again. The water that was a foot away seemed to be recovering from the day’s evaporation and gaining towards him. He was glad for the liquid’s nearness because the afternoon sun had made him thirsty.
He wiggled against his bonds feeling a small gap between his wrist and the rope. He could almost fit his hand through it except that his thumb got in the way. The water raised and he could swear the dripping was getting faster. He looked at the water line, and it was almost at him. He rolled away from it to keep his bonds from getting wet and tight again. On his side, with his face to the water, his hands were safe. However, his face would be in the water in a few minutes. His hands and feet dug into the slope of the pit, and Farren knew he wouldn’t be able to roll up the side to escape.
Farren pulled hard against his rope, but his hand was still too fat to fit through the tiny opening that was there. He kicked to stretch the cord in strange ways, but this didn’t bring him any success.
The water was beginning to reach his face, and his struggling was kicking up loose sand that became grit in his mouth. He felt the sand at his hands absorbing moisture, and he knew the ropes would soon be absorbing that same moisture.
Farren took a deep breath of air and grabbed his right hand, the one that was too fat to fit through the gap, with his left. He pressed his thumb towards his palm using his other hand. Farren didn’t want to do it, but he also didn’t want to drown in the desert. He pushed against his right thumb with all his strength and let out a howling yell when his thumb bones snapped. He pulled his right hand against the rope again. This time, with his broken thumb, Farren was able to slide out.
Farren was now able to pull at the bonds of his other hand. He had some trouble with them since he wasn’t able to use his thumb. By the time his face was under water he’d freed his left hand. With two free hands, he was able to sit up in the water.
His feet landed in the growing pool of water absorbing the water’s moisture. Since they were wet and would tighten Farren made sure not to move them more than he had to. He knew he wouldn’t be able to swim against the water with his feet tied. With patience and focus Farren slowly untied them. Once his feet were free, he scrambled up the side of the pit and sat on a grassy mound at the edge of the oasis pool. Farren listened to the water drip as it filled the oasis. He held his throbbing thumb against his chest glad to be free of the bonds.

By morning the oasis had filled halfway. It was a big pool, but Farren didn’t doubt that he would have drowned and been stuck underwater if he hadn’t freed himself the night before. Thankfully the new morning healed his thumb, and full use of it returned. After taking a refreshing sip of water from the pool, he went to his rope.
The chaos that Botha had caused with the rope was more than Farren thought anyone could do. Farren had organized it so thoroughly, and it used to be easy to unroll and reroll everytime Farren needed it. Botha had combined all of Farrens dozens of rope balls in a massive knot. He could see some of the balls still intact with inner bits of rope pulled to the outside and knotted to other strands of rope. He didn’t know where to start, and he eventually returned to the pool of water.
Farren was grateful that Botha had left enough slack for Farren to walk around some of the oasis, but Farren knew it would be a long time until his knotted mess of slack would be able to roll anywhere. Sitting at the edge of the half-empty pit he kicked his feet over the side. Alone in the heat of the midday sun, Farren didn’t know what he was going to do.