Cramped Legs and Misty Mornings

Author’s Note: This is a continuation of 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. Start here or with Part 1.

Farren woke up in the dim light of morning. As he exhaled a sigh of breath a small cloud of fog appeared in front of him. His fingers and toes were already cold, and he hoped as the sun rose it would warm him up.
Once again Farren was stuck. Arnold, likely with the help of Esmerelda and Heidi, had tied Farren to the base of a tree. The group hadn’t been gentle about it either, the rope constricted his chest, and he was unable to wiggle his body one way or the other. Farren flexed his hands and fluttered his toes in an attempt to get his blood flowing to them and warm himself.
The tree Farren was tied to was at the edge of the cabin’s clearing. Farren was downhill from the cabin, and he wouldn’t be surprised to find out that this was intentional. He was beginning to conclude that these people were incredibly petty.
As the sun rose in the sky behind him, his anger at his captors grew. He didn’t understand why they would work so hard to hold him back. His only conclusion was that they didn’t realize that tying him to a tree wouldn’t put them higher up the mountain. Their warped and stranded minds may believe that it was a competition, and if he reached the top then no one else would, but Merc hadn’t said that in the tutorial process.
Midmorning Farren finally saw Arnold leave the cabin. With a smug grin on his face, he approached Farren. The man towered over Farren who had been seated with his legs at a right angle in front of him all morning.

“Good morning,” Arnold said in a malicious tone. The man squatted down to be closer to Farren’s eye level but even then the man was a half of a head taller. “We tried to do it right this time. Looking back, I think that Botha guy you mentioned had the right idea. Too bad it took too long to catch you. I’m sure there’s a lot of people down there taking your crappy advice.” He shrugged as if they were no concern to him. “Hope you’re comfortable because I think you’re going to be here a long time.”
“What are you doing this for?” Farren asked.
“Because you cheated your way this far up. While we’ve done all this hard work to reach as far as we’ve made it.”
“I didn’t cheat,” Farren said, but in the position he was in, he didn’t feel his voice conveyed a lot of confidence. “We had the same opportunity, I’ve faced just as many challenges as you.”
Arnold laughed a deep laugh at this statement. “Don’t compare your short jaunt around the world with the decades I’ve spent fighting my rock to gain even a meter of distance.”
“Then turn back,” Farren yelled at the man. “If you’re so sick of being stuck then leave. You could have gotten to your rock four times over in all the time you’ve wasted here.”
Arnold stood up and gave Farren a thin smile. “No, I don’t think I’ll be going back. I’m happy here, I’ve made it higher on the mountain than anyone else. I’m not giving that up. Especially not on the advice of someone who just so happened to get himself tied to the mountain.”
“There are a dozen people down there right now collecting rope. They’ll be up this mountain soon, maybe not this year, maybe not next year but they’ll be here, they’ll beat you to the top, even if you hold me here for eternity.”
Arnold shrugged, “I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ll be surprised if they can figure out how to navigate back to the mountain afterward.” Before Farren could yell anything else at the man, he walked away. He watched Arnold return to the cabin and grab the stone ax and disappear to the other side of the clearing.

Farren sat tied to the tree unable to move with Arnold visiting him at least once a day to taunt him. Each time Farren would try to reason with the man and convince him that Farren wasn’t a threat or that Arnold wouldn’t be able to keep this up.
The strange thing that Farren noticed was that despite their claims none of the hikers had attempted to pull on their rope to gain progress. Not even Heidi who was so short on slack that she could only move through part of the cabin. He knew they hadn’t been pulling on their rope because it ran right next to where he was fastened to the tree.
Arnold was right that he had done a better job than Botha. Despite a week of attempting to break out of his ropes, there was no progress on Farren’s part. The only way he would be getting out was if Arnold untied him. And this seemed an unlikely change of heart for the big man to make.
He hadn’t talked to either of the women in the time he’d spent tied to the tree. They’d entered and left. Esmerelda spent a lot of time behind the cabin where they claimed they kept the garden. Occasionally he’d seen Heidi leave and come back with a lot of dirt and he suspected this was clay to remake the clay-ware that had been broken in the commotion of Farren’s attempted escape.
On a frigid morning, Farren woke up when he heard the door of the cabin shut. It was quieter than normal, but he’d grown used to being aware of the sound that came before one of Arnold’s berating. When Farren opened his eyes, he didn’t see the big man approaching. Instead, he saw Heidi holding something in her hands.
When she was close, she knelt next to him, and he could see that it was a clay cup of tea. “Here, I thought you might be cold this morning,” she said in a hushed tone. She lifted the cup to his mouth, and he sipped the drink carefully.
It was steaming hot, and the warmth it provided in his chest was soothing in the cold morning air. He had barely slept that night, or any of the nights in the past week, due to the cold and the position he was in. “Thanks,” he said to the woman.

“I’m really sorry,” she said. Her tone sounded guilty as if she had done the whole thing herself without anyone else’s help or input.
“Why’d you do it?” Farren asked.
“I didn’t do it, Arnold did. He said that you were a threat to us,” she said.
Farren nodded his head, and he’d heard every single excuse from the source. “I meant, why did you bring me tea?”
“Oh,” she said embarrassed, “I was cold, and I couldn’t sleep. Everyone else was out cold, so I made some tea for myself. Then I saw I had an extra cup’s worth and thought you might like some as well. You haven’t been sleeping well out here have you?” She asked.
“I look that bad?” Farren asked. He couldn’t see himself, but he suspected that he had heavy bags under his eyes from the lack of sleep and his hair and face were likely a mess from not being able to wipe any dirt that was kicked up out of it.
“Yeah, you do look that bad,” Heidi said in a somber tone.
Farren shrugged, “You don’t think I’m going to get untied anytime soon do you?” He asked already knowing Arnold’s thoughts on the matter.
“No,” Heidi said in the same still tone. She lifted the cup to his mouth offering more and Farren sipped.
When he was done with the cup, he said, “you could always untie me.” His tone seemed to convey more hope than he expected for how unlikely it was to happen.
Heidi frowned at the comment unwilling to make eye contact with Farren. Without saying anything she got up and went back into the cabin.
Farren was left with a fading warmth in his belly from the tea and a lot of questions about Heidi’s motivations and ideals.
After an hour passed, Arnold was back in front of Farren telling him how hopeless he was while tied to the tree. Farren couldn’t disagree with the man since the only chance he had of escape was only willing to bring him an occasional hot beverage.