Burying the Hatchet

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.

As Farren’s teeth chattered in the cold morning, he wiggled his toes. The effort was pointless, and his legs always felt the pinpricks of being asleep. Unfortunately, he couldn’t sleep, and this was the only thing to do.
The door of the cabin creaked open, and the young woman Heidi slipped out in the dusk light of the morning. It was a tradition that happened every few mornings. She would bring Farren warm tea. Sometimes they’d talk, and occasionally they would merely sit together in silence.
As Heidi approached him, Farren thought that he had a lot in common with the residents of the small cabin. Everyone in the clearing was stuck and unable to ascend the mountain. The difference was they could turn back and find their rock and hike to the top unencumbered. On the other hand, Farren would need someone to untied him first, and it seemed unlikely anyone would be doing that. None of the cabin’s occupants seemed eager to let him beat them to the top. Heidi knelt next to him and held the cup of tea up to his lips.
When he finished his first sip of the blazing hot beverage, he asked, “What does Esmerelda think about all this?” as he nodded his head to gesture to the tree behind him.
Heidi shrugged and said, “I think she’s fairly indifferent. She isn’t as competitive as Arnold is, but she likes to keep him happy. I think she is grateful that he built this whole thing up; otherwise we’d all be stuck out in the cold.”
“And that would be awful,” Farren said in a dry tone.
Heidi looked away then added, “Sorry.”
Farren smiled at her, “I’d say it’s not a big deal, but my feet are getting more sleep than I do.”
“I should have stopped him.”
Farren scoffed, it was a frequent comment from Heidi. “What were you going to do to a man twice your size? Tie him to the tree?”
Heidi nodded her head back and forth. “I could have tried to talk him out of it.”
“I’ve been working that angle for months now. Short of someone else deciding to untie me, I don’t think I’m going anywhere soon.” Being untied was a topic he often mentioned while Heidi was around. There was always the risk of not getting tea because of it. But Farren knew he’d rather have his freedom than the warm beverage.
“If I untied you I’d be stuck here with Arnold mad at me after you escaped. He would know it’s me.”
“You wouldn’t be stuck here.”
“What am I going to do? Runaway up the mountain with you? I can’t even reach halfway across this clearing.”
“You could go down the mountain,” Farren suggested. His body shivered from either the excitement or the cold. He couldn’t tell which.
“Arnold could still find me if he wanted to.”
“He could, but I don’t think he’d be willing to lose ground on the mountain to find you.”
“He’s a vengeful man.”
“He’s also prideful and…” The creak of the cabin door cut Farren off.
In the early morning sun, Farren could see the silhouette of a big man. A shiver shot down Farren’s spine like a thunderbolt. He looked to where Heidi had been, but she had disappeared like a fox. Arnold lumbered his way to Farren’s tree and looked down at him.

“What were you two talking about?” The man spat the question at Farren like he deserved an answer. Arnold checked the horizon and the woods likely looking for Heidi.
“We were just chatting about the architectural subtleties that you built into the cabin.”
Arnold kicked him in the gut, it was a habit the man had picked up lately, and Farren wasn’t a big fan. “Was she untying you?” He asked as he went to inspect Farren’s knots.
“She actually untied me weeks ago, but I was so comfortable here that I decided to stay,” He didn’t hear anything behind him from Heidi and as far as he could tell Arnold couldn’t see her either. The three ropes that used to run next to him leading into the clearing had been pared down to two.
Arnold tightened Farrens already restrictive bonds. “You better not come back traitor,” he yelled into the woods.
Unsure of where she went and what she’d said to Arnold Farren said, “She went to go get her rope. She’s going to get to the top of the mountain before you, whether you like it or not.”
Arnold spat in Farren’s direction, but the wind took the projectile off its course. In frustration, the man stomped back to the cabin to retrieve his ax and begin his daily chore of chopping up wood. Instead of chopping the trees behind the cabin Arnold cut trees a few hundred yards away, and he would steal glances over at Farren occasionally to check for Heidi’s return.
Farren kept his ears tuned for sounds of Heidi. He wished she would return to untie him, but he knew it was an unlikely and risky move for her since Arnold was keeping an eye out for her. At the least Farren hoped she had taken his advice and started following her rope down the mountain.
Around midday, Esmerelda came out of the cabin and approached Arnold confused. Farren couldn’t hear what they were saying at first but as the conversation went on it became more heated, and the volume increased. Eventually, he heard bits and pieces of the topic and words like, “Heidi,” “traitor,” “abandoned,” “how could you,” and “helpless.”
The argument went on for hours, and eventually, Esmerelda retreated to the cabin slamming the door behind her. Arnold tried to follow her, but the door was unmovable even to his strength.
Farren snickered at the idea of locking Arnold out of the cabin he built. Unfortunately, the man then turned his frustration to Farren and walked across the clearing to his place of captivity.
“Look what you’ve done,” the man proclaimed in an unforgiving voice.
Farren made what he thought was a comic looking around gesture. It earned him a kick in the ribs, and he thought he heard something break. No matter to Farren, he knew it would heal in the morning, and he was used to the discomfort by now.
“Everything was fine before you came along. But no, you had to show up and sow seeds of uncertainty in everyone’s mind.” He wielded the ax in anger. “I ought to kill you just to see if any of your stories are true. You said we couldn’t die, want to see if you can return from a beheading?”
Farren looked at the ax and then at the big man. He didn’t doubt Arnold could behead him, but it would be a painful process of multiple cuts.
“Nothing clever to say to that?”
Farren swallowed trying to keep the fear of his situation hidden.
The man seemed content with merely the threat and kicked some dirt in Farren’s face before returning to chopping wood in the clearing.
When the sun began to set Arnold returned to the cabin, but the door was still barred. He shouted at it, and the woman inside, for a while but when night fell the man was stuck outside in the cold.
Farren was grateful that it was too dark for the man to navigate to Farren because he felt like whatever anger the man had stored up would be detrimental to Farren’s already unfortunate situation. Soon he heard the man’s snores echoing through the night, and Farren wished he could get the same restful sleep the man seemed to be receiving.

Farren found he’d gotten some sleep because he was startled awake by someone shaking him lightly on the shoulder. Startled to wakefulness the early morning light barely illuminated the woman next to him.
Heidi said, “I’m sorry I left.”
“If you don’t leave again soon you’re going to be sorry you returned.” He asked, the light was too dim for him to see Arnold or the cabin, but he heard the man’s snores travel across the early morning air.
“I know, I just couldn’t go far knowing you were here with Arnold. He’s lost it he used to care, but now he’s so rageful.”
Farren agreed with this statement as Heidi began to tug at his knots. She wasn’t very good at figuring out how to untie them, and he doubted that the lack of light helped.
As the sun rose, more light came into the clearing. Farren felt himself get looser but knew the more light there was, the more likely Arnold would be woken up. For now, the snores still echoed through the clearing.
“I can’t get this last one,” Heidi said after she had pulled at it for a while. By now the clearing was in mostly full sun, and he thought Arnold would be awake any moment now.
“Can you get it a little loose?” He asked.
“Maybe.” And he felt the bonds pull hard against his chest then loosen a little.
Farren wiggled against them, and he could tell he was almost free. He rotated his body a little and saw the knot that Heidi was trying to untie. The rope was in a mess, and there wasn’t a clear path to loosen it. Farren knotted one of his hands under the restraints and across his body to start pulling at the rope. “Hold that line there,” he told Heidi pointing with a finger. “No the other one. Perfect.”
He tugged against them for a minute and began to make progress. Then Heidi said in a small voice, “Uh oh.”
Farren’s mind knew something was wrong before he could enunciate what it was. He frantically pulled at the knot and made a little progress.
“He’s coming towards us,” Heidi said, and he could tell her focus was drifting away from the knot he needed her help untying.
He wiggled his body some more, and it was enough to get his other hand to the knot. With two hands, he no longer had to guide Heidi through helping him. “Run,” he told her.

“What about you?” She asked quietly, and her voice was almost covered up by the man’s frustrated screams.
“Just leave,” he told her, trying to focus on the knot in front of him.
He could tell by the sound of the man’s voice that he was almost there. Farren pulled at the knot and when it was nearly loose enough slip out of his upper arm exploded in pain. He cried out and lost control of some of the fingers he was using to untie the knot.
Farren pulled hard on the knot with his good hand and was able to roll free of the tree. Ropes were tangled all over his body, and he lay on his back looking up at Arnold towering above him with the stone ax raised above his head.
The ax’s edge had been painted red, and Farren thought it had something to do with the pain in his arm. As the man brought the weapon down towards Farren, a small projectile flew through the air and connected with the man’s head. Stunned Arnold missed his strike and looked around to see who’d thrown the cup. Farren took the opportunity to clamber out of the ropes he was covered in.
“You traitorous bitch,” Arnold shouted at the forest.
Farren crawled into the clearing putting himself between Arnold and the cabin. It was hard for him to get up at first and he realized it was because he was trying to lift himself with the hand that he’d lost control of. He finally used his good arm to stand up, and he saw his arm had been cut to the bone by Arnold’s first blow.
Farren couldn’t see Heidi in the woods, and he didn’t think Arnold could either but before the man got the nerve to search Farren shouted, “She’s not the one who’s going to be the first person to beat you up the mountain.”
The comment got the man’s attention, and Arnold charged. With his good hand, he dragged his slack and the rope balls that were connected and darted through the clearing up the mountain. Arnold was gaining on him as Farren passed the cabin. Esmerelda had come out in the noise and confusion and grabbed at Farren’s slack. He pulled it out of her way but didn’t think he’d be able to do much with only one arm.
He looked over his shoulder as he passed the small garden the hikers had built and saw that Arnold was only a few yards away and closing. Farren pushed himself as hard as he could but knew the man would catch him soon. He’d be tied to the tree again if Arnold reached him, and if Heidi were smart, she would be at the base of the mountain collecting her rope instead of trying to free Farren.
Farren passed a few trees and saw the thick forest in front of him. Farren realized the trees were dense because Arnold couldn’t reach them to cut them down. Farren made a mad dash to get to the numerous trees before Arnold could catch him. Soon he was surrounded by a few stumps and then no stumps at all. Farren turned around and saw Arnold at the end of his rope.
Arnold screamed in rage. Farren didn’t let the man distract him. His eyes followed his slack and saw that there were still some rope balls near the man’s feet. He began to reel them in to get them out of the man’s reach. In anger, the man threw his ax at Farren. The weapon hit a tree instead and buried itself in by an inch or two. That could have been my chest, Farren thought as he pulled his last rope ball to the safety of the trees.
Arnold began to tug at his rope for extra slack all while cursing Farren. Farren realized this was likely the first time the man had given his line any effort in a while. As Arnold wrestled with the taut rope holding him back, Farren knotted his slack around a large tree.
Safe from the man’s physical attacks Farren held his arm in pain. The man was still flinging insults at him, but those didn’t harm Farren. Finally worn out the man looked at Farren with anger in his eyes.
Farren pulled the ax out of the tree with his good hand. Arnold’s eyes changed when he realized what Farren held in his hand. “Give that back, and I’ll let you go,” he pleaded. Arnold’s eyes were now full of fear of Farren’s control over him.
“You couldn’t stop me if you wanted to.”
Arnold dashed for Farren’s slack and began to pull at it. The knot Farren had tied around the tree kept the man from pulling Farren towards him again. Farren walked towards the man anyway with the ax hanging in his good hand.
He was a yard away from Arnold, and the man began spitting at him. Farren stopped at the spittle’s range. He held the ax out to the man, taunting him like the man had done for months to Farren. The tool was just inches away from the man’s grip.
“Give it to me. It’s our only source of heat for the cold nights.”
Farren looked into the man’s eyes, eyes that had looked down at Farren for months in anger and contempt as he sat in the cold tied to a tree. Farren could swing the ax at the man injuring him, but he knew the man would heal. Instead, Farren swung the ax as hard as he could with one arm, and it connected deeply with the trunk of an unmarked tree.
Arnold’s eyes filled with deep longing as he reached for the ax. It was only a foot away from him, but his slack wouldn’t let him grab it. Arnold fell to the ground to gain a few inches and reached out. His fingers were still fell a few inches short of the ax handle.