A Hop a Skip And a long winding road- Part 2

If this is the first of my posts you have seen and you have not yet read part 1 i recommend that you do so before reading this post. this will be a progressive story and i would hate for you to be confused. however you are your own person so do as you please maybe you like befuddlement. :)

    Davin took the remaining corpses and threw them over the side of the chasm if for some reason he needed to come back up this way it would not do to interrupt the meal of some larger beast. As he finished his work covering up the sights and especially smells of battle the crept ever higher into the sky quickly shortening his day and interrupting his plans to attempt the bottom of the chasm by nightfall. at this rate he would be lucky to find a suitable ledge to spend the night on before it became to treacherous to carry on. due to the fog and the steepness of the cliff face Davin figured he had little more than five hours before his decent went from difficult to impossible. there wasn't a rope in his entire village that could ever hope to reach the bottom of the chasm or even one of the first ledges of suitable size hundreds of feet from the ledge so the decent was always made with nothing to catch you. A fall meant death a death too many adventurous villagers had met trying to race the sun to the bottom of the chasm.

       he peered over the edge to find that he knew this particular stretch of cliff. it was not the easy decent he had hoped for but it was close enough and time was quickly becoming his enemy if he stopped to search for a better location he could find himself spending the night on the cliffs edge unable to begin his decent until morning. if that were to happen he would surely end up in the belly of on of the forests more terrible inhabitants. 

     Davin lay on his stomach and began to lower his legs to the first footholds on the face. This was one of the most precarious parts of the journey as it was done blindly and if you didn't test your footing putting only a little pressure at a time you could find that you were trying to stand on nothing but crumbling dirt. Davin did not want to begin this journey as he had so many trips down the chasm hanging by his fingers from the ledge searching blindly for a foothold that had just moments ago disintegrated beneath his weight. 

     After the initial difficulties the climb down to the first ledge was rather uneventful other than a few tired muscles trying to lose purchase and the strain of climbing so far without rest Davin was happy to reach this checkpoint and stop for a cold meal of dried meats and fruits. He would save the fresh bread and almond spread his mother had packed him for tonight as a reward for a good start to his journey. His only regret was that it would be gone too soon. 

    Sated and rested it was time to once again start his decent. this part of the journey would be a little different though. from here for as far down as Davin had ever delved the decent required that you leap from one outcropping to the next in a zig-zag pattern down the cliff. With all the ledges in the way  a straight decent was almost impossible and very time consuming. Not that jumping around on the side of a cliff was safe but Davin was confident and very sure footed. He looked to either side of him to gauge the best path. on his left the ledge was closer but with another ledge just above that may make landing difficult on the right a ledge almost at the extent of his reach but with a very wide landing that was very inviting. Davin chose right trusting the strength of his muscles over their grace. with a mighty effort he fling himself out over the void toward the next ledge landing squarely in the middle with a self satisfied smile and a great deal of confidence. This was what Davin loved. A challenge the opportunity  to prove himself to himself. 

    Down Davin delved finding a rhythm and propelling himself ever deeper into the chasm. leaping expertly from ledge to ledge as the light waned trying desperately to reach his goal before sun down. As he pushed forward faster and deeper than ever before that fearful voice in the back of his head began to whisper its warnings. "slow down. evaluate." it said trying to remind him that he could not reach his goal if he slipped and fell to his death. 

        Just as he was trying to push it out of his mind and make his next leap he saw it. A dark shadow moved somewhere out in the fog in the middle of the chasm. Startled and already beginning his jump he was unable to stop but also unable to put the full force of his muscles to work. As he left the safety of his ledge and crossed out into the open he knew he was going to come up short. Davin stretched with everything he had to reach the next ledge butt was able only to brush it with the tips of his fingers and he fell. he fell 20 feet and crumpled on the ledge below. angling himself toward the cliff face to avoid tumbling over he hit his head hard and dropped limp to the floor. as his eyes began to dim Davin was accutly aware of the warm pool of blood forming under his head but unable even to lift a finger to do anything about it. As his world went black he thought he saw the shadow again but then everything was becoming shadow and the world faded from view.

this was part two of Davins long journey to save his village. i am aware that my grammar sucks something awful. my spelling suffers in the same way (thank god for spell check or this would be unreadable.) while i am always open to criticisms especially about content and depth criticism about my my grammar will most likely fall on deaf ears unless it relates to a difficulty in understanding such as commas breaking up the way a sentence reads. That is actually something i desperately need to get better at and a friendly reminder or 1000 will go a long way in helping that. anyway i hope you enjoy the story so far i am enjoying writing it and i hope it gets better every day.