Rise of a Valkyrie

Part 29

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Once the rest of the group had gone, Susaki directed Kayla and Rose to continue. Kayla climbed freely and fidgeted restlessly while she waited for her buddy. Rose took her time to catch up, and her progress was clumsy, but deliberate. Eventually they came to the high scaffold, a wooden, four-story tower with no walls and floors five feet high.

At the bottom, as she had been shown by the instructors, Kayla braced a leg, which Rose stepped on to climb up to the next floor. Then Kayla reached to grab the ledge and pulled hard, while Rose grabbed her shirt and belt to help her clamber up. Kayla turned around and positioned herself to jump to the next floor.

"Be ready to grab my leg and give me a shove," Kayla said.

Rose nodded, but her skin had turned sickly white.

Kayla paused before continuing. Was Rose going to be able to handle the whole obstacle? With no choice but to continue, she shook her head and jumped for the next ledge. The boost came quickly, and she scrambled the rest of the way. The climb was challenging, but fun, though when she lay down to reach for Rose, she saw her eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Um..." Rose began, and swallowed. "You won't let go, will you?"

Kayla wanted to curse her for her weakness. All this time acting like the role model for the galaxy, but when push came to shove, she was just a scared girl. Unfortunately, the rest of the course was still ahead, so Kayla chose her words carefully.

"I want to beat this course as much as you do, right?" she said. "Let's get through this, then we can go back to smack talking." She grinned. "Imagine how jealous everyone will be when we set the best times."

Roses nodded, though she didn't seem convinced. She swallowed again, then jumped up on the ledge. Kayla grabbed her, pulled hard and felt Rose scrambling desperately as she tried to get her feet up. There was a thud as a limb smacked the wooden planking. Rose climbed onto the deck, blood dripping from her knee. She looked like she was going to vomit.

"I guess I'll go first again," Kayla said. "Only two more stories."

She stepped back to the edge, turned, and reached for the next floor. When she hauled herself up, she felt no help from below, but she was a good enough climber to get a leg up and scramble the rest of the way on her own. Once she was secure, she looked back down and saw Rose clutching one of the scaffolds' struts and staring at the ground.

"Let's go Rose. Almost there," Kayla called.

Rose didn't answer her, perhaps didn't even hear her. She stayed frozen in place, knuckles white as her nails dug into the thick wooden post.

Kayla decided they both needed a quick break. She turned around to check out the forest. The beach, crowded with recruits, was visible through the gaps in the trees. In the other direction, the low mountains framed the training camp. A fresh breeze rustled the leaves and Kayla almost lost track of time. After a while, she looked down again, but Rose still hadn't moved.

Kayla wondered if her 'buddy' was irretrievably stuck and began to lose her patience. "Come on Rose, let's go. The freakin' school tower was higher than this, and you did it when you were nine."

Rose didn't react, maintaining her death grip on the stanchion.

Kayla tried a few more taunts, but nothing seemed to work. She looked around for an instructor, but they had all moved off, managing the distant crowd of recruits at the end of the course. However, maybe her problem had been solved after all?