Haelo Rising, page 1
First published by Naniloa Books, 2020.
Second edition print with cover by James T. Egan published in 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by T.M. Holladay
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
ISBN: 978-0-9973759-5-4
Edited by Jana Miller at The-Writers-Assistant.com
Cover design by James T. Egan
Typeset by Naniloa Books
To my sisters,
Mekeli and Hailey.
For being genuinely excited for Haelo’s story
and making me feel like I’m still kinda cool.
Contents
1. Edge of the World
2. All You Need Is Love
3. All Gathered In
4. Easy Target
5. Something Old, Something New
6. That We Will Be One
7. Party Foul
8. Dressed to Kill
9. Tunnel Vision
10. Ill At Ease
11. Friendsgiving
12. Too Close For Comfort
13. Paved With Good Intentions
14. The Library
15. Don't Stop Me Now
16. Burning Brimstone
17. Ninety-Nine Problems
18. Best Laid Plans
19. And All The Devils Are Here
20. Rise Against
21. Control Freak
22. Severed Ties
23. Broken Promises
24. Change On The Horizon
25. Goodbye, Goodbye
26. The Blessing Of The Sea
Thank You
Books by T.M. Holladay
About the Author
1
Edge of the World
I wasn’t the first person to entertain the idea of leveling a cathartic Screw you, I’m out to everything and everyone around me. To give up. The bliss in that idea tempted me more than it should.
I stretched, trying not to yelp. Every muscle in my body begged not to go back down that cliff face. The wind coming up from the drop behind me sent plumes of dust twirling about in the rocky dirt up here at the top of Pankyra Island. “Again,” I huffed.
“You’ve been at this since daybreak, Your Highness.”
“Again, Hank.”
“It’s time for a rest.” He glanced at my shaking fingers.
My back tightened as I twisted once more in a stretch painful enough to distract me from the burdens on my mind. Because that was the understanding Pain and I had agreed upon: if I sought it out, it would always show up. I depended on it. I needed it.
Sunlight reflected off the black, angular scale pattern on the shoulders of Hank’s military uniform as he gathered the rope. “You can come back tomorrow. Better yet, next week.”
I dusted off my tattered hands to sweep the hair out of my eyes. The island’s white-flowered bushes and dark red weeds shivered again in the breeze, and beyond, the Mediterranean Sea gleamed. I shifted my weight, toes cramping. “Don’t put the rope away.”
Captain Hank Abrams stepped closer, trying to use his size to intimidate me. He was a big man. His shoulders had shoulders. The dust on his dark skin highlighted that fact.
I re-checked my harness. “Zeta will be back tomorrow. I told her I’d—”
“You promised her too many things.”
“Lower me down.”
He didn’t budge.
“I told Zeta I’d beat this cliff; I’m going to beat this cliff. Help me. Please.” I sighed. “War is coming. War is here. I have to prepare.”
He tilted his jaw, a knowing look on his face. “This—” He looked around the dusty cliff top. “This is preparing?”
Avoiding his gaze, I double-checked my harness again. Another gust shot up the cliff face behind me, throwing off my balance a bit. I steadied myself just as I sensed the familiar, shredded aura of my father approach from the west. He eyed the rope in Hank’s hand.
“You heard the woman,” Jade said. “My daughter wants to climb. Quit being a creampuff and let her climb.”
Hank ignored my father. They weren’t friends. “You’ve done well, Haelo. Let this one be.”
I’d been begging him for weeks to use my name instead of my title, and he picked now of all times to listen to me. Cheater. “Again.” My control slipped more from my grasp with every passing minute that I didn’t spend pushing myself.
“Your wedding is in two days.”
“Captain Abrams.” I clenched my hands into tight fists and flexed my forearms, seeking the balm that was pain. “I order you to lower me back down.”
He eyed me carefully while his grip tightened on the rappelling line. “Last time.”
“Fine.” I’ll get it anyway.
He bent forward, now speaking low in my ear. “This is avoiding, not preparing.”
My stomach clenched. Hank stepped back, assumed his position—despite the fact that the line was also secured around a boulder—and braced for my weight. On every other climb, he had pulled me up a few feet at a time through the sections that I hadn’t been able to climb out of. During the last climb, I’d only needed him once. I was this close to mastery.
I looked to the sea behind me, grinding my teeth. “Ready,” I said, backing up to the farthest ledge.
Hank eyed my shaking calf; Jade shot him a dirty look. That my reckless father even endorsed this last climb should have been a red flag. But I’d already admitted to myself that I would move heaven and earth to seek distractions, and red flags were pretty high up there in the much-needed attention-hog department.
I stretched my shoulders and fingers one last time. The muscles and tendons in my forearms were still tight, pumped with blood. The shake of Captain Abrams’s head only fueled my determined nature. “See ya.” And I launched myself backwards off the ledge, my stomach lightening in the thrill while my mind completely, blessedly focused on the fear that I craved.
I kicked off the stone face regularly as I rappelled lower and lower toward the sea below until—with a painful jolt—my drop jerked to a stop. “Hank?” I called, dizzy, squinting into the afternoon sun. “I’m only halfway!” I didn’t know why I bothered; he couldn’t hear me at this distance anyway. Don’t look down, don’t look down. I looked down. It was a twenty-story drop to what would surely be death in the dark waves below.
Closing my eyes, I calmed my heart rate, focused my senses, and felt for the auras of Hank and my father far above, hoping for a hint as to why Hank had stopped my descent. But there were now three auras up there. “Griffin,” I mumbled.
My fiancé.
The rope creaked low and deep as I hung there, waiting.
I looked out to the darkening sea. For eight weeks I’d been distracting myself. The training, the duties, the research, the pain. Telling myself that I was prepping for my role in the future of my people—preparing for war—kept me going. But the bell tolled. You can do this. People get married every day. But it wasn’t the marriage. Not really.
Hank tugged twice on the line. My future was up there waiting for me.
My future can wait a little longer.
I tugged three times on the line and waited. When nothing happened, I tugged again. Finally, Hank released the rope. With unrestrained freedom, I rappelled farther, all the way to the bottom.
The cool temperature coming off the sea a few feet below me gave me goosebumps.
I closed my eyes, took a centering breath. With a small huff, I leveraged myself against the jagged stone and then braced my weight with straining toes and calves. I heaved with my first pull. My legs shook.
This was not my best idea.
I made it over fifty feet before my right calf started to cramp uncontrollably. The only place to rest was a ledge to my right, so I stretched, grabbed hold, and leaped, barely making it. I turned around to face the sea and leaned against the cliff wall. Carefully, I sat down and blindly reached my hand into a crevice to hold on.
The sea was dark on this side of the island. I sat there for a minute, rubbing my leg while my cramp subsided. My mind bounced between unhealthy thoughts. Massáude and his cult. His Forçadores mercenaries. Marriage. Duty. Dagger. I shook the thought of my former bodyguard from my mind. I couldn’t afford to think about him. Not now. I turned around, pausing with the sharp pain in my calf.
The rope tightened. “Hank, let me climb,” I muttered into the void. I jerked on the line, which eventually slackened. I’ve got this. It took a long moment to turn around completely and face the cliff wall.
An hour later, I reached the spot that Hank had had to pull me through on my previous climb. Find a way. I tested each crevice, each lip. Stretching as far as I could to reach a crack to my left, I strained and finally took hold with two fingers. My foot slipped. I tried desperately to keep my grip despite the muscles in my arms spasming. My feet scurried against the stone, looking for a hold.
I found a gravelly edge for my foot just as one hand gave out. The fingers of my other hand crawled along gritty rock, desperate for a better hold as the crushed stone beneath my remaining foot moved toward the edge. I jammed the edge of my palm into a crack just as the loose gravel beneath my foot gave way.
I heaved myself higher, finding another wave of adrenaline. A few more pulls and I was past the area that had bested me on
Above me, the well-worn rope strained across a facet of sharp stone to where Hank, Jade, and Griffin waited for me. Despite the shaking, pumped muscles and my scraped-up body, despite the worries and anxieties that filled my mind, despite every obstacle in my way, I was going to master this face. Look out world, here I—
My entire body seized. With a horrifying drop, I felt and heard the rope nearly tear through. My gaze shot to the partly severed line and my stomach bottomed out with the dread of what was about to happen. Seconds later, the line snapped completely, and I fell.
My heart stopped.
Screaming, I threw my hands at the scrolling rocks in front of me, and with a crippling jolt, felt my shoulders rip in their sockets. But I wasn’t falling anymore! Somehow, I grabbed hold of a ledge with one hand and a root with the other. I screamed again at the pain, a guttural sound, but this scream carried with it thankful shock. Panting, I found footholds for both feet and pulled myself into the rock wall.
Hot adrenaline flooded my system again, taking with it some of the pain.
Calm down. Calm down. You’re still here. I was panting too fast. Soon I’d hyperventilate and pass out. I forced a deep breath. Then another. The ringing in my ears faded somewhat and I heard the frantic calls coming from above. “I’m okay!” I yelled back, the words followed by a sob.
I’d almost fallen to my death in the longest seconds of my life. The shouts above grew more desperate. I looked around, noting that I’d only fallen a dozen feet or so, rather than the hundreds of deadly yards to the ocean below.
A slap of rope hitting rock caught my attention. Carefully, I turned to my right and saw a new line dangling inches from my hand.
“Grab the rope!” Hank bellowed from too far above me.
But grabbing the rope would require I let go of the bush root in my tightened fist. I can’t. Panic seized my entire body. My beating heart pounded in my ears.
“Haelo! Grab the rope!”
With my left hand death-gripping the stone ledge, I held my breath, carefully let go of the root in my right hand, and reached for the rope. It was too far. I pulled my arm back and grasped the root again, but the root gave way just enough to give me another heart attack.
Exhaling slowly through my nose, I let go of the straining root and extended my hand once more toward the dangling rope. The tip of my finger pushed it farther before it fell back toward me. Come on, come on, come on. I had to breathe soon, but I knew the moment I inhaled, I’d lose what little balance I had left. Almost. . . .
My reach wasn’t enough.
I had a choice to make: stay right where I was until my body or balance gave out and I fell to my death, or let go of the cliff wall and lunge for the rope.
So I squeezed and stretched my fingers three times . . . and lunged.
I didn’t recognize the sound that came from my chest; it was as if I was listening to someone else shriek as they lay their entire life on the line for the Hail Mary of the century, a last-ditch attempt at survival that had no chance of actually working. My balance gave out and the weight of my body dropped . . . then jerked into place beneath my clenched fist, gripping the rope for dear life.
I had no words. At least, no intelligible words. My prayers were more like elated shouts of hysterical gratitude. But I wasn’t safe yet. Not even freaking close. How was I supposed to tie this line to my harness?
Quickly, I took up the slack beneath my shaking fist. Could I tie it to myself with one hand? Hank had taught me, but my mind couldn’t seem to remember. Every millisecond that passed was another chance for my grip to give out. Desperate muscle memory took over, winding the rope into a secure knot at the front of my harness. Ever so gently, I gave the knot my body weight and tried to unclench the mangled grip of my fist. When I could feel myself securely hanging from the line, I let go.
With the biggest sigh I’d ever released, I dropped my forehead to the wall in front of me.
What had just happened!?
My throat felt like sandpaper; my eyeballs felt sloshy. After a few moments of the most grateful prayers that had ever left my mouth, the line began to raise me up. I reached for a hold, found higher footing, and with Hank’s aid, began my climb again.
“Haelo?” Griffin yelped.
I smiled, wiped the sweat dripping down my arm from my elbow, then brushed the few stray locks from my face. “I’m okay.”
Hank, in shock, had pulled me by my armpits the second I crested the top, muttering profuse apologies and checking for broken bones.
“Really, I’m okay. I only fell a few yards.”
“Only fell a few yards?” Griffin looked utterly terrified.
I could only smile. All I could think about was that no matter what had been thrown my way, I’d done everything I said I would. Death couldn’t even keep me from winning. I’d learned how to shoot the Krypteia’s sleek spear guns and underwater crossbows with decent accuracy and I’d taken my hand-to-hand combat skills from defense to offense. I could also run Pankyra’s clifftop perimeter with one of Martha’s Atlantian kids on my back in under two hours. I’d even upped my navigating game: Galana Cora was teaching me how to navigate the open sea by starlight. Theoretically, anyway. Nobody would actually let me out of the palace’s sight, so I had yet to test my star-mapping skills. I’d even progressed to moving targets when I practiced throwing knives.
Tackling the climb on the island’s eastern cliff face had been the last goal on Zeta’s list. It had taken me nearly a month, and I’d almost plummeted to the sea, but I’d done it. I’d freaking done it!
HolyCrapWhereAreMyPriorities?
Who cares!
My father, now standing farther back, looked quite proud in his panic. One benefit of having a father with a shredded soul? No helicopter parenting.
“Haelo?” The prince’s brow furrowed in concern.
“Hi, Griffin.”
A weird sort of laugh tumbled out with his sigh. “I lost thirty years of my life when that rope snapped.”
Hank gave us both a strange look, like relieved shame. Then, the worry lines on his forehead suddenly loosened, as if he were having a lightbulb moment. “Fate protects you both.” Though his words appeared confident, his aura betrayed the panic still running rampant in his soul.
My eyelids lowered, my breathing still too fast. “Remind me to send Fate a fruit basket.”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I checked the ropes this morning, but—”
“It’s not your fault, Hank. I’m fine.” I was more than fine. I was alive!
He nodded once, still straining with panic.
The look on Griffin’s face made my wired aura curious. I relaxed as much as my body could handle without falling over, and melted my aura into his. Billions of anxious points of light pulsed across his soul, fritzing in the letdown of his previous panic as he tried to recover. But there was something else there, too. As he looked me over, my eyes bright with exhilaration, his worry moved toward our future.
He was worried about failing me.
Then, in a brief flash, his aura tightened with intimidation. He didn’t think he was good enough for me. The future ruler of the Candeon Empire was intimidated by me.
I smiled.
Hank gathered the rope, inspecting it closely.
“My dear,” Griffin said. “I don’t know whether to cry or laugh.”
I grinned again, filled with relief, pride, and shock. Sweat dripped down my arm again. I looked down. It had been blood all along. “Dang.”
“Here,” Griffin said, offering his arm. I hesitated a moment before I took it. He didn’t seem to mind the dirt and blood on his white sleeve.
“Why are you here?” I asked. “What brought you up here in the first place?”
“My mother wanted to speak with you. But do not even think on it. I’ll let her know you are not up for a visit right now.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll take a quick shower and meet her wherever she needs me.” I stumbled a bit as my legs gave way.
Hank was by my side in a flash, but Griffin had already caught me. His hand gripped my waist and held me steady until I righted myself. “You almost plunged over forty stories to the sea. My mother can wait.”
