Free The Oracle's Secret (The Oracle Saga Book 1) by Amber Darke Page A

dragged rapidly forward. My face hits the planks, there’s a huge weight on the rope around me. I scream. I manage to move my head to look up - no Steele ahead of me. I brace myself and squint - the rope disappears downwards, through a hole that still has the edges of a couple of rotten boards clinging to the edges.
    ‘Steele!’ I yell. ‘Are you ok?’
    ‘Yeah,’ he yells. ‘But I can’t pull myself up and I don’t know a spell for this! Any chance of a hand?’
    I can’t even stand up, the pull on the rope is too strong. But I can keep holding on.
    ‘Tarian,’ I call. ‘You’re going to have to pull him up.’
    Tarian is still standing, since I’m taking most of Steele’s weight.
    ‘All right,’ he says. ‘But I can’t get past you to do it. I’m going to have to lie on top of you to get to him. OK?’
    ‘Sure, why not,’ I say. ‘Just hurry up, he’s heavy!’
    I feel the bridge jostle as Tarian moves, and then he’s straddling me, on his knees, his calves lying against my hips so that I can feel the muscles tensing. He plants a palm just in front of my face, bracing himself. He leans forward, his chest against my back, and reaches his other hand down from the hole.
    For a moment nothing happens, and then Tarian’s body presses into mine as he takes some of Steele’s weight. He’s firm and warm against me but I only have a second to register that before he’s sitting up, bracing his knees on my thighs for leverage.
    Steele appears from beneath us and Tarian pulls him forward, and for one confusing moment I’m stuck in a Tarian-and-Steele sandwich, both of them sweating and panting, all of our bodies crushed together until I can’t tell where they end and I begin, much less which sturdy shoulders and strong arms belong to whom, whose hands are clutching for safety as the bridge sways and creaks.
    At last we get it figured out and we’re all standing again. I wonder if their legs are shaking as much as mine are.
    Steele looks at us both. ‘Uh... thanks,’ he says. ‘That was a close one.’
    Then we’re on the move again - one big, careful step to avoid the hole and then onward. The danger has heightened all of my senses and everything seems bigger and brighter than before. Every bead of sweat on Steele’s shoulders, every tiny motion the bridge makes in the breeze, every grunt of effort that Tarian makes behind me. The opposite side is clearer now too, as we get closer. I can see the green of the grass, the blue and yellow of the flowers, the grey of the rocks, getting closer with every step, so close, so close, we’ve almost made it...
    Steele steps onto solid ground. I follow him seconds later, then Tarian. We all collapse on the ground, still roped together, and catch our breath.
    ‘Look at it,’ Tarian says. ‘Can you believe we made it all the way across?’
    He gestures at the bridge and we follow the movement, and that’s when we all spot the four or five people making their way to the bridge on the other side.
    ‘Northern Territory,’ Steele snarls.
    I peer over the chasm at them. They’re carrying weapons, and they look like they mean business. I think Steele’s right. I’m glad they didn’t find us while we were on the bridge - running over there would have been terrifying.
    ‘We have to stop them,’ Steele continues. ‘I just need the knife, it’s in... my pack.’
    He’s not wearing it.
    ‘Did you drop it in the chasm?’ Tarian asks.
    Steele nods.
    ‘All of our equipment was in there!’ Tarian says. ‘What are we meant to do now?’
    ‘Whatever it is, we need to do it fast,’ I say.
    They’re already on their way over the bridge.

Chapter Eleven
    ‘Tarian, do you have a knife?’ I ask.
    He shakes his head.
    ‘Me neither,’ I say. ‘Steele, you don’t know a cutting spell or anything, do you?’
    ‘Nothing that would work on this,’ he admits.
    I struggle to think past the fog of exhaustion and fear. No illumination spell or bad smell is going