“Do we really have to go in there?” Iridium asked, concerned. Grimmerly nodded wordlessly as he entered the forest.

Iridium slowly followed him into the knotted woods. She trusted Grimmerly to keep her safe, just like she trusted Osmium and Tantalum. But ever since they hastily departed from the Hisode, Grimmerly had been moodily silent. Silence was fine by Iridium. She didn’t want to talk. She didn’t like to talk. But last night, she had been scared and she needed to hear someone when she was afraid. Which wasn’t so rare. The wolves sure sounded scary, all that howling and yowling through the entire night. Glad Grimmerly was there to keep me safe. They had traveled late into the night until Iridium had felt ready to drop, wolves or no wolves. Grimmerly had begrudgingly halted, after she finally worked up the courage to ask him. But he woke her up before the dawn, and they had continued to press on quickly. It was hard for her to keep up such a rigorous pace.

A near collision with a drooping branch banished all such thoughts from her mind and she struggled to keep up with Grimmerly. He was practically running through the forest, bending branches that whipped back at Iridium’s face as she scrambled along after him. In her hurry, she tripped over a large rock, crying out as she fell.

“Wait— please.”

Grimmerly stopped and turned toward her, tapping his foot as he waited for Iridium to catch up. “Why— are— we — hurrying— so— much?” She asked between pants for breath.

Grimmerly shrugged, averting his eyes.

Okay…

He gave her a minute to breathe. “We need to move if we want to get to our destination before darkness falls.” He started to run again.

Iridium fell along after him. “Where are we going exactly?”

“We are nearly there.” Grimmerly came to a sudden halt. “Ah, we are closer than I had thought.”

Standing beside Grimmerly, Iridium peered down a steeply sloped rockface which petered out to a tree-filled basin far below.

“Wow. That’s scary.” She whispered.

“That is where we are going.”

“There? How are we going to get down there?”

Grimmerly turned away instead of answering her and began examining the nearby trees. “Ah! Here it is.” He pointed out a faintly visible letter G, carved in the brown bark of a tall tree. She moved forward to examine it.

“G?”

“G is for Grimmerly,” He called out, crouching down to stuff leaves into his leather boots. “Last time I was here, my boots fell off, and I spent two hours looking for them and I never found them. By then, it was dark, and I had to walk barefoot. I’m not going to let that happen again. Are yours tight?”

Iridium checked and then nodded.

“Good. You should probably go first. Stand here, please.” He directed, steering her next to the chasm.

“Go where?” She asked, peering down into the valley. “I don’t want to go anywhere alone,”

“I’ll be right behind you.” And with that, Grimmerly quickly pushed her from behind, sending her over the edge. Screaming, she clamped her hands over her eyes while she careened down the smooth cliffside, the wind whisking her hair as she slid down the hill. Every second, she felt like she would smash into some unseen obstacle. Eventually, her descent slowed to a stop. Peeking through her hands, she saw that she had reached the bottom. She stood shakily, dusted herself off, and watched as Grimmerly sped down the rock side. After tumbling to a stop, Grimmerly leapt to his feet.

“I could have died! That was the most horrific experience that I have ever gone through. Sliding down that—that mountain. Suppose I had hit a rock! Or crashed into a tree!”

“But you are still alive. How else did you want to get down here?” Grimmerly calmly took off his shoes and shook out the leaves.

“Any other way would have been preferable,”

“That shows your ignorance of this place. The only other route into Rocjah Canyon involves dodging starving pumas and rappelling across sixty-foot chasms,” He tried to shove his right foot into the left boot.

“Oh,” Iridium absently observed Grimmerly switch the boots around. Starving pumas did not sound very nice.

Grimmerly stared up into the darkening sky. “We are close. If we hurry, we will there before the light fails. It gets dark sooner down in this canyon.”

“No more cliffs? Or other deadly rides?”

“Nope.”

“Okay. I guess we can go.”

Grimmerly nodded.