(Photo by Tsepin Цепа)

Tal had hoped that his experience of having crossed over the first bridge of broken glass would have prepared him for crossing the second bridge. Unfortunately, as he and the small delegation from Spire began the long walk across it, all he could think of was the cracking and shuddering he’d experienced that first time. Thankfully, no one was actively trying to break the bridge.

IT was still quite dark out but even if it were day the heavy clouds would still have obscured the distance between Spire and Peak, as well as the long fall beneath the bridge. The entire time they’d been working on the bridge, Tal had worried about what would happen if they didn’t finish it in time. Peak didn’t exactly have an army or anything that Spire would need to worry about, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t find a way to thwart Spire’s efforts to reach them.

They walked on in silence, the only real noise came from the heavy packs they each carried, filled with food stuffs they’d prepared to use as a peace offering to the rulers of Peak. Tal still wasn’t sure it would work but knew he didn’t have any better ideas to suggest. He understood his own silence, being too afraid to speak, but he wondered if the others were silent because they shared his unease or if they were simply conversing to one another and therefor not needing to speak aloud. Tal had learned not to be offended when he was left out of conversations that way. The people of Spire had lived inside one another’s minds for so long that speaking out loud was almost foreign to them now.

It was a great relief when the far side of the bridge came into view. Everyone immediately picked up their pace. Only once before in Tal’s life had he been so happy to feel the ground beneath his feet and it took him a moment or two to remember that he was now supposed to lead them up to where the rulers lived. He’d never been there himself, but everyone in Peak knew where it was. Rising up at the very top were the beautiful homes of the rulers. Every ten years or so the rulers would select a small group of builders to tear down their old homes and then construct new ones, larger and grander than the ones before them. Such a task was never sought after since those who built the rulers homes had their eyes and tongues cut out to keep them from ever sharing whatever secrets the rulers had built into their homes.

“This way,” Tal said, pointing and then leading the group up along the sloping ground.

They were well below Peak and it would be a good hike until they reached any sort of path. Dawn was still a couple hours away and since no one in Peak was ever expected to be up and working before sunrise it was no surprise to Tal that their entrance into Peak went unnoticed. He recognized the decrepit homes of his fellow builders, as well as the countless facades he and so many others had built over the years. He looked for any new constructions but everything looked familiar to him. It was possible that the new facades were elsewhere in Peak but it struck him as odd that he didn’t see anything new. The rulers liked to spread the various projects out along to give the impression that they were always building throughout their entire land, not just in a few places.

At last they left the crude hovels of the builders behind and entered an area with somewhat nicer, or at least better built, homes.

“The taskmasters live here,” Tal whispered to the group. “Back there is where the builders live.”

He’d explained the layout of Peak to them before but their expressions at the time told him they didn’t quite believe him. Seeing it for themselves was clearly a shock for them. They looked on the verge of saying something, perhaps to express disbelief, or even sympathy, but whatever thoughts they had on their walk through Peak was kept to themselves.

This was also where Tal’s knowledge of Peak became much less reliable. He’d occasionally come this far up to work on repairs for the taskmasters but he’d never spent any real time here. He also wasn’t sure whether or not the taskmasters followed the same schedule as the builders. HE assumed they would be inside this early in the morning, but in reality he had no idea. All he and the rest of the builders knew was that if they weren’t working when the taskmasters arrived then they would be in serious trouble. Get caught shirking too often and you’d find yourself being thrown out, literally, from Peak and into the vast emptiness to fall to your death in the valley below.

His worries about being seen by the taskmasters, however, weren’t realized. While the safe passage thus far was certainly a relief, when Tal found himself standing before the high wall and gate that separated the rulers from everyone else he became paralyzed with fear. This was it, the point of no return when he and the others with him would find out if all their hard work and sacrifice would be worth it.

There was no visible means of opening the gate from this side and Tal had never heard of anyone going through uninvited. For a few minutes he and the others shuffled around the gate, looking high and low for any means of opening it or else signaling to those inside that they were there without resorting to simply banging on the gate itself. The few times Tal had heard of some disgruntled builder trying such a thing had resulted in immediate expulsion from the city.

Without warning, the gate began to open. Tal and the others jumped back as it swung outward. Sunrise was near enough that they could see the form of someone standing on the other side, arms held out in a sign of welcome.

“You’ve made it,” a familiar voice said, causing Tal’s breath to catch in his throat and heart skip a beat.

“Dega?” Tal found himself saying.

“Of course,” Dega replied. “Come in and I will introduce you to my fellow rulers.”

Something in the way Dega spoke seemed off, and not just the fact that he was being polite. There was perhaps an edge of desperation to his speech that Tal hadn’t heard before. Never before had Tal yearned to be bonded with the others so he could hold a private conversation with them. Every instinct was shouting for Tal to turn back and return to Spire. The high wall and gate seemed so much more imposing now that he knew Dega was back in Peak. At least the delegation from Spire wasn’t very quick to obey Dega and, although they shuffled a bit forward and then back again, they did not go in at Dega’s invitation.

“Come,” Dega implored them, “Everyone is eager to meet you.”

“I see they’ve welcomed you back,” Tal said conversationally.

“Yes,” Dega replied slowly.

“How did you get back?” Tal asked, trying to stall while thinking over his options. “You disappeared a few days before the bridge was even completed.”

“I was no longer of any use in Spire,” Dega explained in mater-fact tones. “So I thought I would come here and help prepare the way for you all. You know, ease the transition and all of that.”

“Right, but how did you get here?”

“The scaffolding used to set each segment of the bridge into place was anchored to Peak. All I had to do was climb across. Now, please, come in.”

It was clear Dega was struggling to suppress his impatience as his otherwise welcoming words came out stilted and through partially clenched teeth.

Tal opened his mouth to reply, intending to delay again but instead heard himself saying, “No, I think it would be best if we spoke to the people as well as the rulers.”

The others who were with him shot him uncertain looks and Tal knew that they, too, were wishing they had a bond with him so they could understand what he was doing. Unfortunately, even if they had been bonded it wouldn’t have helped since even he didn’t know what he was doing.

“I thought the plan was to win over the rulers,” Dega said, “and then to introduce the new ideas from Spire more slowly to the people here.”

“You’ve clearly won over the rulers already,” Tal said, “otherwise they would never have let you welcome us.”

“They still expect to be shown proper respect and deference,” Dega hissed as though fearful of having their conversation overheard.

“They haven’t built anything since we left,” Tal said, casting about for anything to talk about, anything to delay having to go in, all while still unsure as to why he was delaying in the first place.

It was just bright enough to see Dega’s face now, and there was heavy sweat on his brow as if his own fears were far greater even than Tal’s. His eyes were darting back and forth between Tal and the others and there was almost a wild look to him, like a cornered animal trying desperately to escape.

“What’s happened here while we were gone?” Tal asked.

He had pressed his luck just a bit too far and Dega fixed his eyes onto Tal, his body growing ridged as his muscles tensed and flexed.

“I am a ruler of Peak,” Dega declared. “I have extended every courtesy to you, and yet it is you who have refused, you who have returned discourtesy upon a welcoming host. If ever you see fit to treat one such as I with respect then my gate will be open to you. Until that time, I will accept the assistance of food that you have brought, and any future assistance so long as you leave it before this gate. My people will not hinder you in any way.”

With that he reached forward and took hold of the gate, straining against its weight to pull it shut. It was in watching Dega struggle to close the gate, his feet slipping at times, his face contorted from the effort, that Tal thought he finally understood.

“Are they gone?” Tal asked.

Dega froze and his momentary lapse confirmed Tal’s suspicion.

“Is it just the rulers or has every left?”

“The rulers are all still here,” Dega muttered bitterly. “They were quite surprised to see me return. But the people have left, first the builders and then the taskmasters. Seems they all realized how futile it was to keep competing with Spire and figured they were better off elsewhere.” he concluded.

“Then why lie to us when we arrived?” Tal asked. “Were you hoping we would just keep giving you food and not notice that Peak was empty?”

Dega refused to meet Tal’s eyes at that question and offered no response. They both knew he didn’t need to; the truth was already obvious.

“You’re welcome to come back to Spire,” Tal said, motioning or the others to begin making their way back to the bridge. “Same for the other rulers.”

“YOU WOULD LEAVE US HERE TO STARVE?” Dega shouted.

“No one’s keeping you here,” Tal replied as he turned with the others and began walking away. “If you starve here it’s because you refused the help we’ve offered. And even if you don’t come to Spire, you can go down into the valley like everyone else.”

A stone flew so close to Tal’s left ear that he felt the air rush by. He ducked instinctively just in time as a second stone whipped passed. Dega was already stooping down to pick up another stone when he was caught in the side with a pair of stones, thrown by a couple of the Spire delegates. Dega grunted and dropped the stone he had been picking up to instead cradle his ribs. Tal and the others used that as their opportunity to get away and they burst out in a run.

“IT’S TOO LATE!” Dega cried after them. “THEY WILL DESTROY THE BRIDGE THE INSTANT THEY SEE YOU WITHOUT ME!”

That explained why Dega was alone at the gate. Some of the other rulers bust be down by the bridge. He wasn’t sure how they intended to break the bridge, or what their overall plan was. Had Dega meant for them to be fooled the entire time, or was the plan to capture them and then hold them for some sort of ransom from Spire?

They ran the whole way back down to the bridge. Those who had been chosen to go with Tal were not just trained in diplomacy but were also accomplished runners and had no trouble keeping pace. An orange glow became apparent as they neared the bridge and the smell of smoke filled the air.

“Fire!” Tal gasped. “They’re going to burn the bridge!”

“Glass doesn’t burn,” the delegates said. “And it’s unlikely they could build a fire hot enough to damage the glass we used for the bridge.”

“No, but the sap we used will melt, maybe even burn if they hold a fire to it,” Tal explained. “We hardly ever used fire in Peak so I didn’t even think about it.”

When they came into view of the bridge they were met by a dozen men and women, each one holding a torch. There was uncertainty in their eyes but had clearly heard the noise of running feet and had guessed what it meant. Already they were moving to set the bridge alight.

All the words, all the reasons for why they shouldn’t destroy the bridge rushed through Tal’s mind and he knew they would not listen. They, like Dega, had made up their minds. The only existence they could envision for themselves was one in which they retained the power, the lifestyle, they were accustomed to and they were willing to burn it all down and starve to death rather than accept anything less.

Before the first of the torches could make contact with the bridge, Tal rushed forward and bowled the ruler over. The woman cried out in shock as she tumbled, her torch flying free from her grasp and then disappearing into the void and out of sight.

Tal and the woman scrambled across the ground, each one trying to get up while simultaneously striving to keep the other down on the ground. For a moment everyone was frozen in place as they watched the struggle but then the rulers remembered their purpose and began lunging towards the bridge with their own torches. The delegates from Spire followed Tal’s example and an all out brawl broke out. Torches were dropped and clothes caught fire. At least one person was shoved out over the edge and their screams lingered in the air, piercing the noise of the fight for far too long before they cut out abruptly. All that Tal knew was that the bridge was still unharmed and as long as that was the case he would keep fighting to protect it.

The rulers outnumbered Tal and the others by almost double but their lack of physical activity proved to be their major weakness. Even when one of them struck Tal it was nothing compared to what the taskmasters had inflicted on him on a regular basis, yet whenever Tal scored a solid blow against one of them, they often retreated at once and had to recover before rejoining the fight.

“STOP!” a voice shouted with such urgency that everyone actually obeyed.

Tal looked towards the source of the shout and was surprised to find Dega standing there, his clothes ragged and burned and his skin marred by soot.

“What have you done?” he demanded, though it wasn’t clear whether he was speaking to the rulers or to those from Spire. “Peak is on fire!” He gestured wildly above him and only then did Tal notice that at least on of the dropped torches had set the grass and shrubs on fire. It hadn’t taken long for that fire to have spread uphill until all of Peak resembled a massive torch.

The rulers looked up with dismay and none of them seemed to know what to do next.

“You are still welcome,” the delegates from Spire said, “you may come to Spire and start a new life there. You could also go down to the valley and find a new life there.”

“Dega’s told us of your false promises,” one of the rulers spat. “We know about your plans to enslave us.”

Tal looked to Dega in disbelief.

“Dega lied to you,” Tal said. “I’m the builder he took with him to Spire and we were both offered work to do and a place to live, but never were we forced into it. We were free to come and go.”

Some of them looked uncertainly towards Dega but mostly they didn’t seem convinced.

“Tal is the one who lies,” Dega said. “He was the one who offered his services to Spire in exchange for his freedom.”

Tal hated how powerless he felt as the few rulers who had seemed to be listening to him regained their confidence. It seemed as though there was nothing he could do to convince them of Spire’s desire to help them.

“I don’t care what you believe,” Tal finally said. “The choice is your own. Stay here. Come to Spire. Go down to the valley. But let us cross back in peace.”

“NEVER!” Dega shouted so forcefully that even the other rulers seemed shocked.

With that, Dega rushed towards Tal. Everyone dove out of Dega’s way as he charged down the slope. Tal watched as everything played out as though he were watching through someone else’s eyes, disconnected from his own body. He was standing just to the side of the bridge very near to the cliff’s edge and it was obvious that Dega intended to shove him off to his death. The moment before Dega reached him, Tal pivoted on one foot and then took on step back. The result was that Dega hurtled passed him, his momentum too great for him to stop himself, and he began to scream out as he realized what was about to happen.

As quickly as he could, Tal caught Dega by the arm. He’d positioned himself so that he was on the bridge now and took advantage of the railing to brace himself and prevent the two of them from being carried out over the cliff. Dega thrashed about momentarily, still screaming, until he realized he wasn’t falling. As soon as he realized what Tal had done he shook his arm free from Tal’s grasp and then hurriedly backed away from the edge.

“I don’t wish any of you harm,” Tal said, making a point to look each of them in the eye and ending with Dega.

He slid the pack of food off his back and tossed it towards the rulers. The others from Spire followed suit, giving their packs to the rulers and then joining Tal on the bridge.

“I’m going to stay here to protect the bridge while they return to Spire,” Tal said. “Any of you are welcome to join them. Once across, I’ll go back as well.”

No one said anything and, after giving Tal a pat on the back, the delegates from Spire began walking back to Spire. It was with relief that Tal did a quick head count and found none of them missing. Whoever had fallen must have been one of the rulers.

A few tense minutes passed with the rulers watching either Tal or the delegates. One of the rulers, a woman who had been sitting on the ground nursing a cut on her forearm, stood up abruptly and stomped his way to where Tal stood guard over the bridge. She didn’t have any sort of weapon or torch and Tal cautiously stepped to the side. Without a word she began making her way across the bridge.

“FOOL!” Dega cried after her.

But already more of the rulers were following after her.

“Better a slave than stuck here,” one of them called out and gave Dega a brief glare.

Finally, it was just Dega left with Tal.

“You of all people know what it’s like in Spire,” Tal said. “You won’t be a slave, but you won’t be a ruler. Of course, pretty soon all of them will know that too,” he nodded back towards the rulers who were still crossing the bridge.

“As soon as you start crossing that bridge,” Dega growled, “I will burn it down.”

“I know,” Tal said.

He checked over his shoulder. To his surprise, the clouds were clearing and he could see the rulers just passing the midpoint of the bridge.

“That’s it?” Dega demanded. “You just accept that I will destroy the bridge with you still on it?”

“I accept that that’s your intention,” Tal said. “I’ve saved your life twice now, each time in a situation when you had put my own life at risk and I could have simply saved myself.”

“Do not fool yourself into thinking you can guilt me into letting you cross that bridge.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what is it then?”

Tal left his post at the foot of the bridge and walked over to Dega who stiffened and braced himself as though expecting Tal to attack him.

“You know me better than that,” Tal said with disappointment and Dega shrugged, relaxing and regaining his usual smug look.

Tal headbutted Dega square on. His forehead easily crushed Dega’s nose and sent him sprawling. Without giving Dega time to gather his senses, Tal knelt down hard onto Dega’s chest, driving the air from his lungs and further pinning him to the ground. Dega thrashed weakly as he gasped for breath, blood flowing freely from his nose and getting into his eyes.

As soon as he was sure that Dega wouldn’t be any real threat to him for the time being, Tal went over to the pack he’d carried over from Spire. Inside was mostly food stuffs, but they had also sent some other basic supplies like cloth, rope, and some tools. Knot tying was something every builder of Peak had to learn. Moving building materials around was a difficult task and more often than not those materials didn’t like to stay stacked and so it was crucial that they were tied down securely. Withdrawing a length of rope, Tal used it to tie Dega’s hands and feet.

“Wad,” Dega asked thickly through his broken nose, “now you leeb me ‘ear do die?”

“No,” Tal told him. “You still don’t know me very well.”

With that, Tal heaved Dega over his shoulders and began making his way back over the bridge. He wasn’t sure what would become of Peak. He’d like to go down to the valley and see if he can find the people and let them know what happened. They might go back and rebuild, or maybe they’ve already found better lives and are happy where they’re at. Tal would leave Dega’s fate to Dega. He doubted the people of Spire would want much to do with Dega after what he’d tried to do, but who knows. For now Tal was content just to return to Spire alive and well. From there he wasn’t sure what he would do. Living in Spire wasn’t exactly perfect for someone outside of the bond, but perhaps if the old rulers of Peak stayed, or if he could find and invite some of the builders from Peak, they could make it work.

All that Tal knew for certain was that he was finally free to choose for himself the sort of life he wanted for himself.

The End.