Page 14 of Raul
“After we rest and hydrate,” Erica said, pulling out a water bottle.
“Madre de Dios,I’m going to be too waterlogged to climb anything if you keep pushing fluids on me.” Raul scowled at her. “Is this because of the medal ceremony?”
Erica took a swig of water and mentally cursed Queen Eve. “My father taught me that when you’re exerting yourself at altitude, you drink every chance you get.”
Raul looked unconvinced, but he yanked his water bottle out of his backpack’s pocket and took a couple of gulps.
“We will wait here while Pascal scouts the area,” Dario said.
The two bodyguards had been on high alert ever since they’d found the abandoned campsite. As grateful as Erica was for their presence, their level of vigilance was exhausting to be around. She even found herself flinching at shadows.
“Are we camping here too?” Raul asked.
“Yes, but we’ll set up camp later so you can get more climbing in while it’s light. Now we’ll have an early lunch.”
Pascal reappeared out of the trees. “This area is safe. You can get lunch going while I go up the cliff.”
Erica dropped her pack on a flat rock and started to organize the site for a light meal. Raul had gone over to watch Pascal prep for his climb.
“Hostia!”Raul exclaimed several minutes later. “Erica, you have to watch this!”
Pascal was already halfway up the rock face, free climbing without any ropes since there weren’t any preset anchors on this cliff.
“You know he travels all over the world to climb, right?” she said, coming to stand beside the prince as they both stared up at Pascal in awe. “He’s done the Matterhorn, Yosemite, the Dolomites, and a bunch of other places that I wouldn’t even attempt.”
The route Pascal was taking was the one she had shown him when they had met the day before departure. It was a cakewalk for someone of his skill level, and it would be the first climb she guided Raul up. She envied Pascal his freewheeling trip up the rock face.
“I knew he climbed on vacation, but I had no idea he was this expert,” Raul said. “He looks like one of those lizards with sticky feet…a gecko.”
“Yeah, he’s really good.”
Pascal clambered up the last several feet of cliff and hauled himself over the edge of rock, disappearing again.
A few minutes later, he reappeared. “Clear,” he called down. “I’ll anchor the climbing rope and stay up here to keep an eye on things.”
In other words, he wanted to make sure no one tampered with the rope the prince was going to use.
Butterflies of anxiety unsettled Erica’s stomach since she would be the prince’s belayer, but she pasted on a smile. “Let’s eat!”
“Wouldn’t it make more sense for Dario to belay me since he’s heavier?” Raul asked as he watched Erica strap on a harness.
Irritation flashed in her eyes, but her tone was smooth as she replied, “First, he is not as experienced as I am. Second, he needs to keep his attention on our surroundings, not on you. And third, he will be acting as my backup, so you don’t have to worry that I’ll drop you.”
“For the record,” Raul said, smiling at her hint of pique, “I was worried about you getting slammed into the rock if I screwed up and fell hard. Not that you would drop me.”
“Youwillfall, because this is your first time, but I would be a lousy belayer if you took a whipper. That’s climbing jargon for a long fall.” She had spent lunch drilling him on the proper terminology for communication between the climber and belayer. She pulled a sack out of Dario’s backpack. “Okay, here’s your equipment. Let’s get you suited up.”
He changed into the climbing shoes with their sticky soles and stood. Erica held out his harness.
“You can just step into this,” she said. “Then I’ll adjust the fit and do a safety check.”
Raul had climbed on indoor rock walls a couple of times, so he knew the basics of the harness and belaying. But those places had thick floor mats to cushion a fall, as well as colorful handholds and footholds that were easy to find. This was a different story.
He looked up at the hundred-foot sheer rock face, and his heartbeat sped up. The cliff seemed to reach up to the sky.
He slipped the waistbelt and the leg loops of the harness up on his body.
“With your permission, I would like to secure the buckles,” Erica said as he started to fasten the waistbelt.
