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When all crews of the Empress had safely gotten out of the ship, Jenna led them to explore the island in search of food and water supply. She wondered if there were people in this island and how it came to be in the first place. The wings sprouting from either sides of the island looked beautiful under the sun, wavering slightly in the wind and glinting under the ray of the sun. She walked for a few minutes, making sure everyone was still right behind her every once in a while. "Don't venture off on your own," she warned. "We still don't know what this island really is. It could be dangerous." Soon enough she stopped and found the path before her blocked by hills and mountains. She raised an eyebrow at the mountain, which to her looked a lot like an ice cream. Dark brown, swirled, smooth, with a pointy top. She got a bit closer and touched the nearest part of the mountain, finding it even cold.
"Do you think this is edible?" she turned to her crew, confused. To test the mountain's strength, she stepped one foot on the winding path leading up to the top and found it rather solid, even though a bit slippery. She wasn't sure whether it was safe to climb it. The last thing she wanted was The Empress to lose all her crews because they all came tumbling down an ice cream mountain. Even though it sounded fun when she put it like that.
Woohoo! They finally found land! Catriona was pretty happy to be getting down with the rest of the crew to this flying muffin shaped island. As she followed Captain Jenna and first mate Morag walking around the island, she noticed that the island itself is full of food. That reminded her of a story she read some time ago - Hansel and Gretel where these two children have found a house made of edible candy!
They finally reached a high mountain and it blocked their path. There is no way of getting around it unless climbing over the mountain that looks like ice-cream. Captain Jenna touched the mountain and asked, "Do you think it is edible". Catriona raised up her hand and answer, "No Captain, we have better not, might be poisonous. Might be some kind of trap, remember the story of Hansel and Gretel?".
Rowan followed Captain Jenna and Catriona towards the mountain. She agreed with Catriona that they shouldn't try to eat it because they had no way to test if it was safe to eat or not. She looked up at the mountain and thought hard. She reached into the bag of objects she had brought from the ship and pulled out a rope. The bag also included a compass, a dagger, a bottle of rum, a net, and a collapsible telescope. "Captain, perhaps we can use this rope so at least one of us can climb up the mountain. I bet you can see the whole of the island from up there. We might be able to spot a stream."
Keety, who walked from the under the ship to the deck look at the scene and stood in awe. "This is more like home," she replied to herself with a giggle.
As she was in awe she noticed that she was being left behind. oh no she grabbed her things which were important for this young one to travel for any wild environment. She rushed off the boat and jumped off actually falling on her feet and not her rear. a first there, yay
Keety then jogged up to the crew and said, "S'rry captain fer de delay."
Yeah, Catriona was right, this island did remind her of the story Hansel and Gretel. Maybe there could be an evil witch lurking around ready to catch them. Trying not to shiver at the thought, she nodded and examined the mountain once more. "You're right. Besides, then it'll be even harder to climb it if we took some bites out of it." Or they could also eat it all up so that the mountain disappeared and their path would be clear. But really, even her and all her crews couldn't finish an entire mountain of ice cream, although it did sound delicious. Being reminded of food, Jenna's stomach alerted her that she was hungry. They better try and cross this mountain fast, then look for some food. Some actual food. Hopefully there were at least some normal fruits in this island.
Rowan's suggestion snapped her out of her reverie, and she looked at the rope she was holding. "Good idea. I'd rather all of us stick together though, so I say we all just climb it. This might take some time, but at least if anything happens to anyone we'll be close to help." She then spotted Keety approaching them and apologizing for her lateness. Jenna nodded to her, signaling that it was okay. She took the rope from Rowan and threw it like a lasso, aiming for the nearest rock up above them. The rope caught it and tied itself around it. Jenna pulled it to test its strength, then slowly began climbing up the first slope toward the rock. Withe the help of the rope, at least when they slipped they had something to hold onto. She arrived at the rock finally and collected her breath. Then she waved to her crews. "Let's climb this rope one by one!" she said, gesturing at the rope's other end down below. She gazed upward to the top of the mountain, convinced that this was going to be a long journey. But she didn't want to send off one of her crews alone to the top, not knowing what could happen to him or her either. So unless someone else had a brighter idea, this was how it was going to be.
Keety smiled, glad that Jenna was alright with her lateness. She watched Jenna climb the rocky area and was relief to see that she got up there will little trouble.
"Let's climb this rope one by one!" She heard Jenna said from the top and saw the rope falling down. She looked up and thought about climbing...she had no idea could they do. She grabbed the rope and with her hands tied the rope tightly around her wide hips. She made sure she could feel the blood circulating through her legs, cause too tight meant she would not climb without the feeling the leg.
She came closer to rocky terrain. She placed her left hand on a rock that was sticking out from the terrain and began to climb. She didn't know what she would do if she fell. Her mind just kept thinking two steps ahead of where to catch with her hands and feet. But, coming half-way she felt herself slip and she fell a little, but caught a rock that she had once clung onto and started on her journey. And made sure she would get up this stupid....rocky cliff, or whatever it was.
About ten minutes later she reached the top of the ridge and grasp the edge. Feeling weak and strain she tried to pull herself up.
Rowan waited for Kheety to finish climbing and throw the rope back down and then started the ascent herself. In about 15 minutes she made it to the ridge. She threw the rope back down. "Come on, everyone!" Then she looked around at the island. She couldn't see too much except the sea yet, but the coolness of the ice cream mountain sure felt nice on that hot day. "I hope this mountain can't melt! That would be awful." Then she leaned against the ridge and closed her eyes as she waited for the rest of the crew.
Catriona was next, saw that Rowan has thrown down the rope, she tied it around herself and started to climb up the ice-cream mountain. It was difficult at first trying to get use to the slippery, creamy and not to mentioned the look so good to eat ... "Oh! Snap out of it," she told herself. She needed to try out different rocks to make sure they are stable enough for her to push herself higher. But then she made a mistake by looking down at the rest of the crew and her right hand that is holding the rock gave way. She slipped and was dangling, swinging from left to right. She screamed, shut her eyes and thought this is it and she is going to fall down. For a moment, she felt the coldness of air on her face and she felt she is flying, then she opened her eyes. She is still swinging with the rope still tied to her body and the wind is blowing gently. She came back to her senses and began to climb up again more determined to get to the top and not wasting anymore time.
Finally, she could reached at the big rock and tried hard to push herself up on to the top. She is so exhausted and laid onto the ice-cream ground on top of the mountain trying to catch her breath! As she laid down she began to untied her rope and threw it down for the next person to climb up.
Jenna watched her crews climb the mountain one by one, and was glad that Keety, who came up first, arrived safely despite almost slipping before. She helped her up and looked back down to see who was coming next. Rowan seemed to find no problem climbing, and she smiled at her when she commented about the mountain melting. "That would be, but at least it means we won't have to climb it anymore." Which would make things incredibly easier for them. It was a hot day indeed and Jenna was just thankful that the mountain was cool. She could touch it and feel all the heat decreasing even by little. Better than nothing, although she really was tempted to lick the ice-cream like ground. But she had a feeling it wouldn't look very impressive. Licking the ground, that was.
Catriona's scream turned her attention back down toward the rope and she gasped as she found Catriona dangling in the air. "Are you okay?" she yelled, relieved that at least the rope was holding her from falling. She seemed to be strong enough to keep climbing, and Jenna was pleased to know what a strong group of people The Empress had as her crews. Once she'd made it safely to where some of the crews had gathered, Jenna approached Catriona, who was now lying down on the cool ground. "That was some tough climbing, wasn't it? Take time to catch your breath though, we'll need it.. our journey's still a bit far." She indicated the top of the mountain, looming above them. If only they could find an easier way to reach it!
"Thank you Captain, me fine," Catriona answered Captain Jenna. "Just trying to catch my breathe and we can be on our way when the rest gets up here," she continued. She rested for a few more minutes and got up to have a look around. Captain Jenna was right about a long way to go. She went over and stood by Captain Jenna. Catriona started to tell Captain Jenna about the ground that she laid on a while ago. "You know Captain, the mountain does look very much like ice-cream but the ground felt just like soft cool grass...very strange indeed," she told Jenna
Catriona continued to tell the Captain that they have better get a move on, as there is something really strange on this island. It might be very hot and sunny now but maybe night time might just fall all of a sudden. They should explore the island more as it is still day.
Before joining the crew climbing up the mountain, Morag counted how many had already climbed the rope. Being the last on at the bottom, there would have to be 6 at the top, including the Captain, but Morag only got to 5. Someone was missing. She looked around her and tried to see if anyone was still on the ship, but she couldn't make out Blake anywhere. Starting to get worried, she shouted "Blake, Blake, where are you?" at the top of her lungs, but no answer came... Being first mate, she felt sort of responsible for her crew as well and did not feel happy climbing up without knowing where everybody was. So she then shouted up to her crew if they could see him anywhere.
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