[ Better, he does not say, to take chance with rope and remain securely fettered, than to misjudge distance in deceptive dark. The moonlight's thinner tonight, reedy. Lan Wangji trusts in his instinct, if not his measurements, and so —
Gritting his teeth, he shifts first, step wobbly but final footing calm, when he crosses the plank of the widest branch to reach the end of it and kneel — and finds the tree rattled each way, his perch vulnerable to stones cast upwards by lupine creatures he would have sworn too foolishly consumed by animal instinct to remember to make weapon of their surroundings.
One pebble crosses his cheek, slashes it in in a brisk line that begins to recuperate already under the whispered strength of his core. He does not flinch, but staggers when the beasts combine forces to attempt to mount each other's backs and reach up on the tree, prevented by the poor latching of their claws, but still sufficiently competent to shake the evergreen.
These, Lan Wangji decides heartbeats before flattening himself to best ability at the root of the branch and starting the slow collection of the rope they'd climbed, are not exemplary work conditions. ]
Distract them. [ Only a diabolical wolf horde beneath, please, and without causing them harm. Thank you. ]
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Gritting his teeth, he shifts first, step wobbly but final footing calm, when he crosses the plank of the widest branch to reach the end of it and kneel — and finds the tree rattled each way, his perch vulnerable to stones cast upwards by lupine creatures he would have sworn too foolishly consumed by animal instinct to remember to make weapon of their surroundings.
One pebble crosses his cheek, slashes it in in a brisk line that begins to recuperate already under the whispered strength of his core. He does not flinch, but staggers when the beasts combine forces to attempt to mount each other's backs and reach up on the tree, prevented by the poor latching of their claws, but still sufficiently competent to shake the evergreen.
These, Lan Wangji decides heartbeats before flattening himself to best ability at the root of the branch and starting the slow collection of the rope they'd climbed, are not exemplary work conditions. ]
Distract them. [ Only a diabolical wolf horde beneath, please, and without causing them harm. Thank you. ]