LONDON CALLING

Jessie saw Micheal talking to Angus and smiled as he pushed the bck pack up on his back. Now waiting for Micahel to start them off. Once they were done he followed him " I am not sure about the others" he said chukaling as he walked behind him. " okay " he said and looked in the direction sergio had pointed " We can to this , its just a spring walk" he hyped himself up for the walk ahead.

With one foot in front of the other he started to walk towards the Woods infront of him. "let hope we don't meet a brown bear he'll never know what hit him." Jessie said with a laugh as his boots moved on the some what we grass he was glad he wore his militery boots with good grips on as he would have gone on his ass and that was something he didn't want to do.

"Relax and breathe, Lad," Michael said. "If we get to the hard part, I'll let you know. Don't worry unless I tell you to. Otherwise, it's a piece of cake, alright?" he laughed when Jessie mentioned the brown bear. "One thing about it, as well as he can climb and as good as his claws are, they aren't worth a tick in that rock."

It was a fine walk in the sunshine, and it wasn't long before Michael could see the rock face rising up out of the thick forest. It was a bloody straight up rock face. And it looked smooth as silk. Bloody hell. He hoped he had brought enough pitons. He was exceptionally glad Angus wasn't coming.

"Not such a tall one," Michael observed. "We'll be alright. We'll take our time and get it right. I've got several pair of crampons. We'll need them today. If any of you are without, let me know. Let's make sure we have this right the first time today, shall we?" He set his pack down at the base of the rock and took a close look at the surface. He felt it for himself, checking it, looking for handholds, and then he got out a hammer and drove a piton into it. Bloody hard surface to try to hammer into. The good thing was that the rock didn't crumble like sand. The bad thing was that it was harder than heck to hammer into.

"Let me show you something I learned how to do. I think you'll like it," Sergio said. He walked up to the surface, and he picked up a piton from the bag. He put the piton against the rock and uttered a one word spell.

"Ciocan," he said. The piton slid into the rock as easily as if it were sliding through hot butter. Michael was very impressed. He took hold of the piton and pulled on it. It was solid.

"Bloody hell. Nice trick. What does the spell word mean?"

"Romanian word for hammer. As in all spells, it is about your intent. You have to mean it, and then it works," Sergio said. Michael certainly understood that. His method for creating spells was much the same as Sergio's.

Michael and Sergio decided to work together to put in the first few pitons until Michael could get the charm to work for him. Michael would go up first, followed by Brian.

"Jessie, you go up after Brian, and I'll follow you," Sergio said. "That way if you get into trouble I can come up and help. I'm sure you'll be fine, but I'll be your anchor today. What do you say?"

Jessie moved with michael towards the rock face. He ran his hand over the smoth surface and looked up at it but then heard michael hammer in the pinion only to stop as sergio picked up one and used a spell to make it enter the stone. "neat" he said then looked at Michael again " um..sure" he said and looked back up at the face of the rock.

He waited for brian to be ready knowing he'd use brians carabines to climb up. the first was in place but he waited until brian had gained some hight before latching on and starting his climb upward. soon he wasn't loking down only at where he needed to go his feet finding places to hold onto even th smallest crack took his weight as he followed Brian upward.

Sergio waited until Jessie had a good start up, and then he followed up behind. Jessie was doing fine. For all the obvious nerves Jessie was struggling against, he was doing fine with the actual climb.

"I don't know what you were nervous about, Jessie," Sergio said to him. "You're fine. The only thing I see is that you need to learn to trust yourself. Trust your gut. Learn to listen to the mountain. It will tell you when you're on it and when you need to adjust. It will tell you all you need to know if you listen."

Michael heard the coaching Sergio was giving to Jessie, and that was about the best coaching he had ever heard someone give.

"I'm more than halfway now, and the rock is a bit less smooth here. It will get easier for us all as we come up. And there's a plateau up here for us to take a short break before we go up again," Michael called. "We've got this, you lot."

Jessie focused on climbing when he heard sergio he breathed out a little but his hand grasped a lose rock and it crumbled making him swing out slightly. He swung back and grasped a fresh peice and it held " thanks" he said as he continued to climb up " I for one need a breather" he said ro Michael as he heard him say it was going to get easier and there ws a place they could rest.

He continued up to the plateau and climbed up nly to sit down exausted from the first half " that...took work" he said and chuckled as he looped back on the grass behind him not breathing had but his muscles needed rest, even a small short one but he was not giving up.

"Nice work," Sergio told Jessie. "Open your pack. There will be four or five bottles of a sport drink. The pack has a chill enchantment to keep it all cold. Drink part of one of those drinks. They've got electrolytes. You'll feel better."

Michael and Brian sat down to rest for a moment.

"What did you think of it?" Brian asked.

"It was alright. Not something I'd choose for us to do as a group, not under the sort of pressure that we're under. It's not the sort of thing I would ever use as a teaching piece either. Good protection for the miners, though. Not many people can scale a thing like this."

"The next piece is a bit easier," Sergio said.

"We'll go when we're all ready," Michael said. "Say the word, you lot. We'll go when all four of us are ready and not before."

Jessie opened the pack and took out a sports drink. opening it he drank it and soon felt better as he sat and listened to Brian and michel talking about the climb they had just done and the one they had yet to do. he rested with one arm laid on his knee as he listened and nodded " I agree lets katch our breath first." he said downing another mouthfull of energy drink.

Soon though he felt much better and stood up " okay let get moving" he said placing the empty bottle back in his pack so not to litter the mountain, it was not his policy to do that,he was always taught to leave places as you find them. And that meant taking your litter home.

Michael and Brian and Sergio picked up their packs, and they went to scout out the second rock face they needed to climb. They saw they were going to need to handle it much like the first. They started to work together to put in the initial pitons. Michael believed they could perhaps try to climb this face in two teams of two. that meant double the pitons but it also meant they could perhaps make better time. The rock wasn't quite as smooth here, so Michael believed they could get better footing on this phase.

Angus had spent some of his time catching up with Ana. It seemed to go too quickly, though, because soon Ana's children were coming in from school. She introduce Angus to them. Irina was 9, Luisa was 7, and Nicolai was 6. The girls looked, clearly, like Ana. And Nicolai was absolutely the spitting image of his father. They were all exceptionally bright, and while Ana helped them with their homework, Angus volunteered to make supper.

Ana was concerned for two reasons. First, she wasn't sure how much strength Angus had and whether he could manage it. Second, she had no idea he could cook. The last Angus had been here he was, at best, mediocre in the kitchen. He asked what he might use in her kitchen, her pantry and her root cellar, and she told him that he could use anything he could find. With no restraints, he put together a luxurious version of beef bourguignon, jam packed with fresh vegetables and served over cheesy polenta and a freshly made Irish soda bread. He had some wine left from the bourguinon, so he poured it into two glasses for Ana and him. Then he made a bread pudding for dessert with some dried peaches that he found in her pantry and made a whiskey sauce for over top.

When Ana and the kids came to the table, Ana was thunderstruck at what he had turned out from her simple ingredients. He had told the children it was simply beef stew, but Ana knew better. She knew exactly what it was.

"Where on earth did you learn to cook this?" she asked him, stunned. "I have had this dish in Paris, and it did not compare with this."

"I've added a thing or two to my skills since I was here last. I went to culinary school a couple years after I saw you and Sergio last."

"You should have your own restaurant."

"No thanks," he said, "but I'm glad you like it."

"Why do you hide your light under a bushel, though?"

"I don't," he replied. "When I'm not doing missions work, I am the personal chef for Robert Lupin and his family, among other tasks I do for the Lupin family."

"You're kidding me," she was stunned, looking at him wide eyed.

"No, it's the truth. Brian is married to Robert's daughter, and I live in Brian's house."

"He is Robert's son-in-law?"

"Yes. He is."

"You have been holding out on me. Here I have prattled on all afternoon about Sergio and the kids, and you have stories of your own."

"It was not important to me to simply do a lot of name dropping. I wanted to hear about you and Sergio and how you've all been. That was important to me."

"And now, you must return the favor and tell me all."

"After supper. The children are waiting for dessert," he said

Jessie lookedat the face infront of him ashe shifted his pack " okay round two" he said waiting for the others to start. Soon he followed climbing easier than befoe as he found several good foot and hand holds as he moved but he was stil glad he had the rope around him for if he fell it would be game over for him or at least a bad break. Hekept pace behind Micahel as they moved hoping they would reatch the top rather soon as his arms were now burning with the strain. that in its self was unushual for him as he was use to being stronger than humans now.

He paused and took a small quick drink of the energy drink that hung in a strap at his waist then continued up " how much further?" he called up.

"Not much," Michael said. "Sergio and I can see the top from here. Keep it steady, and you'll be fine." When Michael and Sergio reached the top, they helped Brian and Jessie up. Brian stowed his climbing gear in his pack for the time being and slung his pack on his shoulder, anxious to get to the mine.

"I like your rope," Sergio laughed, never having seen a sentient climbing rope. "I would like to have one like him if you ever come across another."

"I'll keep my eyes open," Michael smiled, as he took a moment to put all his climbing gear in his pack for now. "Hiss and I have been old mates for many years now, and I've come to enjoy his companionship on my climbs."

"I can see why. Who would have thought a rope could have such a cheeky sense of humor?"

"Where to from here, Sergio?"

"That way," Sergio pointed off to the northeast, and he put away his climbing gear in his pack and shouldered the pack. "Through the trees. We'll come across another cliff face. The entrance to the mine is unplottable. To gain access, one must know the bird call that the miners use as a signal that you mean them no harm. Once we give the signal, we will be greeted and then escorted into the mine."

"Does Angus know all this information about the mines?"

"Well, Edward does, so I can only presume that Angus knew before he set out, either by his own experience or by Edward's reading him in," Sergio replied. "Are we ready? It's only perhaps a six or seven minute walk from here, and when we get there, when they realize we are friends, we will be treated well."