Up up up. The well-worn thousand year old stone stairs spiraled forever up. On either side; impenetrable thick stone walls. Behind us; the thundering hordes. Turning back now would mean certain defeat. Our only hope of victory lay in fighting our way to the top. Two hundred and seventy five steps in all.
And yet, as we continuously fought our way upward, we were denied the aid of smoking or lighting of matches. The authorities had declared them, "STRICTLY FORBIDDEN."
One lady, somewhat older, couldn't keep up with the pack. She paused, breathless, and waved me on. I had to stay with my family. What else could I do? Did she make it? I don't know. I never saw her again.
Halfway up, we came across an opening in the wall leading to a narrow ledge. With mere inches separating us from a five story plunge to our left, we managed to cut across to another tower. But it wasn't enough to throw the hordes off our trail. They kept coming.
Eventually I made it to the top. But had everyone in our group made it? At first I wasn't sure. We had become separated along the way. I looked from one person to another, searching anxiously for the members of our group. Finally all were present and accounted for. Now we could relax and enjoy the spoils of victory. It was a hard fought battle.
But. We. Had. Won.
