leaping from his ship to the rope, starting to climb. he's impossibly far behind, but the way he goes you'd think he didn't know that because he is flying up the rope, hand over hand like lightning.
roaring up the rope, and
his arms still work as before. if anything, he has speeded up. fezzik's lead is smaller and smaller
less than a hundred feet behind them. and gaining.
feet from the top now, maybe less -- maybe only 50 -- and his pace is as dazzling as before, and
hanging suspended hundreds of feet in the air, holding to the jagged rocks, desperately trying to cling to life.
and so he is. very slowly, he is picking his way upwards, sometimes a foot at a time, sometimes an inch.
still creeping his way upward.
climbing on. he must be six inches closer to the top than when last we saw him. inigo is watching.
as his grip loosens a moment, trying to cling to the side of the cliff.
rising through the early morning light, slowly, steadily, and as the cliff top at last comes within reach --
looking up at inigo.
stunned, doing everything be can to keep inigo by the cliff edge. but no use. slowly at first, he begins to retreat. now faster, inigo is in control and the man in black is desperate.
who watches inigo, then casually tosses his sword to the landing where it sticks in perfectly. then the man in black copies inigo. not copies exactly, improves.
dodging, blocking, and again he thrusts forward, faster even than before, and again he slashes but --
moving in for the end now, blocking everything, muzzling everything and
racing up the mountain trail. ahead is a bend in the trail. he sees it, slows. then he stops, listening.
and the power of the charge is terrible, the pain enormous, but he clings to his grip at fezzik's windpipe.
and the punishment is terrible, and for a moment it seems as if he is going to let go of fezzik's windpipe and crumble, but he doesn't, he holds on.
holding his grip as fezzik tries to stand, halfway makes it, but there is no air. back to his knees he falls, holds there for a moment, and pitches down to all fours. the man in black increases the pressure. fezzik tries to crawl. but there is just no air. no air. fezzik goes to earth and lies still.
cresting the peak of the mountain.
stopping fast.
turning around, looking.
there's nothing he can say. he just sits there.
stepping past the corpse, taking the blindfold and bindings off buttercup, who notices vizzini lying dead.
watching her closely.
teetering on the ravine edge, for a moment, then he begins to fall. down goes the man in black.