mile or two toward the southwest—the cliffs in that direction seem lower.”
Unfortunately, the impression of lesser height turned out to be an illusion of perspective. Amara signaled them to stop. “We passed a protrusion. Might be the best we can do under the circumstances.”
The protrusion was barely enough of a foothold for one. Amara pulled out a length of hunting rope from her bag. They all contributed what ropes and cords they carried. The hunting rope, pulling the entire length of the ropes knotted together, shot up the face of the cliff and disappeared over the top.
The end of the rope was attached to Amara, who used the hunting rope’s pull to run up the cliff, as graceful as an acrobat. Titus and Fairfax, both still on their carpet, exchanged a look of head-shaking admiration.
“I will probably bruise my face going up,” said Titus.
“No, not that. That’s my favorite part of you.”
“Really? You told me something else altogether in the lighthouse.”
It was the first time either of them had brought up their night together. She slanted him a look. But then the hunting rope returned and Kashkari made ready for his ascent, so they had to situate themselves underneath him and pay attention, in case he fell.
Kashkari reached the top without mishap. As they waited for the rope to come back again, Fairfax leaned over and whispered, “When I said that, it was just to make you happy before you died.”
He whispered back, “I am touched. You said it very, very loudly. You must have been really concerned about my happiness.”
This time her eyes narrowed. Briefly he wondered if there would not be a bolt of lightning in his near future. But she only caught the rope and ascended the cliff, acquitting herself nicely.
Titus did not smash his face during his run up the precipice, but once he was on flat ground again, he struggled to release the rope from his person. The line kept yanking him forward at the pace of a sprint. He lost his balance and was dragged forward on his stomach. Amara hissed to recall the hunting rope. Fairfax and Kashkari threw themselves on him so he would not slam into one of the huge boulders that littered the top of the escarpment. He frantically tried every untying spell in his repertoire.
The knot slipped all of a sudden, leaving him a few feet short of a boulder, with Fairfax and Kashkari each hanging on to one of his boots. Slowly they sat up, panting hard. The knees of his trousers were bloodstained: the trousers had not torn—mage fabrics were stern materials—but his skin was much more fragile.
Fairfax was already seeing to his scraped knees when Amara at last managed to recall the hunting rope. She came and stood next to them, her breath as irregular as theirs.
“Sorry about that.”
“What did you have the hunting rope chase?” asked Fairfax.
She had already cleaned his scratches and was sprinkling a regenerative elixir onto them. He would have told her to save the elixir for more significant wounds—but it was not as if they had a great deal of time left to accumulate more serious injuries.
“I said to find a snake,” answered Amara. “Maybe one was close by. Hunting ropes accelerate when they are near a quarry.”
“I hope we don’t accidentally disturb a giant serpent,” said Kashkari.
No one commented. Titus might not believe in the existence of giant serpents, but he did not want to remark on it one way or the other. He did not want to say anything at all. Even though no one spoke above a whisper, on top of the escarpment their voices carried, a disturbance that he could almost see in the clear, cool air.
Fairfax had finished with her ministrations. She put away her remedies and gestured for everyone to hand over their canteens and waterskins for her to fill. No one objected to prolonging their stop, even though their containers must still be nearly full—the conditions were not the kind that required frequent hydration. Titus thought longingly of the ledge above the ravine. What he would not give to be that far from the Bane again.
He got up, took a few gingerly steps, and called for a far-seeing spell. The moon had set. The land they had flown over, a dark, forbidding expanse that unfurled at the foot of the cliffs, was scarcely visible. Here and there a jagged outcrop of obsidian glinted in the starlight. And if he squinted really hard, he could