We all stare at the shredded spell circles for a moment.

  Then Rezira says, “Oh, praise Rinviu. Now we can wait and find a sane way down.”

  “You all might,” Zyneth says, grimacing as he shuffles through the papers. “I still need to make it to the relic’s delivery point in the next three days.

  Damn. “This was from the griffin attack?” I ask.

  “Yes.” Zyneth swears again, which is pushing a new personal record. “I’m sorry. I should have discovered this before now.”

  But it’s not a surprise he didn’t. Ever since he put that null marble in the bag, he’s been limiting the time he uses and wears it. The second we make camp, he leaves his bag in a secure but remote corner so I’m no longer repelled by it—and him, by extension.

  “It wasn’t anyone’s fault,” Noli says. “What’s done is done. Now we have to figure out where to go from here.”

  We’re all silent for a moment, considering our options.

  “I do have some rope,” Zyneth finally offers. “It can magically secure to any surface. We could use that to slide down.”

  “What?” Rezira cries. “That’s even less safe than the falling spell!”

  “We might not have a choice,” I say. “Unless anyone else knows some spells that can fly us to the ground.” I wait, but everyone is starting to look equally resigned. “Will the rope be long enough?” I ask Zyneth.

  He hesitates. “Probably not. We could cut down some vines and secure them as well to extend the length.”

  I gesture to the rope of glass I was making to help guide our group through the cloud. “Do you think something like this would work?”

  Zyneth takes a few links of glass between his hands, then abruptly yanks them apart, snapping the line taut. I wince, but the glass and spellwork hold.

  “Yes, I think it should suffice,” he says.

  “Are we sure about this?” Attiru glances nervously between us. “Is there really no other way?”

  “That depends,” Zyneth says. “Are we passing by any other cities with telepads in the next two days?”

  “No,” Attiru reluctantly admits. “None that I’m aware of.”

  “Then I need to descend,” Zyneth says firmly. “However, the rest of you are under no obligation to accompany me. You can stay here and wait, if you think you’ll come up with a better plan. I could return for you all with new spell circles once my job is done.”

  “Does everyone have enough supplies for that?” I ask.

  Noli hesitates. “I could hunt some more. And there’s the lake nearby…”

  Along with all the monsters. Would staying here be safer than climbing down the rope? And how long would they be stranded here? What if they needed to leave quickly, but were over the ocean? The longer I consider this option, the worse it seems.

  Attiru lets out a breath. “Fine. I’ll make the climb.”

  “And me, of course,” I add. Although, if anyone does stay behind, I’d feel compelled to stay as well. Without Ink to keep watch during the night, I don’t like their chances.

  Noli looks to Rezira. Rezira looks pained.

  “All right,” she finally says, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “Let’s just get this over with.”

  Using my glass chain, with Zyneth at one end, and me at the far other, he leads us into the mist. Making it to the edge, he fixes his rope to the drop-off and heads over, searching for a path down. He finds another ledge not far below, actually, which we all relocate to, then repeat the process. Eventually, as we pick our way down, the clouds begin to thin, and we can start to make out shadows of hills beneath us.

  Finally, there are no more ledges to descend to. Vines hang from the underside of the Isles like limbs of a jellyfish. Zyneth reattaches his rope one last time, then Rezira and Noli collect some vines to braid together and extend our terrifyingly long rope. When they’re done, I’ll add my glass chain to the bottom.

  “There’s not a lot to grip,” Attiru remarks at once point. “What if I slip and fall?”

  Zyneth, who is helping to tie knots as handholds in the lines, and instructing me to Sculpt my glass into similar shapes, shakes his head. “I’d advise you not to do that.”

  “How much longer do we have?” I ask Attiru in an attempt to keep their mind off our altitude.

  “The window closes in another half hour,” Attiru says, double checking their maps. “If we wait longer, then we won’t be within walking distance of the city before nightfall.”

  “Camping out in the woods wouldn’t be the worst outcome,” Zyneth says.

  Though it would tack an extra day onto our journey, and given Zyneth’s timeline, that will be cutting it close.

  “What’s the highest mountain we’ll pass over?” I ask Attiru as I continue to work. Rezira and Noli are working on braiding the vines together to increase their strength, conveniently filling in the large gap between Zyneth and I. He can’t take his pack off, not when a strong wind might blow it off into space, so I have to just keep as far away as I can manage. From such a distance, it just feels like an annoying twinge in my soul. Up close, however, that annoyance is quickly overpowered by alarm, and I have to back off before I can start thinking straight once more.

  Attiru flicks a hand over their map, and the display changes. “Oh! The highest elevation we’ll be passing over is coming up soon. Only fifteen minutes out. Do you think we’ll be able to make that?”

  Zyneth looks over our progress, frowning slightly in worry. “We can try, if nothing else. Come help me with this.”

  After that there’s a lot less talking and a lot more scrambling to finish. Zyneth’s rope is at the highest point, since it can magically anchor to the ledge, then comes the vines, and finally my glass. Mine is at the bottom so it will still be within my range after we disembark, allowing me to untie it and take it with me. It’s all the glass I’ve got that’s not on my body, so I’d hate to lose it here. As a result, I’ll be the last to climb down.

  Finally, we have the rope ready. We slowly lower it over the side, and I send some glass out over the ledge to watch from a safe distance. It’s a lot longer than I thought.

  “Fuck that,” Rezira says. “No way.”

  Noli reassuringly rubs her shoulder. “It will be alright! You went down that first one without any trouble.”

  “That one was like one tenth the length of this!” she objects.

  “We’re actually rather lucky we’re still in the mountains and this close to the ground at all,” Attiru says, though judging from their trembling hands, I suspect the reassurance is more for themself than Rezira.

  “I don’t like the look of this,” Rezira says. “Why’s the end whipping around like that? Are we really going that fast?”

  “Actually, yes,” Attiru says. “Clouds can move surprisingly—”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I put a hand on their shoulder, and they stop, looking at me in confusion. The damage had already been done, however. Rezira is swearing again.

  “We’re going to hit a tree. Or a mountain. Or we’ll still be too high at the end of the rope and fall to our deaths.”

  “Lovely suggestions,” Zyneth says. “But as previously stated, we currently lack other options. Attiru? How long.”

  They point off to the east, in the direction we’re heading. “That mountain, there. That’s the one we’ll be jumping off on.”

  Noli gauges the distance. “Only another few minutes. We should get ready.”

  “I’ll start descending now,” Zyneth says. “Rezira, you should go after me.”

  “And I’ll follow her,” Noli offers. “In case, um, some encouragement might be needed.”

  “Shit,” Rezira says.

  Zyneth grabs the rope and leans out over the ledge, as casually as if he might be about to jump down a garden wall.

  “Be careful,” I call after him. I wish I could be closer. I wish I could hug him before he left. It hurts feeling repelled from him—even if it’s not him that’s repelling me, but rather that creepy marble in his pack.

  He flashes a grin. “All in a day’s work.” Looking far more entertained than he has any right to be, he pushes off and vanishes over the side of the Drifting Isles.

  Well, he vanishes from the others’ sights. I still have some of my extra glass trained on him so I can make sure he’s safe. I shouldn’t have worried; he whizzes down the rope like some kind of Spider-Man.

  “Alright, Rezira,” I sign, still watching Zyneth. “He’s over halfway. You’re next.”

  “Already?” she cries, dismayed.

  Noli pulls her down into a quick kiss. “You’ll be fine!”

  “We’re never taking an airship again,” she grumbles, sitting down at the edge. She grabs onto the rope and squeezes it in her grasp, still mumbling to herself. “Why did I let you talk me into this? I’m not built for the sky. Relona preserve me. Rinviu spare me.”

  Slowly, she lowers herself over the side.

  Noli looks back at Attiru and I with a nervous smile. “She’ll be okay! She just likes to complain.”

  “I think it’s sort of warranted here,” I sign back.

  A minute later, Noli departs, swinging down after her wife with much the same grace as Zyneth. I wonder if it’s an elf and cambion thing, having such natural dexterity. Then Attiru edges up to the cliff, nervously tucking their glasses away as they grab the rope.

  Nope. Zyneth’s just an adrenaline junky, I guess.

  Finally, I’m the last one left. I think I can see Zyneth at the bottom, still hanging onto the end as Rezira heads his way. I can’t tell if it’s too high to let go, or if he’s trying to anchor the bottom to keep it from whipping around in the wind. Even with three people on the line, the breeze and the Isles’ movement is sending waves rippling down the line. I give it a minute longer for Attiru to have some space.

  Unashamedly, I poke Ink for some help. We have far better mastery over this body together than separate, and this is one instance where I’m willing to smother my pride. Not falling to our death would be great.

  But Ink is unimpressed with my plan. Why climb down the distance when we can float down instead?

  I’d actually considered the same, but now that I’m looking down a hundred-foot drop, nervousness statics through me. I know we’ve done similar things before, but we haven’t practiced with it much. And it takes our entire concentration. What if we lose focus and fall? There’s no reason to risk that when we can just use the rope that’s already right there.

  Ink grumbles about my lack of bravery, but lends a hand anyway as we begin to descend. With shadow claws for a better grip, and our shared consciousness focusing on making our body lighter, we head down after the others. It isn’t long until we’ve caught up.

  Rezira was right about one thing: we’re moving over the ground a lot faster than I would have guessed.

  We’re also a lot higher than I would have guessed. Zyneth, at the bottom of my glass section of rope, is still around two stories above the forest floor. Trees are racing by beneath him.

  Maybe this wasn’t the best conceived descent plan.

  Attiru looks up at me, then down at the others. “What now?” they shout. It’s hard to hear their voice over the wind. Zyneth shouts something back that I can’t make out. This is going to be a problem.

  Attiru looks up to me again. I’m only a few feet above them. “Can you elongate the glass rope?”

  “I could,” I say. “But I don’t know if it will hold.” I try to remember some of the calculations Caecius had taught me, but even then I’m not good enough to crunch numbers on the fly. “What about the trees, though?”

  They nod ahead of us. “The treeline, see? We can put down there. If you can be quick.”

  Sure enough, the trees seem to peter out as they rise up the slope of the peak we’re skimming past. But it’s a narrow band. Once we pass over that hillside, the forest dips back beneath us once more.

  I’m not sure we’ll have another opportunity, though.

  “I’ll try,” I tell them.

  I send more of my loose glass down, keeping a tight grip on it against the wind, which threatens to rip it away, and gauge the distance between Zyneth and the trees. He still has enough clearance that he’s not in any danger, so I start with the glass at the end, Sculpting the Chained strands into longer links.

  Zyneth notices immediately. He glances up at me, and I wave at him with some signing glass, then point ahead to the upcoming mountain. I do the same for Rezira and Noli, trying to convey the plan to drop down to the empty hillside as quickly as possible.

  Well, empty of trees, at least. The closer we get, the more I can make out large boulders scattered among the scraggly tufts of grass. So this isn’t going to be the softest landing. But we don’t have many other options.

  Zyneth swings over the last tree, and I rapidly speed up my Sculpting. He crouches at the end of the glass rope as it stretches toward the ground. Then, finally, he jumps off, hits the ground, and turns it into a roll. He pops up out of it a few seconds later, trotting to a stop and dusting off his shirt. Show off.

  Rezira is next. But she’s not climbing down fast enough. We’ve already left Zyneth behind. In another thirty seconds, we’ll have passed over the hillside and will be back over trees. I Sculpt the glass above her as well, stretching her toward the ground. She yelps as she feels the glass move, clutching to her handhold. Crap, don’t stop now! I pull the rope thinner, stretching it like taffy—

  It snaps.

  Rezira crashes to the ground, and Noli cries out. She hits the ground from about twice the height Zyneth had, and likewise rolls across the ground. Unlike Zyneth, her roll is completely uncontrolled. Her limbs flail as she skips across the ground before finally coming to a stop. My soul lurches, and I give her a quick Check: she’s injured, but alive. That’s about all the time I have to investigate her, because Attiru, Noli, and I are in trouble.

  The end of the hillside is fast approaching. There’s no glass left beneath Noli’s feet. I could stretch the rest of my remaining glass out, too, but given the weight of all three of us, it will certainly snap, and we’re much higher up than Rezira had been. The glass that broke off and fell to the ground is now out of my range. I’ve got about ten seconds to figure something out.

  Well, I tell Ink. It gets excited, reading my thoughts before I’ve even finished. I guess you’ll get what you wanted after all.

  We skitter down the line, reaching our void around Attiru to grab the glass line between them and Noli. We swing down, placing ourself between the other two. Noli looks up at me with wide, concerned eyes.

  “Hold on,” we sign to Noli. Attiru will just have to get the gist, because talking takes too much concentration for what we need to do now.

  We stretch the glass above Attiru, lowering us to the ground as far as we can reach. We make it about halfway. When the glass above us finally snaps, we move quickly. We use the now-broken glass rope to wrap around Attiru and Noli, pulling them tight to our body and tying them to us. Then, all of our void tenses up, locking our glass into place. One cohesive, solid form.

  [...cane Guardian activa…]

  An additional surge of energy rushes through us, and we pull up, straining with all our might. The weight of Noli and Attiru fall against the glass, dragging us down. Still, we put everything we have in trying to levitate our glass, in trying to raise it skyward.

  We can’t overcome the weight of the two extra bodies. But we do slow the fall.

  We hit the ground, and some of our glass breaks with dozens of tiny stabs of pain. Instantly, we release our hold, letting the glass go limp so Noli and Attiru can roll away, hopefully not impaling themselves on any of our broken shards in the process. All told, however, we hit the ground softer than Zyneth or Rezira.

  Noli scrambles to her feet first, looking wildly around. “Are you okay?” she signs to us and Attiru. Before either of us can answer, she’s already turned away, wildly looking around for Rezira. She doesn’t have to look far, however.

  Rezira is jogging–and limping—our way, though Zyneth is already ahead of her. We pick ourself up, untangling the mess of glass rope, and check on Attiru. They’ve opted to remain lying on their back, dragging a hand down their face with a groan.

  “Everyone alright?” Zyneth asks, dropping his bag a healthy distance away before skidding to a stop next to us. He glances down. “Attiru?”

  “Alive,” they say. “Though I believe I may have sustained a brief heart attack.”

  Ink is disappointed the action is already over, but retreats when I prod it to. I start checking myself over for injuries.

  “Mostly okay,” I report, shaking some broken pieces of glass out of my jacket. “Just a bit of—”

  Zyneth pulls me into a hug. Whatever I was going to say falls apart as relief and affection overtake me. I wrap an arm around his back, leaning into it.

  Ink squirms at the embrace. It still doesn’t like how vulnerable this position leaves us. It doesn’t understand why we find this gesture so enjoyable.

  I mentally plant a hand against its face and shove it away.

  Zyneth finally lets go. “You have to stop doing things like that,” he murmurs.

  “Me?” I tease. “I believe this was your plan.”

  “I suppose your proclivity for danger is rubbing off on me.”

  “God forbid,” I laugh. “One of us needs to be responsible.”

  Nearby, Noli is fussing over Rezira’s leg, the latter trying to fend her off so she can get to healing it. Attiru sits up, looking between both couples.

  “Well, I’m feeling rather left out.” They groan as they push themself to their feet. “Next time you all go on some adventure, I’ll be sure to bring a date.” Attiru stretches their arms, then winces as something cracks. “Actually, next time tell me not to come. I think I’ve filled my ‘almost died’ quota for the next few years.”

  “The quota’s an illusion,” I tell them. “Just when I think I’ve hit the limit, I find more ways to almost die.”

  “Yes.” Zyneth grimaces. “You’re remarkably good at that.”

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