turn around too. I paled a little.
“I-I’m not sure I should just not…“ I mumbled.
I remembered how well my excuses had worked when we had to dive for Eigiollys. I struggled to find my breath.
“Come now, m’lady. I’m not leaving you down here to freeze. Plus, I’m sure Mister Itzallion here would be more than willing to help you,” the half-blood said before turning and glaring at the kin. “Wouldn’t you?”
Levent narrowed his eyes at Rio, then walked up to me and offered a hand. I was not sure what the half-blood had just done, but it obviously worked. I accepted the kin’s hand out of shock before I could remember what it was I was agreeing to do.
After a minute I found myself latched onto the kin’s arm, slowly climbing the snow-covered steps. I concentrated on walking, looking at everything but the giant hole of death that was just a few feet away. The kin trudged along, his boots crunching into the snow.
Rio was doing just fine scrambling up the path ahead of us, but every time he slipped even half an inch I winced and imagined his terrible descent into the pit. Kewyn was being more careful, gripping the wall and steadily placing one foot in front of the other without much haste.
It took a long time to finally ascend the tower, and I was aware of every minute of it. I nearly cheered with delight when we finally came up on a thick platform that covered the top of the death pit. However, I did not have enough air in my lungs for cheering, so I settled for scrambled onto the platform and hugging the wall. Long, thin windows in the tower’s walls illuminated the room, but there was not much to see.
“What? This is all?” Rio said, sounding as disappointed as I felt.
The only thing in the room was a decrepit statue of the goddess Manavell. She looked down on us, her stony gaze asking us why we had bothered.
Kewyn looked at the statue as she caught her breath. Rio grumbled as he walked up to the statue and began melting the ice off of it. Levent was silent as usual, examining the snow-covered platform casually.
After a few minutes my breathing finally steadied and I watched the half-blood concentrate on his task. Once his magic found its grip, the entire statue thawed, sending a sheet of water cascading to the ground. This time I knew to stand out well