“Idiot dragon, she’s calling you! Get up here!” Rio yelled.
The half-blood’s voice seemed to shake the kin. He sheathed his sword and finally ran for us. He leapt, swinging his uninjured arm into the air and grabbing my outstretched hand. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that the kin easily weighed twice as much as me and my arm was nearly pulled out of its socket because of it. He swung his other arm up and gripped the edge, but was unable to pull himself higher. I grit my teeth, locking my legs through the grate and did my best not to fall off the platform. Almost immediately, two pairs of arms reached around me and grasped the kin’s wrist. Kewyn and Rio grunted with the effort of pulling Levent onto the steadily rising grate, and I did my best to help.
The kin was nearly onto the grate when he groaned in pain. I looked over his shoulder to find Theteau latched onto Levent’s back, holding himself up by the dart in the kin’s shoulder. He grinned triumphantly as he twisted it into the long-haired kin’s shoulder blade.
I swung my leg over Levent’s shoulder, not worrying about the view up my skirt he would get, and kicked Theteau in the nose with a satisfying crunch. He slipped, but despite the blood running from his face he did not lose his grip. As he glared at me, I reached to my back and swung my walking stick, striking him directly between the eyes. Stunned, the dart fell through his fingers.
Theteau fell, cursing as he spun to the ground. I saw him try to unravel his wings, but made it in time only to bend one of them painfully against the ground. His yell of pain and anger echoed up the narrow passage as we helped Levent lift himself onto the ascending platform. Just as his tail cleared the edge, the sides of the pit closed in, allowing just enough room for us to rise.
I sat back, a sigh escaping my lips.
“He can’t follow us now,” I said happily, turning to find the other three staring down through the grate.
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Kewyn said. Her voice pitched to a shriek by the last word. She jumped toward me, escaping the path of a fireball as it hit the bottom of the grate and spit sparks up at us. The metal where she had just been sitting flared red-hot for a few seconds.
I looked down through the slats, though it made my legs grow numb to see how high we had already climbed. It was dark down there, but I could see something