“Hold on,” Jinnaari instructed her. With a massive push, they rose from the ground.

Thia closed her eyes. The chasm floor was at least five hundred feet below them. She wasn’t about to let go.

She felt him stop, finally opening her eyes. They hovered at the side of the cavern. Helix and Pan were fighting the Beholder already.

“Here,” she felt him drape a cloak around her back and secure it. “Now, put a hand against the wall.”

Taking a deep breath, she did as he instructed. Her body didn’t move. “The cloak’s going to keep you safe over here. As long as you have a foot, hand, or something else touching the wall, you won’t fall.”

She let go of the paladin, and he flew toward the fight.

Shifting her position, she made it so both of her hands were free to cast spells. Drawing a sigil in the air in front of her, she did what she could to aid her companions.

The Beholder turned and the center eye focused on her. Her feet slipped and she began to fall. Desperately, she grabbed at the rock wall but couldn’t find anything to hang onto. With a scream, she began to tumble toward the floor.

“Hold on,” Jinnaari called to her.

“To what?” she was panicking, her arms flailing about blindly as her body twisted in the air.

“Reach, Thia!”

Turning her head, she saw the paladin flying to her, his arm reaching out to her. Thia stretched out, her hand grasping his.

He carried her back to the bridge, waiting for her to get her feet under her before going back to the others. The creature was dead. Pushing down the panic, she set to trying to heal her friends.

“Not my pets?” Helix asked.

She glared at him. “No, Helix. I am not healing those abominations!”

“Hey, what’s that?” Moon was pointing to a section of the cavern wall.

Thia looked that way. Carved into the rock face was the image of the Beholder, with a large hole where the center eye would be.

“Stay here. I’ll check it out.”

She watched the paladin fly down and disappear into the darkness. Minutes later, he came back up. “Well?”

“It was a treasure room. Let’s get off the bridge first.”

The group moved to the far end and inspected the loot. Not a bad reward, all in all.

“What happens now?” Adam asked. “We got everything Vizeran wanted.”

Jinnaari looked around the chamber. “If my bearings are right, we can reach his tower by nightfall. Let’s do that. Then we see how long it takes him to make this device he promised us.”

“And then?” Thia asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Jinnaari turned and looked at her. “And then we end this.”