Page 44

Raiden nods, “Yeah, pretty much. Let’s just say that if I’m right about the realm that we’re in, then those fire supes that we just met will seem like cuddly kittens.”

“Well shit,” Doc curses.

We all start moving quicker, and I’m pleased that I can keep up with the guys easily.

Wait a minute.

“Are you guys going slower for me?” I ask, as we jump over a thankfully small crack in the rock, and I refuse to look down just in case I see something that I don’t want to.

The guys share a look, even though we’re running.

“Well, yeah, Nene,” Van says.

“I’m fine, we can speed up a bit more, and if I really start to slow you down, just go ahead and I’ll catch up,” I reply.

“I’ll carry you,” Reed says. His voice is so firm that I don’t even bother to try to argue with him.

Plus, I don’t mind being carried, especially not by Reed.

The guys pick up their pace, and they all check on me regularly to make sure that I’m okay and not struggling.

They gradually increase the speed, and we’re all shocked when I actually manage to keep pace with them.

It’s not easy. My lungs are beginning to burn with the effort, and I know my legs aren’t going to be happy with me later on, but I’m fucking doing it, and that makes any pain that I may feel later on well worth it.

As the light fades even more, instead of getting cooler, which is what I’m used to happening when the evening starts, it starts to get hotter. Oh, I am not a fan of that.

Finally, we reach the bottom of the cliff, and I look up, and up.

“Fucking hell, it’s massive,” I mutter in awe.

“It’s so big it looks like it's leaning over us,” Doc agrees. “I mean it looked massive when we were standing at the edge of the woods, but I can’t even see the top.”

“It’s impressive,” Ransom agrees.

“Alright, now that we’re here, we need to find the cave,” Van says with a slight frown, as he looks at all the holes in the cliff wall that are obviously caves.

“Why can’t anything be simple?” Reed asks.

“Because this is a trial that’s supposed to test us,” Raiden points out with a slight smile.

“Oh yeah,” Reed retorts with a smile.

“Any ideas on a way to streamline this process?” River asks. “Because looking at the sheer size of it, we could be out here for weeks trying to find the highest cave.”

I shake my head, “I have no idea. What’s the betting that some of those caves have things living in them, though?”

Raiden’s eyes widen, “Shit. We really need to figure this out.”

“I can help,” Griff says, a thoughtful look on his face.

“What are you thinking?” Doc asks curiously.

Griff tilts his head up to look at the towering beast of a cliff above us, and then to either side.

“Gargoyles can use a sort of echolocation kind of thing, in order to find caves and safe spaces to take shelter, and for a couple of other reasons that I don’t have the time to explain right now.

It’s difficult to explain how it works. But in theory, I should be able to use my magic to find the highest cave. ”

“Oh yeah, I remember. You used it when we were looking for that vampire hiker that got stuck,” River says, and Griff nods.

“In theory?” Ransom asks, picking up on the uncertainty in Griff’s voice.

Griff shrugs, “Well, it’s used for small areas. Certainly, areas that are a hell of a lot smaller than this is.”

“Ah, okay. Well, if you can use your magic to just search it in sections, then that’s so much better than us having to find it the other way,” Van replies.

Griff nods, “Definitely. Give me a moment and I’ll see what I can do.”

We all watch curiously, which I’m not sure is helpful, but I, for one, don’t want to miss anything.

I love watching the guys do their thing, and when Griff transforms into all of his gargoyle glory, I love it even more.

Yeah, nothing short of an apocalyptic event would stop me from watching Griff right now.

Asael is still in my hand, and although I know that I’m going to have to put him away soon since I can’t climb a cliff with a sword in one hand, I’m not going to put him away until the last minute.

Those fire locals could be gathering more of their people and come back any moment.

To be honest, if I were them and I had just seen my leader explode into microscopic bits, I would stay as far away as I possibly could, but they might want to avenge him or something, so we do need to try to do this as quickly as possible.

Griff’s magic fills the air and grows stronger than I remember it being. Glancing at the guys and seeing that their expressions match mine, I’m assuming that his level of power is a surprise to them as well.

“Erm,” Griff says, sounding slightly confused as he pulls his magic back, but stays in his gargoyle form.

“What’s up?” Evander asks somewhat cautiously.

I can’t say I blame him, everything is always more complicated than it needs to be, and we tend to end up having to find solutions to complicated problems.

“Nothing, actually, I found the highest cave,” Griff replies.

“That’s good?” River questions, sounding confused.

Griff nods, “Yeah.”

“So why do you look so confused?” I ask.

“I can’t believe it’s in the section that we’re standing near, that’s good luck,” Doc says with a smile when Griff just stands there.

“It isn’t,” Griff replies.

“Alright, man, we’re going to need you to give us more than one-word answers and explain what’s going on with you right now,” Evander says.

“Shit, sorry,” Griff apologizes. “The highest cave isn’t in front of us, it’s about three miles in that direction.”

“Oh, when you said that your gift could cover a small area, I thought you meant like a mile tops,” I reply with interest.

“Yeah, well, that’s why I’m so confused.

I should only be able to use it on roughly a mile of space at a time, but somehow my magic spread along the whole expanse of the cliff, and it goes on for thousands of miles, I think it splits the whole of this piece of land, I sensed sea at either end,” Griff explains.

“Wow,” Doc replies. “That kind of range is crazy.”

Griff nods, “Yeah. The more concerning thing is that all of these other caves that we can see, maybe eighty percent of them have something living in them, and big somethings.”

“Fuck,” Ransom mutters.

“Most likely those creatures that I mentioned, the ones that like to come out after it gets dark,” Raiden replies, as he looks up at the worryingly quickly darkening sky.

“Fantastic,” I reply somewhat sarcastically.

I mean, at this point, I should have guessed that the creatures Raiden warned us about would be living in the caves, because, of course, they would be. Living in the woods that are miles and miles away from this point would have been far too convenient and helpful.

“Come on, let’s get to this cave and get back to the castle. I’m hungry,” Reed says, as he starts to head in the direction that Griff said the cave was.

“I second that,” I reply with a grin.