Stephanos agreed with her. “She’s right. But if we’re not going to cross the chasm, how do we get out of here?”
“I know how.” Suri had woken up but looked groggy. “Fortification potions. Two.”
Io reached into her pouch and pulled out two vials and handed them to Suri. She drank them quickly and walked over to the edge of the chasm. “I need help,” she said.
We all went over and put our hands on her.
“Dea Chthonia,” she said.
The rocks roared and groaned and I watched as a step formed in front of us. Then another, to the right and down farther. And another, and another.
She was creating stairs out of stone in the side of the mountain. She stayed in her magic, creating the steps, until it got to a point where she had to stop.
Suri turned her aspect off. “This kind of rock is much easier to manipulate. I’ll make more when we reach the bottom step.”
We ate and drank to get our strength back up. I had to keep myself from crying when I bit into the pasteli that Rokh passed out. Io also gave everyone fortification potions.
It restored my energy but I didn’t feel like myself. I wasn’t sure I would ever feel whole again without Xander.
Stephanos and Rokh got a rope and tied us all together. Rokh was in the front, with Suri, Io, Zalira, and Ahyana behind him. I was following Ahyana with Stephanos last.
“I have to stay close to you,” he told me. “If you fall and die, Xander will kill me.”
Another time it would have been a lighthearted joke. Now he just said it seriously. This was definitely a precarious situation. There wasn’t a railing or any way to stop ourselves if we slipped or misjudged our steps.
“If one person falls, the others can dig in and help pull them back up,” Rokh said, holding on to the rope.
“What if the wind starts blowing again?” Io asked.
“We’ll have to pray that the goddess is with us,” Zalira told her. “And that we can make it down safely.”
I was glad Zalira had it in her to be comforting. Because if the wind did blow again, we were all dead.
But if we tried to follow after the Carians, Rokh was right. There would be traps. Artemisia was probably waiting and salivating at the idea of me coming after her. And if I had been alone, I probably would have done it. But I wasn’t willing to risk the lives of my adelphia and Xander’s brothers.
I would go after Artemisia, but it would be on my terms. Not hers.
Rokh and Stephanos made torches for everyone to carry. It wasn’t dark yet, but it would be soon. And it probably wasn’t the best idea for us to climb down these steps in the dark, but I didn’t want the Carians to have too much of a lead.
And Stephanos was the one who pointed out that if we stayed put, the Carians might come back and launch an attack under the cover of night.
We needed to move and do as Zalira had suggested. We would have to pray that the goddess would be with us.
Rokh got on the first step and it held. He went to the next and we all started following. I had to focus all my attention on what I was doing. I couldn’t let myself fixate on Xander and where he was and what they might be doing to him. Couldn’t think about how terrified he must have been when he fell. That way led to despair and madness. I would get him back.
Darkness fell thick around us and we lit our torches. We were far enough down the mountain now that, even if the Carians did spot us, they wouldn’t be able to reach us.
Except Dolion. He could have easily picked all of us off the mountainside. I hoped he wouldn’t see us.
Everything became one step, then another, and another, keeping one hand on the craggy cliffside. It took all my concentration.
When we reached the last step, Suri had to make more on her own, with no one to lend her power. She would create ten more steps, call off her aspect, and then do it all over again.
It took hours but we eventually reached the bottom. I had never been so grateful to stand on solid ground as I was then.
As soon as Stephanos got to the ground, Suri turned her aspect on and destroyed about thirty of the stairs going up. I was about to ask her why she had done it, but then realized she was making it so the Carians couldn’t follow us that way.
“Stay here,” Rokh said after Suri had finished and turned off her aspect. “I’m going to look for where we left the horses.”
