Rhyss had no argument against that. Honestly, she didn't think she could take much more of Bel acting like they were three feet off the ground. She was on the verge of dragging her back by her coat, even with the risk of Bel accusing her of caring. She didn't care, she told herself. She was just being sensible.

The trip back down was less eventful. She was right, jumping the gap in the stairs was easier going the other direction, though judging by the noise that Heln made he didn't agree with any sort of jumping on any particular set of stairs. Bel leapt over last and the stairs above them crumbled more, chunks of stone clattering against the walls of the tower far below them.

"Okay, fine, you were right," Bel told Heln. Even that didn't seem to really cheer him up, though he seemed to be breathing a little more regularly once they were in the large room. "Sorry. I didn't know that you hated heights that much."

"Funny, neither did I." Heln leaned against the wall, apparently his need to rest overriding any fear of spiders. "Sorry, Rhyss, I just need a minute."

"I didn't say anything." She tried to keep her voice light, but it was getting increasingly difficult. Too much of the room was in shadow for her liking, and despite how damp it was, there was very little moss on the walls and floor. Maybe it was close proximity to the crystal, or some spell that Heln hadn't been able to sense, but she knew would feel better when they were outside.

"You get this expression on your face when you want us to hurry it up," Bel explained. "It's very angry, but I'm starting to see the subtle differences, and I guess Heln is, too."

"Not really angry, exactly." Heln corrected her. "Impatient."

"They all look a little angry to me," Bel admitted. "Then again, I might be slightly biased seeing as how the first time we met you shoved me into a bookshelf and nearly caused the whole library to descend into a domino effect of chaos."

Rhyss glared at her. Bel clearly didn't remember the incident as well as she thought she did because she didn't mention the conversation that had instigated the violence, where Bel had insulted Rhyss first. Instead, her whole face brightened like it always did whenever she was about to say something stupid.

Before Bel could define what Rhyss's face was doing, or something equally inane, her expression faltered and she turned her head a bit.

Rhyss heard a shift of something in the air less than a breath later.

"Heln, I'm sorry, we have to go." Rhyss grabbed his wrist and tugged him after her whether he was ready or not.

A hissing sound like a giant balloon swiftly deflating filled the cavern. Bel went pale and shoved them both to the side. Something passed so close to them she felt a breeze. It looked sort of like a cat with a long snake tail, but she only got a glimpse of it before she ran to the first staircase, hauling Heln along behind her.

At least a dozen of the things glided from the remnants of the ceiling. She couldn't tell if it was wings or skin. Part of her was screaming out magic that she could use, the rest was focused on getting them out of there. They hit the other stairs running and she thought she felt something crack beneath her boots.

Heln yelled and his hand ripped from hers. She whipped around. One of the creatures had dropped onto his shoulders. He nearly fell off the stairs, but she grabbed his arm, whirled him around, and slammed him up against the wall, smashing the creature between him and the stone.

It made a gurgling noise and slid to the ground. It wasn't as big as she'd thought, a little larger than a house cat, though it looked like a cross between a bat and a snake, its pale skin blending in nearly perfectly with the stone.

"Ow." Heln told her, weakly.

"I have an idea."

"I don't like it when you say that."

He would like the actual idea even less.

She wrapped an arm around his waist and jumped into the middle of the stairway. Heln screamed in her ear and she did her best to ignore him, grabbing at the vines. Heln helped with that, at least. They snapped under their weight and they went tumbling down into the bottom of the tower, their fall broken enough that she probably only had a few bruises.

Bel met them down there the more traditional way and hauled them both to their feet before dragging them out of the doorway and into the overgrown courtyard.

"You are actually crazy," Bel told her. "I can't believe you… Eleti alive and above you scared me half to death. Heln, are you okay?"

"Yeah." Heln sounded less than okay, but he was nodding and seemed to be fully conscious and standing without too much pain. "Let's get out of here."

They heard more hissing, but nothing stopped them from leaving through the first courtyard. Rhyss had tried to use her training to memorize the lay of the land, but she was pretty sure that it was more luck than skill when they stumbled into one of the buildings she had seen from the roof.

It was in a sad state, made of a different type of stone that was more yellow than white, and all that was really left was walls. Rhyss thought it might have been someone's home once, possibly where one of the caretakers for the other building had slept. There were runes on the stone that she could see, deep and angular, but she saw no sign of the Forest God carvings they had seen in the tunnels.

"Heln, let me take a look." She turned to him once she was fairly certain nothing had taken up residence there. Nothing more dangerous than insects, anyway.

Heln nodded, unzipping his jacket and shrugging it off. "I don't think it got me, just my jacket."

The hood was shredded and there were long rips in the outer material of shoulders, the fleecy interior bleeding out like little clouds. It looked like the claws had pierced a few places. She hauled up the back of Heln's shirt, earning her what sounded suspiciously like a squawk. There were red welts, but it didn't look like the creature caused any serious damage to his actual person.

"Take off your shirt."

"Wow, Rhyss, at least buy him dinner first." Bel had the audacity to cackle.

Heln gave her the most horrified look Rhyss had ever seen, and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to clean those up, make sure that they don't get infected. Eleti alive." She went to do it herself and he scrambled back, turning away from her and pulling the shirt over his head. "Really, Heln? It's not like I haven't seen guys shirtless before. I'm a Guard Trainee, remember?"

"I'm not those other guys." Heln muttered.

"Don't be a baby." Bel was still laughing. Rhyss would have to have a talk with her about time and place. By talk she actually meant she was going to kick her.

"Unless you have a third ear sticking out of your chest I promise you have nothing new I haven't seen." Rhyss pulled her med kit out of her bag. It didn't have much, but there was a salve that would probably keep the shallow grazes from getting infected. "It's going to sting."

"Of course it is," Heln grumbled. "It always stings. Why can't they—eugh it's cold."

She dipped her finger in the tin and spread green goop over the first cut. "Admittedly, most of the guys I know don't have freckles on their shoulders."

"Oh, shut up."

"As incredibly entertaining as this is, I'm going to make myself useful and go see if there's water nearby. Don't worry, oh great guardian, I'll stay in shouting distance." Bel saluted her again and left before she could really protest.

Rhyss finished cleaning Heln up and stepped back, screwing the tin of ointment closed. "There you go, best I can do. They were a little puffy but I think you'll be fine."

Heln yanked his less than clean shirt back over his head, probably ruining most of her work, but he looked happier about it. "Thanks. You said something about a fire script?"