Page 33 of The Anointed's Paladin

“Question. How do we get up there?” Fuck. Ihatedheights.

“Hmm. I haven't gotten that far yet. We can fly up, but Kaine can’t,” Nidori said to Talon. “Can you carry Kaine?”

Well?I glanced at him, eyebrows raised. That didn’t seem like the worst idea.

He hesitated. “I can’t,” he said finally. “Fly, I mean.”

In explanation, he unfurled his wings. The delicate membrane that stretched between the long, bony digits was shredded, torn to ribbons.No chance they would make him airborne. They were basically just an extra, cool-looking pair of arms, at this point.

“Oh, Talon.” Nidori gave his head a hug, and I gritted my teeth. He reached up and patted her head, giving her a sad smile. “So, you definitely can’t carry Kaine up.”

“Astute,” I said tersely. Seemed like we were back to option one. Which wasclimbing the fucking cliff.

Ugh. Curse Talon. And curse whatever had ruined his wings, and thus my easiest way to this cave.

“Hang on. You’re a maoferni. Can’t you just teleport up there?” he said.

I sighed. “No.”

“But I thought—”

“All of us stranded on this side lost that ability the moment Hell was closed.”

It was partly why heights freaked me out so much. I hadn’t realised how scary tall things were until my ability to escape any fall in a blink was just… gone.

“Ah,” said Talon.

Gods, he really must not have talked to a lot of hellspawn.

“Um, all right. Here’s the plan,” he said. “Nidori, you have a big role in this. You up for it?”

Nidori nodded, a serious expression on her face. I felt a flicker of hope. She could just pull us up, right? With her woodweaving?

But that wasn’t the plan Talon described.

I fiddled with my knives as Talon gave Nidori instructions. It was soothing to clip them in. Out. In. Out.Don’t think about the cliff.

“Okay, Nidori. You fly up to the cave mouth.” He peered at her, eyes softening. “It might get windy, so use some vines to keep you nearthe wall if you need. When you get to the top, send a long, strong vine down, then Kaine and I will use it to climb up safely.”

That was his plan?! I should have just killed him last night. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with this. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. Perhaps he was trying to kill me. Planning for me to have an accident on this climb.

I could solve this now. One command, and Nidori wouldhaveto pull me up. The magic swirled within me, the words starting to form on my lips. But I changed what I was going to say at the last second.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” I snapped. “Upthere? I was not picked for being some kind of endurance athlete.”

“Now, I’m curious. Whydoyou think you were picked?” Talon asked, folding his arms.

I scowled. “That’s obvious, pet. My dashing good looks and charm.” I turned back to the cliff. “It certainlywasn’t because I can climb cliffs.”

“Says the man who’s spent half of last evening up a tree.”

I scowled. There was a big difference between being 20 feet off the ground, surrounded by thick, grabbable branches vs scaling a sheer cliff face that I couldn’t even see the top of.

“Why can’t Nidori just pull us up with her vine magic?” I jerked my chin at her.

“It’s not fair to ask her to do that for us. She’s running herself ragged as it is,” he said. “We can pull our own weight.”

I glanced at her. Shit. He was right. She glanced at me from Talon’s back, still managing to put a smile on her face. Okay, maybe he did have a good reason behind this. Hecouldstill be trying to kill me, though.

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