In answer, Bupu pointed upward to the rising pot full of draconians. Tanis looked blank, glanced at Sturm who shrugged disgustedly. Bupu sighed in exasperation and turned to Raistlin, obviously considering the others incapable of understanding. “Bosses go up. We go down,” she said.
Raistlin stared at the lift through the mist. Then he nodded in understanding. “The draconians probably believe that we are trapped up there with no way to get down into the city. If most of the draconians are up above, that would allow us to move safely below.”
“All right,” Sturm said. “But how in the name of Istar do we get down? Most of us can’t fly!”
Bupu spread her hands. “Vines!” she said. Seeing everyone’s look of confusion, the gully dwarf stumped over to the edge of the waterfall and pointed down. Thick, green vines hung over the edge of the rocky cliff like giant snakes. The leaves on the vines were torn, tattered, and, in some places, stripped off entirely, but the vines themselves appeared thick and tough, even if they were slippery.
Goldmoon, unusually pale, crept toward the edge, peered over, and backed away hurriedly. It was a five-hundred-foot drop straight down to a rubble-strewn cobblestone street.
Riverwind put his arm around her, comfortingly.
“I’ve climbed worse,” Caramon said complacently.
“Well, I don’t like it,” said Flint. “But anything’s better than sliding down a sewer.” Grabbing hold of the vine, he swung himself over the ledge and began to inch slowly down hand over hand. “It’s not bad,” he shouted up.
Tasslehoff slid down a vine after Flint, traveling rapidly and with such skill that he received a grunt of approbation from Bupu.
The gully dwarf turned to look at Raistlin, pointing at his long, flowing robes and frowning. The mage smiled at her reassuringly. Standing on the edge of the cliff, he said softly, “Pveathrfall” The crystal ball on top of his staff flared and Raistlin leaped off the edge of the cliff, disappearing into the mist below. Bupu shrieked. Tanis caught her, fearing the adoring gully dwarf might throw herself over.
“He’ll be fine,” the half-elf assured her, feeling a flash of pity when he saw the look of genuine anguish on her face. “He is magi,” he said. “Magic. You know.”
Bupu obviously did not know because she stared at Tanis suspiciously, threw her bag around her neck, grabbed hold of a vine, and began scrabbling down the slippery rock. The rest of the companions were preparing to follow when Goldmoon whispered brokenly, “I can’t.”
Riverwind took her hands. “Kan-toka” he said softly, “it will be all right. You heard what the dwarf said. Just don’t look down.”
Goldmoon shook her head, her chin quivering. “There must be another way,” she said stubbornly. “We will search for it!”
“What’s the problem?” Tanis asked. “We should hurry-”
“She’s afraid of heights,” Riverwind said.
Goldmoon shoved him away. “How dare you tell him that!” she shouted, her face flushed with anger.
Riverwind stared at her coldly. “Why not?” he said, his voice grating. “He’s not your subject. You can let him know you’re human, that you have human frailties. You have only one subject to impress now. Chieftain, and that is me!”
If Riverwind had stabbed her, he could have inflicted no more terrible pain. The color drained from Goldmoon’s lips. Her eyes grew wide and staring, like the eyes of a corpse. “Please secure the staff on my back,” she said to Tanis.
“Goldmoon, he didn’t mean-” he began.
“Do as I command!” she ordered curtly, her blue eyes blazing in anger.
Tanis, sighing, tied the staff to her back with a length of rope. Goldmoon did not even glance at Riverwind. When the staff was fastened tightly, she started toward the edge of the cliff. Sturm jumped in front of her.
“Allow me to go down the vine ahead of you,” he said. “If you slip-”
“If I slip and fall, you’d fall with me. The only thing we’d accomplish would be to die together,” she snapped. Leaning down, she took a firm grip on the vine and swung herself over the edge. Almost immediately, her sweating hands slipped. Tanis’s breath caught in his throat. Sturm lunged forward, though he knew there wasn’t anything he could do. Riverwind stood watching, not a sign of emotion on his face. Goldmoon clutched frantically at the vines and thick leaves. She caught hold and clung to them tightly, unable to breath, unwilling to move. She pressed her face against the wet leaves, shuddering, her eyes closed to block out the sight of the terrifying drop to the ground below. Sturm went over the edge and climbed down to her.