Re-l groaned and stood up slowly, letting go of Gabriel to look around. Her eyes winced against the bright light, but as the glare slowly faded she managed to get a look at their new location.

"We're much higher up than we were before," she said, and felt a wave of cold pass over her as she realised how close they had come to falling. "Almost at the top, I think." She turned to look up along the trail. "There's one more difficult bit. The path narrows again. But it's not for long, and then it widens out hugely. That must be where the cliff ends."

One of her legs buckled, cramping painfully, and she collapsed against the cliff-side, letting herself slide down into a sitting position again so she could massage her calf. As she worked she looked over to Gabriel, and her eyebrows pulled sharply together.

"I shouldn't have let you do all that. We could have found another way."