The Magic Thieves by Serena Yates Page A

far too high to attempt jumping off."
    "I agree with the not jumping part. Since I don't have my air magic back yet, I won't be able to break our fall by making us float. So we'll have to climb. Oh, and you forgot to mention that we need to find the third part of the Magic Key while we're at it.” Elryk went even paler as the fissures creaked and widened a little more.
    "Good point.” Kaythan scratched his head. “Maybe the first thing you should try is using some of that earth magic to stabilise this rock? It worked with the raft, so maybe it'll be effective here as well?"
    "I can do that.” Elryk closed his eyes and mumbled a few words.
    Kaythan stared at the fissures. They didn't vanish, but the creaking stopped. They also weren't getting wider anymore.
    "Did it work?” Elryk's eyes remained tightly closed, his hands fisted.
    "To a degree.” He did his best not to laugh at his mate's sudden fear. It was so irrational that it was hard for him to see it as justified. But then, as he well knew, fear wasn't always rational.
    "Do I want to know what that means?” Elryk's eyes remained shut and the man wasn't moving except to breathe.
    "It means that you seem to have stopped the fissures from getting larger, but they're still there.” Kaythan put a hand on Elryk's arm. “While we seem to have a little break, can you try and use your magic to sense where this piece of the Muyd'Zel is hidden? I think it might be easier to sense things that are farther away than it will be once we're at ground level. I'm not holding my breath for your repairs to hold, but we should have a few minutes."
    Elryk raised his eyebrows, still without so much as peeking through his eyelashes. He nodded and remained still for a few minutes. He turned his head this way and that as if to try and orient himself.
    Kaythan was about to say something when Elryk's eyes opened.
    "It's over there.” Elryk pointed at a rock formation a few hundred feet away. “On the very top of it, of course."
    It had the shape of a column and looked about half as high as their arch. Who came up with these hiding places? It would be extremely hard to climb up the sheer walls of the smooth looking structure. As if in response to his internal complaint, the rock underneath them started fissuring again and the wind's strength turned up another notch.
    "Time to leave.” Kaythan gripped Elryk's hand. “I'll be with you every step of the way. Just follow me down and you'll be fine."
    "Okay.” Elryk swallowed, and his hand was shaking, but he didn't hesitate to follow Kaythan down one of the legs of their arch.
    The rise was a good fifty feet, so the incline wasn't too steep. Erosion had left enough cracks and holes that now served as hand and foot holds. They had just left the top part, which was the thinnest, when the creaking and rumbling sounds started up again. Small pieces of rock fell the four hundred or so feet to ground level, blown in all directions by the howling storm.
    Elryk froze above him, the other man's entire body pressing into the rock. Elryk was shaking.
    "I think we need to keep moving. I'm not sure how much of this is going to remain in one piece once the whole upper part starts collapsing.” He reached up and locked a hand around one of Elryk's ankles to steady the other man.
    The body contact seemed to relax his mate, and Elryk nodded as he started moving again. They were still about two hundred feet above ground level when the top part of the arch collapsed with a thunderous noise. The entire structure shook, but the supporting columns remained upright and undamaged.
    The rest of the climb down happened in silence. Elryk seemed too focused on moving without looking down too much and Kaythan didn't want to interrupt his mate's concentration. When they finally set foot on level ground, Elryk sank into his arms with a sigh. The other man's whole body still shook and Kaythan held on, stroking his back until he'd relaxed.
    The wind had miraculously stopped