Tamaris didn't even have time to react before Varlon rolled them both over the edge of what remained of the street. The only thing she was clearly aware of was Mrei screaming in fear. But whether it was survival instinct or training, something made her grab into the remains of some thick metal net interwoven into the construction of the street they had been standing on.

Mrei carefully knelt at the edge and looked down, afraid to even hope. She could not see Varlon anywhere, but Tamaris was right there. She tried to reach for her, but she was too far away.

"Princess, don't!" Tamaris warned her. "You'll fall!"

"But...If I don't do -something-, you will fall! I don't want you to die!"

"...I betrayed you, young highness. Death is exactly what I deserve."

"No, you don't!" Mrei felt like crying. "Mommy left me...and daddy left me...You can't leave me too!"

Her sense of duty told her to let go. Betraying the royal family, no matter under what circumstances, was not something that should be forgiven. But seeing Mrei in tears made her want to go to her, to hold and comfort her. Much more than the responsibility to the princess she was sworn to protect she loved the girl she had raised from a mere baby.

Very slowly she climbed a little higher on the metal mesh. The whole construction creaked dangerously, no doubt already strained to its limits by what remained of the road.

"Please back off, princess," she pleaded. "It may all collapse any minute."

"I will...once you're also up here."

Tamaris wanted to get up and out of the chasm as quickly as possible too, but...apparently she was stuck. There were no more handholds, only the stone that crumbled wherever she grabbed it.

Mrei tried to reach down. "Give me your hand!"

Tamaris shook her head. "I'm far too heavy for a child like you to pull up."

"No! At least let me try!"

"I'm sorry, Mrei..."

Suddenly there was a steady sound of beating wings near them. The cerro they had seen earlier stopped momentarily to watch them. Then it dove into the chasm.

Tamaris made a small sound of surprise as the animal bit through the back of her jacket and pulled up, making the fabric gather in her armpits. She clung tighter to the metal mesh as the force almost tore her away from her only real support right before the jacket buttons gave way with loud snaps.

"He's trying to help, isn't he?" Mrei asked, now hopeful.

That seemed to be the case, as the cerro - noticing that this approach wasn't working - next tried to position itself under her feet and nudged her legs and rump with its head like urging her to climb.

Wild cerros were large animals, ranging from 3 to 4 feet at shoulder. But Tamaris didn't know how strong their wings were, so she was very hesitant to completely put her weight on the creature.

The cerro didn't seem to like this hesitation, as it suddenly dove between her legs, forcing her seated on its broad shoulders right in front of its wings. Then it pushed up again, dislodging Tamaris from her safety net, and deposited her on the solid ground above.

It took a few dizzying moments for Tamaris to gather her wits together. "Thank you," she breathed out to her unlikely rescuer. It was almost like this cerro had...the intelligence of a human being.

The animal just watched them for a moment longer before turning and walking a few steps. Then it stopped again and looked at them expectantly.

Mrei's heart leaped to her throat with hope. "Do you...know where Kress and Lucas are?"

The cerro just gave her another expectant look and resumed walking.

Mrei and Tamaris hurried to follow.

~*~*~

The ground under their feet jerked again, this time upward. Kress breathed a sigh of relief. They were ascending again.

He was getting used to this surprisingly quickly. With just the intent the view in his mind switched to outside the building. The city was enveloped by thick clouds. The barrier around it must have failed. He waited until they reached clear skies to restore it and to balance the atmospheric pressure to what they were more used to living on earth.

He couldn't "see" the airship they had arrived on any more. That bastard must have used it to escape and left them here. But...at least they were still alive.

"Kress?" Lucas carefully asked. They weren't moving anymore, and the eerie quiet was getting on his nerves.

"I'm alright." Kress opened his eyes and let go of the pedestal. That proved to be a mistake. Now that he could again feel his own body, he could also feel the searing pain assaulting it.

"Hey!" Lucas hurried to catch him as Kress's knees gave way. "Please don't pass out! I'm...not strong enough to carry you."

The floor was nicely cool, sharply contrasted by the body heat Lucas emitted. "That's...quite alright. I had to watch your mother die, unable to do anything. I was such a helpless child. At least this time I could protect someone I care about."

He cringed as Lucas shouted to his face, "It's not alright!"

The other boy tried not to cry, but didn't completely succeed. "I care about you too! You can't just leave me!"

Kress shook his head. "I can't walk. Even breathing hurts."

Lucas didn't know what to do. He wanted to stay with his friend, but should he try and find help instead?

Right then there was muffled pounding on the other side of the door to the inner core. Kress weakly reached up to the top of the pedestal and brushed his fingers against it.

Suddenly Mrei's voice reverberated loud and clear through the entire room. "Lucas! Kress! Let me in! Please open this door!"

Kress let his hand fall back to his side and the voice disappeared. That had not been exactly the kind of effect he had hoped to accomplish, but it was good to hear her voice. That meant she was still alive too.

"Go ahead. Open the door for her." He nodded to Lucas. "Since you apparently can do it somehow."

Lucas smiled. "If you wanted to lock me out, you shouldn't have left the pendant with me."

Kress snorted. Of course. He had completely forgotten he had pushed it to Lucas's hands before they had landed in Tavali. "Go on already."

Lucas carefully lowered the other boy to the floor and hurried to the door leading outside the inner core. A light touch of the completed pendant and the door slid open to reveal Mrei and Tamaris on the other side.

"You..." Mrei didn't waste a second before hugging Lucas fiercely. "You're alright!"

"I am, but we have to get Kress back to that healing place. Varlon shot him."

Mrei gasped in horror. No, that couldn't be. "Is he..."

"He's still alive. And pessimistic about it, as usual."

"Let's not waste time then," Tamaris stated and moved past them to the room. "Can you walk, boy?" she asked as she got to his side.

"No."

"I will carry you." Before Kress could say anything, she continued, "I have a long way to make amends for what I have done. Let me start with making sure you don't die."

Kress slowly nodded and assisted the best he could - although the best he could do right now was not make carrying him any more difficult than it already was, considering the huge wings he now had to deal with.

For once he was grateful that he wasn't an adult yet. Although with how thin he was, he might never be particularly muscular - or strong for that matter. And to think he had once been a pretty regular child. All those genetic experiments had really messed up his body, far beyond the illness or how his hair had turned white early on.

Lucas poked him on one arm. "Don't doze off."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Kress waved him off verbally.

They made it back to the healing pools without incident. The liquid washing over Kress felt even more soothing than the last time, the pain of the burn wound disappearing within minutes. Once he felt confident he could move he carefully squirmed in the pool so that he could rest his head on the edge. Discussions were quite difficult with your ears full of some liquid.

"Stop looking at me like that. I'm not going to die."

Lucas and Mrei seemed genuinely relieved.

"More importantly, what are we going to do now?" Kress asked. "That chancellor took the airship, so to me it seems we're stuck."

"He didn't," Tamaris said. "Chancellor Varlon is dead. He fell off the edge, and I very much doubt anyone can survive a fall from this height."

Kress didn't believe that Varlon would be careless enough to just fall, but he left the matter at that. As far as he was concerned, it was good enough that the bastard was dead. "What about the airship?"

"They probably couldn't keep up with the city's movements. Or then they decided to save their own skins and fled. I'm confident they will come back to investigate. And once they do, I will convince them to do as princess Mrei says." They'd better do exactly as she commanded and maybe they wouldn't be charged with treason. That should be plenty of motivation to do it.

Kress relaxed with a deep sigh. Then he looked at Lucas. "So...did the 'land beyond the clouds' meet your expectations?"

Lucas smiled. "It wasn't what I thought at all. But I can't say I'm disappointed."

"Me neither," Mrei added. "I just wish I had been able to save daddy."

Tamaris gently stroked her head. "It can't be helped. But I promise I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here to see you grow into a splendid queen."

Mrei's sad expression was slowly replaced by a hesitant smile. "You will too, right? Lucas? Kress?"

"Of course!" Lucas quickly answered.

Kress remained quiet for a moment. Then he also smiled. "I guess that as your older brother I am obliged to look after you a little."

That surprised Mrei. "Older brother? You?"

"Didn't Lucas already tell you?"

Mrei quickly shook her head.

"Varlon said that I'm an illegitimate child of the king. That would make us half-siblings." In a way it was funny. The lie to cover Mrei's true identity had turned out to be real after all.

"Tamaris, is that true?"

"I'm sorry, Mrei, but I don't know. He didn't tell me all the details about his plans. Only what I strictly needed to know."

"Does it matter?" Lucas asked. "I'd say that after all this we three are as good as family, no matter our blood ties. Right?"

Mrei nodded enthusiastically. "Right!"