kept his eyes fixed on Warren, ready to tighten the rope should he fall again.
The goblin, however, reached up, and the rock almost melted beneath his touch, forming something resembling a ladder rung. He climbed up a little further until he was almost as high as the dragon. Warren’s face showed both terror and determination. At that moment, he was focused solely on dealing with the situation at hand.
‘Right, my turn,’ muttered Draco, looking up. To his surprise, on the edge of the broken ledge, he could see the first of the cadets making the crossing, nervously tying together pieces of rope. On the other side, at the top of the vertical wall, Sheth was just beginning to climb down, holding onto a rope secured to a boulder.
The dragon wrapped the rope, at the end of which was Warren, around his forearm so that he could let go without fear of him plummeting into the abyss. He tensed every muscle and pulled himself up onto the hand from which he was hanging. He felt an unpleasant tingling run through his entire limb. With an effort uncharacteristic of him, he managed to grip the rock with his free hand and stabilise his position. He looked down and, swaying his shoulders slightly, helped himself find a foothold. It took a good while, but he succeeded.
Draco breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a firm foothold. A sharp pain shot through his side and his stiff arm, but he paid it no mind. He steadied his breathing and looked around once more. The cadet at the end of the ledge was as pale as a sheet, but even from a distance of several metres, the relief etched on his face was clear. Sheth, meanwhile, was already halfway towards them.
‘If you make handholds like that as you climb up, I’ll follow you,’ The reptile said to Warren, who was still staring at him. The goblin blinked a few times, then began to climb, magically chiselling out the rock rungs. When he passed Draco, the latter walked along the wall to
