Draco stood there for a moment, trying to calm his racing heart. He found it hard to say why it had suddenly started beating faster. The effort he’d just made hadn’t been too great, nor did he feel any fear of heights, and yet something had happened.
‘Are you all right?’ The boy who’d pulled him up seemed a bit worried and concerned.
‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ Draco gave a wry smile. ‘It was just a little surprise, nothing to worry about.’ He tried to turn the whole situation into a joke.
‘It didn’t look that funny. Are you sure you’re all right?’ The cadet wouldn’t let it go.
’Probably.’ Draco dropped his cheerful tone and spoke in a matter-of-fact manner. ‘Once we get to the top, I’ll just have to check that both my shoulders have a full range of motion,’ he stated.
‘We’d better get a move on, then.’ Sheth stood on the ledge next to the dragon. The troll was holding a new rope secured to the goblin, who in turn was working even faster, as if he wanted to get back onto solid ground as soon as possible. 'I've checked the rocks ahead and secured our climbing rope, so I can belay Warren for this bit. You deserve a breather.’ He gave the dragon a friendly pat on the shoulder and focused on the task at hand.
Draco didn’t protest and, as the passage took shape, he moved forward, keeping his back pressed against the vertical wall the whole time. When they finally reached the end and stood on the second, large platform, the dragon noted with satisfaction that Warren had used the technique from earlier, and a veritable stone ladder led right to the very top. The reptile climbed to the very top with ease and stood on solid ground with some relief.
Some rather unpleasant sounds caught his attention. He looked around for their source, but the troll approached him and shook his head in a warning gesture.
‘Warren’s only just getting over the fall,’ explained Sheth, trying to drown out the sound of retching
