They were about to take it from her.
Tarn tapped a finger against the cliffs on the map.
“One problem.”
Vael glanced at him.
“If she gets inside and things turn… what stops her from climbing back out?”
Helsa answered before Vael could.
“Senna’s apprentice.”
Tarn frowned. “The young one?”
“The one who came back from the foothills with Aldric’s circle,” Helsa said. “She can bind the cliff face.”
“For how long?” Tarn asked.
“An hour.”
Not long.
But enough.
“For that hour,” Helsa said, “the cliffs won’t take her. No grip. No path. Nothing she can use.”
Tarn nodded slowly, seeing it.
“She climbs in. Gate closes. Binding goes up.”
“And for one hour,” Vael finished, “she has nowhere to go.”
No escape. No retreat.
Just the fight.
“One hour is all we need,” Helsa said.
Vael look
