The room seemed empty, but something was making her uneasy. "Heln, do you sense anything?"
He shook his head. "Even if I had my shields down all I would sense is that tree or the crystal, it's pretty intense this close."
Well, of course when she really needed him, he was useless.
That wasn't fair, and she knew it. He looked pale and overwhelmed, and she probably didn't look much better.
"If it helps, I don't think anything magical in nature could live here, so if we fight anything it'll just be a regular old, well, I don't know, giant bat." Heln shrugged.
"Giant spiders," Bel whispered.
"Pretty sure I asked you to be silent." Rhyss didn't bother to look at her, trying to see in the strange light, but the far corners of the room were lost in a hazy twilight. She thought she saw something move and slowly put her hand on the hilt of her dagger.
"Well, then I suppose I won't tell you that there's a staircase right over there." Bel pointed to a corner that was thankfully opposite of the one she had been staring at. "I'll just stay quiet and follow orders like a good little soldier."
The staircase was still barely visible in the dim light, even when she was looking directly at it. She wasn't even sure how Bel had seen it. Once again, that annoying feeling of admiration towards Bel rose up in her.
"You will now, I hope." Rhyss tried to not let panic hasten her steps and it was nearly a losing battle. She wanted to skulk around the edges of the room, but she walked straight through the center. If anything was in the room with them, it didn't stir.
The stairs were almost completely intact. There was one spot where they had to jump, but it wasn't far and with their help even Heln made it without too much trouble.
"I've decided I'm going to live in this tower."
"It'll be easier jumping down." Rhyss promised him.
The top of the tower was flat, at least, but completely open to the elements. She thought the top would have been even with the bottom of the crystal, but somehow it was still far above their heads.
Rhyss walked to the edge. Beneath them, the dark expanse of trees rolled out like an ocean, broken up by white buildings that ringed the castle. Some of them had been built almost right next to the wall on the other side.
"I'm moving up here with you, that was exhausting." Bel got close to the edge, but Heln stayed by the stairs. "Watch that first step, Rhyss, it's the biggest doozy of all."
"This isn't the only building, it's just the biggest one." Rhyss ignored her and peered into the darkness. From here she couldn't see the lights of the forest, but the buildings gleamed in the light from the crystal. "There are a bunch in the trees, I'm surprised we didn't run into one."
"That's fantastic, let's climb on top of one of them instead." Heln's voice wavered slightly.
"I think it's a town," Rhyss said. "Well, it must have been a town, or something, once."
"An underground city, huh?" Bel leaned even farther than Rhyss would have dared. Just watching her made it feel like her stomach was free falling without her. "Wow, there are a whole lot of them. Heln you should see this!"
"I'll see it from the ground, thanks." Heln was definitely paler in a way that had nothing to do with the odd light. He closed his eyes, tightly, shoving his glasses up into his hair like it would remove him from the situation. "Which I think we should go to. Right now. Before this tower collapses and we die."
"It's been standing for who knows how long," Bel reasoned. "The odds of it falling while we're on it are like. So low. Infinitesimally low."
"We ended up down in these caves, didn't we?" Heln's voice cracked. "I'd say our luck isn't particularly good."
Rhyss had no argument against that. Honestly, she didn't think she could take much more of Bel acting like they were three feet off the ground. She was on the verge of dragging her back by her coat, even with the risk of Bel accusing her of caring. She didn't care, she told herself. She was just being sensible.
The trip back down was less eventful. She was right, jumping the gap in the stairs was easier going the other direction, though judging by the noise that Heln made he didn't agree with any sort of jumping on any particular set of stairs. Bel leapt over last and the stairs above them crumbled more, chunks of stone clattering against the walls of the tower far below them.
"Okay, fine, you were right," Bel told Heln. Even that didn't seem to really cheer him up, though he seemed to be breathing a little more regularly once they were in the large room. "Sorry. I didn't know that you hated heights that much."
"Funny, neither did I." Heln leaned against the wall, apparently his need to rest overriding any fear of spiders. "Sorry, Rhyss, I just need a minute."
"I didn't say anything." She tried to keep her voice light, but it was getting increasingly difficult. Too much of the room was in shadow for her liking, and despite how damp it was, there was very little moss on the walls and floor. Maybe it was close proximity to the crystal, or some spell that Heln hadn't been able to sense, but she knew would feel better when they were outside.
"You get this expression on your face when you want us to hurry it up," Bel explained. "It's very angry, but I'm starting to see the subtle differences, and I guess Heln is, too."
"Not really angry,
