Telfenham and Gilean both arrived on the ground, blasted by a downdraft but able to keep themselves from further harm by landing more delicately. Velentham laid on his side, howling with pain, his baying echoing with the sound of hundreds of Gelugon feet as they tromped down the sides of the pit. "Hurry, we must get through the portal," Telfenham said, encouraging Gilean to heal his son.
Velentham rose, swaggering drunkenly, spittle and blood dripping from his mouth, whispering incoherently. Telfenham knew they had only moments. "What is he doing... wasting his energy?" Gilean asked.
"He may well get us all killed. We should never have attempted this."
"And I suppose him being sent into a bloodlust as he wades through all of those guards with swords in hand would have fared better."
There was no time to argue. Telfenham located the portal and dragged all three through. They arrived at the tallest spire in the citadel of Malsheem. They were in the ninth level and the very smell of the air told of the millions of hell spawn of all kinds that called the place home. In the air, black dragons sailed among the sweltering air currents. Purple clouds let loose arcs of jagged lightning. For the first time Telfenham was faced with what looked like an utterly impossible situation.
"We need to find a place to rest," Gilean said over the sound of Velentham vomiting.
"We are in grave danger, Gilean. Those dragons will certainly detect us if we fly from here."
"Then how are we to descend?"
Telfenham rose and walked to a crenelle, scanning the horizon before spotting a mountain. "We must go there. Do you see it?" Gilean walked over and nodded his agreement. "Before that mountain is the deepest crevasse in this entire plane. If we need rest, we should do it here. For the moment we leave this spot..."
"Then that is what we must do," Gilean said. "Velentham needs to gather himself and I do hot have the strength to heal myself."
"This is as gathered as he will be. This is the warning I gave. It is only with effort that I am not as reduced as he. I better understand how to ride the rhythms of my body... he... does not."
"That is why I did not want him on this journey."
The comment was all Telfenham could stand. He knew his son was a danger on the journey, but after nearly five months time spent together, he could not understand how Gilean could still harbor such resentment. "Do you honestly intend to sit here pitying that my son is along on this foolish journey? Have you no sense of camaraderie at all? Can you not for once simply be grateful for the company that surrounds you?"
"I... I'm sorry."
"We will go when you are ready," Telfenham said, settling down on the tall rampart.
