The half-elf frowned at Reeve and then widened her eyes as Reeve took two quick steps and launched off of the ledge. Reeve had eyes only for the cage, but she felt searing pain in one shoulder as a kobold slashed at her with an outstretched hand. Both half-elves leaned back from the cage bars as Reeve crashed into them, her hands and one foot finding bars to grip, her other foot scrabbling awkwardly against vertical bars for several seconds before finding a crossbar on which it could rest.

Reeve looked through the poorly forged bars at the half-elves, now close enough that she could smell their honeysuckle breath. They were even more stunning up close. The one who stood was still gripping the naginata, her hand now trapped where Reeve pinned the weapon against the bars with her body. The other half-elf continued to squat, and she looked up with an expression Reeve often put on for her current history teacher, something ambiguous between contempt and respect.

“Ah!” Reeve reflexively kicked back with a heel as she felt a claw rake her right calf, but her boot found only empty space. She pushed her right arm through the cage, up to her shoulder, and reached across her body to grasp the shaft of the naginata from within, then pulled her other shoulder back just far enough to free the half-elf’s hand. The half-elf withdrew her hand slowly and crossed her arms, leaning forward and backward in time with the cage as it swung through the air in response to Reeve’s sudden arrival.

“Well done,” the squatting half-elf said. Her voice was as musical as that of her apparent twin, but it seemed to play entirely within a minor key and carried none of the other’s light. “Now, three of us are trapped here. Shall we invite more of your party to join us?”

Reeve frowned at her. “I’m here to get you out.”

“Out is not the problem, half-orc,” the standing captive said, and she turned and pushed at the door to the cage, which swung open with a grating squeal that caused Reeve to squint. “Down is the problem.” The half-elf pointed to the fifty-foot drop outside the open door.

“Yeah, well, OK.” Reeve looked around the cage, ducking as a passing kobold took a chance and darted in for a swipe that missed Reeve and sent sparks from the bars its claws raked.

“If you are unsure what you should next attempt,” the squatting half-elf said, “the halfling in your party seems to have some opinions.”

Reeve’s frown deepened, and she craned her neck to look down her side, where, far below, she saw her father waving his arms and running in tight circles. Reeve let out a slow breath and turned back to the inhabitants of the cage. “He has a thing about heights.” They stared back at her. “And things that fly.” Their expressions did not change. “Look, he’s not going to calm down til we all get down from here, so, let’s do that.”

The standing half-elf raised both eyebrows.

“You mind?” Reeve said, and the standing half-elf followed her nod and reached out to again grasp the naginata. Reeve slid down into a squat and grasped vertical bars as close to her feet as she could. She spun her head in a quick circle to take in the orbiting kobolds.“Keep them away from me if you can.”

The half-elf nodded and worked the naginata up higher until she could hold it low on the shaft. She began swinging it in an abbreviated arc above Reeve’s head.

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With a quick intake of breath, Reeve let her feet slide off the bottom of the cage. Her hands slipped down the vertical bars as her full weight swung onto them, and as quickly as she could, she moved one and then the other from a vertical bar to the horizontal bar at the cage’s base. “You may want to hold on!”

Both of the cage’s inhabitants looked at her for a moment, then hastily grasped nearby bars.

Reeve swung her legs as far forward as she could, then brought them as far back as possible. “Woot!” She let out a quick cry of joy as she accidentally connected with a kobold on the backswing, unsure what part of the creature she’d kicked and unable to check her Combat Log for any details.

The half-elf stabbed through the air and then raked the blade of the naginata from side to side, keeping the air above Reeve mostly kobold-free. Below the cage was an entirely different scene, as the kobolds began swooping toward Reeve with each oscillation.

“How close?” Reeve yelled as she swung backward.

The squatting half-elf looked up to the ledge toward which they swung. She waited a few seconds until they were at their highest point. “Still four yards if any.”

Reeve pumped her legs again and thought of her father pushing her in a swing at the park down the street from their house. She’d always loved jumping from the seat when it was nearing its highest point, seeing how far she could fly before landing. Being able to enjoy that simple pleasure seemed like something from a previous lifetime. As the cage reached its farthest point from the cliff and then began to swing back, she looked down to check on her parents.

“Ohmagod.”

Her father was running below her, arms outstretched, trying to stay beneath the cage. Beneath her. The cage slowed as it drew close to the ledge, and she swung her legs forward, losing sight of him and swinging into a kobold whose shriek suggested it was as surprised by their sudden meeting as she was.

“Three and a half yards, half-orc,” the squatting half-elf said down through the cage bottom.

“Get ready!”

The half-elf rose and backed against the cage opposite the open door. Her twin pulled the naginata in through the bars and joined her as they swung away from the ledge.

“Three yards.” The darker-voiced half-elf said at the next pass.

“Next time.” Reeve could barely get the words out of her gritted teeth as she felt her fingers slipping on the bars.

“Aye,” the half-elves said in unison.

Reeve looked down and saw her father below her, still trying to stay under her in case she fell. The honey badger was following him, providing protection as best she could while the halfling ran mindlessly through the mayhem. Reeve’s mother was in a quarter-squat, brandishing some sort of weapon that Reeve couldn’t make out, waving the object in long arcs back and forth in front of her, a semi-circle of kobolds eyeing her warily from outside its range.

The cage reached its high point, and Reeve swung her body back as she and the half-elves started what she hoped would be the last swing toward the ledge.

Long, cold, sharp fingers wrapped themselves around Reeve’s face, blocking her sight, and the chill that ran through her made her instantly feel like she had a bad flu. She felt the full weight of a kobold land on her back. Expecting the creature to start gouging her eyes, Reeve let go of the bar in her right hand, and her weight swung onto her left arm. She felt sparks in the ligaments of her shoulder and wrist. With her freed hand, she reached over her shoulder and grabbed the kobold by its neck, swung it over her head, and threw it straight toward the ground, a surprised shriek following it.

“Now!” Reeve yelled, seeing that they were almost to the ledge.

The half-elves each took two fleet steps toward the door of the cage and then leaped toward the ledge. The force of their leap sent the cage sailing away from the ledge and out of Reeve’s fatigued grip.

She fell.

“Ooooooooh fuuuuuudge,” she screamed, followed immediately by, “Gaah!,” as she landed on the back of a passing kobold, her impact stunning it. Its body limp under her, Reeve plummeted toward the ground, unable to see anything through the wings that trailed out behind her and her unintended mount. She closed her eyes.

The impact was accompanied by the cracking of bones—loud as gunshots and sickeningly familiar—and by a chime.