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((OOC: *puts Joshua and Tianara in danger because why the hell not*))

They were nearing the narrowest part of the path - and Tianara was finally beginning to breathe again - when there was a rumble above them. Tianara's eyes rose to the top of the cliff and widened. "No!"

She yanked Joshua back against the cliff wall as the rumbling grew louder and wilder.

Then the rocks were tumbling down.

Tianara cursed softly over and over in her tongue as the cascade continued.

"What is it?" she asked Joshua, trying to look upwards.

Tianara didn't say anything for several seconds. How could she tell him that somehow, she'd known danger was coming? Not the same way as she usually did - she'd known because of that...thing that had happened in the cavern.

She'd seen a trick of the light, and for some reason it was now a real threat.

"Keep edging down the path," she directed instead, keeping wary eyes on the rocks falling above them. "We have to get off here. We can't wait for it to stop."

Because she was sure that if they waited, it just...wouldn't stop. This wasn't a natural slide. She doubted it was the rock gnomes - they weren't really the type - but someone or something was causing this.

"And I won't let anything happen to you."

She didn't realize she'd said that last part out loud.

Tianara shook her head. "We have to keep moving," she replied. "It's not going to stop." She couldn't say how she knew it, even now, and if Joshua asked he wouldn't get more than a helplessly confused shrug. She pressed herself back against the cliff wall again, and scooted forward until she was right beside Joshua.

If he wouldn't move, she would, but she wasn't leaving him behind.

Moving carefully, she slid around him, still staying as close to the wall as possible - and if she noticed just how close she was, she resolutely ignored it.

They had to get down.

"Come on," she repeated when she was on the other side of him, now leading. "We have to keep moving."

((OOC: These two just need to get their act together already. XP By the way, Lucky, if you have any ideas about where to take things or situations to throw them into, go ahead! We're both in this. biggrin ))

Tianara flicked a glance back up at the rocks, and dodged back into the cliff wall as one came tumbling unfortunately close. She reached back without thinking, and grabbed Joshua's hand.

If something were to happen, she wouldn't have it on her conscience that it had only happened to him.

The rockslide didn't slow down or stop as they kept inching down - if anything, it got harder. Tianara couldn't help but think that something was shrieking in frustration as it watched them get away.

But they weren't out of the way yet, as yet another rock whistling past her reminded her. She could indulge in thinking later. Right now, she just had to move.

"Still okay?" she asked Joshua, having to shout to be heard over the noise.

Tianara kept a death grip on Joshua's hand as they continued onward. She had to jerk forward or back often, as rocks started to seem headed directly for them - and more specifically, their joined hands.

It was like something was trying to separate them.

This just confirmed Tianara's belief that they had to stay together, and she refused to let go. "We'll be there soon," she called to him, keeping her eyes determinedly ahead. Her body was brushing the side of the cliff, so she was drawing on its solid strength to keep her moving - she could never have done this without it.

Even with it, she was struggling.

"Not much farther," she said, as if saying it could make it true.

Tianara jumped back with a surprised sound as a rock crashed down directly in front of them. She looked back at Joshua as though to confirm he was still there, though since she was still clutching his hand in a death grip there was no way she could have thought he wasn't.

Then she looked back at the rock right in front of them, and went white.

The rock had demolished a good part of the next several feet of the path. Even pressed up against the cliff wall, they'd have barely an inch of room to spare trying to go down that.

Tianara gritted her teeth and drew on all the bravery she'd ever had.

She couldn't let go of Joshua. And they couldn't wait.

"Let's go," she grated.

And she edged forward towards that tiny, tiny shelf of rock.

Tianara refused to look up or back. Her eyes were focused on the tiny trail ahead of them. She was placing each foot carefully, holding on to what little handhold the rocky cliff wall could provide, and trying desperately not to get shaken off while boulders came tumbling down.

"We'll be there soon," she called back one more time, her eyes still focused on the ground ahead of them. Her fingers laced with Joshua's, trying not to think what she would do if anything happened.

Because nothing would happen, not to either of them. Nothing. She wouldn't let it.

Biting her lower lip and trying to ignore the paralysing fear that was threatening to take over, she kept inching her way along.

They'd make it. They had to.

Tianara kept stumbling along, and finally they were on more solid ground. With a high-pitched, shrieking rumble, the rockslide subsided, but not before hurling one last defiant boulder in their direction that caused Tianara to jump back.

"Oh!" She looked back over her shoulder at Joshua, finally beginning to breathe again. With a tremulous attempt at a smile, she asked quietly, "Are you all right?"

The rock slide had stopped for now, but she still felt the urge to get off this cliff as quickly as they could, so she kept moving.

Her steps were still careful - she had not entirely shaken the idea that there was danger still to come.