The lead salamander rushed into the chamber, snarling and sniffing at the air, hungry eyes roaming the room before settling on Celaine. Behind it, the injured one flailed on the ground, clawing at the arrow beneath its eye. Its tail whipped wildly behind it in its panic, colliding with one kobold and sending it hurtling to the ground. The others backed away, getting out of range as the injured creature panicked amongst their formation.

It wasn’t much, but the disruption bought a little time.

There were too many kobolds to count. They flooded into the chamber and clustered together near the wall, trying to slip around the salamander’s writhing form. The small creatures carried rudimentary spears and clubs and wore patchy leather scrap and poorly modified armour over their red scales. A few had shields that looked to be made from the tops of barrels and crates.

“Hold them back,” Bud roared, slashing open another of the cages. There were still four more cages to go. The man inside scrambled free. “Go!” Bud shouted, grabbing him by the scrap of his shoulder and shoving him toward the tunnel where the others gathered behind Hump.

Bud was onto the next cage in moments, but progress was still too slow. They needed a minute, and right now Hump didn’t even think they had ten seconds.

Celaine let loose a trio of arrows, striking kobolds that trailed the charging salamander. It hardly made a dent in their numbers, but kobolds were cowardly creatures. They shrieked and shoved back through their own ranks, none wanting to be the first into the fight. The hesitation wasn’t much, but every second counted. Kobolds preferred to fight where they had a clear advantage, whether in numbers or terrain.

Bud hacked through another cage as Vamir shot off an attack of his own—five arrows in a blink, each felling a creature. Painful screams erupted from their ranks, and the kobolds faltered, pressing back against the tunnel and preventing more from getting out. Behind them, a deep voice barked orders, forcing the fearful lizards forward. The ranks behind them pushed, and they staggered into the chamber, trampling their fallen comrades as they advanced.

Celaine got loose one more arrow before she was forced to focus on the salamander. It rammed at her, bashing aside empty cages with a sweep of its head, its great maw bearing down on the girl. She hopped to the side elegantly, moving faster and further than any ordinary mortal could match. That was a blessing, there was no doubt about it. She’d used some sort of mobility skill. For a brief second, Hump felt hope kindling. Things clicked into place—if she and Vamir were both Chosen too, it was no wonder the man had been so confident about coming down here.

Celaine landed light as a bird, dropped into a roll, and came to her feet beside the cages with grace that Hump hadn’t seen outside of rogues and acrobats. She lured the floundering mass of flesh and scales away from the remaining prisoners, like a bull chasing red. Luring it toward the now empty cages at the centre of the room where the children had been until just moments ago.

It was almost upon her, and despite all the power Hump had at hand, he felt powerless to help her. If he got distracted, he could bring the entire tunnel down on them.

For all his fear, Celaine showed none of it. The earlier nervousness he’d seen when she fumbled with the arrows had been replaced by the ease of a huntress. She bobbed and swayed like a dancer, shifting back and out of the salamander’s reach with ease. In a moment of reprieve, she levelled her bow at the salamander. Her entire body tightened, flexing to the limits. Her muscles tensed, showing off the toned power contained in her figure. Every part of her was behind the motion that drew the string back to her ear, and for a moment Hump couldn’t tell where the bow ended, and she began. There was a moment of stillness. The arrowhead glinted silver. The bowstring cracked.

This time the arrow took the salamander beneath the foreleg, penetrating the lighter scales of its underside all the way up the shaft. The creature wailed, throwing itself at her in a frenzy. She continued back, her footwork impeccable. The creature smashed through cages, but never touched a hair on her body.

As it rampaged, Vamir dashed in close, faster than any ordinary man could achieve. His blade trailed the same silver as Celaine’s arrow, cutting a long gash in the creature’s fleshier underside. Blood spilled out of the wound and the creature screamed.

In the tunnel, a larger kobold shoved out from behind the mass, drawing Hump’s eye. Bright yellow spines ran down its head and neck, the leather armour over its chests and shoulders was better fitted than what the others wore, and a small sword marked it as their leader. It was shouting, waving its sword in the air, directing the other kobolds to attack. And despite their fear, the kobolds readied their spears to throw. They were aiming at Vamir and Celaine.

Hump whirled on the children and other prisoners that had gathered around him. “Everybody back!” They stared at him for a moment, wide eyed and afraid, and Hump half thought they couldn’t understand him. Until a young woman took charge, ushering the children back down the tunnel.

Hump didn’t wait to make sure they got clear. There wasn’t time. Instead, he raised his staff and aimed it at the tunnel wall, angling it toward the kobolds beyond. Collapsing the tunnel was no longer on the table. Vamir would have to come up with another retreat plan, they needed to make it out of here alive first.

Hump drew in the power from his runes, funnelling it through his staff and into the crystal head. The runes etched along its shaft grew brighter, steaming bronze vapour as they worked to contain the power. The crystal shone with the same light, brighter still, illuminating the walls of the tunnel and chamber. The human body wasn’t designed to withstand so much essence, the staff gave him a place to build up essence to prepare a spell, but this was too much for even it to handle. It flowed through him like fire. His body screamed. Every muscle, every bone strained against the force. If his focus lapsed for even a moment it would tear him apart and consume him.

The kobolds turned their heads. They were afraid of magic and superstition, and so they should be. Even their leader seemed to hesitate for a moment before shouting something again and jabbing a finger toward Hump. They raised their spears.

There wasn’t another moment to wait. What essence he had gathered would have to do.

“Rockshot!” Hump barked.

Before he’d even finished his command, essence burst from his staff. A blast of pure, bronze energy lashed into the tunnel wall. The sudden explosion sent out a wave of pressure that swept Hump’s hair and cloak. Bronze steamed from his staff. From his skin. It painted the world in a sheen of bronze.

His essence penetrated the wall with a crack like a mountain split in two. Bronze light shone through like gold veins in the rock, growing wider and deeper. The entire chamber groaned and grated, rocks split and cracked, dust streamed through newly opened cracks in the roof and walls. The light of Hump’s staff flared brighter in one final explosion of light, and the essence he’d gathered left him.

For a moment all went dark.

And then the rock gleamed with the earth’s radiance.

The tunnel wall exploded in a burst of blinding light; a gaping hole left in its place. The blast filled the air with dust, thick and choking in the chamber. Chunks of stone trailed bronze light as they blasted into the kobolds, devastating their ranks.

For a while, Hump could hear nothing but the ringing in his ears. He coughed and heaved, pulling up his shirt to cover his mouth and nose as he searched for clean air. The magic coursing through him had slowed to a trickle now that Hump’s focus had crumbled. The fire in his body turned to ice, spreading out from his heart in twisting tendrils. It took everything Hump had just to remain on his feet. He clutched to his staff, weak as an old man.

What remained of the dungeon’s essence dissipated as his focus collapsed, the spell now complete. He channelled what little power he had left into his staff, readying a shield spell if he saw anything move. But all was still.

Slowly, the ringing in his ears quietened. The whimpering and pained cries of the kobolds was a cacophony of death. Hump knew they deserved it—hell, they probably deserved worse—but the sound still made him feel ill. As the dust settled, only a handful remained on their feet. The rest were on the ground, bludgeoned and torn apart by the stones. Faces crushed, limbs mottled with holes or missing entirely. Bodies lay limp, contorted into unnatural forms, their bones smashed into pieces. Those still standing retreated to the tunnel on shaky legs.

Somewhere amongst all the fighting, Celaine and Vamir had slain the salamander. They stood beside its corpse, weapons in hand, shielding their eyes from the dust. Bud had freed the last of the prisoners and was beside them, his frostfire sword shining like a lighthouse through the dark.

“That’s what you get, you bastards!” Bud yelled at the kobolds. He took a step forward and their shifty retreat turned into a full-on run. “Cowards.”

“Well said,” Vamir said, sheathing his sword. “Is anybody hurt?”

Nobody answered.

“I need answers!” he said. “Celaine?”

“I’m alright,” she called. She’d fallen from the blast, and rose shakily to her feet.

“Not hurt,” Bud said.

“Same here,” Hump said. He was out of breath, exhausted, and freezing, but all of that meant he was alive. He turned to the village people that were huddled in the tunnel behind him. “Is everyone here?”

The young woman that had taken charge earlier answered. “Everyone that’s left,” she croaked. She was covered in dirt like all of them and looked half starved. “Thank you for coming.”

“All part of the job.” Hump smiled.

Bud sheathed his sword and hurried over to join Hump in the tunnel. The knight let out a long sigh. “We’re going to get you all out of here. What’s your name?”

“Alison.”

“Right, Alison, I want you to get everyone ready to move. We need to get moving before reinforcements show up.”

“My husband…” another woman stammered. “They took him.”

Bud had a pained look on his face, he opened his mouth, but no words came out. He looked pale.

“There’s more of us above,” Hump said in his place. “I’m sorry, but we can’t go any further on our own. The sooner we get back to the surface, the sooner we can come back down here with help.”

“Come on, Susan,” Alison said softly, pressing gently on her back and ushering her further up the tunnel. Alison gave them a grateful look, then helped the others on their way.

“Thanks,” Bud said softly. “I didn’t know what to say.”

“Happens,” Hump said.

Bud nodded, his eyes flicking to the gaping hole that Hump had left in the wall with his spell. “I thought only Chosen could use power like this.”

“A lot of people do,” Hump said, leaning on his staff and taking a breath. He rubbed at his chest, trying to get some warmth back into himself. “This is nothing though. You should have seen the old man in action. He’d have found some clever way to handle it, like opening a pit beneath the feet of the kobolds. Something elegant.”

“You handled it though,” Bud said. “That’s what counts.”

In the chamber, Celaine walked gingerly over to the fallen salamander and prodded it with her toe.

“Are you two coming?” Hump called.

“Go on ahead,” Vamir said. “We’ll gather the heartstones and catch up to you.”

Hump nodded, too tired to argue. He’d just have to trust them to give him his fair share. Celaine drew her slender dagger from her belt and began cutting open the salamander’s chest.

“Can you walk by yourself?” Bud asked.

“Just about,” Hump said. He had to lean heavily on his staff, but he managed to put one foot in front of the other. “Let’s get these people out of here.”