As they watched the entrance, Isa caught a flicker of movement near the mouth of the cave. She also saw that Gil was reaching for his longbow.

“How far away are we?” she hissed to Alice.

“Hundred feet?”

Isa grinned. “Fire and frost?”

Alice shook her head. “The frost range is short – like sixty feet. Magic missile?”

Isa shook her head. “Don’t waste the spell.”

“But it always hits.”

“Exactly my point.”

Mimay put her hand up. “Hush!” She conferred with Gil in whispers. Several times Mimay gestured at the cave, and several times Gil shook his head.

“What we need,” Mery muttered, “is a distraction.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” Lund began to rise from his prone position.

“Not that kind.” Mery grabbed his arm to stop him. “Not the kind where you get killed and the whole place is up in arms. Literally. No, what we need is lights.” Her hands swayed in the air. “Dancing, shining, moving lights. Maybe it’s a person, maybe it’s a creature. Maybe someone will need to investigate.”

Mery moved her hands like a puppeteer, as if she had strings attached to the light figure. She made it dance and swoop and run across the sand, dodging and bobbing as it moved against the darkening sky.

One of the dark dwarves emerged from the shadows of the catacombs for a closer look. He moved cautious closer to the lights, and Mery gently, carefully moved the figure away and then teased it forward again, as if she were a fisherman and the dwarf her fishy prey.

“Come on,” muttered Gil. He had his bow string taut and an arrow ready to fly once the dwarf was in range.

Isa gripped her staff and watched the scene. Alice, who knelt beside her, was talking softly to Peck. She let the bird fly off toward the Shimmer, and before Isa could wonder why, Gil let loose his arrow. It flew true, hitting its target in the shoulder. The dark dwarf staggered under the impact, shook his left arm as if testing its strength, and turned back toward the entrance.

“That’s bad, isn’t it?” Mimay looked from Gil to Mery.

“Yeah,” said Mery. “He’s going to get his friends. Nice work,” she said to Gil.

“I did that on purpose,” he replied. “Better to fight them in the open instead of in that warren of tunnels.” He looked at Isa for support. “Right?”

“I’m no tactician.” She held up her hands.

“As a plan, it has some merits.” Lund pushed himself off the ground. “But you should have maybe told us ahead of time. Marissa, come with me, and tell me what animals you can summon again.”

Marissa’s eyes darted from Isa to Lund. “I can’t, uh, I’m only a 2nd class spellcaster, remember?”

“You can shapeshift at least, right?” He started to move away from the group, angling out to the left of them. “We’ll flank them. Just keep them focused on you, all right?” These last words were for Mery.

“I could be a bear or a snake,” said Marissa. “A poisonous snake? Stealthy like. Or maybe you want to charge them.”

Lund’s response was lost to Isa as they moved away from the core group.

Silence settled over them as they watched for the wounded dwarf to return. Isa put her mouth to Alice’s ear. “Once they get close, I’m going in, OK? I have to.”

Alice nodded. “I know.”

Just then four shapes appeared at the mouth of the catacombs. Mery’s gaze was stern. “Fucker probably got healed while he was getting his friends.”

“I didn’t think about that,” Gil muttered.

“We should have waited until morning,” said Mimay. “Dark dwarves hate the sunlight. This lighting, it plays right into their strengths.”

“We couldn’t wait. Dockma needs me, remember?”

“That remains to be seen.” Mimay patted Gil’s shoulder as if to soften her words.

“They’re in range,” Isa hissed.

“They need to get closer,” said Mery. “Otherwise Lund’s gambit is useless.” She conjured a red ball of light and let it hover over her outstretched palm.

Isa was reminded of that moment in the farm house when Mery first showed her the dancing lights. It felt like a million years had passed since Isa and Lund had stormed the remote house and rescued Mery. And in the quiet aftermath, Isa and Mery were supposed to be keeping watch for enemies, but Mery had conjured the lights and they’d watched those instead, moving closer in the soft darkness.

As if reading Isa’s mind, Mery grinned and said, “Nothing like fairy lights to steal a girl’s heart away. Mayhap it will work on stonehearted dwarves, too. What do you think, Isa? Is the magic potent enough?”

“I’m sure,” said Alice, “that short-term, you could charm anyone you had a mind to.” She flashed Mery a decidedly sour smile.

Mery’s own smile seemed undaunted. She said, “No harm in trying, is there?” And then without looking, she sent the red ball zinging toward the dark dwarves. It sailed between two of the soldiers and then looped down to come between the legs of a third.

In response four javelins came soaring toward the group. In the dusky lighting Isa didn’t see the javelins until they were almost among them. Lucky for Isa, only one of the spears came near her. Two hit Mery, one right after the other, as if they knew the author of the lights.

As Isa watched, the last spear landed just at Alice’s feet. It seemed to lose momentum just as it neared her, and for that Isa was thankful. She was very aware of just how vulnerable Alice was to direct attacks.

“Watch this,” Alice said and pointed her finger at the first dwarf in the pack running toward them. “I think they are just…. about…. in range.” An icy blast left her fingertip and shot toward the dwarves. The one Alice hit seemed to shiver and slow as a white film covered his torso.

“Frost and fire.” Isa grinned as she shot her fire bolt at another dwarf. Gil shot one of his arrows at the lead dwarf as Mery healed herself from the javelin damage. Mimay was rummaging through her pouch and muttering to herself.

Distance fighting was fun, for a few moments. The dwarves were concentrating on running to the group, so they did not answer the attacks with their own volley of javelins again. But as the first of the four dwarves arrived at the little knot of adventurers, Isa had time to think about Lund’s plan to surprise their foe. He could spring whatever trap he had devised anytime now, preferably before they got close enough to swing the slim axes in their hands.

And then melee began, and Isa didn’t have time to wonder where Lund and Marissa might be.

Mery pulled out her sword, as did Gil. He had a short blade in each hand. The swords seemed not much bigger than a long dagger, but he wielded them well, slicing down the dwarf he’d shot with a one-two stabbing.

Mimay crumbled a leaf in one hand and the bits of dried matter caught the wind and drifted away. As they did, Mimay swung her sickle in the air, nowhere near any of the enemies, but one of the dwarves suddenly glowed with a bright white light as though he’d been struck by lightning. Isa followed Mimay’s spell with a thrust of her blade and suddenly there were two dwarves instead of four.

A roar sounded in the distance and a bear lumbered into view with Lund sprinting right beside it. Isa was glad to know they were on her side because the sight was truly frightening. Marissa, in bear form, charged at the dwarf trading swings with Gil. Alice shot another frost spell at that dwarf which slowed him down and made him unable to dodge Marissa’s swipe.

Lund swung his greatsword at the last dwarf and struck him down with one swing. In the sudden stillness the group looked at each other. Without a word, they moved toward the mouth of the catacombs. Lund, Gil, and Marissa led the way with Alice and Mimay in the middle and Mery and Isa right behind.