Druzzik watched after his uncle for a moment, then started walking toward the gate. His movements were a little stiff, but he moved with determination.

  “Come, come. We must go,” he said.

  “That was your uncle? And you were kicked out?” Jerseil asked as we walked.

  Without turning, the kobold guiding us nodded. “Rules are rules, and me broke them,” he replied matter-of-factly.

  Jerseil looked like he wanted to say more, but Harper shook her head. We walked out of the gate and into a well-lit tunnel. I noticed that there were several guards at this gate with slings and spears. That is worrisome. What is out there that has them so concerned? I didn’t know if there was anything other than the other kobold tribes and the mole people.

  It didn’t change the fact that we had a long way to go, and I had yet to see any indications that made me think “beast” trail. There were several tracks, but mostly of kobolds and smaller things. I was sure we would find something, but the likelihood of finding it until we were deeper was small.

  As Druzzik led us out of the tunnel and into the next cavern, I could see the masses of lights in the distance, signifying other villages. If what we were told was true, this journey was about to get very difficult, and very bloody.

  “Follow. We avoid much,” the kobold said, leading us along the left side of the cavern. What he didn’t know was that a party of kobolds from one of the hostile tribes in the cavern were heading along that same wall. Toward us.

  What I didn’t know was that kobolds can practically see in the dark. Which meant they could see us coming and prepared to ambush us. And since our guide’s ability to see in the dark was being hampered by our lamps, he didn’t see what we were walking into.

  It happened fast. As soon as we walked into their trap, it was too late. There was a snap as I stepped into their version of a bear trap and naturally cried out in pain. I went to my knees, clutching my leg, which may have saved my life as a spear flew over my head. A small shape flew through the air onto Jerseil.

  Harper, as usual, was one with the shadows and out in the dark, killing our attackers. I heard Jerseil swearing as he grappled with the smaller form of the attacking kobold. One rushed me with a spear, and I immediately cast Ice Shard twice at the screaming kobold, aiming and hitting it in the eye. Its head jerked back, and it kept coming towards me for a few steps before collapsing and sliding into my trapped leg. The cooling sensation rushed through my body in a delicious shiver, but the pain from my leg almost made me pass out. It was definitely broken.

  Another attacker was coming at me only to be tackled by our guide, who proceeded to beat the ever-loving shit out of the other kobold with his shillelagh. Blood splattered as the knobby end stove in the other kobold’s face.

  As yet another of the assholes was about to run him through, I cast five more spears of ice at it, pinning it to the rock it had been hiding behind. It screamed in pain, twitched a couple of times as it grasped at one length of ice sticking out of its chest, then went slack.

  A panting Druzzik, his face half covered with blood, approached me and got to work on the trap. “Finn good friend. Save Druzzik when Druzzik save Finn!” the Kobold said. He grunted as he did something to the trap, and it released my leg. I, of course, did the reasonable thing and passed out.

  I woke up a little later, gasping and choking, to a very concerned kobold pouring a health potion down my throat.

  “Jesus, dude!” I coughed and took the bottle from him. I grimaced in pain as the health potion did its unpleasant job of fixing my leg. “Fuck, that hurts! Sorry. Thank you, Druzzik.”

  “Finn, are you alright?” asked Harper as she entered the light.

  “Yeah. I’m fine. Druzzik here had my back. Where’s Jerseil?”

  “Here!” Jerseil said from above us. “I think I could use some help, too. I seem to have rolled into a trap with this now dead kobold.”

  “Druzzik help you, green demon—Jerseil!” the kobold said and dashed into the dark.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Did we get all of them?” I asked Harper, who scanned the area for threats.

  “I’m pretty sure we did. There were, like, fourteen of them. I got nine, I think.”

  That made sense. “The two I killed, the one Jerseil killed, and the one our little friend got—”

  “Fuck!” Harper said sharply. “And the one that ran to get help. We gotta move. Druzzik, can you hurry up and get—”

  Just then, three things happened: Druzzik yelled, “Got it!” Harper looked up and jumped back, and the combined mass of one male kobold and one male cambion landed right on my healing leg. I decided to be reasonable again and immediately passed out.

  Not surprisingly, when Jerseil rolled off of me, the pain woke me right back up. “Agh! God damn it, Jerseil! That hurt!” I yelled. Popping another health potion into my hand, I carefully sat up and drank it. This had the hoped-for effect of speeding up my leg’s recovery and the negative effect of yet more pain.

  “We don’t have time for this,” warned Harper. “I’m sorry, Finn, but we have to move. Jerseil, can you help him until he can walk?”

  “I can,” he replied. The bard had just cut his way out of the net and got to his feet. Once free, he helped me up, trying to take as much weight off my right leg as possible. We moved like that until the health potion had finished its work and I could move on my own. I could hear cries of anger from more kobolds behind us.

  “They’ll be tracking us soon. Druzzik, is there another path we could take?” Harper asked.

  The kobold shook his head slowly. “Only if flying. Maybe in mile,” he said. The sounds of the kobolds behind us changed to ones of triumph. “Maybe run now?”

  Not that we were giving up any pretext of stealth, with our lamps giving us away when there was a direct line of sight, but we did not run silently. Druzzik led the way with surprising speed for such short legs. With a grace beyond any ballerina or athlete, Harper spun and ran backwards to monitor our back trail.

  We passed several smaller cave openings, none of which our kobold guide gave more than a second glance to. Nor did he say anything about them. “Chasm ahead. Over bridge, we rest!” the wild-eyed kobold called back to us.

  “They’re catching up!” said Harper. “How far is the bridge?”

  “Soon!” Druzzik said over his shoulder.

  The chasm was a wide crack in the cavern’s floor, through the left side wall and stretching farther than I could see. And the bridge was not what I expected, being a haphazard scaffolding of lashed together roots. I don’t know why I expected a stone bridge, but perhaps kobold society hasn’t sufficiently recovered from its schism following the loss of their Great Dragon to build proper infrastructure. And it may have been that they didn’t build things like that.

  The thing shook with our steps, bouncing a lot with our weight. Druzzik paused in the middle, cutting certain lashings when the rest of us were across. When done, he rejoined us. “Bridge unsafe now. Poor construction. More than one kobold? Down it goes!” he said with a grin.

  I sat on a rock and tried to catch my breath. Despite the difference in construction, it reminded me of another bridge. Druzzik must have seen the pain on my face because he sat down next to me.

  “What wrong, friend Finn?” he asked.

  With a sigh, I told him about Juan. I told him about the fight at the Bridge of Ankana’Zuul and how Juan had fallen to an ignoble death. And how helpless I felt when I couldn’t do anything.

  When I finished, he patted me on the leg. “Sharing good. Better pain out, not keep close. Friends good for share. Sorry not meet Juan,” the kobold said.

  “Thank you, Druzzik,” I said. It was strange how much the kobold had warmed to me. But I did save his life. And he saved mine. Is that all it took anymore? “I’d bet you would have gotten along.”

  Jerseil came over to join us. “Is there another bridge?” he asked our guide.

  “Yes, but far. They try here. Then far one. Half cavern away!” Druzzik replied, gesturing widely at the chasm.

  “Good. Too bad our way back isn’t going to be as easy,” Jerseil muttered.

  I looked around our general vicinity. “Where’s Harper?” I asked.

  “She went to scout ahead as we caught our breath. Something about checking for more traps for us to step in. You know, it’s ridiculous how unbothered she was by that run. She’s amazing,” he said with a smile. “We’re to wait until she gets back.”

  I nodded and stood up. Looking in the direction we were heading, I noticed something just inside the circle of light. What, wait, is that a footprint in the stone? I stepped forward, the lamp on my pack strap illuminating more of the strange depression.

  “Finn, what are you—” Jerseil said until I held up a hand.

  It was massive. Six feet long and maybe 3 feet wide, with a depression in back like a spur, and five claw depressions in the front. It was impressive. I saw another of the same size to the left and forward of this one. It had been unseen before, outside of the light.

  I heard Druzzik gasp behind me. And in my head, I heard the Voice.

  ‘Update on the Quest to Find The Beast. Finn the Mage has surprised all of us with the discovery of evidence of the beast. A trail to track. But what dangers will he and his companions face? How will he survive, even with the help of his friends? Will the beast be willing to go with him, or kill him out of disgust? The second is the obvious choice, and the one that gets my vote. Finn must follow the tracks without fail wherever they may lead. Figure out the beast’s connection to the kobolds. Perhaps Finn may receive more of the biscuits he loves so much!’

  The vitriol and contempt in the Voice’s delivery were back where they were when I was doing the tutorial back on the first day. It was almost as if the being was making up for lost time.

  “Only if they’re proper biscuits, you dick!” I grumbled.