Tars instantly perked up his ears, the notched one twitching beneath his hood.

  Spell knowledge? Capturing the giant snake?

  He was intensely interested in both. On one hand, he didn't want the Great Serpent returning to the kobold territories to cause more havoc; on the other, he had long craved the chance to interact with wizard apprentices and acquire formal magical knowledge. This was provided, of course, that the situation wasn't lethal. If the pair had been First-Ring apprentices, he would have swaggered over, sat down, and been calling them "brothers" within three sentences—likely weaving a tragic tale of how he had once been a handsome man forcibly modified into a kobold.

  But these were two Peak apprentices here for a clear purpose. Still, if they were willing to talk, the gap in their status would turn the conversation into a private tutoring session—a favorable trade-off.

  "One chance to ask a question, and one Zero-Ring spell. But only if you act as bait, and only if you don't screw it up."

  Baont's voice rang out from behind him.

  Tars thought for a moment and realized that some of the fire-user's earlier comments had been directed at him. That man had anticipated this and provided the context Tars needed to make a decision: Baont had hunted the snake multiple times and was powerful enough to kill it. The serpent had only survived because Baont wanted it alive, a fact the clever creature surely realized, leading it to fight with desperate ferocity every time.

  To catch it, they needed a distraction—bait.

  Tars turned around. "It would be my honor to assist you both. A little danger is of no consequence."

  The big guy is strong enough to protect me, right? he wondered.

  With a spell and a question on the line, he had plenty he wanted to know. After some hesitation, he decided he would finally address the long-delayed matter of a bound familiar. If the process required specific magic, he could kill two birds with one stone and get the spell as his reward.

  "It seems that before you were sold to the Black Eerie Tower, you were an educated aristocrat," the fire-user remarked, poking at the embers without looking up.

  Tars wanted to retort that in his homeland, everyone received an education, but he held his tongue to avoid trouble. If they asked where he was from, he would surely stumble over his lies. He glanced at the remains of the roasted beast leg, still nearly half-full.

  "Excellency, if I may ask... could I take that with me?"

  He suddenly thought of Aiskin. If his own dream was to become a powerful wizard, Aiskin's was much simpler: to eat delicious food and be full at every meal. While her life was changing, that desire still held a central place in her heart. Given the kobold girl's love for new things and good food, she would be overjoyed to taste meat seasoned with such exotic spices.

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  "Of course. I take it as a compliment," the man said with a wave of his hand. The leg flew toward Tars, who caught it with a grin and stowed it in his storage pouch.

  "Follow me."

  Baont pocketed his translucent crystal orb. Tars nodded, but before he could even take a step, he heard a thunderous bang. Baont had launched himself forward like a cannonball.

  Tars looked at his short legs, empowered them with Bull's Strength, and began to sprint with gritted teeth. Soon, the glow of the bonfire vanished. He could barely see Baont's back, then he could only hear the monstrous thud of footsteps hitting the ground, and finally, even the sound faded.

  He felt his new spell and familiar waving a sad goodbye. Baont's method of travel wasn't "flashy," but it possessed a terrifying, unadorned power that left everyone in the dust—literally. It was far more reliable than any elegant technique.

  Boom!

  "You're too slow."

  Baont had doubled back, landing beside him mid-spin. Without stopping, he hoisted Tars up by the shoulder. Tars's weight was nothing to him. Tars finally experienced the sensation of lightning-fast travel, which only reinforced his resolve to find a high-speed movement spell. However, the experience quickly soured; Baont's jolting, predatory gait was extremely unkind to a stomach full of roasted meat.

  They emerged from an obscure exit in the tunnel zone and reached a strange area pockmarked with craters. There were at least twenty holes in the ground, looking like a colony of giant rats had nested there.

  Baont finally set him down and checked his orb. "It found a way to counter my tracking." He pocketed the orb and looked at Tars with burning intensity.

  "Hold this, and remember what I say," Baont said, shoving an object into Tars's hand. "Keep it in your hand and ignore everything else. These holes should be interconnected. Just wander through any of them. I'll give you one day, and I will—"

  A massive roar cut him off. The giant serpent burst from one of the holes, causing the entrance to collapse in a spray of dust and stone. Baont didn't spare Tars another glance; he charged forward, fists swinging, chasing the snake as it fled into the distance.

  Tars looked at the item in his hand, then at the receding figures. What now? And what is this?

  It was a small bundle wrapped in a scrap of cloth, wound tightly into a ball. He suspected the cloth had once been the sleeve of a robe. Recalling Baont's instructions, he turned and walked into the nearest hole.

  I won't be joining that violent mess. My short legs can't keep up anyway, he thought. I'm just following orders.

  He gripped the bundle in his left hand, wondering if it was some kind of bait to lure subterranean beasts. He had no intention of opening it; "ask little, see little" was his golden rule when dealing with the powerful. Checking his crystal light, he decided that if Baont wasn't back in a day, he would have done his part and would simply head home.

  Suddenly, a pair of reptilian eyes flickered in the darkness.

  "You'd best hide that," a voice whispered.

  The serpent's words were thin as a mosquito's buzz, directed straight into his ear. He spun around, searching. Flitting through the shadows was a grey-white snake, though it had shrunken to a tenth of its original size.

  "Stay away from him—" the miniature Grey-Neck Lord began, but the voice cut off abruptly.

  "Hahaha! Nowhere left to run!"

  Baont suddenly leaped out, crashing like a projectile into the shadows ahead. Tars shoved the bundle and his light into his storage pouch and sprinted after them.

  His reward hadn't been paid yet!