The slamming of the door against the chair pursued Triss up the stairs. The windows of the house must have been blacked out or had heavy curtains, because the entire upstairs was pitch black. Triss quickly summoned her orb of light to see where she was going, the brilliant golden ball appearing above her hand with the barest of effort.

  “Turn that off!” Naiela cried, throwing an arm over her eyes. “Too bright!”

  Triss dismissed the spell. “Sorry.” She said sheepishly. “I don’t know how to make a less bright orb yet.”

  “Shhhh.” Reginald’s sibilant voice came from somewhere ahead in the dark. “We need to be quiet. Keep coming up the stairs. I can see well enough, I’ll guide you.”

  Triss walked up the steps, carefully feeling each tread before stepping on it. She bumped into Naiela a few times, but managed to avoid tripping or knocking the other wizard over. “Watch where you’re going!” Naiela hissed at her when she bumped her again.

  “How exactly do you expect me to do that?” Triss hissed back, annoyed.

  There was a pause before Naiela answered. “Just stop running into me.”

  “Then get your ugly ass out of my way!” Triss snapped, and the sound of her voice echoed in the dark. Another slam rocked the house, and she heard the distinctive scrape of the chair sliding across the wood.

  “It’s moving!” A muffled voice called from outside, and the slamming picked up in frequency.

  “Faster!” Triss whisper-shouted at Naiela, and began to take the steps faster. She ran into the other wizard after only two steps, but instead of waiting she pushed at Naiela to move her along. A quiet gasp sounded as she pushed, but Naeila did start moving faster.

  “I’m going to hurt you when this is all over.” Naiela promised.

  “You won’t get the chance if you don’t hurry up!” Triss whispered back.

  A loud crashing noise sounded below them as they reached the top of the stairs. Overlapping voices cheered and shouted as the men below forced their way in through the door. A faint light was cast up the stairs from the open door, just enough for Triss to make out the dark shapes of Naiela and Reginald ahead of her. “Spread out! Find them!” Grotil’s voice rang out. Pounding footsteps thundered through the house as the men began to search the main floor. A loud slamming noise followed by cursing told Triss that at least one of the thugs had slipped on the soap. “Check upstairs!” Grotil called. “There’s white shit on the steps, they probably went that way!”

  “Good job.” Naiela whispered sarcastically. Before Triss could reply, a series of crashes echoed up the stairs.

  “My arm! I broke my arm!” Someone screamed.

  “This way!” Reginald hissed. Triss felt a hand grasp hers and pull her along. It took a second to realize it was Naiela’s hand, not Reginald’s. She was briefly tempted to pull away, but realized it wasn’t a good time to be selective. They travelled down a narrow corridor as shouts, curses, and crashes filled the house. A faint light appeared just ahead, and Triss realized Reginald must have opened a doorway. “In!” He hissed, pulling both woman into the room.

  "Get back here!" A voice screamed angrily at them just as they entered the room. Triss looked back to see a dark shape silhouetted at the top of the stairs. She pulled her wand smoothly from the armband under her shirt sleeve, drawing a familiar set of glowing orange runes as the shape charged at them. The spell came together and shot forward as a streaking red light. It struck the man in the chest, illuminating his face in strange angles with horrific ref light. Before she could dwell on the unsettling sight, the firework spell exploded, filling the hallway with hundreds of red sparks. The man cried out, throwing his hands over his face and stumbling backwards. Triss repeated the spell, driving the man further back until he suddenly met the edge of the steps. Triss could see the red tinged terror on the man's face as he took another step into open air. An evil grin spread across her face as the man windmilled furiously before falling backwards down the stairs. The crashes and curses that followed told her he had knocked others down as he went.

  "Come on." Reginald whispered, pulling her into the room and shutting the door. Her eyes took a second to adjust to the darkness, but soon she could see they were in a small bedroom with a narrow bed against one wall and a dresser near the door. Heavy curtains hung in front of a small window blocked most of the light, the barest hint seeping through the sides. Reginald immediately began pushing the dresser against the door. "Get the bed too." He said, and Triss stepped over to grab the footboard. Naiela grabbed the headboard with her good arm and together the managed to move the bed, its feet screeching across the wooden floorboards. Reginald ran around to the far side to push, and after a few seconds they had the bed pushed up firmly against the dresser.

  "Now what?" Naiela asked. Reginald didn't answer, running to the window and ripping down the curtain. Bright light flooded the room, piercing Triss's eyes and reminding her of the villanous windows she had in her room at home. She stumbled backwards and landed on the bed, Naiela collapsing beside her. Reginald tried to open the window, but it wouldn't budge. Triss jumped up and ran over to help, but even with both of them lifting the window stayed stubbornly shut. She soon saw the problem. Nails had been driven into the top of the frame, sealing it shut.

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  "Move." Naiela said firmly, and Triss stepped aside. The council wizard had a blanket from the bed wrapped around her fist and she drove it through the glass pane, shattering it with a cracking tinkling sound. She used the blanket to push the remaining jagged pieces out of the frame, then threw the glass covered fabric out the window before leaning out to look. "Ancient gods be damned." She cursed angrily. "We can't get out this way. It's too far." She turned and looked at Triss. "I don't suppose you know feather fall?" Triss shook her head, and Naiela cursed again. "Excellent. You've managed to trap us." She said to Reginald.

  "We're not trapped. Not yet." Triss said with far more confidence thsn she felt.

  "Oh? And you have a plan to get us out of here?" Naiela said, raising an eyebrow.

  "Not a plan per se. More of a general idea."

  "And what's this idea of yours?"

  "Not being trapped. See? Easy." Triss replied, looking around the room and hoping for inspiration to strike. Can't use the door. Can't use the window. She thought. Only way out is through. She stepped over the the side wall of the room and hammered the side of her fist against the smooth surface. A hollow sound rewarded her effort. "We can break through the wall into the next room." She said.

  "And where will that get us?" Naiela asked, eyebrow continuing to rise somehow.

  "Not here." Reginald replied, joining Triss at the wall. He pounded his scaly fist into the wall and a network of cracks formed. He punched three more times in quick succession, breaking away plaster and wooden slats to form a hole nearly as big as a softball. Voices drifted into the room, and Triss realized the thugs were coming up the stairs again. Reginald grabbed the loose plaster around the hole and pulled, tearing away a chunk nearly half her size. A cloud of white dust erupted when it hit the floor, billowing out and filling the room with a white haze. Thick motes glowed brightly in the sunlight streaming in the window. Triss quickly pulled her shirt up over her nose and mouth before the dust could begin to fill her lungs. Naiela wasn’t as quick, and began coughing and hacking. She nearly doubled over, her face pinched tight in pain.

  “Wait a second.” Triss whispered to Reginald as he reached to grasp the side of the opening. “They’ll hear us.” She pointed at the door, where the sound of angry voices was growing louder. “They’ll try to break down this door too. Time it with that.” Reginald nodded, grabbing a corner of the wall and bracing himself. They didn’t have to wait long. The door shook violently as someone outside threw themselves against it. Reginald waited until the pounding became rhythmic, then tore several more chunks away in quick succession. Triss was momentarily elated with his progress, then realized that there was still a whole other side of the wall to get through. Reginald didn’t slow his assault, pounding his fist through the narrow wooden slats and sending plaster streaming into the next room. The room beyond was still pitch black, and Triss was sorely tempted to send her light orb spell through the wall.

  As Reginald worked to widen the opening, the pounding on the door grew in strength and tempo. The bed and dresser creaked and crawled across the floor with each blow and the door itself made disconcerting splintering noises. “It’s breaking!” Naiela whispered hoarsely, pointing at the door. It was true. The upper half of the door was swaying in deeper each time, and Triss could see a deep line in the wood where it was beginning to come apart. Only a few more blows and the top half of the door would break off, and the thugs would stream into the room. Triss made a quick decision, stepping to the center of the room and facing the door directly. She formed a spell over her hand, letting the runes hang there waiting. Four blows later the door finally surrendered as the top third broke away. Triss’s fireworks spell was streaking out the opening before the wood hit the floor. She sent spells flying out into the hallway as fast as she could form them, one right after the other. The house was filled with deafening explosions. Red light suffused every surface. It looked and felt like a war zone, or at least a war zone in a movie. Triss had never been in an actual war zone of course. She only stopped casting when Reginald grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the door.

  “That should slow them down at least.” She whispered to Reginald as they ducked through the hole he’d made. Naiela was already in the room, running her hands across the dark walls, trying to find a door. Triss closed her eyes and cast her light orb. Naiela cursed loudly a few times before Reginald hushed her. Triss opened her eyes, located the door and walked over to it. She extinguished her light before she slowly turned the handle. She had expected to find another bedroom, or possibly a bathroom, but instead she found a long, empty hallway illuminated by a faint light coming from a staircase at the far end. “What gives?” She whispered to Reginald. “This house has a second staircase?”

  He shook his head. “We’re in a different house. They’re all connected. And really, really poorly built.” He shook his head again, disbelief plain on his face. “Anyways. Let’s get moving. We still need to keep ahead of those guys.”

  “Yeah, one second.” Triss replied, stepping back into the room. The thugs hadn’t come back to the door quite yet, but she did hear them stirring in the other house’s hallway.

  “We don’t have time for whatever this is!” Naiela hissed.

  “Hmm? Oh, yeah. I’m good. Let’s go.” Triss replied, turning and following her out into the hallway. They made their way down the stairs to the front door, Reginald forcing the women to wait behind him as he peeked out to look for thugs waiting in the street. “Really?” Triss said. “You realize I was the one defending us here? I’m the only one who can use their magic.”

  “A problem which I plan to rectify very soon, I assure you.” Reginald replied. “There’s no one out there. Come on.” They hurried out of the building and down the few steps to the deserted street. A fair amount of noise came from the thugs in the building next door, but the streets were quiet with no one around. Reginald led them down the street and away from the house. “Let’s hurry. I don’t want them to come out and chase us again.”

  “Oh, I think they’ll be occupied for a little while.” Triss replied with a smug grin.

  Reginald sighed. “What did you do? You know what? Never mind. I don’t want to know.”