Go ahead and eat us! We’ll only give you indigestion! Richard’s taunt might have fallen on deaf ears, but it did make me want to punt him into the rock slugs maw.

  “Shut the fuck up, Richard.” Of all the ways I’d died, I didn’t want my last death to be to an oversized mollusk with rotting teeth.

  The end of the fight had been quick. Webworms had dropped sticky netting on each of us, pinning us to the floor. The webbing was of the type that the more you struggled, the tighter it became.

  Meredeath had struggled so much that the webbing threatened to cut off her ability to breathe. The SCMMOO was solidly anchored to the floor, the top almost sealed completely. We all bowed down before the insectile horde, bracing for the inevitable end.

  It just hadn’t come yet.

  “What are you waiting for?” I shouted, the webbing tightening around my body. The mollusk either needed to get on with its villain monologue or take care of us.

  “He’s waiting for us,” came a deep, familiar voice.

  Twisting my head to the side, my eyes filled with a sight that will be forever burned in my memory.

  Leo stood tall, axe held in one hand and a shiny helmet in the other. His golden hair framed blue eyes and a grin as wide as a mountain.

  “Miss me?” He winked at me, the ass, as he threw the gold-rimmed helmet on. Axe whirling, it began a melodical hum.

  Argin stood to his right, the captain at the guard next to her. A ring on Argin’s finger glowed as her skin turned stony. With a feral grin, her feet pounded forward to join the fight. The guard captain, white teeth flashing, followed with a long broadsword.

  To Leo’s left stood a lithe priestess in flowing green robes. She held a bow of the Huntress, and the sharp twang of released arrows filled the cavern. Her dark hair sparked with energy as she channeled her goddess’s will into the prey before her.

  A company of guards came with them, holding the insectile tide back as they hacked at the webbing around my companions.

  A guard in worn studded leather bent over me. His garlicky breath was harsh, cutting through the smell of decay in the cavern air. I held still, trying not to break his concentration as he worked tirelessly on the strands pinning me to the floor.

  “Alright, sir, I’ve got you free if you just twist your foot.” I did as instructed, popping free of the last strand. “You need to come with me through the gate,” he instructed.

  I shook my head. “No, we’ve got to get Richard first.”

  A set of guards was pulling etched stones out of a dimensional storage, stacking them into the form of a gate. This wasn’t a team meant to win an assault on the great rock mollusk; they were a rescue squad.

  I grabbed the guard’s dagger and lunged for Richard, desperately sawing at the surrounding webbing. He was still limp from his lost battle with Raif.

  A deeper rumble shook the cavern. Leo and his party had already taken a couple of steps back. Meredeath had Briyain clutched in her arms. The gate behind us glowed a brilliant blue.

  “We’ve got to go!” yelled Argin as she smashed through the armored carapace of a beetle with a stone fist.

  The guard pulled at me, but I shrugged him off.

  “Your death,” he grunted, leaving me to claw at Richard. The webbing around the slug was really thick, as though the webworms had targeted him specifically. The dagger was making slow progress. I wasn’t going to cut through in time.

  Leo’s offensive had sputtered out. His axe, covered in ichor, had started skipping off of insects as they learned his fighting style and adapted. The bow-wielding priestess had fallen back to loose her arrows from the mouth of the gate.

  “Richard,” I gasped, pulling at the webs, my fingers raw as they scraped against rock and sharp filament.

  Meredeath and Briyain skipped through the portal. Two guards had brought a makeshift stretcher and were rolling Ash’s unconscious body onto it. I cut another bundle of fibers and had enough space to wedge my hand under the net.

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  Grabbing hold of Richard, I pulled.

  I could see his skin shred. Fuck. I needed to cut more filament.

  Ash’s prone form disappeared into the portal. As each of my companions made it to safety, my heart eased. Even if I died here with Richard, they’d be safe.

  “You’re going to sacrifice yourself for that idiotic slug?” Tandy stood over me. She was splattered with green ichor. Her face was turning purple with a giant bruise.

  “He’s one of us,” I said , but at the flash of her frown, I knew my words weren’t exactly true. Richard was with us, but he wasn’t one of us. He stood apart. Above us with his legendary friends and worldly knowledge. “He’s ours,” I whispered with my dry, dusty throat.

  The great rock slug moved. A tentacle flew out towards Leo, who’d been holding back most of the horde with his humming axe. The hit sent my armored friend spinning back against a wall.

  Argin shifted forward, rock coating her shoulder. She hit the tentacle with a thundering punch. The slug responded by shrinking back into its hole with a throaty howl.

  The horde of insects froze in place, as though by hurting the slug, we’d somehow snapped the lines of control.

  Then, a rumbling like nothing we’d experienced so far rocked the cavern. I bounced off the floor, free-falling for a moment. I caught Tandy’s eyes, they were wide like mine. This was something else.

  The ground erupted under Leo, the [Paladin] flung across the cavern, his armor ringing as he hit. The ground under his feet had erupted into a hot pool of molten stone. A magenta wyrm burst through, flinging burning chunks of rock into the cavern.

  I dove over Richard as a flaming chunk came down on us. It burned my back as it bounced off.

  Tandy was there instantly as I sagged to the ground. Her [Mercurial Scissors] snipped at the last fibers holding Richard down.

  “Cole, we’ve got to go.” She tugged at my arm, scooping Richard with her right hand.

  “Go, I’ll be right behind you.” I waved her off, relieved that Richard was free. Now I just had to make sure Leo made it.

  The wyrm twisted in the air, evaluating the cavern with bright pink eyes. It slithered out of the lava pool towards the rock slug, as though concerned for its ally.

  I skidded to a halt by Leo. The back of his plate armor was crushed. He was turning blue, his lungs compressed in the iron jaws of the armor.

  Grabbing my dagger, I went to cut the ties.

  “Don’t,” Leo gasped. His eyes bloodshot, desperately pleaded with me to save his armor. He couldn’t see what I saw, though. The backplate was crinkled in, like a crushed tin can.

  He was going to lose his armor or lose his life. I knew what I had to do.

  I slashed down through the leather straps. The front and back plates released. Magic embedded in the armor fizzled as he slumped to the ground.

  Leo winced as he tried to take a breath. [First Aid] informed me he had broken ribs.

  “You broke my armor,” he gasped.

  “You’re going to have more than broken armor if we don’t get to that gate.” He leaned on me heavily, axe in one hand. The battle forgotten, we limped towards the gate.

  Argin covered our rear with the captain’s flashing sword. The wyrm snuggled up to Raif, as though comforting a child. Eventually, though, her wrath would turn on us, and I knew the lava-born reptile could finish us in seconds.

  The makeshift gate smelled of acrid sulfur and the sharp bite of lightning.

  “Are you sure it’s safe to go through?” I couldn’t help but ask. Every nerve in my body was afire with the thought of subjecting myself to the crackling portal. The stones supporting it were stacked on top of each other, each with a delicate rune etched into the stone. They glowed with magic, and I was sure the stone was a spark away from melting.

  “If you stay, you’re dead,” said the stone-faced guard. His blade was bare as he eyed an approaching ant.

  Good enough for me.

  I pushed Leo through, following with a backward glance.

  Argin was retreating rapidly, as her stone skin had crept up her neck. The captain fought off an Emerald Born, wedging her sword in its crushing mandibles.

  That’s when time ran out.

  The [Corrupt Wyrm] finished consoling the rock slug, its eyes burning as it turned towards the rescue party.

  The wyrm whipped around, lava flying as its tail sliced the captain in two. I saw the captain’s shocked expression as death took her.

  “No!” Argin cried. I froze, waiting for the inevitable conclusion of the fight. Argin had survived so much with me, I couldn’t let her die alone.

  My companion, as though sensing my thoughts, turned to flee. She took two stomping leaps. I waved her on. She was so close. The wyrm was turning, examining what was left in the room.

  Its eyes latched onto the gate. With a mouth full of fangs, it howled, then whipped its tail again. This time, it sliced through a swarm of insects. Each split like overripe melons as the tail snaked through them.

  The wyrm struck Argin in the back three feet from the portal. Rock flying, she was tossed like a sack of potatoes into me. We fell back through the portal as the tail continued on its journey, demolishing the gate.

  We landed in a heap in a quiet courtyard. I gasp, Argin’s heavy rock form weighing me down.

  My thoughts on the two remaining guards who didn’t make it.

  Argin’s still form pinned me to the tile floor.

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