Julia’s light spell followed her under, causing the lake to glow dimly—that was the only reason Falcon was able to find her in time. He pulled her onto dry land, where she knelt, sputtering and coughing.

“I’ve got you,” he told her. He pushed some wet pieces of hair that had fallen loose from her braid out of her face and cupped her cheek. Kissing her forehead, he let out a sigh of relief before starting to remove the layers of her clothing, his hands shaking with cold. “We need to get out of these wet clothes,” he explained as he worked. She didn’t argue or ask why, only assisted slowly, moving as much as her exhausted limps would allow.

When she was completely naked, he found his pack and dug for a blanket. Thankfully, it seemed the bag had kept everything dry. He wrapped the blanket around her shivering body, then undressed and grabbed a blanket for himself as well.

Julia struggled to her feet and started looking around while he threw their soaked clothes over some large rocks. Putting on his only pair of dry pants, he walked over to Julia with his last shirt―she had been wearing every article of her own clothes when they feel in.

Falcon should have looked away when she she lifted her arms and pulled the shirt over her head. Instead his gaze lingered on her soft, slender body. Her gentle curves and flawless cream skin were worthy of a painter’s brush.

She glanced his way, and he quickly looked elsewhere. He forced himself to focus his attention on their surroundings, inspecting the cave they were in, and not imagining a way of warming them that he shouldn’t be thinking about. They stood on a small, barren strip of land, no more than ten feet wide and fifteen feet long. Next to them the dark lake faded into the darkness beyond Julia’s light.

The sound of Julia’s fireball spell made him turn back to her. He smiled at her resourcefulness―she had crumpled up their tent and used that to start a fire. Blue flames burned low, but strong on the canvas material. Hopefully the people in the village would have another one, but they would worry about that later; for now they just need to get warm.

“Good idea.”

“Th-thanks,” she got out between chattering teeth.

Falcon gathered the blankets they had. Pulling Julia close, he wrapped them around their bodies, and laid down with her next to the fire. He pulled the leather tie from the end of her braid and ran his hands through her hair until it was loose, so it could dry. He paused for a moment when her gaze met his. She was looking at him with those warm, trusting blue eyes, and he wanted to lean closer, just a few inches, and kiss her. He drove the thought away and settled for holding her tightly in his arms.

They shook with cold for a while. By the time the shared body heat and the fire warmed them, they had fallen asleep.

__________

When Falcon woke up, he had no way of knowing whether it was day or night. He opened his eyes into pitch black―the fire had died out along with the light spell. All he could hear was Julia’s steady breathing. His arms were still wrapped around her, keeping her close, molding her warm body against his, his check resting against the top of her head.

With no light, there was no real reason for him to move, nor did he want to. He liked holding her. He liked the smell of her hair in his face. He liked a lot of things about her―her blushes, her easy laugh, the way she pouted when she couldn’t get what she wanted. The way she worried about anyone or anything suffering, whether it was an old mage that might be hurt financially by taking his money, or a wolf that was about to rip out her throat.

He loved how she was always open and honest. Most of all, he loved the way her face would light up when she saw him, giving him every bit of her attention like nothing else mattered. When she looked at him like that, he felt like he could do anything. And for her…

Abruptly, reality broke through, and he rolled his eyes at himself. Damn Takkum for saying anything. He didn’t want to think about her like that. She was going home, he was staying, and that was that. It was bad enough that he was going to miss her, painfully so, when she left. She had become his friend, and he always wanted her around now. Even when she annoyed him, he didn’t want to be away from her. And now he had to be in love with her too. He sighed.

She stirred then, and her cheek moved a little against his bare chest.

“Hey,” he whispered, letting her know he was awake.

“Hey,” she breathed.

“How’re you doing?”

“Sore, but good. I’m not getting up, though. It’s warm here.”

“Yeah. It’s nice,” he agreed. “So, you want to get the light?”

“Sure.” She pulled her right hand out from under his arm. She always used that hand for casting, and he wondered if it was like writing. Were there righties and lefties in magic use?

He squinted in the sudden light as the glowing orb appeared in her hand. She tossed it up a couple feet, where it stayed, hovering above them. “Okay,” he said, once his eyes adjusted. “We should get up.”

She slid her arm him and held him stubbornly. “No.”

He chuckled. “We can’t just stay like this.”

“Yes, we can. This is good, it’s… warm.”

He caressed her back beneath the blankets. He didn’t want to let go either, but they had to. “We need to get up.”

Her arm tightened around his waist. “And what if I refuse to let you go?” she asked in a teasing tone.

He didn’t answer for a minute, then sighed. “Then you wouldn’t get home.”

It was like ice water, sobering them both.

“Right.” When he started to move, though, she didn’t let go. “Can we just wait a few more minutes?” she pleaded quietly. “Can we just enjoy… being warm for a little while longer?”

He closed his eyes. “Yes,” he agreed, and smiled when she sighed. He knew she hated cold, but he wondered if that was the real reason she wanted to stay in his arms. He shook the thought away, reminding himself that it didn’t matter.

After a while, he knew they really couldn’t delay any longer―who knew where the trolls were in this place? “Time’s up,” he said, keeping his voice light. He moved away from her, and having no choice, she let go with a soft whine.

Luckily, their clothes were dry enough to wear again. He quickly pulled on a couple of shirts and his boots. When he looked back, he half-expected her to still be snuggled up under the blankets, but she was pulling on her second layer of clothes.

When she was finished, she looked around. “How are we going to get out of here?”

“Well… there’s no way we can go back there.” He glanced up into darkness. “The only way seems to be across this.” His gaze moved to the black water.

“But how are we going to get across?”

He walked to the edge of the water and studied the lake for a minute before he had a thought. He got his bow and handed her an arrow. “Cast your light spell on this.”

“Okay.” She took it from him and wrapped her hand around the shaft so that her palm was in contact with it. Her floating orb flickered out as the arrow lit with a white glow.

“Keep your eyes focused straight ahead,” he told her as he nocked the arrow and drew back. He released. The shaft sped through the air and landed with a splash.

In the dim light, he could see that the lake turned into a river as the cave narrowed into a tunnel forty feet ahead of them. They both smiled when they spotted a piece of land beside the river five feet beyond that, but the reason for their excitement was the small wooden boat that sat halfway up the bank.

“I’m going to tie a rope to an arrow and shoot for the boat, so I can pull it over to us,” he said as he dug in his pack. “Leave the light where it is, though.”

“How can you shoot if you can’t see your bow to aim it?” she asked.

He gave a mock sigh. “Don’t you know anything about archery?”

She didn’t answer the question and instead asked, “Are you shooting yet?”

“I have to tie the end of the rope to the arrow first, don’t I?”

“Well, you tie slowly.”

“I can’t see.”

“Don’t you know anything about knot tying?” she mocked.

“Not the same.”

“Uh-huh.”

When he finished, he found the other end and handed her the other end of the rope. “Hold this.” He nocked the arrow, aimed, then released. He heard it fly across the lake and saw it come into view on the other side, but it missed the boat by a few inches.

He sighed and pulled the arrow back. “Shut up.”

She giggled softly. “I didn’t say anything.”

The next shot made it. He pulled, and soon he felt the boat touch his legs. As Julia recast the light so that it floated above them again, he pulled out the arrow and returned the rope to his pack.

They climbed aboard, took up the paddles that lay in the bottom, and pushed out. The sounds of rowing—wood rhythmically hitting and pulling through the water—was the only sound in the vast silence of the cavern. The lack of sound added to the apprehension they felt in the looming darkness. Was something out there, watching, waiting…?

Rocky shore spread out on either side of the water, each bank leading into a tunnel. Ahead of them, the river kept going and then disappeared into darkness. “Which way?” he asked. His voice was quieter now that they were in an unknown area, no longer relatively safe on their tiny strip of land.

“Rock, paper, scissors. You be left, I’ll be right,” she suggested in a whisper.

“Okay.” He smiled and put his fist out. They both moved their fists up and down, on the third time, his hand flattened into paper and hers stayed in a fist for rock. “Left,” he announced.

The tunnel ended after a few minutes in a small, empty cave, and the right-hand tunnel turned out to be the same, so they continued down the river until they came to two more strips of land, and two more tunnels.

Once again they played rock, paper, scissors, going right this time. The tunnel wound its way forward, narrowing around the corners, leading them gradually uphill and eventually into a square room. There, they found a pile of pickaxes next to a few carts, each full of coarse rocks with dark pink stones protruding from them. They were just like the rock they had found in Ikoris money bag. They glanced at each other, both making the connection.

They walked over to the lift at the back of the room. It was basically a large, wooden cage that would fit about two of the mining carts. Inside were a metal crank and a sign, which read first level with an arrow pointing up and third level with an arrow pointing down. Going up would most likely bring them to the way out, so they went down.

As Falcon turned the crank, the box started trembling. There was a rumbling sound and then the sound of heavy-metal chain links grinding against each other as they dropped a few inches at a time with jerky movements. Julia started humming some elevator music, and he huffed a laugh.

When they landed, the wooden cage shook for a moment before becoming still and silent. They grew quiet as well, noticing lit torches on the stone walls and hearing some distant grunting. Falcon pulled out his sword and looked at Julia. She nodded, letting him know that she was ready. Taking a deep breath, they headed out of the square room and into the only tunnel, but stopped when they saw another tunnel branching off of the one they were in. The sounds were coming from there.

“Stay here,” Falcon whispered. “I’ll take a look.” Without checking to see her reaction, he walked closer and peeked around the corner, into a small, rectangle room.

Two trolls sat at a shabby table, eating some kind of meat, while another one rested against the far wall with its eyes closed. These were as tall as the jungle troll―around seven feet―but they were wider and fatter. They also had long, matted black hair and wore dark animal pelts over their light, pasty gray skin.

Falcon returned to Julia. “Three trolls,” he reported quietly.

Her eyes widened in panic.

“We can do this,” he said, his voice sounding completely confident, even as his stomach knotted. “I’ll throw a rock and try to draw one out. As soon as it comes into view, shoot a fireball.”

She nodded.

“Shoot as many as you can until it’s dead or it reaches us, okay?”

Another nod.

“And remember to use your shield spell.”

“Okay,” she whispered back. She concentrated for a moment, and a translucent layer of blue light moved out from her hands and around her body. After a few seconds, it created a form-fitting bubble around her and then disappeared.

“Good. Ready?” Falcon asked.

She forced a smile. “Of course,” she said lightly, but her shaky voice gave away her fear.

“You’ll be great,” he told her. Picking up a pebble from the floor, he threw it down the cavern hallway.

A deep, gruff voice said something in another language. Another voice grunted, and then heavy footsteps started coming closer. One of the trolls came into view and looked up and down the tunnel.

“Psst!”

The troll spotted Falcon quickly and headed for him. It took three steps before Julia, half-hiding behind Falcon, shot a fireball at it. The impact caused the troll to stagger back a step. The pelt it wore over its chest singed, and the smell of burnt hair filled the tunnel. The troll growled fiercely before coming faster. Another ball of fire exploded. This time part of its clothes caught fire, but the monster was able to pat it out quickly before it bellowed and kept coming.

Falcon, gripping his sword firmly, waited until it was close enough then lunged at it. It tried to move, but was too slow, and the blade sank into its stomach. Falcon kicked the troll off of his sword, and the monster fell back with a loud thud. Stepping closer, he raised the weapon about two feet, then plunged it into the troll’s chest, finishing it off.

The other trolls were now in the tunnel and heading toward them. “Run back to the first room,” Falcon ordered. Julia immediately obeyed, and he was right behind her. The trolls were much heavier, but they still kept up.

When Julia was a few feet from the lift, Falcon told her to attack. They both spun around, and she threw another fireball, hitting the first troll in the shoulder, while Falcon slashed at the second. He backed away from where Julia was, and the troll followed. He stabbed, connecting with its left arm, but it swung a large hammer with its right, and the blow struck Falcon’s side, sending him to ground.

As he started getting up, clenching his jaw in pain, he saw a fireball miss the first troll and stayed down. The spell hit the wall beside him, and the second troll was close enough to the small explosion to take a bit of damage.

Falcon took advantage of its momentary distraction and thrust his sword upward into it. It howled in pain and stumbled back a few steps, then came back at him and swung―but missed this time. Falcon stabbed again while it was bent forward, and the blade sunk into its chest. He pulled it out quickly and rolled out of the way before the troll landed hard on the ground where he had just been.

Holding his side, he stood and headed toward Julia, ready to aid her―though she had somehow managed to disarm the troll she was fighting, it now had her backed against the wall, grabbing her throat with its large hand. But Falcon stopped when she put her hands on its face and it suddenly fell limp. She moved out of the way as it fell forward and slid down the wall.

Falcon smiled at her. “What’d you do?” he asked, a bit breathless from the pain in his ribs.

She didn’t answer as she ran to him and then held his face in her hands. He could feel the warm tingling of her healing spell fill him, and slowly, most of the pain dissolved. When she took her hands away, she asked anxiously, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

She smiled. “Good. But I’m out of mana. Do you think there are more trolls?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “But we’ll need to search the rest of the area before we can rest.”

“Okay.”

“So, what’d you do?” he asked again, glancing at the dead monster.

“Oh… I used my ice shard spell. I figured it'd go straight into his brain and kill him pretty quickly.” She grinned, proud of herself. “It seemed to work. Plus, he probably didn’t feel anything.”

He laughed. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Because I’m silly for worrying about a monster’s pain, or because I’m clever for thinking of killing it so quickly?”

“Yes,” he said, grinning back. But a moment later, his smile dropped and he sighed. “Come on, three trolls down; let’s see if there’s more.”

“Okay. Let’s go,” she said, trying to sound tough.

They made their way back to the tunnel, but stopped when they heard a grunt from up ahead. “You might want to take out your dagger,” Falcon whispered.

She nodded and pulled it from the sheath on her belt. They had just passed the side room where the trolls had been when another emerged from another room up ahead. Seeing them, it immediately hurried forward. When it got close enough, Falcon attacked, but only nicked its leg, while Julia slipped around behind it.

She must have used her dagger, because it straightened up and howled. Then it quickly turned around, and the back of its long arm struck her, throwing her back into the wall. She landed on the ground and wrapped her arms around her middle, moaning in pain.

Falcon lifted his sword and thrust with as much force as he could into the troll’s back. It yelled and staggered forward. Falcon pulled the sword out, and the monster hit the floor—dead. He jumped over the body and raced to Julia. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, but when he tried to help her up, she cried out.

“We have those healing potions,” he said as he dug in her bag. Finding one of the small pink bottles, he uncorked it and handed it to her. “Here, drink this.”

They were both a little surprised when the tiny glass bottle disappeared once it was empty, just like the spell scrolls had. She leaned her head back and sighed in relief. “God…” She sighed, then laughed unsteadily. “Talk about adventure.”

A noise caused them to look down the tunnel. Falcon stood, bringing his sword with him, as a small troll walked into view.

Julia jumped up quickly and put a hand on his arm. “Don’t. Look, it’s a child.”

He watched the half-sized troll walking toward them, grunting and looking as ill-tempered as the rest. “It’s a monster,” he told her. He shrugged her off and took a step forward, raising his weapon.

“No!” she yelled as she ran in front of him.

“Jules,” he groaned, “get out of my way.”

“No!” she said again, her face set in fierce determination. “It’s just a child.”

“A monster child.”

She held her hands up to him. “Just wait. Please?”

He sighed as he lowered his sword, but he kept his hand tight around the hilt.

She turned and started approaching the thing. “Hey there,” she said gently, crouching down to its three-foot height. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.”

Falcon scoffed.

The troll looked at her warily for a minute and then swung at her.

She jumped back. “Falcon, give me a sausage.”

“Jules…” he growled.

She turned to look at him. “Just do it!” she demanded, her tone uncharacteristically firm and commanding.

The thing took advantage of her distraction and swatted at her legs, causing her to fall. But instead of hitting back, she glared at Falcon, as if it were his fault.

“Fine!” he snapped and got a piece of sausage out of his pack. “Here”―he handed it to her―“feed the little beast.”

She turned back and offered it the food. “Are you hungry?”

As soon as the small troll saw the meat, it came closer. It took the food and shoved it greedily into its mouth.

Julia shot Falcon a smile. “See, he’s happy.” It did seem happy, until it wanted more and started swatting again. She took Falcon’s pack from him this time, and found another sausage.

“Not like we need to eat or anything,” he muttered, but she ignored him.

Leaving her with her new friend, he scouted ahead. He passed an empty side room where the little troll had come from, and then followed the tunnel south until it ended in a dark cave. He grabbed a torch from the wall before entering the circular room. Thousands of rocks covered the floor, the same kind the mining carts were filled with—they were raw rubies.

“It is frozen in a rocky bed,” he recited the clue to himself, “a thousand rubies under its head.” He lifted his gaze to the ceiling. Holding the torch higher, he saw a rock sticking out in an odd way―it was a lever. He swung at it with his sword, but couldn’t reach. He glanced around the room, but there was nothing of use in here. Putting his sword away, he headed back up the tunnel, passing Julia and the little troll.

“Where are you going?”

“To get a chair,” he answered curtly without stopping.

“Why?” she asked as he stepped out of the first room with a chair in hand.

“Because I need one.” After he passed her, he heard the troll grunt, a hitting sound, and then Julia cooing again. “Ridiculous,” he muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes as he reentered the room full of rubies.

Standing on the chair, he was able to flip the lever with the tip of his sword. A square piece of the rock ceiling rumbled and then slid open, and a rope ladder dropped down in front of him. Light came from above, so he put the torch back before climbing up.

The room was tiny―not more than five feet across in both directions. The whole place was white and seemed to be made of ice. The light was coming through the walls, as if he were just a layer of ice away from the outside. But after tapping his sword hilt against it, he knew it was too thick for them to get out that way.

In the very center of the room was a small pedestal with a purple pillow on top and the second quarter of the white orb. “Two down,” he said to himself, “two to go.”

When he got back to Julia, the troll was sitting in front of her, and she was petting its head. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you?”

“I got it―let’s go,” Falcon told her.

“You found the orb piece?”

“Yes,” he answered. “Now say goodbye and let’s get out of here.”

"No."

He honestly wasn’t surprised by her answer. He raked a hand through his hair and groaned. “Jules, please be reasonable.”

“We can’t just leave him here, we killed his parents.”

“What the hell do you want to do with it?” he snapped, losing his patience with her. “We can’t take it with us, Jules; it’s not some harmless little cat.”

“Can’t we find him a home or something?” she asked.

She looked like such a child at that moment, and he realized that she had never grown out of that stage. She seemed to be stuck in that childlike ignorance―thinking that all creatures go to good homes, and that the old dog really did go to live on a farm. She could be rational about anything else, but not this―in this, she was impossible.

He sighed as he knelt beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Jules… grow up.” He hated saying it to her, but this was too much. “You can’t save everything,” he told her gently. “And there isn’t any difference between this thing and the ones we killed back there.” He pointed up the tunnel. “It might be small now, but it’s going to get bigger, and it’ll be exactly like them.”

She took a deep breath and stood slowly. He felt relieved that she was going to listen, but then she lifted the troll into her arms. It went willingly and clung to her, as if she were its new mother. “Not everyone is born into the right families,” she said, meeting his gaze evenly. Her eyes blazed with anger, though she kept her voice quiet and tightly controlled. “His race is not his fault.”

“It’s a monster, Jules!”

“He is a child!” she said fiercely. “And if he’s brought up by people who care, who show him how to be good, then he won’t turn into a monster like his parents.” Her eyes narrowed further. “Or should Tikki have killed Badger when she found him?”