Being the sole spellcaster of a group had its benefits. Sure, Hump wasn’t a Chosen, but anyone that knew a thing about traveling in monster infested areas understood you didn’t have to be. So, while everyone laboured about camp and handed out watch shifts for the night, Hump nestled up against a log beside the fire, stretched his legs, and soaked in all the warmth he could. All he’d had to do was use Hidden Fire to keep the camp hidden and be ready to light the place up if they came under attack. Simple. Sure, he was freezing after using so much magic—the fall to the mud hadn’t helped with that—but at least he was special.

It was a nervous night, but Hump was long since used to those. They’d been woken by howls—wolves if they were lucky, blood wolves if not. Knowing his luck, Hump was betting the latter. They left at first light. Nobody wanted to linger any longer than they had to, not this close to the dungeon, and not with the threat of undead along the trail.

They rode in a tight formation this time, with Hump positioned at the centre along with Norwin, and the shield bearing soldiers around them. Between the Northmen, soldiers, and Celaine, they had a team of scouts that could spot an ambush from weaker monsters that might be lurking in the nearby hills. Though a chill ran down Hump’s spine whenever he thought of the howls. No number of scouts would save them from blood wolves. And if it were something else… well, Hump had seen even seasoned adventurers killed in something as simple as a goblin ambush. It only took one unlucky arrow to end a life, whether ordinary human, wizard, or Chosen.

So he watched the rocky slopes carefully. Norwin kept them in the open grass hills as much as he could, but the lands were littered with sections of woodland and rocky terrain that made perfect spots for an ambush. Each time, they were forced to stop and send out their scouts.

“You alright?” Bud asked. “You look nervous.”

“This is a bad place to be caught in the open,” Hump said. “My master was shot in a place like this. Keep your eyes peeled.”

Bud nodded. “I had an uncle that died in an ambush. He was on his way back from Varnal. He and six other knights were murdered.”

Hump arched an eyebrow. “It would take a powerful force to take down seven knights. What was it?”

Bud shrugged. “We don’t know. I was still a boy at the time. My father suspected it was an assassination by one of the nobles at court, but there wasn’t enough evidence. All they found was a manmade arrow.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I…” Hump paused, squinting as he saw movement in the distant treeline.

Shar broke out of the treeline far ahead of them on the trail, riding at a gallop. The soldier came to a stop before them. “You’re going to want to see this,” she said.

“Enemies?” Gerard asked.

“No. A fire, and a big one at that.”

“Impossible,” Norwin said. “Someone would have seen it! And there’s been storms, nothing could have caught.”

She shrugged. “See for yourself.”

She led them through thick trees, and it wasn’t long before they reached it. An entire section of woodland had been reduced to blackened stumps and charcoal, the ground as black as soot and like fine powder beneath horse hooves. There was no smoke, not even a scent of it.

“Now isn’t that interesting,” Vamir said. “When did you last come this way, Norwin?”

“Before the storms,” Norwin said. “It couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks. This area floods, you see, so it’s faster to go around when it rains.”

“Lightning maybe?” Bud said.

“Surely not,” Norwin said. “Not with the amount of rain we had.” He grabbed a hanging branch of one of the nearby trees that had escaped the fire’s range, wiping his hand along the leaves. “It’s soaking wet. Even if a single tree caught, the rest of the woodland wouldn’t.”

“Magic then,” Gerard said.

Suddenly, Hump felt all eyes turn on him. With considered precision, he stroked his chin to look as thoughtful as he could, though he lacked the beard to pull it off properly. Even so, a wizard must never appear confused, even when completely and utterly clueless.

Still, there was something about the place. It made his skin tingle. Was that residual magic, or just his nerves?

“Well go on, boy,” Vamir said. “There’s only so much suspense we can take.”

Hump glowered at the man, then shrugged. “It could have been magic, but a Chosen powerful enough to cause all this shouldn’t be at a low-level dungeon. We’d have heard of them passing through.”

“Lantheer of the Silver Spears is here,” Sanya said. “He’d have the power to do this.”

Hump recognised the name. A Chosen fire sorcerer. “Does he have a reason to burn down a forest?”

“Not that I know of,” Gerard said.

“We would still have seen the smoke!” Norwin insisted.

Hump shrugged. “The rain could have hidden it.”

“Whatever happened, the way is clear now,” Gerard said. “We should keep moving. If Chosen have arrived, it won’t be long before there’s nothing left for the rest of us.”

“We can’t have that,” Vamir said. “Come, Celaine.” He kicked his horse onward, Norwin hurrying to follow and the soldiers behind them.

“Is it safe, wizard?” Sanya asked.

Hump glanced at her. Both of her men waited patiently for his answer. “Erm. Yeah, it should be. I’d guess it was a few days ago at least.”

“Good,” she said. Her gaze followed the rest of the group before she kicked her horse into motion. She glanced back, and said, “Be careful of Vamir. Something doesn’t smell right about him.”

Hump watched them join the rest of the group with a frown.

“That’s foreboding,” Bud said once it was just the two of them.

“Mhm,” Hump said. “I think she’s right though. I noticed something yesterday when I was using Magic Eye. There was magic on him.”

“She can smell magic?” Bud asked, shocked.

“What? No! Of course not. You can’t smell magic.” Hump paused. “At least I don’t think you can. Doesn’t mean there isn’t something else off about him. He’s probably just got an artefact or something.”

“That can’t be uncommon,” Bud said. “Half the people I know have artefacts.”

Hump looked at him with raised eyebrows.

“What?” Bud asked.

“That is uncommon you posh prick!” Hump said. “My staff and spellbook have been passed down for generations and are more valuable than everything else I own combined. And I’m a wizard. Most of this lot won’t be so lucky.”

Bud frowned. “But without artefacts, does that mean you don’t have hot water?”

Hump rolled his eyes. “Gods, we really are from different crowds. Anyway, I get the feeling Vamir is hiding something. He noticed me looking.”

“I’m not surprised,” Bud said. “He’s strong. He hides it well, but I can tell.”

Hump nodded. “I get that feeling too. Could you take him?”

Bud blinked at him. “They’re our allies.”

“You’d be surprised how quickly that can change. If it did, could you take him?”

Bud frowned. “He’d probably trounce me. And Celaine’s no pushover. She handled herself well with the bonefiends.”

“Yeah,” Hump said grimly. “Raises the question, why are they here?”

Bud glanced at Hump and narrowed his eyes. “Is this about Celaine?”

“What? No! I’m just being cautious. You were the one that brought her up in the first place.”

Bud grinned. “Are you usually this curious about other people’s business?”

“They’re not usually this weird! I don’t like weird. Weird is dangerous. Weird makes me think we might be walking into trouble and that we should take Sanya’s warning seriously.”

“I’ll keep it under advisement,” Bud said. “‘Don’t cause problems with our ally’, I should be able to remember that.”

Hump glared at him. “You better. I don’t want your new fiancée meeting you in pieces.”

Bud laughed. “She wouldn’t recognise me either way.”

“Come on,” Hump said. “Gerard has a point. We better get there soon or we might really miss out on anything. Wouldn’t that be anticlimactic.”

Bud let out a satisfied sigh. “I don’t know. I get the feeling this is going to be an even better adventure than I had hoped!”

“You’ve used the ‘H’ word. Nice job.”

“What? Hope?”

“Don’t say it again!” Hump snapped, glancing nervously at the sky. “The Wizard’s Curse is going to come down on us like dragon fire now.”

Bud snorted. “You’re an odd fellow, my friend. An odd fellow…”

“You’ll see! Take my word for it: when all this is over, you’ll never say it again.”

There was no missing the dungeon. Even from a distance, the great, black pit of an entrance held an ominous aura. It was set in the face of a horseshoe shaped crag that jutted into the sky, towering over the surrounding hills. An encampment had been set up at the base that was defended by a series of spiked barricades and makeshift wooden walls, blocking the path from the dungeon’s entrance. Along them, dungeoneers stood guard.

On this side of the walls, a field of tents was spread out across the flat ground beneath the crag. Hundreds of people, all there to compete for the prize. A makeshift town of monster hunters and fortune seekers.

“They don’t look pleased to see us,” Bud said as they approached.

There was a quiet murmur over the camp. In the distance a hammer rang out against steel.

“How would you feel if you’d spent a week clearing the dungeon only for somebody else to steal the prize?” Hump said. “We’re competition. You won’t find much in the way of camaraderie amongst this lot.”

“We’re all on the same side in the end though, right?” Bud said. “Us against the monsters.”

Hump snorted. “People have killed for a lot less than a dungeon core. Plenty of guilds make their earnings snagging dungeon cores and other loot away from smaller folk like us.” He could see some of their flags flying over some of the tents. One stood out: a black flag with a silver spear at its centre. “Have you heard of the Silver Spears?”

“Just that they’re vampire hunters,” Bud said. “I hadn’t heard of that Lantheer fellow.”

“My master had a dungeon core stolen by a party of them.” He caught the eye of one of the men and turned away. “Best not to get on their bad side. They’ve been known to cause trouble.”

Two men hurried by, carrying a stretcher with a woman on top. There was mud and blood on her face, and her arm was gone at the elbow.

Dead.

Bud had a hard look on his face.

“Get used to it,” Hump said, watching them go. They were taking her to a large tent with the Lady Light’s sigil hanging above it—a pair of wings with a sceptre through the centre. “With any luck a party might have some free slots for us to fill.”

Norwin led them to another of the larger tents, this one set toward the back of the encampment with a sign that read Field Station hung over the entrance. Inside, Hump saw staff seated at tables, along with merchant stands providing maps, dungeon info, as well as various other tidbits and necessities. It was here that the dungeon was overseen, and the wills were kept, not that Hump had anyone to leave his things to.

A handful of traders and their wagons were stationed outside, stacked with food and goods for the rest of the encampment. Hump turned his nose up at the prices. Double what they’d have paid in Bledsbury, and most of the food was far from fresh.

“This is where I leave you,” Norwin said. “Good hunting to all of you. May the gods be with you.”

Vamir flipped him another coin. “A pleasure, my good man.”

“Thank you, milord,” Norwin said with a greedy smile. His eyes turned to Gerard, who snorted.

“Not all of us are made of coin,” he said.

“I wasn’t—”

“Course you weren’t,” Gerard grunted. He turned to the rest of them. “I’ll report our encounter on the road to the dungeon Overseer. I’m sure he’ll be interested to know there are unusual undead about. Vamir, Celaine, I’d wish you luck, but I don’t imagine you’ll need it.”

“And to you as well.” Vamir smiled. “You were fine company.”

Gerard nodded to Sanya and the Northmen, then turned to Hump and Bud. “Seek me out if you find yourself in trouble. I won’t promise you aid, but I’ll do what I can.”

Hump shook his hand. “Same to you.” He appreciated the gesture, though he didn’t appreciate the undertone—he was a hedge wizard now. No longer an apprentice, no longer a child.

They said their goodbyes, and as they were leaving, Vamir called Hump over.

“Wizard, speak to me for a moment.”

Hump frowned.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I don’t bite,” Vamir said, gesturing him over with a hand. “Well, not right now at least.”

“Brilliant!” Hump and Bud stopped before him. “I’m glad you cleared that up. I always jump to such silly conclusions.”

Vamir beamed, his lips going just a little too far into the corners. “Always good to have a sense of humour in our line of work. Things can get dark far too quickly without one, don’t you agree?”

“I suppose,” Hump said hesitantly.

“What are your plans now?” Vamir continued.

Hump shrugged. “The usual. If we find a party that will take us, that’s great. If not, Bud and I can get by on our own.”

“Come now, Hump! At least be a little ambitious. Boys your age should be shooting for the prize not hoping for scraps. Wouldn’t you say so, Celaine?”

“I suppose…” she said, watching Vamir suspiciously.

“Exactly! Now what if I were to offer you an opportunity?” Vamir’s grin widened. “A chance to rise.”

“Does he sound like he’s inviting us to his party?” Hump whispered to Bud.

Bud nodded. “In an extremely roundabout way, I’d say so.”

Vamir’s face turned dark. “Well, there you go ruining the drama. What do you say?”

“What are you doing?” Celaine hissed before they could answer.

Vamir turned to her. “Seizing an opportunity."

“For what?”

Vamir smiled at her. “Did you forget you were a heartbeat away from eating mud yesterday while you stood around gawking?”

“I saved him first!”

He waved away her comment and shook his head. “Exactly. It’s a match made by the Mother herself. We need a party if we’re to head into the dungeon, and this is a good opportunity to work on your teamwork with people your own age."

"Hardly.” She glowered at him, but Vamir ignored her.

“What do you say then, boys?" Vamir said. "Fancy a run for the big shots?”

Hump paused. “Are you her master?”

“Yes—”

“Teacher,” Celaine interrupted. “And a bad one at that. Do yourselves a favour and get away while you can.”

Vamir clutched a hand to his chest, appearing wounded. “Children can be so cruel.”

Hump looked at Bud. “What do you think?”

Bud shrugged. “We know he’s strong. Do we have other options?”

“There’s probably a few parties that are looking for replacement members. Though if they’ve already lost one party member, it’s not exactly a good sign.”

“Then we stay?”

Hump scratched his head. He considered Sanya’s warning, but no matter who they partied up with, there would still be risk involved. At least he somewhat knew Vamir, he wasn’t going to betray them for a bit of coin, and the man made a convincing argument. When it came to opportunities, it wouldn’t get better. With Bud and Vamir in his party, they could handle whatever the dungeon threw at them. He glanced at the man, noting his well-tailored armour, fine sword, and bow—he was wealthy too. “Sure. We’re in.”

“Wonderful! Now go and set up my tent.” He clapped his hands. “On the double!”

Hump faced him with his most unenthusiastic look. “I didn’t mean we’d sign up as your lackeys.”

“Forget your pride, boy. You might learn something.”

Hump glanced at Celaine. She glared daggers back. No hint of support for one choice or the other. He thought about what Bud had said about the man’s strength, about how he’d seen him looking with his Magic Eye. Vamir was no ordinary adventurer.

Hump sighed. “I was going to check for some information in there first.” He pointed to the field station. “We need maps and details on what’s been found so far.”

“Tent first. Details later.” He withdrew two coppers from his purse and flipped one to him, and one to Bud. “A copper each for your troubles!”

Hump caught his and frowned. A part of him wanted to jump ship already, but if Vamir was as strong as he looked this really might be an opportunity he couldn’t miss. He let loose a long sigh, and with it tucked away his pride. “Just this one time. Don’t get used to it.”

“Right back at you,” he quipped.