Following Lucile’s direction, Hump stepped into the most lavish of the gorger’s chambers. The walls and floors were covered in vibrantly coloured rugs and fine paintings. It must have been stolen from the human realm, but Hump wondered what for. Did the gorger appreciate such fineries? If it was once a shade, perhaps it needed a place to sleep too, though he couldn’t imagine it lying down in a body moulded from clay.

“I think it’s under there.” Lucile pointed at a particularly fine red rug on the floor, embroidered with patterns of golden thread woven into flowers.

Hump rested his staff against the wall and pulled the rug aside. Beneath was a trapdoor of black iron. He looked at Lucile, a mixture of nervousness and excitement. It seemed chances were high she’d remembered correctly, but that just meant they would have to take even more risks.

“Seems you were right,” Hump said.

She smiled meekly. He supposed she was thinking the same thing. And more than that, this was likely not the only memory to have returned to her.

He knelt by the trapdoor, inspecting it for a locking mechanism and finding none. He tucked his fingers into the gap around the edge and heaved, grunting against the weight. He managed to raise it a few inches before it came crashing back to the floor with a heavy thud.

Hump huffed out a breath. “This is why you should always travel with someone big and burly. Wizards aren’t meant for heavy lifting.”

“I’ll help.” Lucile knelt beside him.

“One second.”

Hump grabbed a few of the nearby rugs and padded out the ground at the rear of the trapdoor, hoping it would cushion some of the noise. Then together, they heaved the metal door open, revealing a hole into darkness. It reminded him a little of the pit in the kobold den, though at least this one had handholds carved into the stone. Hump guessed the gorger made them so that Lucile could go and feed the townspeople.

That didn’t make going down any easier. A hundred thoughts filled Hump’s head. What if Lucile was wrong. What if there were guards down below, and they’d be attacked, trapped in the dark tunnels of the gorger’s den?

“Are you sure about this?” Hump asked. “There’s not going to be any escape if we’re attacked down there.”

He was stalling, and he knew it, but hearing it again might help him get through the barrier in his mind telling him this was a terrible idea.

Lucile nodded. “This is where they are. I’m sure of it. We shouldn’t need to worry about any monsters down there as the gorger doesn’t trust its hounds not to eat the prisoners. Only I was allowed down.”

Hump sighed. “Okay.”

He took his staff and passed it to Lucile, trading it for the red crystal light Lucile had been carrying, holding it over the hole for a better view. There were few things as terrifying as being the first to descend into a dark pit, but he couldn’t very well subject Lucile to that.

“I’ll call once it’s clear.”

It was only a short climb to the bottom. Every instinct roared at him to get out, but he fought back that fear. Once he reached the bottom he held up the red light and looked around. It was hardly enough to see a few paces ahead, but he could tell they were at one end of the tunnel. That at least meant that they wouldn’t have enemies sneaking up from their rear. On the other side, the tunnel stretched on into the darkness. He wondered where the path would take them.

He called for Lucile to drop him his staff, feeling better once he had it in hand. Once she was down with him, they started walking.

Hump was conscious of both their light and the chain around his ankle as they walked. The metal scraped against the stone, echoing through the tunnels, and anything would see the light coming long before they saw them. The walk felt longer than it was. Every minute, Hump expected to see red eyes staring back at him through the darkness, or a shadow to pounce on him from nowhere to tear him to pieces.

Occasionally, he heard faint sounds echo from ahead. Clicks and thuds on the floor, or faint murmurs that could have been snarls or voices. His heart raced as he thought of how terribly this could turn out. At least out on the plains they could have seen a threat coming. There would be no running if something attacked them here. It would be on them in a heartbeat, and all they could do was fight.

It must have been fifteen minutes when Hump heard the unmistakable sound of voices. Human voices. Bare whispers in the tunnel, but there was no doubt about it.

“It’s coming. Quiet. Quiet.”

Hump smiled as he turned to Lucile, a small smile touching her lips too. He resisted the urge to speed up, going as quietly as he could so as not to attract unwanted attention. Soon, the tunnel opened up into a room made of white stone, cracked and yellowed with age. The gorger’s tunnel must directly connect to the temple. This must be some sort of cellar below. An escape route, Hump supposed, but why would it want the townspeople so close.

As he crept out into the chamber, twenty shocked faces stared at him.

“You’re the wizard boy!” One of them said in a hushed voice. Hump thought he recognised him as one of the regulars at the inn. “Are you still human?”

Hump nodded then raised a finger to his lips. He could sense the gorger’s magic above, so close, he wondered if it was standing on the roof. And there was so much power. It was incomparable to the gateway in the guardhouse, like comparing an oven to a raging bonfire. And with the gorger so close, there was no telling what might overhear them. Hump was willing to bet flesh prowler’s had better ears than him.

The room looked to be some sort of storage cellar. Considering the size of the temple ruins, it was likely all the provisions the keepers of the temple would need to survive on this side of the gateway. The townsfolk were kept in one of the side rooms, held inside by the same black iron gate the gorger had used on his cell.

He gestured for Lucile to follow him and snuck up to the bars, only now they weren’t staring at him. Their eyes were fixed on Lucile, and they were furious.

“She’s the bitch that locked us in here,” an old man said. A merchant from the dress of him: finely made working clothes that had lost their shine after so many days down here. “Psychopath. Turning against your own kind.”

Lucile stepped back.

Hump clenched his fist in fury. “She’s here to help you fool. She was under the control of the gorger’s magic. Now keep your mouth shut while we figure out how to get you out of here. There are monsters nearby.”

The merchant seemed to bite his tongue at the mention of monsters.

Hump bore him no mind, turning to Lucile. “Does your key work on these locks?”

“I think so,” she mumbled.

“Okay, get everyone out. I need to look around.”

She held out the key to him. “Maybe you should—”

Hump gently took her wrist and lowered it. He could see the fear in her eyes, but he’d seen her overcome far worse than that in the short time since she’d been freed.

“Don’t let them give you any crap. You’re the Chosen here. Remind them of what that means if any of them give you a hard time.”

“Okay.”

Hump headed for the rear of the chamber, where a stairway led back up to what Hump guessed was the ground floor. He crept up to it, noticing a three eyed symbol engraved on the door, each eye joined in the middle so that they looked like flower petals. So this door at least had stood the test of time.

He put his ear against it… and he heard the gorger’s voice.

“A trade?” It laughed in its alien, hollow way. “And what’s to stop me taking it by force. You are trapped in the temple now.”

Hump couldn’t hear the reply, but he could guess who was speaking. His party must have found the gateway! They’d come for him. He didn’t know how or why, but what mattered is they had. And a trade could only mean one thing.

“Very well,” the gorger said. “You have a deal. Allow me to fetch the pickings.”

Hump’s eyes went wide. He almost tripped as he rushed back down the stairs, finding the cell already open and the townsfolk getting out into the main chamber.”

“Everyone back inside. Quickly! It’s coming down here.”

“Gods, what do we do. Gods.”

“We should fight it,” the old merchant said. “We’re going to die here anyway. Might as well try.”

“No,” Hump said. “We can’t beat it. And it’s agreed to a trade. The adventurers guild arrived and are getting us out, so get inside.”

Hump looked around the chamber for a place where he and Lucile could hide but found nothing. No barrels, no crates, no old stone table. Everything that remained had been smashed to scraps and rubble.

The townsfolk did as he said when a woman grabbed Lucile by the arm, tugging her. “Get inside, both of you. We’ll hide you with us.”

Hump glanced back at the tunnel—the only other option they had. Only problem was, he could almost be certain the flesh prowlers would notice them.

Was their best option truly to lock themselves back in a cell?

It’s better than nothing, Hump thought. At least this time he had his staff. He and Lucile stepped inside, the townsfolk shuffling to the back and crowding around them. Behind them, Hump heard the door to the cellar open. The gorger’s footsteps thudded down the stones. The clicks of claws tapped alongside it, flesh prowlers trailing and yapping excitedly at its sides like puppies. A dozen of them arrived at its rear, all of them staring hungrily through the bars.

The gorger held out a hand, its fingers like long, sharp stones. Power surged, and the bars melted like sand in water.

“Come,” it ordered.

Nobody moved, and after a few seconds, one of the goliaths let loose a fierce snarl. One of men jumped, crying out in fear.

“We’ll come!” the merchant said. “We’ll come. Please, just don’t hurt us.”

The gorger stared nothing, it merely stared, watching them.

They walked out slowly, staying as tightly together as they could. The flesh prowlers circled them, herding them like sheep dogs, packing them tightly together and snapping at the heels of anyone that was too slow. Hump kept his head low—not a hard feat for him—and concealed his staff as best he could within his cloak. Lucile did the same, hiding her shield by pressing it between her side and a few of the other townspeople.

Not much of a disguise really, but Hump wasn’t about to part with his weapon now of all times. They followed the gorger out of the cellar, stepping into the light. Ahead of them, the gateway was a hole in reality.

There were gasps all around as the townsfolk stared up at it, making gestures of the Pantheon in their awe.

Hump’s eyes though were on something else. There, beyond the gateway, he saw his friends. They truly had come for him.

And that’s when he realised what they must have offered in exchange. Hestia’s Star. The means for the gorger to step into their realm, and the thing it desired most. The one thing it needed to cross the threshold of their world.

Once it got that, Hump knew it wouldn’t let any of them escape.