“And then we were just wandering around in the desert for a while, you know. It was so boring, and then we realized that Lila’s map didn’t work. But then we started walking one night, and Ziya said she saw something, and then we went over this massive dune, and then we saw the cleft where the Dungeon was, and, well, you know.”

Hugan had been the first to wake up, just that morning. Maiz had been visiting them every day for the past half-week, though the Clerics didn’t let him stay for long. He’d also been running himself ragged for as long as possible every day in preparation for when his friends would wake up. His days of unfettered training were over.

Hugan was still talking, and Maiz sighed to himself, just a little. It really would have been so much easier if Ziya or Lila had woken up first. At least then Maiz would have had someone else to help him weather Hugan’s incessant talking.

“Nice.” Maiz finally got in a word edgewise as Hugan took a breath. He’d been talking about the skill he’d picked up in the Waste, Endure. It was actually interesting--it seemed to sacrifice mobility and attack power for overwhelming defense--but he’d already told Maiz about it twice since waking. “So, are you ready to try out the Path?”

“Huh? Oh, that training thing, right?”

Heh. Maiz hadn’t explained just how impressive it was yet. Partly because he wanted to give Hugan a good surprise, but mostly because he hadn’t had a chance to say more than three consecutive words to the other young man. “Right.”

“Sure! But yeah, I also got another skill from that whole thing in the training grounds, remember? It’s called Shieldmate, I’m not really…”

Maiz nodded amiably and started walking as Hugan kept up his chatter. He really should have been more annoyed, but this felt… right. It was good not to be alone.

*************

“Wow, was that a golem? Like the ones that Stoneye made for the old queen when he married her daughter?”

Maiz snapped his fingers. That was the name. He’d been trying to remember that story for over a month now, ever since he first saw the golems. “Yeah, it was.”

“Wow,” Hugan said again, grinning so wide the corners of his mouth disappeared behind his helm. He’d been more than willing to take the insanely complex and expensive bits of the Path in stride, though he’d been suitably impressed. “Wasn’t too tough though, was it?”

Maiz gave a little smile of his own. “They get a bit harder in the next few rooms.”

He wasn’t worried. Even without using any abilities at all, he could easily clear the Novice-level golems by himself. He’d let Hugan do most of the work, and had been impressed at how naturally the other boy moved in the bulky plate armor he’d chosen in the armory room. The armor, as well as his kite shield, was inscribed with a set of runes. Maiz hadn’t been able to spare the time to learn Enchanting, but clearly the symbols offered some protection against being teleported away by the golems’ attacks.

Not that Hugan needed it much. When they entered the next room, Maiz again gestured for Hugan to take the lead against the leather-armored golem. After a moment of hesitation, he did so, sidling close to the automaton with his shield up and plain short sword ready. The creature swung at him, and instead of trying to dodge or hide behind his shield like Maiz would have done, Hugan met the blow with force of his own, slamming his shield and armored body into the offending arm. The clumsy wood golem stumbled from the blow, and Hugan followed it up with a pair of accurate strikes to the armpit with his sword. That was enough to make the creature collapse with a white circle glowing at the joint.

“Nice job,” Maiz offered. How the hells is he so good at that? It really was incredible how talented Hugan was at fighting. Hells, Maiz was probably only a little more competent with his staff than Hugan appeared to be with his newly donned ensemble. Of course, when you factored attributes and abilities in there was no contest, but, well… Maiz wasn’t sure that would be true for long.

“Thanks!” Hugan was actually breathing a little harder than usual now, but Maiz couldn’t really blame him, considering how much armor he had on. Huh, could I use that stuff to train Strength? Maiz filed away the thought for later.

“The next room has two of those, so--”

“--you want to take one?” Hugan interrupted quickly. He’d seemed reluctant to take the opportunity to fight the golems away from Maiz. Maiz was just glad that they’d been able to reach this part together. He hadn’t really expected Hugan to make it all the way to the end of the first floor so quickly.

Maiz shook his head at his friend. “It’s all right. I’ll be there to help if you need it, but you should get some training in.”

Hugan looked like he wanted to argue, so Maiz gave him a gentle shove. It was like pushing a medium sized boulder, but even without showing his real strength, the muscle he’d gained in the Path made it easy to get Hugan into the next room.

They made it through five more fights with Maiz doing nothing more than stepping out of the way of a golem or two. Watching Hugan fight was… a little annoying, honestly. He wasn’t truly jealous--he was a God-Chosen, after all--but it was clearer than ever that Hugan really was a natural combatant. If he wasn’t a Master by fifty, Maiz would kiss a goblin.

He was currently slashing at a chink in one enemy’s armor while fending another off with a shield. He’d momentarily paralyzed the third golem with a well-placed shield bash, but he was clearly flagging. As the third opponent came back to life, Maiz cast Windblade, far quicker now than when he’d first learned the spell, and stepped forward. His attack took the automaton at the neck, shearing through its armor with only a bit of effort and nearly taking the thing’s head off.

Hugan jerked in his armor, twisting around to see what had happened and catching a heavy blow on the shoulder from one of his opponents. Oops. Good thing he has armor. While Maiz was used to the sound of shrieking metal that accompanied his Windblade attacks, he’d forgotten just how disconcerting it could be.

“Keep fighting, everything’s all right!”

Hugan didn’t even need the explanation--he’d already gone back to engaging the two golems. Without the threat at his back, he committed more heavily, freezing one enemy with a stab to the knee and taking down another with a bash of his shield and a few slashes. In a few more seconds, all of the automata had been dispatched.

“Thanks,” Hugan panted.

“No problem. Is your shoulder okay?”

Hugan immediately dropped the gauntleted hand that had been reaching for the pauldron where he’d taken the hit. “I’m fine, thanks!”

Maiz sighed, and after slipping his healing bracelet off his own wrist, offered it to Hugan. “This should help you heal. Sorry about that.”

The young Warden shook his head vehemently, his armor groaning. “It’s all right, I’m a Warden, remember? I barely felt that hit, I was just checking the armor.”

Maiz gave him a suspicious look. Hugan wasn’t above lying about an injury, but he’d never denied help from Ziya before. Besides, Maiz had no idea if the bracelet would work on a non-mage. After all, they didn’t have mana pools.

“All right then. Next room?”

Hugan gave him a weary smile. “Sure. There’ll be four, right? Mind taking two?”

He considered having Hugan attempt it alone first, but it was his first time, and he was looking a little sweaty in that armor, and… why was he going to say yes again?

Maiz gave Hugan a bright grin, trying to match the other boy’s favorite facial expression. “You know, I did this alone my first time.”

Hugan appeared to consider that for a moment, his breastplate moving a little as he caught his breath. Then he gave Maiz a smile of his own.

“Stay here. I’ll call you over when I’m done.”