‘Don’t touch that!’

Semari drew back her extended finger from the green-tinged flame that was suspended in the air above an iron plate, etched with silver, faded and worn into blackness. Ash and other debris covered the plate, the remnants of whatever had been burned there. She couldn’t feel any heat coming from it, and it didn’t seem to be burning anything, just simply hovering in mid-air.

Kethys took one of her blades and scratched it along the wall, cutting into the stone and slicing through a great big circular rune, daubed onto the wall with ash. A black mote appeared in the air, flaring with a sudden glare of sickly-green light before blinking out, the entire ashen circle abruptly vanishing.

‘Creepy wizard bastards! I prefer guardian demons or traps, at least they’re easier to deal with.’

Semari ran her finger through the ash on the iron plate, the powder sticking to her finger – a fine, grey dust, although she could feel lumps of metal in there as well. She wiped her finger off against her shirt, before glancing over at Hadric. He had his weapon out, the short sword covering with weaponblack, so it didn’t catch the light. He was wearing loose, dark grey clothing, blurring his shape in the low light. Lines of black had been daubed beneath his eyes and over his forehead, further breaking up his shape.

When Semari smiled at him, he gave her a quick grin back, before his face turned serious and he turned back to the wooden cabinet he was looking at, carefully probing at it with his sword. Kethys stood close behind him, gesturing with one hand. Blue-green spectral light blossomed, making parts of the wall glow as Kethys used her own powers to make anything magical visible to the naked eye, as she glared at Semari.

Semari raised her hands and moved away from the enchanted flame. If it could devour metal, it was probably a good idea not to try poking it with a finger, just in case! But the room was filled with all sorts of interesting things. Stuffed monster heads were mounted on the walls, staring down at them – some sort of baby dragon was next to a giant owl’s head, beak open as though to bite, and there was something that seemed to be an assemblage of tentacles with a glassy eye-sphere in the middle, the tentacles still slowly shifting about as Semari watched. Either the thing wasn’t entirely dead yet, or some enchantment was in place to keep them moving.

Poorly-organised pots, jars and vials of magical stuff were everywhere – all sorts of powders, oils, ground-up plant parts and other things Semari didn’t recognise. A small cauldron was bubbling away, a blue paste inside, giving off an acrid stink. And the smell of blood, of course – the wizard that had been on guard was sprawled along by the door, their robes slowly darkening with blood from a neatly placed thrust to the heart.

‘Don’t just gawp, at least move the body!’ Neitha was picking through the jars and vials, carefully sealing those she found interesting, carefully sliding them into her satchel. ‘We don’t want it in the way when we have to leave, do we?’

Semari rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Neitha, who just glared back at her. She was dressed in well-made armour, the leather plates moving as she did, pouches holding a variety of thieves tools.

‘Why don’t you do it? Or are you too weak to help?’

‘I’m replenishing my supplies. Silverbane is far too expensive to buy!’ She picked up a finger-length glass pot and carefully sniffed the contents before sealing it shut. ‘Nowhere reputable will sell it, and even smugglers don’t like dealing with it.’

‘You could, just, like, learn to fight. Be more useful than poison and all that shit.’

Neitha picked out a stiletto, a long spike of metal, all point without any edge, and carefully dipped it into the blue paste, the stuff bubbling more as the metal slid into it.

‘I wonder what this does? Semari, why don’t you let me test it on you?’

‘Stop squabbling, you two. Semari, move the body. And no funny poses this time!’

Semari sighed. ‘You never let me have any fun!’ But she obeyed, keeping a careful eye on Neitha in case of any attempted stabbing, grabbing the body under the armpits. At least he was scrawny and easy to move. As she dragged him across the floor, she could feel the slippery-smooth effect of a magical shield spell fade, becoming able to feel the wool of his robe on her hands, rough and scratchy. At least he didn’t suddenly re-animate and try to kill her!

She hauled him to the side, rolling him into place alongside a bookshelf, stuffed to overflowing with fat books and pieces of parchment sandwiched between boards, the bits of writing Semari could see mostly incomprehensible squiggles and curves, although how much of that was the language, or simply the handwriting, she couldn’t tell. Then she had a quick rifle through his pockets, just in case he had anything interesting or useful on him – there was the usual pouch of weird magical crap needed to cast spells, but nothing interesting.

Semari tossed the pouch at Neitha, who just barely caught it, having to suddenly juggle that and a glass jar of some clear liquid, the stuff slowly sloshing as she tried not to drop it.

‘Hey! Be careful. This is a trapfire vial, it explodes in contact with air. Like, say, if I were to drop it!’

Semari pointed to the still-open door. ‘I could probably make it to there in time. Guess you’d be dead though.’

There was a dry, stony scratching as Kethys scraped her sword against the wall again, another rune puffing out of existence as she cut through the lines. ‘Close the door. And no explosions! This is meant to be quiet and stealthy.’

Neitha managed to rearrange everything, putting the jar into a well-padded pouch before opening up the one Semari had tossed at her, sorting through the contents. ‘If Semari were less disruptive then it would be quieter!’

‘She’s here for muscle. And she is better at sneaking around then you, Neitha. Although you’re better at staying focused.’

Semari reached back from the monster-head she had been about to poke, not wanting to get told off. But the scaley skin of the monster looked interesting, and she wanted to know what it felt like, although the beady eyes of the thing seemed to gleam more than they should be.

‘Just stay focused. See if you can find the secret entrance. And close the door! We’ve got better things to do than fight through anyone that feels like sticking their head in.’

Semari nodded – that made sense. She went to the door, sticking her head outside to quickly look up and down the hallway, seeing nothing other than the overly-neat hallway, the wall covered with tapestries, some magic being used to make the characters depicted move around before resetting to their starting positions, then closed it and slid a bar into place to lock it.

When she turned around, Kethys had thrust her sword into the wall, between two bricks, easily cutting through the mortar. Something clinked, a mechanism clattering into life. Part of the wall swung upwards, Neitha only barely avoiding getting clobbered by the brickwork as it moved. Kethys nodded with satisfaction, twisting her blade around more, metal breaking on the inside.

‘Semari, go check and watch out for traps. Magical ones particularly!’

Semari stepped into the hidden passageway, jumping up and grabbing hold of a glowing rock that hung from a chain on the ceiling. She looked at the stone floor beneath her, trying to see if there were any suspiciously raised parts or explosives runes. It looked fairly well-used, the clear light from the stone making it easy to see.

She twisted around, wrapping her legs around the chain and pulling at the rock until she had wrenched it free, the thing large and heavy, casting odd shadows as she moved it. Still dangling, she pitched it forward, aiming at a patch of ground that was darker than it should have been.

As the rock hit the ground, the darkness expanded, erupting into lashing tendrils and buffeting the rock, flicking it back up into the air and smacking it around. Semari twisted her body to make the chain swing around in time to dodge a piece of glowing shrapnel, watching until the effect had faded. The rock fell to the ground, still bright, but now looking rather more battered.

She swung back and forth on the chain to build up momentum, then let go, using the energy to project herself over the trap. It looked less dark now, but that might just be from having the glowing stone right next to. There probably wouldn’t be any other traps so close, so it should be safe – she rapped her knuckles against the wall in a quick signal, indicating that it was safe to advance.

Hadric and Neitha both advanced, Neitha hiding herself behind Hadric, carefully not touching the walls. Semari punted a fragment of glowing rock at her, bouncing it off a wall and trying to get her in the head. She squeaked and just barely managed to flinch away as a reaction, the rock missing her.

‘Watch out, there’s traps about!’

‘That wasn’t a trap!’

Before they could start bickering, Kethys walked forward. Her face was covered with black cloth, coming up and covering her nose, red eyes gleaming, her hair chalk-white in the magical light. ‘Stay focused, you can fight each other later. You’re all old enough now you can help properly now. Neitha, be careful with that trapfire, that stuff goes up easy. Might be useful though.’

She looked at the light-stone with distaste, before muttering a quick spell under her breath. The clean, bright light of the stone dimmed and paled, a hazy darkness appearing over the top. The two magics fought for a moment, before the darkness won out, the light of the stone blinking out. The passageway dimmed, now lit only by reflected light from further on. There must be more of the things around the corner.

‘Bloody wizards, keeping everything all lit! Semari, keeping going.’

Semari obeyed, moving as quietly as she could and crouching, then peering around. And down – it was a steep staircase, a long shaft downwards, lit by stones embedded into the wall, making flecks of crystal in the walls shine out. Kethys wouldn’t like that! And it would take her too long to magic all of them away. Although even if Kathys could see in the dark, the rest of them couldn’t (at least unless Neitha had been trying her wierd potions again). Pitch darkness might be useful to sneak around in, but it was a nightmare to actually see in!

She jumped off the edge of the staircase, as that was quicker and more fun than walking around the tight spiral. The curve went far down, far enough that Semari jumped from side-to-side multiple times before reaching the bottom.

Another passageway opened up ahead of her, more sparsely lit – there were glowstones here as well, but each one was surrounded by deep blackness, spots of light amidst deep black. A cold wind blew, making Semari shiver. She looked up, seeing the others far above her. Kethys jumped off the side, magic slowing her fall, as Hadric and Neitha made a more orderly progression down the stairs. It was taking them so long! Why couldn’t they be more interesting and jump, rather than taking the slow way down?

Kethys touched down, the magic blinking out, a small spiral of dust getting pushed away from her. She looked down the long, shadowy passageway. ‘That’s more like it! Let me deal with it.’

She stepped forward, into the shadows, her dark clothing fading from sight. All Semari could see of her was the occasional dull gleam from her enchanted blade, although that might just be a trick of the light. Something moved in the shadows, the vague impression of spikes and a threat, and Kethys streaked towards it, blade flashing. There was more movement, and this time Semari could see the thing better – a vaguely man-shaped extrusion of solidified shadow, except covered in spikes and with freakishly long arms, coming all the way to their ankles.

It was impossible to tell how many of them there were, but Kethys moved between them with speed and grace, her blade flashing. With each one that was destroyed, the shadows diminished, and it became easier to see the remaining ones. There was enough to form a swarm, their long arms lashing out, trying to grapple at Kethys and pin her down. She evaded with ease, her magical blade flashing and streaking, cutting through shadows. Where she cleaved through a limb, then it vanished.

With a spinning slash, she cut through another one, as Hadric and Neitha caught up. Neitha saw the shadows and shuddered, slightly over-dramatic. Hadric had drawn his own sword and moved to the front, Semari pushing him back, wanting to watch Kethys fight. Her speed and agility were impressive, even if was boosted by enchanted gear!

Kethys disappeared beneath a bundle of animated shadows, vanishing from sight, before they started to blink out, Kethys moving with blinding speed. Metal spun and stabbed and twisted, as the shadows winked out of existence, one by one.

By the time she was done, all the shadows had been destroyed, light flowing out and now fully illuminating the passageway, making Kethys shudder and press on, seeking the solace of the darker passageway ahead.

Semari turned and grabbed at Neitha, dragging her forward, enjoying the way she tried to resist and pull back. ‘Come on, don’t be such a coward! Just because you can’t poison shadow-beasties. Kethys probably got them all. Probably.’

Hadric was watching the walls cautiously, before stabbing his sword into one of the few remaining patches of shadows.

‘Oooo, you pretending to be responsible? You the leader now?’ She took her knife out and stabbed it into the shadows, feeling it knock against the stone. ‘Yup, we killed that one.’

Hadric raised a finger to his lips, signalling for silence. Semari rolled her eyes and mouthed a rude word back at him, prompting a rude gesture back. Matters escalated, Semari staring at him and using both hands to make a crude shape and waggle her fingers. A sparkle of purple-green lights appeared in the air, interrupting their silent disagreement. They both turned to see Kethys at the far end of the hall, gesturing at them.

Neitha held herself up, trying to pull herself away from Semari and take charge, Semari dragging her back and letting Hadric move to the front. He might be annoying sometimes, but better for him to be in charge than Neitha, with all her preening and poisons!

Kethys was stood in a patch of shadows, looking ahead of herself with an expression of disgust on her face. Semari followed where she was looking – the passageway connected into a large, rough-cut chamber, where the walls were covered with human-ish shapes. Most were misshaped and malformed – arms and legs too long, spines and spikes protruding, or oversized heads bursting with fangs and tusks, or too many eyes. They were all nailed to the walls, big metal spikes shoved through limbs and torsos. There was a charnel reek in the air, and sharp blades laid against the wall.

As Semari moved forward, Kethys pushed her arm out to block her advancement. ‘Don’t touch the semi-dismembered demons! I’m pretty sure they’re as dead as demons get, but probably best not to risk it. And don’t even think about chopping bits off!’

Semari looked over the monstrous bodies – most had been sliced apart in some way or another, a few surrounded by shimmering magical barriers. Neitha pulled herself close to Semari.

‘Oh, now you want to be close?’

‘They’re demons!’ She had her own pointy knife in hand, pulling out a corked vial and stabbing it through the cork into the green liquid within. ‘Who knows what they might do?’

‘Not much, I think these ones are pretty, like, dead. Don’t think they’ll be doing much of anything. So, anything valuable in here?’

Semari looked around – wizards often had good pickings! The table had large silver bowls filled with chunks of meat and bone, presumably sliced from the demons. The bowls were too big to take, but there was a long-bladed knife, edged with silver. Semari moved towards it, slowly reaching her hand out, in case some magical barrier activated.

Nothing seemed to happen, so she picked it up – the balance was rubbish, but the silver-edged blade must be worth a fair bit! She flipped it in her hand a few times, before tucking it into her belt. Kethys was still looking around, carefully using her weapon to prod at some of the arcane oddments scattered about the place. Hadric pocketed a few items himself, Neitha moving straight to another table holding bottles and vials, all sort of oils, powders and other weird stuff. She pulled gloves on then started picking through them, taking some for herself.

‘If you three are all down? This wasn’t meant to be a rummaging job.’ Despite her words, she had found an amulet, some red stone studded with gems vanishing underneath her armour. ‘Everyone remember what we’re here for? Don’t get into a fight, we want this to be quick, in and out. No messing about. Semari, this means you.’

Semari pulled her hand back from the quivering lump of scaled flesh she had been about to touch, trying not to look guilty. ‘Sure. Just, like, in, out, no problems, right?’

From the look Kethys gave her, she had seen it, but didn’t say anything to her. ‘Hadric, you’re in charge of these two. Try to keep them from getting killed or killing each other. And watch out for weird shit. Wizards always have weird shit! And don’t pick up anything that looks magical.’

Hadric nodded. ‘Yes, I’ll try and keep them under control.’

Kethys chuckled. ‘I’m not asking the impossible. Just try and keep them from dying, or killing each other!’

That made Hadric blanche, but Kethys turned away and pressed on without another word.