We’d returned to Leafveil after a blood-chilling flight over the Dark Talon canopy. To my surprise, Ucntcme stuck around instead of disappearing the second we dismounted. Wordlessly, she chose to tag along with us to the Sun-Touched’s building.

Max had other plans. Without telling me where we were going, he led us in a different direction. We moved through the hay-built houses and raventaur citizens. Many of them thanked us and smiled at us as If they’d somehow already heard about the freed captives.

We stopped at a small hay hut a good while outside the village. A strange smell like pungent spices from a faraway land filled the air. It didn’t smell good or bad, just strong. Max pointed to the floor of impossibly strong leaves and whistled. Buttons sat in the designated location, and the ranger entered the hut.

“I’ll wait out here,” Ucntcme said.

“You’ll be gone when we come out, won’t you?” I said.

She smiled and shrugged.

I entered. The smell was somehow more subdued inside the hut. It would have been cramped enough without the hanging plants and racks and shelves of books, pouches, and more plants. Max and I could barely move through the tiny aisles. The elf needed to bend his head as we walked, and I needed to go sideways like a crab through narrow passages to avoid spilling or dropping something.

A female raventaur waited behind a counter laden with the same things found through the rest of the hut. She smirked as if she’d somehow been expecting us. A colorful silken shawl wrapped around her as she sat upright with wings pulled in tight as if the crowded room had been crushing her over the years.

“Give me the bard’s egg,” Max whispered.

My eyes lit up. Had I known this was what the ranger had in mind, I would’ve moved through the crowded hut with a smile instead of a grimace. I carefully dug the egg from my pack and handed it to the elf who already had Nikk’s in his hand.

The raventaur took them and smiled. She turned and left to an unseen room. The hut seemed too small to have such a room, but I shrugged and pushed the thought away. What did it matter if the architecture was a little difficult to make out? I recently thought death was something permanent, and now I was handing a glowing egg to an elf so I could see my dead friend again.

She returned to her post behind the counter and nodded.

“Thank you.” Max turned and nodded toward the door. He couldn’t leave the hut until I did. I had so many questions, but I worked my way out of the hut and kept them to myself.

I opened the door to find Hendrix and Nikk conversing with Ucntcme. I ran to the bard and trapped him in an aggressive bear hug. “There he is, the crazy bastard,” I said.

“Relax,” He said while laughing. “It’s all good.”

I let go of him. Nikk and Max exchanged a long, hearty handshake. Buttons approached Nikk and nuzzled the toadkin’s pack. Nikk laughed. “You miss your friend.” He fished a white item, similar to what Max had used in the prison, and wandered away from the group. Buttons followed.

“How did you guys manage to salvage that one?” Hendrix asked. “I thought that was a true death and a failed quest for sure.” He looked over to Ucntcme. “Don’t tell me this one had something to do with it.” His tone suggested he was joking.

None of us answered.

Hendrix looked at the scout, then back at us. “You’ve got to be kidding. She saved us again?”

“Afraid so,” she said.

“We’re past that,” I said. “Let’s just get to the Sun-Touched.

A gust of wind pushed at us from Nikk’s direction. Buttons and Scallion ran side by side, frolicking as they approached, followed by a grinning Nikk.

* * *

The Sun-Touched was in a much better mood than the last time we’d talked now that Delrik was perched safely on his shoulder. I assumed it was the raventaur version of sitting on a loved one’s lap. The hay roof was open, allowing cheerful light to spill into the massive hall. The perching poles were vacant. Only the Sun-Touched, Delrik and Koray were in the hall other than myself, Ucntcme, and the rest of the party. The pets waited outside.

“Mongrim took a squad of gnolls and headed for the Singing Caves.” Koray’s news put an end to the Sun-Touched’s short-lived glee. “My scouts tell me the monster has been acting on orders.”

Sun-Touched clicked his dark beak. “The orders of the Dark Lady, yes.”

“No.” Koray’s voice took a grave turn. He stood before the Sun-Touched’s golden perch while the rest of us listened behind him. “It pains me to bring you these tidings. Mongrim has been acting under the orders of Brinson.”

The Sun-Touched flared his wings and loomed forward, casting fiery eyes at Koray. Delrik flapped his wings and frantically moved to a nearby perch. “My brother would never betray his people. How dare you slander him in my court? How dare you besmirch my family’s name before the golden perch?”

Koray fell to one knee. “Forgive me, Sun-Touched, but what I say is true.”

“This is intense,” Hendrix whispered to me with a crooked smile.

I kept my eyes on the drama before me.

The Sun-Touched relaxed his posture and regarded his subordinate with more compassionate eyes. “How do you know this?”

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Koray said. “My scouts had come to me with troubling news of Mongrim’s whereabouts. I gathered my finest crew and attacked the cave. Mongrim wasn’t the only one there. Brinson Stood at the end of the cave, barking orders. It was like he didn’t even recognize me. He called for his mongrel pet to dispose of us. Mongrim asked your brother if he needed to kill us or if he could have some fun with us. Brinson said he didn’t care, so long as we were gone. Mongrim defeated us and tied us up in the prison.”

The Sun-Touched perched in silence. His eyes wandered, but they always aimed low. Koray knelt before his lord, patiently awaiting his response. “You’ve never given me any reason to doubt you, and you’ve served Rootroost with honor.” His sorrowful eyes made their way to our party. “Adventurers. I know I’ve asked a lot already, but I fear you may be the only ones who can help us.”

Ucntcme snorted. “Big surprise.”

I expected that sort of comment from Hendrix.

“I need you to go to the Singing Cave near Cragnest,” Sun-Touched said. “My men will escort you there. Get in that cave and rid our province of that filthy gnoll once and for all.”

“Forgive me, Sun-Touched,” Koray said. “But what of your brother?”

Sun-Touched narrowed his eyes. “Offer my brother the chance to explain himself before me. If he does not comply…” His wings tensed. “Kill him.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Hendrix said.

He and Ucntcme left the hall. The rest of us followed. Buttons and Scallion greeted their masters, Scallion with excited jumping and licking, Buttons with a soft nudge of her head on Max’s hand.

“This is it, buddy.” Hendrix wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Our first dungeon. This is when things get real.”

“You mean Mallar and the elite gnolls weren’t real enough for you? We almost died.”

“We’ll have a full party this time,” Hendrix said. “This will be the first time we don’t enter one of these things shorthanded.” His eyes shifted to Ucntcme. “You won’t be able to mooch this one off of us.”

“I know,” she said. “There won’t be many dungeons on my way to forty. Maybe I’ll catch you guys in the Rocky Highlands.”

“You better not.” The bard turned his back on her and formed a circle of the four party members. “I’m gonna head back to Firemane’s Run. I’ll pick up Wolfgang,” he faced Nikk and Max, “that’s our tank, by the way, and then I’ll pug us a healer. I don’t know how long that’ll take, but I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

“Shouldn’t we go with you?” I asked. “It took us nearly a day just to get here from the city.”

“It won’t take us that long anymore,” Hendrix winked at me before leaving the circle. He walked away from the hall and down the single street. He turned left between two buildings and appeared again behind them. I didn’t recall seeing it before, but a small hut sat close to the edge of the village's hay flooring. The bard walked into the hut, and not a moment after, he was airborne on the back of a Raventaur, flying east to Firemane’s Run.

“Yes!” Nikk shouted his excitement. “That makes things quicker.”

“Indeed,” Max said.

Ucntcme had been sitting on the hay floor with her back against the Sun-Touched’s wall. I joined her. “Sorry again. What you did was a bit dishonest and sneaky, but you did save our lives. I don’t care what your motive was. You could have easily seen our dire situation and decided not to risk yourself and simply wait for the next group that came around, but you didn’t. There was still some risk in what you did, and you took that risk.”

She nodded. “Sure. Now can you leave me alone?”

“Why are you so distant?” My question earned me a fiery pair of eyes.

“I don’t like anyone, alright? It’s not just you.” She looked away. “I don’t like talking about it. I don’t really like talking about anything.”

A thought struck me just as she got up to leave.

“Wait a second,” I said. “You were never saddened or offended by what I said in the jail.” She froze. “You just used it as an excuse to leave. You wanted to see how the fight went before committing to it. You only reappeared when you saw there were no enemies.”

She smirked. “You aren’t too stupid after all. Don’t worry. It won’t happen again. Besides, I revealed myself before cutting the captives loose.”

I stared with a blank face. I hadn’t seen her until she’d appeared to cut the ropes.

“I lit the torches on the walls.”

“That doesn’t make it any less…” I couldn’t think of the right word.

“Good luck in the dungeon,” she interrupted. “You won’t have me there to bail you out this time.” She turned away and sauntered off with proud, swaying steps. Shadows engulfed her, and she was gone.