At the bottom of the cliff, Gideon leaped off the wall and let out a sigh. “Solid ground!”

“Don’t get too excited. We’ve still got to get out of here,” Jet said, looking up. A cliff as steep as the one they’d just climbed down stood before them, soaring to the sky.

Gideon groaned deeply. He fell to his knees, defeated.

Jet grabbed his arm. “Come on. Up and at ‘em.”

“Leo, do you know the way out?” Elly asked, turning to the boy.

Leo put a hand to his chin. He looked around, then nodded. Gesturing, he set out ahead of them and led the way across the ravine. Around a corner and behind a cleft in the rock, a narrow hole opened in the rock. Leo glanced back at them, then stepped inside.

“We… following him in there?” Gideon asked, lifting his robes to put a hand on his tome.

“Do you see another way out?” Jet replied, heading for the cave.

Elly turned back, giving Gideon a small smile. “He led us down here. He’ll lead us back out.”

Gideon wrinkled his nose. He glanced around, then scoffed and followed the others in.

Darkness closed in around them. Their vision returned, revealing a narrow corridor carved from the stone. Smooth walls closed in around them, rounded at the top.

“This is no natural cave,” Elly remarked.

Ahead, Leo struck a match and lit a torch. He hefted it overhead, giving him light to peer over the rest of the party. When he saw everyone following, he smiled and turned to face ahead once more.

“But then… what is it?” Jet asked, putting a hand to the cool stone.

“Leo, what is this?” Gideon asked, calling ahead. His voice echoed down the corridor.

Leo glanced back. He hesitated, then shrugged.

“Nothing to say for yourself, huh? Mighty suspicious,” Gideon muttered.

“He’s mute,” Jet reminded him.

“Suspicious,” Gideon repeated, squinting at Leo.

The corridor opened up into a chamber. Leo stepped out, lifting his torch high. Firelight bounced off the polished white stone walls, lighting a dome high above. Large white tiles covered the floor, and four strange recesses opened in the corridor walls. Three corridors led out of the chamber, each dark and empty. Their footsteps echoed in the chamber, loud as thunder.

“What is this?” Jet whispered. The chamber picked up even his whisper and amplified it, repeating it over and over.

“An ancient temple,” Angel said quietly. She pointed behind them, over the door they’d entered through.

Everyone turned. Carved from the stone walls, a fearsome dragon flew high in the air, over a field of stylized, prostrating humans. Beams of light formed a halo around the dragon, and a few scraps of gilt could still be seen, stuck in the deepest clefts of the carving.

“Dragon-worship?” Jet whispered, stiffening. “Dragon-worship has been outlawed for centuries. How could there still be a temple? Why hasn’t it been destroyed?”

“With it hidden down here in the ravine, the temple probably got overlooked,” Gideon remarked, a stiff frown on his face.

Running her boot over a scrape in the stone floor, Angel pressed her lips together. She raised a hand and pointed to the wall, where broken metal brackets poked half-out of the stone, and overhead, where a chain swung emptily from the apex of the ceiling. “Don’t think it’s been used recently. It looks like it’s been looted, after all. Er, in my humble and uninformed opinion. I’m an honest citizen with no knowledge of looting or thievery, after all.”

“I imagine it hasn’t been used for generations,” Elly murmured, though she held her staff tightly before her, clutching it with both hands.

Jet wrinkled his nose. “I hope not. Sacrificing innocents to dragons… if the locals were still indulging in such nonsense, I—”

A thump rang out from one of the adjoining chambers. Leo, the closest, flinched and jumped back, brandishing the torch. Elly raised her staff, Jet drew his sword, and Gideon put a hand on his tome. Angel glanced around, then raised her fists and put on a fierce expression.

From the dark hallway came a sniffle, then a pathetic, high-pitched whimper. Leo glanced back at the party, then moved forward.

“Careful,” Jet warned him, hurrying forward to stand alongside him. Together, the two approached the dark hall.

Torchlight flickered. The flame surged forward, illuminating the narrow space. A lump appeared on the floor, cast in shadow. Another step forward, and the lump became a young girl, hogtied and gagged, left lying on the floor.

Kat stared up at them, tears in her eyes. New holes opened in her clothes, and scrapes and scratches marred her flesh. She struggled and cried out wordlessly, wriggling toward them.

“Kat…?” Jet murmured. He stepped forward, sword drawn.

Kat flinched back, tensing.

Jet knelt and removed her gag.

“Jet! It’s you? It’s really you?” Tears leaked from Kat’s eyes as she stared at him, her lip shaking, trembling under the binds.

He put his sword through a loop of the ropes that held her and cut outward. “Hold still, now.”

Kat held still as best she could. The sword slashed through the rope, and it fell away. She pulled it off of her and rubbed her body, running her hands gingerly over raw red marks on her flesh. “They, they, I was, they—”

“You’re safe now. Deep breaths, calm down. Elly?” Jet requested.

The priestess stepped forward. Putting a gentle hand on Kat’s shoulder, she smiled at the girl. “It’ll be alright. Close your eyes, and I’ll make all the ouchies go away, okay?”

Kat looked at her, then nodded. Fat tears leaked down her cheeks, but she still closed her eyes. Elly held her staff out over the girl. Light burst from the glass orb at its top and settled over Kat, and when it faded away, so, too, did Kat’s scrapes and bruises.

“Waste of a staff usage,” Gideon muttered.

Jet’s frown flinched deeper. He said nothing.

Leo and Angel cluttered close around Kat, concerned. Only Gideon stood back, aloof, a hand on his tome and an eye on the halls around them.

Ignoring Gideon, Jet knelt by Kat. “What happened? How did you end up here?”

Kat sniffled and wiped her face, smearing snot and tears all over her sleeve. “I, I, I…”

“Deep breaths. It’s okay, we’ve got you now,” Elly said, rubbing her back reassuringly.

“I… I ran away from the town. I didn’t want to go to the church, and I was afraid you’d make me go if you caught me, so I ran away. When I was sleeping in the woods, these creepy men in black robes tied me up and brought me here. They said something about bringing me to ‘him’ and that ‘he’ would know what to do with me, and I, I…” She dissolved into tears, no longer able to speak.

“Shh, shh. It’s okay now,” Elly whispered, drawing her into a hug. Wailing, Kat hugged her back, her little hands digging into Elly’s dress.

“Can’t you shut her up? If we aren’t alone here, her screaming is going to attract every cultist and drake for miles around,” Gideon grumbled.

Jet shot him a venomous look. Elly frowned, displeased. Even Leo and Angel furrowed their brows at him.

Kat wailed even louder, burying her face into Elly’s chest.

“Look, you scared her worse,” Elly said. She stroked Kat’s hair and shook her head at Gideon.

“What, is it my fault she’s crying? She just said there’s cultists here, somewhere. Men in black cloaks, dragon-worshipping temple, I mean, come on, right? Are we going to let her keep screaming until she summons all of them, or…” Gideon put his hands out, shrugging.

Clattering sounded from the far end of the hallway, along with the rush of fabric. Jet stepped ahead of Elly and Kat, and Elly backed away, pulling Kat into the center of the party.

“Too late,” Jet said darkly. Blue light glowed along the length of his sword.

“Dammit,” Gideon muttered. Yanking the tome harness’s strap, he grabbed the tome and let the pages flip open. “I told you…”