Seth had been taken by surprise when Blaise threw the stone. There's only two. We can do this. He cleared his thoughts as fast as he could and started casting, hoping he was focused enough.

The man with the spear leaped over the hole and shot his spear out directly at Blaise's stomach.

Seth jumped forward just as he finished the Barrier spell. He got it in front of Blaise the same instant the spear would have connected. Seth could feel the mana drain, but it held. He could hold the man off just like he did the weasels.

"No! Don't kill her!" Helena cried. She flung her arm forward and the puddles of water all over the chamber trembled.

The man retreated a step and pulled the spear back, shifting his hold from the butt of the spear further up the haft. He was an older guy, and wearing worn leather brigantine with several plates missing. Seth thought he was a mercenary.

"Can I kill the boys?" the man asked. He looked from Seth behind his barrier to Owen with his sword out and in a fighter's stance. The mercenary turned his spear towards Owen.

"One of them, no, he's protected. I don't know which one," Helena said. She hissed in annoyance and flung her arm out again. The water on the floor rocked a bit more and trembled, but still didn't move.

We got this, Seth thought. Helena didn't have the control she needed over Blaise's power, and she wasn't allowing the mercenary to use lethal force. Owen was talented and could probably handle the mercenary himself.

"Inconvenient," the man said flatly. He stepped forward to engage Owen. As he did so, he swung the butt of his spear behind Seth's barrier connecting hard with Blaise's ribs. He reversed direction in the same smooth motion and sent the spearhead shooting at Owen.

Blaise crashed into Seth, breaking his focus. The barrier came down, and both Blaise and Seth went sprawling.

We might have this, but it won't be easy, Seth revised his first impression.

Owen caught the spear tip with his sword. He used the edge of his sword to hook the spear where the haft met the head and with a jerk, almost disarmed the mercenary.

"Well, hello," the mercenary said, maintaining his grip and pulling the spear back. He focused his full attention on Owen.

Blaise scrambled to her feet before Seth, despite the fact she was still wheezing and trying to catch her breath. She darted at Helena and hurled another rock as she went, missing widely.

Helena was casting. As far as Seth could tell, it was a poorly performed 'Flow' cantrip. Regardless, water began pouring forth from puddles on the ground.

Owen was holding his own against the mercenary.

Seth got to his feet and closed his eyes. Help me, wind. Seth decided Helena was currently the most dangerous. Seth didn't think Blaise had a shot at defeating her, and the water levels were rising.

He listened. He considered casting Wind Blade, but discarded it because Blaise was in front of him. Instead, he focused on casting a concentrated Breeze. He kept the focus narrow, and imagined the wind knocking Helena over but not touching Blaise. He cast.

It took him seconds longer to cast than it should have, but the wind cooperated. And by not having to fight the talent, the spell was more effective than he expected.

Seth opened his eyes and watched the wind snake through the cavern, picking up droplets of water and small shards of stone. The wind blasted Helena from behind, picking her up off her feet and flinging her face first into the jagged cave floor. The rising water cushioned her impact, but the wind knocked the breath out of her, and she struggled to get her face out of the water while gasping and choking.

Seth looked at Owen and the mercenary, intending to blast the mercenary next. Instead, before Seth could recognize that Owen was on the ground bleeding, the butt of the mercenary's spear cracked Seth in the head so hard the world went black.

When Seth came to, he was on his side on the ground. He could see Owen a few feet away, also on the ground and clutching his bleeding leg. His sword was several strides away.

We don't have this.

Seth thought only a few seconds had passed but things had changed so quickly. He pushed to his knees and blinked furiously, trying to clear his thoughts and his vision. He needed to know where the mercenary was, and what was happening to Blaise.

Blaise was partially submerged in one of the larger puddles. Helena had a fistful of Blaise's hair and was kneeling on her back.

Mau was between the boys and the mercenary, her back arched and spitting mad.

"Are you sure we can't just kill them?" the mercenary asked, not impressed by Mau's posturing.

"I want my power back, you bitch!" Blaise snarled.

"Shut up. If that cat comes any closer I will cut you," Helena said.

Blaise chuckled. "If I die you lose my power, don't you? That's why you don't want me dead. You won't cut me."

"I'd rather lose the power than my life," Helena replied, twisting her fist in Blaise's hair until she cried out.

"I get why you don't want to kill the girl. You should drop her down a hole or something then. But why not kill the boys? They don't have anything you need," the mercenary asked.

Mau growled and hissed.

"Because one of them is protected. If we kill the wrong one, we will both be eliminated. I don't know which boy is protected, but if you get the chance, kill the cat."

"Fucking magic." The mercenary sighed and kept an eye on Mau as he walked over to the deep hole beside the lantern. The corpse of the large crocodilian lizard lay beyond it. "You aren't protected," he called down the hole. "You have ten seconds to pass up the chest or I will kill you."

The woman in the hole was crying. "It's not here! There ain't nothing down here! I swear it! Come down and look yourself. It ain't here!"

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"Leave," Seth started to shout, but speaking made his head hurt so bad he nearly blacked out again. Getting the clarity to cast would be impossible.

Owen didn't have that trouble. "Leave her alone!" He scrambled towards his sword, dragging his injured leg.

Mau darted forward but Helena lifted a knife to Blaise's throat. "Last warning, cat," Helena said. Mau stopped and growled.

"On your feet," Helena said, jerking Blaise upward. "You're coming with us." Helena dragged Blaise by the hair away from Mau and towards the lizard corpse on the far side of the hole, carefully picking her way around the puddles.

"Five seconds," the mercenary called down. He glanced at the boys and dismissed them as a threat. He did keep an eye on Mau.

The woman just sobbed.

Seth held a hand to his aching and bleeding skull. Stupid, stupid, stupid. They didn't have a real plan coming in here. He knew that and let it happen anyway. Everyone else was so sure of themselves, he didn't question it hard enough. Only Selendrith knew how bad an idea this was and refused to go.

"Four."

Owen reached his sword, but couldn't stand up.

It was ridiculous to think Owen, no matter how talented he was, could stand up to a seasoned mercenary after only a month of training. Seth didn't know enough combat spells, and didn't have the experience in fighting he'd need to match that guy.

They thought Helena would be the main threat. Because she was new to her power, and the power didn't belong to her, they thought they could take her.

They probably could have, if it was just her. But the mercenary outclassed all of them. If not for this mysterious 'protection,' he and Owen would be dead. If they didn't figure something out, and quickly, Blaise would be taken. Again.

"Three."

The woman was sobbing and splashing frantically in the hole.

He needed to do something.

Seth closed his eyes. The last time his head ached this bad the wind had helped him without him needing to cast. He silently begged it for help again. Help not just from the wind, but Saben too.

"Two."

Stop him, he asked. Cut him.

Seth made the motion for Wind Blade, but didn't speak the incant. The spell went off, sharper and denser than Seth had ever managed before.

It struck the mercenary on the arm holding the spear, cutting deep and knocking the spear from his grasp.

"Fucker!" the mercenary shouted and reached to catch the spear with his other hand.

At the same moment Duvessa jumped over the lizard corpse and bashed Helena with her bow. Booth darted out and kicked the spear away from the mercenary.

Seth had trouble following what happened next. Mau jumped on Helena, and there was a tussle that ended with Duvessa pulling Blaise free and pointing the end of her bow at Helena. Mau kept going and jumped at the mercenary, shredding the man's armor and drawing blood before being punched away. The next thing Seth knew the mercenary had Booth in a chokehold.

"There's more of them, now. It's time to start killing a few and taking the chance that we don't kill the important one," the mercenary said calmly.

"It's not here," Helena said. "We should just leave. Make it hard for them to follow us."

"As you wish." The mercenary kicked the lantern into the hole with the woman, plunging the cavern into absolute darkness.

"No!" Duvessa shouted. Seth could hear her thwacking things with her bow. It sounded like she was mostly hitting the floor, and possibly the dead lizard, except for an "Ow!" from Blaise followed by a "Watch it!"

Seth thought he heard the man and woman move past him, but he couldn't tell for sure over the racket Duvessa was making. He sincerely hoped that was them leaving. One of them could see in the dark, so at this point Seth and the others were sitting ducks.

"Booth, can you cast a light?" Owen called. "Booth?"

Seth tried to clear his head enough to cast Moonlight. Then he remembered he had another light, and activated his amulet. It would burn mana they needed for healing, but being able to see was the more pressing need.

Helena and the mercenary were gone, and Booth was lying on the ground where he'd fought with the mercenary. Both girls ran over to him, and he started coughing.

"Damn, his fist is a fucking hammer," Booth choked out as he sat up. "Did they leave?"

Seth stumbled to his feet and lifted his amulet. "I don't see them, so yeah, I'd say they're gone. Duvessa, what happened to your light? You had the spelled lantern?"

"Right. We dropped it and it fell really far, and I lost all my arrows, and Booth lost a knife, and I don't like bats anymore," Duvessa explained.

"Can someone please help me out?" the woman in the hole asked.

"Of course!" Duvessa exclaimed. "Booth, we need more light. And a rope."

"I don't have any rope," Booth said, picking up a stone and making it glow.

"I left the rope outside," Owen said. "It's with the weasels." Owen held a bloody scrap of cloth to his leg. He sat where he'd dragged himself next to his sword, and now held it in his other hand.

"Selendrith! She's outside!" Blaise exclaimed.

There was no way Seth could rush outside as he was. Owen couldn't even stand. Seth gestured to Mau, who took off running.

Seth used a bit of the power in the amulet on his head. He needed to be able to think straight. Then he started first aid on Owen. They'd have to use Mau's amulet on his leg. He'd been speared in the thigh and the bone was damaged, but Seth didn't think it was broken. Seth pulled out a bandage and put pressure on the wound, making Owen hiss in pain. Seth debated how much mana he should spare to healing it now, or if it was better to wait for Mau to get back so Owen could get a larger and more effective dose of healing. He decided to wait a few moments. If Mau couldn't return quickly, he'd give Owen everything the amulet had left.

Blaise picked up the mercenary's spear and held it haft down to the woman in the hole. "Grab on and I'll pull you out."

"You sure they're gone?" the woman asked.

"I am. Now grab on," Blaise said.

Instead of grabbing the spear, the woman ducked under the water in the hole. She came up a moment later with a thin chest that she held tightly under one arm. "Okay, pull me out."

Seth felt the pokes from Mau. "Selendrith is fine. They left without bothering with her."

"Yes!" Duvessa announced. "We beat them!"

"No we didn't," Blaise said.

"They completely trashed you guys," Booth said.

"Trashed you too," Owen said defensively.

"We lost. It doesn't matter," Seth said. "Let's get everyone bandaged up, and healed as much as I can. Ma'am, are you all right?"

"Cold and wet, but yeah, I'm okay," the woman said. "Thank you for saving me." She put the chest on the ground and wrung out her hair. "I'm Iva."

The kids introduced themselves. Booth was very interested in the chest.

"So this is what they were here for?" Blaise asked. "Why were you saying you couldn't find it?"

"I knew they'd kill me the moment I turned it over. I was hoping they'd have to try somewhere else and I'd have a chance to slip away later," Iva said. "Or that another lizard would show up and I could get away then."

"You mind if I open it?" Booth asked.

"Outside," Seth said. "Let's get outside."

After some healing Owen could walk with assistance, but he needed to crawl out of the waist-high cave exit. Once outside Seth helped him over to a large rock he could sit on.

Selendrith shook her head at them. "If you keep biting off more than you can chew, you'll choke to death."

"Pshaw," Duvessa said, waving her hand. "We're fine."

"We can rehash the fight later," Booth said. "We need to get back tonight, so let's hurry up with this thing."

"Right. We should check for magic on it first," Blaise said.

"You've got the best detect, Seth. You do it," Booth said.

Seth cast Detect Mana on the chest. "It's not magical. Like at all," he said. "No spells or effects that I can sense."

Mau sniffed the chest and shook her head, confirming it.

"Well, that doesn't make sense," Duvessa said. "You don't hide a secret chest in an abandoned cave with monsters and not put magical protections on it! You just don't do that!"

"We should just open it," Booth said.

"It's your chest, Iva," Seth said. "You recovered it. You can do what you like with it."

Iva glanced around at the kids. "You can open it, but what's inside belongs to me."

"That's fair," Duvessa declared. "I think I would die of curiosity if you didn't let us see what's inside."

Booth had a look on his face. Seth knew he didn't like the idea of turning potential treasure over to Iva, but he didn't say anything.

Blaise said, "I wonder if they'll come back looking for it again."

Iva looked uncomfortable at the idea. "We'll see what it is, first."

"Go ahead and open it, Booth," Seth said.

Booth worked with the chest for about a minute. "Sorry, there was water in the mechanism," he said as he popped the lock open. "The lid is stuck, can I have a knife?" Blaise handed over a penknife, and Booth fiddled a moment more with the box. "There we go."

The inside of the chest was dry and lined in green velvet. There was a card lying on the velvet. The box was otherwise empty.

"Empty? What a waste," Iva said.

"What does the card say?" asked Blaise.

Booth read the card out loud. "Sucks to be second. Love, Mom,"