As I get down beside Elara, I give my snoring cat a gentle stroke.“

I thought I told you to keep out of trouble,” I say to her.

I hear the rest of the group coming up and gathering behind us as I gather up the sleeping moggy and tuck her gently into my pack on top of my spare clothes. I place the pack to the side of the passage, out of the way.

‘I’ll be back for you later unless you wake up first.’ I blow out my breath and stand.

“Well, either she has been into the cavern and was bringing that bag to us, or it was dropped here.” I kick the little bag aside.

“No point trying to figure it out, so let's go see what’s happening ahead.” I check my sword and look at our motley crew. “Be ready for anything.”

Moving forward slowly, I peer around the corner; the fire is clearly visible. The cavern appears to be a natural space, rough walls lift up towards a dark domed ceiling with multiple stalactites pointing their needle tips at the floor below. Numerous cracks and fissures in the stone allow water to seep through and run down the walls, giving the whole place a cold, damp air that smells of musty earth mixed with woodsmoke from the fire.

‘At least the smoke seems to be mostly venting upwards,’ my lungs are pleased to note.

The floor of the cavern has been roughly cleared in the centre; most of the stalagmites have been hacked off, and the rubble thrust to the far side out of the way. At the far edge of the cleared area is a roughly erected tent.

Apart from the firepit and the tent, the space holds five columns—at a guess, they were once stalagmites, now carved smooth and fixed with an iron ring about six feet above the ground. Suspended by manacles to each ring is a slumped figure. Chests bared and complicated sigils oozing dark bloody trails carved into their skin.

I hear muted gasps and feel the anger rise behind me and quickly raise my hand to forestall the group rushing into a probable trap.

Each column and suspended victim sits at the point of a pentagram carefully carved into the ground and inlaid with some sort of dark metal. The outer ring of the pentagram connects each column in some sort of barbaric magical ritual circle.

I feel Elara’s breath near my ear as she leans in to whisper quietly.

“There is strong magic here, Del. I can feel it building.” She pauses as if tasting the ether. “I don’t recognise the magic, but it's not good magic.”

In my gut, I too could feel that distinctive magic; only instead of butterflies, this felt like the angry buzz of disturbed hornets. I carefully studied the chained victims.

‘Magic, really. Couldn’t have guessed that.’ I am angry, but my snark won’t help them.

Carefully watching, I can see the occasional shuddering rise and fall of chests and, above the crackle of flame, hear the quiet groans escaping unconscious lips.In the centre of the ritual circle is a stone block with a naked figure lying bound to it, moaning and writhing weakly.

I hear Paolo behind me and glance at him, his eyes fixed on the altar.“Emily.” He breathes out quietly, his voice catching in pain at the sight.

I motion everyone to step back around the bend, and once there we gather quietly.“We can’t just rush in,” I begin, trying to recall those long-ago-read tales. Lord of the Rings and Terry Pratchett make odd bedfellows, but it was all I had to go on.

“Elara, do you have any thoughts on what we may be facing?” I ask her.

‘Just don’t say fireballs, not fireballs.’

“Anyone else as well, if you have any experience or knowledge of what a mage may bring, speak now.”

“It’s hard to say,” Elara speaks up. “We don’t know what strength he has; he used drugs, not magic, to take his sacrifices.” I shudder at that term, even though it seems accurate from what I had seen.

“It may be that his only real power is in whatever he plans with that circle, some sort of ritual.” She shrugs as if sorry she is of little other help.

‘Don’t berate yourself, lass; that’s more than I could figure.’

“Anyone else?” I ask.

Jake holds up his hand, and it causes me to give a little smile. ‘Not your typical classroom, mate.’ I tip my head at him to speak.

“My grandad used to tell me tales of the Wizard, said he used fireballs.”

‘I said no fucking fireballs!’I sigh.

“Okay, there is always the possibility of big magic affecting a large area.” I rub the bridge of my nose, thinking. “Chances are, nothing big enough to disrupt whatever he is planning in there, though.”

I tap my fingers on my leg.

“Okay, Elara, you go left, scurry around and get an angle for a good shot.” I look at the other archer. “You, I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Sam,” he interjects.

“Sam, same as Elara, only you go right.” I see him nod.

“Right, Merl, you take five and make your way to the right of the circle. I will go with Paolo and Jake and the other three left.” I see Merl looking around, mentally selecting his team.

“Do not, under any circumstances, step into the circle or disrupt what's going on. We don’t know what that may cause, but being dead is no good to anyone.” The faces around me are all very serious, and I see agreement in their eyes.

“Our goal is the tent. If we can get there before he knows we’re here, then that’s the best outcome.” The cynic in me is laughing at me.

‘Fat chance is better than no hope.’ I really hate my inner me sometimes.

I look around the group, my eyes meeting each of theirs. I see fear, naturally, but more than that. I see resolve. Those are their people, and they will see this through.

“We have the numbers; stay strong, and we can swamp him regardless of whatever power he may have.”

With that, I turn and head back towards the cavern, touching Elara’s hand as I pass her.

Slipping quietly back around the bend, I slow to let Sam and Elara pass and head to their positions, melding quickly into the darkest shadows. Merl and his crew go next, moving as quietly as the ground will allow; I follow suit, heading left.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

I feel my breath getting quicker; I was far from being used to the anticipation of combat. In the battle of fight and flight, only fight could be allowed to win out. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jake place a reassuring hand on Paolo’s shoulder; he grins at him and grips his knife firmly.

‘Stay strong, Del, they need to see you keep on point.’ I give Jake a wink, and he grins back at me.

As we circle the fire and get closer to the chained villagers, the crackle helps muffle our steps, but the tangible feel of magic is now almost nauseating and, to my ears, seems to buzz louder than the wood popping in the firepit.

Ahead in the tent, I see a light flare up and a shadow move within it.

‘Oh shit.’

With a terrible roar of pure rage, a figure rips out of the tent.

Tall, lithe, and dressed in a voluminous black hooded cape with a twisted wooden staff in hand. It seems we have found the Night Man.

I take an involuntary step back at the sight, grab hold of my nerves and grip the hilt of my sword. I feel the air pulse with a violent discharge of mana, and a lightning bolt streaks forward, splitting the air with eye-watering brightness.

I don’t even get a chance to cry out a warning as the man to my left is blown backwards. Dead or alive, I have no way of knowing and not the time to find out.

“Elara,” I cry out.

I needn’t have worried as an arrow whistles past to bury itself in his leg.

The Night Man roars and sweeps a hand down to snap off the shaft as he spins to face the archer’s direction. Another bolt snaps out, but it is shot from the hip and cracks into the rockface, missing its target.

In that distracting moment, we are able to close towards him. The mage, seeing us coming, sweeps his staff in a circle, and a blast of force shoves us all back several feet. And he lifts his staff to cast another spell.

Sam chose that moment to take a shot and disrupts the cast as the mage is forced to use his staff to deflect an arrow heading for his head. The deflection works well enough to just leave him with a slice across his cheek rather than an arrow through his eye.

Two more arrows fly forward, and, raising his off-hand, he casts some sort of shield that the arrows both hit. The shield shimmers and collapses, but the arrows drop harmlessly to the floor.

“Push forward,” I shout out as we close in. Another arrow flashes in, batted away by his staff, but Merl’s group arrives from the right as we close in on the left.

Merl's hammer crashes forward, the air almost snarling as it rips apart to allow its passage. Another shield springs up; the hammer crashes through it, but most of its power is dissipated. It hits the Night Man’s shoulder, but he seems to shrug off the blow, though I see his eyes widen in his first show of alarm.

Taking a step backwards, he cries out a guttural string of words in a language well beyond my understanding.

The air around him shimmers and a dark light pulses out.

We all stagger backwards, and I see at least two men go down, retching on the ground.

‘We need to end this,’ I yell at myself.

I try to push forward with my sword leading the way and see Merl, though slightly green, holding it together and winding up for another strike.

Whatever that light was, it's like fighting through molasses. The air is thick and sticky, and our every move is slowed, making us easy targets for his magic.

Suddenly, I feel butterflies.

‘Elara?’

The dark air is pushed apart by a wash of green as grass sprouts rapidly from the cavern floor.

‘Oh, good girl.’

We can move again. I see Merl’s hammer flying forward on its swing. The Night Man steps to the side, and the hammer crashes into the ground, sending rock splinters flying.

A knife thrown, I think from Jake, hits his side. It doesn’t penetrate far, but I see the mage's look of shock and pain as if fully realising how outnumbered he is.

At that moment, with a howl and a flash of ginger fur, a ball of terror flies forward and rips open his wrist, causing him to drop his staff.

I jump the last bit of the gap between us and slash with my sword, opening a long gash in his other arm.

“Enough,” he yells, and a circle of flame leaps out, forcing us all back as he snarls at us.

Then…

His eyes go wide, and his body flies forward, the back of his skull caved in by Merl's vicious hammer swing.

“I live with fire, you fucking dick,” he growls in response, kicking the dead body.

[You killed Human Mage lvl 3, Experience gained]

Misty comes over to me and rubs herself against my legs as if in apology for her earlier slip-up and snooze. She then disappears off to explore the cavern some more.

We all gather around the dead mage.I feel the adrenaline dissipation leaving me feeling a bit wobbly and weak at the knees. I can almost feel the collective sighs of relief from around me as we take in the battle's aftermath.

Elara rips off the Night Man’s cape and wraps the staff up in it, taking care not to touch it directly.

“We need to have this checked out before anyone can touch it directly,” she tells us.

Looking around, I can see nobody wants to go near it.

“Now what?” asks Jake, looking towards the victims still chained up.

“I need to figure out what's going on here and try to undo it,” says Elara. “If I do it wrong, the backlash could be violent, to say the least.”

“I’m going to check out the tent,” I tell Paolo. “I suggest the rest of you take care of any injuries. I have a feeling there is still much to figure out here.”

I too look at the magic circle.

‘Hang tight, people, we will get you down as soon as we can.’