The first thing I noticed when I awoke was that my back was stiff. But that only made sense. I slept on the floor. For a moment I just laid there, blinking, wondering if I was late for work. Must have slept through my alarm, I thought, half-awake. Damn. Do I leave now, or do my morning routine and be even more late?

Then my surroundings came into focus. The carved stone. The cold ground. The unfamiliar room. The dungeon. For a brief moment, I didn’t know what was going on, didn’t realize that the last month and more had been anything but a dream. I sat up in a panic, looking back and forth, wondering where the hell I was and why it wasn’t my room at home.

“He’s awake,” a voice called. The voice triggered something, and the memories all came back. Only that’s not quite right. It’s like the memories were already there, but they had all been mislabeled as dreams in my mind. Like the flip of a switch, they all became memories again.

It didn’t lessen my panic. I ran my hands over myself looking for wounds. Nothing. I checked my arm, where the Kalamuzi’s blade had sliced at it. Nothing. I reached behind my back, where the worst injuries were - where claws had ripped into me and raked deep cuts. I felt only smooth skin.

Smooth skin…

“Hey!” I yelled. “Who took my clothes off?”

I was in my underwear, and I didn’t much appreciate that. It was cold, for one.

“I did,” a voice said. Then Amaia was there, looking down at me.

I waited for her to explain why, but that only showed how out of it I still was. A fully awake me would have known better. Eventually I realized.

I sighed. “Why?” I asked.

“Didn’t know if the healing potions were any good,” she said. “Had to check your injuries.”

“And?”

Amaia cocked her head. “And what? Took two potions. You’re fine.”

“Easy for you to say.” I barked at her. The memories of the fight were fresh in my mind. “Suddenly you care about my wellbeing, huh?”

Amaia averted her gaze. “I’m sorry,” she said. “That was a mistake.”

It was weird to get apologized to by someone who wouldn’t even look you in the eye, but I was pleasantly surprised all the same. But still pissed.

“How would you like it if I made the same ‘mistake,’ huh? Left you for dead? What if I had died, would you apologize to my dead body? A lot of good that would have done me.”

She didn’t say anything further. This was the second time, however, that I had woken up with her watching over me. I was hoping not to make a habit of it.

I heard a shifting sound behind me. I turned - somewhat surprised I could do that, worrying I would reopen a non-existent wound on my back - and saw Cadoc standing up.

I shifted myself around, still sitting, until I faced Cadoc.

“Miles,” he said simply.

“Cadoc,” I responded.

We stared at each other for awhile. How well do I really know this guy? I thought to myself. We’d treated each other like friends, until suddenly I wasn’t worth saving. I really didn’t know much at all, when you get right down to it.

“You going to apologize too?” I asked finally.

A burst of air escaped his nostrils. “I was awaiting your apology.”

A heat washed over my face, and I probably turned red with anger. “My apology? What the hell do I have to apologize for? Saving what’s her face? Helping you? Or should I apologize for making the mistake of trusting that you would have my back? Yeah, I guess I’m real sorry I did that. Almost killed me, that one.”

Cadoc shook his head. “You are wrong,” he said, and pointed an accusing finger at me. “You did not help me. You treated me like a weakling, dishonored us both, broke the rules of a rightly-agreed duel. You shamed me by fighting my battle for me, and you shamed yourself. These are the acts of a coward.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Are you calling me a coward?” I said, rising to my feet. I knew how severe of an insult that was, coming from Cadoc, and it made my blood boil that he would say that to me after I had just helped him. I got in his face, fists clenched. “So you what, didn’t help me because of revenge? Is that it? Petty revenge for offending you and your stupid rules? ‘Miles broke his promise to a fucking rat, so I’m going to let him die.’ Is that about right? Am I missing something?”

“You dishonored a duel!” Cadoc shouted, as if nothing more needed to be said. I’d never seen him so unhappy. We were staring at each other, eyes locked, neither one ready to back down. “Are you suggesting I ought to have dishonored your duel, as well? I will not be dragged down to your level.”

“My level?” I repeated. “My level? What the fuck do you mean, my level? I thought I was a hero, isn’t that right? A brave hero. Why was it so wrong to fight a guard for that poor mother, and not to shoot a rat for you?”

“Those are not the same and you know it. The guard was not dueling that woman.”

“So I’m supposed to just let myself be killed just because you think betraying a fucking rat is breaking your high-and-mighty moral code!”

“You weren’t killed!” Cadoc yelled back. “You’re alive and well. You won. I would have won, too, if you had given me the chance.”

“So I help you out, make sure you don’t die, and that’s a bad thing? What if you didn’t win? What if I didn’t? Then what? We’re just supposed to watch each other die? That’s fucking stupid, Cadoc!”

Cadoc turned his head to his left, and spit on the ground. “You sound like my parents did.”

“Well maybe your parents were right,” I said. “You’re fucking alive, aren’t you?”

I don’t know when it happened, but Cadoc’s hand was on his sword, resting where it hung from his belt. Then I noticed that my hand in the same position. I had no idea who had done it first.

“Oi!” An unfamiliar voice called. It came from behind Cadoc. “If you lot are going to kill eachother, y’think you could untie me first? I’d rather not starve to death, you hear?”

I leaned to one side, peeking around Cadoc. Behind him some distance away, sat up against the wall of the room, was the woman with the staff. The staff laid beside her, and she was, in fact, still tied up.

“You brought her with,” I said, narrowing my eyes, suddenly pulled out of the argument with confusion.

Cadoc looked at me, clearly unsure whether to allow this change of topic. He relented. “Yes,” he said.

“But you kept her tied up?” I said, disbelief seeping into my voice.

“That’s correct.”

“Why?”

“That’s what I was saying!” the woman yelled. “Why keep me tied up?! Finally, a voice of reason in this place.”

“Didn’t know what to do with her,” Cadoc said. “And I don’t like her.”

“Excuse me?” the woman shouted. “What did I ever do to you? Have we met?”

Cadoc ignored her. I turned to Amaia. “Why did we bring her with us and not untie her?”

Amaia shrugged. “I didn’t really care.”

I sighed, but internally, I screamed. I am surrounded by crazy people!

I walked past Cadoc, and for a second, I didn’t think he would let me past him. His hand tightened around his hilt for a moment before relaxing.

“Are you in charge here?” the woman asked as I approached. “You ought to be. Very smart man, very reasonable. I, for one, am very happy you didn’t get eaten by a Kalamuzi.” She shifted and turned to the side, revealing her tied hands. “Here’s the knot, thank you.”

I stared down at her. “What’s your name?” I asked.

“Not sure what that has to do with untying me,” she responded, turning her head to the side to look up at me.

“Not sure why you wouldn’t just tell me your name.”

“Yeah, okay, fine. It’s Naomi. You’re Miles, yeah? They talk about you when you’re not around, y’know. Say mostly nice things, I guess.”

Cadoc approached now, and came to stand beside me. That made it seem like we were on the same team again, but I knew that we’d still have fighting to do when this was taken care of. Maybe we’d both handle it better when we had calmed down a bit. Maybe he was thinking the same thing.

“Why did you leave your teammates to die?” Cadoc asked.

“Woah, guys, hang on,” Naomi said, her face softening, eyes widening like a pleading puppy. “Why the interrogation? We can talk about whatever you want. Just untie me first, please.”

“That’s not an answer,” Cadoc said.

The woman sighed. “Look, I don’t know what you want me to say. I was out of mana. I wasn’t any better than dead weight in that fight, and my companions - may they rest in peace - would have told you the same thing. You just chewed out your friend here for intervening in a fight, and now you want to chew me out for not intervening? Seems like a lose-lose to me.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Cadoc said. The woman shrugged.

“Seems like the same subject to me, all due respect.”

“If we untie you,” I asked. “What are you going to do next?”

She frowned. “I really don’t like that ‘if’ word you’re using there. I’m going to pretend you said ‘when.’ When you untie me, I’m going to get the hell out of here, naturally. Won’t need to worry about me anymore, that’s for sure.”

“You know the way out?” I asked. I was doubtful, seeing as it had already been three days - at least - since her party died, and we were able to catch up with her.

She cleared her throat. “Yes, well, I s’pose I thought I did. But nothing to do but try, right?”

Amaia had now walked up to join us, as well. I hadn’t seen her approach, but suddenly, she was there. “Just get captured again.”

“She’s a real downer, isn’t she?” Naomi said. “Yeah, maybe I will. But that isn’t any reason to leave me tied up, is it?”

I shook my head. “No, it isn’t. But I had a question for you. A proposition. What if we led you out? Escorted you.”

She cocked her head. “What’s the catch?”

I laughed. “The catch depends on you. What do you have to offer in exchange?”

She blinked at me. “Are you extorting me?” She turned to Amaia. “Is this guy extorting me? In his underwear?”

Amaia shrugged. “Maybe.” I had forgotten I didn’t have my clothes on. I went and picked them up - they were sitting nearby where I had been sleeping.

“I’m broke,” I said while getting dressed. There were gashes rent in my armor - I’d have to get something new when I could. “You understand. I’m willing to help you out, but I need money. I could just kill you and take it, if you’d prefer.”

“If you were gonna do that, you’d have done it already,” Naoni said. “So don’t give me that.”

I shrugged, which was not easy to do while donning leather armor. “It wouldn’t exactly be hard to take what’s on you while you’re tied up. That staff looks fancy.”

Her eyes widened. “No, alright, okay, let’s talk, yeah? Let’s discuss this. But the staff is mine, OK? That’s not on the table.”

“Fine,” I said. “What else have you got?”

“Well I’ll have you know, I’m actually quite wealthy,” she said. “I just, uh, don’t really carry my money with me into a dungeon, y’know? So I’m not really sure what to do about that.”

“You’ve got nothing on you?” I asked.

“Not really.”

“You’re not the best negotiator, are you?”

“I vote that we leave her,” Cadoc said. “I understand that you need your debts paid, Miles, but she doesn’t look to have anything on her. Let us leave her like she left her compatriots. It would serve her right.”

I didn’t actually plan on doing that, but I looked at Naomi with one raised eyebrow as if I was considering it.

“Wait, I’ve got it!” Naomi yelled. “I’ll join you guys! I can help you out, you can lead me out of here when you go to the surface, and then we can all go together to get my money so I can pay you! What d’ya say?”

“We’re not leaving,” I said. “Until we destroy the core.”

Her face darkened. “Oh.” But then she smiled. “That’s fine. I mean, I guess it’s fine, right? I’ll leave when you leave. Not like my chances are better on my own, as you may have noticed.”

“She’s just going to run away when the going gets tough,” Cadoc said.

“Might do,” Naomi said. “Can’t lie and say I wouldn’t. If you guys start dropping, I’m going to start leaving. But hey, there’ll be four of us, right? Just don’t die.”