Faro was only halfway back to his feet when Lena reached him and helped him up. The chaos of the battle raged behind them. They could hear the shrieking Gorrik Shadruul, and felt the vibrations from the movement of the giant Vorath.

“Thanks!” yelled Faro over the din. “Let’s get back in there and help them!”

Lena didn’t move. “I’m freeing the bog troll first!”

“Right!” Faro yelled as he started to take off, but then paused. “You’re what?” he yelled at her.

“Thora thinks it’s the best move. Just go help the others!” Lena yelled back, turning from Faro and facing the bars. Faro didn’t have time to move before they were surrounded by Gorrik Shadruul. The nasty creatures were gnashing their needle-like teeth at him and swiping their spindly arms and sharp claws towards him, as if daring him to move.

“Do what you gotta do and make it quick,” he told her, swinging the sword and getting a feel for its weight in his grip. “We’ve got company.” Faro knew with the injury on his foot he wouldn’t be able to move very quickly, so he decided to plant himself between the Gorrik and Lena and protect her while she did what she needed to do to free the bog troll.

The bog troll stared down at the old elf as she approached his cage. He didn’t look happy about being left before, but Lena trusted Thora’s judgement. “Hey, Rork,” she said as she approached the bars and put her hands on them. “Let’s get you out of here, and then you can help us out, yeah?” she said, sounding a bit uncertain.

Rork just glared at her. “Right,” she said, and then started speaking in her tongues. Rork was a bigger beast than Faro, so she couldn’t just dissolve a small middle section. She would have to completely dissolve the bars to free the troll.

Behind her she could hear Faro panting as he fought off the smaller Shadruul. “Really wish I had my hammer!” he yelled between sword thrusts. “Much easier to smash these damn rock monsters to bits with blunt objects!” he yelled as he thrust his sword into the glowing orange eye of one and pulled it out and swung it around to lop off the head of another.

It was hard for Lena to focus on her incantation with all the noise around, but she closed her eyes and spoke the smooth, rhythmic language. She could feel the light emanate from her hands, and the metal bars began to get hot. She began to speak louder and quickened the pace, bringing more power to the magic. She could feel herself weaken as the bars glowed brighter. Behind her Faro was making a choking sound, and she assumed he was being set upon and choked by the creatures like she had been moments before. She was yelling loudly over the din by the time the bars dissolved.

Now only a pile of dust stood between her and Rork. The bog troll looked down at her, and she looked up at him expectantly, trying to judge what he was going to do, ready to pull her sword if it didn’t go how she hoped.

“Thanks,” Rork grunted before he stepped over her and grabbed Faro from amongst his assailants. He brought his other fist down hard on the ball of Gorrik, killing them all. He set Faro down gently next to Lena, and took off down the hall, swiping at other Gorrik along the way.

Lena faltered and Faro caught her. She pushed him away. “I'm fine,” she said, though didn't sound it. “I just need to meditate and regain my strength. You need to go and help the others.”

At this Faro helped her sit down in Rork’s cage and then limped off into the fray. Lena sat with her legs crossed, trying to block out the noise of the battle, focusing on regaining her strength.

Down the hall, Rork had dispatched several small groups of the Gorrik, and now had his sights set on the giant Votath. Even though he was around ten feet tall, the Vorath still towered over him. This didn't seem to phase Rork who just smiled and charged the bigger beast head on.

Mathias and Tobi, who had both been attacking the Vorath's legs and dodging its swipes, barely got out of the way as the beasts clashed. The bog troll jumped up and grabbed the Shadruul's shoulders. Then with one fist he started beating it in the head. This barely seemed to phase the rock monster who reached up and grabbed Rork, pulling him off and slamming him hard into the ground.

The wind was knocked out of him, but Rork quickly sprung to his feet, landing a kick square in the Vorath's chest. That sent it stumbling backwards into the archway that was already in tatters. More rock rained to the ground, smashing the Gorrik Shadruul and barely being dodged by Thora, Mathias, and Tobi who were having a hard time battling off the smaller creatures without being crushed by the larger.

Rork pressed his advantage and charged forward, grabbing the Shaduul by its giant head and repeatedly smashing it back into the wall. At this point the party retreated back down the hall to avoid getting hit with the constant rock fall as the wide hallway continued to crumble around them.

The Shadruul flailed its arms desperately, finally connecting with Rork’s side, slicing it open with its sharp claws. Rork roared in pain, but within a few seconds the bright red light flashed from his side and the wound healed itself. Having not seen it before, Thora stared in awe at the quick, self-healing of the bog troll.

Now the Shadruul was back on its feet and bearing down on Rork. He got his hands up under the Shadruul’s underarms, and felt the rock hands gripping his shoulders. The bigger beast began to squeeze, crushing Rork’s arms under its mighty, forceful grip. They were pushing hard against each other and roaring their fiercest roars, but Thora could tell that Rork was losing out, being the smaller of the two.

Smashing another Garrik in the face, she quickly looked around the room for anything that may help their oversized ally. Her gaze landed on the subfluore bracket on the wall. It was a crystal that was set into a sharp metal spike. It almost looked like a torch, except where fire would go, a crystal was inset with its natural glowing light. She ran over and began to pry on the fixture, trying to get it to break from the wall.

Meanwhile, behind her, Rork ducked down and laid flat on the ground, using the momentum to drive his feet into the Shadruul’s stomach and send him flying down the hall. Rork hopped up and charged after the Vorath, grabbing its head and twisting back and forth, trying to rip it from its body and kill it. The Shadruul’s head didn’t budge, and the Vorath grabbed Rork off of it and slammed him down to the ground. Rolling on top of him, it was its turn to grab Rork by the face and try to smash his skull.

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“Rork! The eyes!” yelled Thora. The bog troll, head smashed down into the ground, turned under the Shadruul’s grip enough to see the subfluore torch whipping at him through the air. He reached out his hand and caught it. Using his shoulder to knock its grip loose a little, he twisted enough to free his face from the Shadruul’s grip long enough to locate his glowing blue eye.

Bringing the torch over his head, Rork grabbed it with both hands and drove the bottom point of it upward as hard as he could. The point drove deep into the giant Shadruul’s eye socket. It stopped struggling and Rork kicked up with both his feet, sending the pile of rock back towards the archway. As he flew back, the subfluore crystal struck a fallen rock that was on the floor and cracked. The crystal started to pulse with yellow light, and the power from it shot down through the handle of the torch and down through the Shadruul’s lifeless body.

Thora’s eyes widened. She’d seen this once before, and it didn’t end well. “It’s going to explode!” she yelled, grabbing Tobi and Mathias by their shirts and pulling them in the opposite direction of the pulsing crystal. Faro, who was still fighting a ways down the hall, saw them moving for cover and ran back to Rork’s cage and dove inside by Lena, who was still there recovering.

The Shadruul's entire body was pulsing in yellow light from the subfluore crystal, and it started to break at the seams between rocks. Thora and the others didn’t get too far when Rork jumped forward and threw himself over them. They were all smashed together as Rork threw his arms around them, but they were safe from the blast as the Shadruul exploded with such force, sending rock and yellow energy through the entire room. Rork screamed a blood-curdling scream of pain and horror as the energy from the explosion cut through his clothes and melted the skin on his back.

After five seconds that seemed like several minutes, the energy explosion stopped. Thora pushed out from Rork’s grip and the others followed. When they moved, the bog troll fell forward onto his face, his expression motionless.

“Is he…?” Thora asked, horrified.

“No, he’s still breathing,” Mathias answered. “He’s just stunned from the blast.” He walked around to examine the injury Rork had taken while protecting them. Mathias winced when he saw the damage. The flesh was red raw and bleeding. Bone from his rib cage could be seen sticking out in places. Blood was everywhere. “Not sure if he’ll recover as easily from this as other injuries though.”

They all looked around the rest of the hall. There were no other beasts in sight. All of the other shadruul had turned to dust in the explosion. Faro and Lena emerged out of Rork’s cage. Faro had his arm thrown around Lena’s should and was still limping. Lena herself still looked ashen faced.

“He protected us from the blast,” Tobi told them when they approached. “Threw himself over us and took the damage.”

They all watched as small, red tendrils of light began emanating from Rork’s massacred back. It wasn’t the normal blazing light that usually fired through him when he was healing, but a weak, light red spark that fired in different spots on his back. They stared in amazement.

“He’s weak, so the healing is weak, but he’s begun to repair himself,” said Mathias in awe.

“He's such a magnificent creature,” said Thora, the sad look on her face feeling every bit of the sacrifice Rork just made for them.

Lena put a hand on Thora’s shoulder. “We can’t wait here for him to heal. My father is either well prepared for us, or gone by now.”

Thora nodded and looked around the group. Lena was weak and Faro’s foot was still injured. “How can we go into a fight in this state?” she asked Lena.

Lena shrugged. “Hopefully it’s not another fight. Hopefully my father sees the error of his ways and lets us leave.” She paused and thought for a moment. “Given my vision, and the fact that he serves a master, I’m guessing we will have a confrontation though. That’s why I brought this on our journey,” she said, reaching into her side satchel.

She pulled out a small vial of purple liquid. She held it between her thumb and forefinger for all of them to see. “Concentrated moonshade,” Lena said, pulling the little topper out of the vial. “I turned it into an ultra-concentrated potion to hopefully amplify its effects and speed its healing time.”

“Hopefully?” asked Faro, eyeing the concoction wearily.

“Yes, hopefully,” said Lena, tipping it up to her lips and drinking half the vial. “You and I are the dirgerats,” she said, referring to the shelled rats that scientists and healers like Mathias often caught and experimented on to see how concoctions affected living beings. The dirgerats were easy to find and test on as they were slow to move, and made loud squeaking sounds to the tune of melancholy notes.

She handed the vial to Faro. “Here. It helps with vitality, and it should also help the damage done to your foot.”

Faro grabbed the tiny vial in his large paws. The small glass cylinder looked almost comical in his large furry hand. It was so small he had to hold it delicately between two of his claws. “Fine,” he said, tipping the vial to his mouth and drinking it down. He immediately felt a similar warm feeling that he had when Lena had healed him with her energy transfer not long before.

He handed the vial back to Lena and put his weight down on his foot. He felt the soreness go away even as he did it. Lena herself looked like her color returned to her face.

“Hope you have more of that packed away,” he said, feeling like he could take on a full-grown dragon.

“Only a few vials,” said Lena. “I’ll need to make more when we get back home. Sooner, hopefully, rather than later,” she added. It seemed she was getting homesick, and being in this reminder of her childhood home wasn’t any help.

“Let’s go face your father, and then we can go home,” said Faro, ready to confront their captor. Lena nodded, and they all walked through the broken archway into the antechamber.

The small room was more ornate than the hallway they just came from. There were torches and decorative vases throughout the room. On the other side was a large wooden door with gold trim. A bright, white light was shining from the crack underneath, piercing the muted tones of the antechamber. Faro thought the door looked very Umbra; flashy and over dramatic. Their muffled footsteps bounced off the walls, and the silence was almost deafening compared to the rage of battle that had just taken place.

Lena took the lead and grabbed both door handles, throwing it open wide. Inside was a grand throne room, almost a mirror image of the one on the upper levels, only this one was much darker, as no natural light could reach here. Placed in the center of the room was a magnificent golden throne on a raised dais. Looming over the throne was the same horse figure as above, only this one was dark in color, and more lifelike. It was a grand place for Umbra to rule during the scourge.

The elf king himself sat on the golden throne, awaiting them. He sat sideways on the throne, his feet kicked up on the arm, as if he’d grown bored waiting for them to get there. It was odd to see him in such a lax position, given his normal nature of pomp. A score of elves flanked him on each side. These elves were no longer the smiling elves they'd grown accustomed to. They all wore stern looks, and carried two swords each, along with magic staffs.

Faro noticed a podium beside the throne with a glowing orb on top. It was emanating a white energy in waves down the podium and into the floor, likely the source of the bright white light they’d seen under the door.

Umbra sat up at the sight of them and threw his arms wide in his typical fashion. “Welcome, friends!” he exclaimed with his typical smile. “I see you're all still alive!"