“Humans? Why?” Aster muttered, putting a hand on his chin.

“Fontea. I bet Fontea stirred something up,” Milo said, nodding.

Aster twisted his nose. “She wasn’t fond of me.”

Silas laughed. “I can’t imagine why.”

Aster glared at him.

Milo waved his hand. “Fontea is hard to please. She doesn’t like outsiders. When I joined the party, I remember she wasn’t happy with it for a long time. It took a while for her to warm up to me.”

“She’s mean,” Stella piped up.

Aster hopped off Nessa’s cyclops and landed on the labyrinth’s wall. He nodded. “You should probably go ahead back to your dungeon. It sounds like we’re about to be busy.”

Nessa’s eyes darted to Stella. She licked her lips.

Stella raised her arm and pointed at the pact. “You promised!”

“Do you want your monsters healed?” Aster threatened.

Nessa waved her hand. “Relax. I’m not crazy. I don’t want to hang around and get nasty human germs on me.”

The cyclops turned around. It ducked down and shouldered through the portal again. The already-broken portal easily opened again, letting the giant monster through. All Nessa’s monsters turned and followed her out, the healed ones and the still-sick ones alike.

Nessa turned back from the portal, pausing for a moment before she left. She pointed at Aster and Stella. “Don’t forget to come and heal the rest of my monsters!”

“Yes, yes,” Aster said, nodding.

With one last glance back, Nessa stepped through the portal. The other monsters followed her out, filing neatly into the portal one after another.

“Can’t catch a break,” Daiyo muttered, shaking his head. He climbed up onto the labyrinth wall and nodded at the others. “Shall we?”

Killer hefted himself onto the wall, too, and sat there, exhausted. He looked at Aster and nodded wordlessly, too out of breath to speak.

“Not more running,” Milo grumbled.

“We can’t just let those humans run wild. Stella, do you have monsters holding them back?” Aster asked, turning to Stella.

Stella closed her eyes. She swayed in place, humming to herself, little hands gripping each other. After a moment, she opened her eyes. “The centipede and the tiger are on their way!”

“What about the King Slime?” Aster asked.

Stella shook her head. “It lives in that chamber. I can’t really control it when it’s all together.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Aster nodded. He turned to the monsters in the labyrinth.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Viki said before he could speak, crossing her arms. Her tendrils shook back and forth.

“Good. You and Killer stay here. I don’t fully trust Nessa, even with the pact. She might still try to get around it. The two of you should stay here and guard the portal,” Aster said. He glanced at Killer. That, and Killer’s on his last legs. He’s not in his best shape. Even if he were, he’s still a berserker. I hate it, but I have to admit that he’s a liability. Unless he has an easy way to manage his battle-madness—like here, where he can stay off the wall and let the labyrinth contain him—he’s essentially a bomb, as likely to injure us as to attack our enemies.

Killer looked at him, then laughed lightly. He pushed off the wall and dropped back into the labyrinth’s center. “Yeah. I shouldn’t be around people.”

“That’s… not what I meant,” Aster murmured, but weakly. He bit his lip. I wish I had a solution to the berserker problem, but there isn’t an easy fix.

“I came here of my own volition. I understand,” Killer said, waving his hand. He stretched. “I’m worn out, anyways. I need a break.”

Aster gave him a small smile and nodded. He understands. He won’t hold it against me. He turned to Milo instead. “Milo, what spells do you have left?”

“Eh? Uh… I can give us stamina. And… maybe two weak heals? Nothing that cures disease, but there’s weak heals that don’t do that much,” Milo explained.

Aster nodded. That’ll have to be good enough. “No one get injured!”

“No kidding,” Silas said. He slung his lute over his shoulder. “Listen. I’m not going to fight humans. When we get to the mouth of the dungeon, I’m gone. That’s the end for me.”

“I understand. You’ve upheld your end of the bargain, anyways,” Aster agreed. We said we’d let him go if he helped us. Now that he’s helped us, we have to let him go.

Silas scratched the back of his neck and nodded. He stepped backward awkwardly. “Anyways. Whenever you guys go… I’ll come along with you.”

“Just go! If you’re done, then go!” Stella said, crossing her arms.

Aster crouched down. Quietly, he murmured, “He can’t, Stella. He isn’t strong enough to take on the dungeon alone. He’s just a bard, after all.”

“Mmm. Then he should go take on the dungeon alone,” Stella said loudly, narrowing her eyes at Silas. “He chose to come here and kill my monsters! He can leave alone!”

“He didn’t come here alone, though. He came with Alice and Milo,” Aster explained patiently, still speaking quietly despite Stella’s insistence on speaking loudly.

“Well, he can’t take them back. They’re mine now,” Stella said, nodding.

“Right, but let’s go ahead and take Silas back to the entrance together with us,” Aster said, nodding.

“Why?” Stella asked.

Tired, Aster waved his hand. “We can discuss it later. Is everyone ready?”

Milo sighed, but nodded. Daiyo gave him a thumbs up. Silas grinned.

Stella turned and gestured her snake over. It slithered over to her, and she mounted it, sitting just behind the head.

Milo snuck up to Daiyo. “Hey, uh, since Stella’s carrying herself, would you mind carrying me? I’m a weak priest, after all, and I’ve used up almost all my magic…”

“Typical priest, always having to be carried,” Silas said, shaking his head.

Ignoring Silas, Daiyo lowered his hand toward Milo. “Why not? You humans don’t weigh anything, anyways.”

Milo grinned and scrambled up Daiyo’s arm. He smirked down at Silas. “You’ll regret not asking to ride along.”

Was I complaining about being carried earlier? How crazy! I’m working hard for the party, I deserve to be carried! That’s a priest’s role, after all. Milo nodded to himself, grabbing onto Daiyo’s head.

“I don’t trust a monster to carry me. What if he decides to crush you?” Silas asked.

“What could I do to stop him, even if I wasn’t riding on his shoulder?” Milo reasoned with a casual shrug.

“Good man,” Daiyo said, nodding at Milo.

“Are we ready? Let’s go!” Aster announced, taking off at a sprint.

“Oh, getting a head start, are we?” Daiyo asked. He leaped from one wall to the next, hurrying after Aster.

Silas immediately fell behind. A white snake darted past him as Stella chased after the two, laughing aloud. He jogged along, frowning. “They can’t do this all the way to the front of the dungeon… can they?”

On Daiyo’s shoulder, Milo turned around and chuckled at Silas. He shook his head. This fool!