As we made our way towards the ruins, I reached for Teagra’s arm. She jerked free of my grasp and spun around.

“Whoa! Whoa!” I said. “You never said anything about a dungeon!”

“You wanted to go where I last saw the Son of Jay,” Teagra said, gesturing to the ruins around us. “This is it.”

“Aren’t there prisoners in the dungeon?” I said, confused.

At this, Teagra scoffed.

“Look around, Karl of Connan. This place has sat abandoned since the days of the Cursed King,” she said.

She was right. The light from her torch revealed broken stone spires and rubble all around us. I followed her to a series of stairs leading to darkness deep beneath the earth.

“There are worse things than criminals and pirates below,” Teagra said.

“Like what?” I asked.

“I have heard tales of ghosts in this place,” Teagra said. “And strange beasts.”

“And we’re going down there…into the dark…” I said.

“Just stay behind me,” Teagra said. “You will be fine.”

I concentrated on Teagra’s torch as she entered into the shadows, drawing her sword from the scabbard which hung at her hip. Together, we descended into the shadows.

The dungeon resembled a Spirit of Halloween pop-up on acid. Rusted iron bars shrouded in cobwebs and dust cascaded down on all sides of the steps. The stifling hot air combined with the dust well hell on my allergies, but I managed not to sneeze. Another heavier smell launched into my nostrils, and I struggled not to vomit.

Decay.

I saw the source a minute later. Several skeletons lined the inside of the cages. Some hung from the walls, chained by rusted iron and layers of cobwebs. Others reached with outstretched hands towards the freedom on the other side of their cage which eluded them, even in death. I stepped over one reaching hand and told myself it was just a Halloween decoration. The smell of death which hung over the skeleton told me it wasn’t, especially with the rotted bits of broken flesh still clinging to the skeletal hand’s tendons.

We reached the bottom of the steps, turning a corner to reveal several more rooms of cages. Beyond that, I saw several rows of bottles as well as a rack filled with rusted weapons. Clearly the guards had left much more than the prisoners behind. I started to reach for one of the bottles, only for Teagra to bat away my hand.

“Don’t touch anything,” she said in a harsh whisper. Having seen Raiders of the Lost Ark one too many times, I nodded and kept moving.

We continued down through the corridor of the dungeons. In the cell to my right, I spot a centaur’s skeleton. I found myself admiring the strange hybrid nature of the bones before me. The centaur had been standing when he expired, with half of his bones curved and strong and the upper half brittle and small.

In the distance, I heard a sharp scuffling sound, like something had been dragged across the hard stone floor. The sound which succeeded the first noise was a strange growl which echoed through the halls of the dungeon. Teagra flashed her emerald eyes towards me.

“That,” I said. “Was not my stomach.”

“We are not alone,” Teagra said as she assumed a crouch, waiting for whatever lay before us.

I suddenly felt naked and exposed without a weapon. I cursed myself not grabbing any of the weapons I had seen hanging in the rack, despite Teagra’s warnings. Then again, every sword I had seen had been completely rusted and covered in dust. I doubted any would do much good in a fight, not that I really knew how to wield one at all.

I heard voices in the distance. Familiar ones - raspy and angry. Recognition surged through Teagra’s eyes.

“The raiders!” she said. “The Son of Jay believed they may be using this place as shelter.”

I turned to her, dumbfounded. “And you were going to mention this…when?”

Teagra gave a shrug I found very reminiscent of Teagan…if she caught her in the act, slacking on deadlines, she had a devil-make-care attitude I found simultaneously infuriating and hot as hell at the same time.

Now it was probably going to get me killed.

“This is why you don’t get chopping people’s fingers off!” I said.

“I was saving your life,” she remarked. “Something I have come to regret as of late!”

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While I searched for a comeback, I kept an ear out for sounds of the raiders’ voices getting closer to us. Strangely enough, I didn’t hear them. In fact, I didn’t hear anything.

“Quiet!” I snapped.

“Don’t tell me to be quiet! You have been nothing but-” Teagra said. Instinctively, I put my hand over her mouth. She began to wrestle my hand away without much effort - apparently she was a lot more stronger than I thought - but my point became clear.

“Listen…” I said.

“i don’t hear anything,” Teagra turned to me.

“Exactly,” I said.

The raiders had been eagerly chatting around the corner just a few moments ago. Now I heard nothing.

I considered what I had heard. The raiders were talking so quickly I hadn’t picked it up before. There was something in their rapid speech.

Fear.

Panic.

Teagra nodded at me. Together we inched around the corner, creeping through the shadows. When we turned the corner, we caught sight of the raiders, or at least, what was left of them.

The raider who I had last seen losing a finger to Teagra’s blade was now missing an eye and half of his nose. His throat had been carved off, now covered in a pool of blood.

My eyes followed the trail of blood to the source of the raiders’ demise. My head struggled to make sense of the beast before. With the dragon I had seen earlier, I at least knew what sort of creature I was looking at it.

It had roughly the body of a pitbull, compact and lean, even if it stood as large as a full-grown bull. The creature’s head was where my mind struggled to piece together its alien features. Its scaly head resembled that of an alligator, with rows of sharp teeth packed into a shorter snout. It swung its gaze towards the two of us, beholding us with a pair of blood-red eyes. I soon realized it didn’t move like an alligator, galloping towards us at frightening speed.

Teagra bolted in front of me, her sword in hand. She lunged towards the creature, piercing the mantle of its chest with her sword. Blue blood dripped onto her sword as she pulled out her blade. The creature bellowed in pain, only for Teagra to issue an equally ferocious cry as she raced towards the creature, swinging her sword towards its neck. She dodged one swipe from the creature before connecting her sword with its neck.

I stood, momentarily frozen as she hacked away until the creature’s head separated from its body a gruesome mess of bloody strips of flesh.

I had seen Teagra fight off the same ill-fated bandits who now littered the floor. But I hadn’t really seen her in action until now and she was amazing.

Her triumph was short-lived, however, as another creature bolted from the shadows. I barely managed to cry out before a second creature rounded the corner behind Teagra. By the time my mind realized what was happened, the creature had taken hold of Teagra’s ankle with its mouth, pulling her back. With one sweeping jerk of its head, the creature sent Teagra spiraling across the floor like a ragdoll.

Dazed and injured, she looked up at me and yelled, “Run!”

For my part, I stood in my spot, rotted to the ground, unsure what to do. My mind was still locked in paralysis as the creature moved towards Teagra, its rows of teeth salivating their next meal.

Whatever my feelings, I’m not going to let Teagan Mills get eaten by a walking wallet on steroids.

My paralysis shattered by newfound clarity, I picked up a chunk of rubble and tossed it at the creature. It landed, bouncing off the creature’s head.

The good news was I got its attention.

The bad news was I got its attention.

It turned to me, its face somewhere between a crocodile and a jackal, but possessing the malicious smile of both now dialed up to eleven. The paralyzing fear returned as the creature raced towards me instead. I fell back just as it stood over me. I could smell its hot breath on my neck, and see the bits of flesh still crusted between its teeth.

I tried to hold the creature back with my arm, but I knew I was in a losing battle. My eyes scanned the dungeons for signs of weapons, but found none. I saw Teagra looking at me fearfully, trying to recover from own attack. I didn’t need to do too much mental calculus to realize it’s been jackal-gator food by the time she reached me.

My hands reached into my pocket, trying to grab anything that could be used as a weapon. In desperation, I thought about grabbing my phone but I doubted it could do much to save me anyway. At best it could distract the creature for a few more seconds before it finally chowed down on me. My hands brushed against something else residing in my pocket next to my phone.

Berries.

The one Teagra told me not to eat. I put them in my pocket absentmindedly.

I grabbed the berries, clinching them in my fist. With one cry I rammed my fist into the creature’s mouth, shoving the berries down the creature’s hideous throat. The creature backed away, coughing for a moment. When it turned back, its eyes had this glassy quality as it shuffled sideways.

It walked by Teagra and me, moving fast and then slow at intermittent levels.

It finally staggered onto its back, its four feet pointing upwards, pawing at the sky as if it was on an invisible and upside-down treadmill.

What had Teagra told me about those berries?

Hallucinations.

“I hope it’s a good trip, buddy,” I said.

When I turned, I saw Teagra walking towards me. She had a slight limp from the creature’s attack. Her eyes were wide with surprise and something else I couldn’t put my finger on.

“You saved my life,” she said.

“I–” I didn’t know how to respond.

“We have to keep moving. We need to find what the Son of Jay left behind,” Teagra said, quickly changing topics.

“Okay-” I started.

“These dungeons are filled with traps. I’m going to clear them,” she said. She gave me a warning gaze, far closer to the Teagra I was more familiar with. “Don’t touch anything.”

She limped off into the shadows, leaving me baffled by the conversation.

Baffled and a little bit bored.

She told me not to touch anything.

Needless to say, I didn’t listen.