“I’m telling you, I got a reading!”

The words echoed off the shattered stone and metal, as if ghosts taunted those foolish enough to delve into the ruins where they lay.

"And I'm telling you, Kaphle, that this whole building is going to fall in on our heads if we take one wrong step." Val’s voice, though deeper than his comrade, was far less self-assured. "Do you even know how to calibrate that thing?"

"Do I-? Yes! Obviously!" Probably. "It was a strong reading. Maybe an enchante-"

"Quiet. Both of you!"

Near silence reigned as the young scavengers followed the orders of their more experienced mentor. There was a soft clatter, as loose stones dislodged by their entrance cascaded through cracks in the shattered floor. Then, in the silence, there was the slightest tic-tic as the meter came to life once more.

"I told you! I told you!" Kaphle insisted while wagging his finger at Val.

"And I'm still telling you to keep your voice down." The third man, Baylan, cut in angrily. "Unless you want someone else to come see what we're up to."

"Sorry." A few heartbeats passed as Kaphle studied the meter. "Whatever it is, it’s in the basement. I’m getting a stable reading from it, even at range. It has to be something valuable."

Val gestured to the rubble of a nearby staircase. "There’s a way down here. But it is going to be a tight fit. Do you have the light?"

The sound of rummaging and fumbling filled the air. The clatter of something dropped, a minor bit of swearing. Then, after some bickering between Val and Kaphle over who would lead the way, light trickled into the basement. A glowing orb tied haphazardly to the end of a stick led the way, flooding the dark space in a sickly orange light.

"Watch your step at the bottom.” Kaphle warned, having lost the argument. “There is..."

"What?" Baylan asked.

"I-" Kaphle started, clearly disturbed. "I think that is a body."

Val swore under his breath. "And that is our cue to get out of here."

"No. No!" Kaphle said, the second denial far more convincing than the first. "They're old, maybe from the uprising? Covered up, too. Piled rocks. Like a… like a-"

“A cairn?” Baylan asked.

“Yeah. That.”

Val focused on a more concerning detail "They?"

“Four of them.” Kaphle said. “All along one wall.”

A short scuffle followed as Val made physical his desire to ‘get out of here’. But soon enough he squeezed through the narrow passage behind Kaphle, his cheek only slightly worse for the wear from the back of Baylan’s hand.

Tic-tic-tic-tic.

"It’s on the other side of the chamber. That room back there." Kaphle said, directing Baylan’s attention to a doorway shrouded in darkness on the far side of the basement.

The three made their way carefully through the wreckage of what had once been a dirt floored cellar. They tested every step before they committed, eager to avoid tripping over debris from the partially collapsed ceiling.

Their first sign something was wrong was when Kaphle realized that the area up ahead looked a little cleaner than the rest of the ruin. As though someone had recently passed through.

The second was when a fist sized rock broke his nose.

"Mother of-" The man swore, clutching at his bloodied face with both hands. He caught a blur of motion through tear filled eyes, but lost sight of whatever it was as the glow orb he'd dropped shattered on impact with the ground. "Did you see it?"

"See what?" Val asked. An instant later the question answered itself as a feral shadow slammed into him with its entire body weight.

The two struggled on the ground, a mass of flailing limbs silhouetted by what little light came in from the opening above. It was impossible to make out the whole of their attacker, but individual features revealed themselves in the melee. Pale hair, filthy skin, vicious eyes.

What was readily apparent, however, was that Val was losing. Badly. Wet, meaty thuds filled the air as the thing on top of him struck and struck and struck again. Val’s blood mixed with Kaphle’s as castoff from the creature’s hands spattered over the latter’s face. Panic overcame Kaphle, freezing his feet beneath him, but it barely mattered as the fight, such as it was, ended with a sickening crack of bone long before he could have come to the aid of his companion.

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The keening sound of unsheathed metal finally broke him from his stupor as Baylan did what Kaphle could not. The metal sheen of the knife was dull with soot, almost invisible in Baylan’s hand as he thrust and swiped into the darkness, driving the creature back. A thief’s dagger, Kaphle had never seen his mentor draw the weapon in anger. They’d never needed to. One of Baylan’s first lessons had been that if they were fighting, they had made a costly mistake.

“Light!” Baylan screamed, though Kaphle was far ahead of him. A year ago, before he’d come under Baylan’s tutelage, he would have rushed into the darkness to play the hero, but he knew better now. Whatever this thing was, its eyes had adjusted to the dark. Theirs had not. Kaphle was more likely to catch Baylan’s knife in the ribs by accident than to meaningfully contribute to a fight he couldn’t see.

Unfortunately, fulfilling the request was easier said than done. Lighting a torch was out of the question, the fight would be over and done with by the time he’d unpacked the necessary gear. Activating another glow orb was the obvious solution, had Baylan not insisted on carrying their spares, for fear that his apprentices would break the expensive devices.

There was really only one way to shine a light on their situation.

Assuming it didn’t crush them to death.

Focusing on an already sunken area of the low ceiling, Kaphle reached up and dug his fingers into gaps in the stonework. The first two he tried held firm, even with a substantial part of his limited bodyweight devoted to yanking on them. The third gave quite easily however, snapping off in his hand with only a minimal tug. Sunlight shone down through the opening and Kaphle reached up to expand it, pulling at loose stones unti-

Crack!

A full quarter of the ceiling came away all at once, collapsing over the east side of the room and burying poor Val. If he hadn’t been dead already, he certainly was now as a thousand pounds of stone gave him an impromptu burial to match the cairns that had stood as warning.

Despite that loss, it was also a success.

Somewhat.

Swirling dust, glowing in the cool afternoon sun had replaced the darkness with its own obscuring effect. Kaphle could make out the twisting silhouettes of both combatants as they clashed, parted and clashed again. The beast was incredibly fast, evading each swipe and stab of Baylan’s weapon, only to strike at his extended arm or throw an impromptu projectile from among the loose stones that now littered the battlefield.

As Kaphle drew closer, the figures solidified. There was Baylan, his fiery red beard and matching cloak salted white with the sheer amount of dust that clung to them. And the creature…

It was a boy, perhaps twelve or thirteen, though it was hard to tell his age given that his growth had been so clearly stunted by famine. His hair was white and wild down to his shoulders, his skin so covered in grime and debris that it was hard to tell its original color. His violet eyes were narrowed in concentration. And fear. A long gash ran along the length of his left forearm where the knife had caught him, and the child was snarling as he circled, looking for an opening but unwilling to commit to an attack.

“You brat.” Baylan growled right back. He was wounded as well. One of the thrown rocks had clipped his scalp, judging by the mask of blood that covered the right side of his face. More concerning was the way he favored that same leg, as though he were unwilling or unable to put his full weight upon it. “Kaphle, flank him, but keep your distance. Only move in if he gives you an opening.”

Kaphle moved on instinct to obey his mentor, but something was odd. The child had heard the words, but there had been no recognition in those eyes of the sort of danger he was in.

On a hunch, Kaphle spoke, slowly and deliberately.

Bright violet eyes jerked in Kaphle’s direction, the boy’s full attention on him. Kaphle’s blood-stained hands were up in a sign of peace and reconciliation as he continued speaking, poorly, in the Ashadi language.

It was that last word that had the most effect. Narrowed eyes softened and balled fists unclenched as the light-haired youth studied the man before him. The child’s lips were bone dry, but after a pause they parted to utter a single word, as much a statement as a question.

A lunging hook from Baylan put a lie to whatever else his apprentice might have said. The sucker punch sent the child sprawling, while a series of brutal kicks to the midsection drove out what little fight remained.

“Why did you-” Kaphle began to berate Baylan, before a sharp glance made him think better of his tone. “He was surrendering.”

“He killed Val!” Baylan snapped. “I plan to do considerably worse.”

“Boss, look at him.” Kaphle replied. “He’s filthy, starving, clearly alone. Kid is halfway to a monster and we just wandered into his territory.”

“All the more reason to put the little bastard down.” Baylan paced as he spoke, his angry gaze locked squarely on his downed opponent, watching for any signs of movement.

Kaphle frowned. Appealing to Baylan’s morality had never been a strong move. “Maybe he can help us find what we’re looking for?”

“Some leftover war surplus is not going to turn this into any less of a debacle.” Baylan said. He hadn’t much liked the would be scavenger, but Val had been a considerable investment in time and effort. “Besides, you already have that meter of yours.”

“It isn’t that precise.” Kaphle shot back, though at the mention of the meter his hand went to his hip. Finding something of value was probably the best move to mollify his infuriated employer. Kaphle braced the heavy device with one hand and manipulated a series of knobs and switches on the front with his spare. For a moment there was nothing.

Then it let out a hideous metallic squeal.

“Turn it off!” Baylan shouted, plugging one ear with a finger until the noise stopped. “Did he break that too?”

“No. The sensitivity settings just got knocked off. Give me a second.” Kaphle waved off the suggestion, only to frown. The settings hadn’t been wrong. It was perfectly calibrated. “But how…”

“Kaphle?” Baylan asked.

The young man ignored him as he lowered the sensitivity and tried again, sweeping the delicate sensor across the room.

Tic-Tic-Tic. It whispered as he swept it towards the entry.

Tic-Tic. It uttered as he gestured toward the far end of the room that had earlier triggered it, still shrouded in darkness.

TicTicTicTicTicTicTicTicTicTic. The meter all but screamed as Kaphle waved it over the body of the unconscious child.

“Want to keep him now?” Kaphle asked.