“Quickly,” Lefty said as he knelt next to her. Touching her arm, she heard him mutter not one, but two spells. “There, that’s a fly spell to get us to the final level.”

They both flew then, floating up from the second level and onto the ledge of the third. There wasn’t much here but for a handful of petrified trolls and a half dozen of the stone pillars that reached up to the cavern ceiling. Trolls were everywhere. A squad of them was running up the nearest stairway from the second level. Another squad was formed around near the ledge of their level. While dozens more were jogging down the rope bridge from where she and Lefty had entered.

As they landed, Calista looked around to see where they could go. There wasn’t much. The nearest pillar had a trio of trolls next to it, all three of whom had already spotted them and were drawing their weapons. The largest one roared a challenge. Beyond that, she spotted another squad of trolls who had taken cover next to a handful of their petrified brethren. Above, she could see the shadowy form of Severin repositioning himself as he readied another spell.

“This is going to get real ugly real quick if we don’t do something,” she said.

“Agreed,” Lefty replied. “But where, exactly, do we go now?”

Their best option, at least temporarily, was to fly up into the air and confront their foe. However, there were no guarantees they could defeat him before Lefty’s fly spell wore off and even if Lefty were to recast it mid-air, how long could they survive out in the open against an epic-level spell caster? She didn’t want to find that out the hard way. There had to be a better way to confront this battle. She just had to figure out what it was.

Then something caught her eye. A dark square thing that sat straight ahead of them. Is that a building? She grabbed Lefty and pointed. “If we can make it over there, at least we might find some cover.”

“Say no more.” Lefty twirled his staff as he recited another spell and in the next instant, a mist burst forth from his staff. The fog cloud quickly spread throughout the third level, covering everything in a mist so thick that Lefty was no more than a grey shadow standing next to her.

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She readied her Emberblade in her right hand as she took her partner’s hand in her left. They were not a dozen paces in when a knight in red armor wandered into them and she stabbed the warrior between the eyes. Screaming, he fell away, his face a mask of blood. When two more knights appeared, Lefty fried them with electricity, leaving them no more than burned carcasses on the stone floor.

“How much farther, do you think?” Lefty asked.

She answered, “I’m not sure, but if we don’t see it soon, I can stop and use my dungeon sense.”

“Will that work in the fog?”

“I’m not sure.”

They shouldn’t have worried. A few steps later, the fog cloud fell away as though the mist were being pulled from the very air. In seconds, the air was clear again, giving them a clear view of just where they were.

Calista felt her stomach sink. “Oh no.”

They were surrounded by trolls. Big hairy, grinning faces with huge noses and matted hair, the monstrous men stood so close to them that Calista could smell their stinking breath. And every single one of them was armed to the teeth.

“Clever trick.”

The voice was her ex’s. Floating down from the air above them was the billowing black cloak of Severin, his arms outstretched as his face twisted into a mocking grin.

“Such a low-level spell, I almost didn’t recognize it at first. I could have dispelled it a minute ago, but I was having so much fun watching the two of you run right into my men that I thought I’d let it play out.”

Calista felt something inside her getting hot. It was like a coal was burning inside her chest. “You always were dramatic Blake.”

“And you were always so boring,” Severin cackled. “Can you blame me for breaking up with you? I mean, you’re just so clingy. You really should have taken the hint when I told you I was moving away …”

“Hey,” Lefty raised a finger, “just a point of correction as an impartial observer. I’m pretty sure she was the one to break up with you.”

Severin’s mouth hung open for a moment as if he were about to reply, then he stopped, glared, and finally said. “I’ll give you that one on a technicality.”

Lefty made an apologetic gesture, “I’m not scorekeeping, I’m just saying man.”

“Noted,” Severin replied. “Just for that, I’ll kill you last.”

“Comforting,” Lefty deadpanned.

The black robed wizard then raised his hands in the air and shouted, “Vocaris Cakus!”

Calista whispered to Lefty, “What’s that? What’s he doing?”

“Aw man,” Lefty let out a tired sigh. “He’s summoning a fire giant.”