“The dungeon ate a child!” a villager cried in the clearing.

“No!” Carlie screamed.

“No!” Claire screamed simultaneously in the dungeon.

“Oh no,” Rick said, dropping his head into his hands.

“Oh yes,” the master said with grim satisfaction.

Back up in the clearing, Agnetha looked straight at Carlie in response to her cry. Before Claire could continue yelling at the master, she felt Agnetha’s gaze on her. It almost felt like Agnetha was looking straight at her core through the eyes of Carlie. Then Widow Harry grabbed on to Agnetha while yelling at her.

<>

“Stop yelling at me you biddy, people are watching!” Agnetha’s fierce reply ended in a low mutter. To Lily’s surprise, it worked. Widow Hari took three gulping breaths as she shook her clasped hands in the sky in a desperate plea. And then the widow rounded on Lily.

“Speak, and speak now,” she said, ignoring the curious villagers bunching up around them. To this Agnetha held up a hand, stopping Lily before she could respond.

Then, Agnetha took a step back, slowly rotating so she could look at each of the surrounding villagers in turn.

“We have a problem,” she spoke aloud. “A child is missing. It may or may not be the dungeon we gathered to discuss here this evening.” At this statement, a murmur rolled through the assembled group, to which Agnetha raised her hands gesturing for quiet.

“We will find the truth and we will find Little Harry,” she continued. “For now, we need our most able-bodied people, our village representatives, and you, young-master Layne.”

Layne flinched a bit as her gaze rested on him for a moment. Aren’t you supposed to be the one who leads here? a part of him questioned himself. You are the young master after all. Layne quickly shook off that thought. Something told him that it would be better to follow the lead of the village herbalist.

Leadership, he realised. He has felt this influence before. He’s even managed to gain a bit of it himself as the son of the plantation baron. But whatever level of leadership he had, his was no match for that of the herbalist. Even the Leadership of the Baron did not live up to what he felt from Agnetha. It would be wise to follow her lead. Who was she? he wondered and then pushed the question aside. That was not a question for tonight.

At Agnetha’s words, much of the villagers crowding around the three women fell back. Most just moved a few steps away to give them space, while a few others looked at the deepening night sky and plodded out of the clearing back to their homes.

A new circle formed around Agnetha, Widow Hari, and Lily, composed of the people she had called on. Plus Cornelia who never passed up an opportunity for novel knowledge, and Carlie, who also sidled up to the group. The people either didn’t notice a child joining their ranks or were too focused on Agnetha to make her leave.

“Now, Lily,” Agnetha said. “Tell us what you know.”

<>

Lily was scared. It was not that everyone was looking at her, including young master Layne. It was what she had to relate. She had to tell what Bastian had threatened on the road. And even that would’ve been in order if only it wouldn’t have led to the question of why. It was the why that was the problem. She would have to admit that she was a thief. To the whole village and to young master Layne. He would know as well.

Would he throw her out of the village? They all lived on his family’s land and she had stolen from them too. Worse, would he hand her over to the island justices? Would she be sent to jail?

Lily considered whether she could run away. She was fast. Likely even faster now because of her class. But she would lose everything. She would never be able to come back again. She would never see her father again. Lose Agnetha and Widow Hari, her guides and friends through the complexities of class. And what would happen to Little Harry?

It was the thought of Little Harry that finally moved her to action. That strange, strange little child. Yes, she was afraid, but she had to find and save him.

So she spoke and told everyone present what had happened, and what she had done.

<>

The clearing was silent in the light of the moon, as Lily finished her tale.

“Lily,” her father said aghast, “you stole?”

“Yes,” Layne said. “Now I recall you. From the beach, but I have also seen you around our manor, haven’t I?”

“Yes,” Lily answered Layne with downcast eyes, avoiding looking at her father. “I sometimes help out up at the manor.”

Something touched Lily’s arm. It was Carlie, standing next to her, patting her arm with a small hand and looking up at her with sympathy.

“Yes, she is a thief and what of it,” Widow Hari huffed. “How does that matter when my child has been taken?”

“How indeed,” Agnetha spoke. Then she frowned and glared at Carlie.

“Young lady, this is no place for children. You should get yourself home.”

“Yes, Agnetha,” Claire sighed through Carlie, and trudged away. She headed in the direction of the manor, hoping they would simply assume that’s where she came from. As she retreated, she had one of her scouts zip closer and hover above the proceedings.

“I feel the need to point out,” Mistress Cornelia jumped in, “that the possibility of the dungeon claiming the child remains. In spite of my hopes for this apparently anomalous core, we all know that there have been plenty of destructive cores. It would not even have to be anomalous. Even a normal core would follow its nature to consume a child that enters its domain unattended. And, as Lily testified, Bastian did say he would only start kidnapping children tomorrow.”

“This is true,” Agnetha stated. “Which is why we need to approach this problem from both angles.”

“Dane,” she continued. “As our best and senior hunter, you will take the men. Find this band of criminals. If they have Little Harry, either rescue him if you can or come back to fetch us.”

“Young master Layne,” she said, turning to him. “You will lead myself and Lily into the dungeon. Young Lily here recently acquired a class as a rogue.” Ignoring Dean’s gasp at that information, Agnetha continued. “I, myself, also command some skills that are useful in a dungeon.”

“Widow Hari, you will stay here with Mistress Cornelia and pray.”

<>

As Agnetha finished handing out assignments in the clearing above, Claire focused on her two elementals. She was surprised that she thought of the master that way, him being as annoying and unlikeable as he was. But he was connected to Rick, and at least vaguely willing to help, so Claire considered him part of her team. For now.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Okay,” she said. “We’ve got some work to do and we need to do it fast. I’ve already recalled Carlie and she’s running to beat the delving team to us.”

“I don’t see what work there could be,” the master said. “The delving team is coming down to destroy you because they think you killed a child. There’s not much you can do about that.”

“Oh, don’t count us out yet,” Rick said. “We’ve survived much more immediate threats before, with Claire’s quick wit.”

“Indeed,” Claire added. “And besides, this delving team is not going to get to me tonight. But we do need to decide on how to approach them.”

“Delusional core,” the master sighed. “They are not going to wait for the bright light of morning. See there – already they approach your entrance.”

“Ah, but which entrance do they approach? You may not have noticed, master, but my original core chamber is only connected to the entrance on this side by the thinnest of conduits. And speaking of, I think the three of us had better start the journey back to that side. To get to us, they will have to return overland to the beach entrance, which buys us a few hours if this doesn’t go well.”

“The only problem,” Rick joined in as the three of them began floating back to Claire’s original chamber, “is that you will be shut down if they are anywhere within your dungeon bounds. They might leave someone on this end for that very purpose.”

“Not a problem,” Claire rebutted. “If that happens, I can simply collapse my connection to the old dungeon network and work on defences immediately. I’m doing well on life-force, so we have enough to make a plan and to survive. Again.”

“Fine, so we’re likely safe for the next few hours. What work is there to be done?” the master asked.

“I need to set up the chamber where I plan to meet the delving team,” Claire replied.

There was a little puff of light as the master literally exploded. Well, the flames surrounding his frame at least.

<>

Layne took a deep breath as he prepared himself to enter the dungeon. He was taking a monstrous risk, going into an unknown, possibly anomalous dungeon, accompanied by two people he knew next to nothing about. One of which was old enough to be his grandmother, claiming to have some skill in delving. The other was a girl young enough to be his little sister and only recently classed as a rogue.

“Right then, let’s share what we know about this dungeon,” Agnetha said. “Lily, you start.”

“I don’t know that much, except what I read on my reward message when I accepted it within this dungeon’s territory.”

“Oooh, what did the message say?” Mistress Cornelia interrupted, as she stood there at the ready with a notebook.

“You know you shouldn’t follow us into the dungeon, right? Even though there are things to learn?” Agnetha reminded the scholar.

“Yes, yes, of course,” Mistress Cornelia waved the concern away, totally focused on Lily.

Lily scrunched her eyebrows as she recalled that message. “It calls this dungeon a hybrid dungeon, and says that Mind is one of its characteristics.”

“A hybrid dungeon,” Agnetha said thoughtfully. “I’ve never heard of such before.”

“Me neither,” Mistress Cornelia said in wonder. “My guess is that it means that it has access to more than one aspect, of which Mind is one.”

“Mind is dangerous,” Layne added. “It could mislead us, and we would not even realise it. Not to mention that it has other unknown aspects. We have no idea what we may be walking into.”

“Don’t worry too much about the mind aspect,” Agnetha said. “I have a very high mental resistance. Certainly high enough to overcome whatever a new dungeon might have access to. I’ll let you know if there is an undue influence.”

“So, my turn now,” she continued. “I knew this was a mental dungeon, but didn’t know about the hybridity aspect. I suspect that this is the same new dungeon that recently opened an entrance close to the beach. Also, I have a hunch about something else, but would prefer not to share until I am able to confirm. Now, you, young master Layne.”

“Just call me Layne,” he said. “If we’re going in as a team, we’re all adventurers together. Unfortunately, I have nothing to contribute.”

“Are you sure?” Agnetha pushed. “Any impressions from the dungeon on the beach? Anything at all.”

Mistress Cornelia stepped closer to him, with her pen poised.

“I, uhh,” Layne hesitated. He definitely had some impressions to share, but didn’t want to sound ridiculous. On the other hand, he didn’t know what could turn out to be important, and what not.

“To me the dungeon on the beach felt … ah … like it was nice,” he finally continued. “The core was a real pretty pink. Oh, and it had some thorny rose branches floating around it, so I guess those might be dangerous. Although, there weren’t that many.”

“Life,” Mistress Cornelia interjected. “Those branches are a defence that has previously been observed in life-aspect dungeons.”

“And already we know more again,” Agnetha said. “You saw the core but didn’t think to take it?”

“It seemed kind of sweet,” Layne said. “I didn’t want to harm it. Although, now that I know that it has a mind aspect, my perception may have been influenced.”

“Good to know. Is everybody ready? Then let’s go.”

<>

Cautiously, the three entered the dungeon. It was determined that Layne would be in front as their fighter, followed by Agnetha and Lily as his support. As Agnetha was the least mobile of the three, they kept her in the middle with Lily at the back. Lily’s job was to keep an eye on their rear, in case of ambush from behind.

As they entered, they were surprised by a soft glow from the cavern. It was glowstones, strategically placed throughout and down the immediate connecting passageway.

“Well, well,” Agnetha murmured. “Lily it looks like that glowstone you lost has been put to use. Please remember to retrieve me one on the way out.”

Layne fought his emotions as they continued down the lit corridor. The dungeon felt friendly, but now that he knew about its mind aspect he had to keep his mental defences, such as he had, up.

The tunnel connected to another cavern, even better lit than the entrance.

And then Carlie stepped into the light before them.

“Welcome to Claire’s dungeon,” she announced.

<>

“So, I was correct,” Agnetha said. “I thought there was something off about you, little girl, and here we are. Are you construct or core?”

Lily’s heart missed a beat. A dungeon creature had been playing with the children in the clearing? And listening to Mistress Cornelia’s speech? And patted her on the arm?

“You,” Layne said to the little girl. “You brought me to the clearing.”

“To answer both your questions,” Carlie said, “I'm a construct, not the core herself. You may call me Carlie. And yes, Layne, I brought you to the clearing.”

“The dungeon is talking,” Layne said, flabbergasted.

“No,” Claire corrected through Carlie. She didn’t want them to know that Carlie was her. How would they take her seriously, looking like a child? So she answered through Carlie, pretending that they were two different entities.

“I am the one talking to you. Although, I am connected to the dungeon and can, therefore, communicate for her.”

“Where is Little Harry?” Lily accused. “What did the dungeon do with him?”

“The dungeon did nothing to him and she doesn’t know where he is. She is, however, monitoring her territory for any sign of him.”

It was another little white lie, as Claire also had her constructs out searching the island for Little Harry. However, she deemed that it was in her best interest that they did not know how far her surveillance capabilities actually stretched.

“How can we be sure that the dungeon is telling the truth?” Layne asked suspiciously.

“Agnetha,” Carlie said, “please confirm our truthfulness.”

“As far as I can tell the construct is being mostly truthful. I do register some low-level deceit, but I do not think she is lying about Little Harry,” Agnetha stated. “Also, the dungeon is not currently exerting influence on us.”

“See,” Carlie said with her arms spread open. “We may not be telling you everything right now, but we will never hurt a child. Little Harry is not here. You need to focus your efforts elsewhere.”

“Is the dungeon listening?” Agnetha asked.

“Yes,” Carlie replied.

Looking up towards the roof of the cavern, Agnetha addressed Claire.

“For now we shall believe you, only because if Little Harry is not here, the utmost haste is needed to find him. If we discover that you lied, you will not live.”

Carlie nodded, “The dungeon heeds your words, Agnetha, and says that she will help in any way she can. Also, she requests that you collect your scholar on the way out. The lady appears to have gotten lost in our tunnels, but we’re not sure whether she’s noticed that fact yet. I shall lead you to her.”

“Additionally,” Carlie continued, “the dungeon gifts you two glowstones, Lily, so you don’t have to steal them. That’s one for you, and one to replace Agnetha’s glowstone you lost in our section by the beach. Now come, we have much to do to find Little Harry before night’s end.”

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