The tang of iron hung in the air of the next room.

A body lay slumped against one wall. The stone doors across the way hung open, stairs leading down waiting beyond.

“The stairs, finally,” Alyx said with a relieved sigh.

Cass froze in the doorway. The body was still breathing shallowly. It was a woman. Her armor was rent and twisted, plates missing from the abdomen and from her limbs.

“First floor complete!” Alyx said.

Long gashes ran from the woman’s shoulder to her pelvis. A lot of blood pooled around her body. More blood than a human body should be able to contain.

“We made good time,” Marco said.

Her spear lay broken at her side. A shattered shield lay in splinters around her.

Was this the work of gophers? No, they weren’t tall enough to have made a strike across her body like that. Her thighs would be worse off if they had.

“Should we rest here, or do you want to push on?” Marco asked.

Maybe that Wolf Marco had mentioned at the entrance?

Or was this the work of one of the other groups? Her own group?

Betrayal or ambush?

Who was she? Her armor wasn’t the crimson of Fioreya’s group, and she wasn’t the mage from Kohen’s.

Then one of the many spearmen from Mirzen’s? Probably.

“We should push on,” Alyx said. “The next group is probably not far behind us.”

Why had they left her here?

Left her for dead.

Just like she was about to.

What could she do? Escort her out? The woman was a stranger. They had other things they were occupied with. Alyx had a time limit.

Would she even survive being moved?

“Cass?” Alyx said.

Cass jerked back to attention. Alyx and Marco stood on the landing of the stairs. It was time to go.

“What about…” Cass’s words died in her throat as the last breath died in the spearwoman’s.

“What?” Alyx asked. She hadn’t so much as glanced at the woman. Perhaps she’d taken one look at her when they’d entered and assumed she was already dead. Cass might have made that mistake if she hadn’t felt her shallow breathing.

There was nothing they could do for her now.

“Nothing,” Cass said, hurrying to catch up. People died, and she needed to get used to that. Apparently.

They crept down the stairs. The stairs curled down and to the right. Like the hallways, it was dark, lit only by the purple sconces on the walls. It was quiet, the only sound their footsteps on the stone.

They slowed as they approached the bottom of the stairs. Ahead were the sounds of conflict: the crash of steel and the buzz of energy.

“Damn, they’re still fighting,” Alyx muttered.

“Wasn’t enough bodies up there to expect otherwise,” Marco said.

Alyx grimaced. “Mirzen must have waited for Kohen at the stairs.”

“Underestimated him, it seems. What should we do?”

“We can’t wait here,” Alyx said. “The last thing we want is for the group behind us to catch up, too. A four-way fight is more than I want to deal with this early.”

“A side passage then?” Marco asked.

I wouldn’t advise it this early, Salos said, though only Cass could hear him. The good stuff will be lower still.

“Can’t we sneak past?” Cass asked. She didn’t like the idea of fighting if they could avoid it.

“That’d be great if we can,” Alyx said. “But we aren’t exactly rogues, you know?”

“Salos, could you see if we could slip through?” Cass asked. If the room was wide enough, or had enough shelves to use as cover, perhaps it would be possible.

Fine. He hopped off her shoulder and scampered down the last steps. He was back a minute later. You and I probably could. Your friends, on the other hand? I doubt it. It should be safe enough for you all to check for yourselves.

Cass grimaced and relayed the information to the others. They crept down the last steps and peaked around the corner.

It was a wide room, far bigger than any of the rooms they’d passed so far. And completely lacking cover. Instead, the room was a wide chasm, dotted with floating platforms and connected with bridges of stone. There wasn’t so much as a handrail in sight.

The fight raged over that chasm. Mirzen and Kohen’s teams fought atop the floating platforms, both angling toward the doors on the far side of the chasm.

Mirzen’s spearmen held a handful of bridges, their shields glowing with unnatural light. Mirzen stood behind them, shooting over their shoulders at Kohen and his people. Her arrows trailed green and gold through the air. Kohen and Tiador knocked them from the air with their swords. Where the deflected arrows struck stone, they exploded in lightning or melted the stone with a disturbing hiss.

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Daidyn swung his sword into the wall of shields, the black blade crashing into the glowing wall with an ear wrenching screech. His swings pushed them back a step, but their spears jabbed out for the gaps in his armor all the while. Both sides were plenty bloodied.

Behind Kohen’s swordsmen, his hooded mage stood hunched over an open book. Light gathered around her and her voice slowly grew over the chasm. She was chanting something, though Cass couldn’t say what with her limited knowledge.

“We aren’t sneaking through that,” Alyx said flatly. Cass could only agree. At least there were a pair of side doors on their side of the chasm they could slip into until the fight ended. It might not be fabulous treasure, but it had to be better than joining that—

“But I think we can break through,” Alyx continued.

“What?” Cass asked.

“Mirzen’s team is slow,” Marco said with a nod. “And very good at stalling out another group occupying Kohen. She won’t be able to turn her full force on us and will probably choose to keep her focus on Kohen, who she’s already caught, rather than redirecting for us and risk losing both.”

“Exactly,” Alyx said. She pointed to a string of bridges along the edge of the room. “We stick to the edges and avoid Kohen and Mirzen, and we make it across before either of them stops us.”

“And after?” Cass asked.

“We keep running until we catch wind of Fioreya.”

“And then?”

“Then we hope that Mirzen and Kohen want to deal with her about as much as I do.”

Cass did not like this plan. But turning around was not an option anymore.

Alyx was already walking out onto the first bridge. Cass hurried after her, Marco again bringing up the rear.

Cass looked out over the ledge into the inky darkness. There was no way to tell how far down it went. Not even Atmospheric Sense could give her a guess. Forever and nowhere, it seemed.

What would happen if they fell or a bridge broke beneath them? Would she be able to Wind Step to safety? Probably. Salos could come with her by demanifesting. But Alyx and Marco would be out of luck.

It was fine. They just needed to not fall. Easy enough.

Get off this one! Salos hissed, sprinting forward off Cass’s shoulder.

“Run!” Cass yelled, pushing Alyx forward as the bridge CRACKED under their weight.

It gave way beneath Cass’s feet as she stepped off. She turned, watching Marco leap after them.

He wasn’t going to make it. He reached out for the platform. He was going to miss it by inches. His eyes met Cass’s. A resigned plea swirled within them. Time slowed.

Elemental Manipulation sprung to life. Cass forced the stone floor beneath her out. It was slow. So slow. Why was stone so slow to move?

She pressed harder. The lip needed to be just a little longer. He needed just a little more.

He caught it.

Alyx scurried to the edge, grabbing his wrist before the fingers that had found purchase could slip. Cass grabbed the other hand. Together, they pulled him back up.

He nodded his thanks as he found solid stone beneath his feet.

“Down!” He shouted, raising his shield and pushing past Cass.

An arrow trailing green struck the raised shield. It hissed as a splatter of acid burned into its surface and bit into the floor.

The other combatants had noticed them.

“Keep going!” Marco yelled.

“Cass, you and Salos lead the way,” Alyx ordered, drawing her sword and striking another arrow from the air.

Can you tell which ones are safe? Cass asked Salos as she hurried to the next pair of bridges.

Mostly. I think. He hopped off her shoulder again, taking a step onto each bridge before yelling, This one!

She ran across the bridge he’d chosen, Alyx and Marco close on her heels.

They followed Salos across far faster than was safe to run near bottomless pits.

One of Mirzen’s spearmen broke away from Kohen’s group, sprinting to intercept Salos. Alyx pushed to the front, her sword swinging. It trailed the amber glow of her aura and slammed into the man. He took it on his shield, grimacing under the force.

Another arrow raced for Cass’s head. She dodged to the side. Lightning burst behind them as the arrow struck the floor, but sparked harmlessly out of range.

The archer was a problem. Cass could dodge just fine, and Marco and Alyx could block them well enough. But they had to be skilled or lucky every time; the archer only needed to hit once.

Alyx dueled the spearman ahead. The path was too narrow for either Cass or Marco to meaningfully help without risking getting knocked off. Salos was making a nuisance of himself around the spearman’s ankles.

Marco blocked another arrow.

Across the room, Daidyn staggered one of the spearmen blocking their path. Tiador took the opportunity to burst through and landed a deep stab in the gap in their defenses.

The mage continued chanting.

The Mirzen continued pelting everyone with arrows. Lightning burst in the air. Acid rained down on bridges, weakening them further and burning exposed flesh.

Cass was the only one who could do something about it.

She readied her staff, calling a Wind Blade to the end. She bit her lip. She had a clear shot across the cavern.

There wasn’t time for hesitation. Every second was another arrow.

Cass swung. The Wind Blade ripped across the chasm, unseen by anyone but Cass.

It struck Mirzen. Cut a gash in her armor. Blood oozed down her chest. She looked down, shocked. Then up, her eyes scanning the field for her attacker. To Cass. To the hooded mage. Back to Cass.

She raised her bow, drawing back slowly. It glowed with mana. Gold and fierce and growing.

Cass did not want that attack to go off.

Cass threw another Wind Blade, then another. The first added another laceration across Mirzen’s side. The second broke on the shield of a spearman who’d stepped between just then.

Mirzen charged her shot. The mana gathered was unlike anything Cass had ever seen. What was that going to do?

Could she dodge it? If she did, what would happen to Alyx and Marco?

But she also did not know how to block it. She couldn’t just stand here. Cass glanced across the room. If there were no good options, she’d just need to pick a bad one.

Anything was better than indecision.

She Stormstrided forward and Stepped onto the summoned gust flying over the chasm and reappearing behind Kohen’s mage.

The mage stiffened, but kept chanting, perhaps even faster than she had before.

Kohen turned to defend his mage, but he was too far away to get to them in time to do anything.

Mirzen’s eyes went wide, her body pivoting to Cass and the mage in a fraction of a second, releasing her arrow the moment she had locked on again.

Alyx knocked her opponent aside. Salos jumped for his neck.

Daidyn’s sword found a gap in the shield line, burying itself in a spearman’s shoulder.

Tiador burst forward into the other spearman, his swords glowing with anticipation.

The arrow rocketed toward Cass and the mage.

Kohen’s free hand went up, a wall of crackling electricity springing into existence between Mirzen’s arrow and the mage.

The mage screamed the last word in her chant, her book snapping shut with finality.

The entire room shook.

The platform Mirzen was on collapsed.

The arrow struck Kohen’s wall. Electricity exploded in every direction. But the arrow kept flying.

It struck the floor in front of the mage, cracking the stone beneath their feet.

The mage screamed and grabbed Cass’s arm.

The floor crumbled and the two of them fell into the abyss.