The sight of the goblin dungeon filled Fife with energy and drive. Not that she hadn't been excited to delve already, but today she had a group that would be able to take the fight all the way to the bottom. It only pained her to hear that it might be her second last delve of the thing. But, there would be more dungeons. "I could fight every type of dungeon and monster in my lifetime, and never be more than a few miles from home. I love this place."

Flanking Fife were Astrid, Njal, and Liv. The three wolves towered over Fife, but they all gave her room and deference as if it were her that was the biggest of them. Each wore heavy adamantine armor. Astrid carried a sword, shield, and had a huge axe strapped to her back. Njal carried a pair of normal two-handed axes—one in each hand—as well as a pair of swords at his hips. Liv had a two-handed cleaver with a blade as long as Fife was tall, and the weapon was weighted as if it should be used for cutting through city gates; she also had a backup sword and shield.

Behind them, keeping close, was Brayden, Jack, Katelyn, Kelvin, and Breath of Spring. Bringing up the rear were several bloodied wolves, scorpions, and the final wolf, Trygve. Most of this group had their usual equipment, and Trygve had a big sword and shield with a pair of axes on his back.

Centering himself as he walked toward the dungeon, Brayden looked around at his friends and, at least in his heart, family. Fife was practically his sister and Jack his brother. His circle of friends had grown far more than when he'd been just another adventurer. The huge wolves were new, but he'd seen them fight on the way to the dungeon and they were almost Fife's equal when it came to efficiency of motion, though unlike Fife their focus was on attack. He sent a prayer to Brogdar, asking his god to protect his allies and himself.

"Hey, Brayden, don't forget that Inspire Courage thing. I was fighting with Elanor yesterday and when she used that, all her allies started hitting harder." Fife reached the entrance of the dungeon and looked back. "We all ready?"

Walking around the bigger people, her eyes fixed on Fife's, Breath of Spring walked up and crooked her finger for Fife to lean down to her height. She whispered, "Shared Heart," and kissed Fife.

Brayden stared at the two, his magic-attuned sight letting him see a bond connect them. When Breath, giggling, stepped back to their group, he asked her, "What did that do?"

"It binds her to me. I share her life, and she mine. She can't die until I do." Breath enjoyed the warmth of closeness she felt with Fife, even from a distance. "And, I can heal myself a lot!"

The entrance of the dungeon was wider than last time they'd been here. Fife didn't mind so much. They marched inside and she could sense oppression in the air trying to shove back at her. "The first twenty floors will be easy. Let's try to build our pace to something that can clear them fast. Jack, Katelyn, get ready to burn the air if we need it."

Jack sighed. "I don't burn the—" He stopped when Katelyn's raised eyebrow caught him off balance. "Okay, so frost does burn fungus. It's still not 'burning the air.'"

It wasn't until the tenth floor they encountered a boss. Up until then, Astrid, Njal, and Liv alternated point position and would slice through anything in their way. Walking up to the towering orc and smacking her shield with her sword, Fife bared her adamantine teeth. "That's it, big guy, keep your eyes on me."

"What is she doing?" Liv asked.

"Watch. She is baiting the pest to strike her and lower its guard." Not part of the fight, Astrid spent the time checking over her gear again. The adamantine armor was a better fit than what she'd gotten from her former country. The straps were more strategically placed, better protected, and the young man had shown no fear while measuring or fitting her with it.

As soon as the banded club the orc carried connected with Fife's shield, two daggers sprouted from its throat and its eyes widened. Liv snorted at the display. "I see. Distraction and a hidden ally. They fight well together."

Njal shivered at how effortlessly the orc had been killed with a single strike. The precision, he had to admit, was impressive. "Is there anything worth taking from these?"

"Only their lives. Ugly beasts." Summoning a spark into being, Katelyn set a swirling inferno in motion around the orc, pulling it tighter and faster until it burned white-hot with the air it was sucking up. "Are we going to keep moving?"

Reaching out one big paw, Astrid slapped at Liv's fingers. "Don't make the sign of heresy. They have their own gods, we have ours." She didn't, of course, admit that she'd only barely kept herself from doing the same.

Huffing a breath, Liv dipped her head. "Yes, pack leader." Then, when Astrid followed up with a firm slap on the back, she laughed. "I'm just itching to test these new weapons."

"I know. I know." Turning to look at Fife, Astrid called, "Fife! Can we engage the next boss?"

"Why don't we take it in turns until someone doesn't kill their boss with one hit?" Fife said, putting a lot of challenge in her voice. The look she got back from the three wolves at the front of their party—hungry and excited—let her know she'd picked her challenge well. "Next one should be another five floors down."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Then let's pick up the pace." Sheathing her sword and swapping her shield for her axe, Astrid looked ahead into the darkness—her eyes cutting through it like a knife to pick out the shapes of walls. "Which way?"

Pointing, Ludmiller said, "Down that tunnel. The next few floors should be straight through. The dungeon isn't very exciting or clever. Not at these levels. It has shifted some things around though."

"So, deeper?" Liv asked, her hands flexing around the handle of the big cleaver she carried.

Fife nodded while checking her sword and shield for damage. "You know what the poisons feel like. If you feel them, make your way back to us. If the worst happens, Brayden can bring you back so you can continue your hunt. Take Trygve too. I can keep an eye on all these with Luddy."

When the four wolves raced off down the tunnel, Fife laughed and shook her head. "Okay. We're going to have to double-time it to keep up. The advantage is that everything in these early floors will have to deal with them first. Do you need a ride, babe?"

Breath of Spring patted the side of a bloodied wolf. "He said he would carry me." When the bloodied wolf crouched down to its belly, she scrambled onto its back and gave his big mane of fur a good rub with both hands. "Thank you!"

"Take good care of her," Fife said to the big canine as it stood up. "Alright, let's move!"

----------------------------------------

Jerking upright, Elanor coughed and winced at the feeling of all her teeth wobbling. Running her tongue along the inside of her mouth, she squirmed at the sensation despite not actually feeling any teeth loose. "Why does that happen every time?"

"The tooth thing?" Fairheart shrugged her slim shoulders. "Everyone feels the effects of their return differently. This appears to be yours. Your things are on the table over there." She pointed off to one side of the inner altar room of her temple.

Up until she'd come to Northridge, Elanor had never died before. Now it had become a nearly daily occurrence. She was sure that Travis was pushing her to fight hard, but she didn't know of anyone else doing this sort of training that weren't adventure groups. "Thank you."

Leaving the woman to get dressed, Fairheart made her way to what had become her office. She had never needed such a room before, but with the tight accounting that Travis requested, she found it useful to have somewhere dedicated to the task. She made a note on Elanor's book and slipped it back onto the shelf. Soon enough, she hoped, the room would be too small for storing the books.

She made a note in the ledger for Travis, too. The woman had seemed so fragile the first time Fairheart had seen her. She'd been shaking a while before she'd gotten her clothes and equipment, and Fairheart had sat with her and given her food. Now, nineteen deaths later, it seemed to be business as usual. "We are nothing if not the product of our environments. Lady, please watch over her and—with her own goddess' permission—help her walk her path."

A knock on the door broke Fairheart from her prayer. "Come in," she said.

Opening the door, Elanor was loosely wearing her breastplate over the thick leather shirt she wore, with her linen one under that. "There weren't any replacement talismans."

"I haven't made so many talismans since I was a neophyte at the temple back home. Here's another stack. Could you set them down in the resurrection room, please?" As much as Fairheart wasn't exactly a fan of the training Elanor was doing, or violence in general, she was pleased when the woman took the tray of talismans out with her.

Wearing trousers had just been a men’s thing, in Elanor's eyes, but she'd found dresses weren't as useful in combat—not counting an armored skirt. Setting the talismans down, and taking one, she walked the now well-known path out of the temple and onto the city street again.

Wobbling her jaw a little, Elanor grumbled a little at having been beaten by a trap. "I think I might need to work on my trap-finding skills." When there was no reply, she groaned. "Of course Mister Travis can't hear me, I'm not in the dungeon and there are no kobolds around."

Breaking into a run when she reached the main street that led to the dungeon sector of the city, Elanor felt a chill run down her spine as the sun faded—then returned. Looking up, she spotted Penelope flying low over the city.

Racing to catch up with her by the end of the road, Elanor surprised herself by not even breathing hard when she slowed and called out, "Miss Penelope!"

Stopping before entering Travis, Penelope turned to look at Elanor. She took in the barely-hanging-on armor and disheveled look and took a guess. "Resurrection?"

"Yes. It was a pit trap full of spikes. He'd rigged it so all my weight wouldn't be enough to trigger it, but when Bark stepped on it too—". She sighed.

Penelope lifted one big talon up to smack her face, only her head was a little too far forward to do it right and she ended up scratching at her neck. "Travis! Why are you making Elanor deal with traps? She is meant to be gaining experience, not learning how to delve dungeons."

Hearing Travis struggle to calm Penelope, Elanor cleared her throat. "I asked him to." When Penelope looked at her, she continued to explain. "We tested things and found that traps give us both experience. Mr. Travis gets a small amount and I get a large amount if I make it past one without harm, and it is reversed if he hurts me or causes me to go a different direction with it. He gets the most if I die, of course."

"Oh," Penelope said, her normal rumble inflecting upward in her surprise.

"See! It makes sense. Sorry if that last one was too tricky. Do you want me to get Robert to change the triggers back to only needing you alone?" Travis asked.

"No." Elanor shook her head. "Traps are too good. I can get used to feeling like my teeth are wobbling. You still get experience too, Mr. Travis?"

"Yup. I got more this time than your last death. The traps definitely help."

"Then we keep using traps and I need to find someone who can help me figure out how to avoid the better… ones." Trailing off, Elanor couldn't work out why Penelope had fallen over and started laughing. "What is so funny?"

"Pen was a pretty great trap-finder before she became a dragon."

Available at: https://www.royalroad.com/profile/220350/fictions

This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.