Bernt stormed out of the break room. Someone was following him, but he didn’t care. He could still feel Jori through their bond. It hadn’t broken when she disappeared, but it was different. Duller. He could only get a general sense of her emotional state, but it wasn’t like when she was far away oerial pne. He didn’t get any sensory information, no matter how hard he tried to focus.

  Bursting through the door to Ed’s office, he rouhe archmage’s desk and pulled open the drawers underh it, oer another. He hat Duergar demonology text. He’d o learn Duergar, or at least a simir dwarven dialect. Maybe he could get Kustov to teach him?

  The book wasn’t there.

  What happened? Had he taken it home? Growling with frustratio began to rummage through the papers, as if expeg the book to just appear between the sheets. He oking around at the back of a drawer when his hand closed around a fttened scroll. It looked oddly familiar.

  He stared at it for a few seds before he remembered where he k from. It was the other scroll that he’d taken from the Dragon’s garbage heap. The one written in a nguage that not even Ed had reized. He pocketed it. Ed certainly wouldn’t be looking into it any time soon, and it was his, after all.

  “Godsdamnit Bernt, what are you doing?” Josie asked urgently, looking around as if worried that they were about to get caught.

  “I’m looking for my book.” Bernt said shortly. “Ohat Ed was holding for me. But it’s not here.”

  “Look, I’m sorry.” Josie said. “I know you’re upset, but we bring her back! It’s not forever.”

  Bernt gred at her, but his anger quickly melted into bitter exhaustion. “You don’t uand. Jori hates it there. It hurts her to even think about it or whatever happehere. She alks about it. This is torture for her, as much as it would be for you or me. More, maybe! It doesn’t matter that she came from there, this is wrong!”

  Josie nodded and held out her hand the way one might at a spooked animal. What did he look like? ”She went on her ow! Besides, Finn, the novice that was watg the kids in there, is going to be ready for his first summon in a year, maybe less! We summohen, and maybe she’ll have ged her mind.”

  “A year.” Bernt said bitterly. “Besides, what about Ed? He’s somewhere there, too. Are we just going to leave him there? What’s going to happen?”

  “It’s hard to say. The hells aren’t like our phe third hell is the most simir to ours, but that doesn’t mean it’s habitable. It’s a vast pce, just as big as our world – you ’t just find a person that got pulled into it. We summon demons because of what they are. It doesn’t work on normal, mortal people.”

  “Damn it, Josie! We have to do something. I thought you and Jori were friends!”

  Josie’s lips tightened into a line. “I am doing something. I’m keeping you from getting yourself killed. There’s time to worry about Jori ter. A css 3 demon isn’t going to be in any danger from random predators on her home pne. She’ll be fine. You, oher hand, seem determio provoke a hostile visit from Radast. His shade is probably watg us right now.”

  Bernt looked around, though he khere was no way he would spot the demonic shadow if it didn’t want to be seen.

  “Fine,” he said. What else could he say if he was being spied on? “Let’s go help with the wounded.”

  ***

  The wounded, as it turned out, had already been taken care of. In most cases, a potion was all they would o get ba their feet. Of course, that didn’t mean they’d be pletely fine. Nirlig had lost a few fingers on his left hand and would have a scar to show just how close he’d gotten to losing an eye. But he would live, as he kept reminding his father who was clug over him like a mother hen.

  Several others had rge, rippling burn scars. Those hadn’t been because of the Duergar – no, that had bee. Guilt g his belly when he saw them. Would they get the care they o restore them fully?

  Twenty-seven of their guards were firmed dead, Glim among them. Rindle, Kustov and Fiora were still missing along with several of the guards, and they’d lost Ed. Bernt wondered what that eve. There were myths of people traveling to the hells – usually to rescue the soul of a loved one – but he doubted those had any truth to them. The way Josie talked, it sounded like people could go there. Could he learn how?

  He bahe thought. What could he do that Ed couldn’t do far better himself? Josie had been right. It wasn’t something he could dht now, and the city was in shambles. They had work to do here.

  As he stepped out into the courtyard, Bernt caught sight of a small kobold trying to push through the crowd, looking fearfully over his shoulder and carrying a backpack. Reizing Gnugg, Bernt waved and hurried over to him, pushing through the bustle of Underkeepers and soldiers.

  "Gnugg, hold on!" he called out.

  The kobold stopped and looked at him, visibly trembling. Bernt held out his hands in a calmiure. "Easy. It's still dangerous out there. Do you wao take you to the orphanage?"

  "No!" Gnugg said quickly, before repeating it more slowly. "No. Not back. I sleep below tonight. I am going now. Have to go!"

  "Wait! Do you have somewhere safe to go? Where's Trip?"

  "Yes! yes. It is safe. Trip is waitiher dire. Not bad dwarves."

  Bernt shook his head. What was he doing? Acc to Jori, the kobold had been on corpse disposal duty in the warrens when she first met him. He'd seen worse than this. But... he'd been close to Jori. She was very attached to her "interns" and spent a lot of time with them. And he was obviously terrified.

  "Listen. We're going to get Jori back, alright? She's not gone forever."

  Gnugg nodded emphatically and made an odd squeaking sound. "Jori back! Yes! I am going now. Have to go!"

  "Are you sure you don't wao take you?" Bernt asked again.

  "No follow!" the kobold snapped and turned, scurrying off into the crowd. As he disappeared, the lid of his backpack moved, and a tiny draian head poked out, looking at him with bright, golden eyes. Bernt blinked. Where had Gnugg found a newborn kobold hatg? Why did he have it here?

  Shaking off his surprise, Bernt hurried after him. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but could he really let a child run around in a war zoh what ractically a baby? Even a kobold? He hurried out into the market, but Gnugg was gone, disappeared into the press of soldiers, Underkeepers and emerging civilians.

  ***

  Surprisingly, the up effort in the Uy progressed quickly. Local residents came out when they realized that the fighting was done, both dwarves and goblins, and helped to carry the duergar corpses to their designated disposal location. As they did, they helped themselves to what remained of their armor and ons – all of valuable dwarven make.

  Bernt half-heartedly joined in, stripping knives, pouches and smaller valuables off and depositing them in his bag, which he’d found lying in the courtyard exactly where he’d left it. He needed money, but right then it was hard to remember why it mattered. When he found the body of a mage or a warlock he would check for scrolls or books, but none of them were carrying anything – at least nothing that wasn’t burnt beynition. He and Josie were hauling an Underkeeper guard’s body into a cart o the caverrance when a familiar voice called out from behind him.

  “Gd to see you made it!” Bernt turo find Kustov walking in, casting spells to reshape the ragged opening into a smooth archway aing the rubble down into the floor, the way it had been before. “We saw the end of the fight – thought you might get overwhelmed there for a moment.”

  “You’re okay?” Bernt asked, as if he wasn’t quite sure of the answer. “What about Fiora?” He’d half expected to find their bodies here somewhere. As far as he khey’d never made it out of the side tunnel where they’d been harassing the ining dwarves.

  “Yes, we’re fine. Fiora is at headquarters, anizing things. We heard about Ed…” he trailed off, but then shook his head and tinued. “When we went to leave the tuhe whole pce was full of Duergar. So I sealed the entrand we tunneled our way over toward the army. It took lohan it should have. I’m out of practice, a little. But we got there. Arice hadn’t heard that there was an army marg in behind him. He was fighting a smaller force further down iunnels – our messenger never reached his people.”

  Bernt barked out a humorless ugh. The Underkeepers had been fighting an army while the military was off skirmishing with a distra. It wasn’t funny, but he couldn’t hold it in. This ehing could have been avoided if Arice’s scryers, or his geomancers, or his abjurers were a little more thh. It was stupid.

  But, then again, that probably wasn’t what happened. He wasn’t giving the Duergar enough credit. They’d been probing at their defenses for weeks and had spies iy for at least that long. They knew where their defensive wards were and how to get around them.

  “They moved fast when they heard, but we were worried it might already be too te.” Kustov gave him a pat on the arm. “Shouldn’t have uimated you, eh? I saw you set half the enemy army on fire!”

  “It wasn’t that many.” Bernt said, trying to block the memory of the gruesome sight in his mind. “Besides, you should have seen Torvald, he nearly took oire army by himself!”

  “Really?” Kutov said. “Well, that’s a story I o hear.”

  ***

  The door en, but Bernt didn’t step inside. He leaned against the doorframe for a sed and simply took it in. It was exactly as he’d left it. Still, it was somehow also too dark and quiet. It wasn’t just that Jori wasn’t home – he spent time here by himself all the time. No, it was that she wasn’t going to be home. It made the pce seem dead, somehow. Abandoned.

  There was a wail and shouting as, two doors down, Nirlig’s mom berated Morix over what he’d allowed to happen to her boy. Then, Nirlig’s voice, trying to defend his father and presumably his own agency. They were one of the lucky families on this street today – two Underkeepers and both had made it home.

  Bernt sighed – he was being stupid. That, and he was exhausted. Stepping inside, he turned and shut the door behind him. He lit the stove with a trip and sged a bit of rat jerky from a stone jar that he usually kept for Jori. It was very spicy, and he knew he was going tret wolfing it down on ay stomach like this. But it was the middle of the night, and he didn’t have the patieo start cooking now.

  He put on a kettle for tea and sat down on the hard stone couch he’d made. Maybe some tea would help his digestion. As he worked, his eyes fell on a bottle oable with a hand-writtehat read “Hellfire Gin”. He stared at it numbly for a minute before pig it up. He popped the cork and sniffed. Eyes watering, he grimaced and resealed the bottle. Nirlig had been right – it really was disgusting. He stood up and put it up on a shelf.

  Jori could have that whe back.

  ***

  Gegrenoth ran.

  He ducked behind an outcropping of speckled gray-bck stohe same c as his skin, and made his way down the scree slope into the narrow river valley. Bck rain fell from the sky onto barren ground, running down in rivulets toward the burning river, where it hissed and evaporated back up into the low, yellowish clouds above.

  He’d missed the dark sky, the sour rain that pattered on his skin, and the pleasant sulfurous air that filled his lungs, but he didn’t have time to enjoy it. He o get to the river. The mortal wouldn’t be able to get over the fire. It would die, like they were supposed tegrenoth didn’t know how it had followed him here. It shouldn’t have been able to do it! It wasn’t fair.

  Rocks cttered down behind him as the big mortal stomped down in pursuit. He sped up. Gegrenoth khis area – there was a small cliff ahead where he could get some distance.

  The imp juked left and right again as gravel erupted upward o him. There was no cover here to hide him. Then his feet touched solid ground and he leapt, spreading his wings as he cleared the st few strides and the nd gave way below him. He’d do! With the updrafts rising from the fming river, he could glide clear to the other side of the valley from here.

  Then, an invisible hand ed around his eorso, awkwardly folding his wings in against his body and yanked him back. He screamed in impotent rage and summoned fire, but his arms were pinned as well and it only dribbled uselessly down toward the valley below.

  “Got you, you slippery little bastard!” said a gruff voice. The imp nded on the ground, face down, and invisible forces seized his arms and yahem behind his baooo gently before turning him over. The big, gray-haired ma him menagly and traced a pattern in the air with one finger. A strange, gray fme formed in the air in front of him.

  It drew the warmth out of his bones, even at this distance, and he felt the skin on his face rapidly dry out and crader its light. He tried to shrink back away from it, but he couldn’t move.

  “Alright. Now that I’ve finally got your attention,” the human said, “yoing to tell me how to get out of this pce, or I’m going to teach you the true meaning of hell.”

  “I don’t know! You ’t!” he whimpered in terror. “You’re not supposed to be here at all!”

  The human’s expression turned from angry to murderous. Shivering, Gegrenoth closed his eyes and waited for his true death.