The bickering had been going on for the better part of an hour. The passage they were travelling was long and boring, and even Blight’s floating eye had gotten bored of trying to spot traps and fallen back to the rear of the party.

“Whatever, Mr. I’m-Such-A-Great-Rogue,” Sartoris griped. “You can’t even say ‘boo’ to Percy’s goose.” Her mole chittered from its satchel, as if to say “so, there”.

“That thing is vicious,” Blight growled. “Besides, it’s not like you’re so hot at this dungeoneering thing yourself. You got bitten by that skull-head!”

“That was Percy’s fault!” Sartoris complained, “He wanted to bring the thing with us!”

“Are you two finished?” Lujayn interrupted. “Quit while you’re ahead, Sar, and don’t involve Percy in this. You’re a Courser- you should have been keeping an eye on the potentially dangerous thing.”

Blight humphed in triumph.

“And Blight, shut up. You stared at some goo and fell over,” Lujayn said drily.

Sartoris snorted, grinning widely. “See? You’re not the best at everything.”

“Don’t start, Sar.” Lujayn rolled her eyes. “You would have willingly climbed into the sarcophagus if you’d gotten any closer to it.” It had been a miracle they’d escaped the mental grasp of the ancient tomb and its foul contents.

Blight’s quiet smirk reappeared.

“Uh, guys?” Percy said from Lujayn’s shoulder. His massive ears were pricked forward, towards a large, high-ceilinged chamber. Inside, a hairless pink behemoth of a creature lay with its back to them. It looked asleep, its ribs rising and falling in the slow breaths of slumber, but they’d learned never to be sure of these things.

“Quiet, all of you,” Lujayn hushed Sartoris, who had begun to argue back.

They paused at the edge of the cavern, still shrouded by the shadow of the overhanging rock.

“We’re going to have to get past that,” Lujayn said. “The next hallway’s over there.” The group nodded. “Blight, you go first. You’ll be able to distract it if one of the rest of us alerts it.”

The black Courser moved to the front of their party, creeping forward almost soundlessly. It was times like these that his stealth came in handy; skilled as he was in combat, he was far quieter than any of the rest of the group in movement.

He made it to the other side easily, his floating eyeball following silently behind him, and waited in the entrance to the next passageway. Sartoris went next, her light build and small hooves barely making a sound on the stone tiles. Her wound from the skull-headed undead Courser hadn’t quite finished healing, and Lujayn could hear a slight limp in her hoofbeats. Blight shifted over so she could get through.

Percy moved forward, and Lujayn held her breath. The young warrior wasn’t clumsy by any means, but he also wasn’t the most careful of movers. In a forest, he’d be snapping sticks right and left, alerting other creatures of his presence.

It was just unfortunate that it had to happen again, here, with the enormous pink-skinned beast snoring right next to them. Percy was so intent on watching the creature that he tripped on a flagstone, flinging his goose over his head in a tumble of feathers and indignant honking.

The beast stirred, its head appearing from round its curled back, and Lujayn realised that this was the biggest Sphynx cat she’d ever seen. It was several times bigger than Percy, and it looked pissed.

“Run!”