“We’ve been here before,” Percy said, his voice fuzzy with lack of sleep. “Look, that’s where we forced our way through.”

“Yeah,” Sartoris said with a yawn. “That’s where I got bitt-“ suddenly alert, her head flew up and her ears pricked. “That’s where I got bitten. Where’s that asshole of a dead Courser? I just want to talk!”

“There’s a saying about beating a dead horse,” Blight muttered from behind her, dodging Sartoris’ well-aimed kick with ease. “Nice try.” He flinched as her tail whipped across his face. Oops.

“Percy, I don’t think you should be leading anymore,” Lujayn said, moving up the passage to where Percy stood. “Switch with Sartoris. Stay in the middle. We’ll rest soon.”

“Okay,” Percy said, and his lack of argument was as much of an indicator as any of his fatigue. The younger Courser was usually eager to lead, or at least learn from Lujayn.

“Blight, keep an ear out. We don’t want that fucking thing coming after us again,” Lujayn added. The command in her voice was unmistakeable; they were all tired, and that was the most dangerous state to be in.

None of them were thrilled about ending up in the same chamber. After the last few rooms, they realised that the only way out was back through the same tunnel they’d come down a few days before, where Sartoris had been injured by a skull-faced undead Courser.

Percy had initially begged for the creature to come along - it looked like them, after all, other than the fleshless skull it had - and it had seemed so sad when they’d been discussing leaving it behind. Percy had thought it might have unfinished business, or perhaps a party it wanted to find. Maybe it had been abandoned by its party, he’d said, or maybe it wandered for eternity? Either way, Percy hadn’t wanted to keep the undead Courser trapped in its tiny cage forever.

Lujayn had been pretty adamant about leaving it. “Best not to invite trouble,” she’d said, and Blight had agreed readily. Percy had reluctantly given in - his relative inexperience meant he usually backed down if the two older Coursers agreed on something. Which in itself was rare, he thought to himself. Lujayn and Blight were just about opposite ends of the moral spectrum, though it had seemed that they’d come to some sort of unspoken agreement to protect the two younger Coursers on their journey through the dungeon.

Blight froze. “Stop,” he hissed at the party. Their hoofbeats ceased, and in the split second afterwards, a tiny scuff could be heard behind Blight. “Percy, Sartoris, get through to the next chamber. Lujayn and I will have a word with this…creature.”

The younger Coursers moved past Lujayn, Sartoris’ tail flicking against Blight’s shoulder in farewell.

“Come out, now,” Blight called down the passage behind him. There was no answer.

“We won’t harm you unless you attack.” Lujayn’s voice rang clearly through the tunnel.

The creature emerged. Its skull was far more damaged than the last time they’d seen it; deep scratches marred its eye sockets and its nasal bone was chipped. Its head drooped, ears limp to the sides, and it moved gingerly towards them, limping on three legs.

“Did we do that?” Blight muttered under his breath.

The creature’s ear flicked towards him and it shook its head sadly.

Rustling sounded beside Blight as Lujayn reached into her pack and pulled a healing potion from it. “Come here,” she said. “Don’t bite me, or I’ll end you.”

The undead Courser moved slowly towards her, and Lujayn seemed to realise its skull didn’t connect to anything…internal, in any meaningful way. “I’m going to pour this on your wounds. It should still work, alright?”

The creature nodded, lifting its foreleg towards her. Lujayn uncorked the bottle and poured a thin stream of the potion into the open cut, watching as it slowly began to knit back together. The undead Courser put its foot down, testing its weight on the leg, and seemed satisfied.

Lujayn cocked her head. “Will it actually help you if I pour this on your skull?”

The other Courser seemed to shrug. “I don’t know, try it,” it rattled, its voice harsh and raspy.

Both Blight and Lujayn leapt back several feet, staring wide-eyed at the skull-faced Courser.

“You can speak?!” Blight blurted uncharacteristically.

“I think the healing potion helped,” the undead Courser replied. “I’m Polaris. Nice to meet you.”