Duskwalker doesn’t even see it until it’s too late. The dungeon here is more open than it has been the rest of their journey. The walls don’t scrape her sides, and the path is made of sand and flat, gray rock. It had been the perfect excuse to open up and move just a little faster. The moment her and Knots had stepped out onto it, she had tossed her head and moved into a long, fast trot. Knots, smaller than her, had been forced into a canter. He hasn’t complained yet, though, a...

The sound of hooves stirs Knots from his dozing. “Knots,” Duskwalker hisses, “you have to come see this.” Knots blinks blearily at her. She’s not wearing any of her equipment. A blurry glance around finds it across the cavern next to his own. “Was’happening?” “I was exploring,” she tells him. “Come here.” Knots shakes himself, dark mane tussled on both sides of his neck, forelock falling into his eyes, and stretches. Dusk is already walking ...

“Dusk!” Before him and rapidly gaining distance, Duskwalker races ahead, pulled by something only she can hear. Knots tries to keep up with her, calling her name and anything else he thinks will slow her down, but she has longer legs and something frantic to her lengthening stride. One turn too many, and her roan coat is finally lost to the gloom of the caves. Knots slows to a trot, then a walk, then halts. “Dus...

The dungeon unravels before them in nonsensical twists and turns. Narrow passages give way to yawning corridors. The footing is a patchwork of mossy stone that clicks noisily under hoof and loamy soil that gives easily under the coursers’ weight. Humid, stagnant air presses in on all sides and the earthy scent of plants clings stubbornly to the inside of Duskwalker’s nostrils. Ducking underneath a wide, drooping l...