The air was tense as the crew lined up. We had spent the last few short hours eating lunch and regaining our strength. It wasn’t enough, not for Dorian, at least. He tried to put on a good show, but he couldn’t hide his exhaustion and fear. It wasn’t suicide, but it was risky, especially compared to my position, tucked away safe in the back.

  Nothing here is safe. I couldn’t let myself forget that.

  “They will succeed.” R?gnor’s deep, steady voice added to the certainty of his words and quelled some of my doubts.

  “Yeah,” I repeated with a bit more conviction. The scars on R?gnor’s arms told of his experience in battle. While he couldn’t be sure, he had far more expertise in war than I did, and ?ttir hadn’t struck me as naturally optimistic. “He is tougher than he looks.”

  In our limited time together, I had seen Dorian mauled by one too many terrorvoles. Every time, he had shrugged off those wounds like they were nothing. Except, he took on at most what? Three or four at a time? Definitely not the horde that would be racing down that tunnel after them. The actual process to weaken the caps on the pits only took seconds, but seconds could mean everything.

  A whistle from the center of the ?ttarsk line echoed out of the tunnel into the cavern. In response to the signal, the ?ttir began to ready themselves.

  “Prepare yourself, Daniel.”

  Even if it was R?gnor, it was still jarring to hear my actual name come from the mouth of an ?ttar, but I got out an affirmative grunt all the same. If all went according to plan, we had only minutes between the whistle and the horde.

  Two long whistles escaped from the tunnel’s entrance. They’re going to breach. My hands tightened on my pickaxe. This fight would be on a whole different level than anything I had ever experienced. This was a large vein. Dorian had confirmed that before they started the defensive structures. A vein this size could have hundreds of terrorvoles, and that was just the minimum. By the way Dorian described it, veins of this scope could support a small ecosystem. Terrorvoles could subsist just on the crystals’ energy. As they grew in numbers, they somehow opened up more space until a colony formed. The ultimate size of the cavern and the colony depended on the grade of the crystals. Higher Aether densities not only supported more rodents but also spread Aether out over a larger area. With the grade crystals expected in this vein, we had to expect a large colony of terrorvoles and monsters that ate them. That a creature as dangerous as a terrorvole could be considered a prey animal—I stopped myself. I didn’t need any more fuel for nightmares.

  A screech pierced the air. My heartbeat kicked up a notch. Had they breached already? Then, I mentally kicked myself for expecting a boom or even a vibration. They weren’t using explosives.

  Seconds stretched onward, but Dorian and his company still didn’t appear.

  What was taking them so long?

  “Steady,” R?gnor reassured. “They are not novices. We have done this before. They will open the wall just enough to allow them to whip the beasts into a frenzy without immediately unleashing a horde. They will make it.”

  I tried to ignore the cold feeling running up my spine. The plan required the breaching team to do the opposite of normal procedure. To get the most out of the traps, the breaching team needed to release a wave, not a slow trickle. So instead of opening a small hole and letting the terrorvoles enlarge it themselves, the team needed to open a gap large enough to let them incite a frenzy but small enough that a horde couldn’t easily escape and overwhelm them. Of course, the more terrorvoles trying to escape, the faster they could expand the breach, and their frenzied state only sped things up even more. The team’s margin for error was slim.

  A series of screeches of pain filled the air. It was more than a few. Were the traps working?

  A flash of movement inside the tunnel caught my eye. “It is them,” I whispered. Dorian wasn’t visible, but through the thin slits of a murder hole, I could make out the dark silhouettes covered with patches of glowing lines. The rest of Dorian’s team. They wouldn’t have stopped unless Dorian was okay and able to work on the traps.

  More screams filled the air, and flashes of red light leaked from the cross-shaped opening as the ?ttir held their ground. Hisses followed the silent flashes of crimson. Only seconds passed, but each one felt like a minute.

  Why had they not retreated? Beside me, R?gnor took long, steady breaths. And how the hell is he so calm?

  The rate of red flashes increased, and with them, so did the frequency and intensity of the terrorvoles’ screeches. Traces of Dorian’s voice escaped through the slits in the tunnel’s walls. I couldn’t understand the words that came, but I got the meaning. The two ?ttir fled back towards the tunnel’s exit but only after releasing what had to have been a massive energy blade. By the time I blinked away the spots in my eyes from the sudden flash, they had vanished from the murder hole, moving closer to the exit. Only seconds later, a cacophony of shrieks and bestial squeals echoed through the cavern as the first cap on the first trap had to have finally given way.

  How many did it get? I swallowed hard as innumerable pairs of red dots and black blurs streaked across the cross-shaped cuts in the tunnel. Not enough.

  “Right wing, move in,” came a loud yell.

  I followed R?gnor as we moved up to create a “V” formation in front of one of the tunnel’s exits. A few kept going to man the murder holes. Even that position had it easy compared to Dorian and the ?ttir who accompanied him.

  According to Dorian, the next part of the plan had been contentious. More traps meant fewer terrorvoles we needed to fight, but more traps required longer tunnels. The size of the cavern constrained the ultimate length of a tunnel. The ?ttir needed enough space to fight and fall back if necessary. However, while the cavern couldn’t hold a single long tunnel, its width meant it could support two, maybe even three, shorter tunnels radiating out from the central tunnel. Ultimately, they decided on only two tunnels for the same reason: Dorian.

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  Only Dorian could weaken the stone. Given his limited Projection, he had to be in each tunnel to trigger the traps. That was only possible if the other tunnels remained closed off at the start. That sounded simpler than it was. Frenzied terrorvoles tore through anything standing in their way, themselves included. Even the hardened walls of our tunnels were no exception. If the tunnels were too narrow for the mass of monsters, they would claw their way out one way or another. To prevent them from destroying the setup, they needed an easier way out. Dorian had to make the walls blocking off the other tunnels thinner and weaker. Given that Dorian and the ?ttir planning this structure didn’t know the numbers we would face, a guaranteed two trapped tunnels won over gambling on three. Even then, Dorian still faced a similar dilemma to the initial breach, only now he ran the risk of a swarm of frenzied monsters overrunning the tunnel before he even got to the wall.

  Good luck, Dorian. If I had any to spare, I would give it to you.

  “Ready yourself,” R?gnor commanded.

  Brief cries of pain came from the tunnel’s exit as the ?ttir manning the murder holes unleashed blades of energy, but a sudden chorus of screeches drowned them out. Another pit had given way. However, it didn’t catch all of them. A black shape flew out of the entrance of the tunnel.

  How did a terrorvole beat Dorian out of the tunnel?

  I realized how after getting a look at the monster. Long cuts decorated its flank. It struggled to right itself after it bounced off the ground and skidded to a stop not far from the point of the formation. It could do nothing as an ?ttar ended its life with a lazy downward slash. More rodents followed the first, though many less injured than the first.

  They must have thrown or blown the monster back, but why? To trap more of the monsters? Or was Dorian struggling with the traps?

  A shout came from the tunnel. “Incoming!”

  Two hulking figures burst from the exit towards the ?ttarsk line opposite me. A small figure, Dorian, followed, but unlike the others, he skidded to a stop only steps from the entrance. His Marks burst with color. They shone with more colors than red, but I didn’t have time to study the mixtures of blues and purples.

  He had done it. He had managed to prime the last trap—but my heart plunged through my chest when the cost became clear.

  Black masses spewed out of the entrance. Many spread out, but most headed for Dorian.

  Did they know he was responsible for the traps? Or was he just the closest one?

  He had already turned and started running for the line, but he didn’t make it before two black shapes slammed into his back. They sent him tumbling past the ?ttir on the other side of our V-formation.

  “Dorian,” I screamed, but my words were lost sounds to dying monsters as the surge hit the ?ttarsk line.

  He would be okay. He had to be.

  Chittering filled the cave as more slitted red eyes appeared in the dark recesses of the tunnel. The trickle of monsters became a black wave moving towards us. Their weight slammed the front line backward, but the ?ttir struck. Half of the picks swung in sync, flinging red light. The crimson arcs struck the sea of angry terrorvoles trying to push back the black tide. Animal screams filled the cavern as energy blades bisected terrorvole after terrorvole. However, the beasts didn’t slow. They jumped over the fallen and continued charging us. The other half of the ?ttir unleashed a volley, cutting down the rest. More fell, but the swarm continued to gush from the tunnel.

  It continued like this for multiple rounds, but the ?ttir didn’t have the reserves to keep this up. The energy blades became smaller. More terrorvoles slipped through a barrage. Though the ?ttir dealt with those quickly. Each one meant another ?ttar that could not unleash a ranged attack. I did my best, stepping in to finish off what R?gnor had cut down. More than one screeched in defiance as my blow struck true.

  Though faint, a loud set of screeches filled the air. The flood paused for a second. A bead of hope swelled inside me. Had that been a trap?

  That was the only thought I could spare before we returned to beating back the terrorvoles. The waves of energy strikes returned. While still less powerful than at the start, they had regained some of their size. I spared the murder holes a glance, instantly wishing I hadn’t. A steady stream of red orbs flickered across the openings.

  So many. Too many. The yield would be huge, but what good would that be if we were all dead?

  Terrorvoles wailed as another trap gave way, and the monsters fell onto spikes. How many of those do we have left? It couldn’t be many. Probably just the one in front of the tunnel’s exit.

  The ?ttir must have thought the same. When the trap finally gave way, many rushed to sip a potion in the short respite provided by the trap. Despite the pain and fatigue that had seeped into my muscles, I didn’t need one. Still, I touched the vial at my belt, ensuring that I hadn’t lost it.

  The terrorvoles had frenzied, but they weren’t stupid. Dorian had told me they would jump the open pits or run along the tunnel’s walls and ceiling, but to see it? The monsters leapt from the walls and twisted in midair to land on the ground at a run. However, their acrobatics meant little when an ?ttar, Marks blazing, sprinted toward the tunnel’s exit. Pickaxes coated in crimson slapped the monsters out of the air. He pushed against the black tide, and right when it looked like the tide would win, his pickaxes became a blur. A ruby-streaked whirlwind tore into the mass. More terrorvoles screamed as they jumped into a blender of death. Those that survived rolled on the ground and into the path of a falling pick.

  As their death throes filled the air, I couldn’t stop the grim smile that spread across my face, and I. Hated. It. I hated the adrenaline pumping in my veins. I hated the satisfaction I got when I put down a thing trying to kill me. Them or us. It was cold comfort. I was a doctor, not a butcher. I fixed bodies, not broke them.

  I shoved down my disgust and continued my grisly work. I brought my pick down on one of the numerous terrorvoles that the whirling blades had missed or flung to the side. How many ?ttir had unleashed [Whirlwind]? Two? Three? How many more could pull that off?

  I slammed my Energy-coated pick into the neck of another dazed terrorvole. It went straight through, its tip digging into the stone floor beneath the monster. I didn’t have time to marvel at the unexpected dividends my practice had paid. The impaled rodent’s jaws opened in a pained snarl before snapping shut, its gnarled teeth closing inches from my foot. I recoiled from the sudden movement, staring at the thrashing body. How was it not dead? It had a wood spike through its neck.

  It dawned on me how close I had come to losing a foot—again! Only my pick, its tip embedded in stone, had kept it pinned. I didn’t remove my pick until the monster went limp. Even then, I made very sure to place my foot out of its mouth’s reach.

  “Pay attention.” R?gnor’s voice brought me back to the battle in time to catch him shearing the body of a leaping rodent in half with a downward swipe. As if in a dance, he converted his swing’s momentum into another strike on a different terrorvole trying to test the line.

  “Crap,” I gulped as another rodent fell onto the ground cut in half. “Thanks.” I was not made for frontline work, not when there were people like this out there.

  “I will be up next.”

  I swore silently. As if things weren’t dangerous enough.

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