Dragonfire streamed over Lerrum from above. His reactive barrier shattered like glass, having done nothing to protect its wearer from the attack. Lerrum’s whole body tensed as it became engulfed in flames. Only a weak groan escaped his mouth, scarcely audible over the crackling dragonfire.

  Evran stood motionless, incapable of understanding what was happening. Lerrum was on fire. His best friend, his hero, his brother, burned in front of him. And Evran did nothing. Why wasn’t he doing anything? Lerrum is dying.

  Aiming his staff toward his friend, Evran put all he had into his healing magic and ran to help Lerrum. He flooded Lerrum’s body with restorative energy, trying to knit his flesh back together as the dragon’s flames sought to tear it apart. It wasn’t enough. Evran broke off the heal and sent a torrent of water to put out his friend.

  A wave washed over Lerrum, mixing with the dragonfire. It sizzled and squelched. Pieces of his burnt uniform sloughed off his scorched skin as Lerrum fell to his knees. But it wasn’t enough. The water receded, but the flames remained, though diminished. Before he could send a second wave of water or health, the dragon once again breathed its terrible fire over the helpless boy.

  Lerrum fell to the ground just outside the entrance to the labyrinth. His body lay motionless as the fierce flames consumed it. Evran could do nothing more. It was already over, already done. Lerrum was dead.

  Stones tumbled from the hill above the cavern entrance as the dragon shifted its body from its hidden perch. This whole time, the beast had been right there waiting for them. Its terrifying head peered into the tunnel, drooping from the tip of its long serpentine neck. The firelight danced along its slate gray scales. Orange slitted eyes darted around the cave before fixing their gaze on Evran.

  “Evran! Run, damn it!” shouted Narro from the wall to the camp. “Run!”

  The dragon pulled its head back as it inhaled. Another breath attack was coming. Evran snapped out of his stupor and pulled a thick earth wall up from the cavern floor. Unlike the streams it loosed on Lerrum, this time the dragon exhaled a coherent mass of dragonfire and sent it barreling down the tunnel, where it splashed against the earthen barrier.

  The wall buckled under the power of the dragon’s breath, but it held. A few drops of the dragonfire sloshed over the rampart and rained down on Evran. His reactive barrier came to life. The droplets sputtered atop the solid light, trying to tear through the weak projection. Evran’s mana density paled in comparison to that of the dragon, but with so little flame in contact with the shield, the barrier held.

  The tunnel was soon filled with fire, heat, and smoke. Evran’s earth wall crumbled under the intense flame, leaving him exposed. The fire and smoke were too much to see through, but he knew exactly what lay beyond. He took off down the tunnel, coughing as he ran.

  The earth shook beneath his feet, causing Evran to tumble to the floor. The dragon had come down from its perch and, by the sound of it, was clawing its way into the opening. Evran threw up a second earth wall just in time. He’d made it concave to prevent any dragonfire from splashing over again. It didn’t matter.

  Being closer this time, the dragon’s attack exploded the earth wall, sending dirt and stone flying at Evran. Thankfully for Evran, the pressure wave also pushed him backward, throwing him deeper into the tunnel and away from the flames. Using what little of his mana remained, he raised a third wall between him and the dragon, as thick as he could make it.

  Evran screamed in agony, not realizing until just then that the last attack had struck him after all. His left boot had caught fire, and the flames had finally reached the flesh of his leg. He quickly doused it with water magic and did what he could to heal it, but he was running dangerously low on mana.

  Ignoring the pain, Evran quickly hobbled down the remaining length of the tunnel to the camp. Inside, he found Narro carrying Kaila on his back. Their faces were warped with terror and confusion.

  “We’re going in,” said Evran, still in panic himself. “Left tunnel.”

  “Lerrum?” Kaila asked with a whimper.

  Evran could only look away. He limped over to Lerrum’s bag and threw it on. Fighting through the intense heat and intolerable pain, Evran followed Narro past the stone coffin and the scattered bones of the resurrecting osteomorph. He unconsciously avoided the spot where his aurasight had revealed the monster’s nexus of resurrecting energy, though it seemed to have no effect on Narro and Kaila when they charged through it.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  They shambled down the tunnel, the air becoming cooler and more breathable as they put distance between themselves and the inferno. Entering the left branch, the three surviving students hid themselves around the second bend in the passage, finally safe from any dragonfire launched from the entrance.

  “Stop!” said Evran, collapsing against the wall. The burn on his leg was too severe to continue any further, and their party formation was in shambles.

  “We can’t!” screamed Narro. “We need to get to a safe zone before that damned bone thing wakes up and attacks us again!”

  “I’m almost out of mana; so is Kai. I need you to heal my leg, or I can’t go any farther.”

  Holding out his leg, Evran instantly regretted looking at the damage. The boot bore the brunt of the dragonfire, and the extreme damage that entailed. Its enchantments were probably destroyed, so the thing was unlikely to repair itself. He could fix it up later, but it’d have to remain a little looser than he’d like for now. His leg had cooked inside his boot. That was fortunate, all things considered. Direct contact with dragonfire would have made it unhealable, but the mundane radiant heat it gave off came with no such problem.

  Narro bent down and helped Kaila off his back. Of the three, Narro was the only one with any amount of mana left. Except in emergencies, it was up to him to do all the healing until the mages could recover. He’d probably have to do most of the fighting, too.

  “Gods, that’s awful,” he said, nearly throwing up when he saw the burn on Evran’s leg.

  Relief came instantly as Narro used a basic healing spell on the scorched flesh. Slowly, the skin turned from black to red, then back to white. Narro lacked the control of his mana to perform a more effective heal, but the simpler spell would mend the wound all the same. It just took longer.

  As Evran sat there while having his leg healed, the reality of what just happened began to sink in. Lerrum just died. His breathing quickened. His heart pounded in his chest. Evran would never see his friend again. His eyes welled with tears, while his jaw trembled. And it was all his fault. Evran began to sob.

  He cried as his physical pains were replaced with far worse emotional ones. If he hadn’t been such a damned coward, Lerrum would still be alive. He died for nothing. They were still stuck in a labyrinth, following his original plan. If anyone deserved to die for the mistake, it was Evran. He killed his own mother from his stupidity, and now he’d done the same to Lerrum. He was a damned murderer.

  Evran was pulled out of his despair and into a warm embrace. He opened his eyes to find Kaila on top of him, hugging him tightly. She’d crawled to him, all the way from where Narro had left her, using energy she didn’t have. She leaned back, revealing her reddened eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Kaila tried to speak, but words failed her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, hugging her back. “It’s my fault. I’m so sorry.”

  “Damn it, Ev, shut up!” screamed Narro, punching the wall next to Evran. “Everyone already knows how you feel about labyrinths. I’m the one who cast the deciding vote to leave. If anyone is to blame, it’s me, so shut up!”

  “Stop it, both of you!” Kaila cried. “Neither of you are responsible for Lerrum. If you need to blame something, blame the damned dragon!”

  She was wrong. They both were. No one could change Evran’s mind on that matter, but arguing about it wouldn’t help. Saying nothing, Evran lowered his head and cried into Kaila’s shoulder. She did the same into his.

  After a few minutes, they had calmed down a little. In the meantime, Evran’s leg had fully healed. He quietly thanked Narro, who refused to make eye contact with him. He could have his pride. Narro shuffled over to Lerrum’s pack and put it on. It would slow him down in a fight if he couldn’t drop it in time, but it was safer than having him carry the girl.

  “You take Kaila,” he said. “We need to get to that safe zone, if there even is one.”

  Evran rose to his feet, testing out his leg. Despite his lesser talent with magic, Narro had done a fine job. The boot was loose, and it would be awkward to run in, not that he could with Kaila on his back. He’d rather die than lose another friend, so he wasn’t going to run away when Kaila could not. They’d go down together, should it come to that.

  “The adventurers are marking their intersections with the standard symbols,” said Evran. “I saw one back there. Every path gets a circle. If they explore it, they mark it up. An X is a dead end, and an arrow means they ultimately took that path. If they found a path to a safe room, it’ll have a diamond overlapping it. That’s what we’re after. Got that?”

  “Sort of,” Narro replied. “Arrows until we find a diamond?”

  “Good enough.”

  Evran turned back to face Kaila, who sat leaning against the wall. She was staring at her feet as she struggled to wiggle them slightly. Her progress was a welcome sign, but she was far from able to walk.

  Kaila looked up at Evran, terror written plainly across her face. He wanted nothing more than to tell her a few comforting words, but they would only be lies. Evran had failed Lerrum and Indon. How could she believe in him after that? There was no comfort to be found here. Evran knelt down in front of Kaila.

  “Climb on.”

  With great effort, Kaila managed to drag herself onto Evran’s back. He lifted her up and gave Narro a nod. It was time to get going. They’d already lingered near the resurrecting osteomorph far longer than they should have. Injured and exhausted, the grieving students set off deeper into the labyrinth.