Nick moved forward slowly, listening for the threat to move toward him. If monsters

  were searching the building, they had to come up these stairs, or use another set of

  stairs he didn’t know anything about.

  If they appeared in front of him, he could empty his Roarer at close range and do a

  lot of wounding before recharging the spell and killing his targets. Looting might get

  him something like extra charges, or special skin to protect him.

  Then he could see if there was another entrance that could be closed up to keep the

  monsters out of the keep.

  If he went down, he could send a message to Crow so she would know he ran into

  trouble, and where to find his half-eaten body.

  He found a set of rooms that might have been a dungeon at the bottom of the stairs.

  He looked right and left, but didn’t see what made the noise that had alerted him.

  Each of the rooms he could see into looked empty.

  He immediately thought there had to be a secret passage in one of the walls. All he

  had to do was wait to see what opened up in the rooms, and then do what he set out

  to do.

  He picked a spot in a corner. He wished he had more spirit money to get another bird.

  He didn’t want to use the one he had, and then be blinded in the middle of fight.

  He thought that if one of the walls opened in the cells, he could clear the doorway and

  then see what was on the other side. He had the explosion spells to clear a small area

  so he could retreat.

  The main thing would be could he keep the monsters from flooding the main hall and

  then spreading out to attack the teachers and students in their beds. That was the last

  thing he wanted.

  He should have asked the twins to back him up since they were better than he was.

  Designations popped up to show him that enemies were talking somewhere close by.

  He tried to get even smaller as he listened for movement, doors opening, voices.

  He hoped they showed up soon. He didn’t want Crow showing up to ask him what he

  was doing. That would be a different kind of problem.

  He aimed the Roarer at the open doors in front of him. His face itched as he waited.

  He kept his hands down so he wouldn’t shoot himself in the face by accident.

  Something creaked. A door sounded like it was being opened in the cell closest to

  him. He slowly pivoted to aim at the door. He charged up one of the explosive spells.

  When he threw it, he had to make sure he hit something so he could push them back

  before the teachers showed up.

  And he had to move out so he didn’t have to explain what was going on.

  Dealing with Granny was bad enough. He didn’t want to deal with more of her that

  wanted answers he didn’t want to give.

  The creaking continued. He didn’t see any student in the cell. Should he just shoot at

  the door and hope he wasn’t putting holes in a classmate? He could wait until he had

  a better view of things.

  The wall cracked open. Goblins in their ragged shirts and pants crept into the

  dungeon cell. They looked around for any threat before they moved out into the room.

  Nick readied one of his fire balls. He threw it into the cell and watched it explode. It

  was a strategy he had perfected against burrowing monsters. It should work with

  goblins.

  He charged forward, bringing the roarer to bear. He shot the wounded with quick

  bursts to make sure they couldn’t get up. He recharged the spell as he kicked at the

  exposed door and fired into the tunnel. He heard commotion as the goblins in the

  tunnel retreated from him.

  Nick took the time to loot what he needed, dropping the long bow for a rock spitter

  that had randomly appeared next to a dead goblin. He had enough charges to fight a

  small battle as long as he didn’t get careless.

  The rock spitter was a better weapon than the long bow in the tunnels he expected to

  find. Something that could shoot rods away but slowly was not something you wanted

  at arm’s length.

  He had two charges for the fire balls, and two of the tanglers. He could use those to

  clear hiding spots before he tried to charge in.

  He saw fading red diamonds in his sphere of influence. They were retreating at the

  moment. How long before they turned to fight?

  He decided to use his bird, and hope another one dropped in a loot pile. He needed

  to know if they were trying to get around him and get to the entrance from some other

  tunnel.

  If he could cut them off, that would ruin this part of their burglary.

  He could hear them talking to each other as he slowly advanced. The diamonds

  bunched up ahead according to the bird. He paused to listen. They seemed to be

  getting ready to ambush him once he was close enough.

  He needed to break them and make them run so he could shoot them in the back.

  He wished he had been able to get light bombs. Once they were released, they created

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  a blinding light that stunned the target. That would have been perfect in the dark

  confines he was fighting in now.

  He decided to see what would happen when he threw his two fire balls ahead of him.

  He might as well do it while he had the bird pinpointing them for him.

  The metallic glow of the spells flew down the hall and bounced around. He had

  figured out how to cause them to ricochet if he needed it, but the darkness ahead

  didn’t reveal any corners ahead. He turned his head and closed his eyes. Twin blasts

  of sound told him that the spells had gone off.

  Panicked screams filled the filter behind listed names for the goblins. He frowned at

  the carnage he had caused. He had to move in and do what he could before they got

  everything in order and tried to overwhelm him.

  He felt along the wall until the bird said he was facing the horde. He pointed the

  roarer and activated the spell, feeding charges through it with abandon. He didn’t try

  to aim, just sweeping the blasts across his path. The glow of loot popping into

  existence and the confirming of kills through the filter showed him the success of his

  strategy.

  The bird timed out, leaving him blind.

  Nick quickly reloaded the roarer from his pool of charges. He swept the hall again

  with the cracking blasts. He had to back up and hold the door in case they came at

  him.

  He needed more of the area effect spells. He had a pile of loot in front of him. He also

  had a bunch of wounded that could see in the dark and see him approach to try to grab

  any of that loot.

  He needed something that could let him see in the dark.

  He decided to back up. He had hamstrung the invaders at the moment. Maybe they

  had seen him shooting at them. Maybe they thought he had randomly found the

  passage. He was lucky the assault had been so quick they hadn’t had time to charge

  at him, or shoot arrows.

  He would have loved to grab some more fireballs from the loot pile.

  He backed up to where the corridor bent to go back up into the dungeon under

  the castle. He had a box for charges he threw that down at the base of the door. That

  filled up his charges for all of his selected spells. He reloaded in case they decided

  they could overwhelm him.

  Magic alerted him to a magician in the corridor below. He heard the earth grinding.

  He readied the rock spitter. It didn’t fire as fast as his other spell, but it pushed

  the target with the impact. That could only help him.

  The magic went away. The order to retreat came over his enhanced hearing. Did

  he want them to have a clean escape, or did he want to harry them so they thought

  about not coming back.

  He pulled on the reloaded fireballs and threw them down the corridor. Without

  a bird, he didn’t have anything more than a general idea of where to throw. Goblins

  lit up as his enemies when he shot at them, but they didn’t seem to have any magic

  to show they were doing anything.

  The magic ping meant someone was in the corridor helping them.

  He waited for the explosions from the fireballs to clear before he emptied the

  spitter in a side to side pattern. He saw more loot pop up, but the rocks also hit

  something beyond the wounded goblins he was shooting at in the dark. He could

  see the sparks.

  What had changed in the hall? He needed a light.

  “Where are you?,” asked Crow over their link.

  “Killing goblins,” said Nick to himself. He wished his magic allowed him something

  simple like a floating light ball. “They had a magician with them this time.”

  “What do you mean?,” asked Crow.

  “Someone did a magic spell in the corridor,” said Nick. “I don’t know what they did.

  I can’t see. I have to go back to the market and get a bird to throw up so I can

  mark their position.”

  “There is an entrance into the school like we thought?,” asked Crow.

  “Yes, but I don’t know where the exit is,” said Nick. “I am going back to the

  market to get that bird. Wait. I am going to try to get some things from the dead

  goblins first. Then the bird.”

  “Be careful,” said Crow.

  “I think I killed all of them,” said Nick. He walked forward. He sorted the loot,

  taking the spirit money without thinking about it. He marked out what he called

  sticky fire sticks in the pile. He added them to his spell selection and threw one

  ahead. It hit something about waist level and started burning. “Okay, I see what he

  did now.”

  “I’m listening,” said Crow.

  “He cut off the tunnel with a wall,” said Nick. “I have no way to cut through

  it and give chase. He left his dead and wounded behind and took the rest back

  to the other end of the tunnel.”

  “An earth magician,” said Crow.

  “At least proficient with a wall spell,” said Nick. “I hate to leave this loot here,

  but it’s no good to me with the enemy gone at the moment.”

  “They say we can ask Calliope to break open that wall if we want to chase the goblins

  down,” said Crow.

  Nick gave it some thought. He had nothing against goblins in general, but he didn’t

  like the way they kept coming at the academy. Did he want them roaming the castle,

  ambushing anyone who saw them searching for whatever they were searching for in

  the dark.

  “Are we working together on this?,” he asked.

  “Do you want to?,” asked Crow.

  “This might be dangerous,” said Nick. “I don’t think I would like anything happening

  to the rest of you.”

  “The next step is to find where the goblins are coming from, and you can’t break

  down the wall,” said Crow. “This is the only way, other than getting the school

  involved. The presence of a magician indicates they were right and the Warlord’s spy

  is in the school, so we can’t really trust the school faculty except for Madam Quince.”

  “All right,” said Nick. He looked at his sphere of influence. He marked the market on

  his map so she would see it. “I will meet you at the market. I am going to buy a bird

  now that I have enough money.”

  “All right,” said Crow. “I will talk to Calliope and try to get her to help us.”

  “If she won’t, tell Granny that I killed some more goblins under the school,” said

  Nick. “The staff can clean out the bodies.”

  “I understand,” said Crow.

  Nick found a box of armor and opened it. He applied the first set of three to make his

  skin harder. He kept the other nine in a charge pool in case he needed them. He found

  another charge box and stored it. Most of the rest he couldn’t use. He shook his head

  at not finding a bird in the pile of weapons and area effects.

  He would love to have the lightning, but what good would it do him down in the

  tunnels.

  He made his way back up to the main hall and headed down to the market. He saw

  Crow’s marker approaching. No one else lit up his sphere so the school was still

  asleep.

  Or at least no one was actively using magic close enough for him to see it.

  He entered the market and picked up a bird. It would be great to be able to store more

  than one, but the rules said no.

  He stepped out of the market. Crow, Calliope, and Will stood in the hall. He frowned,

  but decided he needed all the help he could get.

  “Crow said you needed help,” said Calliope. “I’m interested in why since you seem

  to be such a lone wolf.”

  “I just need a wall broken,” said Nick. He gestured for them to follow him. “I don’t

  know what I will find on the other side.”

  “Treasure?,” said Will.

  “Doubt it,” said Nick. He headed toward the battlefield, checking his spells as they

  hung around him. “Just stay behind me so I can shoot.”