Mouse’s boots thudded against the frozen soil. He stood, turning back to where the rest of the mercenaries awaited above the den’s entrance. Field knelt down over the ledge Mouse had dropped down, trying to peer into the darkness ahead of him.

  “Let me guess,” Field sighed, scratching his beard, “not afraid of the dark, huh?”

  Mouse tilted his head. “Why should I be?”

  Field looked at him a moment, rocked his head to the side a few times before agreeing with Mouse. “Gimme a sec’, I’ll light something for the rest of us.”

  Mouse waited for a long five seconds, several seconds longer than requested, before starting down the tunnel. As it wasn’t complete darkness like his time in the mine, he could make out subtle shadows and the smallest fragments of light off of stones, mud, and whatever else there could be in a burrowed tunnel.

  The tunnel declined steeply just out of easy sight, and the treads of Mouse’s boots slipped a ways before dropping another meter down. He held up a hand to the mercenaries. Their continued steps irked him until light shone over his open hand and he realized they couldn’t see as far ahead as he stood.

  “It’s steep, be careful. And there’s a drop here.” A lantern rested near the top of the slope, and Mouse turned to see Field pause at his warning.

  “Ah, it goes deep, then?”

  Mouse nodded, looking towards the dug cavern’s downward trend. “It goes deeper from here, too.”

  Field picked up the lantern with a sigh. “I’m too old for this,” he muttered, shifting behind Mouse.

  The light flickered over the tunnel’s walls, and Mouse caught the imprint of claws and scrapes along it. Beneath his feet, tracks of elongated toes and pecks of talons dotted the mud. Neither of the demons they fought had the features to make such marks. He listened, shutting out the voices of the mercenaries.

  Nothing echoed ahead, and the quiet paused him. Where were the demons that made these marks, if not here? Something unsettled him. How did demons dig the tunnel, too, was a question he didn’t have an answer for. These demons didn’t have the intelligence for something like this.

  The demon that stared down Taiga and feared him with fire came to mind.

  That one, perhaps, could’ve organized a simple plan like this.

  He froze, thinking back to the incident. He wasn’t on the team in charge of investigating it and never thought twice about it since, but—

  “Field,” Mouse turned to the gruff man as he slid down beside him, “what happened to the demons that retreated from Winolin after the attack?”

  The man blinked at him a moment, taking a swig from whatever was in his canteen. “Phew, from a few months ago? They were hunted down over the few weeks that followed. Why?”

  “Are we sure all of them were caught?”

  They’d focused for so long on the imbalance, on the Guardian Spirits. But this tunnel was not the work of one or two demons. And it required organization. For it to neither collapse nor be abandoned…

  “Alright, hold on,” Long Haired cut in, “we find a few demons, manage to kill them, enter a spooky, dark, muddy tunnel, and you decide to bring up that terrifying incident? As if this situation wasn’t scary enough??”

  Mouse shrugged. “What’s scary?”

  “It’s like you’re cursing us!” Short Haired chimed in, nodding to his friend. “Even if… if a few demons got away, you’re saying they came back? And are what, planning another attack??”

  “Demons don’t plan.” Telania pushed past them, side-stepping Mouse and pressing further into the tunnel, shining her lantern. “They’re just beasts. You give them too much credit.”

  Mouse walked on, letting her and Field take the lead. Ku came up beside Mouse, eyes following the markings on the wall. “I see five different tracks in this tunnel. It looks like a plan to me.”

  At least one of these humans had any sense.

  “Look, Ku, you’re young. When you’ve seen what I have, and lived on the battlefield long enough,” Telania turned back towards them, shooting a glare at Mouse, “you learn to tell beasts apart.”

  Mouse held eye contact with her. This time, she refused to break first. Foolish, really. Realistically, he could hold his eyes open longer than humans. But he wanted her to break before she pushed too far.

  “Really? Because from what I’ve seen, the only thing you’re capable of is pissing off the wrong person.”

  She let out a laugh, but the sharpness in his tone must’ve been warning enough. By now, the story of how he handled the Ravenguild should’ve reached even her ears. She looked away and stepped two paces ahead, saying nothing in response.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  But she didn’t need to say anything. Her tightened posture, hard steps, and short breath told him all he needed to know. And he smiled. She was scared of him. It was only her hypocritic hatred for him that kept her tongue loose.

  The tense and uneasy steps from the other mercenaries followed behind them. No one said anything afterwards, though Field gave Mouse several quick glances while they walked in silence. The slope steepened and Long Haired slipped down it on a slick patch of mud. Mouse let him fall, and the mercenary landed squarely on his back.

  Short Haired helped him up. “I don’t know how we’re getting back out of here.”

  “I brought rope,” Ku replied, patting his bag.

  Then the silence resumed until Telania and Field came to a halt ahead of them. Mouse peered around them. “What happened?”

  “It’s a deadend.” Field stepped towards the wall, letting the mercenaries behind him get a look.

  The back of the tunnel was unpolished, unlike the walls, and crudely pushed into place. Some small boulders were left stacked into a pile in the corner. But otherwise, nothing of note. Mouse knelt down beside the pile, picking up a couple rocks and turning them over in his hand. They were local, probably found while digging the tunnel.

  “So we came all this way for a deadend?” Short Haired huffed, though his relief was unmistakable.

  “This is a good sign.” Ku studied the claw marks on the walls. “It means there’s no more demons in here. When we get back to the surface, we can take another look around the area, see if we find any more, and report back our findings.”

  “Surprisingly anticlimactic.” Long Haired turned back toward the slope upward. “And a long way back.”

  “Stop complaining!” Telania snapped at him, starting on the hill. “And hurry up. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”

  Mouse hopped up the hill, using stones embedded in the mud to hoist himself up. The others may have considered his agility suspicious. But so what? The faster they were out, the better.

  Then he could hurry back to Taiga, where eyes didn’t watch his every move and no one flinched when he spoke. Screw the mission, the mercenaries, and the demons. All of Winolin could go up in flames, for he cared.

  Well, no. That wasn’t true. Taiga needed the warmth of the guildhall to make it through the winter. He supposed if Winolin did go up in flames, he preferred it would be when spring came and they’d left this damned city.

  As they approached the exit, Mouse slowed his pace. Not for himself, but rather for the mercenaries who lagged behind, breathing haggard breaths and movement sloppy-ing the further out of the tunnel they climbed. Field declared a break at the halfway point, though it didn’t improve any of their speed at which they climbed the muddy tunnel.

  “How can you…” Long Haired ventured as Mouse hopped up towards the last slope. “How are you not out of breath? Please, share your secret.”

  Mouse paused, wondering how to answer, when Telania cut in. “Oh, it’s simple. Just be an abomination of the world—”

  “Tel!” Field snapped at her.

  “—tossing vague threats and glares around while really being nothing more than a pathetic worm.”

  Mouse halted his steps, turning back towards her. Field’s mouth sat agape while Ku, Short Haired, and Long Haired looked between them in confusion. Her eyes hung on his, a dagger sitting behind them.

  And he laughed.

  Because how fucking dare she.

  “What, think you’re threatening, do you? I came out here and helped, taking down a demon that would have used your bones as a toothpick, and,” he took a step back down the slope, directly in her path, “you think I’m the abomination? When you can’t even show your appreciation?”

  She said nothing in reply, and Mouse turned back towards the tunnel entrance. Field told her to calm down, but she apparently didn’t heed his words, because she continued on regardless. “I don’t know how Taiga stands you. Or maybe he can’t, considering how hard it must be to control a beast like—”

  Mouse whirled around, took two large steps to Telania, stuck one foot behind hers, and shoved her back. His foot kept her from catching herself, and she fell freely from the steep slope.

  He caught her arm, squeezing tighter than necessary, and gripped the handle of his sword with his free hand. He slid it out partway, and she, suspended from falling only by his hand, eyed him with terror, watching the hand on his sword.

  “You run your mouth an awful lot,” he growled at her, “for someone so easily extinguished.”

  How dare she utter his fucking name with her fucking mouth?

  How dare she say Taiga didn’t like him when she knew nothing?

  Nothing at all.

  He’d kill her.

  He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her. He’d kill her.

  “Mouse!” Field’s arm grabbed his, a furrowed brow and panicked eyes pleading.

  There are too many witnesses.

  They’d get kicked out of the guild if they found out. Then Taiga wouldn’t have somewhere to stay warm.

  In the depths of a memory he could never forget, Taiga’s collapsed, young body laid in the snow. His fingers and arms had frozen. His bark cracked his skin, crawling across a third of his body and hardened over an eye. The life in him, fleeting.

  No.

  He slid his sword back into place.

  He had to keep Taiga safe. He couldn’t make Taiga suffer. He couldn’t let Taiga freeze. He had to protect him, no matter what. Because Taiga was everything.

  “Mouse,” Field said, more sternly this time, still gripping the arm holding Telania’s life in his hands.

  Mouse studied her. Telania’s eyes hated him for reasons beyond Mouse’s control. But her body betrayed her hatred, trembling in a fear he caused. That he enjoyed. He pulled, yanking her forward and back onto steady feet.

  Field released him, grabbing Telania and holding her steady on the steep slope. Mouse turned from her, a hand gripping the spot Field touched. Disgust clung to his skin, despite the gloves, cloak, and tunic protecting it from direct touch.

  He hated these humans.

  He wanted to see Taiga.

  Mouse hurried out of the cave and didn’t look back once.