Barius, still searching for an opening against his brother, hadn’t noticed yet. But Darnak did, and his head jerked up as he spotted the dragon sliding out of the water.

“Now there’s something I can be pummeling on,” he said. “Solve your problems quickly, boys. I’m off to tenderize myself some dragon steak.”

Barius finally saw the dragon. “We shall resolve this at a later time. For now, there is a common foe to slay.”

Twirling his club over his head, Darnak charged into the room toward the dripping dragon. Barius followed close behind, his knife looking like a joke before the dragon’s bulk.

Jig glanced at Riana. Their eyes met, and they nodded in silent agreement. Leaving the humans and dwarf to meet their respective painful deaths, they ran back down the tunnel as fast as their feet could move.

“A common foe to slay,” Riana gasped, mimicking the prince’s crystalline enunciation. “Though maybe Straum will laugh himself to death when he sees Barius’s weapon. I swear, it’s a wonder there are any humans left.”

Jig saved his energy for running, not talking. The tunnel was wide enough; he only bumped the walls twice in the darkness, neither time losing more than a bit of skin against the rock. Riana had a harder time, being less accustomed to darkness. She fell several times, cursing like a dwarf every time she scrambled back to her feet.

I should help her. But another part of Jig’s brain overruled that idea, the part that argued, If she’s behind me, that’s one more thing between me and the dragon. Not terribly noble, but he and Ryslind were in agreement on the usefulness of nobility. As Barius had so aptly demonstrated time after time, nobility was the first step toward suicide.

In this case, however, he might have been better off to wait for Riana after all, or even to let her go first. Yes, far better for him to have followed her out of the tunnel. That way she would be the one to face the large figure silhouetted against the mouth of the tunnel.

Jig clenched his teeth and ran faster, ignoring the cramps in his legs. He was short and skinny. Big creatures tended to be slow. If Jig was quick enough, maybe he could slip past the thing, whatever it was.

He wasn’t quick enough. Nor was this big thing at all slow. A long arm snapped out and caught the back of his loincloth so fast that Jig never saw the movement. He grunted as his rope belt bent him double and took his breath away. The arm lifted him effortlessly into the air. Jig grabbed at the creature, but it was awfully hard to get a good grip on something behind his back. He scraped the thing’s wrist and felt scales, but he couldn’t break free.