Gabriel punched his shoulder, giving Fort another bruise. “Guess I’m just more creative. Now let’s get a move on. We’re not going to rescue your dad just sitting around here.”

Something groaned from the corner, and Gabriel immediately tensed up, running over with his shield. Jia got a crazy look in her eye and followed right behind him as Rachel just stared at her in shock. “She’s losing her mind, but I kinda like it,” she whispered to Fort.

“All of you are losing your minds,” he told her, but moved quickly to see what was going on.

One of the red-goggled creatures was leaning against the wall. As Rachel brought her light closer, Fort saw that it wasn’t a monster at all, but instead, looked almost… human. A short human, at least. With just the hint of a beard, and—

“They’re dwarves!” Rachel shouted, bouncing up and down in excitement. “Are you seeing this? Real, actual, dwarves!” She sent her fireball flying around the room, revealing more of the creatures as it circled, then landing back in her hand. “Look at their beards! I wonder why they wear the goggles? This is so cool!” She leaned down and stared at the still-groaning dwarf, just inches from his face.

“Okay, let’s not play with them,” Jia said, pulling Rachel off of the dwarf.

Gabriel leaned in next, a curious look on his face. “Are they really dwarves? But why would they be here, with those monsters?”

Rachel shrugged. “We’re underground, and that’s sort of a traditional dwarf place to live. Look.” She pointed at the weapons strewn about the floor. “They’ve got pickaxes and stuff. Maybe they’re miners. Lots of dwarves are.”

“How do you know all of this?” Gabriel asked her.

“How do you not?” she said. “Isn’t it common knowledge?” She leaned over and pulled Jia’s hands back as the other girl started healing the dwarf. “Um, what are you doing?”

“Curing the disease I gave this one,” Jia said, looking confused. “We can’t just leave them here like this. What if they’re hurt?”

“They tried to kill us,” Rachel said.

“Only in self-defense,” Jia pointed out. “Fort, were they hurting you before we got here?”

Fort shook his head. “Not really. Threatening a little. But some of them wanted me to escape, before their masters heard I was here.” He shivered. “That’s what they called the Old Ones.”

Jia’s hands flew into the air, the healing energy disappearing. “Okay, maybe we do just leave them as is. No one said anything about Old Ones.”