Dragon’s Teeth? “Take me there!” Fort said, and tried to stand up, but the blade at his neck just pushed in harder, and he winced. “I have to find him, and I’ll do anything. Please take me to Dragon’s Teeth. See? I’m putting down my weapons and everything.”

He laid his staff and bow down on the ground. For the first time he realized he must have lost his bag of protein bars somewhere in all the falling back in the cavern of the monsters, but that didn’t matter, not if these things were going to take him to his father right away.

The red-eyed creatures went silent for a moment. “You can’t be thinking of taking him,” said a new voice, higher-pitched than the rest, if only slightly. “He doesn’t know what he’s asking. We have to let him go before they—”

“Quiet, boy,” another said. “Those who haven’t been through the ritual haven’t yet earned a say. I think the masters might be pleased if we take him to Dragon’s Teeth. It’d be like our present to them. They might bless us.”

“Those masters have only cursed you!” shouted the higher-pitched voice. “You’re all fools if you don’t see what those monsters have done to you.”

The others growled in low, ugly tones. “Don’t be talking about the Old Ones that way, whelp,” one said.

“You haven’t been through the ritual yet,” another said, more kindly. “That’s when your eyes will open fully. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“I understand more than you think,” the young one said. “And I’m not going to help you take another human to Dragon’s Teeth. Not again.”

“Keep talking like this, and you’ll be next,” one of the older ones said.

This was rapidly getting out of hand, and the last thing Fort wanted was for the one creature sticking up for him to get punished. “It’s okay!” he shouted. “There’s no need to argue. I want to go. Just tell me where it is, and I’ll come along quietly, I promise.”

Back in the cavern, the monsters were roaring louder than ever, and the red eyes around him started to notice. “What’s got the Dracsi all riled up?” one asked. The blade bit into his neck again, and Fort hissed in pain. “Are there more of you, human? Tell the truth!”

“No, I promise, I’m alone,” Fort said.

“Well, not exactly,” said a voice that Fort really, really didn’t want to hear right now.

Another fireball hit the ceiling, blinding him along with the red-eyed creatures this time. The blade disappeared from his neck as something swung over Fort’s head, the wind tousling his hair. He ducked to avoid whatever it was, and watched one of the monsters go flying into a cave wall.