“Don’t listen to her,” Colt was saying as he came out of the dungeon.

  “Why not?” Kat raised her eyebrows at him, obviously noticing his red face.

  “I didn’t say anything,” Lacey shrugged, but she was barely muffling her laughter.

  “You didn’t?” Colt skidded to a stop.

  “She didn’t,” Bernard assured Colt quietly. “The morning seemed to go fairly well. The messengers to the city have been sent off with updates. Most are pleasantly surprised at the experience and loot.”

  “But why are they surprised?” Lacey cut through the politicking. “Haven’t your reports told them what to expect?”

  “That did occur to me as well,” Bernard nodded, turning to stroll toward the wall as they usually did during these outings. “I take it that you noticed the odd behavior of the newest recruits.”

  “We noticed,” Colt took Kat’s hand, but instead of heading off in a different direction to do their own thing, he tugged her lightly into following along with Lacey and Bernard.

  “You don’t have to come with us,” Lacey smirked at Colt, who sent her a glare.

  “We are just as interested in the business side of this as you are, and I’m concerned,” Colt countered.

  “Of course, we are,” Kat’s puzzled gaze went from Lacey to Colt and back again. “I talked with a few of the new people and a few of them are players, not just NPCs. They were mostly tight-lipped.”

  “That is interesting,” Bernard led them along the now-imposing wall that looked like it had been there forever, moss growing over some of the lower stones. “I spoke with one of the higher-leveled Knights that I served with back in Hamburg. He would only say that there was chatter on the journey to the dungeon. Something to do with coddling and death rates that were higher than predicted or reported.”

  “But our death rates are pretty low,” Lacey put Spark down in the grass. The path around the inside of the wall was beaten down, but grass dotted the sides of the path and Spark used the taller parts of the grass to stalk Shadow.

  “That is what I told him, but he seemed skeptical,” Bernard reported, nimbly side-stepping Beka’s awkward following of her buddy Spark.

  “There are only your reports and the messenger that you sent back, aren’t there?” Kat said, watching Shadow closely as Spark got a little bowled over by Beka’s enthusiasm.

  “I’m afraid that the others we’ve sent back may not have the best reports of us or the dungeon,” Bernard frowned. “They are the ones we’ve kicked out and probably have a negatively warped view of our operation. I don’t think it was the messenger as much as it was the lower levels I sent back with him.”

  “Maybe we should talk with the messenger and see if he knows what was talked about,” Lacey suggested.

  Spark took that moment to pounce on Shadow’s swishing tail, something Shadow and Spark had done often. Spark scrambled up the tail onto the big cat’s shoulder. Unfortunately, Beka tried to follow Spark like she always did. While Spark and Beka had the camaraderie of fellow-dungeon-creatures, Beka did not enjoy the same safety with Shadow, Kat’s familiar. Beka slid into Shadow’s hind leg and was met with a toothy snarl from Shadow that came between Beka and Spark.

  “No, Shadow,” Kat tried just as Colt swooped in to get between the big cat and his puppy.

  It was a good thing that Shadow wasn’t still that level 72 familiar. He took a swipe at the puppy and got Colt’s shoulder instead. It was obviously meant to be a light warning, but it was enough to knock him over and into the grass. Beka, not liking that it seemed that the big cat had attacked her human, started barking and snarling back at Shadow. It didn’t help that Colt and Lacey were incredibly vulnerable in their current condition.

  Kat acted fast, shouldering herself between the two pets with a leather-clad forearm taking the brunt of Beka’s surge forward, and her back stopping Shadow’s lunge. Lacey plucked a confused Spark off Shadow’s back and barely missed a swipe from Shadow, who had turned to protect her flank. It took Colt a moment longer to roll back up onto his feet and grab Beka.

  “I’m sorry,” he was saying, a wriggling Beka in his arms. “She got along so well with Spark that I didn’t think…”

  “I’m sorry,” Kat said over the top of him. “Shadow’s been a bit defensive since he lost so many levels.”

  “Is everyone okay?” Bernard knelt down, but he was back far enough to not get caught in the middle. “Do I need to call for a healer?”

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  “I’m fine,” Kat assured them all. “Colt, are you wounded?”

  “Only my pride,” he muttered around Beka, who was still wiggling, “and I don’t think a healer can help with that.”

  “Maybe I can help with that later,” Kat smiled at him with a tilt of her head.

  “I’m sure you can,” Lacey bit her lip.

  “Colt,” Bernard became more serious. “You appear to be bleeding.”

  “Really?” Colt rolled his shoulder to look over it. “It doesn’t feel bad. Besides, I know that Shadow didn’t mean it.”

  Shadow plopped down into a sulking sit, Kat’s arms falling away slowly. Lacey looked up to find that they had gathered a small group of lookie-loos.

  “He says he’s sorry,” Kat moved toward where Colt sat on the grass.

  “At least you can talk and reason with yours,” Colt’s mouth twisted into a half smile. He still held Beka, but now that he’d noticed the blood on his shoulder through the hole in his shirt, he winced when she wiggled.

  “You there,” Bernard stood and pointed at one of the whispering gawkers. “Get Fen.”

  “I’m fine,” Colt protested.

  “The dungeon masters can be hurt?” Lacey heard a speculative whisper from the crowd, but she couldn’t place where it had come from.

  “It’s a simple Heal spell,” Bernard leaned forward to offer his hand for Beka to sniff.

  “Fine,” Colt agreed, but Lacey wondered how wise the offer was.

  “They’re human,” another whisper made Lacey frown.

  “I hear it too,” Kat murmured low enough for only Lacey to hear. Kat looked at Shadow for a long moment and then the cat got up to stalk off into the crowd. “Shadow’s sniffing around in the crowd.”

  “Maybe we should head back to the dungeon early,” Lacey offered.

  “What?” Colt perked up at that, but not in a good way. “No, we just got here.”

  Kat and Colt had a quick whispered conversation as Lacey watched the crowd both for Shadow and for a face that looked scheming or discontented. She had almost forgotten that they were vulnerable out of the dungeon, without even a few minions to protect them. Bernard was looking for the healer and seemed unaware of the crowd as a danger to Lacey and Colt. Maybe he too had become complacent with the friendly nature of their relationships or felt more secure behind the walls that were supposed to protect them all, but Lacey felt stupid for letting her guard down.

  “Fen!” Bernard motioned a man over. “We had a little scrape. Would you mind casting a small heal?”

  “Of course, sir,” the healer knelt next to Colt and cast a spell that glowed on Colt’s shoulder.

  “Wow, that feels great,” Colt joked at the healer, who had been ready to cast another spell.

  “It only took one spell?” Fen frowned and examined Colt’s fully healed shoulder.

  “Better safe than sorry,” Bernard beamed at them, clapping Fen on the shoulder.

  “As you say,” Fen smiled and gave a nod before backing away from them.

  “Safe,” Lacey muttered, scanning the faces and finding no one who blatantly looked like a dissenter. “I’m not feeling all that safe, Bernard.”

  Bernard’s smile remained without care, “Of course, if you are concerned about the cat and dog getting along, we could walk back over toward the dungeon.” With a softer voice, he said, “Let’s get you two home.”

  Bernard leaned down to give Colt a hand up. Kat took Beka from Colt so Colt could get back to his feet. Lacey wasn’t concerned over the pets, but rather the speculative looks on the faces of those watching the incident. The logic of it all annoyed Lacey. Invulnerability was only available once they’d already reached a higher level and perhaps needed it less. Why wouldn’t the system protect them more at the lower levels. It was like running up on a camp of Goblins with the baby ones out near the perimeter rather than protected by the Fighters. It was a good model for leveling up characters in a game, but it was silly from a realistic perspective.

  The four of them walked back to the dungeon entrance, Bernard smiling and carrying on an inane conversation that Lacey wasn’t interested in hearing. Once again, they were facing strangers, and once again the strangers were a danger to them and the dungeon. Just a little misunderstanding between their pets had caused some kind of incident that allowed someone to plot against them.

  Once back at the entrance, Shadow slid up against Colt and he reached down to pet the panther. Beka, still in Kat’s arms, wriggled a bit at the big cat’s nuzzle, but was otherwise far more playful than aggressive. Beka had only been protective, and Shadow had just been asserting himself as the dominant of the group. It had taken Spark to be the instigator of mischief, and even she hadn’t been trying to cause any trouble. And yet, Lacey could imagine that the incident was being whispered about all through the camp of adventurers.

  “I will do damage control,” Bernard assured her quietly in an aside as Kat and Colt worked to make Shadow and Beka more comfortable with each other. “I promise you that.”

  “Did you hear the speculation?” Lacey demanded, petting Spark, who was now sulking at being unable to play with her friends. Lacey didn’t need her causing any more trouble.

  “I heard it,” Bernard admitted. “There are almost twice as many adventurers here than there were before, and it is taking time to get to know them. Were there any incidents during the incursion?”

  “No,” Lacey looked down and away. “It went like clockwork.”

  “Do you have enough dungeon closure coupons?” Bernard asked.

  “Plenty,” Lacey nodded, and it was true. Bernard and the adventurers had been very generous with the coupons, mostly because they were worthless to the adventurers. A lot of them used the closure and break coupons for the gauntlets.

  “I apologize for this disturbance to our routine,” Bernard’s tone was low and gentle. “I will have guards posted when you leave the dungeon next. I was lax, but I won’t be again.”

  “It’s silly,” Lacey shook her head and met his eyes. “We’re safer than we’ve ever been and that’s thanks to you and Kat. I’m just overreacting.”

  “I understand that you feel vulnerable, and that’s my fault,” Bernard insisted.

  “It’s not,” Lacey shook off her nerves, cursing at herself for being such a pansy. “Sure, Colt and I could be assassinated out here, but it’s so unlikely as to be ridiculous. I’m just being paranoid.”

  It was true, but some part of Lacey still worried. She had to remind herself that even if they did get some overzealous party trying to break the dungeon, they could close it and force them out. No one could sneak in without the dungeon going red. They hadn’t even had a single event since Kat’s Dad had left that was even remotely threatening, at least not overtly. What pissed Lacey off was that she was still acting like she was vulnerable. Logic said that she wasn’t. Why did her stomach have to insist that she was?