With nothing else to examine, Thesa led the party through the wooden door into a cramped corridor. Thesa found herself unexpectedly relieved to be free of the odorous yellow color of the secret chamber.

  The corridor extended briefly forward before turning to the left and then the right. At a few places, collapsed walls revealed more of the castle’s main interior, but that was not where they were headed and besides the place already seemed to have been well-looted.

  As they wandered another long corridor, Thesa bemoaned the lack of forks in their immediate vicinity. If they could split into smaller groups, each could remain inconspicuous like they had at times in Blinny [Dungeon], but in this tight space every shuffle called attention to them. Of course, it was possible there was nothing to worry about.

  ***

  Something breathed unnoticed behind a wall.

  ***

  The narrow passageway came to an equally narrow stairwell. By this time, Thesa’s [Infravision] had activated. No sunlight could reach this far nor around so many turns. Still, her [Infravision] was only so helpful. She could see the heat of her friends, but the walls and floor were cold and even if there was something beyond them the heat would need to be strong to be visible through a wall like that.

  A few steps down, Thesa called back to her comrades. “The steps just stop. There’s a huge drop.”

  A frayed rope hung from the handrail and disappeared in the darkness below.

  “I can help with that,” Merijest replied. She descended the stairs until she was squeezing past Thesa. She lingered in that place for a moment, looking at her [Witch]. “Good work, kitten.” The demoness took Thesa’s hand and led her off the last step. As they descended, Merijest pulled her [Witch] into an embrace, the extent of her wings was horizontally limited but still offered a slower descent into the darkness.

  Thesa stared in awe at her demoness. Was now a weird time to kiss her? Noticing the attention, Merijest smirked. “See something you like?”

  Thesa averted her eyes and looked down past their feet. Still no sign of a landing. Then she looked back at Merijest whose eyebrows had raised. Maybe that hadn’t been a veiled criticism… Thesa thought. Maybe…maybe this is flirting. But then what do I say back? How do people flirt?

  “Uh…yeah… what are you going to do…about it?” Thesa said, not liking her choice of response even as it left her mouth. What if this stock-reply doesn’t properly reflect me as a person?

  Stolen story; please report.

  Merijest held in a laugh as Thesa went through the awkward motions of blushing with anxious facial expressions into a stammered reply into more transparently worried expressions. She didn’t want to discourage Thesa’s efforts.

  “Are you challenging me?” the demoness replied. She smiled wide, showing off her sharp, canine teeth.

  Thesa figured she was keeping it together pretty well on the outside, but internally she felt her body reacting in a hundred different directions. Among…other things…her mouth was dry. There was a warmth in her chest but also a twist of panic in her stomach as she formulated her next response.

  “And what if I wa–woah!” Thesa hadn’t noticed the approaching ground. She stumbled as her feet landed.

  Merijest twirled a strand of Thesa’s hair around one of her fingers and kissed her on the cheek.

  From far above, Witmie’s voice echoed. “Hey did you two die or are you making out again?”

  Brrruw, Frostbite murmured from Thesa's shoulder. The rough landing had woken it from a nap.

  Merijest ferried the rest of the party down.

  ***

  At the bottom of the drop, the tunnel started up again. This time even more narrow, sometimes seemingly by design and other times due to cave-ins and debris. Still a path existed, however constricting. The tunnel had not fallen into complete disuse.

  “I’m going to have a harder time if this keeps up,” Thesa said. The [Witch]’s frame was bulky with muscle and fat, not to mention her armor. Even Witmie, the thinnest of the group, was at risk of getting stuck in some places.

  “Best if we don’t get too aggressive with this or we risk a cave-in,” Merijest said as she shrunk considerably to accommodate the tunnel. She was half Thesa’s height, though she admitted the compressed form was draining her magic. “My ice magic might help with the structural integrity so I’ll cast while you all dig. But Yabba’s digging would probably be too powerful.”

  Yabba simply creaked in response. Its inability to squeeze was becoming a real obstacle in this instance.

  Internally, Thesa was losing it at how cute Merijest was at this smaller size. Externally she was trying and failing to hide this reaction.

  “I didn’t expect we would be digging so much,” Witmie said. “Maybe one of us needs to pick up a skill for this stuff.”

  “I’ll keep an eye out,” Durn replied. “There might be some spells related to erosion that I could learn.”

  ***

  Something slid, unnoticed, down the frayed rope.

  ***

  The tunnel ended at a shoddy wooden door. As Yabba crawled through the final squeeze of the tunnel, the party hoped for a less claustrophobic area behind the door.

  Thesa reached for the handle, but stopped momentarily when she heard something on the other side. It was almost like breathing. The Foxtapus and Bronze Motif hesitated at the back of the party, not wishing to enter the room.

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