A flick of the knife sent a ball of water at the Bunnyling, knocking it off its feet before it could jump. Tibs dodged another, flicking another ball of water, but at the floor this time, so that the Bunnyling would land on ice. He threw his air knife at it. Despite the slippery floor the Bunnyling jumped out of the way, but with a flick of Tibs’s finger, the knife changed trajectory and slammed onto the creature’s back.

He grinned, focusing on calling the knife back―then he was on the ground, concentration broken by the pain in his shoulder. He turned and wrapped his fist in fire as he punched the Bunnyling off him. The pain was sharp, but his shoulder worked, so the armor and ice combination were effective.

Tibs got to his feet, assessing the battle.

Jackal and Khumdar were in the center, punching, kicking, and staffing the Bunnylings to death. Carina, Mez, and him were at the outside, picking targets as they became available. Or, as had just happened to him, defending against those that tried to remove them from the battle. As he watched, a creature leaped in Carina’s direction. She motioned and air wrapped around it, stopping its motion and holding it there for Mez’s arrow to explode it.

Tibs needed to learn how to do that.

He’d already tried a few things, now that he didn’t have to worry about his essence. He’d done his flick attack, using the other essences instead of water, but none of them had resulted in anything positive. The fire attempt had left his knife burned and melted and his hand was still painful from that.

Another Bunnyling ran at him, but Tibs was ready, picking up the short sword that had appeared after he’d killed an earlier Bunnyling, instead of the usual silver coin. He used earth to strengthen himself and block the claws, then slashed with the sword in return. His slash connected solidly, and the added strength sent the creature sliding back. It exploded as it got to its feet. Tibs nodded a thanks to Mez before running forward, calling the air knife to his hand, then throwing it at a Bunnyling that was running for Khumdar’s back.

He hit it without having to use essence.

Tibs stopped and watched it dissolve. Then he was on his back, pain exploding in his chest, and barely putting an ice-covered arm between him and the savagely biting creature on top of him.

A Bunnyling hit it, sending them away.

“If you’re going to get in close range,” the fighter yelled, “then focus on the Bunnylings attacking you, not the ones dying!”

Tibs got to his feet and aimed an open palm at a Bunnyling in mid-lead. He formed the whirlwind pattern Carina had used, but he had trouble holding it. The result only caused the creature to land in a heap, instead of getting thrown back. Still, it was better than his first attempt.

He did it again.

No one was in dire need of help and no Bunnylings were running at him, so this was a good time to add training. He was missing something in how Carina used the essence, as it wouldn’t gain the sharpness hers had. The Bunnyling getting to its feet and glaring at Tibs forced a decision, and instead of simply dropping the attack, he added water to it, since that was an essence he knew well.

Instead of sending ice shrapnel at the Bunnyling, the essences interfered with each other and the whole thing exploded before Tibs, cutting him. The creature took advantage of his mishap to run at him.

Cursing, Tibs grabbed a knife off his belt and threw it. When the knife didn’t change direction at his command, Tibs realized that in his rush, he’d grabbed the wrong one.

Khumdar stepped between him and the Bunnyling, his staff slamming into the creature and sending the head flying.

“Do pay attention, Tibs.” Then the cleric was back in the fray.

Okay, no more trying stuff. He joined the fight using the sword.

* * * * *

They looked around, searching for more attackers. Even Jackal was panting from exertion.

“Any more?” the fighter asked Tibs.

Tibs focused on his essence. There was his team; Khumdar had a break in his left forearm and more bruises than Tibs could count. The others only had minor injuries. He didn’t sense anything under the floor, but he couldn’t sense the entire room, so he walked a slow circuit. There was a chance enemies would move to remain outside his range, but they’d have to know what it was.

Sto knew his range was large, but Tibs didn’t think the dungeon could sense what it was since Tibs wasn’t actively using essence to do this.

“We’re good,” he said once he was back at his starting point.

Jackal grinned. “That we are.” His skin regained its usual tan coloration.

Tibs checked his reserves. His use of essence during the fight was barely noticeable. He smiled, then stopped. He couldn’t get overconfident. The bracers meant he could do much more, but if he was careless with his essence, he could still run out.

He’d have to work at it pretty hard, but he could do it.

“You got distracted,” Carina reproached.

“I was trying stuff.” He made the small whirlwind and tried to correct the fuzziness in the essence.

She smiled but shook her head. “A fight isn’t the time to experiment, Tibs.”

He shrugged. “I just got these reserves. There’s no better time than now to—”

“No, Tibs.” All amusement was gone. “Now isn’t the time. The whirlwind that exploded in your hand; it hurt you. Why?”

He bit his lower lip. He hadn’t realized she’d noticed that. That was stupid; air was her element. She’d probably felt everything he tried with it. “I can’t get it to feel like yours. I thought that adding water would help, since I’m more familiar with it.”

“You got lucky that’s all that happened. Mixing essences isn’t something novices are allowed to do without good reasons. I’m not even there yet. And the time to practice is definitely not when you have to focus elsewhere. Getting yourself killed because you let your curiosity distract you won’t help you master any of this.”

Tibs wanted to protest. It wasn’t like he had died. But he could see she wouldn’t take that response well. He was saved from having to work one out by Jackal calling to him.

“Tibs, you do the warren. The rest of us will go over the remains in the room.”

He gave Carina a shrug and joined the fighter.

“You need to find a way to get yourself smaller so I don’t have to do all of it by myself.”

“Not something earth lets me do.” Jackal grinned and slammed a foot on a warren door, breaking. “But I’m great at opening doors.”

“I could have lifted it open,” Tibs said.

“But this looks cooler.”

“Not really,” Sto commented, and Tibs chuckled.

“What?” Jackal asked.

“The dungeon doesn’t agree.”

“Well, until it comes down here and fights me, I think I’m the better authority on what looks cool.”

Sto let out a thoughtful hum and Tibs froze in the process of getting into the warren.

“You have him thinking,” he said, concerned.

In response, Jackal’s grin broadened.

Tibs dropped, then moved forward in a crouch, grumbling. Had Sto made these smaller since the last time?

Instead of only relying on his eyes, this time he used earth essence to feel the walls as he made his way. When he felt the first hidden door, he wasn’t surprised he’d missed it the previous time—if it had even been there. The tunnel’s walls were uneven and looked to have been carved out of the stone with claws, making the edge blend into the wall. When he opened it, the pivot point was two-thirds of the way, instead of the side. Just like the tiles, even if this door was in the rough wall.

He thought it made sense for floor tiles, since the added weight on one side made them easier to lift, but he didn’t understand why it was like that here. It opened to a room with pallets to sleep on. It reminded Tibs of the barracks he’d slept in before getting his team and taking a room of their own. He found bags next to each containing what could have been the pallet’s owner’s possessions, if they weren’t simply creatures made by Sto to challenge Runners. He had a handful of coins, mostly copper, with a few silver. A knife with fire essence woven through it. Vials of greenish potions that were probably healing, as well as clothing with varying essences woven through them.

He surfaced long enough to drop them off, then went back to searching the warren. It was extensive, with rooms for groups to gather and cook, eat, and be social. Except for the barrack-style sleeping arrangement, the whole thing reminded Tibs of the Ratling camp. He dropped off what he found when he had to. By the time he was done, he agreed with something Jackal had said. Sto needed to make them some kind of bag that was larger inside, like the Loot chests, so he could clear the warren in one go. This took too long.

When he returned with the last of what he’d found, Jackal announced they had four golds worth in coin, a lot in copper, so the stacks were large. They had one and eight vials of healing potions, plus one that had a blue liquid in it. Carina thought it was something to wash away their exhaustion, but when she offered it to Jackal, the fighter took a step back.

The items they’d gained were mainly small. Clothing, with and without essence, included gloves rogues wore when working with traps that could have poisons or blades as part of the mechanism; thin leather instead of cloth.

They drank a healing potion each and put away the rest.

“On to the hall?” Mez asked, smiling as he tapped his bow.

“I don’t think the dungeon will let you deactivate the trap again,” Carina said, and the archer shrugged.

When they reached the start of the trapped hall, Tibs stopped and looked it over. It looked the same, up to the pedestal on the other end, waiting for someone to press it.

“It can’t be that simple, can it?” Carina asked.

Tibs sensed through the hall as far as he could. The trigger lines felt closer together and the space between them tighter. He wasn’t sure Jackal could make the path, even if he was agile enough. He broke the closest one and instead of a wall of spears going from one end of the corridor to the other; the spears came out randomly throughout it.

“A team figured out they could get across by using the time it takes the spears to reset between waves,” Sto said.

Tibs wished he’d thought about that, but he could see advantages to randomness.

“The pedestal is too far,” Tibs said as the other waited.

Mez shrugged and raised his bow. “I guess the dungeon decided to make our lives easier after the bunnies.” He released the arrow, but it shattered on something Tibs couldn’t see before reaching the pedestal.

“Yeah,” Jackal said. “The dungeon’s not in the habit of making things easier.”

“Give me a minute,” Mez said, studying the hall, then notched another arrow. He fired it at the wall and it bounced off it, but it missed the pedestal.

“I didn’t think you could do that with arrows,” Tibs said, awed.

“You need good quality arrows. The common ones you get from the guild will shatter even with this shallow of an angle.” He fired again, and this arrow broke on the wall. “If this is going to be standard, I’m going to need to find a merchant selling harder arrows.” He notched another one.

“You don’t get any harder than Metal,” Jackal said.

“Metal’s too heavy.” Mez let it go. It bounced off the wall, then hit the unseen obstacle before the pedestal.

“Can you not get an item that would add a hardening enchantment to your arrows?” Khumdar asked. “Even should it make it metal, I do not believe such a metal would add any weight, as it would still be essence.” The cleric looked at Carina.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I haven’t read anything on that subject.”

“Getting that would be prohibitively expensive.” That arrow hit the side of the pedestal, breaking. “Good, at least now I know whatever that is doesn’t go around the pedestal.”

“How long is this going to take?” Jackal asked impatiently.

“Less time than me trying to go through the maze,” Tibs answered, giving the fighter a look. “It’s not just having to avoid touching the trigger walls, there’s barely any space to turn around, and in just what I can sense, there were multiple dead-ends and false paths.”

Jackals raised his hands to placate him.

“You’re down to five arrows,” Carina said. “Maybe you should practice with fire arrows instead?”

Mez thought about it. “My worry with that is that if I hit the plate with a fire arrow, it’s going to destroy it. Then this will have been wasted time.” He aimed, then let go. The arrow bounced off the wall and hit the top of the pedestal. Close enough that Tibs thought he’d hit the plate. “Okay, one more. If I miss, I’m leaving this to you, Tibs.”

Tibs nodded and considered what he could do to improve his chances as he searched for the right path.

Alistair said that suffusing his body with water essence would make him more slippery; let him move like water. Would that make him more agile and flexible? Too bad he couldn’t do it, with his essence already suffusing his body.

The trigger lines vanished with a distant thunk.

“Did it work?” Mez asked.

“This isn’t supposed to be an archery contest,” Sto grumbled.

“It did,” Tibs said. “But it’s probably the last time. This isn’t how he wants us to cross it.

“The dungeon doesn’t like being outsmarted?” Jackal asked, grinning and starting to walk.

“This isn’t outsmarting me,” Sto huffed as a reply.

“No, he doesn’t,” Tibs translated as he followed the fighter.

“Do you think it’s going to make us pay for it by making the boss-room harder?” Carina asked as she and the others joined them.

“Oh, I certainly hope so,” Jackals rubbed his now stony hands together. “I want to have to work for my loot.”

Tibs sighed. “You really enjoy giving him ideas, don’t you?”

“So long as the end result is the loot getting correspondingly better,” the fighter confirmed.