Jace Thorne eyed up the massive polar bear and fire salamander standing before him and tried not to dwell on the odd combination.

“Don’t just stand there,” Kirk cried as he leaped past Jace to engage the fire-imbued lizard.  “Kill it.”

Jace snapped his mind back to this un-reality and watched as the agile thief attacked the salamander, his short sword colliding hard with the monster’s flaming scimitar.  The smaller man was thrown to the side but sprang up in a roll, preparing another charge against the foe.

Whether Kirk would ever get a solid enough hit to wound the creature was irrelevant, the desperate attack had served its purpose in distracting one of the two monsters so Jace could face the bear alone.  Well, not quite alone.  An arrow streaked over his shoulder, sinking deep into the white monster, the feathered shaft disappearing into the thick fur.  The magical animal reared up on its hind legs in anger, not exactly making it a smaller target, and collected a second arrow in the chest.

As it dropped back down to all fours, Jace made his charge, willing flame to his two-handed sword, knowing that the magical weapon would do extra damage to a creature that originated from the frozen wastelands of the north.  The bear had a trick ready for the daring paladin and breathed a heavy cone of frost at its enemy.  Jace dodged to the right and closed the last few feet between them with a roll and slash of his great sword.  This did far more damage than the arrows, burning off a large section of the previously white fur.  Half of the creature’s side was charred black, and it turned with even greater fury than before at the offending human.

“Hold!”

The cry was high and shrill, and Jace felt a sudden urge to halt in his retreat.  But the spell wasn’t aimed at him. Instead, the bear stopped suddenly, halfway into a retaliatory strike, its right paw raised in an attack against the kneeling paladin.

Jace glanced over his shoulder, seeing the priestess who had cast the spell returning his look with a scowl.  “Don’t just sit there,” Alex said.  “Kill it.”

Jace nodded his thanks at the save and rose to his feet to get a good strike on the motionless beast.  To his left, Preston, the fourth person of their group, was running up to the polar bear too, stowing his bow on his back and pulling his sword from its sheath.  The battle mage could enchant the blade with any elemental power, and fire seemed the most obvious.  After only a few more attacks from the two men, the beast died.  The animal was no longer a valid target for the hold spell, and it crumpled in a heap on the stone floor of the cavern.  Its body flickered for a moment before vanishing in a puff of cold air, leaving behind only a small white gem bouncing on the ground.

The two men ignored it and turned to see how their friend was doing.  Kirk hadn’t killed the salamander yet, but it did look like he had landed a few hits.  Preston lent a hand, extending his empty left arm and sending a burst of cold energy at the back of the fire creature.  The salamander reared in pain as the blast hit, doing additional damage and freezing it in place for a few seconds.

Kirk didn’t need to be told what to do and leaped forward, his short sword skewering the creature in the narrow chest.  He did enough damage to shatter the frozen beast, its pieces dancing about on the stone before they disappeared, leaving a ruby bouncing in their place.  The nimble rouge caught the gem with his off-hand, and as the others continued to scramble up the short incline, he veered toward where the bear had been and scooped up the moonstone too.

“No time for that,” Alex said, standing at the mouth of a small cave in the cavern wall.

“You’ll thank me later,” Kirk said.  “When we can afford an extra round at the tavern tonight, you will all know why.”

Jace let the thief pass him as he took his time getting to the mouth of the cave, keeping his eyes on the winding passages before and behind them.  This small alcove was their target, and they found it only after an hour of wandering through the vast underground network of tunnels and open rooms.  They knew the dragon was in here somewhere, and Jace worried the beast would catch them unawares.  So far, they had only fought against his minions, an endless parade of the most varied creatures he could imagine.  Massive snakes, iron golems, lava creatures, and crystalline horrors had joined the likes of fire salamanders and polar bears to keep the adventurers on their toes.  Their information was that battling the dragon was hard enough but doing so while fending off the countless minions was nearly impossible.

Finally confident the dragon wasn’t coming down the tunnel after them, Jace stepped into the cave.  “You can hide us, right?” Jace asked the mage.

Preston nodded, concentrated for a moment, and erected an illusion he promised would make the entrance look like a regular portion of the cavern wall.  Jace thanked him and then moved further into the cave to see what task lay ahead.  According to their research, the key to eliminating the ever-regenerating minions was here.  Jace didn’t have to look far.

A short table, two-feet square, stood ten feet into the small room that was only about 25 feet in diameter.  Alex was beside Kirk, healing a few of his wounds, and neither of them said a word as Jace walked up to look at the strange setup.  It was a puzzle, and everyone in the group knew who would have the most luck cracking it.

The tabletop was marble and etched in a grid pattern, almost like a chess board, only the grid was 6x6 instead of 8x8.  Nine gemstones were placed seemingly at random, leaving 27 open spaces.  It didn’t take long for Jace to recognize most of the stones.  There were moonstones, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and crystals in gray and black.  Jace thought those were hematite and obsidian but wasn’t sure.  Some of the stones were represented twice, and others only once.  A slight glow from the gems was the only light in the room.

“We’ll be thanking you sooner than the tavern,” Jace said absently.  “Kirk, empty your inventory of gems.”

As understanding flashed across the thief’s face that he wouldn’t be able to keep his treasures, he reluctantly dumped the varied gems on the floor.  Alex stood to watch Jace think and couldn’t help but interrupt his thoughts.  “How will you know which stone goes where?”

“There has to be a pattern to it,” he said mostly to himself.  And then it hit him.  “It’s a sudoku.  A 6x6 sudoku where instead of numbers, they are using gemstones.  I need to place six of each stone on the board in the right place.”

“I don’t have six of each,” Kirk replied, sorting his precious gems into piles.

“Some have been placed on the board for me already.  The problem is . . .” Jace’s voice trailed off as he lost himself in thought.

“Better figure it out fast,” Preston called from the mouth of the cave.  “More of the minions are milling about outside.  I think they know we were here last and are trying to pick up our trail.”

“I’m sorry,” Jace said, not even turning to look at the mage.  “This is longer and harder than I thought it would be.”

Kirk snickered.  “That’s what she said.”

Alex huffed at him.  “Trust me,” she replied.  “I would never say that.”

Kirk blushed.  “Oh, sorry, it wasn’t you, sweetie.”

“Oh really,” she replied, standing over the thief with a menacing look.  “And who was it then?  Answer carefully, or those won’t be the only jewels you’ll have to play with by yourself.”

“Enough, you two,” Preston scolded.  “Why does game night always turn into couple’s therapy?  How’s it coming, Jace?”

“I have a problem,” he replied.  “A 6x6 sudoku comprises six boxes that will each contain the six gems, but I don’t know if the boxes are 2x3 or 3x2.  It makes a difference which side of the table I stand on.”

“What happens if you guess wrong?” Kirk asked, trying to ignore the vicious stares his girlfriend was still giving him.

“I don’t know, but if the orientation is the way I think it is, then this space should be an emerald.”  Jace bent to the ground to pick one of the green stones and held it over the square in question, wondering if there was something special he should do.  Each space had a concave depression in the center, and he fit the gem into the spot.

Instantly, the emerald vanished and was replaced by a massive python.  The creature slithered off the table and enveloped Kirk, who was desperately scrambling out of the way.  Alex tried to cast a spell, but the tail of the enormous reptile smacked her across the chest and sent her sprawling.  Jace and Preston were slow to react, so Kirk was forced into action.  He managed to escape the initial attempt of the constrictor to wrap him up and pulled his short sword and dagger to make an “X,” trying to pin the snake to the ground.

He wasn’t heavy enough to hold it there for long, but his friends responded in kind.  Alex was back on her feet and, remembering how impervious the snakes had been to their magic attacks back in the cavern, cast a quick spell to lower its resistance.  Preston recognized the spell she was preparing and sent a gout of flame toward the creature’s open mouth that hit just a moment after the priestess’s magic enveloped the snake.

The monster appeared to glow brightly in the dim cave as fire filled it from mouth to tail tip, and it stopped struggling momentarily.  Jace didn’t waste time and had his huge sword out in a flash.  The tip sparked against the low ceiling as he brought the weapon down over his shoulder and onto the neck of the snake.  The head severed from the critical strike, and soon Kirk was trying to wrangle a vanishing green mist.

Jace sheathed his weapon and picked up the emerald from the ground where the bulk of the snake had been.  “Or,” he continued his thought as if nothing had happened, “if the boxes go in the other direction, the emerald goes here.”  Without hesitation, he pressed the gem into a different square.  Everyone else in the room scrambled backward, but Jace stood confidently still and watched as the emerald shimmered and locked into place.

“I think I’ve got it now,” he said.  “Sorry for that.  But I had to guess to know.”  He looked down at the collection of gems scattered about the floor, trying to count as Kirk collected them back into piles.  “However, I don’t think we have enough rubies.  We only have four, and I will need five.”

“Someone needs to go kill another salamander,” Preston reasoned.  He was about to offer when Kirk spoke up.

“I’ll go.  I don’t think I want to be in here when Jace screws up again and iron golems start beating the crap out of us.”

Jace and Preston exchanged looks and thought it more likely that he wanted some breathing room from his girlfriend.  Either way, he did go up to her.  “How’s about a bit of protection first?”

“Oh,” she said mockingly, “now you want to use protection.”

“Fire protection, sweetie.  You know, for the salamander I am going to bravely go kill.”

“If you call jumping out of the shadows and backstabbing brave,” she said but cast a fire protection spell on him anyway.

“Be quick,” Preston said as the thief wove around the table and approached the much taller battle mage.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I’m always quick.”

“Now, that is something I’ve said before,” Alex replied.

Kirk thought about responding but instead initiated his stealth skill and faded from view into the shadows before moving through the illusion and out into the main cavern.

“It always gives me the creeps when he does that,” Jace said, turning back to the table.  Over the next few minutes, the paladin carefully placed stone after stone.  Now that he knew the proper orientation of the puzzle, there were no more surprises.

Occasionally, Preston would announce from his position at the mouth of the cave that one of the creatures outside had suddenly disappeared when Jace placed a gem on the puzzle.  It became apparent to the paladin that one of the corresponding creatures would vanish from the cavern as each rock was placed.  Thus, they wouldn’t have to worry about the minions when the sudoku was complete.  There was still the dragon, but one thing at a time.

Also, Jace was careful to keep the rubies back.  If he placed them all, it would make it harder for Kirk to find the corresponding salamanders. He only had a few stones left when Preston announced they were in trouble.  “I think one of the golems just dispelled my illusion.”

Jace took a moment to look into the cavern and saw five different creatures run, slither, and crawl up the slight slope to the alcove.  Jace started to pull his weapon, but Preston pushed him back to the table.  “Don’t worry about this; finish the puzzle, and they will all disappear.”

Jace returned to the sudoku with only eight gems left to place, half of them rubies.  Alex strolled past him, pulling her mace and casting holy might on herself.  Soon he heard the familiar boom of her weapon hitting heavy against a golem, and he doubled his efforts.  The gems were going in quickly now, and he listened to his friends behind him sigh with relief as their enemies disappeared one by one.  He was down to five empty spots, all rubies, and all five salamanders were now at the mouth of the cave, the heat of their flames making the air almost unbreathable.

If they were all here now, there was no point in holding the rubies back.  He placed the four he had, and soon Preston and Alex faced only one.  The mage froze it, and the priestess blasted it apart with her mace.  Preston caught the ruby on the second bounce and tossed it over his shoulder to Jace.

Just then, Kirk finally made his appearance, emerging from the shadows.  “You waited just long enough for us to get our own ruby so you could keep yours, didn’t you?” Alex accused him.

Kirk had an innocent expression on his face, tossing the red gem up and down in his hand as he walked up the slope.  “I have no idea what you are talking about.  I worked as fast as I . . .” his voice trailed off as the ruby vanished from the air in mid-toss.

Inside the cavern, Jace secured the last one, and all the extra gems on the floor disappeared.  His three companions crowded into the cavern and huddled around the small table, watching as each stone sparkled and sunk into the table till they were all flush.  Once the process was complete, a slit opened in the middle a few inches wide and a quarter inch thick.  It reminded Jace of a sheath’s opening.  On a whim, he pulled his sword and tried to stick it in the slot, but it was too big.  Then a light went on in his head.

“Um, Kirk,” he started slowly.  “You wouldn’t happen to still have that completely non-descript sword we found earlier.”

“You mean the one you told me was worthless, and I was wasting room in my inventory by picking it up?”

Jace swallowed his pride.  “Yes, that one.”

Kirk reached into his inventory and seemingly pulled a sword out of nothing.  “This sword?”

Jace nodded.  “That’s the one.  May I have it?”

Kirk contemplated making his friend eat more crow but relented and handed the blade over.  Jace took it carefully and brought the end down to the opening.

Preston put a hand on Jace’s shoulder to caution him.  “Just put the tip in slowly and see if anything happens.”

“That’s what she-” Kirk started, but Alex slapped him.

Jace ignored the couple and did as instructed, already intending to take it slow.  He didn’t get the chance.  As soon as the weapon tip entered the narrow slot, the sword was yanked from his hands and plunged into the table.  Multi-colored energy rays pulsed from each of the 36 gems into the center in a rainbow of color, focused on the firmly secured sword.  The display continued for a dozen seconds until each stone exhausted itself of power and looked like empty glass.  The table thrummed with energy, and the whole cavern shook through the spell’s completion.

As quickly as it started, it was over.  The cavern was now dropped into darkness without the table's glow, and Alex cast a light spell to illuminate the small room.  The sword sat there innocently as if nothing had happened.  Jace reached for it, touching the pommel with one finger and then slowly letting his palm rest on it.  He sensed power but no danger and pulled the sword from the table.  Once free, they no longer needed Alex’s spell, for the blade shone like a lighthouse in the small cave.

Jace smiled as he held the weapon aloft.  “Guys, let’s go kill a dragon.”