“The exit?” Ryan demanded, sword in hand. Was he more willing to use it now? He had hesitated to fight so much on the last quest that Anna wasn’t sure he could be trusted to help. But she saw only alarm and determination on his handsome face. An aggressive posture, instead of a cringing one, further reassured her. Maybe he had changed after all.
The wizard who summoned them shook his head. Anna noticed he looked exhausted and beaten, his robe stained with mud. “You will have to kill them. I have spent my energy getting here and casting the spell to summon you.”
As he said it, he pitched forward to crack his head on one of the pillars, an arrow protruding from his back. Eric jumped forward faster than Anna and helped drag him inside the Quest Ring, which had now gone dark.
“Enurarki,” said Matt, and the crystal atop his staff shone with light that surrounded them. “Still works,” he said, sounded as relieved as Anna felt. Only now did she fully realize her fears that few of them would be capable of playing their unwanted roles again. Matt could cast some spells, but the most fearsome he did came from the staff.
“Good,” said Eric. “Ryan, stand in front. Your armor can shield us. Matt, can you do something to make them back off?”
“Let me think,” replied Matt. Ryan took up a position in front of them.
The injured man looked up with painfilled eyes and clutched Eric’s leather sleeve. “The quest. I must tell you why you’re here.”
“In a minute.”
Anna knelt, wondering how to heal this man. She didn’t know the gods of this world and said as much when Eric asked her to do it. How could she call on a god to send healing power through her into this man? “Wait,” she said, looking at his hand, where a silver ring with three diamonds curled around one finger, indicating how many healing spells were still in it. “The Trinity Ring.”
“Good call,” said Eric. “Hold on. Gotta pull the arrow out or it won’t do much good.” He made an apologetic face at the injured wizard and then pulled the arrow from his chest amid a cry of pain, which mixed with the hoarse bellows of the attackers and a shattering of more wood. He spoke a word and a soft glow spread from his hand over the man. Both the arrow wound and the gash on his head vanished. He sat up, looking grateful and relieved. Another arrow struck nearby.
“Matt?” Anna eyed the intruders as they open more of the door. She saw greenish skin, half naked bodies, and hideous faces with extended jaws, two large teeth jutting up like on a wild boar, bulbous noses, and random tufts of unkempt black hair over thick, menacing brows. Equally crude cudgels, maces, and swords threatened maiming and death.
“I’m trying to think of a good spell.” Matt fumbled with the bag and pulled out a thick spell book with black leather binding and gold lettering on it.
“Try faster,” said Eric, rising to join Ryan. Anna saw herself and their summoner in the line of fire and backed away so that Ryan’s body shielded hers. She gestured for the man to join her, but he spoke from where he was instead.
“The quest,” began the wizard, “you must succeed to restore peace. You are to–” An arrow struck him in the eye and flung him on his back.
Anna gasped. “Eric!” The rogue looked back and came over to drag the man to her. Sightless eyes stared at the ceiling. “The ring. Use the most powerful spell.” All but her wore an identical Trinity Ring.
“Yeah,” he said, yanking the arrow from the wizard’s skull with a grimace and then spoke the word. The same soft glow lit the wounds, but no healing occurred. He swore.
“What?” Ryan asked, not looking back an arrow bounced off his golden armor.
“Ring didn’t work. He’s dead.”
“Most powerful of the spells?” Ryan asked, as the ring was named for having three of them, each of different strengths, a specific command for each.
“Yeah.”
“What does that mean about the quest?” Anna asked. “He didn’t tell us what we need to do.”
Eric met her gaze. “Then I don’t think we’re bound by it.”
“We can go home?” Ryan asked over one shoulder.
“I think so. Only one way to know. There’s no one else here to tell us.”
Anna wondered if he was right. If no one told them the quest, they obviously couldn’t do it and were not trapped here by the summoning spell until it was complete like usual. She remembered something about there being a time limit in that they needed to be told the quest shortly after being summoned, but she thought it was an hour or more. They didn’t have that much time. As if to prove her point, a loud crashed heralded the arrivals of the goblins, bellowing as they charged, several eight-foot-tall ogres with two small horns and mottled red skin among them.
“Matt!” Eric yelled. He rose and quickly threw small knives that flew into the darkness to disappear. The only indication of success was a body, then another, falling face down on the floor to be trampled by the mob coming to kill them.
“Going with the shield instead!” Matt yelled.
Anna wished he had done it sooner, but the shield would only prevent them from being reached. Whatever spell he had been thinking of before may have offered a chance to repel the attackers and a chance to escape this place. Now they were about to be trapped within a shield, but it was better than nothing.
White light sprang from the top of Matt’s staff, outward, and then cascaded down around them just outside the circle of pillars to touch the floor, giving them ten feet of protection. The shield was transparent save for the soft white glow. They didn’t have to
