“Listen, Goldof, Nashetania won’t be in there,” said Dozzu.
Goldof agreed with Dozzu. If Nashetania was in a fiend’s stomach, it probably wouldn’t be one of the rank and file. But he still couldn’t help himself from checking.
“More importantly,” Dozzu added, “has she not contacted you at all?”
“No. I think…she can’t…talk…right now,” Goldof replied, putting a hand on his helmet. He could hear the bell warning him she was in danger, but nothing else.
Goldof had told Dozzu all the information he’d learned from the Helm of Allegiance. When he had told Dozzu that Nashetania was inside a fiend’s stomach, it had grimaced. It would be difficult to find out which fiend held her. Without more information from Nashetania, it would be nearly impossible to pinpoint her location.
The two of them ventured deeper into the land over the magma chamber. After they climbed a stone hill, a large trapezoidal mound came into view. Dozzu saw it and said, “Over there—that’s where Nashetania was taken.” Goldof clambered up the slope to the top. In the hill’s center was a large pit filled with piles of bodies. They all seemed to be still. It appeared Tgurneu and Nashetania had already left.
“Are these…your…comrades?” Goldof asked Dozzu beside him as they descended the slope.
“They were all so brave. I’ll roll in my grave if we fail to see their passion rewarded,” said Dozzu. The fiend lowered its nose as it ran down the slope, snuffling along the earth. “Please wait just a moment. I’m trying to pick up which way Nashetania went.”
Goldof nodded and then scanned the area for anything of concern. But he had no idea what he was looking for, so clearly he wasn’t going to find anything. He called out to Nashetania through his helmet over and over, but still received no answer. Curbing his impatience, he waited for Dozzu to find something.
“I’ve figured it out,” it said. “I can’t find Nashetania’s scent, but I know now where Tgurneu and his followers are headed. Most of the surviving fiends headed southward. Tgurneu, and most likely Nashetania as well, are among them.”
“All right. Then let’s go,” said Goldof. He dashed off, Dozzu following after him. “What is Tgurneu…heading south…for?”
“He must plan to get rid of her, after all. Tgurneu can’t kill Nashetania himself, so he’ll hand her over to Cargikk’s fiends to have them do it instead.”
“Any other…possibilities?”
“Alternatively, he may be planning to use Nashetania as a hostage to threaten you. That would be the only worthwhile use he could get out of it.”
“…I see.” As Goldolf used his hands to scale a steep slope, he wondered—was Dozzu really telling the truth? Maybe it wasn’t Tgurneu who was trying to lure him in to kill him, but Dozzu. Was Nashetania actually in danger?
But still, Goldof couldn’t stop. The princess could die. As long as that possibility existed, he had to go save her. If this was a trap, then he’d just have to break out of it on his own.
Goldof and Dozzu traversed over the waste for another fifteen minutes. Then, apparently puzzled, Dozzu stopped sniffing the ground.
“What is it?” asked Goldof.
“This is odd. The fiends are moving too slowly. If their plan is to hand Nashetania off to Cargikk’s followers, they should be moving faster.”
“So what’s…going on?”
“I don’t know what Tgurneu is trying to do. But regardless, at this rate, we should catch up to them soon.” Still looking perplexed, Dozzu started running again.
When they crested the next rock hill, they arrived at a somewhat open expanse. The moment they got to the top, Goldof was stunned. There had to be fifty fiends waiting for them, clearly anticipating their arrival. But it wasn’t the enemies that shocked him. What left him breathless was Nashetania, right there in the center of the crowd. She was sitting on the back of a giant rock-skinned lizard, fiddling with the slim sword in her hands. The armor she wore was different than he remembered, but it was clearly her.
“Your Highness!” Goldof called out to her.
Without a word, Nashetania pointed her sword at him, and the fiends charged en masse.
At first he was suspicious, thinking it was a trap after all. But when he looked at Dozzu beside him, he noticed the fiend’s eyes were wide with shock.
“Nashetania! You were safe?!” Dozzu cried, running up to Nashetania.
The charging fiends attacked it. Dozzu rolled to one side to avoid the assault, but then a score of blades sprouted from the ground, drawing blood where they grazed its tiny body.
Goldof couldn’t understand it. If this was a trap and the goal was to kill him, then why attack Dozzu, too? Nashetania had told him that the fiend commander would never betray her and she’d never betray it, either.
The fiends descended on him, and Goldof raised his spear to repel the onslaught crashing toward him. These he couldn’t kill in one stab. They were clearly superior creatures, very different from the cannon fodder he’d been fighting before.
“Your Highness! What’s going on?!” Goldof cried out to her, but she didn’t reply. She continued her merciless barrage of blades at Dozzu. Wordlessly, she smiled and kept up the fight.
His next suspicion was that perhaps this Nashetania was a fake. Adlet had told him that some fiends could transform. But even a shape-shifter wouldn’t be able to mimic her power over blades. That meant this Nashetania was real. And the Helm of Allegiance’s ringing hadn’t stopped. She was still captive and in peril. Goldof didn’t understand what was going on. He couldn’t manage to muster anything but bewilderment.
“What are you doing, Nashetania?! We came to save you! Don’t you recognize us?!” Dozzu yelled, dodging attacks from the fiends closing in around it. Horn sparking, it roared
