It took a few more moments of searching before he spotted the source of the second voice.
Ket the sprite was no larger than a firefly. Her aura was dim, muted somehow; he sensed power there, but it was as though it were locked behind the constraints of her current form.
Unlike the Core and its bipedal fox—both of which gave off a green glow, indicating an affinity with the element of earth—the sprite's aura was pure white.
Interesting.
His eyes were starting to ache from the auras' clashing colors, so he deactivated Arcane Sight. The cave below returned to darkness. Beside him, the emberfox's deep orange glow warmed him in both body and spirit. The creature was still keeping its distance—it would shrink away and snap its teeth if he tried getting too close—but at least it was continuing to follow him.
That's a good sign. Right?
Still, he felt himself spiraling into the doubt that had haunted him ever since their near-disastrous trip to the Menagerie. Even now, when it caught him gazing at it, the emberfox flicked its tail irritably.
Why won't it bond with me? Is there something wrong with it?
The little creature sniffed and turned its back on him.
"Ben!"
Coll was standing directly below him, hands cupped around his mouth.
"Why do you always have to yell?" Benin snapped.
"To be fair, we've all been trying to get your attention for a full minute now," drawled the Core. "Your eyes were all glazed over. Did you hit your head or something?"
"No, I did not hit my head."
"I did," Coll piped up.
"Erm... well done?" said the Core. "Anyway, Benin, what we were saying was: why don't you join your friend down here and explain properly about this so-called 'threat'?"
Benin looked down at the dark cave. "I'm fine here, thanks—"
"Oh, come on," said Coll. "Look, I'll help you."
Benin yelled as Coll wrapped a hand around one of his dangling ankles and pulled. He scrabbled desperately for purchase, but there was nothing to hold on to; only dirt and grass, both of which broke away easily beneath his weight as he slithered down into the hole.
Coll set him down on the ground and started brushing dirt off his clothes, until Benin slapped his hands away.
"Unbelievable!" he muttered. "Now how are we going to get out again?"
"The same way we got out last time," said Coll. "We followed that passage, and then—"
"It was a rhetorical question."
What Benin had meant was: How are we going to make a quick getaway if the Core decides to turn on us?
He glanced around nervously. Other than a couple of badgers, one of which was still gnawing on the leather of Coll's boot, he saw no evidence of potential attackers. The gnomes within sight were unarmed, and the squirrel-fox seemed alert but not aggressive.
Still, if the Core decided he and Coll were enemies and set its devil-born creatures on them... He shuddered, remembering the knee-high tarantula-thing he'd seen last time, but there was no sign of it right now.
That doesn’t mean it’s not here though.
While Coll droned on about the route to the surface, Benin briefly re-activated Arcane Sight—and regretted it immediately.
There, over in a corner near the ceiling, lurked a monstrous eight-legged form. Its aura was somewhat dimmer than he'd have expected from a purely mana-based construct. Usually, curiosity would have made him want to examine the thing more closely, but it chose that moment to adjust its position slightly. The unnatural rippling movement of its legs sent a violent shiver down Benin's entire spine, and he looked away quickly, deactivating Arcane Sight with a blink until he was once more surrounded by blessed darkness.
"... and then you take the second left—or was it the third? One or the other. Then, after about five minutes, you go past a rock that either looks like a troll or a caterpillar, depending which way you look at it, and then it's only a bit further till you're out."
Okay, darkness was actually worse. Who knew what might be creeping up on them within its concealing blanket?
Benin was about to cast Conjure Flame, the cantrip as familiar to him as his own name, when a glowing orange form leapt through the hole above. The emberfox landed briefly on his head, sending him staggering a little, then it hopped to the ground and trotted away from him. It sat down and licked its paw.
"Ooooh!" exclaimed the Core and the sprite together.
"An emberfox," murmured the Core. "Part fox, obviously. Part fire salamander. And—"
"Corey, do you know how rude it is to use Insight on a mage's familiar without first asking permission?"
"No. How rude is it?"
"Well… very."
"Oh." Rather than apologizing to Benin, the Core asked, "Where did you get her?"
Her?
"We stole it," Coll said proudly before Benin could come up with anything else. He kicked him.
"You can't just go around telling people we stole it. What if someone from the Guild hears you?"
Coll made an exaggerated show of looking around the cave. "I don't think there's anyone else here."
"Wait. You're in trouble with the Guild?" The Core sounded angry now. "And you came here? Is that why I'm in danger too?"
"Corey, let's just—"
"No, we—"
"Idiots! Get out! Go on!"
The squirrel-fox had shifted its stance, and now looked poised to spring. Its claws were unsheathed and Benin saw a glint of sharp teeth, which looked particularly threatening in the orange illumination cast by his emberfox.
He should be scrambling to get out of that cave before the Core's creatures could tear him apart. He should be terrified. And he was.
But he was also furious.
"Idiots? The Guild exiled us for helping you! We disobeyed direct orders. We've spent weeks in hiding. We're outcast from everything we've ever known, and there's no way for us to go back."
"That's too bad for you, but it's also not my problem. These gnomes are my problem. You don't understand—"
"No, you don't understand. Using my magic is now technically illegal. I will never become a licensed mage. Everything
