The Tomb of Heroes was a series of tunnels built from blue stone, with coffins or sarcophagi set in recesses in the tunnel wall every few spans. An inscription plaque was set next to each recess, naming who was buried there. Glorissa and Nathan walked along slowly, reading each plaque, not finding whom they were looking for, and moving to the next. Nathan’s magic orb provided the only light in the tunnel, and nothing but a void of perfect darkness lay beyond the area of illumination that the orb lit up. The air was dry, dusty, and smelled of the decay and death of dead bodies, causing Glorissa to cough frequently, but she did not think any of the guards in the levels above would hear her. Nathan seemed unaffected by the air.

  Glorissa walked on to the next coffin, but turned and saw Nathan was not there. He was still at the last recess, and his arm was outstretched, his hand touching the plaque next to the niche. She walked back.

  “This isn’t Kamryn Karcorrin! What are you doing?” Glorissa asked.

  “Look,” Nathan said. He withdrew his hand. Glorissa read the words on the metal plate set into the wall next to a recess holding a giant sarcophagus.

  Here Lies Lord Zeth Erin Darkchurch of House Darkchurch. A Beloved Star Knight General, He Died Heroically to Save a Squadron of Star Knights During the Second Goblin Wars at the Battle of Bloody Rivers, Turning the Tides in Favor of the Imperium’s Army. May He Dwell in Heaven Forever.

  “I can’t believe it. I never heard of him,” Nathan said. “Erin is the Darkchurch line from which I am a direct descendant. Maybe I should bring him back from the dead and hear the story of his heroic life!”

  “No you should not,” Glorissa said. “We have a mission!”

  “You wouldn’t understand,” Nathan said. “You’re a commoner. You cannot understand what it means that House Darkchurch was once held in high esteem and had the King’s favor, now that we have fallen into total and absolute disrepute.”

  “What even happened to House Darkchurch? Why can’t you just grow up and move on with your life?” Glorissa asked.

  “Silence!” Nathan said. “Lost nobility is nothing to joke about. Being a member of a noble family was my life! We held money, influence, and power. All doors were open to me. Then my father made some bad decisions about how to negotiate trade relations with the ambassadors and consuls from the Northern Empire. This soured the relationship between the Northern Empire and the Imperium, and we fell out of favor with the King as a result. House Darkchurch had many enemies from having spent centuries as an active member of the King’s court, and once the King no longer supported us, our foes circled us like vultures, and they picked us apart, one piece at a time. The merchants stopped buying the food farmed on our estates, our soldiers left our forces, our allies at court betrayed or abandoned us.

  “Soon after, we could no longer pay the taxes due to the King for a Noble House to keep its title. My father killed himself, and my mother fled to the south, taking with her whatever was left of the family’s money. My family scattered, my brothers and sisters and cousins and uncles each went their own way, and now each one of us makes our way in the world alone, devoid of any Noble House to rely on. Thankfully, I was able to talk a powerful necromancer into taking me on as his apprentice for only the promise that I would one day pay him back with a fortune in gold in return… and I have yet to repay him. House Darkchurch is dead—except in my memory and my will to one day bring it back to life!”

  “Stop complaining! Stop whining!” Glorissa said. “Get over yourself, and fast! We need to find the dead architect and have you cast your spell and get out of here!”

  “I will not stop. I take insult that you say that,” Nathan said.

  “You’re not the only one who lost something,” Glorissa said. “I lost my sister, and then I had to give up everything to search for her! The Star Knights were my life! But I left. I have to find her—and that was never going to happen if I stayed. So now I’m here… with you. And the sooner you come along and we finish, the sooner I can be somewhere where you are not.”

  Nathan sneered, which was partially visible to Glorissa even through his black mask. “You chose to leave the Star Knights. I was forced out of the noble class. There is a difference. A big one! I want my place back in the nobility and to never have to squirm and beg for money and take orders from the likes of you!”

  “Oh my God I can’t stand you!” Glorissa said. She grabbed a chunk of her hair and began twirling it in her fingers. “Look, let’s you and I calm down, find the architect, get the map of the maze, get the Crystal and get our rewards. Then you and I can part ways—for good.”

  Nathan paused, as if thinking it over.

  “Agreed,” Nathan said.

  The two of them continued to walk, but they did not find a plaque with the name of the person they were looking for. Instead, the tunnel ended at the top of another flight of stairs, a steep downward stairway leading deeper underground.

  “I didn’t realize how big the Tomb of Heroes was going to be,” Glorissa said. Nathan made no reply. He simply began walking down, and Glorissa fell into step behind him.

  The stairs ended at the start of another tunnel, but the walls of this tunnel seemed to be blackened with rot and dirt, and the smell of death was even stronger. I might literally vomit if the stench in here gets any worse, Glorissa thought. This tunnel also had recesses with coffins and plaques, so they resumed looking for their target.

  Glorissa was reading the name on a plaque when Nathan tapped her on the shoulder.

  “What is it?” she said, not turning around.

  “We have a problem,” Nathan said.

  “What?” she asked. She turned to look.

  “I think those rumors your teachers told you about monsters and creatures living in the depths of this crypt might be true,” Nathan said. “And when I say they might be true, I mean they are true.”

  Glorissa drew her sword and dropped into a combat pose instantly. Nathan pulled back the sleeves of his wizard robes and moved his hands into position to cast his attack spells. Before them was a creature that Glorissa had never seen before. It looked like a gigantic ball of purple jelly, which oozed with purple slime and had a puddle of purple slimy goo surrounding it on the floor. It had three long tentacles coming out of it, and the tentacles were a darker, blacker shade of purple than its body. The thing’s body was translucent, and small pulsating red blobs were inside it, which Glorissa assumed were the creature’s internal organs. A spider’s web of tiny black lines connected the red blobs inside of it together, in what looked like its vascular system. The thing was as big as a very large dog, although it was perfectly round and occupied more space than a big dog would have. Glorissa did not see any mouth, but she had no doubt that it had some method of eating its prey. It also had no eyes, so it probably hunted by sense of smell.

  Glorissa charged at the slime and thrust into it with her sword. The slime did not move to dodge, and her blade slid into its jelly-like body, the blade going in all the way up to the hilt. Glorissa tugged at her sword and pulled it out from the thing’s sticky slime flesh. The hole in its body made by her sword spurted out a splash of purple slime, which splashed all over her.

  “Are you injured?” Nathan asked.

  “No, the purple slime does not hurt, and I don’t feel bad,” Glorissa said. “But my sword didn’t do any damage to it!”

  The slime was still in the same place, oozing slime and pulsating. It did not seem to be reacting as if the sword strike had hurt it.

  “May I cast an attack spell?” Nathan asked.

  “Yes!” Glorissa replied.

  Nathan waved his hands and spoke strange words. He jabbed out with all ten of his fingers, pointing them at the creature. A flash of light happened, a cloud of gray smoke appeared, and when the smoke cleared, the slime was coated in a sheet of burning red fire. The flames flared red and yellow, and Glorissa smelled burning… and then the slime-creature shot up a geyser of purple slime from its body, which doused the fire on itself. Incredibly, after the flames were gone, the slime did not look any different, other than a few sections on its surface which were a darker shade of purple than they had been.

  “That should have killed it,” Nathan said. “That would have killed any human. I have other spells, but I’ve got nothing better than what I just used.”

  “Then I think I know what to do,” Glorissa said.

  “What?” Nathan asked.

  “Run!” Glorissa said.

  Glorissa and Nathan broke into a run, and the slime chased after them. They ran down the hall, going as fast as they could, passing sarcophagus after sarcophagus set into recesses in the tunnel.

  “Oh no!” Glorissa said. The end of the tunnel had come into view in front of them: a solid wall of blue stone, with no visible exit.

  Glorissa and Nathan ran all the way to the end of the tunnel, right up to the wall. They turned around. Sure enough, the slime was there, having caught up to them.

  “It moves pretty fast for a ball of slime,” Glorissa said. “What do we do? Are we going to die?”

  “Why isn’t it attacking us?” Nathan said.

  Indeed, the slime creature was just sitting there in a blob, not doing anything. Its three tentacles waved around, but not anywhere near the two of them.

  “I don’t know!” Glorissa said. “I’m not an expert in slime monsters!”

  “I cannot kill it, and you seem to be unable to,” Nathan said. “As strange as this is… perhaps we just proceed with our mission, and be ready to defend ourselves if, and when, it attacks us.”

  “Okay, I guess?” Glorissa said. It’s insane to leave a foe undefeated right behind us, but there’s nothing I can do! My sword is enchanted, why didn’t it work?

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  “We do seem to have reached the end of the Tomb of Heroes, so, if Kamryn Karcorrin is buried here, my guess is we just ran right past him,” Nathan said. “Help me look.”

  Glorissa and Nathan retraced their steps starting from the wall that ended the tunnel, reading each plaque in each niche. She glanced behind her and saw that the slime was following them but was still not attacking. She shrugged her shoulders, sighed, and continued to search. Suddenly her eyes lit up.

  “It’s this one! It’s here! This is him!” she said.

  Nathan read the plaque next to the recess in which a stone coffin was entombed. “Ah yes, so it is,” Nathan said. “Kamryn Karcorrin, the legendary architect and member of the Star Knights who designed and built the Temple of Light many thousands of years ago. He lies in burial in this coffin. Help me get the lid of the coffin open. The spell to read the mind of the dead is relatively fast and simple, but I must see and touch the dead body to cast it.”

  Glorissa and Nathan grabbed the lid of the coffin by one edge and lifted it. The lid fell off. Inside was an old Star Knights suit of armor, its design archaic and highly ornamental, with a design of trees and flowers engraved into its faded silver surface. The head was helmeted; no body or face could be seen.

  “Is there a body?” Glorissa asked.

  “Let’s find out,” Nathan said. He reached a black-gloved hand out and raised the helmet’s visor. The face-hole in the helmet revealed a pale-white extremely-decayed human skull. The skull had no skin or flesh left, and was nothing but dead bone, forever frozen in a deathly grin.

  “Yes, there is a body,” Nathan said. “Give me a moment. This will not take long.”

  Nathan reached a hand into his black wizard robes and took hold of something. He mumbled some words, too silently for Glorissa to hear what he said. Then he closed his eyes, reached out a hand, and rested his fingers upon the bone surface of the dead skull. Nothing visible happened, but Glorissa shivered, as if a bitingly cold winter wind had blown around her. She began to shake from the cold, and her teeth chattered.

  Then, in the next instant, the biting cold vanished. Nathan opened his eyes.

  “I have it,” Nathan said. “I have a map of the maze in my memory now. I also know the precise location where we can plant a magical bomb to knock over the North Tower, to make our escape as per the Dark Wizard’s plan.”

  “Good. Let’s get out of here!” Glorissa said. She and Nathan strode back the way they had come. “While you were communing with ghosts, I had an idea for how to escape upstairs,” Glorissa said. “The Star Knights guards won’t be an issue on the way out.”

  “I am amenable to letting you take the lead on the plan for our exit,” Nathan said.

  They reached the stairs that led from the lower level of the crypt to the upper level, and walked up, step by step. Upon reaching the upper level, Glorissa turned around and gasped.

  “That slime is following us!” Glorissa said. “What do we do? What does it want?”

  “I do not think we need to do anything,” Nathan said. “It seems to have the brain of a harmless prey animal, not a predator. What does it want? I don’t know. Maybe it’s lonely. Maybe it wants a friend.” Nathan laughed at his sarcasm. It takes a slime to know the brain of a slime, Glorissa thought.

  The two of them reached the door that exited from the Tomb of Heroes into the hallway of the Star Knights castle.

  “Okay, here’s the plan,” Glorissa said. “I’m going to take some firecracker marbles and toss them down the stairs into the Tomb. While they fall down the stairs and explode, you and I run and duck behind the first crate we see. The noise will attract Josper and Lydia and they will go into the Tomb to investigate the noise. While they’re in the crypt, we run down the hall and out the castle. No one will be there to stop us.”

  “Good plan,” Nathan said.

  Glorissa took out her bag of marbles, took a deep breath, and readied herself for action. She took a handful of marbles, turned to face into the Tomb, and threw the marbles with all her force. Then she and Nathan ran. They turned the corner of the hall, saw a large box, and hid behind it. A loud explosion blasted through the air. She heard screaming voices, and the sounds of many footsteps ran through the hall and down into the Tomb, although she could not see the people past the crate. She and Nathan waited until all the footsteps had gone into the tunnels. Then she pointed with her finger, and he saw her gesture and nodded. The priest-knight and the necromancer dashed out from behind the crate and ran down the hall, the hallway a blur around them as they ran as fast as their legs could go. They saw no one as they went; all the guards had gone to investigate the noise. Glorissa and Nathan raced to reach the exit door, opened the door, and fled into the Starlight Courtyard. Moonlight shone down onto the two of them as they made their escape out into the night.

  The thieving crew was sharing breakfast in the Van Rozen’s dining room the next morning. Sunlight shone against the brown curtains hiding them from the world outside the windows, and the smell of toast and scrambled eggs filled the air. Five of the faces were smiling; Nathan’s face was fixed by a deep frown.

  “What is that thing?” Rose asked.

  “It’s Nathan’s new pet,” Glorissa said. “It followed us home. It seems to really like him!”

  “Hey! You made a friend!” Sylis said, laughing. “I think it’s cute.”

  “I hate you,” Nathan said.

  “Can it play fetch?” Yarid asked. “Have you taught it tricks?”

  “I hate you,” Nathan replied.

  “I think you and the slime are two of a kind, Nathan,” Kylus said. He giggled. “A man and his slime. Sort of like a boy and his dog, but very you.”

  “I hate all of you,” Nathan said.

  “We know!” Rose said. She was smirking.

  Nathan put down his fork; his plate was empty. “I have finished having my breakfast,” he said. “I shall now retire to my bedroom.” He stood from the dining room table and walked out of the room. One of his legs moved noticeably more slowly than the other leg. As he neared the door, the others saw the ball of slime wrapped around Nathan’s leg with its three tentacles. The slime was a happy pink-purple color and left behind a trail of purple slime on the floor as Nathan left.

  That night, the team met again, in the Van Rozen’s dining room, to share dinner. Kylus had cooked: he had said that he felt bad because Glorissa and Nathan had risked their lives for the heist, and Sylis, Rose and Nathan were casting spells every day to make the counterfeit orbs, while he felt he had yet to make a meaningful contribution. He had cooked a food common among the poor commoners of Leree: a thick savory soup made from potatoes, carrots, beans, rice, spinach and broccoli, with oil added to the water and with a healthy dose of salt, pepper, garlic, and flame-spices added for flavor.

  Kylus had explained that the soup was vegetarian because his family could not often afford to buy meat, so they learned how to make food without it. Rose was a voracious meat-eater and a lover of chicken, beef and pork, but she was grateful someone had stepped up to do the cooking, so she gave it a try. She brought the spoon to her mouth, sipped the broth, and smiled. The boy does know how to cook, she thought. She dumped the vegetables from the spoon into her mouth and chewed.

  Rose was seated at the head of the table. Glorissa, Sylis and Kylus were seated to her left, while Yarid and Nathan sat to her right. Glorissa was talking to Sylis and Kylus. Rose looked at Nathan and saw him intent on the soup, with no interest in talking to her, and Yarid was seated too far for her to engage with Nathan between them, so she decided to eavesdrop on Glorissa, Sylis and Kylus.

  “Oh, yeah, me and Yarid are made for each other!” Glorissa was saying. “I was talking to him, and we both agree that, if he was a human, he would totally be of White! We’re both very religious, and he told me the story of how the goblins attacked and he had to sacrifice the Crystal of the Elements to save his people and it broke his heart!” Sylis and Kylus were eagerly listening; Rose noticed that Yarid also seemed to be hearing this, although he said nothing and Glorissa was oblivious. The dining table was relatively wide, and apparently Glorissa thought that the gap it formed between her and Yarid was wide enough so that Yarid couldn’t hear her.

  “Yarid is a really great guy!” Glorissa continued, a beaming smile on her face, her eyes wide and shiny. “We went to a bar and played darts and it was a real date and we liked each other a lot! It’s so great that he’s loyal to me and he decided not to date or have sex with anyone else so that he and I can be in love! Tonight he’s going to come over to my room and we’re going to braid each other’s hair, and he said that he might spend the night in my room and we can stay up all night and have fun! I’ve never had a slumber party with a guy before! I don’t know what will happen but I’m sure it will be fun, right? He’s so great, I think Yarid could be the rest of my life!” Yarid and Nathan were clearly both listening in, because the two men exchanged a sly glance with each other upon Glorissa’s words. The innocence in Glorissa’s wide brown eyes shimmered and glistened like moonlight reflected in water in two giant eye-shaped pools.

  Rose gasped and her pink skin turned as white as a ghost. Glorissa’s words had triggered a memory in her mind, which she did her best to keep always submerged and forgotten, but it bubbled up, like air in a boiling stewpot.

  Rose was a teenager. It was her sixteenth birthday, and to celebrate she had done her favorite thing: go riding on her horse, a friendly and obedient mare named Peggy, on the trails that ran through the Dashwood estate. She rode up to the stable, having just completed the long dirt trail that wound its way like a snake through the hills of the estate. She was surrounded by rolling emerald-green hills in every direction, and clear blue sky above. She wore a lace-lined white dress, white gloves and white riding boots. When she rode up to the front of the stable, she saw her father, Lord Dashwood, and his friend and right-hand man, the diplomat nobleman named Jeremy Loveblood. Lord Dashwood and Lord Loveblood were both dressed in black; both men sported black puffy silk shirts, black pants, high black leather boots, and long black jackets to which many ornamental buttons, chains and medals were affixed; the medals marked them as the top tier of the nobility.

  Rose shivered when she saw Loveblood, a rude and ugly man who had been mean to her repeatedly throughout her childhood, but the sight of her father made her smile. She had recently asked him to pay for violin lessons for her as a birthday present, and she assumed that he was here to tell her that he had granted her wish. All of her friends at the school for noble young ladies would be so jealous! They could all play musical instruments, as was appropriate for girls learning how to become noble ladies, and she had never learned to play. But soon, she would best them all: she was going to become the greatest violin player in the world!

  “Hello, my dear!” Lord Dashwood said, and he went to her horse and gave her a brief hug and a kiss on the cheek, before she even had a chance to dismount. “I have great news, sweetheart!”

  “Do I get my violin lessons, Dad?” young Rose asked. Her heart fluttered with excitement.

  “No, something even better!” Lord Dashwood said, and he and Loveblood exchanged a sly glance. “I have made an arrangement that will take care of you and see to it that you are kept a noble lady long for the rest of your life! I have arranged for you to marry Lord Jeremy Loveblood! The alliance between House Dashwood and House Loveblood will help me at court, and you will be taken care of forever! Your marriage will cement the alliance, and you will be so happy as Lord Loveblood’s new wife!”

  Young Rose stared at her father and her jaw dropped so that her mouth formed a perfectly round O of astonishment and horror. Her normally pink skin turned pale white and cold sweat began to drip from her head down into her eyes and face. The wheels of cognition and thought began to spin in her brain, she saw all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, and, like someone playing chess, she foresaw the different series of moves ahead of her and the various endgames that each choice led to, like a map of the different choices she faced. In that moment, she decided what to do. She tugged on the reins and Peggy turned around. Then Rose spurred Peggy sharply, knowing that her horse would know exactly what she meant by that: ride as fast as possible!

  “Wait! Rose! Where are you going! Get back here!” Lord Dashwood’s voice trailed off to a faint sound as Rose rode away. She knew the trails and paths that cut through these hills better than anyone: her father could send his men after her, but they would not find her. She never looked back, and never saw her father or Loveblood again. She rode forward, not knowing where she was headed, with no plan and no destination, with no money and nothing but the clothes she wore and her horse. She knew only three things: first, she would never return. Second, she would survive. She would find a way to survive. And third, she was going to change her color from White to Red.

  Rose returned from her dream, shook her head, and looked around. She was still eating dinner in the dining room with the team. Glorissa was still chatting with Sylis and Kylus; Yarid and Nathan ate soup and said nothing. Rose looked at Glorissa, and, in the girl’s eyes, she saw that same look of wide-eyed innocence that had been in her own young eyes, when she had ridden her horse up to her father on her birthday. She knew that Yarid would have sex with and betray Glorissa, much as her father had betrayed her and tried to sell her body to Lord Loveblood. She knew that, in this moment, much as she had on that day, she would make one decision, regardless of the consequences. She should have thought of the money and her fae pact with Yarid, but in that moment she chose not to be aware of it. She made her decision instantly.

  “Yarid is having sex with Nathan,” Rose said to Glorissa.