Chapter 14

The creature issued another statement before flashing its white teeth in a malicious grin.

"What'd he say?" Paige asked.

"He said to get back in your cells or else," Dewey translated.

Paige squeezed her fingers into fists and stamped a foot on the floor. "Or what, troll?"

"Easy, Paige. I'm pretty sure we don't want to anger him."

"Seriously?" Paige questioned. "That…thing beat me and then chained me in a cell. If he thinks we're getting back in those, he's crazy."

Dewey raised his paws as the creature spoke again.

"Now what?" Paige asked.

"Pretty sure we should play along. Otherwise, I think he's going to call his posse."

Paige's jaw dropped, and she shook her head, beginning to argue before her expression changed. She smirked at Dewey.

"Okay." She twisted to face the little green man. "Okay. Take it easy, friendo. We're going back in our cells."

"We are?" Dewey asked.

"Oh, yes, we are," Paige answered with a wink.

She held her hands up before she returned to the entrance of her cell. She scrunched down, sticking her arm inside the cell. "See, we're going back inside."

Across the chamber, Dewey glanced back at Paige, who winked again, before he stuck his head inside the opening.

Paige curled her fingers around the chain inside. With a lick of her lips, she eased it forward, trying to keep it quiet.

The little troll approached her, shooing her into the cell with unintelligible words.

Paige nodded, holding one hand up and waving a finger in the air. "One second. This is a really tight fit."

The troll's mossy eyebrows pulled together, and he stepped closer, angrily waving a finger at the cell.

Paige took advantage of his proximity, yanking the chain through the bars as she shot her arm out toward him, grabbing hold of his chubby arm and tugging him forward. She wrapped an arm around his neck as he struggled against her.

"Dewey! Get the chain and put it on him," Paige shouted.

Dewey flitted over, sliding onto the floor to grab the shackle and tighten it around the troll's ankle.

"We have to hurry. He'll let everyone else know!" Dewey said.

Paige shook her head, her arm still around the troll's throat as he grunted and tugged at her. "No dice. If I keep the pressure around his neck, he'll pass out. Then we'll go."

Dewey's eyes went wide. "Whoa, Paige, that is badass."

Paige's face reddened with effort as she continued to squeeze. She offered Dewey a nod as the troll continued to thrash in her arms. After a moment, he shifted, opening his mouth and clamping down on her arm.

"Ow," she screamed as red blood trickled from the two holes he'd poked into her arm. "He bit me! You monster!"

The troll whipped around, growling at them as he showed his blood-stained teeth. In seconds, his snarl faded, and his posture stiffened. His eyes went wide, and a tremor shook his body.

A single word escaped his lips. His gaze raised to Paige, his face a mask of pain.

"What'd he say?" Paige asked as Dewey fluttered toward her and landed on her shoulder.

"He said poison."

"Poison? I didn't poison you! You bit me! I didn't–"

Another shudder rippled through the little troll's body before he went stiff. He fell forward, flat on his face.

"Is he… Is he dead?" Paige whispered.

Dewey leapt off Paige's shoulder and hovered over the troll's body. He poked it before flying upward away from him.

Paige stretched her neck to stare over him. "Is it a trick?"

"I don't think he's dead," Dewey answered. "But he's unconscious."

"What did he mean about the poison?"

A hissing sound escaped the troll, and his body deflated. Black worms crawled from underneath him, slithering across the floor in search of another host.

"Ah," Paige exclaimed, dancing back across the floor.

"Yikes! The worms. You passed the parasites on to him," Dewey said as he landed on her shoulder again. "It poisoned him."

"OMG," Paige said, pressing her hand against her forehead.

"Paige, come on. Get yourself together. We've got to go!"

"But I… I… Oh my gosh. I killed him. I killed that poor creature." A tear streaked down her cheek.

Dewey stared at her incredulously. "Are you kidding? That poor creature beat you with a stick and chained you up."

"Still, I didn't mean to kill him!"

"We can't let him die in vain," Dewey said. "We have to get that water and cure the prince."

Paige nodded before her brows knit, and she twisted to face the dragon on her shoulder. "Wait, what? That wouldn't mean his death wasn't in vain!"

"I know. I was just trying to be uplifting in your moment of pain."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Dewey flitted his paws toward the door. "Actually, I was trying to motivate you to leave. Before another troll comes down and we're trapped again."

"Right," Paige said, sniffling and wiping her cheek.

She took a step toward the opening leading up when another wheezing noise escaped from the troll. Her eyes widened as she stared down at the creature.

"Look!" Dewey said, jabbing a finger at the tiny man. "He's breathing! You poisoned him, but the poison wasn't fatal! Just enough to knock him out."

"Oh, yay!" Paige said with a fist pump. "I'm not a murderer!"

"Yet," Dewey added. "If we don't get out of here, you may have to be."

"Okay, okay. I'm going, I'm going!" Paige skirted around the troll on the floor and approached the stairs leading up.

She peered up the steps carved into the dirt before she set her foot on the first.

"Looks clear," Dewey whispered.

Paige bobbed her head up and down before she gulped and dashed up the rest of the stairs with Dewey clinging to her shoulder. They spilled into a dim hallway hewn from the ground, illuminated only by a few torches.

Paige swung her head from side to side, searching for an exit. "Which way?"

"How should I know?" Dewey answered.

A breeze blew past them, flickering the torches' flames. "That way. It must lead to a way out."

"Let's hope so. I really am uncomfortable being stuck underground with these little monsters."

"Relax," Paige said as she tiptoed down the corridor. "I have poison blood, remember?"

"Sure, that's all well and good. If you don't mind getting bit again."

Paige wrinkled her nose as she approached the corner. "Good point. Maybe we'll just hope for the best."

"Too bad your sword wasn't in the dungeon. We could have used that."

"Oh, shoot," Paige said as she rounded the corner and continued down the next hall. "Yeah, we probably need that."

"Well, we're not going back for it."

Paige glanced down another hallway branching off at an angle. "This place is a maze. We'll never find it."

She passed the opening and continued down the hall.

Dewey's claws dug into her shoulder. "We'll be lucky if we find the way out."

"Yeah, the breeze died down, and now I have no idea which way to go."

They bypassed another hallway splitting off in a new direction before reaching a circular opening with five halls branching off.

Paige glanced over her shoulder in the direction they'd come. "Well, we can rule out one choice here. Four left. Which one?"

"Umm," Dewey murmured, scratching his chin. "Right."

"Which right? Like right-right or stright?"

Dewey crinkled his brow and twisted Paige's head so she'd stare at him. "Stright? What?"

"Stright. Like straight and right." Paige slid her hand forward in a diagonal motion before indicating the passage catty-corner from them. "Stright."

Dewey's nose wrinkled, and his horns wiggled. "That's…weird. Ummm, maybe sleft."

Paige adjusted her glasses and gave Dewey a sideways glance. "Sleft? Straight and left. So, as weird as you find it, you also find my directional indicators ingenious."

"I may or may not find them useful. Anyway, I meant right. Right-right."

"Got it," Paige said with a sharp nod.

She inched into the new corridor and hurried down it.

Raucous laughter and the din of several overlapping conversations met their ears.

"Crap," Dewey hissed. "Dining room must be ahead! Turn back!"

Paige backed up a few steps before spinning around and retreating back to the star-shaped intersection. "Okay, left-left, sleft, or stright?"

"Stright," Dewey said, poking a finger toward the hall next to them.

"Let's hope this one leads to an exit." Paige glanced down the hall that curved away from them before she entered it.

She approached the curve and peered around it.

"Clear," Dewey hissed. "Go!"

Paige darted around the bend, hurrying toward a doorway at the other end. "Wonder what's behind the door."

"I hope the exit."

"Me, too!"

Paige sprinted the length of the corridor, her feet pounding against the dirt. She reached the doorway, skidding to a halt and shoving her glasses higher on her nose. She blew out a controlled breath and wrapped her fingers around the leaf-shaped doorknob.

"Man, I wish there was a peephole," she said as she hesitated to twist the handle.

"Open it real quick," Dewey counseled, his claws digging into her shoulder again as apprehension set in.

Paige nodded, and after another calming breath, she whipped the door open and stared inside. Both of them relaxed as they found an empty room filled with weapons.

"A weapons room," Dewey shouted, flitting off Paige's shoulder and into the room. "Maybe your sword's in here!"

Paige hurried into the room and scanned it.

"There!" She pointed a shaky finger into the corner of the room where a sword stood propped against the wall.

In the dim flames that lit the room, the ruby on the hilt gleamed.

Paige dashed toward it and grabbed it, spinning to find Dewey wielding a mace. "Whoa! Watch it with that thing!"

"Sorry, just trying it out. I thought it looked cool."

Paige stumbled back a step. "You're going to kill someone with that."

Dewey swung it again. "Gosh, I hope so."

Paige dropped her chin and frowned at him. "I mean me. You're going to kill me."

Dewey wobbled in the air as the heavy item dragged him forward with its inertia. "Eh, this is unwieldy. Let me pick something else."

"Hurry up. I'd like to get out of here."

"Okay, okay." Dewey scanned the room before picking up a walking stick with a flower carved into it.

He thumbed the flower, and a blade shot out of the bottom. Dewey's eyes lit up and his lips formed a delighted O.

"Yes! This one." After shoving the knife back inside, he fluttered back onto Paige's shoulder with his new weapon clutched in his hands. "Let's go."

Paige darted out the door, closing it behind her, before backtracking down the hall. "Only sleft and left to pick from."

"Sleft," Dewey said.

Paige nodded as she rounded the curve in the hall and scurried the remaining steps into the opening before darting into the next passage. "If it's the last hall, I'm going to be so mad. That would be just my luck."

"There's a door at the end of this one," Dewey exclaimed. "Let's hope it leads to a way out."

Paige waved crossed fingers in the air and charged down the wooden barrier.

A wisp of wind tickled her cheek, and the corners of her lips turned up. "I bet it does. Feels like air coming from under that door."

"Yep. Go, Paige, go!"

With a grin on her face, Paige raced to the door and flung it open. A cool breeze gusted past her. A ladder on the opposite side of the round space led up. Light filtered down from above it.

Paige's smile broadened, and she bit her lower lip, giving a fist pump. "This must be it!"

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

"I'm with you on that." Paige stepped into the room, her eyes trained on the ladder.

Movement drew her attention a moment too late. A hard smack landed against the back of her knees, and she toppled forward as pain shot up and down her legs.

A grumbling voice growled something at her as she landed hard on her hands, sending pain jolting through her shoulders.

Paige glanced sideways to find a troll raising his walking stick overhead as he wound up to land another blow against her skull.