“Lily! Just because Philip isn’t here doesn’t mean you need to take his place! What did I say about YOLO-ing into monsters!” Anika cried after Lily, a combination of panic and frustration in her voice.

  Lily skidded to a stop several yards from the trees, turning to look back at Anika, her face easily in competition for best surprise meme. She did not, however, have a chance to say anything, as she had attracted the attention of the giant hummingbirds.

  While the giant hummingbirds had originally looked gorgeous and graceful, swooping between flowers as they feasted, a swarm of ten avian death needles now plunged towards Lily. She squeaked in surprise and fear, but six members of the swarm abruptly plummeted like rocks, now Australian shepherd sized capybaras.

  Anika and Sinaya, who thankfully covered distance more quickly than Lily’s tiny capybara legs, leapt towards the companion, who now sprinted back towards them. Anika had her bow in her hand, but doubted her ability to land an arrow in any of the hummingbirds. They moved fast. She focused on interposing her body between Lily and the humming birds, knowing she could handle more of their soporific venom if they found purchase in the gaps between her armor. She prepared to use her bow more like a club, ready to hit the birds away, calling on her limited gym class softball skills. At least the birds were large targets.

  Anika readied her bow to hit an incoming bird. As she started her swing, the bird exploded in mid air, a giant metal ball attached to a chain flashing past Anika’s vision as it connected with the bird. Anika had barely comprehended what she saw before it whooshed past her vision again, a spinning ball of death smashing into and one-shotting another hummingbird.

  Anika and Lily stared at Sinaya in awe as she quickly finished off the last two humming birds, not a wasted spin of the meteor hammer in her hands as she devastated the monsters and then calmly looped her weapon back to rest on the ground. Sinaya didn’t even breathe heavily after her fast reaction, whereas Anika panted, though that could partially be the panic she felt thinking of Lily getting stabbed by the bayonet-like beaks.

  “Competently done, as always.” Leka nodded to Sinaya in approval. “Perhaps you should be equally prepared in the future, Lily.” She gave the capybara a stern but ever so slightly judgmental look.

  Lily withered under Leka’s stare and ran to hide behind Anika’s legs, whimpering. Anika reached down to give a hug to her companion.

  “Leka is right, Lily. You know better than to run towards monsters.” She comforted the quivering capybara while still trying to speak sternly enough that Lily learned her lesson.

  “I didn’t see any monsters so I thought it was okay to go to the trees. I didn’t know there would be birds and I didn’t see them. I’m sorry! I don’t want to be yelled at.” Lily somehow managed a very human-like whine in her response.

  Leka started to speak, but Anika interrupted her, thinking that Lily would listen better if it came from Anika.

  “You can’t just run off places without looking. Monsters can be anywhere! They aren’t just on the ground. You need to look up and down AND use your map!” Anika’s voice held hints of exasperation and fear for Lily’s safety.

  “Your map even tells you when monsters are around! It probably has better range than the minimap. You need to use the tools you have or you will get hurt and then where will I be without you?!” Anika tried to get the anxiety and panic in her voice under control, but her voice wavered and her pitch rose at the end of her speech. She tried to calm herself by scratching behind Lily’s ears while taking some meditative breaths.

  “I’m sorry, Anika! I won’t run off ever again!” Lily sounded even more upset now, but Anika felt her Calming Presence activate, which she knew would calm them both down.

  “That’s enough of that.” Leka said, taking charge. “Lily has learned a valuable lesson today. Youth and inexperience are not an excuse for carelessness. But we make these mistakes now while there is little risk so that we do not make them later. Lily, you cannot expect Anika or Sinaya to run to your defense. You must always wait for your party and you must never take off alone while in a dungeon.” Leka moved towards the forest. “Now, we have much to do in the dungeon, and you may approach with caution.”

  Sinaya, having been an uncomfortable witness to Lily’s reprimand, hurried after Leka. She swung her meteor hammer idly, as if itching for something to hit rather than deal with another emotional outburst from Lily and Anika.

  “I’m sorry Anika, I didn’t mean to make you upset. I will be more careful. Please don’t be mad at me.” Lily sounded more calm, but her voice begged for affirmation from Anika like a two year old who committed a minor infraction and thought the world was ending.

  “I’m not mad Lily. I was scared. You keep running off in dungeons like you are invincible. You need to stop taking after Philip! He has armor! Remember the Packmother? You were scared of that. You don’t need to be scared of everything, but a little bit of cautious fear is always wise.” Anika gave the capybara a hug, and set her down on the ground.

  “Now we have a lot of work to do today, so stay with me unless I or someone else tells you to go elsewhere.” She began walking after Leka, then stopped remembering that Lily had turned six of the hummingbirds into capybaras. Somehow, they had all survived the fall to the ground after their sudden transition from bird to rodent. Two of them looked injured, however, and the other four crowded around them.

  Anika knew that, ultimately, the transformed capybaras would only last about 15 minutes, though she supposed they may last longer with Lily’s increased level, and they would be better off just killing the former monster. But she couldn’t do that.

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  “C’mon, we need to check on your capybaras. I think some of them got hurt in the fall. Then we need to catch up to Leka and Sinaya.”

  Anika moved to the capy pack, Lily rushing to her side to chatter at the group, and kneeled next to them. The two injured capybaras looked like they had landed hard on their little legs from bad angles. Anika wasn’t actually sure if her Soothing Waters could heal their injuries, but she had to try. She closed her eyes and touched the first capybara, willing her magic into it.

  Anika knew her power hadn’t increased by that much since the last time she cast the healing spell, but her single-minded practice with her magic this week had improved her overall skill level and control. She actually felt bones healing under the skin and muscles as she carefully repaired the injuries under her hand. In far less time than she expected, the first capybara climbed to its feet, chirping thanks to her. She quickly moved to the second injured capybara, repeating the process.

  With both capybara’s healed, Anika told Lily to have them fan in front of them as they moved after Leka and Sinaya. Both women had disappeared into the dense foliage of the jungle. Luckily, the minimap functioned exceptionally well, providing an arrow at the edge of the small circular map the color of their party dots. Anika pointed out the direction and they rushed off. Meanwhile, Anika kept a careful eye on the minimap to ensure no monsters approached them as they entered the poor sightlines of the jungle-like woods. Despite the obstructed visibility of dense undergrowth, Anika pulled an arrow and rested it on the bowstring as they moved, just in case.

  The small group passed more dead hummingbirds as they ventured after the trainer. Anika couldn’t believe they had actually gone that far without them, but she figured Leka had some lesson to teach them, or had figured out some other way to watch and keep them safe. Or she just figured Sinaya would kill all the monsters on the way in, leaving behind a Hansel and Gretel style trail of feathers and other less savory parts.

  Anika felt like she hadn’t healed the capybaras for long, but they had fallen further behind the trainer than she expected. She assumed they would catch up quickly, but even at her faster than walking pace they hadn’t reached the pair of women yet. Lily didn’t seem to notice how much time had passed as she stayed next to Anika with military precision, trying to make up for her earlier recklessness.

  A flash of red appeared behind Anika on her map. She spun around, pulling her arrow as she looked up, expecting another hummingbird. She saw nothing. Lily, glued to her ankle, stopped and spun around as well. The capybaras ahead of them took a few steps before stopping to look back at the pair inquisitively.

  “Is there something bad?” Lily questioned, as Anika flicked her eyes back and forth, up and down at the dense leaves in the direction of the red dot. She still saw nothing.

  The red dot on Anika’s minimap moved slightly closer and she heard a low, rumbling croak from the tree to her left. The leaves on the vine hanging down near the tree trunk rustled, and a small frog jumped into view on a low hanging branch.

  The frog had greenish brown skin, bumpy as if covered in warts, and huge, red eyes bulging from the sides of its pointed head. Black spots covered its back and black stripes adorned its face like warpaint.

  Anika took a few steps back, “Quick, Lily, smash that frog with a rock. But stay back! It’s highly venomous.”

  The frog looked like an innocuous tree frog, but Anika knew better. These frogs snuck up on parties in dungeons, divebombing unsuspecting people and injecting them with a deadly toxin delivered by spikes on their head. They died quickly and easily, but she’d read that in the early days of the dungeon, many unsuspecting trainees and priests in Etalan had barely survived the kamikaze frogs. She did not want to leave the creature alive anywhere near them.

  “I don’t see it! I can’t smash it!” Lily jumped up and down like a little kid trying to see onto a counter full of treats.

  Realizing the vines probably blocked Lily’s view from the ground, Anika bent down to pick her up. As she grabbed the squirming capybara in her hands, she saw the red dot on the map begin moving closer again.

  In a moment, Anika recalled that the branch on the tree did not face the proper direction for the frog to move any closer and still remain connected to the surrounding greenery. Instead of standing, Anika pulled Lily into her chest while diving sideways in an ugly, poorly coordinated leap. Her shoulder slammed into the ground at an angle not conducive to an acrobatic gymnastics roll and rather than seamlessly turning to land safely on her bottom, she tumbled awkwardly onto her side. Lily squealed with alarm as they landed a few feet from where they started.

  “Sorry! I think it jumped!” Anika let go of Lily and let her slide to the ground far more gracefully than Anika had, and turned around as quickly as she could, trying to spot the venomous frog.

  The frog landed just past where they had stood a moment before, close to one of the transformed capybara that had led the way through the jungle. As they watched, the frog leaped again, continuing its journey forward and landing on the lead capybara, its tiny head a missile on a nonstop path to its target.

  Anika tried to conjure water to knock the frog away, once again judging herself for wasted effort trying to protect a polymorphed monster that would disappear on its own eventually. But even knowing that, it was too darn cute to let it die a painful death to the frog’s venom. She managed to form a small ball of water in front of her when the frog suddenly veered off course as if hitting a wall.

  A large rock appeared out of nowhere next to Lily’s head and followed the frog’s trajectory to the ground, smashing it mercilessly into the ground with a squelching sound.

  “I did it!” Lily cheerfully wiggled and ran over to inspect her polymorphed capybara.

  Anika looked at the rock and back over at Lily. “Did you just pull that rock out of your scarf?”

  “Yup!” She sniffed at the targeted capybara, who sat itself on the ground and chittered at Lily.

  “Why are you keeping a rock in your scarf? There are plenty of rocks in the dungeon.”

  “But I like that one! And this one!” Another rock, this one slightly smaller but flatter like a frisbee appeared in the air next to Lily and she spun it around like a top.

  “Uh… how many rocks do you have in there?” Anika was beginning to think that, perhaps, giving a child a magical storage compartment may not be the most productive use of magic in the world.

  “Twenty-seven!” Lily stated proudly.