"No!" Jaysse screamed. He ran forwards and bashed his hands against the rocks, which of course didn't budge. He couldn't use his earth magic to move them out of the way, not with the others nearby to see it, and they looked too big for him to move, anyway. He pressed up against the rocks and groaned. He had failed to save his friend.

The catacombs were round tunnels carved out of the stone, snaking into many different directions. The tunnels were completely dark, except for one lone torch burning low on the wall.

"How will we know where to go?" Olivia questioned in the dark. "We can't see a thing."

Jaysse's reply was non sequitur. "Tear the hem off your skirt."

Olivia scoffed, very offended. "Excuse me? How about you tear the hem off that dingy tunic, hermit?"

Olivia couldn't see it, but Jaysse rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll do it, then. I guess mine would be better for this."

There was a ripping noise in the dark as Jaysse tore a strip of cloth from the bottom of his tunic. He took the torch off the wall and wound the oily cloth around it. That provided extra fuel for the torch. The flame bloomed, widening the sphere of light it gave off. It illuminated the frightened faces of the other four people in the catacomb.

"What happened? Where is Sir Petra?" Axel demanded.

Jaysse looked away uncomfortably.

Axel's eyes narrowed. "Where-is-Petra? And where is King Gabriel?"

"They, uh…"

"Spit it out!"

"They didn't make it into the tunnels with us," Jaysse confessed.

Axel looked aghast. "Why did you not help them?"

"I tried. The Deurodragon grabbed them both and I could only save one of them. I tried to rescue Petra, but then the dragon swatted me with its tail and Lukas and I fell into the tunnels."

Axel turned coldly on Lukas. "You did not help them. You stood by while they were in danger."

"I-I...I did not…" the gypsy boy stammered.

"Exactly! You did nothing. Now the king and his best soldier are dead, and the fault is yours." He loomed over Lukas, pure hate in his glare.

"I am so sorry…" Lukas tried to apologize, but Axel interrupted him.

"Your apology means nothing."

The servant boy stepped up to Lukas and then slapped him across the face-hard. The force was enough to send Lukas tumbling to the ground again. Upset by the violence, Reuben started crying again.

"Axel!" Olivia exclaimed. "Why did you do that?"

"He put his own life before Petra's and Gabriel's. Heaven knows why. His life certainly isn't worth more than theirs. 'Tis not very valuable at all."

Lukas sniffled and wiped his hand across his face.

"Axel, that is enough," the princess snapped. "Stop berating him. It was an accident."

"Awful costly accident." Axel crossed his arms. "You are lucky the princess is standing up for you, gypsy. Otherwise, you might not leave this tunnel alive."

"Don't make me relieve you of service, Axel," Olivia threatened. "After all, I am your superior. I can put you in the same situation as him."

That cooled Axel down fairly quickly.

"Look," Jaysse said, "we cannot stay here. This is much too dangerous. We need to hurry through these tunnels and find a safer place to hide. Like it or not, we are stuck together for the time being, so we might as well work together. We are in enough danger of being killed already with the Deurodragon on the loose; we don't need to be put in danger of being killed by each other."

"He has a point," Olivia said. "Uh, what is your name?"

"Jaysse," he supplied. "I mean no disrespect against you, Princess, but we have to be reasonable."

"But what about King Gabriel and Sir Petra?" Axel asked.

"I fear for them, but we will not save them if we stand here and talk," Olivia replied. "Come on. Lead the way, Jaysse."

"Oh. All right. Um…" Hesitantly Jaysse moved to the front of the group. How did he suddenly become the leader? He sighed and picked up Reuben, carrying him piggyback. Axel held the torch. The orange glow crept across the moldy old stones lining the tunnel. Strange noises echoed from the depths of the catacombs.

"Would it be such a bother to build nice tunnels?" Olivia whined. "Why must catacombs always be dark and dirty?"

Now that Olivia had threatened to relieve him of his duties, Axel was bending over backwards to please her. "My apologies, my lady. Would you like me to carry you so that you won't have to walk?"

Olivia looked disgusted. "No. I do not need that."

"Rather cold in this tunnel," Lukas commented randomly, clutching his upper arms.

"Only for a shirtless hooligan like you," Axel retorted. "Would it kill you gypsies to wear clothes like proper men?"

"Excuse me? There is a great difference between being shirtless and being naked outright. My people come from a warm climate and-"

"Shut up! This is your fault, anyway."

"Axel, be quiet," Jaysse said, waving a hand at him.

"What? I'm putting the gypsy scum back in his place."

"Axel, I said be quiet. I hear something."

"What do you hear?"

"I won't know until you stop talking." Jaysse took a few steps forward and strained to hear. The others tensed up. Axel stood close to Olivia in order to protect her.

"It sounds like footsteps," he observed.

"Footsteps!" Jaysse whispered to the others. "They come from the part of the tunnel ahead of us."

"Maybe Petra found her way to us? She found another way into the tunnels?" the servant boy asked hopefully.

The sound of the footsteps grew, as did everyone's anticipation. Jaysse slowly waved the torch, trying to see Petra approaching. A figure cloaked in shade drew close, their steps calculated.

"I do not trust them," Lukas whispered to Olivia, drawing his dagger. "That does not seem like Petra."

"Silence," Axel reprimanded him. "Petra?"

The figure stepped into the torchlight. It was an old man with greasy hair and a green robe. Ivor had hobbled into their midst. Everyone let out a groan of frustration.

"You! This is your fault. How could you do this terrible thing?" Jaysse ranted.

"You ruined my plans with your meddling," Ivor retorted.

"None of us did anything of the sort." Jaysse stood his ground. "You cannot lay the blame on us."

"Now you fools are forcing me to concoct a new plan. A solution to clean up this mess."

"Where is Sir Petra?" Axel jumped into their conversation.

Ivor looked at him scornfully. "How am I to know the girl's whereabouts? Did she not go down into these tunnels with you?"

"No," Axel snapped. "Thanks to this blond idiot, she was taken by the-by your Deurodragon. She stood against it."

"How brave of her. Well, it was either brave or stupid of her, actually, and I suspect it to be the latter case. Perhaps women really aren't cut out to be in his majesty's army, if they lack sense in critical-"

"Shut up!" Axel roared. "You cannot speak of her like that. Take it back!"

"Oh, words can never be taken back."

Axel made a dismissive waving motion at Ivor. "Bother this stodgy crone. We need to go back and save her. If she is alive, we must have her back."

"Have her back?" Ivor scoffed. "Impossible. There is no way a young girl can go up against the Deurodragon and survive. You must face the truth that your friend is dead. You had best arrange funeral plans for her once this business has blown over."

Jaysse's fists clenched up. "What good are your words, anyway? We ought not to waste time listening to him. We need to go."

An animal noise echoed in the tunnel. The torchlight flickered. Jaysse gulped.

"I would wish you luck, but luck won't carry you through the dark catacombs. Instead, I shall give you sympathy. Farewell." Ivor unclipped a small flask from his belt. He took a swig from it, and instantly he disappeared. It was an invisibility potion. Fading footsteps told them he had run away.

Olivia gasped. "He...he used magic!"

"I'm sorry, my lady," Axel stammered. "Don't worry, I shall protect you from foul magic users. My muscle is mightier than their witchcraft."

"Excellent," Olivia replied. "Oh, how I fear magic. Users of magic only seek to hurt and wreak havoc with it. When I become queen, I will see to it that every magic user comes to a painful and well-deserved end."

Jaysse shuddered involuntarily. The torchlight flickered again.

"Hold the torch steady," Olivia scolded him. "If you drop it, we will have to walk in the dark."

"S-sorry, ma'am," he managed. "Come. We should go."

The animal growl sounded closer this time. The group wasted not a second more. They took off running down the tunnel, frantically checking over their shoulder. Growls and cries echoed through the catacombs. It was hard to tell what sound was coming from where.

"What are those horrid noises?" Olivia asked. "It sounds like some dreadful animal."

"I know what they are," Lukas said, surprising everyone that he did. "They live in the swamps near my homeland. Dangerous animals."

"But what is it?" Olivia insisted.

A large, scaly creature with armored skin and a wedge-shaped head sprung out of the shadows near a fork in the tunnel. It lashed its muscled tail about and snapped its huge, toothy jaws.

"It's an alligator!"

Agitated by the presence of noisy people, they alligator gnashed its teeth at them. They screamed and made a break for an escape. Axel swept Olivia up into his arms and Jaysse grabbed Reuben, both out of protective instinct. The group ran for life down the other leg of the fork in the tunnel, looking in panic to see if the alligator was following. It lumbered after them, still angry.

"Help!" Olivia cried. "Oh, that's terrifying!"

Jaysse was too busy looking behind him, watching for the alligator, that he wasn't looking at what lay ahead. He slammed into a metal grate at the end of the tunnel.

"Oh, no. Oh...no. Please, no," he stammered as he bashed his fists against the grate, which didn't budge. "Open! Open!"

"Jaysse?" Olivia squeaked. "The alligator-"

"There it is!" Lukas cried, pointing down the length of the tunnel. Determined to get at them, it pulled itself along, snapping its jaws like a massive pair of shears. Jaysse and the others were trapped.

"Does anyone have a weapon?" Jaysse asked, panicking.

"Lukas has a dagger. I saw it," Axel said.

"That is not going to ward off an alligator!" Lukas shot back.

Reuben wailed and shielded his eyes. The alligator slunk closer, slowing down now that it didn't have to chase down the youngsters anymore. It drew so close that they could smell the algae and rot on its breath. Lukas and Olivia whimpered, and Reuben sobbed. Jaysse squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see what would come next.

Just when he was sure they were going to be torn to pieces, a mighty rush of water blasted through the catacomb. The alligator looked back, saw the water shooting through the tunnel at it, and scrambled to get out of the way. Jaysse and the others were hit full-on with the water. The grate gave way, and suddenly all five of them were tumbling through thin air. Screams pounded through Jaysse's brain; he couldn't even tell that one of those screams was coming from him.

He landed back first in some body of water. He heard four heavy splashes shortly thereafter. Kicking and struggling, he forced his head above water and gasped for air. He treaded water and glanced around. Olivia, Axel, Lukas, and himself were bobbing in a tank of water. A few meters above, the end of the tunnel jutted out from a wall, dripping water. It was a pipe. The alligator looked down at them in disappointment. They were in a large space carved out of stone. All around were pipes, troughs, and water tanks.

"This is not just a catacomb," Jaysse said. "It is also a sewer! Interesting."

"When was this built?" Axel inquired. "My lady, were you told about the sewers in your lessons?"

Olivia shook her head.

"Hold it," Lukas said suddenly, ignoring how Axel gave him an eye-roll for daring to speak up. "Has...has anyone seen the little boy Jaysse was carrying? What was his name?"

Jaysse glanced around, saw that Reuben had gone missing, and cried out in fear. "Reuben! Where did Reuben go?"

Jaysse clawed through the murky water in a panic, trying to figure out where the young child had gone. To his horror, he saw Reuben below the water, sinking to the bottom of the tank. The child couldn't swim.

"Reuben!" Jaysse yelled. "He's going to drown!"

"Not if I can help." Lukas breathed in a deep gasp of air, then plunged below the water. He swam down to Reuben, pumping his legs and paddling with his arms. He grabbed the collar of Reuben's shirt and carried the child up to the surface with him, pushing the child's head above water before he went up for air himself. Reuben shuddered and started coughing water out of his mouth. Lukas slung the little boy over his shoulder and patted him on the back.

"My word!" Jaysse breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Lukas. I underestimated you. I'd say we all underestimated you."

Jaysse glared very pointedly at Axel. Axel pretended not to see him.

"What are we to do now?" Lukas asked.

"We need to leave here before we encounter any more alligators, that's what we are to do," Olivia replied. "Axel, I request that you carry me again. My swimming abilities are not good."

Axel picked her up and slung her over his shoulder before she even finished her sentence. Jaysse found a floodgate in the tank and opened it. It led to a shallow trough running through the sewer. He held Reuben's hand and led the group in single file through the waist-deep water.

"The water is not that deep, my lady," Axel observed as they trudged along. "Are you sure that you want to be carried?"

"Of course I want to be carried. Who knows what dreadful stuff is mixed in that sewage water?"

Olivia probably shouldn't have mentioned that. Everyone cried out in disgust and started sloshing the water around. Jaysse tightened his grip on Reuben's hand so the child wouldn't run away. Jaysse picked up the pace as he led the group so they could get out of the sewer as soon as possible.

"Stay alert for more alligators," he warned the others. "I doubt that was the only one lurking in this sewer. Would that I still had my torch. I dropped it when we landed in the water tank."

They stumbled in the dark for a long time. The trough turned into another tunnel, at the end of which shone a glorious wash of daylight. It opened to the surface world! Only a grate made a barrier between the ragtag group and escape from the catacombs and sewers. Luckily, it was rusty. Jaysse unscrewed the bolts holding it on, and then Axel ripped it out of its moorings. They emerged from the sewer and stepped into the daylight, wiping sludge and dirt off their clothes. They were in a hilly meadow by a forest. How far they were from civilization was unclear.

"Why is it that nice clothes are always the clothes that end up ruined?" Olivia fretted, looking at the sorry state of her state-events dress. "And my feet hurt from walking barefoot."

Jaysse and Lukas rolled their eyes at the same time, both of them knowing full well the discomfort of being perpetually barefoot.

"With all due respect, my lady, will you please stop complaining?" Lukas requested. "I know that walking barefoot is painful. I must do so every day." He lifted one foot off the ground and rubbed it.

"Why must you do that?" Olivia adjusted her pigtails. "Why not wear shoes?"

"I do not have the means for that." His tone was as level as cannon fire. "I'm too poor to own shoes."

Olivia bit her lip.

"Sometimes my tribe struggles to find enough means to feed ourselves, much less afford something to put on our feet," Lukas continued. "I have slept on stable floors or the ground more times than I have slept in a bed. Many times, we have had to resort to stealing to provide for ourselves."

"What point are you trying to make?" Axel crossed his arms.

"Suffering is all around in the world. Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the well-off to care for the poor?"

Axel growled. "Watch yourself, gypsy."

Olivia frowned, feeling convicted by what Lukas said. Reviewing her recent behavior, she felt like a total brat. She struck her palms together and sighed. She saw the sun hanging low in the western sky.

"Night is falling," she observed. "We should, uh, stop and rest for the night."

"We can set up camp on the edge of the forest," Jaysse suggested. "Lukas, will you help me with that? You know how to set up a camp for the night."

Lukas agreed to it and they set to work pitching the camp. Jaysse arranged a fire ring and lit a campfire. Lukas threw together lean-tos from sticks and leafy branches.

"Not the most sturdy shelters ever, but they will keep us for the night," he said.

Once the camp was prepared, they huddled around the campfire to keep warm. Jaysse, Lukas, and Olivia rubbed their sore feet. Axel held Reuben under his arm like a hen taking a chick under her wing.

"This is a disaster," Olivia said, breaking the silence. "That dragon is going to destroy the world."

"It's Ivor's fault," Axel growled. "That wicked old crone! Why would he do something so nasty?"

"Revenge?" Jaysse wondered aloud. "He...I didn't pay too much attention to what he said before he released the dragon, but I remember him saying something about Gabriel being a liar and a cheater."

"What would he possibly cheat or lie about?" Olivia squinted. "My father is the most just, honorable man imaginable."

Jaysse wanted to say something about the magic law, but didn't. The last thing he needed was for her to be suspicious of him.

Instead he said, "It is a wonder."

"Just like his monster. How will that terrible thing be destroyed? It has to be destroyed before it destroys everything else. I just wonder how we will do that."

"We need a knight in shining armor or something," Axel piped up.

"It will take more than that," Jaysse said. "This beast is magical. A mere sword and shield won't defeat it."

"How would you know that it is magical?" Olivia glared at him.

"It's, um, well...it's definitely not an ordinary animal." Jaysse quickly changed the subject. "King Gabriel gave me this medallion as a guideline for getting help."

Jaysse took out the medallion and showed it to everyone.

"My word! He gave that to you?"

"Yes. Before the dragon capture him."

"What was his instruction?"

"He told me to seek Magnus of Fragor." Jaysse pointed at the green spoke on the wheel.

"Look for Magnus of Fragor?" Olivia ruffled her skirt in agitation. "No. We will do nothing of the sort. What we need to do is go back to Murex immediately. My father was captured by that beast, and I have lost track of my mother."

"Your father told me to seek Magnus. I should honor his instruction."

"So you do not care what happens to the queen?"

"No! That's not the case. I thought that I should do as I was advised…"

"My lady?" Axel asked. "If it does not offend you...I think what Jaysse says is right."

"Et tu, Axel?" Olivia snapped back.

"I..I want to help Jaysse look for Magnus. I admire him."

"You admire the hermit?"

"I admire Magnus."

"Of course you admire him. He's a roguish fellow just as you are. Consider yourself relieved of duty, Axel."

Axel looked crushed. "My lady, I am so sorry, but…"

"Give me no excuses."

"Regardless of whether Axel comes or not, I go," Jaysse said. "This is important. So important I can hardly understand it myself."

Axel twiddled his thumbs, then said, "I am so sorry, my lady, but I agree with him. I will go with him to Fragor."

Olivia sighed. "Then go. Go on. Go look for Magnus with the hermit. I, on the other hand, am going to look for my mother."

"Are you sure?" Jaysse rose from his seat. "You're going to look for Queen Ellegaard alone? Going back to Murex? But that's so dangerous."

"I must do this, Jaysse. Don't try to talk me out of it."

"Olivia, the Deurodragon leveled Murex. It's not safe to go back there."

"I said not to try talking me out of this."

"We lost track of the Deurodragon. What if it's still prowling around Murex? It could kill you in an instant."

Olivia paused, looking conflicted.

"Axel and I are going to Fragor." Jaysse rubbed his hands together. "I trust that you will make a good decision on what you do, Olivia."

A roar echoed distantly. The group faced the direction from which the sound had come. In the west sky, a massive and evil shape was silhouetted by the sun. It had four wings and two heads. It was the Deurodragon. The monster was on the prowl, seeking to kill and destroy. Jaysse's heart felt faint inside him.

Lukas paled. "Please hurry."