The commander put the ordinary hunters in front.
Eli noticed the separation because the briefing had placed support hunters along the retreat route, close enough to cover the main assault team’s withdrawal. Porters were supposed to hold the equipment behind them. Now Rusk sent the main team forward alone and stationed four elite hunters behind a stone ridge with their equipment already arranged. Between the assault line and the route home, Eli could see no supporting formation.
The ridge overlooked a hollow in the cavern floor. Across the hollow, a dark opening yawned beneath a shelf of rock. The gate map marked that opening as the creature’s lair. Eli had no reason to doubt it: the air from the passage smelled of wet fur and something metallic, and deep scratches crossed the floor near its mouth.
He did doubt the formation.
Tessa lowered the medical trunk beside a broken wall on the near side of the cavern. Eli helped her pull out the folding frame that would support a patient above the damp floor. The wall gave them cover from the marked lair, but it also blocked their view of a narrow passage on the left.
“Can you see the entrance from here?” she asked.
Eli stepped to the end of the wall. The route back toward the camp was visible between two pillars, though the second pillar would conceal anyone approaching until they were close. “Most of it.”
“Most isn’t enough for a stretcher.”
He looked for a better position. A strip of higher ground ran along the wall, but the slope up to it was steep. Two people carrying a patient could manage it only if the ground stayed clear.
“I’ll mark the slope,” he said. “If we need it, we’ll have to clear the loose stones.”
Tessa handed him a roll of pale tape. He tied a short length to a projection where the slope began, then carried the larger stones away from the path. One of the other medics joined him without being asked. They worked quickly, glancing up whenever a hunter raised his voice.
Across the hollow, the main team was assembling. Their leader was the veteran who had asked to search Mara Denn’s camp. Eli had finally learned his name when Rusk assigned positions: Venn. He wore a blue cord around his wrist and carried a long spear with a chipped socket near the blade.
Venn inspected the entrance to the marked lair. He signaled to a support hunter, who sent a small glowing orb down the passage. The light traveled a dozen yards, wavered, and vanished around a bend.
“No response,” the support hunter called.
Rusk looked at the tablet in his hand. “Again.”
The second orb had barely entered the passage when something struck the stone beyond it. A low scraping sound followed. Venn raised his spear, and the hunters near him spread out.
Eli returned to the medical wall. “Stones are clear.”
Tessa was checking the straps on the folding frame. “Stay close enough to hear me. If they bring someone in, I’ll need the case open and water ready.”
“I’m also supposed to keep the porter line together.”
“Then keep it where it can hear.”
That was easier said than done. Rusk had ordered the porters to wait behind the medical position. One of them, Ada, was carrying the spare crystal case toward the elite hunters’ ridge. Len stood beside the rations pack, staring at the lair. Neri had moved to the edge of the retreat route with a bundle of rope over her shoulder.
Eli caught Neri’s eye and pointed toward the marked slope. She nodded and crossed to Len.
A roar rolled out of the dark passage. The first creature emerged low to the ground, its shoulders scraping both sides of the entrance. Its hide was the color of old slate, broken by ridges of pale bone. Four limbs carried it forward; another, smaller pair folded against its chest like hooked arms.
Venn shouted an order. A shield went up. Light flashed along the spear’s shaft, and the first line met the creature at the edge of the hollow.
The impact shook dust from the cavern ceiling.
Eli had seen stronger hunters fight larger monsters. There was nothing unusual about fear while he watched. The danger came from believing the people with weapons could handle anything the briefing had called manageable. He had seen confident teams become frightened teams when a creature refused to obey the assumptions written about it.
This one drove into the shield, twisted, and struck with its smaller arms. A hunter fell back with a torn sleeve. Another cut across its flank. The blade left a narrow line that closed almost immediately.
“Regeneration,” Tessa said.
She opened a compartment in the trunk and laid out bandages.
Rusk called, “Hold it in the hollow. Don’t let it reach the ridge.”
The elite hunters did not move. One had a hooked chain coiled beside his feet. Another checked a cluster of red crystals attached to a metal launcher. A third was watching the passage on the left rather than the creature in front of Venn’s team.
Eli followed her gaze. He saw only darkness.
The wounded hunter stumbled toward the medical wall. Tessa caught him before he fell and cut away the torn sleeve. Four punctures marked his forearm. Blood ran freely but did not pulse.
“Pressure here,” she told Eli.
He pressed a folded dressing against the wound while she checked the hunter’s hand. Two fingers moved; the others did not.
“Can you feel this?” she asked.
The hunter nodded once, eyes fixed on the fight. “I need to get back.”
“You need to keep your arm attached.”
“Venn’s short a shield.”
“Then someone with an arm that works needs to take it.” Tessa tightened a wrap around the dressing. “You can argue with me after I stop the bleeding.”
Eli held the man’s wrist steady. Across the cavern, Venn shouted for a replacement. No one from the elite position moved.
The creature drove forward. Its hooked arms caught the edge of a shield and pulled the bearer to one knee. Venn thrust his spear into the exposed joint beneath its shoulder. The monster screamed and rolled away, leaving a streak of dark fluid across the stone.
The main team pressed after it.
From the left passage came a sound like a stone dragged over another stone.
Eli looked up. The elite hunter with the chain had risen. She did not look surprised. She lifted the chain and passed one end to the man with the launcher. He fixed it to a bracket already driven into the ridge.
“Tessa,” Eli said.
She followed his gaze. The wounded hunter tried to sit up. Tessa pushed him back down.
“Stay.”
The sound came again, louder. Venn heard it too. He turned his head toward the left passage, then looked back at the monster in the hollow.
“Commander?” he shouted. “What’s in there?”
Rusk raised one hand. “Maintain position.”
“What’s in the passage?”
The first creature lunged before Rusk answered. Venn caught it on his spear and was driven backward. Two hunters rushed to help him. The line bent around the monster, leaving their right side open.
A shape moved in the left passage.
It was taller than the first creature, though Eli couldn’t see all of it at once. Its head pushed beyond the mouth of the tunnel, followed by a pair of forelimbs wrapped in rough plates. It paused where the stone narrowed, then forced itself through. A thin membrane stretched between ridges along its back and shivered in the cavern air.
The support hunter nearest it raised his weapon. “Second boss!”
Rusk shouted, “Formation three!”
The elite hunters moved immediately. The launcher fired. The hooked chain flew across the cavern and struck the second creature behind its forelimb. The hook caught in the plated hide. The other end of the chain tightened against the bracket on the ridge.
Eli stared at it.
The launcher had been loaded before the creature appeared. The bracket had been driven into the stone before the fight began. The elite hunter had watched the left passage as though she expected something to come out.
“Fall back!” Venn shouted to his team.
Rusk’s voice cut across his. “Hold the first creature. The chain won’t hold both.”
The ordinary hunters hesitated. One of them had already turned toward the retreat route. The second creature pulled against the chain, dragging the bracket half an inch through the stone.
Venn looked from the chain to the commander’s position. “The briefing said one.”
“Hold your line.”
“You knew.”
Rusk did not answer. He gave another order to the elite hunters. Red light flared around the launcher as they prepared a second shot.
The second creature twisted, pulling the chain sideways. Its tail smashed into the wall that separated the hollow from the retreat route. Stone broke loose. A hunter who had been moving toward the exit disappeared behind the falling debris.
Eli ran toward him before Tessa could call him back.
He reached the end of the medical wall and stopped. The fallen stones did not cover the hunter completely; one leg and an arm stuck out beneath a slab. The man was conscious, trying to pull himself free.
“Help me!” he shouted.
Eli caught the exposed arm and pulled. The hunter screamed. The slab did not move.
Neri arrived with the rope. “Can he breathe?”
“I can breathe,” the hunter snapped. “Get this off me.”
She looped the rope around a projection on the slab. Eli braced against the wall and pulled with her. The stone shifted a fraction, then settled back.
Tessa joined them. “Don’t pull him by the arm.” She knelt, checked the hunter’s exposed side, and pointed to the slab. “We need to lift it enough to move him straight out.”
The second creature roared. The chain snapped taut. A crack ran through the bracket on the ridge.
Eli looked around for a lever. The folding frame’s support pole lay near the medical trunk. He sprinted back for it, grabbed the pole, and shoved its end beneath the slab. Neri wrapped the rope around the other end for grip.
“On three,” she said.
They pushed together. The stone lifted just enough for Tessa to pull the hunter’s trapped leg clear. She and the other medic dragged him out while Eli and Neri held the pole.
“Down!” Tessa shouted.
They released it. The slab struck the ground, scattering chips of rock.
The hunter’s leg was badly cut. Tessa checked the wound, then looked toward the marked slope.
“We can carry him out,” Eli said.
“First I need to stop the bleeding.”
Rusk was shouting again. Eli couldn’t distinguish the words over the noise, but the support hunters were moving toward Venn’s line. One stopped near the medical wall and raised a hand at the wounded man.
“Take him to the rear,” Tessa said.
“The commander wants everyone who can stand on the first boss.”
“He can’t stand.”
The support hunter looked at the blood and did not argue. He helped Eli lift the patient onto the folding frame.
Tessa tied a pressure wrap around the leg. “Keep him flat. If the wrap loosens, call me.”
“Come with us,” Eli said.
“There are more coming.”
He looked across the hollow. Venn’s team had driven the first creature back, but two hunters lay near the place where it had struck. One was moving. The other was not.
The second creature pulled again. The bracket tore free. The chain whipped across the ridge, and the elite hunters scattered. One of them fired a second hook into the monster’s flank. Another drove a blade of light across its face.
Eli and the support hunter lifted the frame. The wounded man gripped the sides and bit down on a cry.
They carried him up the marked slope. The support hunter took short, uneven steps; Eli adjusted his pace to keep the frame level. At the top, Neri held the route while they set the frame down behind the second pillar.
“Len’s gone for water,” she said. “Ada’s still at the ridge.”
Eli looked toward the elite position. The spare crystal case was open. Ada was crouched beside it, handing crystals to a hunter whose launcher had jammed. A moment later the hunter pushed her toward the wall and took the case himself.
“She can get back,” Neri said, following his gaze.
“Not if the route closes.”
Eli started down the slope. Rusk intercepted him near the medical wall.
“Porter. The injured man is out?”
“For now.”
“Then move the remaining medical supplies to the ridge.”
“Tessa needs them here.”
“The elite team needs the position clear.”
“There’s another hunter under the rocks.”
Rusk’s expression hardened. “I gave you an order.”
The first creature slammed into Venn’s shield line. A hunter cried out. Rusk turned toward the sound, and Eli saw an opportunity to step around him. A guard moved into the gap.
Tessa called from the wall, “I need the compression case.”
Rusk said, “Take what you need and move.”
She held his gaze. “I’m not leaving patients in the open.”
“Then carry them with you.”
Rusk walked away before she could answer. The guard stayed long enough to make clear that the order had not been withdrawn, then followed him toward the hollow.
Tessa opened the trunk and took out the compression case. “Help me separate what we can carry.”
“We need to get out,” Eli said.
“I know.”
“They had the chain ready.”
“I saw.”
“They knew about the second one.”
Tessa looked toward the ridge. “They prepared for something from that passage. We can’t prove what they knew about the chamber, or how long they’ve known it.”
“The ordinary team went in without that information.”
“Yes.” Her voice stayed steady, though her hands were moving faster now. “And we have a wounded man waiting for a route home. Put the dressings in this bag.”
Eli did as she asked. She filled a smaller case with bandages, scissors, and sealed packets, then closed the heavy trunk. The second medic took the water and followed a support hunter toward the injured men in the hollow.
The manifest pressed against Eli’s ribs as he bent. He had nearly forgotten it during the rescue. The copied page listed the team, the extra bags, and Rusk’s signature. His notes also named Mara Denn and marked the concealed chamber. None of those details would matter if the paper remained here with him.
Ada returned from the ridge, carrying a broken crystal case. She set it down beside the wall and pulled off one glove. Her palm was blistered where the launcher had overheated.
“Can you hold this?” Tessa asked, passing her the smaller medical case.
Ada nodded. Eli stepped close enough that the fight masked his voice.
“I have a copy of the manifest,” he said. “And notes about the camp.”
Ada looked at him. “Why?”
“In case the guild’s report isn’t accurate.”
Her eyes moved to Rusk, then back to Eli. “You want me to take it?”
“I want someone outside the commander’s people to have a copy.”
She glanced at her blistered hand. “Where would I put it?”
Before Eli could answer, a hunter shouted for a porter at the ridge. Ada looked over her shoulder. The man with the launcher was beckoning, his weapon in pieces at his feet.
“I have to go,” she said.
“Wait.”
“If I don’t bring him another bracket, he’ll come looking.” She leaned closer. “When I get back, put it in the lining of my pack. If they search me, they won’t think to look there.”
She left before he could unfold the paper. Eli watched her climb the slope, then put his hand back inside his vest. He needed another copy. He needed a way to tell Venn about the chamber. He needed the porters to have a route out that did not run directly between two monsters.
A crash shook the cavern. The second creature had reached the ridge. The elite hunters fell back toward the left passage, drawing it away from the hollow. One of them shouted for the ordinary team to keep the first boss occupied.
Venn lowered his spear. “We’re being used.”
The hunter beside him said something Eli couldn’t hear. Venn turned toward the retreat route, pulling his wounded arm close to his body. For a moment the ordinary hunters were between the creatures and the entrance, with the medical wall at their backs.
Eli saw Bram Holt standing near the passage. The enforcer had moved there during the fight, and two guards stood within calling distance. He was watching the hunters retreat, but he kept glancing toward Rusk.
Ada had not returned. Tessa was treating another wound. Len was at the upper route with the water. Neri was helping the support hunter keep the patient level.
Eli took the folded manifest from his vest and crossed toward Venn.
The veteran was not part of Rusk’s elite group. He had asked to search for survivors at the camp. He had heard the second creature before anyone admitted it was there. If he got out, he might know whom to trust with the paper.
“Venn,” Eli called.
The veteran turned. Eli held the folded sheet low against his leg and moved toward him.
Bram stepped away from the passage.