The problem with fighting bugs in tunnels, Ratface found, was that they were much better suited for it than she was. She jumped and slid down tunnels trying to make her way out, but the centipede kept crawling in her way. She had to switch direction every time or else it’d catch her. At first, she’d been able to keep track of all the twists and turns. Yet as the centipede continued to cut her off, she began to lose track of where she was. It all culminated when she rounded a corner and found several tunnels shooting off from it. She didn’t recognise any of them. She looked at Halmir.

  “Can you still smell the others?” she asked. Halmir nodded.

  Ratface tilted her head. The centipede had bit the queen insides. She’d assumed it was just the easiest way for it to attack but what if it was more than that? It had been in a pile of ant corpses.

  “It’s hungry,” she said. She scooped up Halmir and put him on the ground. “Run and find the others and bring them back here. Stay in your rat form.”

  Halmir scampered off and Ratface drew her weapons. She could do this. It was just a big bug. She’d already been coming here to fight a big bug anyway. This one just had way more legs than she’d been expecting. There was a rumble under her feet, and she danced back as the centipede shot up where she’d been standing. It didn’t stay in the room but burrowed into the wall next to her. It burrowed so fast that it was gone before she could do anything.

  Ratface frowned. That burrowing speed was way too fast to be natural.

  She focused on that mana in the air. A thick line of mana wafted from the centipede, and she could see its glow moving around in the wall. It was definitely using some sort of magic to burrow then. That worked out in her favour as so long as she focused, she could track its movements.

  The glow switched direction and started charging at her. Ratface stepped to the side as the centipede plunged out of the earth towards her.

  She sliced into it as it skittered past. The thing snapped its side legs at her, and she jumped back before they could do any harm.

  The two of them did this dance a couple of times before the centipede realised she had some way of seeing it. It emerged out of a tunnel cautiously. It circled around her, crawling up and around the walls. Its digging had turned this space from a tunnel section into a wider space. Ratface was grateful for the extra dodging area even if she still had to watch her step.

  The centipede was clever, but Ratface had spent the last few months getting to fight all sorts of monster bugs. She knew eventually it would lean back to strike. It was just a matter of when.

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  The centipede crawled onto the roof directly above her. Dirt crumbled from the roof towards Ratface’s eyes. She knew the moment she closed her eyes it’d attack.

  She jumped to the side as she closed her eyes. The centipede dropped down in silence.

  Ratface opened her eyes and realised she’d made a mistake. Instead of striking at her, it had let its body slam down around her.

  She managed to dive out of the way to avoid being crushed, but now the thing was surrounding her. It skittered around her with its many legs.

  The centipede’s head swayed from side to side waiting to attack her as it continued to tighten the circle it had made around Ratface with the rest of its body.

  A few legs got too close, and she stopped focusing on the head to cut at them. The distraction nearly cost her as the centipede struck at her. She managed to get her sword in the way of the pincers before it caught her. It held onto the sword and pushed down on her. Ratface grunted and fell to one knee under the pressure. It was going to crush her into the ground. Ratface strained against its weight to no avail. It pushed her closer and closer to the ground and she squirmed as she tried to find any solution.

  She heard a pop next to her followed by the centipede rearing back in pain. Two people stood over Ratface. Halmir had his claws out, but it wasn’t him that had struck the bug.

  An elf stood next to him, or at least a glamour that looked like one. Her elegant features looked bored as she let her sword dangle at her side.

  “I don’t know why you’re surprised there’s a bug here,” said Krysa. In the dark of the tunnel, she shone with magic. Ratface could always find her in a crowd because she was more magic than flesh. The core inside her was all that tethered her to the world. Looking at her still filled Ratface with wonder at the magic she’d done.

  Not that she’d show it.

  “Big talk for the person who didn’t find anything,” said Ratface.

  “Not all of us had a rat to help us,” said Krysa. She held out her hand to help Ratface up. Krysa tried to pretend that she didn’t care, but she gave Ratface a worried glance when she thought Ratface wasn’t watching.

  Ratface pretended not to notice. She didn’t want to embarrass the glamour.

  The centipede had gathered itself up while the two of them had talked. Its eyes glanced between the three of them, trying to decide who to attack. It settled on the one that had drawn blood.

  The centipede struck at Krysa. It was a mistake. The glamour danced past the attack and cut into its head, sending it reeling back. Halmir turned into a rat as Ratface grabbed him. She threw him above the centipede as it thrashed its head in the air.

  The rat turned into his rat noble form above the centipede. He had his claws out and grabbed onto its head. He latched onto it and clawed away.

  Ratface and Krysa weren’t idle while he did this. They hacked into its body from either side. Its legs thrashed at them, but it couldn’t focus with Halmir on its head.

  The centipede swung its head down in an attempt to dislodge Halmir. A moment before they hit the ground Halmir blinked next to Ratface. The centipede hit the ground and was dazed for a moment. Ratface darted forward and stabbed deep into its head. It let a final twitch out and died.