The knife, not a silver one, though very sharp noted Reginald through a haze of pain, slid over the skin of his stomach, slicing a very shallow cut down from his navel to just above the groin.

    The torturer grinned and lifted the dripping blade up, watching as the cut slowly began to knit together again.

    "I do love you were-beasts," he said. "You heal so fast, and yet there''s still the pain. Not really a very convenient arrangement is it? You''d think that…" he was cut off as the door from the cells exploded, sending wooden shrapnel flying through the room. One slightly larger piece caught the torturer in the hooded temple, knocking him over in over in a splash of crimson.

    The girl, who had been sitting on a chair reading some kind of magazine, screamed as Urt strode through the doorway, cloak billowing in dramatic fashion.

    "Did you miss me?" he asked, with an evil grin. Reginald would have applauded, had he not been tied down.

    The girl dived for the exit. Urt flung a hand out, and a bolt of power streaked towards her, only to veer off at the last second. It hit the wall where the resulting impact blew out a large chunk of masonry.

    "Curses!" Urt shouted as their captor slammed the door shut from the other side.

    "Nice entrance," Reginald beamed.

    "Thank you." Urt made his way over to his companion and examined the chains restraining him. Rather than opening them magically, as Reginald expected, he knelt by the prone torturer and retrieved the keys, which he then proceeded to use to unlock the wolf.

    "Thank you," Reginald said in turn, sitting up and rubbing his wrists. "How did you get out?"

    "I am a powerful…"

    "…dark wizard, yes," the werewolf finished for him. "Now what? They''ll probably be sending half an army down here to have Strong Words."

    The two of them looked around. The torture room was underground. There were no windows. The only obvious exit was the one the girl had escaped through.

    They looked at each other.

    "Really?" asked Reginald.

    "Well what other way out is there? I seriously doubt there''s going to be a secret exit in a prison," Urt said. "Come on, we don''t have much time."

    "I''m fine by the way." Reginald rubbed his wrist as he followed Urt, who prized open the door and peered out.

    "Yes yes, we can do the small talk thing later." The necromancer pulled his head back into the room. "Come on, it''s all clear."

    "For now," Reginald muttered, as he followed his companion out of the dungeon. "That girl is no doubt on her way back with people who have wards against being blow up."

    "She''s quite something isn''t she?" Urt replied, trotting up the shallow stone steps that were the only way forward.

    "You like her!" Reginald pointed an accusing finger at Urt''s back. "She was having me tortured to death."

    "Come on, don''t be like that. I''m sure she had a good reason." The dark mage paused at the top of the stairs and looked left and right, down the T-junction they had arrived at. "Left or right do you think?"

    "Right heads up," Reginald pointed out.

    "Better go left then."

    "But surely up is out?" the werewolf complained, as Urt turned off in the direction he''d indicated.

    "That''s where the guards will be coming from then yes?"

    "Oh. Good point." Reginald jogged along behind the wizard. The passage was made of large stone blocks, lit at irregular intervals by dim lamps attached to the walls in some fashion he couldn''t see. The floor was sloping down now, and veered off to the left.

    Behind him Reginald could hear distant shouts, and the stamp of booted feet approaching at speed.

    "Hurry," he panted. "I can hear your girlfriend''s men coming to have a chat."

    "She''s not my girlfriend," Urt snapped. The tunnel branched again, into two equally dark passages. The mage took the left one again, apparently at random. "Do you think she liked me?" he added, a moment later, as they made their way along a dusty passage.

    "Of course she did," Reginald said, squinting to see the way forward in the dark. "First dates often consist of a trip to a dungeon, followed by a bit of light cutting. You''re half way to being married as far as I''m concerned."

    "There''s no need to be sarcastic. Oh."

    The two of them stopped short. The tunnel had come to an abrupt end.

    "Now what?" Reginald asked. He strained to hear behind him. The shouts were distant, but they weren''t going away.

    In way of a reply, Urt mumbled something. A small light appeared in his palm, and he held it up, examining the wall.

    "This is new," he said. "It''s been walled off."

    "So?"

    "There''s probably something behind it."

    "Probably?" Reginald asked nervously. The noises of the guards were getting closer.

    "Well, we could just hang about here and see if we can fight our way out." Urt folded his arms. The light floated up and hovered above his head, like an errant willow-wisp.

    "Let''s see what''s behind it shall we?" Reginald rolled up his tattered sleeves. His visit to the torture chamber had had rendered his already battered clothing into little more than rags.

    "I like your thinking. Stand back, let me deal with this."

    Reginald retreated as Urt took several paces backwards and then made a complex gesture whilst uttering several Words of power. With one final incantation, he pointed at the wall.

    An orange spark shot out of his finger tip and bounced off the stone onto the floor, where it lay fizzling for several seconds before going out.

    "Ah."

    "Ah?" Reginald asked, eyes wide. "What was that? The Spark of Doom?"

    "I think I''m out of magic." Urt''s light died, leaving them in the dark.

    "Fantastic," said Reginald. He leaned against the wall behind him, and promptly fell backwards, through a cunningly built, though apparently easily found, secret door.

    ~ * ~

    "Cool! A secret passage!" Reginald looked about at their new, though still dark, environment. "I''ve always wanted to see one. I''m really ticking things off my bucket list today."

    "One of the benefits of travelling with me," Urt said, stepping after the wolf and closing the hidden door behind him. "Do you have a light by any chance?"

    "There''s something over there, on the wall. Hold on."

    Urt waited patiently as his colleague scrabbled about. There was a grunt, then a sound of stone striking stone. A spark, and then a flame. Urt''s eyes acclimatized to the light, to focus on Reginald grinning like… like a wolf, holding up a torch.

    "We''ve good night vision, us werefolk," he said.

    "I''m happy for you," Urt said. "Come on, let''s keep moving."

    Holding the torch high, Reginald moved off down the newly discovered tunnel.

    "Looks old," he whispered back over his shoulder.

    "Indeed, no one''s been here in a while." Urt ducked under some cobwebs.

    "There''s a door ahead." Reginald stopped and waved his torched forward. Urt peered at the new barrier.

    The door was made of stout wood, with dark metal bands running along its length.

    "Do you suppose it''s open?" Reginald asked in a low voice.

    "Doesn''t look like the kind of door that''s left unlocked to me," Urt whispered back. "Try it, but watch out for traps."

    "Why don''t you try it?"

    "I need to be here to rescue you, in case something happens. Anyway, you''re more immune to weapons and things than me."

    "Bah," said the werewolf, but stepped forward all the same and pushed down on the handle.

    Against all expectation, the door swung, creakily, open.

    "It''s open," Reginald said.

    "I can see that." Urt pushed him. "Go on then. See what''s inside. There could be treasure or something."

    "The something being a horrible death," said Reginald. After peering in, he took a cautious step inside the room and looked around.

    "So?" asked Urt, after a minute.

    "It''s a treasure room," his companion said.

    "Really?" Urt moved up to stand by his side.

    The room beyond was small enough that the torch illuminated all four stone walls, but large enough to swing a cat, if it was a young, small cat. In the far corner was a small stone dais. Resting on that was a compact wooden ?h?st.

    "Looks like the treasure trove of a not very rich person," Urt said, and then grabbed Reginald''s arm as the other started to move towards the dais. "What are you doing?"

    "Going to check out the treasure of course!"

    "Were you hatched yesterday or something? Everyone knows that treasure rooms are trapped! You have to take it slowly."

    "Werebeasts aren''t hatched!" Reginald stopped and looked down at the floor though.

    "What about a werechicken then?"

    "I''m not a chicken!"

    "Good, then prove it by going first."

    "You just said there were traps!"

    "I just wanted you to go slowly. There could be more than one, and we don''t want you setting them all off at once do we?"

    "I should have just caught that rabbit," Reginald said.