“Run like crazy!” the Highbulp roared, heading for parts unknown. “Got big sal’mander!”

Never slow to take flight, gully dwarves ran in all directions, some heading for hidey-holes, some running in circles, some bumping into one another.

Abruptly, just beyond them, the big tunnel was filled with a monstrous salamander.

Lidda, high on the cavern wall, reached down as far as she could, toward the circular brass shield below. She got her hand under its catch and lifted. The plaque banged open and something long, dark and deadly shot from the hole behind it, whistling.

In an instant, the missile flashed across the room and into the gaping mouth of the salamander, deflecting upward from the thing’s lower jaw to erupt from the top of its flat, ugly head.

An angry hiss filled the cavern as the salamander twitched and lay still.

But the hiss went on. Wide, terrified eyes staring at the dead monster turned slowly, looking for the source of the sound, growing even wider when they found it.