He clawed at the earth around him. He’d never been particularly claustrophobic, but this buried darkness was suffocating. Though he no longer needed to breathe, he still felt the instinct to struggle for a breath. He panicked, struggling frantically. Then his clawing hands broke free into open air. He calmed down a bit and a few minutes later he had freed himself. The cave-in had stopped only a few feet beyond where he’d fallen. He shook the dirt off of himself as best he could and hurried down the dark passageway, headed for the almost imperceptible glow that marked the spot where the tunnel came out into his house.

It wasn’t long before he emerged into his cellar. Flame Song’s footprints marked the dirt that was strewn on the floor, headed for the stairs. He climbed up after her. His keen hearing told him the house was empty, so he knew Flame must have started for Coppertop, the nearby dwarven city. He hurried through the house and out the door. The sun was just slipping below the horizon. He squinted his eyes at the light. It felt like it ought to be much later, so much had happened. He took to the sky and headed for Coppertop, scanning the ground below. Before long his keen eyes made out a running figure below him. He swooped down, calling out, “Flame Song!”

She stopped and looked up with an expression of relief. “Aidan! You’re all right!”

He landed next to her and hugged her tightly, Littlespark sandwiched between them. “Daddy!” she said.

“Hiya fuzz-ball. You two all right?”

“I should be asking you that. What happened? You’re a mess!”

Aidan looked himself over. He was covered in dirt and dust and his white wings were no longer white, but dingy gray. He shrugged wryly. “Asmodeus managed to collapse the ceiling on me.”

“I thought he was going to kill you. That death spell…”

Aidan laughed. “Yeah, a death spell designed to stop somebody’s heart instantly. The problem being that my heart stopped beating almost two years ago.”

Flame Song suddenly laughed too, though there was a little bit of hysteria in it. “You… Oh I don’t know whether to hit you or kiss you for that! I was so worried about you.”

“Hey, I’m getting better at taking care of myself. You haven’t had to bail me out of something for more than a year now!”

She hugged him again. “Just don’t do that to me ever again.”

“I’ll try not to.”

“Do you think the demon is dead?”

“I hope so! I left him with a dagger in his chest and the ceiling falling down on him.”

“Then let’s go home.”

So they went home. They filled in the tunnel again, cleaned up the basement, and went on with their lives. Littlespark seemed none the worse for being kidnapped. She had only vague memories of the whole thing, having been out cold for most of it. Flame Song and Aidan were both grateful for that. A few days later they made a trip to Coppertop and informed the dwarves that the tunnels were still there and something needed to be done about them. Flame also arranged to hire a dwarven stonemason to line the basement walls with stone. She wanted another layer of protection between their home and the tunnels.

The stonework was finished with typical dwarven speed and efficiency, and when they heard the dim distant rumble of collapsing tunnels they both breathed a sigh of relief. The dwarves were bringing them down at last. There would be no more demons breaking into the basement. As time passed they both put the incident out of their minds and gradually relaxed.

But their troubles with demons were far from over.