The hot air burned our lungs, and our eyes watered from the smoke, but led us stubbornly through the flames (w

The hot air burned our lungs, and our eyes watered from the smoke, but led us stubbornly through the flames (while Tartuccio did nothing useful at all!). We'd made it to the hallway leading to the banquet hall when we heard someone calling for us — it was Valerie, one of the guards I'd chatted with a bit in the banquet hall. Even then, in that calm setting, I'd been stunned by her beauty. But now, amid the smoke and flame, she looked like a celestial avenger — an armored deity, menacing but beautiful and merciful, descending from the higher spheres to help us poor mortals. She held a burned, barely living guard in her arms. "There are two more!" she shouted as she passed by us. "They are wounded! Help me pull them out!" Tartuccio grumbled something about how Jamandi was waiting for us. Meanwhile, ...