He again heats up part of it, again more concerned about breaking the chain than burning Ash.

The first wave of gremlins entered the tunnel and shrieked in alarm when they saw them. Ash pulled himself to his feet as the gremlins howled with outrage and surged forward. They ran for the hidden tunnel, following the pack rats as they scuttled through. The corridor was low and narrow; they had to duck their heads to avoid the ceiling, and the walls scraped my arms as they fled. Behind them, gremlins poured through the opening like ants, skittering along the walls and ceiling, hissing as they pursued.


Ash suddenly stopped. Turning to face the horde, he raised a pickax like a baseball bat, bracing himself against the wall. He mustve snatched it from the crates, right before they reached the tunnel. The broken chains, still dangling from his wrists, trembled as his arms shook. The gremlins halted a few yards away, their eyes bright as they analyzed this new threat. As one they began edging forward.

She didn't know what to do, she looked at the tunnel, then at the Gremlins and Ash. She mutters something under her breath, she needed her sword. "Ash! Any idea where they put our weapons?"

He growls, then leaps at the gremlins, his entire body swiftly engulfing itself in flames.

Ashs voice, despite the pain below the surface, was calm. "No, I do not. And I hope you find your brother. If you see Puck again, tell him I regret having to step out of our duel." And then the gremlins attacked both Kerri and Ash. He smashed two of them senseless with the pickax, ducked as another leaped at his head, and was overwhelmed. They swarmed over him, clinging to his legs and arms, biting and clawing. He staggered and dropped to a knee, and they skittered up his back until she could no longer see him through the writhing mass of gremlins. Still, Ash fought on; with a snarl, he surged back to his feet, sending several gremlins flying only to have a dozen more take their place.

She mutters something quickly and her eyes glow bright green again. She sighs, knowing this would take a lot of energy. "Ash. Move to the left real quick for me." She mutters, suddenly a thick block of vines begin surging through the hall, swallowing anything in its path and finishing it off. Poison ivy begins to grow off of the vines, touching the walls and the floor. She steps into a cell, her hand on the block of vines to continue strengthening it. "Ash! Throw the gremlins in." She snaps.

He burns, claws, and bites as many as he can, snarling furiously.

"Claire, I can't! Go!" His voice was a hoarse rasp as he slammed a gremlin into the wall. "Now!"


The packrats were beckoning her and the tunnel split and branched off in several directions. A pack rat pulled something from his lump and waved it at the leader. It was a stick of dynamite. The leader snarled something, and another pack rat scuttled forward with a lighter.


If Claire looked back, she would be just in time to see Ash finally pulled under the sea of gremlins and lost from view. The gremlins screeched in triumph and flowed toward us. They had to collapse the tunnel

She doesn't look, knowing the outcome of it. She sprints towards the packrats, shoving gremlins towards the wall and stepping on them with a sneer.

He continues to attack the gremlins, but he's already injured from the fight with Ironhorse, and, though metal doesn't have the same extreme effect it does on fairies as it does him, it's making it difficult for him to use his fire magic.