Someday, Amanda vowed, I’ll be in control of my life. Then she conjured an orb to launch at a nearby goblin, a harpoon from Mike’s gun succeeded in piercing its hide. Lucky escape … for the goblin.

Brushing off her cloak, Amanda rose to her full height to survey their situation. The goblins had

managed to scale the tower, pulling whatever materials they could find to build a makeshift

apparatus to climb. Jeez, goblins are dumb.

“How do things look out there? Should we expect any more?” Mike called out, half-focused on

yanking his harpoon from an ex-goblin.

“They’re still coming in fast, and, by the looks of things, strong.” she replied, turning around to face

him. “I don’t know how much longer the two of us can hold them off - my orbs won’t last forever.”

“Yep, and I’ve got a harpoon gun with … one harpoon.” Mike concluded, sounding defeated as he finally removed it from the goblin. “Make that … no harpoons.” he added, after closer inspection.

Just then, another wave of goblins burst through the corridor and into the room.

“Mike?” yelled Amanda, “Don’t let them eat my intestines okay?” “

“Okay!” was Mike’s nervous reply.

With that, Amanda summoned an ice-blue orb in each palm, rolling them gently over in her hands.

“Right then, you bastards, who wants some?”

A goblin nearer the front leapt daringly forward, crawling onto all fours and hissing intently, never

taking its eyes from Amanda’s glowing palms. Its guttural growl encouraged other goblins to creep

closer towards her. In response, Amanda screwed her eyes and concentrated on summoning a

bigger orb.

“Amanda!” Yelped Mike from somewhere to her left.

Oh, this is all I need, Amanda thought as she brandished a sharp column of light to scorch the goblins brave enough to clamber at Mike’s feet. But as she tried moving closer to help Mike, more goblins seemed to fill the space, driving a wedge between them.

“Mike sweetie - don’t panic – we’re gonna be okay. Okay?” she tried to reassure him, but the goblins must have sensed his panic because they were pawing playfully at his legs, their claws drawing weeping lines of blood through his jeans.

Mike seemed to be dealing with this latest development by bashing desperately at the goblins with the butt of his gun, but he wasn’t doing much more than briefly stunning them. Mike was indestructible, sure, but how much goblin poison could his body stand? Amanda didn’t want to have to find out.

“AMANDA!”

The sound of her name attracted her attention to the elevator shaft that, until just now, had been

brimming with goblins. In the eerily empty space stood Finn, clutching a flare and looking pissed off.

“You’re going to want to duck,” he spoke calmly, giving Amanda just enough time to comply before

he threw the flare right into the heart of the goblin hoard that was clambering over his husband.

The flame burnt brightly, singeing all the goblins within proximity to Mike, effectively freeing him

from their mischievous clutches. After the few remaining goblins had scurried away, Mike carefully patted out any flames trying to eat their way through his clothing before he was swept off his feet by Finn and pulled into a desperate kiss.

After a few moments, Amanda coughed politely, and the couple broke apart.

“Well, that’s certainly one way to make an entrance.” Mike murmured a little breathlessly and Finn grinned proudly, reaching out to hold Mike’s hand.

Amanda had to draw her eyes away from the adorable couple to survey their current situation. They were stranded atop the skyscraper with next to no weapons and certainly no plan. Yet against these odds Amanda realised she was smiling. It had been a while since she’d had this much fun.