The red light of the sunset slowly disappeared over the horizon, dyeing the rims of the clouds the color of fresh blood. The sky was darkened by the columns of black smoke still rising from the ruins on the west side of the refugee-camp. The evening gale was quick to scatter them but was powerless to hide the charred skeletons of buildings, sticking from the now barren ground. Luckily, the fire from the previous night had not spread too much and only a couple of the rundown shacks had burned. Despite that, there were still some casualties and that is why the knights and city guards were still running around. Or at the very least, that is what most of the inhabitants knew. The truth was a closely guarded secret and everyone that was involved in it was now gathered in the large medical tent.

“Let me go!” shouted Jessup and desperately tried to struggle out of Rish and Rasha’s tight grip. “I have to be out there!”

“You woke up not even an hour ago,” Rish squeezed through her teeth and gave a sign to her twin as both women pushed the violently thrashing boy back on the bed. “You are in no condition to be running around.”

“Stay put if you don’t want me to tie you up.” The threat in Rasha’s words was unmistakable.

“I allowed the lady to be taken by those bastards!” The boy’s eyes were red and swollen as he was fighting back his tears. “I have to find her. Master left her in my care! I have to…”

Pat!

The resounding slap echoed in the tent. Jessup winced and his right cheek burned painfully from the hit.

“B-brother…”

“Foolish child!” William loomed over him and his cold, chiseled face was scarier than any angry mug. “In your condition, you’ll be totally useless. Even more, you might endanger the search party.”

“But, brother, I need to…”

“What you need to do is to stay put,” the older de Mar stated calmly, ignoring Jessup’s pleading. “If you want to help the duchess, tell us everything from last night. In order to save her, we need to know more about the enemy.”

This time his words reached the boy. Jessup stopped struggling and the binshi twins relaxed their grip. Head hanging between his shoulders, he started recalling the events from the previous night. His quacking fists clenched the blanket and very soon big tears started dripping on its rough surface.

“The…the lady she then put her hand in the fireplace.” The boy sobbed and choked as he spoke. “S-she... she took ash and charcoal and m-made me eat them. T-that’s the last thing I remember.”

“Grandma mentioned once that ash and charcoal are very effective in absorbing poisons from the body,” contemplated Rasha. “This probably saved your skin, Jess.”

“I agree.” Rish threw the young squire a glance. “You were trying to crawl out through the flames half-awake when I found you.”

“You and the duchess both acted like complete fools!” William’s remark rang in the tent putting everyone on edge. “Custom or not, you shouldn’t have accepted anything from that man. Or at the very least, as the lady’s attendant, you were supposed to make her wait and drink first to see if it’s safe. You have failed your duty as her guard.”

“That’s enough, Will! How can you say such things right now?” exclaimed Saya who was sitting nearby. She intended to continue but felt a light tap on her wrist.

“As much as I don’t like to admit it, in this instance, William is right, dear,” came the tired voice of Gregor. The young knight was lying on the next cot, one arm covering his eyes, still resting from the clash on the Spirit Plane. “But really, it does not matter whose fault it was anymore. What we have to do now is find lady Lorelei and organize her rescue as soon as possible.”

“I agree.” William turned his back on his still sniffling brother and laid eyes on the recuperating binshi. “Any new developments thus far? It has been almost a day.”

Gregor pulled himself up and sat on the cot. He took the four dimly glowing mimishi out of his pouch and spread them over the blanket. After observing them for a second, the young knight exhaled in relief.

“The Shadows are yet to find lady Lorelei since these halves are still bound. But luckily, they also haven’t encountered any danger. At least not of the spiritual kind.”

“You mentioned that the Red Hands’ shaman is dabbling in taboos.” William’s brows drew together.

“Yes,” nodded Gregor, his face equally grim. “His soul felt very dark and twisted when we clashed on the Spirit Plane. Such a thing only happens if you perform forbidden arts. He has without a doubt summoned malicious spirits to this world at least once.”

“So, you suspect a trap?”

“Absolutely. That is why I put moon powder on the mimishi. If that shaman is simply gathering wandering souls that still haven’t ascended to use against our men, the glow should turn blue. Any of the Shadows that I’ve trained could handle that much, so it won’t be a problem. However, if the glow is red it would mean that an extremely evil spirit has been summoned to our plane. In that case, their lives might truly be in danger.”

“Ahm, Gerash,” Rish nervously cleared her throat, “what if the glow turns black?”

“That’s imp- ...” The knight’s words remained stuck in his mouth as his eyes became huge.

In front of him, one of the mimishi was giving out a deep purplish-black light that was twisting and wriggling around almost like tendrils. Not long after, another one’s glow diminished only to be replaced by a dark, ghastly aura. Very soon, all four of them looked like balls of raging black flames.

Everyone in the tent stared at the mimishi like hypnotized, not knowing how to react. Then, a painful cry escaped Gregor’s lips.

“No! No! No! Dear Mother Above! It’s a dral!”

The knight jumped up and started putting his sword-belt on frantically.

“What do you think you are doing?” William’s commanding tone stopped him in his tracks.

“You don’t understand, Will! I have to go and help them!” Gregor almost screamed and his face was distorted with fear. “This is not simply a vengeful ghost. It’s a dral! It’s the cruelest and most evil thing imaginable. That bastard of a shaman has tortured living creatures to fill them with pain and malice before killing and binding them! No one can reason with a dral. It’s a mindless beast of rage and carnage. Right now, the only people we have who can deal with such monstrosity are lady Shana and myself.”

“You shall remain here, Gregor.” William stood before him without even batting an eyelid, barring his path. “That’s an order.”

“Move away, Will!” The binshi knight bared his teeth, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “They are my kin! They need me.”

“Come back to your senses! You are but one man. You can’t be in four places at once. Besides, before you even reach them…”

“Out of my way, de Mar!” Gregor barked and with a forceful shove sent the frail tall figure of the other man tumbling on the ground.

Without even looking back, the binshi stormed towards the entrance. Just as he was about to fly out of the tent, his body heavily collided with a firm, fleshy obstacle. The shock from the impact threw the man off-balance. As he was falling back, an iron hand grabbed his forearm and steadied him in place. Gregor lifted his head, blinking several times, and on his face, a whole bunch of expressions came and went in quick succession – confusion, realization, amazement, happiness, guilt, and awe.

“N-Noah!” he whispered. “How?”

The steel-gray eyes of the duke of Norden trailed over to the rest of his stunned retainers. He saw Jessup half-laying on one of the cots, the boy’s older brother sprawled on the ground, and Saya and the twins in different stages of disarray. A deep crease appeared between his eyebrows.

“Report!” Noah’s stern tone made everyone shrink back. “What is going on? And where is Lorelei?”