When the first blast shattered the silence Jen poked her head out of the cave. Damien and Mikhail raced through the sky, exchanging blasts and generally scaring the hell out of the poor mortals on the ground.

Speaking of which, half a mile away, Eleck was watching the aerial battle with rapt attention. If she was quick maybe she could cut him down before he was even aware she was there. Jen looked up at her brother battling in the air. Heaven’s mercy, she wished there was some way to help him, but she couldn’t fly and they were three hundred feet above the ground. All she could do was trust him and take care of her part of the plan.

The crunch of gravel brought her back to reality. Leah was climbing down the slope and easing toward Eleck and the girl. Damn the woman! She was supposed to wait until Jen had drawn Eleck away.

Well, there was nothing for it now.

Jen drew power and accelerated toward Eleck and Delia. It would take Leah at least five minutes to cross the rough ground, maybe more. That should give Jen plenty of time to deal with Eleck. Boulders zipped by her as she ran at warlord speed across the desolate terrain.

She drew her sword back as she got close. Eleck must have sensed her. Just before her blade would have taken his head off he shoved one of the red-scales in her path. Jen cut the creature in half, skidded to a stop, and spun.

A burst of flames from one of the three remaining monsters forced her to sprint further away from her main target. When the torrent of flame stopped she kicked off and lunged, running the out-of-breath creature through.

Using her sword as a lever she twisted the dead red-scale between her and Eleck. Black flames disintegrated the monster while Jen raced away, her hopes of a quick kill dashed. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Delia hiding behind the trunk of a twisted tree, the whites of her eyes showing all around her dilated pupils. The woman looked so terrified Jen doubted she could take a step.

She dodged flames from a red-scale and leapt over a blast from Eleck. She needed to take out the monsters so she could focus on the druid.

Jen put on a burst of speed and hacked one of the remaining red-scales from shoulder to hip. It fell in two pieces, but she didn’t stay still long enough to enjoy her partial victory. Flames, both black and crimson, filled the air. Only Jen’s accelerated perceptions allowed her to stay a step ahead of them.

Her break came when Eleck doubled over clutching his hands together and moaning. Jen slipped past the druid and sent the last monster’s head sailing off into the night.

She spun to face the druid. Eleck sat on the dead earth, his twisted black hands in his lap. It didn’t look like he had any fight left in him. Jen laid the edge of her sword on his neck. It would only take a flick of her wrist to cut his throat if he tried anything.

“You may as well kill me,” Eleck said, his voice strained with pain and fear. “I can’t use the rings anymore and the black knight will surely finish me in a much more painful way than you.”

Jen would have been happy to grant his wish, but first she’d wait and find out how her brother did with Mikhail. If they could get Eleck out of here alive he could tell them about Connor.

“No, Master!” The girl, Delia, finally gathered the courage to step out of her hiding place.

Eleck waved a hand and Jen pressed her sword harder into his neck. “Best keep those hands still.”

Eleck let his hand fall back into his lap. “It’s all right, Delia. I’ve earned death many times over. How did it all go so wrong?”

“How did you think it would end when you took up with a warlock?” Jen shook her head. “Did you imagine if you obeyed, Connor would shake your hand and that would be that? You seem like a reasonably intelligent man so I can’t believe you were that stupid.”

Eleck barked a laugh. “I was exactly that stupid. Connor told me what I wanted to hear and I let myself believe it.”

“Why?” Leah had finally reached them. Tears streaked her face and her voice trembled. “You would have taken Grandfather’s place when his time ended. You would have led our people, been Wise One, if you had just waited.”

“I was sick of waiting. Sick of listening to your grandfather’s lectures and sermons. Sick of being told to be patient. I was sick of all of it.” He blew out a great sigh and held up his blackened hands. “Now I’m just sick.”

“Take off your rings and talisman,” Jen said. She looked to Delia. “You too.”

Delia clutched her hands to her chest, but made no effort to remove anything.

“Please, Delia,” Leah said. “If you don’t give it to her she’ll take it.”

Eleck tossed a silver pin on the ground at her feet, but when he tried to tug one of the black rings off it wouldn’t budge. The metal had fused to his flesh. “I’m afraid the rings aren’t going anywhere.” He held them out to prove it.

Jen’s sword swished through the air and the fingers on Eleck’s twisted hands clattered to the ground.

“Master!”

Jen leveled her sword at Delia. “Your talisman, now.”

“Delia, please.” Leah was crying openly. “No one else has to die tonight.”

Jen wasn’t entirely certain that was true, but she decided to give Leah a chance to persuade the woman. Eleck sat staring at his maimed hands. They didn’t even bleed, not really. A few drops of some black fluid oozed out to sizzle on the stones in front of him. Jen might have been doing him a favor if she killed him at this point.

Delia ripped a silver pin that was a twin to the one Eleck wore from the inside of her robe and threw it at Jen. “Take it!”

She scrambled over to Eleck. “Master, are you okay?”

Eleck looked from his hands to the woman. “It didn’t even hurt. I feel nothing below my elbows.”

Jen gathered up the talismans and kicked the rings a safe distance from her prisoners. She’d let Damien deal with them when he finished with Mikhail.

“What happens now?” Leah asked.

Jen looked up. Damien was flying towards the cave mouth, Mikhail in hot pursuit. They both vanished into the mountain.

“Now we wait to see who comes back out. If it’s my brother we celebrate. If it’s Mikhail we run.”