“Everything is… prepared,” Hiun said, stepping away from the items they had procured. Some of it required blood, of which Sakura replenished with her healing magic afterward before anyone could object. When it came to helping others, she certainly didn’t wait for permission.

The oni mage drew a circle with a stick he had procured and scratched out a large circle accompanied by many other runes as he began to mutter invocations. Now if anything was worthy of skepticism due to involvement with the darker arts, it was this sort of magic.

It’s a good thing the Knight Commander isn’t here, Lawrence thought as Sakura moved up beside him. “I’ll be here waiting in case you need me,” she said. “I’m a dancer, not a warrior. I’m useless to you in a fight.”

He nodded. “Thank you. But hopefully it won’t come to that. With Commander Arduani and Hans there, we shouldn’t have a problem taking that hurg down to rescue the princess.”

“Ro-rensu. He seemed…”

“What?”

“Dija and Mika didn’t even seem able to fight him,” she said, “and they tried. They were like… like gnats to him.”

“I’ll be careful.”

She looked about. “Where are they?”

“I told them I would need a medallion for our coming fight, and to find something of the sort for me from among the refugees.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Did you lie to them?”

Of course I did. “Yes. It’s for their own good.”

“Where is Ishi?”

“He’s…”

She nodded. “Distracting them?”

He nodded.

Suddenly there was a loud noise, like an excited flame, fueled by magic. The bright light made them all squint and shield their eyes.

“It’s open!” Hiun said, his voice louder than Lawrence had heard it so far since first meeting the mage, and it was still rather quiet. He stepped out of the circle of light, the runes spinning and writhing. “It will close soon.”