Page 30 of Blood Feast

A flicker of his light magic shot from his hand. It winked out between two cottages. Then came another pulse, guiding him in the same direction.

“Mak, Lyros,” he called out, “can you maintain the ward just a little longer?”

“If we can’t,” Mak shouted back, “I’ll break the archers’ hands myself.”

Lio eyed the magefire charring the statues. “Watch out for the flames!”

“We’ll ward those off as well, for as long as we can,” Lyros said. “Can you get the villagers away from here?”

“Yes.” Lio prayed that was true. “Everyone, follow me. There’s a hidden passage that will take us to the keep.”

The villagers looked to Solia. Without hesitation, she came to Lio’s side and led her people after him. At last, their disastrous conflicts were behind them, and she trusted him in battle.

He followed his darting spell light through the village. It led him to a familiar gate at the very edge of Mederi. Just outside the village wall, his spell light struck the grass and traced out a symbol. A hawk drawn in the intricate knotwork of Lustri artists.

I found an entrance.He held the sight before him in his thoughts for Cassia to see.

The very spot where Miranda left her undead crow familiar as a taunt? That cannot be a coincidence.

The Collector must know the passages are here.

But the Lustra had deprived him of what it had given to Lio—the blessing of its Silvilcultrix. Lio made a libation of blood on the hawk symbol.

Grass and soil and roots pulled back, opening a portal into the ground. Rough-hewn steps led down into darkness.

It worked!he told Cassia.

Is the Collector trying to follow you inside?

Not a chance.He swept his power through every mind waiting to enter.

“Hurry,” Solia bade the villagers. “Two at a time. Help those who come down behind you.”

As she guided her people into the passage, Lio stood back. He felt the Collector nipping at the villagers’ thoughts, seeking a way in. Lio pushed back, a declaration across the arcane plane. These people were under his protection.

When the last villager was safely inside, Lio scanned the flames engulfing the village. He couldn’t see Mak and Lyros.

Can you sense their auras?Cassia cried.

I don’t know. There’s too much fire magic!

Fear seized him and Cassia together. He took one step forward, on the verge of dashing back into the flames to find them. But he had no wards to keep that fire from destroying him and Cassia’s hope of survival.

Lio shouted their names until he was hoarse. No answer.

Then, at last, a whorl of shadow emerged from the smoke. Mak and Lyros ran toward him, wrapped in the last vestiges of their ward. More arrows arced over the village behind them, setting thatched roofs aflame.

“No harm done,” Mak called over the sound of wooden beams collapsing.

Lyros pushed his sooty hair out of his eyes. “Except to the archers.”

Thank the Goddess,Cassia breathed.

Lio echoed her prayer aloud and threw his arms around Mak and Lyros’s shoulders, urging them into the passage. He levitated down behind them.

You cannot hide,came the Collector’s final whisper, as the earth sealed behind Lio, shutting the necromancer out of the Changing Queen’s hallowed halls.

AN OLD NEMESIS

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