When Lon finally regained his senses from the hellfire blast he found Alden struggling to maintain a shield around the scythe. Imogen clutched her abdomen and limped through the sky like a deflating hot air balloon. He hesitated a moment then reinforced Alden’s shield. He could help Imogen afterwards. If the shield broke none of them were in any shape to keep fighting.

The girl’s howling was enough to drive a man mad and with her mount’s thrashing it was a wonder she stayed on its back. Gradually the horse slowed. Its chest sunk in, exposing ribs. As a disgusted Lon watched, both horse and rider rotted away, ending as nothing more than a puddle of liquefied meat and hair.

When the ooze stopped bubbling Lon let his shield fade. Alden did the same, settling on the roof and bending over, gasping for air or gagging Lon couldn’t tell. He flew over to Imogen and helped her down to the roof.

“Let me see.”

She grimaced and moved her arm aside. “I wasn’t quite fast enough.”

Her dress was slashed open and the flesh underneath gashed wide enough to expose her insides. Lon winced. Messy, but he could heal her, at least enough to make it safe to transport her to Sasha over at the navy fort. He wasn’t going to lose her like he did that poor devil back at the village.

Lon had just finished sealing all the rents in her intestines when Alden managed to hobble over. “How is she?”

“She’ll live.” Lon kept his focus on healing. “An inch deeper and we might be having a different conversation. How are you?”

“Battered, burned, and almost out of power, but I’ll recover.”

Half an hour later Lon had Imogen as healed as he could under the circumstances. She’d need one of the dedicated healers to take a look at her, but he’d reduced the danger of her dying to a minimal level. “Can you fly on your own?”

Imogen winced and nodded. “I can make it to the fort. Thanks for the patching up.”

Lon smiled. “My pleasure.” He turned to Alden. “I can manage the artifacts if you can get the bodies.”

The three of them flew north, the remains of their opponents surrounded by soul force bubbles. When they landed in the courtyard Sasha and the sorcerer assigned to the navy base were there to greet them. Seeing their sad state Sasha immediately assumed control of the bubbles protecting the remains. The duty sorcerer helped Alden and Imogen make their ginger way into the fort leaving Sasha and Lon alone in the yard.

“You three look like hell,” Sasha said. “Where’s Chun?”

Lon shook his head. “Didn’t make it. There were some civilian casualties as well. And one of the enemy escaped, again. One of these days I’m going to corner that lunatic and make her pay for what she’s done. Well, at least now we know who the leak is.”

“We think we know. Thomas will question her to be certain.” She nodded toward the bubbles. “What’s the deal with these?”

Lon explained the artifacts and their bearers. “They didn’t have much skill. In fact we’re pretty sure the girl was already dead when we fought her. I’d like to know where they found such powerful weapons.”

“I think we both know the answer to that,” Sasha said. “Connor Blackman.”

“I meant I wonder where they came from originally. That scythe especially took a master of binding to create. I doubt Connor or anyone else living in the kingdom has the skill to create something like that.”

“They need to be destroyed and the bodies purified.”

“I know, but I haven’t the strength to do it myself and I’m afraid of what might happen if we break them in the city.”

“Lidia went to the capital yesterday to consult with the king. She’s supposed to return tomorrow. When she gets here the three of us can deal with these artifacts. Until then we’ll have to take turns guarding them. I want a barrier around both the bodies and the weapons at all times.”

“Good call. Can you take the first watch? I still need to talk to the Blackman family.”

Sasha frowned. “That female sorcerer is still on the loose. Are you certain you want to go through with the meeting?”

“Yes. It shouldn’t take long and if they know something and we don’t make the effort…”

“Understood. If you’re not back in two hours I’ll send my subordinate to check on you.”

“Thanks.”

Lon conjured a griffin, climbed aboard, and flew towards Lord’s district. The Blackman clan lived three mansions down from the Santens. It took less than a minute for him to make the flight.

The Blackman’s mansion wasn’t as sprawling as the Santen’s, but it was still bigger than the navy fort. Manicured grounds with white stone paths surrounded the white-painted main house. Lon brought the griffin down beside a bubbling fountain. Four guards in mail covered with black tabards surrounded him the moment his griffin touched the ground. Their spears trembled and they eyed the griffin with nervous glances.

Lon hopped to the ground and let his mount vanish. “I’m Lon Shen, I believe your mistress is expecting me.”

The youngest of the guards ran off toward the main house leaving Lon surrounded by the other three. He smiled and tried to look nonthreatening. “You can put those spears down. I don’t mean anyone here any harm and if I did those wouldn’t help you.”

The guards pointed their weapons away from him, but the tension remained. They leaned on the spears and the four of them stood in awkward silence until five minutes later when the fourth guard returned.

“You can go on up, sir. Apologies for the delay.”

Lon waved his hand and the men jumped back three feet. He sighed. “It’s fine. Thank you for the welcome. Good afternoon.”

Lon left the much-relieved guards to return to their posts and walked up to the main house. Three steps passed between white pillars. A boy in black servant’s garb stood at a set of polished double doors. He pushed them open at Lon’s approach. He nodded as he passed the young man who pulled the doors shut behind him. Inside the doors waited a white marble foyer. An elegant woman in a black dress wearing a string of pearls as big as Lon’s knuckles sat in a simple cherrywood chair.

“Mrs. Blackman?”

“Master Shen.” She gestured toward the empty chair opposite her. “Please sit.”

Lon took her up on her offer. It seemed she didn’t plan to let him any deeper into her home than necessary. “I appreciate you speaking to me.”

“I wasn’t aware I had a choice. Ask your questions and be gone.”

“Yes, ma’am. Tell me about Connor.”

Her thin face twisted into a scowl. “That again. My son disappeared years ago. What possible interest could you have in him after all this time?”

“Connor has reappeared.” Mrs. Blackman’s sharply drawn breath appeared genuine. She was either a superb actress or she really didn’t know about her son. “Apparently with a hatred for the kingdom. He’s already done a great deal of damage and we hope to find him before he does any more. Anything you can tell me would help.”

She leaned toward him, green eyes as hard as emeralds. “Connor was a good boy, Master Shen. He didn’t torture small animals or beat up the other children. Whatever happened to him happened after you people took him to The Tower. After he completed his training and returned home he wasn’t the same person.”

“How do you mean?”

“He was cool, distant, like he didn’t want anything to do with us anymore. In fact he only visited three times before he vanished. I was very close to my son and it hurt more than you can understand, watching him slipping away.”

“I’m sorry.” That sounded lame to Lon so he could imagine how it sounded to her. “Did he ever mention anything he was working on? Anywhere he planned to explore?”

“No. In fact he hardly spoke to us at all. I’m not entirely certain why he came home those last few times.”

“Perhaps he was trying to convince himself not to go through with whatever he has planned.”

“Perhaps. I like to think he wanted to visit me again before he left.”

“Did he mention anyone, a friend or teacher he was especially close to?” Lon had a sick feeling and sent a silent prayer to the archangels that he was wrong. If Lenore was more than a spy Thomas could be walking into a trap.

She cocked her head slightly as she considered. “Now that you mention it Connor did mention someone in his letters. It’s funny, I thought perhaps he had a crush. Her name was Lenore and she was two years ahead of him. Is something wrong?”

She must have noticed his expression. “No, you’ve just connected a couple dots for me. You’ve been a great help, Mrs. Blackman, thank you.”

Lon rushed out of the Blackman estate and hurtled into the air the instant he cleared the doors. He had to get back to the fort and warn them. Lenore was more than just a spy. She was most likely the one responsible for turning Connor into a monster. Thomas needed to be warned. If he went to her at less than full strength it could be a massacre.