Damien raced through the cave mouth half a second ahead of a blast that shook the mountain. He’d been so busy dodging for his life Damien hadn’t had a chance to study his opponent’s remaining energy, but if the rate at which Mikhail was pouring hellfire at him was any indication, he wasn’t getting low. Maybe he had so much power because he wasn’t wasting any of it maintaining a mount. Damien had dared hope that without a horse Mikhail wouldn’t be able to fly. He’d been quickly reminded of the value of hopes.

A stream of fire seared his shield, but didn’t do any damage. Damien grimaced. He still had plenty of power, but he wanted to save it for one last attack. If his plan worked, maybe he could rid the world of the monster on his tail.

He darted around a corner ahead of a splash of flame. Not far now. He rounded another corner and the glow from the lava pools filled the air ahead of him. Finally.

Damien flashed past the pools and the unconscious druids. The guardians had sunk back into their dormant state and since he had on one of the talismans they didn’t rise up. He flew into the ritual chamber and spun to face Mikhail. The black knight stood a few steps from the path between the guardians. It looked like Mikhail had used around three quarters of his power.

Damien grinned. His opponent had no notion of how to hold back. Ordinarily that probably served him well, but against someone who had a passing understanding of tactics, it made Mikhail woefully easy to predict. Unfortunately for Damien, knowing what he was going to do didn’t make beating him much easier.

“You’re out of places to run, worm.” Mikhail said. Flames dripped from his blade to sizzle on the stone floor.

“Then why don’t you come get me, greengrocer?” Damien flew up toward the ceiling out of Mikhail’s view and said a little prayer that he wouldn’t just flood the whole chamber with hellfire.

The clank of iron boots on stone reached Damien’s ears followed by a roar. Spurts of hellfire flickered in the chamber opening. Damien flew down and out the cave mouth. Mikhail was flailing at the guardians, his sword cutting them to pieces and the lava guardians reforming just as fast.

Liquid stone engulfed Mikhail from the waist down and struggle as he might the black knight couldn’t free himself. Damien allowed himself a moment’s amusement.

“When I get free you’re dead, worm,” Mikhail roared. “No tricks will save you from my wrath!”

Did Mikhail have any idea how pretentious he sounded? Probably not, as he always seemed to talk that way. “What do you think would happen if I dropped a mountain on your head?”

Mikhail stopped struggling for a moment. “What?”

Damien drew all but a fraction of his remaining power. If there was lava running through the walls the main pool had to be fairly close to the surface. He fired a blast at the floor and another at the ceiling.

The cavern trembled.

Huge boulders fell from the ceiling and bubbling magma erupted from the floor.

It was time for Damien to go. He shot a little salute at Mikhail, wrapped the unconscious druids in a bubble, and raced for the exit.

All around him lava burst from the walls. Some spattered his shield, but none penetrated.

The roar of tons of falling stone pained his ears until he could hear nothing but the mountain’s death. Ahead of him he caught a glimpse of the night sky. With a final burst of speed he shot out of the cave. Damien spun and watched the mountain collapse in on itself.

The jagged peak trembled then burst as lava spewed into the sky. All along the ground cracks opened and magma oozed out.

Maybe he’d overdone it a bit.

He spotted Jen and Leah still far too close to the crumbling mountain. Damien drew from his badly diminished core and scooped his sister and the others up in a bubble. When they were far enough away to be safe Damien shifted the bubble into a platform and landed beside Jen.

“How’d it go?” He put his arm around her shoulders.

Before Jen could answer Leah ran over and grabbed his tunic. “What have you done? I told you not to destroy the circle. Now it will take years if not decades to repair the damage to the ley line.”

Damien frowned. “But you can still do it, right?”

She blinked and stared at him. “Yes.”

“If I’d lost and Mikhail had killed you all, how long would it take to repair the damage?”

She slumped down to the platform. “I take your point.”

Damien watched the magma ooze towards the corrupted forest. “This may work out better in the long run anyway. The lava will burn away the tainted earth and leave the forest healthier.”

“What about us?” Delia asked.

“If it was up to me, I’d drop you both in the lava, but we’ll let the wise one decide your fate. You lot no longer seem like much of a threat.”

Eleck stared up at him, the stumps of his hands held like a supplicant. “What will become of me?”

Damien studied his soul force. The bulk of the corruption was below his elbows, but some had worked its way further. “If I amputate your arms at mid-biceps, you have a chance of surviving. If you do nothing you’ll be dead in a week.”

Eleck chuckled without humor. “Your bedside manner is appalling.”

Damien shrugged. “I’m not a healer. Truth is I’m surprised Jen let you live.” He glanced at Delia. “Either of you.”

Jen shook her head and smiled. “Just following your example. Without the rings or talismans they’re no threat. Perhaps the wise one will want to make an example of them. Hang them in the public square from some of those roots he’s got everywhere. Either way I think our work is done here. Let’s drop them off and go home.”