Lidia Thorn sat at her cluttered desk and stared at a report from an inquisitor detailing the status of the border barons following the events of last winter. She’d been staring at it for half an hour and still had no idea what it said. She tossed it on the pile for later.

Her stomach grumbled, reminding her she’d skipped breakfast again. She glanced at her closed door half expecting Damien to walk through with a sandwich for her. Of course, he didn’t. Her apprentice was missing and she knew by many presumed dead. Lidia didn’t include herself amongst that group. That boy was too strong and too tough to count him out. Until she saw a body, Lidia would assume he was alive and do everything in her power to find him.

Which wasn’t much as it turned out. Her responsibilities kept her in the capital and even if she went looking Lidia had no idea where to start. All she could do was hope and trust Jennifer to figure out where he’d been taken. And when she did, heaven help whoever had Damien. Lidia would bring all the power of the Crimson Legion down on their heads.

Lidia sensed a message from Thomas approaching and willed the door open. A moment later a scroll held in the beak of a raven construct flew in and landed on her desk. The raven vanished, leaving the scroll behind. It must have been important if Thomas sent a full scroll.

She unrolled it and started to read. She paused halfway through and began again, certain she’d misunderstood. The information didn’t change the second time through. According to Kat, a demon invasion from the haunted lands appeared not only possible but likely. The theory they’d developed after speaking to a Professor Dorius, an expert on demonology, sounded crazy to Lidia. She’d never heard of an artifact that could store and redirect soul force. That said, she also couldn’t deny that such an artifact might exist. It sounded similar enough to the power of the urns that she didn’t dare discount it completely.

Lidia rolled the scroll up and headed to the royal apartment. The king had indicated that he was taking the day to rest and had scheduled no meetings. She hated to bother him, the poor man had been working himself day and night, but this wasn’t the sort of decision she dared to make on her own.

As she made her way through the back halls to the residence, servants eyed her with nervous looks. Everyone sensed the tension that had filled the castle these past few days even if they didn’t know exactly what was happening. Lidia ignored them all and picked up her pace.

She knocked on the apartment door and after a brief wait Karrie opened it. She started, obviously not expecting to find Lidia there. “Archmage. Is everything okay? Is it about Damien?”

“I don’t know. Is your father free?”

“Yes, please come in.” Karrie opened the door the rest of the way and Lidia stepped into the apartment.

The king must have heard them talking as he emerged from deeper in the suite. “Lidia, what is it?”

She glanced at Karrie and raised an eyebrow.

“It’s all right. She needs to learn the threats that face the kingdom and now’s as good a time as any.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” Lidia proceeded to lay out everything her agents had learned so far. When she finished she said, “We need to decide how seriously we wish to treat this potential threat.”

“A possible demon invasion is about as serious as it gets. I’ve already mobilized the eastern army and ordered them to relocate closer to the pass. I suppose we could order the northern and southern armies to send their nearest divisions to assist, but it will take weeks for them to arrive and we may leave ourselves open to trouble elsewhere.”

“True, but if this is bigger than we think trouble elsewhere may not matter. With your permission I’d like to take half the legion along with another twenty inquisitors east to reinforce High Sorcerer Zahara and her team. If you approve I’ll need two or three days to gather everyone and fly out.”

The king nodded. “Do it. I’ll feel better knowing you’re overseeing things. But please be careful. I’d hate for anything to happen to you.”