“Keep them away from me,” Aban Saddi said.

Xerxes leapt forward, using a master cut called the “Squinting Slash” to alter his angle of attack at the last moment and skewer the Abhorrent. It squealed and lunged back, allowing him to bring his sword up again. Then he swung it down in a somewhat inelegant move that clove the creature in two.

Wrenching his blade out of the gore, he turned to see his father’s right fist glowing brightly as he threw an experimental blow at an Abhorrent.

Aban Saddi was still working on his spell, and Ninsunu stood there with her bestial hands clenched into fists.

His father’s first blow missed, but the second landed, punching a hole into the creature’s head area. Meanwhile, the second Abhorrent near his father was circling around to get an angle of attack.

Xerxes dashed toward his father, arrived a moment later and immediately targeting the second spider-like beast. Leading with a kick, he followed with a downward sword strike. The blow wasn’t clean, and got stuck in the Abhorrent. When the thing jerked away, Xerxes nearly lost his grip on his weapon.

Slamming his foot into the beast next to where the blade was stuck, he wrenched the sword free and then made a stabbing attack. The creature dropped.

Next to him, his father had dispatched the other Abhorrent.

“Dad, look,” Xerxes said, gesturing with his chin. Four more of the things had climbed out of nearby alleys. Three were small, like the ones they’d just killed, but one was larger, with the disturbing face-like head.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” his father said.

“I’ll take the big one.”

Xerxes wondered what the hell Ninsunu was doing just standing around, but there wasn’t time to spend too much thought on it. Apparently, Aban Saddi was completely focused on his own spellcasting. Buhhu spells clearly took time to cast.

Xerxes ran to intercept the larger of the incoming Abhorrent, while his father faced off with one of the smaller versions.

Not wanting to waste any time, Xerxes went in for a killing blow. However, the creature reared up to avoid the blade, and his attack went wide. He immediately redirected his sword, not stopping his momentum. Stepping slightly left, he avoided the swipe of the thing’s legs and grinned as the tip of his sword found flesh.

Before the creature could even hiss, he shoved the sword hard, causing it to stab deeply into the Abhorrent.

“Get ready!” Aban Saddi shouted. “Once I summon the juveniles, I can’t afford any distractions. If I—”

All of a sudden, Ninsunu lunged toward Aban Saddi, tackling him in a bear hug.

“What—?” he shouted as they fell to the ground together.

Xerxes twisted and slashed, ripping the Abhorrent apart, then jumped back to gauge the situation. Why had Ninsunu knocked the Head Mage down? Had a bigger threat arrived?

He saw Ninsunu in her bestial form on top of Aban Saddi. He saw his father trying to land a clean blow on one of the three Abhorrent that were slowly surrounding him. He saw more spidery Abhorrent crawling out of alleys toward them.

Off in the distance, the massive trunked monster was… looking in their direction.

What was going on?

“Nina, what… what are you doing?” Aban Saddi shouted, his voice muffled.

Xerxes’ eyes were transfixed on the massive Abhorrent as it turned its shoulders, then took a step in their direction. As it did, the flying creatures around it swirled to gather in front of its face, creating a clump of darkness. Then a sphere, which pulsed out, then in, and suddenly Xerxes had a very bad feeling.

“Dad, watch out!” he said, just as the black sphere turned into a beam of darkness that shot toward them.

Xerxes jumped to the side, though it wasn’t necessary, as the beam didn’t come close to his position. Nor did it get close to Aban Saddi and Ninsunu. Instead, it slammed into the spot where his father had been standing seconds before. A loud buzzing sound filled the air as the beam melted a furrow in the stone for about two seconds before vanishing.

“Dad!” he yelled.

“I’m fine!” his father responded.

He saw Ninsunu getting to her feet. Further back, he saw that the cloud of creatures around the Abhorrent was significantly thinner.

“We need to move!” Xerxes said. In the back of his mind, he realized that Aban Saddi’s spellcasting had been interrupted. The Head Mystic surely had more spellcasting components on hand, but what about his supply of melam? Buhhu mages needed to expend massive amounts of it to cast spells, and if Aban Saddi had gotten to the final stages of spellcasting before being interrupted, he could theoretically have wasted too much melam to be able to cast another spell.

However, as Ninsunu stood up, Xerxes’ heart dropped.

The Head Mage, the only Mystic on Mannemid and the strongest mage they had, hung limp in Ninsunu’s arms. At first glance, Xerxes thought that perhaps the Head Mage had hit his head in the fall, and had been knocked unconscious. But the man had spoken twice after being knocked down.

No, Ninsunu was holding Aban Saddi the way a wrestler would hold an incapacitated opponent. Xerxes had training in martial arts, and though he didn’t consider himself particularly proficient in grappling, he knew a thing or two. And Ninsunu was definitely using a chokehold.

Given that she was a High Seer, she didn’t have the same level of physical strength and toughness as Aban Saddi. However, the shapeshifting abilities of Sinitu mages could provide an edge in that regard. Besides, a chokehold was a chokehold, and if administered properly, could easily be used by a weaker combatant to quickly neutralize a stronger one.

From what Xerxes could see that’s what was happening here.

“Nina…” he said, unsure of what was playing out.

Ignoring him, she bounded forward three steps, then planted her foot and leaped into the air, sailing up to stand on the rooftop at the end of the park.

Ninsunu raised her voice and shouted, “Ya sath Syha’hlw’nafhoth!”

The words meant nothing to Xerxes, but the mere sound of them caused a chill to run down his spine.

There’s no way, he thought.