“Behold the power of the ambassador of Keljek!” the bony monstrosity roared. His lightning power blazed from his hands, and each tendril of lightning broke and refracted, then reached out and attached itself to the chest of one of the ghostly wraiths.

In the spot where the lightning landed, Saul was amazed to see a Sigil blossoming. As a rule, the Sigils were too complex to be remembered reliably, but in the case of the control Sigil used to take command of monsters and enthralled humans, there were a few tell-tale signs that Saul had learned to recognize.

He’d seen enough of these control Sigils during his fights with the warlocks around Harkin’s Holdfast, and he now recognized the distinctive upward flourishes and the long downward tail. Zorea and Brand recognized them, too.

“He’s taking control of the wraiths,” Zorea said. “We’ll have to deal with them before we can get to him.”

The wraiths rushed forward, moving smoothly across the ground as if they were levitating. They kept a good distance from each other so as not to get in each other’s way, and they moved in a cohesive way that Saul recognized from his time as a battle commander.

“They move like a military unit,” he said. “We must break their formation. Brand, Zorea, you two take hit flanks and leave me to tackle the center.”

They spread out, Brand taking the right and Zorea the left. The golden connection of Squad magic joined them, making them aware of each other’s emotions and actions. As Brand and Zorea approached the enemy’s flanks, Saul charged straight into the middle of the group of wraiths.

He swung his Gladesword right and left, avoiding the sweeping claws of the monsters as he slashed at them. The air combination on the Gladesword gave him extra speed, and when he cut into the wraiths, they didn’t just die—they exploded into clouds of black ash.

Brand was using his Firebrand spell, but the magic seemed strangely ineffective, and he was forced to fall back, abandoning his magic and relying solely on his sword. His blade had a fire enchantment, but it seemed that the magic wasn’t adding much to his ability to defeat the enemies.

Zorea, on the other hand, was having more success. As she danced among the wraiths, her slashing blade sucked the wraiths into it every time she hit one. Ghostly forms disintegrated into clouds of black ash and were absorbed into her blade. The length of her Soulstone sword flashed with white light every time a wraith was absorbed.

Saul drew on his other spells. The School of Air combination that he’d added to the Gladesword seemed to be effective, so he called up the Air spell list.

School of Air:

Spells available: Tier 1

Silent Step (Stealth)

Hunter’s Scent (Scouting)

Eagle Vision (Scouting)

Spells available: Tier 2

Wind Speed (Boost)

Steal Breath (Melee)

Whirlwind (Area of Effect)

The Wind Speed spell was a favorite of his. It allowed him to move with blinding speed for a short period of time. He considered it for a moment, then decided against it. Effective as the magic was, it was essential to maintain the cohesion of his Squad, and Wind Speed often caused others to lose track of his location.

Instead, he chose another old favorite: Whirlwind.

Before he could cast the magic, however, he was presented with a surprising option.

Spell: Whirlwind

Select: Overcast (2 of 2 remaining)

Select: Regular Cast (4 of 5 remaining)

This was new, but he didn’t stop to question it. He knew he had four regular spell castings available before his cooldown timer kicked in—that was expected, as Gladesword was the only spell he’d cast so far—but Overcast was an entirely new option. He had no idea what it would do, but he guessed it would be effective.

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He selected to Overcast Whirlwind.

Overcast (1 of 2 remaining)

Select: Regular Cast (3 of 5 remaining)

Instantly, a small, self-contained whirlwind of white mist burst from his left hand and fired toward the enemies, hissing and spitting like water on a hot plate as it blasted toward them. But then the single whirlwind expanded and separated into three whirlwinds each nearly the same size as the original.

The spells tore into the crowded wraiths. Each wraith that the whirlwinds touched exploded into a cloud of flying dust and ashes, and as the spell dispersed Saul charged into the resulting gap, dealing destruction with the air-enhanced Gladesword.

On the left, Zorea was pressing the wraiths back toward the portal, but on the right Brand wasn’t doing so well. Without the advantage of Air magic or a Soulstone sword, he was struggling to hold his own.

“Zorea, on me!” Saul roared. In a moment, she was by his side.

They left the remainder of the wraiths they’d been fighting in disarray, their formation broken. Brand’s eyes were wide as he gave ground back down the hill. He was fighting five wraiths at once.

Saul and Zorea attacked the wraiths from behind, their blades dancing death as they made quick work of Brand’s remaining opponents.

Zorea herself took out the last wraith, her sword sucking its essence up with a strange hissing sound. Saul turned toward where the last wraiths were trying to reform further up the hill. Looking through his spells, he chose Creeping Vine from the School of Glade and added the School of Air combination before casting the spell at the group of wraiths.

Overcast (1 of 2 remaining)

Select: Regular Cast (2 of 5 remaining)

The magic exploded from the ground around the confused wraiths. Tendrils of green growths leaped up and grabbed the ghostly figures around their bodies and limbs, wrapping their necks and arms and yanking them downward. The vines had the gleaming white mist of Air magic to them, and the wraiths disintegrated as they were being pulled downward.

A moment later, it was over. The wraiths were defeated. Saul and his friends stood together, looking up the hill at the evil figure standing by the portal.

“Impressive,” the ambassador of Keljek rumbled in his disembodied voice. “But no less than I had expected. My embassy is not yet complete.”

“If you’re meant to be an ambassador, you shouldn’t be fighting us,” Saul called up to him. “That’s not your role. What is Keljek? Who are you sent by, and what is your message? Don’t you have anything to say?”

“The Ministry of the Keljek Empire sends greetings,” the ambassador replied. “I bring the message from the Ministers of Keljek…the message of death!”

“Not exactly what I meant, but okay,” Saul muttered.

“This guy’s not much of an ambassador,” Brand laughed. “He needs to work on his communication skills.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Saul answered. “I’m getting the message loud and clear, Brand.”

“Look at his left hand,” Zorea said, more seriously than the others. “He’s holding something.”

She was right. In the darkness, with only the light from the portal and the waxing crescent moon to illuminate the scene, it was hard to tell what the object was, but the ambassador of Keljek was certainly holding something in his left hand. He moved his fingers, manipulating the mechanism.

A spell flashed from the device in the ambassador’s hand. Three globes of green light appeared on the ground twelve feet in front of the ambassador. With a hissing sound, a tall and sinuous figure appeared in the center of each of the light globes. Bright chainmail gleamed with an internal light, and each figure held a weighted net in one hand and a long, cruelly barbed trident in the other.

Flames flickered across the mesh of their nets and on the tips of their tridents.

“Snakemen!” Saul exclaimed. “I’ve seen these before. They look like they have a fire enchantment. That means they’ll have resistance to our fire spells. We’ll have to use different magic to get around them.”

“I wish we could change the enchantment on my blade,” Brand muttered. His weapon had a fire enchantment, as did Zorea’s—a gift from the Squad magic, but one that appeared to be set and unchangeable.

As the Fire Squad, they had the ability to specialize in that School of Magic and cast extra powerful spells, but that, too, appeared to be set.

“We’ll just have to do our best with what we have for now,” Saul said. “You two hang back.”

He brought up his spell list. Since fire was ineffective, he’d have to choose something else.

The School of Air had been effective against the wraiths, but he guessed it would be less useful against fire-enchanted snakemen.

Working quickly, he glanced over the School of Earth.

School of Earth:

Spells available: Tier 1

Disguise Tracks (Ranger)

Know the Ground (Ranger)

Cultivate (Crafter)

Spells available: Tier 2

Earthquake (Area of Effect)

Heal (Boost)

Mud Golem (Summoned Creature)

Select: Overcast (1 of 2 remaining)

Select: Regular Cast (2 of 5 remaining)

He thought quickly about his options as the snakemen advanced warily toward him and his companions. He could cast another two spells and Overcast one of them, then he would have to wait a full five minutes before casting again.

Five minutes could make all the difference in a fight like this. He would have to choose whether to use both his castings now and hope to wait out the timer before fighting the ambassador—or whatever came next—or save at least one casting for that final fight.

He opted to save one for later and use one now. There was no question the ambassador had more tricks up his sleeve, and Saul did not want to be without magic once the snakemen were defeated but, on the other hand, he didn’t want to face the snakemen without the benefit of at least one spell.

Saul made his decision. He would save one spell, and the Overcast, and hope that once the snakemen were defeated, he could make a quick end of the ambassador.

He cast Mud Golem and added the School of Stone combination.

Overcast (1 of 2 remaining)

Regular Cast (1 of 5 remaining)

Clad in armor of stone, the mud golem rose out of the ground where Saul cast the spell directly in front of the snakemen. It moved stealthily, like an assassin, an eerie, faceless figure about the size and shape of a man, and with a helmet, body armor, and a heavy club made of stone, added by the School of Stone combination.

Saul was connected to the golem. It had a will of its own but acted to his wishes. With the speed of thought, he told it to attack the snakeman on the right.

“Stick with me,” Saul said. “These we fight together, one at a time.”