Wind whipped by with every pump of Reihann’s wings. Blight pelted their necks and faces. Twain sat slightly upright, trying to block as much of the blight from reaching Felix as he could. The wind snatched at him as Reihann flew, fighting to throw him off. He gripped tighter to her frill and clutched his legs hard onto her slippery scales. No wonder no one wants to ride dragons!

Felix ducked low behind him, holding on tight to his waist. Reihann ducked to the left to ride a wind, and his arms gripped tighter.

“Felix, I can’t—I can’t breathe,” Twain managed, patting Felix’s arms.

“Oh! Sorry,” Felix muttered. He loosened his grip on Twain.

Breathing out, Twain tossed his hair and squinted into the blight and the rain. We should be almost there. And if everything has gone right… it should all be in place by now.

A powerful flap of Reihann’s wings sent them rushing over the hill. The human’s palace came into view. Twain stared disbelievingly. Is that—is the blight getting to me again?

Where the human palace should have stood, a massive, beating heart stood instead. With each beat, it pumped blight into the air and earth around it. Fleshy walls trembled in the wind. Blight ran down its sides in thick, bloodlike drops, staining the red flesh black.

Twain rubbed his eyes and blinked, trying to banish the vision. Aloud, he muttered, “It can’t be real.”

“Is that the palace?” Felix gasped from behind him.

“You see it too?” Twain asked, whirling.

Reihann bobbed her neck to agree, sending them dancing up and down on the wind. “That heart. I knew the castle smelled wrong.”

Felix shuddered. “Is this the blight’s influence?”

“Wrong. It’s my masterwork,” Xenozar whispered into Twain’s ear. “All those years they kept me imprisoned there, thinking me contained… when I had all the time in the world to slowly poison the castle, to grow into it, to make my flesh the castle walls. If only the Mage-Emperors weren’t such homebodies, I would have long-ago taken over this last remaining barrier, even without any assistance from the foolish humans and sweetly devoted demons. But no, they stayed close to home, subconsciously powering the internal barrier that kept me contained…”

“It is,” Twain replied to Felix, ignoring Xenozar. “This is what the blight has done.”

Felix scowled. “How foul.”

“We must undo this wrong and contain the blight once more, so that our peoples can live on in peace,” Twain declared. He glanced over his shoulder. “Remember to say something like that, Felix. You need to be our symbol. Our pillar of light in the darkness.”

“Yes!” Felix replied, nodding vigorously.

“You think he can undo this? It’s too late. Even for the Mage-Emperor,” Xenozar snickered.

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“It’s not too late,” Twain replied, narrowing his eyes.

Felix’s grip tightened subtly around his waist, a reassuring hug. He nodded. It’s time.

Felix cleared his voice, then stood on Reihann’s back, a hand on Twain’s shoulder to hold himself steady. Voice amplified by magic, he shouted, “Xenozar! Show yourself!”

A twisted figure stepped out of the castle. Behind it, legions of the castle guard and of the army marched out, lining up, a massive force against two men and their dragon mount. The figure turned its head upward, and Twain finally recognized Sabelyn.

He stared in disgust. Her lovely face looked melted, half of it twisted like old paper and streaming toward her neck, tainted black. Black shot through her blonde hair, thick ribbons of fleshy tentacles that moved with a mind of their own. Her body blinked with eyes, horrible, misshapen eyes that darted about, unable to see, but able to move. Under her dress, she limped. Every so often, a black blob of flesh appeared from under her skirts.

Behind her, the army fared no better. Men with dozens of eyes, extra limbs, bonus heads; none of them looked human any longer, their skin dyed an oily, pitch black, writhing with horrible tendrils and tentacles. Some crawled on many legs. Others hopped, or squirmed. Stained uniforms were torn where their new, darkfoe limbs burst through. Blood stained the mouths of some, blood that looked all too fresh.

There are no humans left in the castle, Twain realized abruptly. He looked at Felix. If he hadn’t run, he wouldn’t be alive right now. Or at least, not human. He made the right decision.

She sneered up at them, defiant. “You dare assault the human’s Queen?”

“I don’t see a Queen. I see a darkfoe, blighted half to death. Give it up, Sabelyn. Let us purge the blight from these lands, so that our races can live on in peace!” Felix declared.

Twain nodded. Good, good.

“You dare call me a darkfoe? Me, your Queen, a darkfoe? Heresy! Slander!” Sabelyn screeched.

She doesn’t realize it, Twain realized abruptly. She doesn’t know she’s become a darkfoe. The disgust morphed to pity. Dancing along to Xenozar and Lilith’s tune, so hungry for power that she hasn’t realized she’s already lost all of it. He shook his head at her sadly.

“Don’t look at me like that! Ah, Mouse! I suppose this means you don’t care for your friends, then?” Sabelyn asked. She snapped her finger. Three of the darkfoe officers came forward, each holding a crystal disk.

Twain laughed. “You and Lilith played your hand the moment you showed me their faces. Do you think I wouldn’t save them?”

Instead of hostages, the disks showed empty cages. In one, a flicker of motion appeared, and Sela bounded into frame, kicking her tail hard to stay above the water, holding a tired, but very alive, Moss. “As you requested, Mouse! They’re safe!”

“Thank you, Sela!” he shouted back.

Enraged, Sabelyn lashed out with a too-long limb and smashed the crystal plates. “You!”

“Your little games end here, Sabelyn. It’s time we restore this world to the way it ought to be!” Twain replied.

“Kill them! Kill them all!” Sabelyn shouted, thrusting an arm with too many joints in their direction.

“Felix, she’s beyond reason. She and her army, they’re all darkfoe. There’s no other option,” Twain said.

Felix nodded. He raised his hand. Magic accumulated in his palm, turning to fire, a massive ball of fire that burned fiercely overhead. “Say goodbye, Sabelyn. Your days of grabbing power unjustly for your own sake end here.”

“You turn against the Barrier Alliance? The three of you, against the world?” Sabelyn asked.

From out of the woods all around them burst soldiers. Not darkfoe, but undead, beastfolk, goblins, dwarves, and elves of all description.

Sabelyn laughed. “Attack! Attack them!”

Riding atop a Clarita, Brittany marched to the front of the army. “This is the end, Sabelyn! The demons are contained. The avians fight their own civil war. We will labor under your madness no longer! The Barrier Alliance is made up of more than merely humans! With the Mage-Emperor on our side, we have nothing to fear from you!”

Sabelyn stared. “You—you—”

“There is no further path for you,” Felix declared. The fire burst with power, ball churning over his head, almost a miniature sun.

Despite his closeness to the fire, Twain felt no heat. He gazed at Felix. Incredible. The Mage-Emperor really is incredible.

“It is time to make your move, my pawn,” Xenozar whispered in Twain’s ear.