“No fair!” Solana in an annoyed voice. “You killed all of them!”

“I’m sorry,” Count Armond said with a smile. “I felt like showing off a little.”

Looking up at the cinders that were descending with an alarming frequency, I said, “We need to do something about the falling embers. Some of these could start a fire in the village.”

“No need to fear,” Armond wagged a finger at me. “I have a plan for that.”

The three nobles in the group moved toward the entrance to the Guild Hall. As we walked, Eadric fell back a few steps to put down any burning orcs that were still alive after Armond’s attack.

After braving the heavy smog that separated us from Beltane, we reached the small group of townspeople that had just been fighting against the orcs. Other than a small amount of smoke inhalation, they were completely unharmed.

The townspeople looked at Count Armond with awe as he approached. If he was not already his liege lord, they would have knelt and pledged their unwavering loyalty to him at that moment. Where fear and despair had been a moment before, there was gratitude and hope.

“Well done, my lord,” Beltane said, relief clear in his voice. He gave a slight bow to Armond.

“Think nothing of it,” Armond said with a smile. “I’m sure you had things handled here.”

“You’re probably right.” Beltane wore a weary smile as he spoke. “Though, I was not confident that I could have escaped that fight completely unscathed. My options for dealing with large groups are limited.”

As he spoke, Beltane unconsciously pressed a hand to his side. He flinched slightly as his hand contacted his abdomen.

“Are you wounded, Beltane?” I asked, seeing the pained look in his eye.

“It’s nothing, Lord Thale,” the War Mage said. “One of the orcs kicked me after I hit it with a Wind Knife.”

Without another word, I stepped forward and touched Beltane’s arm. “Those who do as the Goddess commands shall enjoy great rewards in the eternal kingdom of Elysium.”

As I recited the [Second Prayer], I poured my mana into the words. A moment after I was done with the recitation, the tightness in Beltane’s expression loosened, and he let out a sigh of relief.

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“Perhaps the Church of Nyx has its uses after all,” Armond said darkly. He cleared his throat, changing gears to the next topic. “Beltane, I have a request for you. We’re going to be throwing around a lot of fire tonight, could you call down a rainstorm for us?”

“Yes, my lord,” Beltane said without hesitation. He looked up to the sky, squinting to perceive any nearby rain clouds. “I can do it, but the rain won’t start for at least thirty minutes. It will take a while to summon the clouds.”

“Then get started soon, please,” Armond said, a small amount of concern entering his voice. “We should extinguish any wildfires before they get a chance to start.”

“As you command, my lord,” Beltane said with another bow of his head.

“I have one last question,” Armond began. “Where are they keeping the wounded?”

“Here at the Guild Hall,” Beltane answered quickly.

“Good,” Armond said. “Thale shall remain here and heal the wounded while Solana, Eadric, and I go to Koravin Manor. Once all the best warriors in town are in one place, we’ll attack the main group of orcs directly.”

Sir Eadric, who had just returned his sword to its sheath, said, “That sounds like a plan.”

“Alright, let’s…” Armond said, but he was cut off by Beltane.

“Excuse me, sir,” the War Mage interrupted. “I have a request. I would be much more useful in combat if I could utilize my entire arsenal of spells. Please permit me to use necromancy and blood magic for the duration of the fight.”

“Blood Magic…” Armond’s nose was wrinkled with disgust as he spoke. He clearly did not approve of such magic. “Fine,” he said with an annoyed expression. “You may use whatever forbidden magic you wish, but only on the orcs. I will not permit you to turn humans into zombies. Make sure any undead are killed and any blood runes are destroyed before the sun rises tomorrow.”

“Thank you, my lord,” Beltane said with a deep bow.

With a slight grimace, Armond turned in the direction of Koravin Manor. As they walked, I heard Solana ask, “What’s blood magic?”

Once they were out of earshot, Beltane bit down hard on his thumb, causing a thick trickle of red blood to start pouring down his hand. With no hesitation or expression of pain, he drew an arcane rune on the back of his hand. The rune was simple. It was an inverted triangle with perpendicular lines going through the two faces of the triangle that were pointing downward.

“Sanguis fluere tereb et secar,” he chanted calmly in the Ancient tongue. As he spoke, the rune drawn in blood glowed a bright red color, causing him to groan in pain. When the incantation was complete, the blood was gone, leaving only a dark burn on the back of Beltane’s hand.

The expression on Beltane’s face was remarkably like the one Armond had when he blasted the orcs. It was a look of pride in one’s own half-forgotten skill. I could tell that Beltane had not used Blood Magic in a long time, and using it once more filled him with pride.

“You know Necromancy and Blood Magic?” I asked, pulling Beltane out of his moment of reverie.

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Beltane responded. It was almost as if he had forgotten that I and a few townspeople were still there.

“Where did you learn those two schools of magic?” I asked. Unlike my father, I did not view any form of magic as evil. They were merely tools, like dynamite. Dynamite was originally used for mining purposes. It only took on a malevolent reputation when people started using it for war. It wasn’t the tool that was evil.