A surge of dark power drew Damien’s attention back to the ground. Jen stood a few feet away from the demon, staring at it and not moving.

Its power had overwhelmed her.

Damien had read about that in his studies, but never imagined it happening to his sister, strong as she was.

The demon raised a claw.

Damien drew out half his remaining power and conjured a golden serpent. His construct wrapped around the demon, binding it in place.

He let out a breath. He’d made it in time.

The demon’s corruption was rotting his construct by the second. He needed to finish it, but didn’t want his sister to feel like he’d saved her. She needed to be part of its defeat to regain some of her confidence.

“Jen!”

She shook herself and looked up at him. Damien dragged his finger across his throat and pointed at the demon. Jen looked at the bound monster and nodded.

She leapt.

All her power flowed into her arms and back as she swung her sword at the demon’s neck. Its head shot up into the air and Jen rolled clear.

The serpent snapped the head out of the air and Damien detonated it, sending the power into the sky instead of outwards into the clearing. A great pillar of golden light consumed the demon so nothing of it remained.

Damien sighed. He sensed no other sources of corruption outside the lair.

It looked like they’d won.

Thank heaven for that. He only had a third of his power left.

Jen knelt a little ways away from the shallow crater that marked the demon’s grave. He landed beside her, taking a moment to shift the flow of his soul force so half went to replenishing his core rather than the usual trickle. “You okay?”

She stood, sheathed her sword, and nodded. “It didn’t hit me. Damn, that thing was strong. I know Dad’s killed a demon or two, but I can’t see how he managed it. I couldn’t do much more than scratch the thing.”

“For one thing, Dad’s got more soul force than you. Not a lot.” He raised his hands when she glared at him. “He’s also got Lizzy, which doubles his strength. She can also send her power through the blade so it cuts better than normal steel. Those are huge advantages.”

She didn’t seem convinced, but screams, growing closer by the second, ended the conversation. Rhys burst into the clearing, Talon slung over his shoulder. The younger man was clutching his leg and screaming with each breath.

“What happened?” Jen rushed over to check on her subordinate.

Rhys lowered Talon to the ground. “One of the goblins got through his guard and jabbed him in the leg. Didn’t look like much of a blow, but the spear pierced him deep. He fell screaming on the spot. I killed the little bugger, but I couldn’t do anything for Talon.”

Jen tore the cloth away from the wound. The goblin had stabbed Talon in the lower thigh, six inches above his left knee. Black lines ran out from a raw, red wound. Talon gritted his teeth, trying to hold in the screams.

He managed it for a couple of seconds.

Jen put a hand on his forehead. “Talon, you have to focus on healing.”

He thrashed and gasped. “Can’t. Hurts, so much pain.”

Edward and Alec emerged from the woods and rushed over. While Rhys filled them in Jen led Damien off to the side. “Can you heal him?”

Damien shook his head. Despite his considerable skills, healing was the one thing he couldn’t do. His soul force was too dense for such fine work. “I’d be more likely to blow his leg off than cure him. There’s one thing I can try, but I make no promises. The corruption’s deep in his flesh.”

“He’s dying. Do whatever you can.”

Damien nodded and knelt beside the thrashing Talon. He put his hand above Talon’s wound and sent his soul force into the injured man’s body, blocking the flow of pain from his injury to his brain. Talon went still and lay back. He sighed. “The pain’s gone.”

“It’s not gone,” Damien said. “I blocked it so you can concentrate. Now focus on healing. The corruption is still spreading. Purge the darkness first, don’t worry about the wound.”

Talon closed his eyes. Soul force flowed from his core down to his leg. His muscles shrank as he pulled every drop of power and sent it to battle the corruption in his leg. The dark lines drew back ever so slowly.

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Over the course of three minutes Talon purged the corruption and partly closed his wound. He fell back, covered in sweat, every speck of excess soul force used up.

“You’ve cleansed the wound. I’m going to restore the link between your leg and brain. Brace yourself.”

Damien removed his barrier and Talon winced, but didn’t thrash or scream. A little blood oozed out of the remaining gash, clean and red, with no sign of infection. Rhys dug a healer’s kit out of his satchel and set to work binding the injury.

Damien started to get up, but Talon grabbed his sleeve. “Thanks. You saved my life. You were right. That goblin’s spear went through my iron skin like it was nothing. I’ve never felt such pain.”

“Save your strength.” He patted Talon’s hand. “You’ve still got healing to do.”

Jen turned to Edward and Alec. “Get a stretcher built. He won’t be walking anywhere for a while.”

Damien left them to their work and walked through the late afternoon shadows toward the goblin’s lair. That demon hadn’t appeared from nowhere. He needed to search the lair for a clue as to its origin.

He hadn’t taken three steps when Jen grabbed his wrist. “Where are you going?”

“To have a look around.” He nodded toward the lair entrance.

“I’ll come with you. The guys have things under control out here.”

They continued on together. At the mouth of the tunnel Damien conjured a globe of light without breaking stride. He winced at the stench of rot and corruption. He hadn’t expected a goblin lair to smell of perfume, but this was nasty.

They turned down the short branch to the sleeping chamber. It looked the same as they’d seen through his bug’s eyes.

“Thanks for helping Talon. He might be a jerk, but he’s a good soldier.”

Damien turned back toward the main corridor. “I’m glad I could do something. If John were here he’d have purged that wound and had Talon sealed up in ten minutes.”

“Could he have handled the demon too?”

Damien headed toward the central chamber. “Probably not. The best healers rarely have dense soul force. It lets them refine their power enough to affect a body on the cellular level, but that sort of control doesn’t help much in a fight.”

“If we stumbled on this place alone, could my squad have beaten that demon?”

“Maybe.”

She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. “Tell me the truth.”

Damien looked into his sister’s eyes and saw something he never thought he’d see, doubt and fear. The battle with the demon had shaken her more than he realized. “No, I don’t think so. The sorcerer would have cut you to pieces while you tried not to get killed by the demon. The goblins, even corrupted as they were, you could have managed. But the demon and sorcerer, with their ability to use external soul force, no.”

Her lips trembled and he thought she might cry. “My decision to attack might have gotten them all killed, might have gotten me killed.”

Damien covered her hand with his. “We’re all okay. The goblins are dead and no longer a threat to the people. You held your own against a demon. Things could have been much worse.”

“Thanks, little brother.”

The central chamber, like every other chamber in the place, was a mess. Damien’s explosion hadn’t helped any. Bits of broken wood mixed with rotted flesh and strips of skin. Damien ignored most of that and went right up to the throne.

It was a crude thing, roughly built from scraps of wood and bound with leather thongs. It was a wonder it supported the demon’s weight. At its base was a stone slab.

Damien leaned in for a closer look. On the edge of the slab it looked like someone had engraved runes. He conjured a blast of energy to smash the throne off the slab. On the top of the altar was a carving of a horned skull.

“What is that?” Jen asked.

“A sacrificial altar. A cult of the Horned One must have operated here at one time. The goblins built their lair around the altar. The question is, did the cult summon the demon or did it enter the area on its own?”

“How would you know?”

“I wouldn’t, but there are sorcerers who specialize in this sort of thing. I’ll report what we found and they’ll send someone out to investigate. But first I have to ward this place so no one wanders in.”

Damien conjured a ball of energy and left it floating in the central chamber. As they walked back out, he put a similar ball in each chamber they passed, linking them together with strands of energy. When they reached the exit he put up a barrier so no one could enter.

“There. Can you guys make it back to The Citadel on your own?”

Rhys had Talon bandaged up and Edward and Alec were putting the finishing touches on a stretcher. Jen nodded. “We’ll make camp and head back in the morning. Will you return for the festival tomorrow?”

“Depends what the masters have to say, but I’ll try.” Damien leapt into the sky and flew back towards the tower to report.

The sun had set when Damien landed in the empty yard outside the tower. He hoped the headmaster would still be in his office as he had no way to get in touch with the high sorcerers on the top floor. The doors opened at his approach; he’d gotten in the habit of opening them unconsciously using his power.

He turned down the left-hand corridor and found the headmaster’s door closed. He knocked and when there was no response tried the handle and found it locked.

Damn it! Where could he be?

He left the administrative area and headed upstairs to the dining room. Perhaps the old man was getting something to eat. He pushed through the double doors and looked around the room. Nothing but students.

He ground his teeth in frustration. Where else? Ann would know, if he could find her.

Damien made his way up to the third floor but when he reached her training room found it empty. Cursing the universe in general and teachers in particular, Damien went up to the sixth floor to try her apartment. He knocked on the closed door and after a few seconds, to his immense relief, it opened.

“Damien?” Ann stood in the doorway, dark hair dripping, wearing a short robe that left her legs bare. “I thought you went to see your family.”

“I did. I helped Jen and her squad track down some goblins. Turns out they were led by a demon. We killed it, but inside their lair I found an altar to the Horned One. I couldn’t tell if the demon was summoned there or not, so I came back to report after I warded the lair against intruders.”

“Slow down. You killed a demon? By yourself?”

“Jen helped.”

“Really?”

“A little.”

Ann stepped away from the door. “Come in. I need to get dressed then we have to go talk to Thomas.”

Half an hour later found Damien and Ann seated at the headmaster’s coffee table, warm cups of tea in their hands, and Damien repeating his story for the second time. When he finished the headmaster said, “This is troubling news. We’ve seen nothing from the Horned One’s cult in years. I’ll send a team to investigate first thing in the morning.”