Damien, Jen, and Leah were almost to the mouth of the cave when he sensed it. A towering darkness he’d felt once before far to the south. Mikhail Santen was out there. Alone or otherwise Damien couldn’t say. His power overwhelmed everything else in the area.

“Stop.”

Jen had moved into the lead as he slowed. She paused and turned back. “What?”

“We’ve got company waiting for us outside.”

“Eleck?” Leah sounded both angry and nervous.

“Maybe, but if he’s out there he’s not alone. The black knight is here for sure.”

Jen reached for her sword. “Santen? What’s he doing here?”

“I suspect Connor dispatched him to kill us so Eleck could return to work, but that’s just a guess. It doesn’t make much difference, he’s here and there’ll be blood before we’re done. He isn’t the sort you can reason with.”

Jen had her sword clenched in one fist. “That’s the impression I got as well. How do you want to handle this?”

“Alone.” Damien raised a hand to forestall her argument. “It’s going to take everything I have just to stay even with him. I can’t spare anything to shield you two.”

Jen’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t argue. Damien knew she’d seen Mikhail’s power firsthand. That made a better argument than anything he could have said. “Let’s at least take a look before we make any decisions.”

They covered the last couple hundred yards and peeked out the mouth of the cave. Mikhail loomed large at the edge of the rocky slope. Eleck and a woman stood behind him, four red-scales flanking the druids. The woman cowered away from the black knight, a perfectly sensible reaction for a normal person to the monster that was Mikhail Santen. They ducked back inside.

“Who’s the girl?” Jen asked.

“Her name’s Delia.” Leah chewed her lip. “She must be the last member of Eleck’s circle. I know her. We studied the Green Path together as beginning druids. I can’t believe she’d betray us.”

Jen shook her head. “Eleck for me, Mikhail for you?”

Damien nodded. He hated to have his sister fighting Eleck alone, but he couldn’t handle the druid and his black rings at the same time as Mikhail. “Deal. Just be careful.”

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Jen grinned. “I can handle him. Eleck might have power, but he’s no warrior.”

“I’ll talk to Delia.” Leah clenched her fists. “Maybe I can convince her to give up her talisman without a fight.”

“As long as she’s close to Eleck you need to keep your distance,” Jen said. “I can’t fight him if I’m worried about you.”

She didn’t look happy, but Leah nodded.

“You in there, boy?” Mikhail’s deep, booming voice echoed through the cave. “Thought we might have a rematch.”

“Stay out of sight until I draw him away.” Damien reabsorbed the power from the women’s shields and stepped into the cave mouth. He’d need every drop of power to fight Mikhail. He raised his voice. “If it isn’t the greengrocer. Found a new arm I see. Not exactly human, but better than nothing I suppose. No horse this time?”

Damien flew up into the twilit sky. If Mikhail had to fight from the ground it would give Damien a huge advantage.

It seemed it wasn’t going to be his day for advantages. A dark aura surrounded Mikhail and he leapt into the sky. Black flames gathered around his monstrous blade a moment before they streaked at Damien.

He dodged and cut them off at their power source with a blast of soul force before they snaked back at him. At least Mikhail hadn’t learned any new tricks since their last battle.

They zipped through the dim sky, Mikhail blasting and Damien dodging and countering. Damien had the oddest feeling of déjà vu. Did Mikhail imagine he could win this time fighting the exact same way as last time, when he lost? Damien hoped so. It would certainly make his job easier.

“Hold still, damn you!” Mikhail roared.

“That wouldn’t be very smart.” Damien blasted him in the chest with enough force to send Mikhail wobbling off course and dent his armor. That was an improvement over last time. It seemed his breastplate was weaker than last time. Either that or Mikhail wasn’t spending as much power on defense.

The thought barely crossed his mind before twin streams of black flame came pouring off his opponent’s blade, attacking him from left and right at the same time.

Damien dropped straight down, the rivers of fire roaring over his head, missing it by inches.

Now that was a new trick. When Damien tried to sever the connection between flames and sword Mikhail repaired them before the blast passed all the way through.

Damien frowned. Maybe Mikhail had learned some new techniques after all.

He flew a zigzagging path through the sky, the flames never more than a foot or two off his heels. Thinking while flying for your life was harder than Damien had expected. He spun and flew straight at Mikhail. Damien wasn’t optimistic, but it would be great fun to burn the black knight with his own flames.

Damien whizzed past Mikhail. He did a split to avoid losing a foot to his opponent’s black sword. As he feared the flames simply separated and flowed around their master. Damien took the moment’s reprieve to blast Mikhail in his armored back to no effect. The back plate appeared stronger than the front.

A third stream of flames brought his train of thought to an abrupt halt. All Damien could think about now was not getting incinerated.

Damien spun around the third stream and winced when the talisman pinned to his tunic poked him through the fabric. He risked a glance at the ground. Jen was busy fighting Eleck.

Good. The cave should be empty. Damien had an idea, but Leah wouldn’t like it.