“Eli?” Damien was surprised to find his former roommate among the group summoned by the archmage to go after Connor Blackman. He stood beside Master Shen at the edge of the gathering in the royal castle courtyard.

Eli waved. “Damien. I figured you’d be here. I passed my final test and Master Shen took me on as his apprentice.”

They shook hands. “Congratulations. I told you you’d nail it the second time. Is this your first mission?”

Eli nodded. “Yeah. Not exactly an easy way to start. Though I heard your first official mission was a solo bodyguard job that ended up with a huge battle in the badlands. At least I have plenty of help.”

That was an understatement. In addition to Eli and Master Shen, eighteen sorcerers, including the archmage and one of the high sorcerers, were going out on this mission. They had enough power gathered to take on an army. Damien just hoped it was enough to defeat Connor. At least he’d managed to bury Mikhail, so they wouldn’t have to face both of them at the same time.

His master levitated five feet above the crowd. When she had everyone’s attention the archmage said, “You know why we’re here. Through the efforts of my apprentice and his sister we have finally acquired Connor Blackman’s general location. When we reach the mountains we’ll divide into groups of two. If anyone finds anything report at once. Do not try and engage Connor on your own. Our combined force should be enough to completely overwhelm him. Clear?”

Heads bobbed in acknowledgement. Damien really hoped they took her orders seriously. If Connor really was stronger than Mikhail there was no way any of them could handle the warlock on their own.

The assembled sorcerers sprang into the air, some on conjured mounts and others flying along under their own power like Damien. He flew over beside his master. “I assume we’ll be searching together.”

“No, I’m going to stay in a central position with Zahara to coordinate. You’ll be searching with Imogen.”

Damien winced. Imogen hated him. He was surprised the archmage had allowed her to come on the hunt. “I’m not sure we’re a good pair and who’s Zahara?”

“I keep forgetting. Zahara’s the high sorcerer of the east and we’ll be working in her area. Imogen just lost her partner and since I didn’t want to bring any other members of the legion I figured you’d be the most familiar with her. I didn’t want to include her on this mission, but I doubt if I ordered her to stay she’d obey me. At least this way she’ll have someone to keep an eye on her.”

Damien was familiar with her. She yelled at him every time they got within sight of each other. He still had no idea why and now he’d gotten stuck with babysitting duty, great. “Wait, what happened to Alden?”

“He was killed in an attempt to recover the urn. She took it pretty hard so go easy on her.”

Go easy on her. Right.

“I’ll do my best, Master.”

It took four hours for the gathered sorcerers to fly to the mountains. Eleck said the cave was near the eastern edge of the range and more north than south. That still left hundreds of square miles of territory to cover. Nine groups of sorcerers should make quick work of it. It wasn’t like they had to check every square inch. If they just got close any member of the group would sense Connor.

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When the archmage brought them to a halt Damien flew over beside Imogen and smiled. As usual that only earned him a scowl in return. Orders were given and they flew out to search their assigned quadrant.

After ten minutes of glacial silence Damien said, “What did I ever do to you anyway?”

Imogen glanced at him, her blue eyes sparkling in the bright sun. “Nothing. I don’t like you because you remind me of my own weakness. Try not to take it personally.”

Damien stared at the back of her head, his mouth partway open. When he’d recovered from the surprise he said, “What kind of stupid reason is that? Are you saying we’d get along better if I was a weakling?”

Imogen stopped and turned to face him straight on. He would have sworn the ice maiden had a tear in the corner of her eye. “That’s just what he said to me the day before he was killed. Alden said it was foolish to hate you for such an absurd reason. As was usually the case he was right. Knowing it and doing something about it are two different things.”

“Alden said that?” Damien shook his head. “I always thought he was too nice a guy to be a questioner. I don’t think I’ve had a chance to tell you how sorry I am that he died.”

“Damn it! Stop being nice to me! I’ve never treated you with anything but contempt. I don’t deserve your kindness.”

Damien bit his lip, flew over, and put a hand on Imogen’s shoulder. Every muscle in her body was tense. “It’s hard to lose someone you care about. Whatever I may think about you in general, everyone deserves a bit of kindness under these circumstances. When this is over, if you need someone to talk to, well, I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”

Imogen wiped her eyes and they flew on. When she looked his way again he imagined a hint of a smile. “You make it very hard for a person to hate you.”

Damien grinned. “If you need pointers look up Duke Iceborn’s son. He seems to have hating me down to an art.”

Imogen laughed then clapped her hand over her mouth.

“Careful, your face might break if you keep smiling like that.”

She opened her mouth to retort, but Damien held up a hand. “Do you feel that?” He sensed a hint of corruption to the east and a little south.

Imogen nodded. “It doesn’t seem strong enough to be a warlock.”

“Let’s have a closer look.”

She nodded and they followed the hint of corruption for another two minutes before a cave appeared below them. It matched the description Eleck gave perfectly.

“This has to be it,” Damien said. “I’ll send the archmage a message.”

Imogen’s face was twisted in a grimace. He’d never seen such a look of hate. “It’s his fault Alden is dead. One of Connor’s flunkies cut his throat while he was unconscious. He’s going to pay for what he’s done.”

“Yes, but we have to wait for the others.”

Imogen’s shield flared, blinding him for a moment. When his vision cleared Imogen was almost to the cave.

“Damn it!” Damien frantically conjured a message for his master. She’d have no trouble following it back to this spot. That done he plunged after Imogen. He’d just started to like the woman, he couldn’t let her kill herself now.

Damien caught up just as she landed in a little flat spot outside the cave. “What are you doing? The two of us aren’t enough to take on a warlock.”

She held up a finger to her lips, like Connor hadn’t already sensed their presence. “Come with me or wait here, I don’t care, but I mean to get my revenge.”

Imogen advanced into the cave. Stupid woman. Did she have a death wish? Damien followed a step behind. This was absurd. His only hope was that he could protect her long enough for them to escape or for help to arrive. Damien conjured a weak light when they moved beyond the entrance. The floor of the tunnel was worn smooth by the passage of many feet. It looked like Connor had a lot of company.

They continued deeper, but the corrupt power neither moved nor fluctuated. Damien frowned. Either Connor somehow didn’t know they were there or he was disguising his true power somehow. A little ways ahead the tunnel opened into a larger cavern.

Imogen drew power from her core and lunged through the opening. Damien joined her in an empty room filled with shelves. At the far end was a black chair with a gem on it.

The gem pulsed.

Damien grabbed Imogen and pulled her tight to his body.

This was going to be close.

He drew all but a fraction of his power and wrapped them in a cocoon of soul force.

The gem exploded and darkness filled the cave.