Amirantha suddenly realized exactly what Sandreena meant: no demon he conjured could be trusted. They were all in thrall to whoever was behind his brother’s plan.
Amirantha acted as much out of pique as self-preservation. He sent a punishing spell towards Darthea. The demon recoiled, almost pulling Belasco off his feet before he let go of her. The agony she felt was passed along to him for a moment, until contact was broken. He staggered, while she fell and writhed on the stones. She contorted in agony and her body shifted, smoke rose from her skin. Her features changed, becoming more demonic by the second as her illusion of human beauty faded. She stopped thrashing and lay quivering and twitching. The thing at Belasco’s feet had the torso of a woman and her face was still beautiful, in an otherworldly fashion, but her legs were those of a black furred goat. Two long horns swept back from her forehead, and her fingers ended in black claws. Suddenly a burst of green flame consumed her, and Belasco scuttled backwards to avoid being burned.
The magician at Belasco’s side began another conjuration, and Sandreena pointed her mace at him. A blast of energy, clear and colourless, rippled the air as it shot from her weapon, sped across the clearing and took the magician in the chest. He was slammed backwards in an explosion of white and yellow lights, to lie stunned on the rocks behind Belasco.
‘Close your eyes!’ shouted Miranda, and those warriors not consumed by her wall of flame were blinded by an explosion of light.
‘Now!’ shouted Miranda. ‘Fall back!’
‘Back!’ shouted Kaspar, lashing out to skewer a blinking Black Cap who stumbled too close.
All around them lay burning, screaming men. Others tried to see through eyes blinded by a flash so brilliant that they would probably remain blind for the rest of their lives. A few cried out in fear, and suddenly their angry resolve was replaced by rising panic. The stench of burning bodies and the screams of the dying only added to the terror.
Jommy saw an opportunity and shouted, ‘We’ve been betrayed! Belasco lied to us! We’re all going to die!’
No one among the Black Caps could see who had shouted, but as he hopped, the warning was repeated.
Miranda almost pulled him off his feet by grabbing his collar and hauling him away. ‘Fall back now!’ she hissed.
They retreated, seeking enough room for Miranda to transport them away. Across the sea of writhing bodies and smoking chaos, Belasco rose to his feet and shouted, ‘No you don’t!’ He reached back and flung his arm forward, as if throwing a rock, and they all saw a flaming orange ball ripping towards them.
It was Creegan who reacted first, throwing up a mystic barrier that caused the flames to spread up and around the intended targets. It was still hot when it struck, and Jommy yelped as his hair singed. Brandos drew his dagger and with an impressive heave sent it speeding across the gap between themselves and Belasco.
With a maniacal laugh, the magician dodged to one side, shouting, ‘That was too close! Time for me to bid you all farewell!’
He vanished.
‘Damn!’ shouted Miranda as she sent a bolt of searing red energy into the midst of a clump of warriors, sending most of them into the air as if thrown by some giant’s hand. ‘Back!’
Most of the warriors serving Dahun were either dead, or blinded, or confused and trying to get away from the struggle, but quite a few had gathered their wits, and soon Miranda and her companions would risk being overwhelmed. ‘Back!’ she repeated.
They hurried up the draw onto the narrow track that eventually led down to the sea. Brandos, Kaspar, and Jommy backed along the path, swords ready, but the few Black Caps who followed seemed less than eager to engage them. They had seen the damage the magicians had done, and their own magic users were nowhere to be seen.
When Miranda felt it safe to conjure, she said, ‘We were led into this trap. Somehow they knew we were coming.’
‘We can sort all of that out when we get back to Sorcerer’s Isle,’ said Jommy.
Miranda’s eyes widened. ‘We must go there now!’ She reached out and grabbed Amirantha and Creegan and shouted, ‘Grab on!’ When everyone was secured, she willed herself to the island.
And they arrived in the middle of a holocaust.
*
Pug and Magnus finished examining what was left of the Saaur library at Ahsart. Most of the writings had perished at the same time as the shamans and priests who had gathered them, but a few older clay tablets and a handful of bound books locked away in a vault had endured. The language was unknown to them.