“I know.” My words sounded as hollow as my heart.
Suddenly, the blue sphere of magick moved. Instead of hovering by the back wall of ashes, it sped toward the open entranceway. All my senses went on alert. I stepped away from Rowan’s embrace, my mind reeling. The orb was moving. That could only mean one thing.
My spell had detected new Necromancers.
The Fantomes were coming.
I pictured the complex route it took for Rowan and me to reach this room. If the mages could have transported to this spot, they would have already. Which meant that they weren’t sure where to find us and were using tracking spells. We had some time to prepare.
I raised my left hand, careful to lace my voice with magick as I called to the sphere. “Halt!”
The glowing orb paused by the archway door. I exhaled. If a troop of expert Necromancers was coming to kill me, at least they wouldn’t have a glowing guide to help them find my location.
Rowan gestured toward the sphere. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
I nodded. “Fantomes.”
“All of them?”
I closed my eyes and felt in my soul for magick. A small amount remained, and I pushed it into the sphere, asking it how many mages approached. The answer instantly appeared in my mind’s eye. “Six of them are coming.” I opened my eyes and squashed the desire to kick something. “Summoning Quinn must have drawn their attention.”
“If it had been me, I’d have done the same.”
A sickly feeling crept into my stomach. Six mages might very well be coming here to kill Rowan and me. That was a goodly amount of all the Necromancers left alive. What would I do when they attacked? In order to survive, I’d have to destroy them.
My mind raced through the implications. I would murder more my people when so many had already died. It was an impossible situation.
There had to be another way.
Rowan eyed me carefully. “What’re you thinking about?”
“Spells.”
“Don’t worry. They won’t expect Caster magick. I can kill them easily enough with a sneak attack.” Rowan raised his right arm and pulled magick into him. The veins in his right hand glowed red.
A pang of worry tightened my heart. Rowan was the most powerful mage I’d ever met. He was right that they wouldn’t expect his kind of power. Together, we might very well destroy all the Fantomes who were heading this way.
But I couldn’t let them die without giving them a chance.
I stepped in front of Rowan, gripped his right hand, and forced it down. “Don’t hurt them.” The light disappeared from his bones.
Rowan narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? They’re evil.”
“We don’t know that. I was alive when the Tsar first came to power. All the Fantomes were true Necromancers back then. You saw Quinn. Many were terrorized into joining the Tsar. Plus, after seeing Gretel, I’ve no doubt that some were conned into following the Vicomte. Now, with so few Necromancers left, I can’t just kill trained Necromancers out of hand. I must give them a chance to embrace our true ways again.”
“Perhaps.” A muscle twitched along Rowan’s jawline. It was a sure sign he was worried. “But they’re coming here to kill you.” His gravelly voice became even lower. “I will never let that happen.” He raised his hand once more.
Part of me felt honored that Rowan was so determined to protect my life. More of me wanted to ensure the Necromancers didn’t vanish.
I gripped Rowan’s wrist again. “Suppose you were about to face some of the last of your Casters. Could you kill them?”
Rowan’s gaze locked with mine. Intensity burned in his emerald eyes. A long moment passed before he spoke again. “No, I couldn’t.” He lowered his arm.
I exhaled. “Good.” The beginnings of an idea were forming in the back of my mind.
It was so insane it might even work.
Rowan moved closer, interrupting my thoughts. “We’ll have a short time to prepare before they find us.”
“I don’t want to fight in a hallway. The passages down here are too cramped. That limits what spells I can cast.”
“Agreed. If we make a stand, it should be in this room. There are tables to act as barriers, and the door seems stout.” He cracked the knuckles on his right hand. “I could create some animals that will slow them down as well.”
I turned to face the wall of ashes. For my plan to work, I needed to break my ban against summoning ghosts. “And I’ll summon some ghosts. It’s easier to do when you have their remains nearby.”
“What do you want ghosts for? Not to fight, surely.”
Rowan’s question made perfect sense. When it came to spirits, their transparent bodies made them pretty useless in battles. Besides, ghosts had a lot of opinions about what they would or wouldn’t do. It wasn’t like summoning up a bunch of bones and animating them, which was my favorite kind of fighting spell. Ghosts needed convincing, especially to do what I was about to ask.
“I don’t want them to fight. I need them to possess the living.”