Chapter 11

The ten of us appeared just outside the city of Nagos in the blink of an eye, well out of sight of the townspeople.

Well. The townspeople that were left.

What remained was a chaotic mass of humanity. Screams greeted our arrival, and things only grew worse as we grew closer. By the time we'd reached the city limits, the burning buildings came into view.

Lavender and lilac flames soared into the sky as half the town burned.

Those mortals that remained and had managed to hold on to their sanity now fought desperately against the fires. The rest were sobbing in the streets, either mad from seeing the torch, or grieving over the loved ones that had been taken.

I'm not sure whether it was a blessing or a curse that the those taken were mostly adults. That children under twelve had been spared was fortunate, and the elderly remained as well. Not every man and woman of age was gone, but it was enough to hamper response efforts.

Rose quickly strode among us, a carmine flame passing between each pair of lips to grant them the language they'd need to help. We worked our way through the town, doing what we could.

The wizards did their best to smother the flames. Argondian was a water mage, and used his talents to direct water where it was most needed. Crudely painted glyphs on the ground drew springs from the earth, which Nelson and Simon spread with whatever abilities they could manage. Penny used her affinity with plants to infuse the flora around the town with moisture, hoping to prevent the fires from spreading to drought-afflicted trees and lawns. Moretti used his magnetic abilities to tear pipes from the streets, sending water cascading across the buildings.

The rest of us were left with saving those trapped inside the burning homes. Both Anya and Q were scorched when pulling children from the flames; Sal helped those with burns, licking at the injuries with his salve-like saliva. The bone-white ring I wore, the gift from the very same Lampad torch that had started the fires, protected me from them as I saved those I could.

Rose was perhaps the most helpless of us all. She had no way to stay the flames caused by another Lampad's torch. With no affinity for water, and with the site of her sending the remaining citizens into a fresh panic, the nymph was forced to use her own torch to hypnotize the people. Once they were under her sway, she was able to lead them to safety, and keep them out of harm's way.

We fought the fires for over an hour, before the last of the flames were extinguished.

On the horizon, we could see the glow from towns burning further along the coast, as Salvago pillaged his homeland for both the living and the dead.

"We can't keep this up," Penny said exhaustedly.

"We don't have to," Nelson replied, his chest heaving. Despite his magical ability to enhance his speed and stamina, the man was running on fumes. All of us were. "The Navy is here."

I turned to look through the smoke of the fourth town we'd traveled to, and sighed in relief as I spotted the ships pulling toward the shore. Vessels with water cannons had been dispatched to the first few towns, while others oversaw the evacuation of the survivors. Evacuation was the only option for those villages further inland.

"Those are Turkish ships," Moretti said dully.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around. I'd lost track of east and west after the sun had fully set. Hours had passed since then. The moon was no help, obscured by dark clouds that had rolled over the island, but had refused to shed any rain.

"Somewhere to the southwest, I think," the steel armed wizard responded. Any disdain he'd held for me and my companions had been burned away as we worked through the early hours of the night. "The last time Rose came through, she said the southwest was the worst off."

"Where are the others?"

Nelson shrugged tiredly. "I'm not even sure they're here. Rose whisked Argondian away when the military base went up."

"Salvago attacked a military base?" I asked in disbelief.

"No, the fires just spread from a nearby town," he explained.

The town we were in had finally seen most of the fires extinguished. The townspeople had been evacuated away, and with help on the way, it was time for us to leave. The four of us set off for the edge of town, with me calling out for Sal as we went. I wasn't even sure when I'd seen him last.

Before we were clear of the buildings, a flicker of light appeared in front of us, and Rose stepped to our group. "I know where she is."

It took me a second. "You mean Violet?"

"Yes," the Lampad said quickly, motioning the others forward. We all stepped closer, and as soon as we touched the torch, the world shifted, and we were in the Ways.

The one benefit of traveling by the Lampad tunnels was that we could travel anywhere without losing time. Unfortunately, we also had to walk through the Ways. That hadn't been much of an issue before, but as the night dragged on, we all moved a little slower.

Personally I was regretting not getting more shut-eye. I'd caught a few hours now and again, but it had been the better part of two days since I'd gotten any significant sleep. The constant feeding from Anya, which rejuvenated me as much as it did her, had lulled me into a false sense of vitality. Drawing on the power of the apple seed had kept me going, but it was no replacement for proper rest.

"Where are the others?" Moretti asked as we all huddled around the light from the Lampad's torch. She was able to to cast the illumination farther when there was a larger group, but we were all overly cautious of the looming dark. After Anya had explained about her knife, everyone had eyed the black edge of the light with trepidation.

"Elsewhere," Rose replied, not offering much more. The nymph seemed no worse for wear, although she'd been transporting us all around the island, while helping where she could.

"Are you going to bring them?" I asked. I didn't like the idea of going up against Salvago's people in our tired state with diminished numbers.

"If needed," the Lampad said. "I am hoping you can reach her. This is the first opportunity I've seen."

"What do you mean?" Penny asked. I saw that the leaves were growing and wilting from her staff as she tried to refresh herself. She unconsciously plucked leaves now and again to hold against the others. The foliage wilted upon contact, and I could visibly see Nelson and Moretti perk up.

She'd offered the same to me, but I declined, instead depending on the slower benefit of meditating without my punky vampire's assistance. I couldn't feel the wellspring of power the apple seed provided, but I could feel its affects anytime I slowed down long enough to put myself in the right state of mind.

"I cannot find the mágos or the Hound," Rose admitted. "But Violet is currently alone in a town, gathering the living to her."

My heart sped up as I realized what she was saying. "We've got a chance at reaching her."

"Yes," Rose confirmed with a nod. "If you can break whatever enchantment the mágos uses to control her, then we can put an end to this."

"Do we need to worry about the torchlight?" Nelson asked. "If she's hypnotizing the living, and we approach…"

"The power I've given you should be able to counter any effect," Rose said, although she didn't sound sure. "The light from the torch will cause madness in any of the living who see it; the only reason you are not affected by the light I bear is because I will it so."

"Oh," Nelson said, nodding. "Good to know."

Rose drew to a halt, taking on a now familiar distant look as she checked where we were in comparison to reality. "I sense no-one near my sister. It seems the mágos has grown over-confident."

"Maybe he's leaving the living to her while he raises more of the dead," Moretti observed.

"Regardless of the reason, this is your opportunity," she replied.

We all nodded, and then braced ourselves as the world shifted again.

Unlike some of the other trips, the Lampad had brought us directly into town. There weren't any fires yet, which was a blessing, but the place was eerily quiet. The old stone buildings loomed around us in the dark, where no lights shone in windows or on the street.

"Where is she?" I asked in a whisper.

"This way," Rose replied, leading us forward. Her own torch burned low, limiting our visibility. "I am blocking her from sensing us just as she blocked herself and the others earlier."

"Cool," I said, rounding a corner.

"What do you mean earlier?" Moretti asked softly as we made our way down a narrow street. The buildings to either side were beautiful, the walls covered in decorative tiles and iron works.

"She was masking their presence," the Lampad reminded us as a plum light became visible around the next corner. My pace quickened, and I found myself almost running.

"But what about now?" Moretti press, his tone darkening.

As I reached the corner, I looked toward the source of the light. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Violet leading a procession of people down the center of a road.

There were maybe four dozen people trailing behind her, the purple light of her torch reflecting oddly off their glazed eyes as they stumbled after her. Men and women, all in their teens or older, walked with leaden steps as the Lampad strode through the street.

"Violet," I said from a dozen feet away. It wasn't loud enough for her to hear, but at the sound of my voice, the Lampad drew to a halt, her head turning to look.

My breath caught in my throat. It was her, all save her eyes.

I couldn't tell you what it was that marked her so different from sister. Other than the color of their hair, eyes, and clothes, they were identical. Different hues, but clearly nymphs of a kind. And yet there was something different. Something that I could sense, if not describe.

Maybe I was just being overly romantic. Maybe it was just me rationalizing that my girl was special, rather than one of a pair.

Whatever it was, it assured me that this was the woman I loved. Maybe it wasn't enough love to satisfy the White Court, but it was a love that had caused me endless worry since I'd learned what had happened to her. My instincts had been telling me something was wrong even before Rose had arrived at my door.

My insides were churning now, a constant sea of unease rolling through me as I looked into her amaranthine eyes. Eyes I knew so well, save for the soft emerald light that crept in at the corners.

Like the Hound I'd seen earlier, there was a power at work in her. Tendrils of energy seemed to waver around her eyes, and I was suddenly struck with a memory from long ago. I'd seen something similar years before, when I'd faced a Hag. The sorceress had controlled animals, living and dead, using them as her weapons. There had been a fey green light in their eyes as well, and I wondered if that was the secret to how Salvago was controlling them. If he had studied the same magics as the Hag, and had turned them on people rather than beasts.

I took all that in, without really paying attention to the words around me. My focus was on the woman I loved.

"You're saying you can sense her now?" Moretti hissed.

"Yes," Rose said. "That is how I found her. Before, we could only chase them by the prayers their chaos wrought, and the fires they left in their wake."

Moretti grew tense. "But why stop shielding herself now?"

"Why indeed?" another voice said from behind us.

The others spun quickly, while my eyes felt like they were slowly torn from Violet's. Eventually I turned, to catch the tail end of the veil flickering away. I stared, the uneasy feeling spiking as I realized what Moretti had been going on about. What his instincts had been warning him of.

I was too late figuring it out, though, as I turned to find Yannis Salvago standing not ten feet away, surrounded by a retinue of enthralled wizards.

His eyes, dark and dead compared to those that glowed angrily around him, drifted over us one by one, as one hand idly rested on the massive head of the Hound beside him. When he finished studying those he'd lured into his trap, he gave a slight nod. An echo to the one he'd given just before the Hound had taken that light from with Rai.

A nod that elicited a growl from the beast as it tensed beside him.

"Take them."