Page 22 of Crimson Skies

I’m sure this trickery was that damn wretch’s idea too. I will wring his neck with my own hand and cast his body at Ivmir’s feet!

Movement caught his gaze. A figure in a dark robe had crept inside the chamber and was hovering near the threshold.

“What is it?” Elios asked irritably.

The alchemist glanced nervously at Karlstad and the dead sorcerers. “It is done, Master.”

Elios straightened, elation curbing his fury for a moment. “Good. Move on to the next stage.”

The man bowed and disappeared, his relief palpable.

Karlstad lifted his head weakly where he sat shuddering. He flinched when Elios directed a glare his way.

“Find those summoning staffs. This is your last chance.”

The hounds faltered and cowered when Elios strode past them. A single wish filled his mind as he exited the chamber and navigated the corridors of the abandoned Hell’s keep.

He wanted all of this to be over.

And the only one who could grant his wish for eternal darkness was the God he was determined to free from the Abyss.

* * *

Ortega narrowed his eyes.“It was a trap?”

“Yes.” Atropos glanced at Cassius. “It was Icarus who calculated that one of Elios’s first moves might be to come after those staffs.”

The three mages shared surprised looks before pinning Cassius with questioning stares.

“I suspected from Elios’s repeated attempts to produce summoning staffs that whatever weapons he’d had the Shadow Empire alchemists make for his army were nowhere near as powerful as the original artifacts that were created during the Hundred Year War,” Cassius explained. “Getting his hands on those seven summoning staffs would have been a priority before he confronted us.”

“I want to believe he will be as hopeless at making replicas of the weapons that sealed Chaos in the Abyss, but considering he used our blood and divine power to do so, I suspect that’s just wishful thinking,” Tenebra murmured.

Atropos gave the Black Fate a sympathetic look.

Wallace drummed his fingers on the table. “So, you’re saying you substituted the real ones with fakes?”

“Yes,” Cassius replied.

The Texan mage still looked upset at the mention of the summoning staffs. Cassius could hardly blame him. The weapons’ gruesome power was legendary even in other realms. Resolve overcame the pangs of conscience tightening his belly.

We have to play dirty to win this war. Even if it means resorting to the very weapons Elios would have used against us.

Theo touched the back of his hands where he’d fisted them on his knees. Cassius relaxed a little at his brother’s warmth.

“Still, it was risky of you to expose the city to such danger.” Wallace’s frowning gaze flitted to Theo. “Especially considering what happened there not so long ago.”

Victor clenched his jaw at the words the mage didn’t say.

Atropos spoke before her brother could utter a riposte at the silent dig at his lover. “Theo shielded the area around Cabalista.” The Moira met Wallace’s incredulous stare steadily. “The city would have been immune to the effects of whatever battle took place within his barrier.”

“The shield has been in place for over a week,” Cassius explained.

Yuan looked impressed at that.

“There’s something I don’t get.” Ortega arched an eyebrow at Theo. “If this warlock was as powerful as you described, shouldn’t he have sensed those summoning staffs were not the real ones?”

The demigod smiled grimly. “Charlie used the Altered Mind Box to create an illusion powerful enough to fool them.”

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