Scholar of Magic (Art of the Adept #3) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,164

frowned. “Why not?”

“Oh, they might find a few random nests—some of the wild ones that got loose after what happened with Tailtiu—but from what your friend’s letter indicates, the leaders are still here. They may not be in total control of the frenzied ones, but they’ll be giving advice on where to hide.”

“And where would that be?”

“They don’t need to breathe, so they have a lot of options. The simplest is just to dig right into the earth like a worm, but they can also hide in any dark nook or cranny. In the city they’ll probably take to the sewers.”

“Lognion will probably have thought of that,” offered Will.

“So what if he has?” snapped Arrogan. “Even if they go down there in force, they can’t find them. Some will be in the smaller pipes; places so small no sane person would crawl into them. Others may hide underwater. This is how they survive. The only ones that will be caught are the newer ones.”

“Then how do we win?” asked Will in exasperation.

“Well, Lognion does have one thing right. It is helpful to limit their hiding places by doing daytime searches, but it won’t win the fight. The smarter ones can only be caught at night, when they come out to feed, which, of course, is also when things are the most dangerous for humans. What really makes no sense to me is the strategy here.”

“Whose?”

“The vampires,” answered the ring. “Whoever is leading them was obviously wise and careful, but once things fell apart with Tailtiu they should have fled. The old ones are smart. They know what happens when humans discover their presence. People panic. This daytime search is just the beginning. Eventually the people will start tearing the city apart, even to the point of ripping up the streets to expose the sewers. They’ll burn everything and anyone. If their initial goal was simply to demoralize the populace then this is going too far.”

“Rob did say they were adaptable.”

“But not suicidal,” countered Arrogan. “I wish I knew who was leading them.”

Something popped into Will’s mind. “I forgot to tell you. A few days ago, when I was protecting the Nerrow’s home, I talked to one of them for a moment.”

“How nice,” said the ring sarcastically.

“It was a young girl and I asked her name. She was different from the others.”

“First trolls, now this…”

“She told me her name. It was Alexa.”

The ring was silent for a brief time, then it exclaimed, “Shit.”

“You know her?”

“I met her master once. He was the one who got away from Aislinn. Alexa was his favorite pet. If she’s here then Androv won’t be far away. He’s no fool, William, and he was a third-order wizard long before I was even born. If you encounter him in person, you’re not likely to survive the meeting.”

“A vampire wizard then?”

“The worst of the worst,” agreed the ring. “He was Grim Talek’s second in command, and none of this is like him at all. He wouldn’t have left Tailtiu alone in that warehouse. He knows better, which means he planned on things going out of control.”

“There must be some way to stop him.”

“Listen up, William. You won’t be a match for a wizard like that for at least a hundred years, maybe never. He’s been at it so long that he can almost certainly reflex cast almost any spell he knows, and his turyn control will be flawless. The fact that he’s also a vampire is almost irrelevant compared to that fact.”

“Sunlight will still destroy him. I have Ethelgren’s Illumination,” said Will.

“And he uses spells to protect himself from sunlight. Hell, he’s probably walking around the city right this minute. He could be in the middle of the market, smiling and buying an apple from a fruit seller. With his mastery of magic, he might as well not even be a vampire; he’s more like a human, except that he’s immortal and can regenerate from any wound. He’s almost as dangerous as Grim Talek himself. The only difference between him and the lich