and gestured to Kural as she shook her head. “This,” she said, “is my magic tutor.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
“Why didn’t you tell me who you were?” Zaara demanded.
“Sephith bound my power but he wanted me dead.” Kural stood. “He watched closely for anyone who could defeat him—remember how he told you he knew when people spoke against him? He did because he watched the whole of the valley. I did as much as I could for you in Riverbend, which he didn’t watch as closely. There was less I could do for Justin.” He gave the young man a sad smile. “More details will have to wait, I’m afraid. We need to prepare for the summoning.”
Justin looked at the blacksmith who lay alone on the table.
“Watch.” The wizard made a gesture and his spells became visible. They covered the wounded man like a blanket. “They will keep working, even if I am not here. What he needs more than anything is rest, however. Were I here, I would simply watch and wait.”
He nodded but he felt a pang of regret mixed with fear. The man had promised to make him better armor but aside from that, he should never have been mortally wounded by demons.
Kural directed Hildon and Lyle to arrange potions and salves in three groups. The first would make weapons more deadly, the second would fortify fighters’ strength or health, and the third would restore health. Every bandit was to have at least one potion, perhaps more.
Zaara and Justin, meanwhile, helped Kural prepare what was needed for the summoning.
“Summoning?” the young man asked.
“Yes—an angel instead of a demon. And before you protest, know that we will not truly summon it. It is merely to draw the demon to a place of our choosing. It will do anything it can to stop the summoning of an angel, of course.”
“So we kill it while it’s distracted.”
“Exactly.” The wizard pointed to two mortars and pestles. “Justin, grind the vervain. Zaara, you grind the thyme.”
“Am I making a stew?” she asked under her breath but she set to work.
The two worked until both had aching arms and he realized his magic reserves had gone almost to zero. On a hunch, he twisted his arm with the pestle and the bar decreased slightly. When he examined both the bowl and the pestle, he noticed runes carved on them. It must be set to imbue the herbs with magic as it was used.
That explained why they had been in charge of grinding herbs, then.
Kural mixed a few herbs in careful proportions and stored others separately. Each packet was wrapped in a square of cloth that was slippery and silky, held together with a dollop of hot wax that glowed with spells. When he was finished, he gave his two assistants a critical look and retrieved two potions from one of his hidden shelves.
Justin had played a number of games where his character drank mana potions but he had never felt one take hold. It was as if he had swallowed an entire packet of pop rocks and washed it down with soda. His vision went blue at the edges as his mana bar climbed to full.
“Whoa.”
“It is a good feeling, yes?” The wizard smiled. “There have been more than a few who got addicted. Be careful.”
He nodded. “You have what you need for the summoning now, so what’s the plan?”
“I’ll need your help to devise one,” Kural said bluntly. “I’ll set a spell within a spell. The angel summoning will draw the demon close, then I’ll release the second one. What I’ll need, however, is someone to watch my back and people to keep the wider demon army at bay.”
“Lyle, Zaara, and I can watch your back,” Justin said. “The bandits know how to fight together, so it makes sense to have them fight as a group around us, and the three of us can alternate between more than one way of fighting when necessary.” He looked at Zaara, who nodded, and then at the dwarf, who had recently entered the house. Lyle nodded as well.
“I don’ have more’n one way of fighting,” he said gruffly. “But when I punch somethin’, it stays down.”
“I believe you, Master Dwarf.” Kural beckoned to him. “And I have something for you. This oil here will make your knuckle weapons deadly to anything of the demon realm. It is called Angel Fire, and it is quite precious. But, if ever there was a time to use it, that time is