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a growl behind his throat. “I’ll call your bluff.”
    He might be ugly, but he’s certainly no fool. I’ve bought us hours, I hope, and that’s all that matters.
    “Search them. Then bring them down with me.” He let out a bark again and pointed. A pack of his riders rode off in the direction from where they had come. “We’ll find out the truth soon enough, and when it falls in my favor, I’m going to cut your tongue out, hold it before your eyes, and kill you.”

 
     
    CHAPTER 9
     
     
    Blink!
    Vision starting to clear, Melegal’s eyes locked in on the hulking creature that appeared before Scorch. The little monster with a large orb of an eye, claws like razors, and bat-like wings hovered right in front of Scorch. Its long red tongue licked in and out of the fangs in its mouth.
    Just what we needed. Another enemy come to torment us.
    “My, what have we here?” Scorch said in a rich and curious voice, “you must be the little fiend that’s been admiring me from afar. I’ve been wondering when you might reveal yourself. What is your name, creature?”
    “Eep,” the imp said. The talons on his fingers clutched in and out. “Eep the imp.”
    Still on the floor in a pool of Venir’s blood, Kam and Joline weren’t paying the imp any mind. They were applying pressure to the fallen warrior’s chest and yapping back and forth in abject horror.
    “So, what brings you here, imp? My power? Your admiration?” Scorch huffed on his nails. “I sense that you are a terror among the living. That you like to destroy things. That can be useful. Is that what you came for?”
    “Message,” the imp said.
    “Message?” Scorch’s head tilted over. “You have a message?”
    Eep nodded.
    “And what might that be?”
    “Die, Scorch, die.” Eep spat sticky black goo into Scorch’s face. The imp pounced on him and started tearing into the flesh of the unblemished man.
    Letting out a yell of outrage that shook the building, Scorch got his hands around Eep’s neck and started to squeeze.
    Blink!
    The imp was gone. Scorch started wiping the sticky goo from his eyes. He flung it onto the planks, saying, “Outrageous!”
    “Is it now?” said an unknown woman’s voice that filled the room.
    A huge boulder crashed through the roof. It landed on Scorch and crushed him down through the floor.
    Melegal jumped to his feet. “Yes!”
    Out of nowhere appeared a glorious woman with platinum hair. She was dressed in warrior garb. Spikes. Studs. Leather and chainmail. A magnificent warrior queen. She looked at Melegal with gorgeous lavender eyes and gestured toward Venir. “Attend to him.”
    Without hesitation, Melegal found Venir’s pack, undid the straps, and pulled out the stitched up leather sack. He tossed it to Kam. “Fetch the helmet and put it on!”
    Suddenly, two other people were in the room. They wore desert robes, faces hidden in their hoods, sandaled and sword bearing. They stood on either side of the woman Trinos, poised to strike.
    Blink!
    Melegal approached.
    Eep appeared right in Melegal’s face and started hissing.
    He stepped back, dart launchers pointed at the imp’s eye. He bumped into someone, whisked out a dagger, and held it to Jasper’s throat. “Don’t do that.”
    Wide-eyed, Jasper said, “What’s going on? Who is that? She’s stunning!”
    Trinos was the same creature of unearthly beauty as before but no longer robed. Instead, she’d come to fight. Metal bands were wrapped around her fingers and wrists. She was a glorious piece of workmanship. Metal and leather shorn together in a second skin of wondrous armor. Captivating. Deadly.
    The massive rock stirred.
    Melegal stepped back.
    Boards cracking and popping, the massive rock started to rise. Scorch emerged from under it with the great stone in both hands, jaw broken, shoulder out of alignment, and eyes raging fires. He chucked the rock over the bar and through the wall of the kitchen. Through his twisted jaw, he spoke. “Trinos!