Golden orange sparks from the large thurible met in the middle of the smoke circle and combined. With a loud whoosh, the center lit up. The fire expanded outwards, stopping when it met the wall of smoke. The insides of the circle revealed a dark corridor with a shining chrome gate at the end. Torches of fae fire lit up the dark corridor in dim light, and the floor hid under a white fog.

  As if the scene was not eerie enough, a loud wolf howl cut through the silence, followed by a blood curdling cry screeching, “Wahaaa…”

  Everyone took an instinctive step away from the portal with their hands on their weapons. The master inquisitor who was holding the thurible, keeping the portal open, grunted.

  He looked at Ilya. With a strained voice he announced, “Your Grace, I cannot hold this portal open for long. That smoke is spirit fog. It is fighting our magic. We need to hurry.”

  Ilya nodded curtly. “Punishers, I will go in first. You follow behind with my brother. Grek, make sure he keeps out of trouble. Inquisitor Asaki, you may join afterwards.”

  After her orders, Ilya unsheathed her scimitar sword and bent her knees. With a running start, she jumped into the portal, landing with a burst of wind magic. The fog covering the floor dispersed, revealing blood and pieces of flesh. Ilya looked down and grimaced in disgust. After looking around for a handful of seconds, she nodded at the portal.

  The punishers began to move, and I followed. Moments later I felt a prickling sensation on my skin that made me want to scratch myself all over, and then we were through the portal. I walked past the punishers to my sister.

  Inquisitor Asaki was the last one through. He did not jump into the portal like us. He calmly walked in and tugged on the chain in his hand. With a loud snap, his spinning thurible came loose. The force of his pull almost toppled the old man. One of the punishers quickly caught him and steadied him. He nodded a thanks at the woman and bent down, looking at a sliced off ear near his foot.

  The old man recoiled at the sight of the cut off piece of flesh. Which was strange. Inquisitors were battle priests, used to violence and gore. I did not expect the Master Inquisitor to be so squeamish.

  “This…” The inquisitor jabbed his spear down and picked up the ear with the tip of his spear. He held it for everyone to see and explained, “This is not a human ear.”

  I looked at the body part in question with an unsure look. It was a white skinned earlobe, a bit hairy, and the cartilage looked a bit mangled, but it looked like a normal human ear to me.

  “Look at the stud on top. It is glowing unnaturally,” Master Inquisitor Asaki sniffed the ear after his statement and grimaced in disgust. “It stinks of demonic taint and lycanthropy.”

  “Lycan what?” I asked.

  “Were creatures, your highness. Like werewolves, werecats, and other beings that can transform themselves into animal forms,” Grek explained.

  The master inquisitor shook his head. “This is worse, your highness. Look at the gem on the top. It is glowing red with demonic taint. This is a thorg ear.”

  Ilya took in a sharp breath and asked, “Demon taint?”

  “Unfortunately, yes, your grace.” The old man nodded and threw the ear aside.

  Ilya gritted her teeth and took out a metal band from her belt pouch. It was a wide, flat piece of metal with an opening on one side. She widened the hole and wrapped it around her arm. I looked at the band and wondered how she fit a huge band in a small pouch.

  To my surprise, she took out another band and handed it to me. “Put this on. It will protect you from their infection if they bite.”

  I looked at the band and at the punishers, who were putting on bands of their own. I wrapped the band around my left arm and looked up at Ilya.

  “What are thorgs?” I asked.

  “Lycanthropes that have accepted demon blood,” Ilya answered and looked at my clueless expression. She sighed. “You do not understand what lycans are, do you?”

  I shook my head.

  “Lycans are people who can transform themselves into animals. They are usually larger than their animal counterparts and more intelligent. The Voss range has packs of them living in the wild. Thorgs are lycanthropes that have accepted demonic taint or, in some cases, ingested demon blood. Unlike normal lycans, they are wilder, more dangerous, and have magical abilities.”

  Grek stepped next to me. “They also have bony protuberances jutting out of their faces and necks to protect their weak spots. They wear gems like those to hide those features.” Grek looked around for enemies and continued, “They will try to bite you, my lord. That is how they infect others and turn their enemies to their side.”

  The inquisitor nodded. “Yes, and after biting their enemies, they usually leave them alive to change and cause havoc among the people fighting them.”

  “How do we stop them?” I asked.

  “Stab them in their stomachs and spill their guts. That usually stops them,” Ilya tightened her grip on her sword.

  “Until they heal themselves,” Grek frowned.

  “Then we burn them,” Ilya shrugged.

  A shrieking sound stopped our conversation. We all turned to look at the source of the noise. A white spirit tried to cut down the metal rod on the gate. The gate glowed a warm golden light and rebuffed the spirit. The spirit turned to a white smoke and reformed somewhere in the dark grounds beyond.

  Ilya took a step towards the gate, and we all followed her.

  “The spirits we expected. And the damned we are prepared for. But are we not going to discuss what they are doing here?” The master inquisitor asked from the back.

  Ilya frowned. “What is there to discuss? We all know that they are Ascari. That stud in that ear proves that fact. We just need to put them down.”

  “Your grace, the fact that the Ascaris are here means that they want to annex the Voss range. And that means that they are after the same thing we are. The control crystal,” Inquisitor Asaki stated.

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  Ilya turned around and asked, “What is your point, Master Inquisitor?”

  “My point is that we need to hurry. If we do not get to the control crystal, then the Ascari will turn this whole region against us,” the old inquisitor began and stopped.

  “We do not know that for sure, Master Asaki,” Ilya kept walking. “First, we need to capture them and interrogate one of them. Only then can we know what their plans are.”

  Asaki sighed. “My lady, I know you have a history with the tainted, but…”

  Twang. We all heard the noise and stiffened. Three crossbow bolts flew at us. One was aimed at Ilya, one was aimed at me, and the last one flew at Grek. Ilya deflected the one coming at her with the wind on her sword. Grek’s hand blurred, and he caught the one aimed at him by the shaft. I just moved my head to the side to dodge the bolt.

  The punishers around me activated their artifact and blurred into motion. They ran past me at our assailants. The sparks from steel clashing against steel sparked in the dark corridor. Then I heard the sound of a body thudding into a wall. Another flew towards us, and the third crossbow woman yelped and disappeared back into the darkness.

  “Stop!” Grek ordered in a loud voice.

  He glared down at the boy rolling on the floor. The boy coughed and rolled onto his back to look at us. His eyes widened as he looked at me, and his hand shot to the knife sheathed on a belt on his chest.

  “Dodger, do not you dare,” Grek said in a deep, deadly voice.

  The dodger boy stopped and looked around. He found Grek in the crowd, and his mouth flopped open.

  “Grek?” The boy coughed.

  Greak frowned down at the boy.

  The boy whimpered and corrected himself, “I mean Lord Grisslow?”

  Grek answered with gritted teeth, “Yes. Care to explain why you just tried to assassinate His Highness Voss Truechild and Her Grace, Ilya Truechild?”

  The teenager’s eyes widened. “Assasissinen… Assassignage…” The preteen fumbled with the word and shook his head. “I did not. We thought you were the bad people.”

  “We?” Grek asked.

  “He means us, Grek,” another boy, this one in his mid teens, shuffled back to his feet from where the wall he had been shoved into.

  “Lisk?” Grek asked.

  “Yes, Lord Punisher,” the teenager wiped a tear from his eyes and answered while kicking the floor sheepishly.

  “What are you children doing here?” Grek asked in a frustrated tone.

  “We came to save old man Voss,” Dodger answered from the floor.

  Grek looked up, praying for patience, and exhaled. “Are the others here too?”

  “Do not answer him, Dodger. Peggy would not like it,” Lisk said in the silence.

  “So, Peggy is here too?” Grek asked. “Was she the one who shot the last bolt?”

  Ilya looked at the children and the closed gate. She sighed and turned to Grek. “Okay, what is going on here? And who are these children, Punisher Grisslow?”

  Grek gritted his teeth. “Orphans, Your Grace. Voss and Grisslow orphans.”

  Ilya looked at the dust covered children and back at Grek. “They are from your family?”

  Grek’s lips thinned, and with a clenched jaw he answered, “Yes. They are my cousins.”

  Ilya groaned. “What are children doing in a place like this?”

  “This is our home,” the teenager huffed.

  Ilya looked down at the boy at our feet. He winced at the scrape on his elbow with teary eyes and sat up. Ilya smiled down at the messy child.

  “Grisslow, they are toddlers.”

  “I am a big boy,” the little child protested.

  Ilya wiped the smile off her face and nodded seriously. “That is right. You are a little man.”

  “Do not encourage him, Your Grace,” Grek frowned and leaned down to look at the child next to my foot. “Dodger, where is the keep lord?”

  The child looked from Ilya to the other boy with a conflicted look.

  “Do not tell them. They could be infected,” the teenager standing to the side said to the little boy.

  Ilya did not pay the other boy any heed and reached in her belt pouch. She took out a piece of candy wrapped in a silver foil. “Do you like candy? I will give you one if you tell me.”

  The boy’s eyes locked onto the sugary treat in Ilya’s hand. He looked from Ilya to the other boy while licking his lips and swallowed his drool.

  He finally looked up at Ilya and quickly answered, “I want two.”

  The older boy hung his head and cursed, “Dodger, you numpty!”

  “Lisk, bad people do not have candy,” the little boy announced and took the candy from Ilya’s finger.

  Ilya chuckled and handed him two more pieces of candy. The boy scrambled up to his feet and in a hurry popped two of the treats into his mouth. He shoved the other one in his pocket with a challenging look at everyone.

  Grek pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. “Take us to Lord Artabanus.”

  The boy nodded and took Ilya by the hand. He pointed at the wall to our left and said, “Come, pretty lady. I will take you.”

  The little boy tugged Ilya. Ilya chuckled and picked up the boy in her arms.

  The boy grinned at the older boy. He poked his tongue out. The teenager glared at the little one. In response, Dodger sucked on the candy in his mouth with a loud slurping sound. The other boy hung his head and shook it.

  I looked at the byplay and could not help the involuntary smile that slowly came over my face. This was… amusing? I would need to think about this emotion. It was not as strong as the other ones, but it made me feel warm.

  I shook my head and walked behind Ilya to the wall the young child pointed at. We entered an alcove and took a right turn to see a door. After entering the door, we had to walk down a dark, narrow path. It curved slightly to the right to hide the light that illuminated the other end. Following the light, we took a sharp left turn and entered a new passageway that was lit up normally. And after a few more minutes, we saw an open door with a bloody handprint.

  Grek walked past us to the open door. He stopped us with a raised hand. With a sharp inhale of breath, he poked his head through the gap and withdrew it instantly. A fraction of a second later, two crossbow bolts flew out and hit the wall behind him.

  “Peggy. You silly girl, stop shooting at everything that moves,” Grek ordered.

  There was silence at the other end, then the clatter of wood on stone. Slowly, whispered voices began filtering out. They soon transformed into heated hisses.

  A girl finally shut them all down with a loud, “Quiet, all of you.”

  The voices stopped, and the female voice asked, “Grek, is that you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Prove it.”

  Grek rolled his eyes. “You wet yourself at the sight of a green snake.”

  Peggy cursed. “Curse you, Grek. I was nine.”

  “And you just shot at my head,” Grek fired back.

  Grek stepped into the opening and looked around at the young children and teenagers. “Where is Lord Artabanus Voss?”

  Behind Grek, three of the five punishers entered the small hall and looked around for enemies. Noting none, two of them stepped back out and announced that it was safe. Finally, we entered the hall. My eyes noted all the dirty children.

  Some looked defiant. Some looked injured. Almost all of them looked afraid. Even those who did not look scared were hiding their fear behind masks of bravado. But they could not hide their shaking hands and quivering lips.

  The oldest one among them, the girl, looked even worse. She had a head wound that had been tied up with a rag. One of her hands was bandaged, and the other one was holding onto a loaded crossbow.

  She looked at Dodger in Ilya’s arm, and her eyes widened. “Dodger! You fool!” The young woman cursed.

  The small boy waved at her and hugged Ilya’s neck. “She is nice.”

  “Do not…” Peggy lowered her crossbow and pointed at the spot in front of her with her injured hand. “Get over here.”

  The small boy pouted and shook his head.

  “Peggy. I asked you a question,” Grek said in a grave voice. “Where is Lord Artabanus?”

  Peggy turned to Grek. “How do I know you are not infected?”

  Grek sighed. “If I was infected, you all would be dead already.”

  Peggy glared back at the Punisher Captain. “That is what an infected would say.”

  “Why are you being difficult?”

  And the two cousins began to argue. Back and forth. Back and forth.

  After a couple of minutes, I looked at Ilya, who was enjoying the show, and muttered, “This is going nowhere.”

  “Shh…” Ilya hushed me while listening to the two squabbling cousins.

  “Ilya.”

  “Shut up, Voss. This is entertaining.”

  I sighed and took a step towards the young woman. “You.”

  The girl named Peggy took two steps back and raised her crossbow at me.

  I did not react to the threat and shot out my questions one by one.

  “Girl. Where are the thorgs? Are there any damned with them? And what are the other enemies we will find when we go inside?”

  Peggy looked at me and asked, “Do not you mean down?”

  “Down?” I repeated the word.

  Peggy looked from me to Grek and back. “Yes, down. Below the keep.” The young woman lowered her crossbow and asked, “You did not know that, did you?”

  “What is below the keep?” I asked.

  “The under keep. That is where the Voss crystal is,” Peggy answered.