them, disposing of the humans. Am I wrong in this, or are you not one of those I assigned to the task?'
From the wall where Zeal had descended came a rough sound, like leather brushing leather, followed by a piercing shriek that was not unlike the sound of two heavy blades scraping together. Zeal angled his head toward the sounds. 'It's the wife. She wants to get on with it.'
'Get on with what?' Callistraon asked in a small voice.
'Punishing you for your cowardice,' Zeal said as he raised his hand to reveal a fiery, yearning abyss within his palm that seemed to reach into the depths of some hellish dimension.
Moments before, at the middle of the alley, the Harpers had tried to regain their bearing. Cardoc stumbled forward. Myrmeen realized for the first time that he had been hurt. His flesh was crisscrossed with burns that appeared to have been lashed into his flesh with a whip. The channeling of the tremendous forces that he had called upon also had served to drain him.
Ord had crossed to where the black-skinned corpse had lain and had knelt beside the creature, curious about its inhuman nature. The monster's blackened arms had retreated into its chest and a new covering of soft pink flesh was sewing itself over the creature's leathery black skin. The dark man suddenly came to life, snatching Myrmeen's blade from its throat with one hand while it grasped Ord's wrist in the other. He dragged the boy into the ink-black shadows near the wall. They were smothered by the gathering darkness.
'Ord!' Burke screamed.
At that moment, a massive tongue of flames reached out from the mouth of the alley where the blond-haired man had vanished. A fireball rolled in their direction, instantly consuming the blond man, who stood in its path. The great sphere of flame unraveled long before it reached the Harpers, exploding against both walls of the alley, leaving a blackened, charred carpet on the pavement to mark its path.
The flames had burned away the darkness, and Myrmeen was able to see the red-haired man whose right hand sweltered with flames. She had seen him before, in a dream when she was only six years old, a dream that she had only been able to recall in flashes until now. Suddenly the dream was before her, its image burned into her mind. She would not forget it this time. To do so would be deadly, she realized. Twice already she had made the mistake of underestimating her enemy. She would not do so again.
Standing behind the man was a tall, lithe woman with creamy skin and long, shiny black hair. Wrapping her arms around him from behind, one arm around his ribs, the other over his right shoulder, she nuzzled at his neck. Then her hands reached into his shirt and caressed the rock-hard landscape of his chest. The woman whispered something in his ear. Whatever she was saying had caused the fire lord to hesitate and not simply turn his power against the humans.
Suddenly, from the shadows where Ord and the blackskinned man had vanished, the tall, lanky teenager appeared. He seemed dazed as he cried, 'My face! He was trying to take my face!'
Another figure burst from the darkness, a young man who might have been Ord's twin. This boy's face was contorted in a mask of rage, and he launched himself at the wobbly-kneed teenager with undisguised hatred. The first Ord turned and drew his sword at the sight of the advancing doppleganger.
The entire party's attention was drawn to Ord and his duplicate. Varina was the first to respond. Without hesitation she released a set of blades hidden on her right arm, then she drew her hand back and propelled the center spike toward the back of the teenager who had first emerged from the smoky mist. The sharp blade burst through the soft leathers of his back, piercing his heart from behind. An inhuman scream filled the alley as the true Ord snatched his sword away from the duplicate, who had fallen to his knees in agony. Ord cleaved the creature's head in two, his sword sinking down to the monster's collarbones. Blood as dark as ink sprayed from the creature as it fell in a heap, twitching and convulsing.
Ord backed away, trembling. 'How did you know?'
'His face,' Varina said. 'It was fresh and new. Your old scars had not appeared.'
Cardoc glanced down at the corpse, which had not stopped moving. The two sections of its head were merging, healing. 'This one is still alive. We may get some answers from it.'
'By the gods,' Ord muttered, 'what does it take to kill these things so they stay dead?'
The mage felt a sudden chill in the air, the same sensation he had experienced an instant before the red- haired man's fires had erupted seconds earlier. He gestured quickly, casting a sphere of protection around the adventurers.
The red-haired man stood at the end of the alley, a separate spear of fire bursting from each of his hands and mouth. Each of the three ragged tongues of flame struck the walls and were deflected perfectly to incinerate the bodies of the monsters downed by the Harpers. The flames never approached the obsidian sphere hiding the adventurers.
Seconds later, it was over. The corpses were nothing but ash that was quickly dispersed by the heavy winds that followed the arcane fires. At the end of the alley, the deep shadows once again congealed around the spot where the red-haired man and dark-haired woman had stood. They were nowhere to be seen.
Cardoc released the sphere of protection and surveyed the area for further threats. Burke finally spoke. 'Where in the fiery hells of Cyric were you?'
'Ord closed the door in my face. I cannot walk though walls. I had to go around the long way. Those shadows' the mage shuddered-'were alive and tried to stop me.'
Myrmeen moved past the others, then ran toward the end of the alley. Cardoc and the Harpers followed. The man and woman were gone, and the shadows were quickly dissipating. All evidence of the Night Parade's presence was vanishing before her, along with all hope of ever finding her daughter.
Ord pointed upward. 'Look!'
The Harpers trained their gazes at the rooftops. 'I see nothing,' Burke said. 'What was it?'
Ord shook his head. 'The leg of a spider, I'm certain. It scampered over the edge of that rooftop.'
'The spider would have to be the size of a man for you to be able to see it at this distance,' Reisz said.
'Yes,' Ord said as he took a few tentative steps forward, 'I know.'
On the rooftop, Imperator Zeal glanced down at the humans, the fires within his breast continuing to rage.
'Tamara,' he said, his voice distant, the call of the fire surging within him like a drug. The beautiful, lean, muscled woman approached him, a dangerous smile upon her exotic features. She appeared in her mid-twenties, and her hair was a very dark brunette, almost black. Zeal turned and ran his hand through her gorgeous, shining hair, which was long and given to curls, then he stared into her fine, dark eyes flecked with crimson. Only the most delicate traces of lines could be seen beneath her eyes and around her mouth. Her complexion was soft and light. She had a small bust, generous hips, and long legs. There was an elegant flow to the lines of her body. She wore a black-and-red shift that would fall away quickly when she made the change. Sandals protected her feet and a waist sash carried her valuables.
'My love,' she whispered as she leaned close and kissed him, her tongue snaking into his mouth to taste the intense heat within him. She pulled away and caressed his face. 'You know why I didn't help the others.' 'Of course,' she said with a knowing laugh. 'No man may command Imperator Zeal, save for Lord Sixx.' 'And yet a woman can bend me to her will,' he snapped. 'He humiliates you and you take it. He treats you like a buffoon, a servant, and yet you give him nothing but love and loyalty. Perhaps he is justified in his treatment of you.
'He's jealous of you,' Tamara said for perhaps the hundredth time. 'He fears you. He does not understand that every time his words lash you in public, he merely strengthens the love of the people for you.'
'Even if that is true, his fears are not warranted,' Zeal responded. 'I am not an ambitious man. What would I do with the power of the Night Parade at my command, if that is what you are urging me to take?'
Tamara gave no answer. Imperator Zeal suspected she had another motive for wanting him to depose Lord Sixx, as wealth and power had never especially interested her. In his heart he prayed that his beloved and trusted friend would not force him to choose between them.
She touched his lips with her finger. 'I love you, husband. If you wish me to keep my opinions to myself, I will do so.'
Zeal shook his head. He knew that was a lie, and even if it were true, he valued her counsel and the audacious fire that burned within her. Glancing at the alley once more, he saw that the humans were leaving. The assassins that Zeal had sent against the humans had been his Inextinguishables, the elite of his enforcers. Many of his kind could be killed with a simple knife thrust; they were as vulnerable as any human. How would it look if he
