I stared up at the vast elemental creature and recalled the Fire Golem that had decimated the Wysaro Clan members all those weeks ago. I could deal with powerless guards, but this was on another level entirely. My knuckles went white around my weapon as the vast elemental blocked out the sun above us.
A woman appeared on the battlements above and waved down at us.
“Do you like my friend?” she called out. “I summoned him just for you.”
Chapter Two
The female Augmenter on the walls looked down at us with an arrogant smirk as more guards joined her. She was shorter than the soldiers, petite and slender, with a girlishly beautiful face. Her red-brown hair was cut in a short, practical bob, and she wore a silver bodice that showed her ample breasts. A short skirt barely covered her underwear, and leather boots reached halfway up her thighs. A dagger was strapped to her upper left arm, and she carried a hefty staff that ended in a spiked crescent moon.
The golem turned its head, producing the noise of stone scraping over stone.
The woman smiled. “You got through the first round so quickly, I didn’t want you to feel like you were missing out on the fun.”
“That’s kind of you,” I replied. “But I can think of other ways you could welcome us that would be more fun.”
“I bet you can.” She smiled and bit her lower lip. “And I’d be all for that, in different circumstances. But life is what it is. You can’t take a fire Augmenter and make a water technique. Well, maybe that isn’t exactly correct. What are you?”
“Ethan Murphy of the Clan Pashat. Elementalist. Immortal Swordslinger. Radiant Dragon Outer Disciple.” I glared up at her.
“The Immortal Swordslinger?” Mahrai touched a finger to her lips. “Well, now, I’m interested. Think of all our power coming together, yours and mine. The things we could do with each other. The things we could do to each other…”
“So, you’ll let us in?”
“Does it look like that’s going to happen?” She leaned on her staff and giggled. “I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Mahrai.” She snapped her fingers, and the golem turned its head again, bringing its attention to me.
“Seems like your pet likes me,” I said.
“He has dubious taste,” she replied. “But I won’t hold it against him.”
The woman radiated magical power. Even from this far away, standing back from the city gates while she was perched high on their walls, I could feel it. This was the sort of power that Cadrin, the murderous manipulator I’d fought at the Resplendent Tears Guild, could only dream of.
“What did you do with Lord Ganyir?” I figured the man was either dead or cast out from the city.
“Me? I did nothing. I’m just here for the fun and the vengeance.”
“I don’t like her,” Vesma snarled.
“She could use some manners,” Kumi commented.
“I want to fight her golem,” Kegohr added.
Mahrai flexed her hand. I could sense the Vigor flowing between her and the golem, the bond between master and monstrous servant, the element of earth running through the air. But sensing it was one thing, being able to break that tie was another thing altogether.
A fresh gust of wind down the valley blew sand into our faces, and I had to close my eyes to keep it out. When I opened them again, Mahrai and the guards had been joined on the battlements by half a dozen men and women in dark brown robes, their faces hidden in the shadows of deep hoods.
“Well, they couldn’t look more like cultists if they tried,” I muttered.
“Quite the observation,” Nydarth murmured.
“Our master is rather perceptive,” Yono purred inside my mind.
Not only had we discovered that Lord Ganyir wasn’t in the city, but the cultists had a foothold behind the walls..
“If you’re with the Cult of Unswerving Shadows, then you should know that we’re coming for you,” I said. “We saw what you did in Qihin, almost tearing the province apart. We’re not going to let that happen again.”
“Such bold words,” Mahrai replied. “I’d like to put them to the test. Golem, crush these people.”
With a flick of her hand, the golem advanced, and the ground trembled beneath its footfalls.
“We’ll fight them only so that we can flee,” I said to my friends.
“You want to run?” Vesma asked.
“No,” I said. “But there’s no use hanging around here. Our mission is to find Lord Ganyir. He’s not here, so we’ll go elsewhere to find him.”
“He could be dead,” Kumi said.
“I doubt it. This woman would have been boasting if they’d killed the city’s former ruler.”
Following instincts honed by months of shared experience, my friends and I spread out as the golem advanced. Vesma moved over to the left and Kumi to the right. Then, they circled around so that they could come at it from the flanks and the rear.
Kegohr and I held our ground. His skin was still glowing with Spirit of the Wildfire, and I produced a thicker set of Frozen Armor. Spikes rose up from bulky pauldrons, and a chestplate formed over my torso. My boots became hardened greaves of ice, and gauntlets covered my hands. I felt no chill over my body, only determination to get out of here alive.
At my nod, we all charged the golem. Kegohr swung his mace straight into the golem’s knee. Despite the force of the blow, it barely chipped the stone, and Kegohr gritted his teeth as the impact sent a shudder up his arms. I took the hilt of the Sundered Heart in both hands and started slashing at the other leg. Sparks flew as ancient steel hammered against the immovable mass of stone. If the golem even felt the shallow scratches across its surface, then
