Pug turned to Brandos and said, “Here, take this.” He handed him a Tsurani orb and said, “Push that button and you will find yourself in the keep on Sorcerer’s Island. A magician named Pascal will be there, waiting against such an appearance. You tell him ‘bring everything.’ He’ll know what to do.”

“I’m not leaving,” he said, looking at Amirantha. “He’ll get himself killed if I’m not here to watch his back.”

Amirantha took the sphere from Pug and pressed it into Brandos’s hands. “I was keeping alive before you were born, boy.” If anyone found the younger-looking Warlock calling the grey-haired fighter ‘boy’ odd, no one felt the need to remark on it. “Do as you’re told and then get back here if you can; otherwise wait at the keep with your wife. Understand?”

Looking from face to face, Brandos realized that he was indeed the most expendable person there, so he grabbed the sphere and suddenly he was gone. “What now?” asked Gulamendis.

“Something beyond your ability to imagine may be coming through that portal soon.” Pug saw that whatever guards were in the area, they were hurrying back inside the wall, a look of panic on their inhuman faces. “If you see anything heading for the small building against the far wall, kill it,” he shouted, taking off at a run.

The two elves and Amirantha didn’t hesitate and were off a half-step behind Pug, who sprinted past the wooden barrier and through the empty gate. Several demons of varying sizes were screaming at one another, looking for anything to vent their rage and terror against. Amirantha shouted, “Pug, to your right!”

Both the Warlock and Gulamendis began banishment rituals, but before they could get halfway through, Pug put out his hand, palm outward, and unleashed a withering beam of silver energy that tore the demon closing on him in half. The two portions of the demon fell to the ground, smoking, and erupted into flames, while the two Demon Masters and the Conjurer looked on in awe. “Remind me never to make that human angry,” said Laromendis.

Gulamendis nodded, then shouted, “That got their attention.”

A dozen demons had seen the display, and Pug had provided them with a convenient target for their fear and rage. They bellowed and shrieked as they charged him and the others. Pug made a sweeping gesture with his hand and a curtain of flames erupted on the ground in front of the demons. They were engulfed by flames and screamed and roared in outrage and pain and Gulamendis chose to stand next to the nearly frantic magician. “Those are demons. Fire will mostly annoy them.”

“It has slowed them down for a couple of minutes,” said Amirantha.