“More than you care to know,” said Belasco. “At first I thought this merely another opportunity for some grim fun, a little nasty play that might net me some personal gain, but when I discovered what Dahun’s plans were, in truth, it was too late.”

“You were in his trap,” said Gulamendis.

“Another voice,” said Belasco. “Yes, demons are by their nature creatures that cannot be reasoned with, negotiated with, or pleaded with; they can only be forced to reach an accommodation and the only thing you can be certain of, they will betray you eventually, given an opportunity.

“Amirantha, you would not believe what your so-called minions think of you. Before you take personal offense, realize they feel that way about all humans. We are cattle to them. We are food. We provide things they desire, nothing more. To get what they desire, they will serve if they must, but it is always about what they desire.”

“And Dahun desires to live on this world?”

“He desires to rule it. He sent every rim demon he could herd through his gates to vanquish the elves on a dozen worlds. He came here because—”

“No!” came Dahun’s voice. “You may not speak of that!”

There was silence.

Amirantha said, “Belasco?”

More silence.

Gulamendis looked at Sandreena and then Amirantha and said, “What do we do now?”

“I have no idea,” said the Warlock.

CHAPTER 19

DEMON UNLEASHED

Pug cast a spell.

A wave of pulsating energy rose above the heads of those struggling on the ground and swept the sky clear of the few remaining winged demons. Somewhere in the midst of the fray Kaspar was bringing order and the diverse units were beginning to coordinate their efforts. Demons were still crawling up out of the pit but the rate had slowed to a trickle and Pug sensed they were on the verge of defeating this invading host.

A dozen magicians had accompanied the soldiers and they used their arts to contain the more fractious creatures, or to neutralize the magic-using demons. Pug turned to Magnus and said, “It’s almost over I think.”

Before Magnus could reply, a loud thrumming filled the air as a huge pulse of green light shot up each of the four towers to explode in a near blinding display at the top of the columns.

The effects were almost instantaneous, as the ground heaved beneath everyone’s feet, knocking most of the combatants to the ground. Pug quickly regained his footing and pointed to the towers, which were now pulsing as ripples of green energy ran up to the top, where they fed into a growing, bright white ball of energy.

“Oh, gods, I know what that is.”

Magnus said, “It’s a summoning device of some sort, you said.”