“Well, you’re about to get everyone here and probably half the world murdered to prove you’re not as clever as you thought,” snapped Sandreena. She was obviously tired and not feeling this was going well.

Jim narrowed his gaze and gave her a silent warning to keep still.

The magician’s ethereal voice took on a moment of urgency. “I can feel the tug! The gate is opening! Our bargain? If I tell you how to defeat this monster, do I get my day’s head start?”

Jim started to shake his head no, but Amirantha’s eyes warned him this was coming to a head. Finally Jim nodded once in the affirmative.

“One day,” said Amirantha. “You get nothing else, not food, water, horse, or weapon.”

A sound of distant laughter drowned out the railing demon. “Done! Here is what you must do. Within the next ten minutes, you must render me unconscious.”

Sandreena hefted her mace where the prone figure’s eyes could see it held in menacing fashion. “That’s no problem.”

Belasco laughed at the threat. “I like her!” In faint tones that seemed to be growing more distant, he said, “No, brother, you know what to do.”

Amirantha nodded and looked at Gulamendis. “His body isn’t the issue; it’s his mind. You need to keep aware of what Dahun is doing, while I stun Belasco’s consciousness.”

“Excellent,” said the recumbent magic-user. “As soon as you do, I will lose my hold on him between the realms and he will come through the gate.”

“This is your plan?” said Sandreena. “I thought we were trying to keep him out of this realm!”

“You must utterly destroy the gate while he is still within. You will have less than a minute once he begins to manifest, but he will be completely vulnerable during this translation. That is when you must strike.

“Then revive me and I will be on my way, dear brother.”

Amirantha said to Magnus, “You need to alert your father. It’s going to be very nasty up there in a couple of minutes.”

Magnus closed his eyes. “I’m not the best at this, but I’ll try to save the time needed for me to run up there.”

Father, Pug heard in his mind.

“Magnus?” he whispered.

Yes. Listen closely as I don’t know how long I can maintain this link. In less than ten minutes Dahun will manifest within the Demon Gate. He will be vulnerable for a minute, perhaps two. If you destroy the gate at once, you destroy him before his full power is manifest.

Pug let out a long breath. “I have it.”