Magda looked out at all the faces watching. “Do any of you feel comfortable risking having the dead walk the halls of the Keep at night, looking for more victims to rip limb from limb? I know that I certainly don’t.”

The crowd assured her they did not like that idea one bit.

She looked back at Hambrook. “I understand your concerns. But we are fighting for the survival of the living, not the dead. They are gone. We have to let go of those who have died and move on to devote ourselves to the living.”

Magda’s own words abruptly hit a painful place deep within her. She still could not let go of Baraccus. As much as she knew that he was gone, and as much as she realized that she had to move on with her life, she couldn’t seem to let him go.

“Magda is right,” Merritt said. “Even if we thought that we had come up with a way to detect the dangerous dead from all the rest, how would we ever know for sure that we were right? A day could come when we tragically learned that we had only been fooling ourselves. Aren’t the living what really matter? Would any of us want to lose the life of a loved one on such a risk? Would anyone here want to lose a mother? A father? A child?”

None in the onlookers indicated that they would.

Councilman Hambrook sighed in resignation. “I have to admit, that makes sense. I wouldn’t want to risk loved ones.”

“Nor would I,” Councilman Clay added.

Councilman Sadler nodded. “We have a responsibility to life. The living should be our only concern.”

“Then seal the catacombs,” Magda said with finality.

“We will need to use magic to be sure,” Merritt cautioned. “We’ll need some of those keeper spells that Isidore developed. They will ensure that none of the dead can escape to hunt us.”

“Please advise our wizards what they will need to do,” Councilman Sadler said. “General, please assemble a team as swiftly as possible.”

General Grundwall clapped a fist to his heart in salute. “At once.”

“And let it be done before Lady Searus’s nightmare comes to life,” Sadler added.

“Confessor Searus,” Merritt corrected under his breath.

Councilman Sadler lifted a finger and addressed the onlookers. “I meant to say, ‘Confessor Searus.’”

The crowd seemed to like the title.

Chapter 98

As Magda and Merritt made their way from the walkway around the inside of the great tower and into the stone room with the sliph’s well, Quinn heard their footsteps and looked back over his shoulder. Seeing who it was, he set down his pen and stood. Smiling, eager to see them, he flipped his journal closed and put it back with all the others.

“Magda, how are you feeling?” he asked as he came past the sliph’s well to greet them.