Before Fort could respond, something below his shirt began to feel uncomfortably warm. He reached in and pulled out his amulet, which was getting hotter as he held it. “Look at this,” he started to say to his friends, only to watch as Jia, Rachel, and Gabriel all gasped in pain and doubled over. “Whoa, what’s going on?”

Rachel hissed in agony, looking up at him with terror in her eyes. “You can’t… hear it?”

“It’s… it’s filling my mind !” Jia shouted, holding her head in both hands.

“What is?!” Fort shouted, but his friends all fell to their knees, still moaning in pain.

Not knowing what else to do, he quickly touched his staff to Jia first, then Rachel, and finally Gabriel. Each time, cold, blue magic passed into their heads, and they relaxed, suddenly free of whatever had been attacking them. As they did, his amulet went cold again, like whatever had been pushing against it had ceased.

“That’s what those things feel like?” Gabriel said, sweating profusely.

“Now you see why I wanted to burn those books in the first place,” Rachel told him.

“Will someone tell me what just happened?” Fort asked, positive he didn’t really want to know the answer.

“It was just like the dwarf told you,” Jia said, shaking her head. “That was an Old One in our heads, the one that possessed Damian. It knows we’re here. And…”

“And they’re coming for us,” Rachel finished. “All of them.”

- TWENTY-NINE -

YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO escape,” a voice growled, and Fort turned to find the younger dwarf that Jia had just healed pushing himself up to a sitting position.

Gabriel was on him instantly, shield held ready to smash it against the dwarf’s face. “What do you know about it?”

“That thing was just in my mind too,” the dwarf said, wincing. “Didn’t realize you all were so delicate. My kind have to listen to Ketas all the time. Maybe we’re just used to the pain.”

“Ketas?” Fort said. “Is that what you call the Old One?”

“That’s his name,” the dwarf said. “Or maybe his title. I don’t know.”

“What did it tell you?” Jia asked.

The dwarf looked up at them for a moment, then sighed. “To capture the humans. They want you waiting for them in Dragon’s Teeth when they arrive.”

Gabriel nodded and pulled back the shield to strike.

“Wait!” Fort shouted, jumping between him and the dwarf. “He wouldn’t have just told us that if he planned on doing it.” He threw a look over his shoulder at the dwarf. “Um, right?”

“I told you to leave, didn’t I?” the dwarf grumbled. “You’ve got a little time before they get here, so I’d use it. Otherwise, Q’baos will take your will, just like she took the will of my people, and will soon have mine.”