Silvie threw wide the door at the top of the stairs and rushed into the library. Johnis, Billos, and Darsal slid to a stop behind her.

As one they caught their breath. The library was black with the Shataiki clinging to every square inch of wall and ceiling, glaring at them silently.

“Dear Elyon,” Darsal whispered.

A few of the black beasts hissed at the use of the name.

It was as if the walls had sprouted a horrible, black, lumpy cancer.

“They can’t hurt us,” Johnis said, trying to believe it himself. “Not unless we go into the black forests.”

“You’re sure?” Darsal asked.

“Yes.”

The door behind them slammed shut; and before Johnis had time to consider what that might mean, the main door swung open.

A line of Horde, all dressed in pitch black, marched in two lines, one spreading each way to encircle them. The temple guard, Johnis had learned earlier, elite assassins. Twenty of them. Or more.

Then Witch stepped in, casually, wearing a smug expression of supreme confidence. And he wasn’t alone.

The large mangy black bat named Alucard, who’d tortured them once, was riding his back. The bat’s two forearms snaked around Witch’s neck, and its powerful legs were snug around the priest’s belly. Its wings dragged on the floor behind, and its wolflike head nestled between Witch’s right shoulder and his neck, like a cat, purring comfortably.

“I assure you,” the Dark Priest said, “there are more outside.”

Johnis could see the main sanctuary past the door, coated in Shataiki like a bat’s cave. At least twenty more Horde assassins waited there with drawn swords. The door leading outward was smoldering—Silvie must have tried to distract them with fire.

“Drop your swords.”

Johnis let his clatter to the floor. The others saw what he saw, and after a moment’s hesitation four swords lay on the ground. None of the Scabs made a move to retrieve them.

“The Chosen One is chosen no longer,” Witch said. “I have all four of the young recruits. It seems that your luck has run out.”

“Where are the books?” Billos asked. An odd question, Johnis thought. Yes, they were on a quest for the books, but Billos was in no position to demand them.

“Safe with me,” Witch said. “The question is where the rest are.”

“And that information will remain safe,” Johnis said, calling the priest’s bluff. “With me.”

Witch walked forward, ridden by Alucard, the huge lump on his back, who slowly rubbed his furry chin against the Dark Priest’s neck. His tongue flickered out and licked Witch’s cheek, then eye.

“I don’t think so, Chosen One,” Witch said. “When all four of you are Scabs, you’ll spill your secrets. Even if they could, do you think the Forest Guard will cross the desert to save four lost recruits who have betrayed them?”