A horrendous crash came from the shop. Men cursed. Steel met steel. Bomanz heard the voice of one of Tokar's teamsters. The man was deploying a defense of the house.

The Guard had made a comeback.

Snoopy whimpered.

"Stay out of here, child. Stay out. Go down with Jasmine."

"I'm scared."

"So am I. And I won't be able to help if you get in my way. Please go downstairs."

She ground her teeth and rattled away. Bomanz sighed. That was close. If she had seen Stance and Glory…

The uproar redoubled. Men screamed. Bomanz heard Corporal Husky bellowing orders. He turned to the bowl. Tokar had disappeared. He could not relocate the man. In passing he surveyed the land between the town and the Barrowland. A few Resurrectionists were rushing toward the fighting, apparently to help. Others were in headlong flight. Remnants of the Guard were in pursuit.

Boots pounded upstairs. Again Bomanz interrupted the preparation of his sending. Husky appeared in the doorway. Bomanz started to order him out. He was in no mood to argue. He swung a great bloody sword…

Bomanz used the word of power. Again a man's bones turned to jelly. Then again and again as Husky's troopers tried to avenge him. Bomanz dropped four before the rush ended.

He tried to get back to his sending....

This time the interruption was nothing physical. It was a reverberation along the pathway he had opened into the Lady's crypt. Tokar was on the Great Barrow and in contact with the creature it contained.

"Too late," he murmured. "Too damned late." But he made the sending anyway. Maybe Tokar would die before he could release those monsters.

Jasmine cursed. Snoopy screamed. Bomanz piled over the fallen Guardsmen and charged downstairs. Snoopy screamed again.

Bo entered his bedroom. One of Tokar's men held a knife across Jasmine's throat. A pair of Guardsmen sought an opening.

Bomanz had no patience left. He killed all three. The house rattled. Teacups clinked in the kitchen. It was a gentle tremor, but a harbinger strong enough to warn Bomanz. His sending had not arrived in time. Resigned, he said, "Get out of the house. There's igoing to be a quake."

Jasmine looked at him askance. She held the hysterical girl.

"I'll explain later. If we survive. Just get out of the house." He whirled and dashed into the street, charged toward the Barrowland.

Imagining himself tall and lean and fleet did no good now. He was Bomanz in the flesh, a short, fat old man easily winded. He fell twice as tremors shook the town. Each was stronger than the last.

The fires still burned, but the fighting had died away. The survivors on both sides knew it was too late for a decision of the sword. They stared toward the Barrowland, awaiting the unfolding of events.

Bomanz joined the watchers.

The comet burned so brightly the Barrowland was clearly illuminated.