the return
Three years have passed since Ryan returned from his harrowing visit to the Kingdom of Lorr. The organization still hunts him and he, in turn, is hunting them. Across the WorldGate, the Head Mage learns that a demon more powerful and cunning than any they faced three years earlier has escaped from hell.
Return to the Kingdom of Lorr with Raxe, Rionn Lorr, and Quick. Find out more about Dan Franklin's mysterious past, and meet heroic - and not so heroic - new characters as they face deadly new threats on both sides of the WorldGate.
Welcome Back to the Kingdom of Lorr.
Meet the Harveys
The Mason Dixon line was miles behind them and so was the relative warmth of the southern winter. They were far enough into Illinois that snow blanketed the ground and they had to crank the heat up higher to keep their breath from turning to vapor within the double-cab pickup truck in which they rode.
Joel was startled out of his reverie by the roar of an engine steadily growing louder behind him. A late model green Honda Civic was coming up in a hurry, driving way too fast for the sleet-streaked two-lane highway. The driver darted into the southbound lane to pass them.
They jumped back into the correct lane too soon. Joel had to break to keep them from clipping the front of his truck but he was not quite successful. The other car's passenger side taillight hit the left corner of the truck bumper. The sudden deceleration and the sound of the impact caused Lisa to wake with a small yelp. The car came to a skidding halt ahead of them and Joel found himself pumping his breaks frantically to keep from making contact with the car a second time. Mercifully, the truck came to a stop less than a dozen yards away.
Both the driver and the passenger of the other car threw their doors open violently and got out of their vehicles. Joel, more composed than the two strangers, stepped out of the truck.
"Be careful," he heard Lisa say. He turned and smiled at her. Her face was creased with worry and she gave her husband a concerned look. "People are crazy nowadays."
"Don't worry, baby," Joel assured. He inspected the front end of his truck. The damage was minimal, the bumper having absorbed the impact. The other car, however, had a dented rear fender and smashed tail light.
"You hit me from the back, man," the driver accused. "Where the hell did you learn to drive?"
"Let's just exchange insurance information," Joel soothed. "Then we can just -"
"Here's my insurance!" the driver interrupted, pulling a pistol from the pocket of his bomber jacket and letting it hang at his hip. "It insures that you're going to give us whatever the hell we want."
Demon!
The commander swallowed back the bile that rose to the back of his throat and shivered with rage, disgust, and fear. The rage and disgust were generated by the disturbing sight of the murdered infant; the fear, by a spell that would require such a horrific act of violence and cold-heartedness for its casting.
When they heard of the infant's disappearance, the Hounds had hoped the baby had not been devoured by the nightmare hidden beneath the filthy blanket on the back of the wagon. Now they almost wished she had, having seen the manner and especially the reason for the abduction and murder. The commander was not a conjurer of any sort, but he knew he was not witnessing any ordinary or trivial conjuring. He was witnessing the conjuring of a profound wickedness.
The commander was positive their prey was in the covered cage, but being sure was not enough. He had to know. The cage was closely guarded, so when his team made its move there would be no turning back. They would have to kill people to complete their mission. That was something they preferred not to do. It was, however, something they were definitely prepared to do. Especially under these circumstances.
The commander heard the cloaked wizard speak once more:
"Now finish it, baron."
The big man walked slowly and reluctantly to the makeshift altar on which the tiny body was placed, picked up the copper bowl, and walked over to the covered cage on the back of the wagon. Two of the six armed and armored men that accompanied the wizard and the baron warily made their way to the other side of the wagon.
The baron placed the copper bowl a foot away from the cage and quickly backed away. The blood inside of the bowl sloshed around but did not spill as the hidden creature went berserk. The two armored men that approached from the other side of the cage went to opposite corners, carefully grasped the edges of the concealing blanket, and pulled it away to reveal what was hidden within the cage.
Its rough fur wrinkled tightly on the bridge of its nose beneath and between large triangular eyes that glowed yellow in the firelight. Those eyes immediately fell upon the copper bowl of blood. It tilted its wide head slightly to thrust it through the gap in the bars. As it attacked the bowl, its eyes burned brighter still, easily outshining the firelight and marking the beast for what it truly was.
Demon!
One-Shot and his Hounds burst from hiding and rushed into the clearing.
Assassins' Pets
A massive six-legged horned lizard, so large that its thick shoulders were five feet high, sprung from between buildings and ran alongside the fleeing assassin. The lizard was nearly ten feet long. Sinewy muscles flexed beneath dark green scales that reflected the yellow-orange glow of the blazing street lamps. The creature was sleek, its underbelly was low to the ground and its mid and hind legs were long and articulated similar to grasshopper legs. The fore legs, however, were much broader and more heavily muscled.
But the most amazing thing about this fearsome creature, though, was the fact that a weathered hide saddle was strapped around its midsection.
The assassin jumped up onto the lizard's back and snatched up a set of reins. With a powerful leap, the creature sailed away from the swift elf as if he were standing still. Rell Kallen stopped and raised his bow, but before he could even knock an arrow the lizard steed turned abruptly to the right and disappeared behind a one-story building.
"Who the hell were those guys?" he called from down the street. "And why'd you let two of them get away?"
"Two?" Ethan asked. "Only one escaped," he called back, "the one who just fled on the land dragon."
Joel shook his head. "No, there was another guy on the roof back there." He pointed to an empty rooftop. "He's not up there now, but he was when I first came outside."
Quick stopped abruptly and threw up his hand to halt the other four men.
Rell Kallen," the changeling began, "what do you sense?"
Raxe knew he asked Rell this question because the elf would be the only individual in the group with heightened senses approaching the changeling's. The Ranger Elf's nose wrinkled as he sniffed the air. His pointed ears twitched as he strained them.
"Nothing out the ordinary," the elf answered. The wind shifted, and the elf's arching eyebrows rose and he sniffed once more. "The dead assassins steeds, he realized."
"They stalk us from the shadows," Quick revealed.
"By the gods," Rionn Lorr swore as he stared worriedly in Joel's direction. Without their magic, the offworlder was too far away for them to protect him. He was unarmed and unskilled in combat, and even if he were a seasoned fighter he would be no match for a land dragon, and there were three out there in the darkness.
The other four men looked and their eyes widened.
Even from a distance of over thirty yards, Joel could see their expressions in the streetlight. He slowed to a stop.
"What?" The hair on the back of his neck stood on end when he realized that they were not staring at him, but past him. He turned around slowly, and less than fifteen yards away were the two most horrific creatures he had ever seen.