mag didn’t offer them a chance to negotiate.

  the orcs and demons were so terrified that they were barely able to hold their weapons.

  “kill them!” the demon said fiercely, bringing his sharp claws down at an elf’s neck. he decided to take the elves with them now that he had no chance to live.

  the other demons and orcs thrust their knives at the elves without hesitation; clearly they had made the same decision.

  abruptly, they stopped moving, as if frozen.

  the claws and knives were stopped just in time; they were only millimeters away from the elves.

  all of them had fallen under the influence of amy’s magic—all but mag.

  the black shadow made a dozen or so slashes as he ran through them swiftly.

  all this took no more than a few seconds.

  then mag sheathed his sword and amy undid the spell.

  blood was shooting out everywhere as heads fell off their necks. their dead bodies hit the ground with dull thuds.

  mag looked back at amy and nodded. he couldn’t have killed them so quickly and saved all the elves without her help.

  he dropped his gaze to the bodies. the bloody sight made him feel sick, but the battered elves, who were now drenched in blood, were looking up at him with eyes so grateful that he felt it was all worth it.

  a knife flew out of mag’s hand and severed the ropes that bound the elves.

  they fell into the pools of blood, too weak and fatigued to ungag themselves, let alone stand up. they had gone many days without eating anything.

  “they’re all dead. you’re safe now. the gray temple will be here soon,” mag said, putting away the knife that had flew back and making his way to the entrance.

  “poor elves!” amy said in a low voice. “why don’t we help them, father?”


  “we have helped enough. besides, heroes are not medics; we should leave the rest to professionals, like healing magicians.” mag picked her up and stroked her head.

  a flare shot up above the dense fog and exploded into bright red flames.

  the purple-striped griffin flapped its wings and disappeared into the clouds……

  “15 kilometers west of here. there is a canyon filled with fog. kill…… kill me! please……” the demon entreated the gray temple personnel, who were holding the most dreadful instruments of torture in the basin.

  it was the 20th time he had been revived. they had tortured him in the most vicious ways.

  they were relieved. after a good hour of interrogating, the demon finally talked.

  “we do we do now, lord brandli?” a man asked.

  that was when they saw the flare.

  brandli looked surprised. “that seems to be where their hideout is. let’s go!” he ordered.

  “someone found that place before us? how can this be possible?”


  “it’s possible if it’s him,” replied brandli. “are the flying mounts here yet?”


  “yes, my lord!” two huge ironback eagle landed at their feet. after they climbed onto their backs, the eagles took to the air and flew west.

  they arrived at the place in a matter of minutes.

  the flare was still burning red.

  “blow away the fog!” brandli ordered.

  wind-type magic casters cast some spells and dispersed the fog right away. the two ironback eagles dived down.

  “prepare to battle!” brandli shouted as soon as he saw the bodies lying around. they jumped off.

  dead trolls, orcs, and demons. some were lying in bushes, the others hanging from trees.

  there was only one wound on each corpse.

  apparently they had been killed by a sword, and a very sharp one at that. the killer was fast; there was no sign of any struggling.

  the knights that had come with brandli were stunned. they could tell how good the swordsman was just by looking at the wounds.

  “there’re no survivors in the forest,” a magic caster told brandli.

  “check the cave! be careful,” brandli said after taking a look at the orc, whose head had been split in two. he went in front, followed by his men.

  they were greeted by the stench of blood the moment they entered the cave. they became tense.

  when they ventured in further and saw the severed heads and bodies, they were struck dumb.

  they had seen many crime scenes, but this one took the cake. two female magic casters turned away, doubled over, and threw up violently.

  clearly some brutal killing had happened here. they didn’t know if the elves were alive or dead.

  “medics!” brandli shouted.

  they held back their urge to vomit and lifted them out of the blood pool.

  “they are all alive!” someone called in a surprised voice.

  they carried the elves out of the cave. their clothes were soaked in blood, but it was not their blood.

  “alex…… alex saved us……” an elf said weakly after the gag was taken out of her mouth.