“You shall have more power than you’ve ever dreamed of,” the master said, then laughed a gurgling chuckle. “Of course, such power requires sacrifice.”
Suddenly, Bonesplinter remembered where he’d seen this kind of ring. It was a collar. The kind he’d seen chained to the neck of a Summoner.
Summoners were some of the most powerful creatures known to man. The master had owned two until one was destroyed by the water elementals. No one knew exactly what magic was used to create them, but rumors claimed that deep inside the creatures lived the warped souls of those who had once been human, now twisted and defiled until nothing could stand against their dark rage.
His fingers went cold, and he dropped the collar to the ground. “No. Please, no.”
Something dark and wet slithered from the hole at the center of the skull’s forehead. Evil radiated from it in waves, crushing and terrible. It rose into the air, hovering halfway between ground and ceiling. The dark wizard dropped to the floor, stretching his arms out. “Please, kill me instead.”
“I hunger.”
Bonesplinter looked back in terror. This voice had not come from the skull, but from the dark thing floating in the air. The skull had not been talking to him at all. It had been talking to this thing. This abomination. It was what hungered. And what it hungered for was . . . him. It began to hum softly as it wrapped itself around the Thrathkin S’Bae from head to foot, muting his screams.
“How do you like your power so far?” the master said, watching as the creature that had once been Bonesplinter writhed and twisted in agony on the floor.
The owl-headed assistant returned again, carrying a stone bowl filled with a bloody liquid. It set the bowl on the arm of the throne.
On the floor, the creature continued to spasm and moan. It was already beginning to turn red—dark pustules rising on its back where wings would form once months of continual torture transformed it into the powerful creature known as a Summoner.
“Take it away,” the master said.
The assistant picked up the collar, and led the gibbering creature that had been Bonesplinter out the door.
As it left, the lights in the room went out, leaving only the glow of the red liquid. The master touched his finger to its surface and three faces appeared.
“Are you ready to do my bidding?” he asked.
The faces looked back at him from the bowl. One was a water elemental, the other, two land elementals.
All three nodded. “Yes.”
Table of Contents
Interlude: Keepers of the Balance
Part 1: Lost and found
1. One Man’s Treasure
2. Water Magic
3. Secrets
4. The Visitor
5. Melankollia
6. Captured
7. Rescue
8. Answers
9. Ups and Downs
10. Aster’s Bay
11. Charmed to Meet You
12. Dog Days
13. Fun and Games
15. What You Can’t See
16. The Swamp
Interlude: An Unexpected Prisoner
Part 2: Land Keep
17. The End of the Trail
18. Descent
19. Keepers’ Hold
20. No Way Out
21. A Dirty Business
23. Knowledge
24. The Doors of Eternity
25. The Augur Well
26. Mr. Z
27. The Lagoon
28. Mind over Matter
29. The Fairy
30. Winds of Change
31. Heart and Song
32. Heart
33. Song
34. The Last Choice
35. Mouth to Ear
Interlude: A Dark Past
Part 3: Return
36. Dual Purpose
37. Lanctrus-Darnoc
38. Friends
39. Going Back
40. The Dream
41. Tankum Heartstrong
Interlude: Stratagems
Part 4: Battle for the City
42. Zentan Dolan
43. Standoff
44. The Dungeon
45. The Tower
46. Innoris a’Gentoran
47. Weakness
48. Sacrifice
49. Reunion
50. Graehl
51. The Place Between
52. Good-bye
Interlude: Unlikely Allies