Ferdinand hadn’t seen a horse since his days as a boy with Xorn. Those were precious and few memories when he’d been with his family. His heart ached to remember how they’d all aged so quickly. He’d grown into a young man before he was ready, and then he’d stopped aging altogether. But his sisters, his mother and father, they wrinkled and their backs bowed until they closed their eyes and never opened them again.

That had been the price his family had agreed to pay to keep the Coterie from taking him and ripping away his soul. The risk was high, they’d known that. But none of them had regrets when they saw that their boy, their beloved Hallowed child, was going to survive.

Even though Ferdinand had never forgiven the demon, never forgiven himself for ever being born, he decided that he wasn’t going to let their sacrifice be in vain. There had been a single magical act he’d learned when Xorn had tried to cheer him up. It’d used an immense store of power. He wasn’t sure he could even do it on his own. But this was one of Xorn’s horses. It wasn’t a coincidence that Valeria had brought him through.

He urged his steed onwards and veered away from the mass of the demon army. He couldn’t get around them entirely, or he wouldn’t get to Leocivat in time.

He whispered a single word of power, and the mount reacted just as he’d hoped.

Great, magnificent wings sprouted from the horse’s sides and they lifted into the sky. Shrill excitement thundered through Ferdinand’s veins. He’d only performed the magic once before. It took Darkness, and it took Light, and even now the drain on his soul made his fingers go numb. He couldn’t keep the magic working forever, but he didn’t need forever. He just needed to get home.

* * *

When Ferdinand soared over the demon army, they tossed spears and roared, forcing his horse to swerve out of the way. Ferdinand clung to the horse’s mane as his shadowed wings flashed with gold magic, spreading wide and sending them safely out of range with strong, great beats.

Mehmet’s army had taken the majority of their winged demons to tackle Manor Saffron’s defenses, likely expecting angelic retribution, so only a few tried to follow him through the clouds. They weren’t fast enough. His steed was powered by his magic and his emotions, and he’d pent up his love, hate, fears and regret for so long that they soared like a blur.

Ferdinand laughed by the time they landed onto Leocivat’s cobbled streets. He’d broken through the city’s barrier with a rough snap as the shield allowed him to pass through, along with his horse upon recognizing Ferdinand’s signature power.

The horse whinnied as he slapped it on the neck. “Good boy.”

Beautiful broad wings withered and faded into ash and Ferdinand watched the horse shake off the power. So much energy and magic, gone in a short breeze of dust.

He didn’t have time to indulge in the wistful joy of childish wonder. He’d worked so hard to build Leocivat into a place his parents would have wanted to bring him to. He didn’t want any other Hallowed child subject to a demon’s offer, not because of the Coterie. He’d found Nile in the outlands, he’d known what his mother had been willing to do. And he’d promised Nile would never become Changed. He’d encouraged Nile to protect that beautiful humanity in his soul.

All of that careful planning was about to be undone. Demons beat against Leocivat’s walls and the great, golden shield trembled under their power. Scales and teeth flashed and Ferdinand ran.

The city was eerily quiet and he rose his voice, hoping that the people had sought sanctuary in the Coterie’s chambers. But as he came to a halt when he saw a woman peeking through a cracked shuttered window. “You, there!” he shouted and stabbed his staff. The window slammed closed.

Unperturbed, he ran to the door and beat on it. “Where is everyone!”

A peephole opened and a wide brown eye stared at him. “The Coterie’s gone mad!” said a woman’s voice. “They’ve holed themselves up in the castle and won’t let anyone in.” The peephole slammed closed. “I’m sorry, Master Ferdinand. Please go talk some sense into them! We’re all so scared.”

Ferdinand growled as the woman slumped on the other side of the door and began to sob. He could feel her terror from here wafting through the wood like a foul stench.

“Damned Coterie,” he grumbled as he marched over the cracked stone steps and made his way to the castle. They were supposed to be the caretakers of this city. It was their responsibility for the care and well-being of their people.

When he got to the castle, he knew something was horribly wrong. There should have been beaming pillars of Light that fed the Coterie the strength to keep the city protected and free of the malice that swarmed outside. But there were whispers on an invisible breeze and tendrils of shadow leaking through cracks in the stones.

Ferdinand swallowed his dread and stormed inside. He marched through the unprotected halls all the way to the main chamber that was blocked off by a sheer wall of power. He’d seen this before when the Coterie was in session. They ensured no one would get in and disturb them if they were performing complicated magics. It often involved eradicating malice that found itself way inside the barrier, or tracking an escaped prisoner or convict. Which meant that what was left of the Coterie was either trying to find their lost members, or demons were already in the city and they were trying to push them out.

“Let me in!” he boomed, throwing the might of his magic behind his words. His voice thundered through the empty halls and he beat his fist against the magicked wall. “I know what the demons want!”

The wall instantly dropped and his fist fell through the opening. Geoni glowered down at him, his eyes blazing with power and a black stone sputtering at his fingertips. The remaining members of the Coterie stood behind him glowing with tainted power. Devon, Julius, and Peter were older members who’d been smart enough not to leave the safety of Leocivat. But the object in Geoni’s hands made Ferdinand balk.

“Is that, what I think it is?” he stammered.

Geoni’s eyes flashed a dangerous mixture of gold and black, as if the sun and the stars lived in his soul and threatened to break out. “You think we haven’t watched you, brother? You think we don’t know where you get your power?” He bared his teeth and clutched the stone. “We’ve tolerated you because you were an oddity. Power is to be studied and controlled. We made a mistake believing that you could be harnessed. Our mistake has cost the lives of great Hallowed men. You’ve endangered this entire city and the last remaining human souls that walk on Terra.” He raised the stone and sparks flared out with a frightening crack. “We’ll do whatever it takes to stop you.”

Ferdinand threw up his hands just in time. The blinding flash that crashed into him bounced off of his shield and harmlessly scattered into the chamber. An impenetrable golden sphere encased him as rage boiled in his chest. “I am not the enemy, you old fool!” He snapped a finger to the horizon that twisted with red and clouds over a city trembling with the might of clashing magics. “An army descends on this city. I have come here to find what it is they’re after. They don’t care about our people or our little patch of useless land.” He glared at the stone in Geoni’s hands. “They want what’s been taken from them.”

“Deceiver!” Geoni yelled and motioned for the remaining Coterie to come to his aid. They flanked him and placed their hands on the stone until the entire chamber sizzled with power.

Ferdinand shivered with horror at what he was about to do. Shadow slammed into his shield, burrowing tiny knives that eventually broke off into dust. He knew this power that the Coterie aimlessly tried to control. This was a stone from Xorn’s blood, the very demon that had made him a master of such magic.

He harnessed his own pain, his own regrets and fatigue of this world that held never-ending grief for someone who had nothing left to protect. Even Nile was a grown man now, no longer in a need of a protector.

Ferdinand roared, and released the surge of power.