Those were the last words that he ever said.

The moment that the words were out of the prisoner’s mouth, black veins started to spread across his throat, and down his chest as he gasped for air, wheezing futile wordless curses at his mentors.

"Killing curse to prevent betrayal. We should have expected that." Amie sighed.

"Well, we got some details out of him anyhow. Enough that we will be able to give the armies an idea of what they’re facing, based on the territory that this group was supposed to have passed through on their way here.

The Frosthound Riders must have been one of the first acquisitions, as they live higher up in the mountains. But they might have also been summoned." Dominic noted.

Amie shook her head. "None of the dead here were strong enough to summon them. So, they had to have been brought with them as they travelled.

But that also means there are likely to be more Yeti.

Obviously, there are going to be lots of Goblins, and we spotted some Minotaurs. But beyond that, the mix could vary based on their route.

The Duskblade Sect knows the area well, so they’ll be able to guess, but we don’t know where in the desert they started. The monsters are very territorial, so it could be scorpions, but I suspect that it will be Minotaur heavy, with a side of Gnolls and Centaurs."

Dominic smiled grimly. "That sounds manageable. If we send the armies in and most of what they face are goblins and Minotaurs, they’ll all be familiar with the fights. We also saw some Ogres, which always give Cygnia issues, because of their magic resistance, but other than that, it will come down to monster population issues.

Even with all the troops that we have coming, it’s still going to be a bad day for most of the units. And that will be hard to explain to the commanders back home."

"Well, we have a third beacon placed now, so they should have some idea of where the army is. But this rain doesn’t feel like it’s going to let up any time soon. Are we going to move again in the morning? Or are we waiting this time?" Bella asked.

Dominic looked to the others, who all had the same expression of "do not move again in the rain."

"We will wait out the weather this time. Using the same trick twice is questionable at best, even if we’re not expecting to find any more mages. As little as they were telling their Acolytes, and given the size of the army, I suspect that there are more mages in the area, and we simply haven’t found them yet.

Do you think that we can get another message through to Wistover?" He asked.

"We will try. They need to know what we found. If necessary, we will open a small portal to transmit through." The elder mage agreed.

"Whatever it takes. I just don’t want our people coming in blind, or getting ambushed from behind by forces hiding in the Barony Manors."

Amie turned up the fire in the magitech fireplace, while the others split off to go change out of their wet clothes.

That was the priority, and the fireplace would only dry them out so quickly when they were literally dripping on the floor. It was a miracle that they had made it this long without anyone sneaking off to change outfits, but they were all professionals and used to being caught out in the weather.

Just like the night before, they all got comfortable in the main room, with a watch set for the evening. But this time, they made a point of locking the basement door after Dominic went down to check that all the magitech functions were online.

"This place definitely gives me the creeps." Bella muttered as she set up her bedroll behind the sofa in the middle of the room.

"That’s unavoidable. Just be glad that your nose isn’t as sensitive as mine is. I can smell the old blood and corruption from the basement." Dominic replied.

Bella frowned. "And you’re still willing to stay in here?"

"It’s not the most disgusting place that I’ve ever spent a night, and we know that it’s relatively safe, now that everything that might have been a threat is dead. If we had cleaning supplies, I would have doused the basement, but they’ve been here long enough that the old stock is all empty, and I forgot to grab their storage rings." Dominic explained.

"There weren’t any cleaning supplies in their rings. With the basement door closed, it shouldn’t be too bad. A bit like sleeping next to a poorly maintained barn." Amie offered.

Dominic chuckled at the comparison. She wasn’t exactly wrong, but the scent of blood magic was worse than the general rot and old blood in the house.

"On the other hand, that smell will help disguise us. Nobody will be looking for enemies here, where they’re already expecting to smell humans and magic. So, we can remain here for the evening without anyone becoming suspicious." He added.

"Perfect. Then we will take the same watch schedule as before, and see if the rain stops overnight."

While that sounded great to them, the mood in Wistover was much different.

"They found an entire sect war party of mages in a Manor House? Using blood magic to summon? That is not good. Not good at all." Prince George was muttering.

"At least we know what the missing mages from the Royal Academy have been up to." Alexis offered.

"The question is where the rest of them went. There are hundreds of mages missing." The aging Prince reminded them.

"Hopefully, not gathered around this monster horde. But we have locations on a number of them in Dagos as well, leading the siege of the cities." Prince Fahad added.

"Someone needs to start an official count. Until we know how many are found, we don’t know how many other locations likely have an army of monsters waiting to be deployed."