Dominic gave the pitiful mage a sad smile, then nodded in understanding. This guy was likely going to die one way or another, there was no need to terrify him even more.

But that was when Amie came into the room, and saw the kneeling mage.

"You took a prisoner? And he didn’t explode at all. Good work. Now, do we start the interrogation?" She asked.

"There are a few thousand Ogres and a dozen Elders left at the siege. The rest of the force is here now, along with what I am going to guess is between fifty and a hundred mages.

I got that much out of him so far, but I don’t know how much I can risk asking." Dominic explained.

Amie frowned. That was a clear betrayal of the Academy. He should have exploded.

But when she checked him, she didn’t find any signs of a killing curse on him.

"Who placed the curse on you?" She asked carefully.

"My Arcane Theory teacher. Oh my god, he’s dead. They’re all dead." The mage gasped, then faded into muttering to himself again.

"Oh, we’ve been through this once before. Hey, come back to us. Yes, they’re all dead, but you’re not. At least not yet. Now, was that man with you? Was he one of the guys I shot while they were flying?" Dominic asked.

The mage nodded mutely, and Amie smiled.

Killing curses only worked while the one who cast them was alive, unless it was a blood curse that was sworn to last past death. Those were usually cast with a dying breath, though.

"Good news, young mage. I think that you might just be fine. Curses often fade with the caster’s death. Since you didn’t betray him before he died, you should be fine.

Now, the question is what we are going to do with you. There is still a battle going on, and I don’t trust you behind us. So, it’s either bring you with us, or kill you now. Which one do you prefer?"

Her question made the young man stare at her in horror. The dragon kin man was scary, but this small woman, she was terrifying.

Others might not see it, but there was something inhuman in those eyes.

Not that anyone would mistake Dominic for human, but something was definitely off with Amie, in the other mage’s opinion.

"I will accompany you. I swear, I never wanted to end up like this, not as a monster herder, or a traitor to my home nation. It wasn’t my choice, and I’m willing to pay whatever price you deem necessary to prove it." He insisted.

"Well, that’s a good start. Perhaps we can bring you with us, and you can start proving yourself by helping us kill the monsters that your people have been summoning here. Call it pro bono work, and if you do it well enough, we will bring you back to the Duskblade Sect for corrective education.

That’s definitely better than death, and you’ll only need to work just a few more years to prove yourself trustworthy enough for them to allow you out in public." Dominic decided.

The mage looked terrified of the upcoming battle, but Dominic and Amie were immensely pleased with the decision. He would fight until he ran out of mana, and then they would see just how devoted he was to his own survival.

"Alright, we need to get a move on. There is a lovely lady waiting for me." Dominic added, then winked at Amie, who pushed their prisoner forward.

The cavalry force was already clearing the way toward the tents where the portals had been, and the Paladins were making their way up out of the ravine, so they could fight on the high ground again.

It was going to take them some time to collect all those monster cores, though. The best sort of problem to have.

"Follow after us, and don’t try to loot. The mercenaries worked hard for this loot, and it’s not right that a prisoner should steal from them. Don’t stray far, everyone recognizes those robes, and if you’re not with us, you’re liable to end up dead faster than you can explain your situation." Amie informed their prisoner with a smile.

"Yes, ma’am. I will be right beside you."

Dominic led the way back into battle, attacking the Gnolls from behind, and true to his word, their captive mage joined in. He wasn’t all that effective, he was using a level three or four chain lightning spell. But he was putting in the work, as promised.

And not just because he was terrified that Amie was going to turn and shoot him if she caught him slacking off.

The constant blasting of gunfire grated at his nerves, an unfamiliar sound to his mage academy trained senses. But the damage that the pair were doing by blending magic with magitech weapons was absolutely horrendous.

The Gnolls were falling in waves, and even the fireballs that Dominic was using, which clearly weren’t his speciality, based on the slightly clumsy way that he activated them, were still powerful enough to wipe out whole swathes of the invading monsters.

"Who is shooting in the wrong direction?" Dominic heard Alexis yell as the last of the monsters began to scatter.

"That would be Amie. I blame the mage!" Dominic shouted back.

"I should have known that you didn’t go home with the others. Now, stop shooting at us. The fireballs are burning my retinas."

Dominic switched to simply using [Arcane Blast] to clear the last of the monsters as they approached the Paladins from the other side of the horde, and then stopped completely to help with the clean-up.

"Did your group make out alright while scouting locations?" Alexis asked as the two groups finally met in the middle.

"Pretty well. The adventurers aren’t going to complain too much, even with some minor injuries. We should have found a healer, though. It would have made the fights a lot easier."

Alexis shrugged. "We will work on that later. There are bound to be some adventurers with healing skills that aren’t part of the Royal Paladins. Once we get a few of them out here, we will be able to send their teams out alone with much less fear of losing someone.

Now, who is your third? I don’t think that was one of ours."