One of the guardswomen called to Tan from the opposite side of the street. “Sorcerer! How many of those explosions do you have left?”

“That was my last one!”

Well, shit. That was not what Devan wanted to hear.

“Right.” There was an audible crack of bone as Tan cracked his knuckles. “Fire tornadoes it is.”

A question poised at the tip of Devan’s tongue but he had no chance to voice it. From thin air, combing from the right side to the left, were five fire tornadoes the size of a large whirling dervish. They touched the ground, leaving black marks in their wake as they steadily swept the field and road.

Barbarians shrieked, ducked, and scrambled out of the way. There was enough space between the fire tornadoes that a few managed to squeak through unscathed. Those mounted weren’t so lucky; the horses were having none of that, thank you, and abruptly unseated their riders before running for the hills.

Well, at least the horses had some damn sense.

Come on, Devan mentally thought toward the enemy. Come on, invading wasn’t worth it. Give up. Retreat. Call it a day and go home.

People scrambled backward, sure enough, retreating to the bend of the road where there was something of a hill on either side. Enough to cover and protect them from the tornadoes. On the one hand, a good place to be. On the other, it meant if they advanced, they’d be in danger once more.

Even with this kind of distance between them, Devan could feel the strong hesitation from his enemy. They were in full debate over there, it seemed. Torn about whether or not to continue, now that it was obvious a sorcerer was in attendance?

Well, they weren’t going home, so clearly they weren’t ready to give up just yet.

Devan sighed. From his toes. Why were they so tenacious?

Tan leaned over the railing to speak with him. “My darling?”

“What?” Devan didn’t even look up, just continued to glare at the enemy.

“Correct me if I’m wrong. But it looks like they’re rather torn about what to do over there.”

“That’s my evaluation. You’ve made it obvious a sorcerer is here. I think there’s some who want nothing to do with the town with you in attendance. There’s others who feel challenged by how many people they’ve lost and are determined to win.”

“More or less how I read it. I want to try something.”

Devan was out of ideas. He was willing to hear Tan out, at least. Who knew, the man might even have a good idea. Anything was possible.

“Alright, what?”

“I want to walk down that road in full black sorcerer regalia and announce who I am. I think it will convince them that this raid of theirs is too costly. What do you think?”

Devan blinked up at him. Now, what do you know? A sensible suggestion. “I’m all for it. If anyone can scare them off, it’s you.”

The delighted smile on Tan’s face was breathtaking. “You think I’m scary?”

“Based on the last twenty-four hours, I think you’re a complete pushover, but other people think you’re scary and that’s what counts right now.”

“Darling, you both wound and flatter me!” Tan paused with a dramatic hand over his heart. “That’s talent, to do both at once. Also a turn-on. We’ll investigate this avenue more later. For now, I will go look threatening.”

Uh-huh. Now this, Devan had to see. He wasn’t entirely joking earlier. Tan didn’t look capable of hurting a fruit fly, frankly. He had the cute, fluffy, innocent look, much like a puppy with a shiny new bone in his mouth. Was he capable of incredible carnage? Obviously, as the body count outside the town walls were mostly his doing. He didn’t look the part, though.

Wait, did he even have the full sorcerer robes on him?

Tan swung both legs over the banister and reached down. “Catch me!”

“There are stairs— Fuck!” Devan had to drop his crossbow in a hurry to catch the sorcerer, like a parent scrambling to catch a child before they hit the ground at all the wrong angles. He blinked at the careless man in his arms and then growled in vexation. “I could have dropped you.”

“Trust fall,” Tan countered brightly.

“That is not how you do a trust fall.”

“My method. And you caught me, see?” Tan bussed Devan’s cheek before hopping lightly down. “I’m off to scare people in line. Do stay put.”

Devan growled again but let him go. The man was determined to give him a heart attack, it seemed.

Between one step and another, a shimmering wave engulfed Tan from head to toe. Within five strides, his jacket, red shirt, and black pants were replaced with a full black velvet robe that trailed out over the ground. The hood covered his head and obscured his face, cloaking him in mystery and increasing his threat levels by a good hundred percent. A snap of his fingers, and a staff appeared in his hand. It was a twisted, gnarly piece of dark wood with a crystal wired into place at the top, which emitted a faintly eerie green glow.

Oh. Well, damn, he did know how to pull off black sorcerer rather well in that getup. Despite knowing this man was his ally, it gave even Devan’s heart a skip of alarm.

Maybe this would work after all.

Devan found himself holding his breath once more as Tan marched right through the open ‘gates’ and several feet down the road. He stopped at the first dead body, cloak swirling in a dramatic swoop around him before settling.

(He’d totally used a spell to do that. Damn dramatic bat.)

Tan’s voice boomed out—amplifying spell, more than likely—and could be heard in every nook and cranny of the town. Probably in the next town over, truth be told.

“I am the Black Sorcerer of Grimslock!”

A pause, to let the enemy digest this. From Devan’s point of view, they did not look happy. A few may have immediately shit themselves.

“You stand in front of me. My lover stands behind me. Challenge me if you dare.”

No one looked ready to dare. Devan, though, he would dare as soon as Tan got his ass back over here. They were not lovers, dammit. As amusing as this was, he wasn’t about to let Tan get this idea stuck in his head.

The guardswoman on the opposite balcony eyed Devan suspiciously.

He almost denied it, but…yeah, no, lost cause. He could tell that right now.

A rougher voice from the barbarian army called back, reed thin at this distance, but still distinct.

“Black Sorcerer! Apologies. If we had known you were here, we would not have marched upon this place.”

Tan gave a single dip of the head in acknowledgement. “I will allow you to gather your dead and depart in peace. If you try to raid this town again, I will not show any further mercy.”

“We understand and thank you for the forbearance.”

Fuck a duck on a cracker, Tan’s bluff worked. Devan snorted a disbelieving laugh. Seriously? He’d known the man was formidable—he had to deal with enough reports on it—but…seriously? Was his reputation even worse than Devan had realized?

Tan spun on a wheel and swept dramatically back for the town.

The guard captain sidled in next to Devan. In a low tone, he muttered, “Good thing your lover has such a fierce reputation, eh?”

Okay, that Devan couldn’t let stand. He negated this with a firm wave of his hand. “No, we’re not together.”

“I heard that, darling!” Tan, now out of sight of the army, reverted back to his usual clothes although there was a heaviness to his steps.

“Shut up, sweetie,” Devan fired back without thinking of it. Aw, shit, he shouldn’t have said that. Tan didn’t seem to hear the sarcasm. He hastily rectified, “No, truly, we’re not. He’s just an incorrigible tease and communicates through flirting.”

Tan’s expression screwed up in a mock frown. “Why, darling, I’m hurt. I only want you.”

“Uh-huh,” Devan drawled. He was ready to say more but something about Tan seemed off. He was swaying more and kept shaking his head as if it pained him.

Oh. Oh shit, he was losing color quickly. Devan had been around enough magicians in his life to recognize the initial signs of magical depletion. Tan was showing every symptom, his knees already buckling.

On pure instinct, he darted forward, arms reaching for him. Tan slowly collapsed, body falling forward as he lost all balance. Devan slid to his knees, catching the man just in time to keep his head from hitting the hard cobblestone. He winced as his knees took the impact instead, but his attention was on Tan, who lay still in his arms. Quickly, he turned him so that he lay sideways in Devan’s lap.

Two fingers under his nose proved Tan was breathing steadily. He was fine, in a sense, just utterly exhausted.

“You damn fool,” Devan murmured. “You drove yourself into the ground doing that bit of nonsense.”

The captain came around quickly to check on him, kneeling at Tan’s other side. “Magical depletion? I’d worried he was doing too much. Any other magician would have keeled over long before now.”

That’s how powerful and skilled Tan was. Devan felt guilty about driving him to such lengths. Really, he was surprised Tan was even willing to do all of this. He’d only agreed to portal people to safety, not try and save the whole town. Devan couldn’t easily put into words how grateful he was that Tan had gone above and beyond. As silly as he could be, there was a backbone of steel in the sorceror, and Devan both respected and appreciated it.

He could only pray the barbarians would honor their word and actually leave. He demanded urgently of the guardswoman still up on her perch, “Are they leaving?”

“Just a few left now, still collecting their dead, but they’re making quick work of it. Bulk of them are already out of sight.” She gave Devan a reassuring nod. “I think we won the day.”

Devan’s eyes swept shut in overwhelming relief. He’d feared they wouldn’t. If the barbarians had pushed forward even once more, they would have won, and the rest of the town would be running for their lives. He owed Tan for this, more than he could ever repay. As worried as he’d initially been in approaching Tan for help, he was ever so grateful that he had. It had been well worth the risk.

The captain clapped a hand on Devan’s shoulder. “That blue house there with the white trim, that’s our inn. Take him there, let him sleep. We’ll keep watch to make sure there’s no trouble.”

He wouldn’t argue. Devan was deathly tired himself. With a smile at the man, he got an arm under Tan’s knees and lifted him off the ground. “Thank you. Wake me if you need me.”

“I will, but I highly doubt it will come to that. Rest, Sir Knight.”

“Gladly.”