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“Yes,” he told it. “I am pleased.” He felt the creature vibrate at his words. Luring and binding himself to the creature had been a lesson in patience and power. The binding had proved bothersome. Casting a spell to keep the darkling from seeking him had been necessary. Additionally, he had to feel its ravenous hunger which was horrid and often painful. The wizard hadn’t realized the darkling’s need to imprint and satiate would become such a problem. When the creature’s hunger grew so intense, the darkling ignored the tether between them.

But the binding had been fruitful as well. He’d siphoned some of his own powers to the darkling to enhance its ability to see through spells more clearly, though unfortunately not all. But in looking for the girl, it had led him to Tomas.

He was one step closer to Azleah. He would find her and break her. And she would break.

Just like she broke him.

“I have something for you,” the wizard told the creature.

“A present?” it asked, grasping its hands between its ample bosoms. “I am so hungry,” it moaned.

“I will end this pain for you.”

“Tormented,” it cried.

“Follow me.” The wizard led the darkling from the room, through a doorway, and down a spiral staircase which wound into the darkness below the manor. When he reached the bottom, he lit a torch and led the creature though a dark corridor to a small wooden door. The wizard touched the lock and it clicked, but he didn’t push it open.

“Hello?” someone called from inside.

The darkling sniffed. “A plaything?”

“Do you promise to help me?”

“Yes.” The thing drew out the last sound, it’s desire for whatever was beyond the door creating both ecstasy and pain.

The wizard pushed the door open. Huddled inside a dark cell littered with bones of other feedings was a chained woman. The darkling started through the door.

“Oh. You poor thing,” the darkling in its new form said.

“Are you here to let me out?” she asked.

The wizard shut the door, listening as the darkling coerced its next meal, playing with its food. The screaming started as he reached the bottom of the staircase, but the wizard disconnected from the horror of it. He had more pressing things on his mind. Now that he knew where Azleah was, he could plan his revenge. He could restore what was his.

He grinned as he walked up the spiral staircase.

As he retraced his steps through the corridor, he considered the gods, knowing that was a complication he would have to consider. Their power was greater than his, but if he could only get back what Azleah had stolen… He’d determine a way around them.

As he climbed the stairs, he thought about the look Tomas’s had given him when the man realized who he was. The fear on the man’s face was perfection.

The wizard smiled. The darkling had found a different woman—her ribbon gone now—Tomas, and a son—nearly transparent with the ribbon spell still working.

When the wizard closed the door behind him, cutting off the screams, his smile faded. Something about the meadow wasn’t quite right.

He’d missed something.

Tomas, the daughter he called Tarley, and the transparent son. He worked though the tableau in his mind, focusing on the details. When he returned to the main room, he sat down in his favorite chair and closed his eyes. Tomas, unprotected. Tarley, unprotected. The boy, protected, his ribbon glowing with golden light on his wrist holding onto the one named Tarley. The boy was faded from sight, difficult to see because of that spelled ribbon, but now that the wizard knew what he was looking for—thanks to the darkling—seeing them was clearer.

But he was missing something.

How did he know?

He could feel it in his being, like the blood running through his veins, only it was clotted and slow. There was nothing to indicate he’d missed something had other than his feelings. A sixth sense which he’d trusted all but once. Tomas. Tarley. The boy. The ribbons. Tomas. Tarley. The boy. The ribbons.

Then his eyes flew open.

Ribbons.

There’d been two!