"Only one person I know has access togulon this scale," Altun continued, her voice heavy with grim certainty.
"Serapis," Rodrigo said, and Leo cursed under his breath.
"The magic signature I sensed on the van was softer than this. I could have believed it was an apprentice. But now? This is too much like him." Altun's voice carried a rare note of fear. "He somehow survived, Rodrigo, and now he's out for revenge."
Before Rodrigo could respond, the compound shook, and the lights flickered. A hot wind gusted through the villa, carrying the acrid stench of smoke.
"What the fuck was that?" Leo shouted.
The answer came seconds later, blazing across the monitor feeds. Fire erupted along the eastern wall. The flames burned an unnatural green, crawling across the stone like living things. Wind howled through the compound, concentrated and directed, powerful enough to knock defenders off their feet.
"Altun!" Rodrigo barked into the comms. "What the fuck is happening?"
"He can't send hisgulinside, so he's using something else." Altun's voice was tighter now, strained with effort. "This isn't necromancy, it's elemental. Fire, wind… He's drawing on different sources somehow."
Another blast rocked the compound. Through the window, Rodrigo saw shadows stretching and writhing, and they reached for defenders like grasping hands. Voices crackled through the comms, panicked reports of whispers that seemed to come from everywhere, disorienting, maddening.
"That's djinn magic," Altun said, and for the first time, Rodrigo heard genuine horror in her voice. "He's got to be using an artifact of some kind."
"What artifact? Can you stop it?" Rodrigo demanded. This was too far out of his realm of knowledge. He had no idea how to counteract it, and it scared the hell out of him.
When Altun spoke again, her voice was certain. "There's a ring. The Seal of Suleiman's Servant, it used to be called, though I doubt Suleiman was involved in its creation. It's a band of blackiron set with a fire opal. The legends tied Suleiman to it because they say it contains a bound djinn, forced to serve whoever wears it. It was stolen decades ago from a private collection said to have contained the treasure of Abdülmecid II in Cairo. If Serapis has that ring, then he's had over thirty years to master its power."
"Can we counter it?" Leo asked, his voice small.
"Kon and I can try, but we need to get to the ring itself. As long as he wears it, he can sustain the assault."
Another explosion, closer this time. Through the monitors, Rodrigo watched as a section of the east wall crumbled, green fire licking at the breach. Dario's voice crackled through the comms, shouting orders, organizing a fighting retreat to secondary positions.
Frederica's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and distorted. "Wait, did you say the ring wasblackiron with a fire opal?"
"You know it?" Rodrigo demanded.
"I know sketches of it," Frederica replied through the sound of more gunfire. "I've looked at it my whole life in my father's study."
"What?" Dario's voice crackled through the comms, incredulous even amid the firefight. "What the fuck does your father have to do with a magical ring?"
"My father is a thief,arkoúdos.One of the best in the world. Give me a second! Don't let me get shot."
Through the feed from Dario's sector, Rodrigo watched Frederica duck behind cover, pulling out her phone as bullets chipped stone inches from her head.
"Frederica, what the fuck are you doing?" Dario shouted, firing over the barricade. "We're under attack! Get back here!"
Frederica ignored him, the phone pressed to her ear. Her lips moved, but her words were lost in the cacophony of battle. Whatever conversation she was having involved a lot of yellingand hand gestures. It lasted barely a minute before she ended the call, her face hardening into something frustrated and pissed off.
"My father stole it," she announced over the comms. "Cairo, 1989. The buyer was a man named Lucius Foscari."
"Cazzo!" Rodrigo and Leo said at the same time. Lucius Foscari was the name Serapis had used while posing as their father's relative.
"Then he's had it all this time," Altun said grimly. "Long enough to master it completely."
"And my father handed it to him." Frederica's voice was bitter, the words sharp enough to cut. "Apparently, being the world's greatest thief doesn't come with a conscience about who you sell to."
"Frederica—" Dario started.
"Focus on the fight, asshole! We can discuss our family's collective sins later." The sound of her rifle firing punctuated the statement.
Altun's voice cut through the noise. "The bound djinn is powerful, but not unlimited. The ring requires enormous energy to control, and Serapis can't sustain this assault forever. We need to outlast him until he burns out."
