"Let's get out of here!" Zann shouted to his friends.
He ran, with Darb and Perda on his heels.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the nomads disappearing into some scrubby brush in the other direction.
"Stop!" Morb snarled. "I wish to speak with you."
There was a flash of magic energy.
"Oof!" Zann grunted as he crashed into a glowing green wall.
He and his friends spun around.
Morb stalked toward them with a sneer.
"Aren't you happy to see me?" he asked. "How about your friend?"
Morb stepped aside, revealing someone who had been hidden behind him.
"Gliss!" Darb cried.
Gliss looked terrible. Her face was streaked with tears, and her hair was messy and tangled with twigs and leaves.
"What did you do to her?" Perda cried, rushing toward Gliss.
Morb snapped his fingers.
The sand between Perda and Gliss turned into molten lava.
Perda barely stopped in time to keep from getting burned.
Zann's heart raced. How did Morb have this much power, especially in the Far Frontier?
"Your little friend is just fine—for now." Morb smirked.
"I was sick of hearing her cry, so I used an Immobilization spell on her."
Zann wished that Wyssa would return.
She was the only one who might be strong enough to fight Morb.
"But don't worry." Morb was still talking.
"I've kept your friend healthy and strong.
I want her magic energy at full force when I feed her to my new contraption.
And then you kids are next!" He glanced toward Darb.
"Well, maybe I'll spare the Void. After all, he's got no magic to contribute."
Zann gulped. This was bad!
He'd seen what happened when Morb "fed" people and creatures to his contraptions.
They all ended up drained of magic. And often dead!
Zann's only hope was for Wyssa to show up.
Maybe if he kept Morb talking, he could buy some time.
"So what is this new contraption supposed to do, anyway?" Zann asked.
"I mean, if our magic is going to power it, we deserve to know, right?"
Morb chuckled. "That's my little secret.
All of Magica will find out its purpose soon enough."
Perda seemed to catch on to what Zann was doing.
"But why build it way out here in the Far Frontier?" she asked.
"To avoid prying eyes, of course." Morb smirked again.
"But don't worry. My associate in First City is already preparing for its arrival."
An associate? Zann exchanged a surprised look with his friends.
Who was Morb talking about?
"It seems right that you kids will be the ones to provide the power to transport my contraption to First City," Morb continued.
"After all, you were the ones who delayed my plans so greatly."
"We delayed your plans?" Perda exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"
Morb pointed a bony finger at her.
"By taking so long to rescue me from Skellia!
I thought you were cleverer than that. Clearly I overestimated you."
That gave Zann another idea to keep him talking.
"How did you survive in that world anyway?" he asked.
"And how were you able to send me those messages?
Your brother said he left you with only a weak pair of infused gloves."
"Unless he was lying," Perda muttered. "Maybe Maff is Morb's associate."
Zann's eyes widened, and he wondered uneasily if Perda was right.
Could Maff have been working with his brother all along?
"Ah, my brother." Morb spat out the word as if it tasted bad.
"Yes, he tried to hold me back, just as my entire family has done all my life.
But I was too smart for him.
My travels have taught me more about magic than you silly Reds will ever know."
"What do you mean?" Darb asked.
"Didn't your friend Wyssa tell you?" Morb cackled.
"She was the one who taught me the spells and secrets of her home world—the ones that even a Void can master."
"What?" Perda blurted out. "Wyssa taught you how to do magic?"
"At first." Morb shrugged.
"Of course, I soon surpassed her basic lessons and continued learning on my own." He chuckled.
"Although I made a few mistakes while I was learning to control my new power.
That's why Wyssa can never return to her home world."
Zann's head was spinning with everything that Morb had just said.
He already knew that Wyssa used to work for Morb, procuring off-world objects and creatures for him.
But he didn't know she was the one who'd given Morb his first taste of magical power!
"Speaking of Wyssa," Morb said, interrupting Zann's thoughts, "I hope you're not keeping me talking in the hope that she'll come back to rescue you."
"W-what do you mean?" Perda asked.
"She's of no use to me anymore." Morb shrugged again.
"So I put her out of her misery."
Zann gasped. Was Morb saying that Wyssa was dead?
Morb crooked a finger toward Gliss.
She jerked toward him, like a rag doll being pulled by a string.
Morb dragged her up the side of the plateau.
"Stay there," he ordered Zann and the others. "I'll be back for you."
When he reached the invisible shield, he snapped his fingers and stepped through the spot where it had been.
Zann guessed that meant he'd disabled the Shield spell.
Morb snapped his fingers again.
Gliss let out a gasp and collapsed to her knees.
"Morb released Gliss from the Immobilization spell."
The color drained from Perda's face.
"Morb is going to feed her to the contraption!"
"Go ahead, girl." Morb nodded toward Gliss.
"If you have any last words to say to your friends, do it now."