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Things unravelled very fast once Phillipe called in the guards.

Andre had been at the rear of their group as they descended the stairs but once Ragi turned them around and they started for the roof he wound up at the front. He found it very difficult to lead them back towards the roof. Not only was his side burning from the goblin cat’s scratch, he found that the cold chicken he’d just wolfed down sat very poorly in his stomach. Worse, in the hurry to climb the stairs again it was hard to see where he was going in the dark. Out of habit, he conjured a lantern.

Nothing appeared in his hands.

Instead, the image of Leaves tucking a lantern away into its robes came to mind and Andre began to suspect what his deal with the Fair Folk truly entailed. Stumbling and cursing, he dragged his pack off his back, fished out Gravel’s hat and shoved it onto his head. The stairs became a bit clearer and he continued on his way.

“Who’s up there?” Phillipe’s voice demanded from below. “Giovanni? Is that you?”

“Here, Captain!” A new voice replied. “I’m here!”

“Then who is that above?”

“We’ll find out, sir.”

New footsteps joined theirs in the mad rush to the roof and Andre did his best to put on more speed. After a seemingly endless ascent, no more than ten seconds to be truthful, they arrived on the roof once again. Andre pushed his spear into Bella’s grip and charged for the corner, a new ladder forming from nothing in his hands. He had just started lowering it over the side of the keep when something heavy crashed into its top, smashing it to kindling.

Andre immediately jumped to one side, the goblin cat’s gnashing jaws snapping through the space his head had just occupied. It saved his life but nearly killed him at the same time. His evasive leap left Andre off balance, teetering on the edge of the roof, and for a moment all he could see was the blurry green of the courtyard spinning far below. Andre dove towards the roof, choosing to fall himself so he could control his landing.

It worked, but only in part.

His side spasmed in pain midfall and twisted him around, so he landed badly and nearly rolled off the roof. The low lip around the roof was just enough of a handhold for him to arrest his slide. For a brief moment it was all Andre could do to cling to the roof’s edge then Bella and Sophia grabbed one arm each and dragged him up on to solid footing once more.

The roof was in chaos. The goblin cat was scampering back and forth across the rooftop, swiping at Ragi and the guards, hissing and yowling, showing equal hostility to everyone around it. The guards had formed a ring with their backs facing inwards. Their swords made the creature hesitate but they weren’t enough to keep it at bay, one of them was bleeding from his arm and another’s tabard hung in ribbons, his mail shirt the only thing that had kept him from getting worse.

Ragi and Charissa had positioned themselves between the three young people and the guards. Ragi was alternating between brandishing his spear at the cat and the guards while his wife worked to reload the crankbow. For the moment, both human groups were directing their attention towards the cat. Even so, Andre doubted they would be granted the time to climb off the roof via ladder unless they did something to make it happen.

His gaze wandered up to the beacon in its metal bowl, burning brightly overhead, and inspiration struck. Andre grabbed Sophia’s arm and started towards the beacon house, saying, “I need a hand!”

“What are you doing?”

“Just watch!”

The beacon was about twenty feet over the keep’s roof and he wasn’t confident he could make a ladder that tall in his current condition. Fortunately, he didn’t need to get that high. The door was locked but making a simple skeleton key was a much easier task. It did take long enough that Bella caught up to them, yelling, “That’s the wrong way!”

Andre ignored her, shoving the door open and pushing into the small tower at the base of the warning tower. There wasn’t much inside it besides a staircase spiraling up to the top and a stockpile of wood and oil for fuel. Candles in narrow niches provided just enough light to see. Thankfully, that was all they needed.

There was no such thing as a jar made for throwing or, if there was, Andre had never seen it. So he conjured normal ones and handed them to the girls, who filled them from the barrels of oil until the shredded tunic he’d given Sophia from his pack couldn’t hold any more of them. Then she carried them to the door, manipulating the tunic with her Gift, while Andre and Bella filled another four jars, one in each hand. Meanwhile, Sophia used the tunic as a sling, throwing the full jars with shocking accuracy.

In all, she launched nine jars full of oil about the roof, the five she started with plus the four extra the other two brought her, before they ran out with lit candles and used them to set the oil ablaze. The outcome was grizzly. 

The guards, who had not fared well against the cat or the steady stream of flying jars and crankbow bolts, finally fell back down the stairway but they left two of their number behind, lying injured on the roof. They could not get to their feet before the flames reached them. Their screams as they caught fire were horrifying and Andre felt his brief burst of triumph on seeing the others withdraw vanish. 

The goblin cat had somehow avoided all the projectiles launched in its direction. It danced through the field of burning oil, hissing and yowling in rage, but didn’t catch fire itself. Even so, the fire was dense and it didn’t try to force its way through towards them.

“Good work,” Ragi said, falling back to join them. He was cradling his off hand, the sleeve of his tunic saturated with blood from a nasty claw mark that had left two parallel furrows in his arm. “Now let’s get off this roof.”

Andre nodded, panting hard as he said, “Give me a moment and I’ll get us a ladder.”

“I don’t know if we have a minute,” Charissa said, gently moving them away from the raging fire. “Did anyone see where the cat went?”

“No,” Bell said, “but it does vanish from time to time.”

The oil burned with a dense, heavy smoke that drifted down rather than up and Andre found himself coughing on it as he tried to catch his breath. He leaned down, trying to find fresh air, and froze. A small, black creature was trotting across the roof, keeping a healthy distance between itself and the various oil fires burning there. It paused to watch one of the guards, no longer screaming but still twitching as he burned.

Andre would later swear he saw it baring its teeth in a vicious grin. That was when he recognized it, in spite of its drastically reduced size, as the goblin cat. As if that spark of recognition drew its attention, its head swivelled around to meet Andre’s gaze. He opened his mouth to shout a warning but the cat leapt forwards and suddenly grew to its original size, slamming into their group with claws flashing.

Charissa lost the crankbow as the cat bowled her aside. The weapon flew out of her hands, bounced along the roof and disappeared over the edge, taking it firmly out of play. Andre and Bella were thrown to the ground. Only Ragi kept his feet, fending off the cat’s claws with his spear and stepping forward towards its jaws. The cat’s teeth gnashed at him but never quite reached.

Instead, the squat man dropped his spear, wrapped his enormous arms around its front leg and dragged the entire creature along, swinging it around twice and slamming it into the wall of the beacon tower with a titanic thud. The creature let out an almost pitiable yelp, its legs flailing as it tried to get back to its feet. Andre grabbed Ragi’s dropped spear, charged forward and slammed it into the cat’s flank.

The creature kicked him with its hind legs for his trouble, knocking him away. As Andre folded over and slid along the ground he felt his hair standing on end. A brilliant flash of light lit the world overhead along with a deafening crack then a bitter, acrid scent filled his nose. Coughing, he pushed himself to his feet.

Ragi stood a few feet away, his broad hands still outstretched and crackling with the power of the lightning bolt he’d just thrown. The power of his Gift had arced through the air, split the spear in the cat’s side and killed the vile creature dead. Its fur stood out around it in a bizarre halo and its slitted eyes were rolled back in its head. The air was mixed with the scent of burning oil, charred flesh and the strange, bitter scent that accompanied every thunderstorm.

The older man grabbed Andre by the shoulder and hauled him to his feet, saying, “Good work. I’ve never had great control over my Gift. Without that spear to guide the lightning I never would have hit that creature.”

“I’ve always found it amusing that a man with your level of discipline would lack control anywhere in your life.” Captain Phillipe Borgia stepped through the curtain of fire and smoke as casually as the Maestro stepped on stage.

Andre felt his stomach sink. Would this mess never end? Beside him, Ragi tensed as well, his expression transforming from impressed to wary in an instant.

“Corragio del Rhodes,” the captain said, the hint of a smile crossing his face. “As always, your work is impressive. I shouldn’t say this but I’m grateful for ridding us of that menace. I’m afraid the Magistrate’s daughter will not be as well disposed.”

“Phillipe Inexorable.” Andre glanced at Ragi, wondering what that name meant. He’d never heard of the inexorable Gift.

“I am a Borgia now, Signore Rhodes.”

“So I hear.”

The captain came to a stop about twenty paces away and the two men studied each other with open hostility. Then Phillipe’s gaze shifted to Andre, causing him a jolt of terror. “Once again, the Rhodes family keeps unsavory company. I understand why your masters keep their treaty with Underhill but I’ve always wondered what they see in you.”

It took a second for Andre to realize what Phillipe was on about. He’d been fooled by the hat, and didn’t recognize the stagehand he’d been introduced to two days ago but rather thought he was looking at something otherworldly. Andre seized on that at once. He squared his shoulders and met the captain’s gaze, asking, “Do you offer me a name?”

Ragi spun to stare at him in surprise. Phillipe’s amused expression slipped for just a moment as well, replaced by a shadow of uncertainty before a mask of neutrality covered it over. “No, creature. I don’t.”

With that simple rebuttal Andre’s hopes of swindling the captain into letting them go were dashed. The fire on the roof was starting to die down as the oil ran out. Soon the guards were going to be able to get back on the roof and then they were trapped for certain. He would have to buy time and hope the others had a good idea. So Andre tugged his hat tighter down on his head and said, “Then you may know me as Blacklight.”