Because of Peter's death, the Om family had once again sped up the contraction of its territory. Apart from a few peak rank-two Mages kept back on guard, every full-fledged Mage in the family had come out in full force.
That move once again threw the War League's plans into disarray. Great numbers of apprentices who had gotten wind of things and rushed off to harvest merit points ran straight into full-fledged Magefoe, and the casualties were devastating.
At first the War League took these cases for accidents. Only after the encounters kept piling up did they realize something was wrong.
"Shirley, Hailey—where has Ignas gone?" In command headquarters, Lilith asked the twins.
Hailey looked thoroughly irritable. "Ignas isn't our slave. How are we supposed to know where he's gone?"