"Bayle, there's something else I'd like to ask you," Mark said, turning back toward him. "Why did you attack the village I was in?"
At that, Bayle's expression changed completely.
The calm, servile attitude he'd kept up until then vanished, replaced by visible tension and a flash of resentment in his eyes.
"Because of him, my lord," Bayle answered, pointing toward one of the darker corners of the cavern.
And right after he said that, slow, deliberate clapping suddenly echoed through the entire cavern.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
All four of them spun toward the source of the sound.
And out of that darkness, unhurried, a figure began walking toward them.
It was a humanoid being, tall and slender, wrapped in a deep blue overcoat that trailed down to its feet.
And instead of a face, a black orb hovered above its shoulders, smooth and perfect, from which a thick, smoky mist poured out and streamed backward, rippling through the air like a long trail of smoke for hair.
