anything that he had ever seen. Her eyes were a bright, metallic
green, like glowing emeralds, and she was dressed in a long black
robe that came down to the floor. Her beauty was staggering.
Kanno felt incredible force emanating from her. A power that was
almost palpable. He was astonished by the strength of it. He felt
suddenly very vulnerable in her presence, and it wasn’t just his
nakedness.
“Who are you?” he asked nervously. “How did you get in here?”
“‘My name is Leila, ” she said. “And you called for me.”
“I called for you?” He frowned. Something had gone wrong with
his spell. Had he inadvertently summoned up a fellow adept
somehow? Or was she more than an adept? He began to feel
excited. Had he summoned up a demonic entity? If so, then he had
not failed at all. He had merely succeeded at something other than
what he had set out to do. Something that could prove very useful,
indeed. “You came in answer to my summons?” he asked.
She smiled faintly. “No one summons me, Kanno. You presume a
great deal, and falsely. It was your necromancy that called out to
me. I felt the trace emanations of your spells.”
He stiffened. “You are with the I. T. C.?”
She chuckled. “What I represent is something far more powerful
than the pathetic amateurs of your Thaumaturgical Commission.
You think yourself a mage and you dabble in things you can’t even
begin to understand. You are stumbling blindly on the Way. I can
show you the true path.”
“You?” said Kanno. “What do you know of necromancy?”
“Fool. I am necromancy.”
Her green eyes suddenly flared with hellish fire.
“You have studied the grimoire and the history of the black arts,
” she said, “yet you have not heard of the Dark Ones?”
Kanno quickly made a warding gesture, defending himself from
whatever spell she was about to cast, but her power had not been
aimed at him. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the unholy glow
faded from her eyes and Kanno heard a faint rustle movement
behind him. He spun around… and saw the corpse of his sacrificial