William paused, though he remained tense and ready to strike. Someone had targeted and deliberately pulled him into conflict with others like him. Rayse seemed to be an obvious choice. He was one of the most powerful men in Althanas, with contacts at his disposal in every corner of the world. He was wealthy, driven, and intelligent enough to have set this whole thing into motion. And, William thought as he listened to Rayse’s words, he was also an extremely accomplished manipulator.

Molten desire coursed through William’s veins, screaming at him to ignore the contractor’s words and just lash out, giving no quarter. Rayse had to be setting him up to catch him off-guard. But could William be sure? Everything was hitting him too hard right now and his thoughts were a jumble. How long had it been since he had slept? Two days? Three? Mix that with everything that he’d been through over the last two days and William wasn’t surprised he was on the verge of breaking.

So he kept his eyes on Rayse, sizing the man up and trying to decide what the truth was. There had been a time when Rayse had been given a choice between putting himself at risk to save William and helping himself by letting William die. Rayse had chosen the former. Shortly after that, William had been given the same choice and had chosen the later, leaving Rayse in the midst of a nightmarish horde to ensure his own escape. Rayse had survived somehow, and when he’d caught up to William their reckoning hadn’t been pleasant. Had Rayse been holding out for a moment like this, using his wealth and power for revenge?

Darkness coalesced as Talen oozed into existence opposite William. William’s eyes flickered to the shadowmancer for a heartbeat, acknowledging his partner. As they had planned, Talen was using him as a distraction to bring down their opponents as quickly as possible. Only the situation wasn’t as cut and dry as they’d first imagined. William instead found that he had a choice to make. He could err on the side of caution, protecting himself, and simply let Talen’s attack take Rayse. Then the two of them could work to bring Storm down. It would be simple; as easy as doing nothing. Or he could trust Rayse, and in doing so expose himself.

William made his decision.

“Dodge, rotter,” he yelled at Rayse, falling into the familiar cadence of the Plane of Unlife. It wasn’t much, but he hoped it would be enough to jar Rayse to action.

Alongside them, Storm too had dodged, but had replied to Talen’s attack with a blast of energy. William sprang into motion, trying to tackle the lightning mage before too much damage could be done and their conflict be made irreversible. He let his demonic form slough off as he did so, assuming a human guise once more in the hopes that Storm wouldn’t understand that this wasn’t an act of aggression. William would rather fight their true foe together, but if Storm pressed the matter he’d have no choice.

***

Above them, one of the colored men’s pieces tipped and rolled from the board.