Stranghold hadn’t realised how combustible the robes that the Black Sun wore were, until he burned two of his order to death inside them for returning without completing their mission. They had come back empty-handed and with stuttering, miserable, hollow excuses for their failure, so he had executed them in front of the massed ranks of the Ghost Children army. The next phase of his plan required total obedience, so a little theatre could only help. By his reckoning there were only around 500 of them left, so he had no choice but to act now. He had dissolved the Black Sun’s higher council, and now he alone would decide what their course of action was to be. He had consulted the great book and memorised the spell of release. He was ready. He had all the power he would ever need.
The Ghost
