"Perhaps you can discuss it with him when I feed him your soul," Zar Tan Zhou snarled, leveling his staff. Before Emmaline could react a bolt of ravening energy ripped from his staff. Amal, moving faster than anyone expected, dodged aside and the bolt blew a smoking hole in one of the walls. Emmaline raised both her arms and began to chant, but the chaos sorcerer, sensing magic directed at him, flicked an irritated wrist. An invisible hand swatted Emmaline away and she avoided crashing to the ground only by virtue of the carpet coiling around her to break her fall, its fabric snapping taught and flipping her onto her feet like a prize fighter being pitched back into the ring by his supporters. Zar Tan Zhou slicked his hands in angry gestures, deflecting two thrown knives away in showers of sparks.

"Come minions!" Zar Tan Zhou shouted, the words ringing unnaturally loud. Emmaline tried her spell again only to have Zar Tan Zhou snap his fingers. The blue tapestries shot out, grabbing at her wrist and she yelped and leaped away, avoiding the enchanted fabrics grasp but loosing the focus of her spell. All across the chamber the tapestries reached out, forcing Amal closer to Zar Tan Zhou. The wizard snarled and shouted a word, tendrils of mist reaching out to seize the thief. Amal slashed at them with his blade and there was a flash of light and a grunt of pain from Zar Tan Zhou. Quick as a whip the wizard lifted his other hand and blasted the thief off his feet. Amal flew backwards, but twisted in the air like an acrobat fingers catching on one of the columns, and landing horizontally on it, cushioning the shock with his feet before flipping down and back to his feet. Emmaline could see shapes moving through the entry hall now, the greenskinned servants of the magus coming to his aid. Ahead of them, almost being dragged by her collar was Zwili, eyes filled with hate, teeth bared in useless defiance. Emmaline raised her hands and began to chant, gathering Charmon to her as greedily as she could. The snake tattoo on her arm writhed and extended out into the golden staff. She leveled it at the dwarf and shouted a word. The iron collar around the dwarf's neck shattered explosively, spraying fragments of hot metal all around. The goblins howeled as their own enchanted collars flew to pieces. They came to their feet, wiping at the cuts and contusions the spell had wrought.

"Oi, the fuggin' collars gone!" one of them hissed. A dozen pairs of yellow eyes turned towards Emmaline and the wizard beyond her. She swallowed hard and stepped to the side.

"He did it," she declared pointing an accusatory finger at Zar Tan Zhou.

"Da' blonde bint is 'it! Git 'em!" one of the green skins snarled and then they were surging forward, some brandishing garden tools, one wielding a pastry roller.