"Brother Richie!"
"Sensei!"
At Adrian and Melina's shouts of joy and relief, I glanced back at them and smiled reassuringly. Now that I was here, I wasn't going to allow any of these bastards to lay their filthy paws on my charges. Placing myself between them and the enemy, I brandished both of my swords.
"You…!"
Henry James gritted his teeth, and then threw out his hand, roaring out and order even as his whip uncurled to strike at me.
"Forget the kids! Kill that summoning mage!"
His subordinates responded, the hooded kidnappers charging forward with their swords while the Jack O'Lanterns pounced on me with gleaming claws. The other masked criminals fired off their muskets in my direction, hoping to overwhelm me with a concentrated volume of firepower.
