Nature's Peril Part 1 (The Nature Mage Series) by Duncan Pile

confused.
    “I’m sorry to say this my dear, but I think they have grown tired of waiting for me to make up my mind, and have set out for Pell.” Emmy was dumbstruck. Gaspi wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t leave her behind.
    Lydia stirred next to her. “I beg your pardon?” the gypsy girl said, speaking for the first time since they’d arrived. Emmy glanced at her in surprise. Her friend had floated through the last few weeks in a daze, and this was the first time she’d sounded anything like her usual self.
    “I’ve already checked with Drillmaster Trask, ” Hephistole said. “It’s the same story with every person we were planning to send to Pell. Their beds are empty, their weapons gone. There’s no other conclusion to be reached I’m afraid.”
    Emmy found the nearest chair and slumped down heavily into it. “But…why?” she asked.
    “I suppose it’s my fault,” Hephistole responded, sounding so drained Emmy would have felt sorry for him under normal circumstances, but right then she had no emotion to spare. “I delayed too long, and they must have felt the mission was too important to jeopardise.”
    “No, not why did they go,” Emmy corrected him. “Why did they leave us behind?”
    “They must have been trying to protect you,” Hephistole responded.
    “They lied to us,” Lydia hissed, throwing back her head and flicking her hair.
    “Gaspi never lies to me,” Emmy said softly, feeling the first knife-cut of hurt as realisation started to take hold. She’d gone to his room the previous night, wanting to be with him, and he’d turned her away. He’d claimed he was tired, but he was never too tired to see her. It had upset her a bit at the time, but she’d n ever considered that he might actually be lying to her.
    “Perhaps they had good reasons,” Rimulth inserted, but Lydia was having none of it. She glared at him, thrusting her fists against her hips.
    “Don’t even start with that Rimulth,” she spat. “Taurnil lied to me. We are soulbound , and the soulbound do not lie to each other, no matter what the circumstances!” She rounded on Hephistole. “We must catch them,” she said, clearly expecting him to follow her lead.
    “It’s not that simple,” Hephistole said, shaking his head.
    “Yes it is!” Lydia said shrilly. “They can’t have gone far!”
    “I’m afraid they have gone far,” Hephistole said with a sad smile. “One of the pieces of my enchanted amulet has gone missing. I checked as soon as I found out Voltan and the others had gone. They have gone ahead with the plan and transported to Arkright.”
    “But there’s another piece of the amulet right?” Lydia said , her voice getting louder and even more shrill. “Send us after them!”
    “That may not be a good idea,” Hephistole said quietly , a hint of steel in his voice.
    “What do you mean by that?” Lydia demanded. “You have to do it!”
    “I really don’t,” Hephistole answered abruptly.
    “Yes you do!” Lydia responded wildly. “ What’s the matter with you? Just get the amulet and…”
    “YOUNG LADY !” Hephistole barked, sitting bolt upright in his chair and placing both hands firmly on the desk in front of him. “I will not be spoken to like that in my own office!” Lydia looked shocked and angry at the same time, but she didn’t say anything more. “Now please just listen for a moment,” Hephistole continued more softly. “There’s something you don’t know.”
    Emmy listened in growing horror as he spoke of the trail of shattered stone left in the wall of the city, and all over the exterior of the tower. He spoke of the sighting of a demon that could only be the Darkman, and how it had left again without killing anyone. He explained his suspicions that it had been sent to kill Gaspi, and that he had only just transported out in time. He said he couldn’t in all conscience send them into its path, however much they felt it was their place. Emmy objected to that, worry