Page 2905

That had been a concern of many, in recent years. The loyalty of the Monster of the East. And now, with the war, it was a bigger question than ever, Caster felt. Why had Gohvis not involved himself in the war effort yet? Dozer may not have been taking to the front lines like Morgunov was, but he was at least sending forces to fight. Where were Gohvis' mutants? Why weren't they helping?

There were some who questioned the Monster's loyalty. And Caster was one of them.

He hadn't stopped thinking about it. If Gohvis hadn't intervened at Dunehall, Caster could have seized a glorious victory right then and there. Ivan would not have gotten involved--and even if he had, then Caster would have been there to help him when that damnable Abbas Saqqaf showed up and somehow captured him.

There was no doubt in Caster's mind that, together, he and Ivan would have conquered Dunehall and all of Moaban completely.

And he would have the respect of his peers and superiors--of Morgunov, most importantly.

Instead, he was a joke. And elsewhere in Dunehall, the other Rainlords had managed to slay Collins. Now, Ivan's forces were in shambles, leaderless and getting their members poached by countless other sects who were looking to take advantage of their weakness.

Where before, Caster had commanded eight different sects, now those same men were so few in number that he'd had to combine them into only three.

That wasn't even the worst part, though. The worst part was that after Dunehall, for whatever reason, Jercash had actually given him a promotion. He'd granted him control over all operations in Calthos. It hadn't made much sense to Caster at the time, but he'd tried not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

And then, before he'd even gotten the chance to take decisive action, Morgunov arrived and took everything away from him again. Bloodeye and Crowe were placed in charge, while he was all but demoted.