They all straightened abruptly. The strain in Brannal’s voice was obvious, though the shield hadn’t wavered around Kinan.Part of Cormalwantedto let it fall, desperate to see inside, but he knew that was too risky.
He added his shield first, settling it against Brannal’s, thinking of them as one shield, as connected elements that belonged together. They’d always bonded through fire. Then there was the strange sensation of Molun’s shield being added, water but also air—and also neither, because this was a shield rather than the raw elements—and finally Arvus, settling his shield on top of them, solid and immovable.
They went opaque, which Cormal knew was a good thing, but he’d been hoping for a glimpse first. Brannal staggered back, and Delana and Tinnadal helped guide him to a chair—they’d had plans for feeding them and… stuff, but Cormal couldn’t pay attention to any of that under the onslaught of the shield.
When a demon attacked a shield—or another Mage in training did so—it felt like it was being hit with a force. The stronger the attacker, the stronger the force. It was brute force, and the Mage had to reinforce the shield after the blow. That sapped a Mage’s energy, until eventually, they had to release the shield.
This felt… different. Brannal had tried to explain it, but it hadn’t been enough for Cormal to truly understand. This felt more like the shield was being… sucked away. It was a constant effort to keep up with demand.
Cormal supposed it had the same effect, but it felt very different. The strain was immediate, like he’d been dropped in the middle of a battle he hadn’t expected, and he was surrounded by demons.
Molun swore, “Fire and water,” and Arvus let out a hiss of noise.
Everything that Trill had explained to them about healing, as well as the bits they’d picked up from Lokinna’s book, agreed that Life Magic helped the body heal at an accelerated rate. Butthey were learning now in this distressingly practical way just how much more energy it took when you were building from nothing, when you had to convince the body to… grow from a starting point of zero. Or whatever it did.
It seemed like eternity and no time at all before Cormal felt like he was going to buckle under the strain. He was drenched in sweat, and his hands were balled in fists to try to hide that they were shaking. He’d closed his eyes, because that helped him pull all that energy from inside him and focus on the flow of magic. He was reminded anew of how amazing it was to have Brannal back on his side. He had no idea how the man had lasted as long as he had, but he didn’t ever,everwant to go up against the other man again.
The energy draw was relentless. Even fighting a nest of wraiths, there were ebbs and flows in the attack, the moment right before or right after a wraith battered against a shield. Here, the pull on the shield never let up.
Each moment, he became more aware than ever that letting down this shield could result in death—but not of him.Thathe could deal with. No, this could mean the death of Kinan, and there was no way Cormal could let that happen.
He didn’t want to be the one to fail at this, not ever, but Kinan was more important than any other consideration.
“I’m not sure—” he started.
“Replacement, please!” Molun blurted. “Son of a wraith, this is hard.”
Cormal’s eyes popped open as he spluttered a laugh. He appreciated so much that Molun had made this a joint request.
Delana, Tinnadal, Rollanor, and Livala approached, coming to sit beside them. Livala looked incredibly nervous. Though it took a moment to remember how his muscles worked, Cormal reached out and took her hand, squeezing it in his sweaty grasp.
“I believe you can do this. But you don’t have to.”
If Cormal had to keep doing it, that was what he’d do, never mind if he felt lightheaded and also like he was being crushed under a monumental weight.
She looked at him solemnly for a moment, then nodded.
“I can do it.”
Delana laid down her shield, then Tinnadal, then Rollanor, and finally Livala, who was biting her lip but had narrowed her eyes fiercely as she stared at the shield as it went opaque. They all nodded, and Cormal, Molun, and Arvus released their shields.
Molun just fell flat back onto the ground and stared up at the ceiling. “We get a vacation after this, right?”
“I’m sure we do. Come on, baby, let’s get something to drink.”
Almost before Arvus finished speaking, there were Warriors there with food and drink, helping Molun to sit up and supporting them both. Cormal blinked as he realized that someone was in front of him, too. His vision swam, and it took a couple tries to be able to hold onto the glass being offered to him.
He used both hands and carefully guided it to his mouth, gulping the warm, fortified ale down gratefully. He stared at the shield, trying to figure out if it looked any different than it had before. Perian and Trill both had their eyes closed. Brannal was sitting next to Perian, helping to support him, absently eating cubes of cheese and slices of apple without taking his eyes off the man.
Almost as if this was the prompt Cormal’s stomach needed, it growled angrily, and he realized he was ravenous. He grabbed one of the sandwiches from the plate next to him and devoured it, then another.
It seemed absurd to be doing something so prosaic as eating right now, but it was the only option Elemental Mages had to replenish their energy. The two Life Mages had the sex energyboost—but there was no one to replace them. They had to be able to see this through, or it would fail.
“How are their energy levels?” Cormal asked.
It was Trill who answered, voice clear but a bit strained. It was obvious he was concentrating on something else as he spoke to them. “The people outside are essential. Yannoma is helping to boost them. Give them a…a second wind. I have never been fed so much or been drained of it so quickly. ‘Heal everything’ has never been so literal. It’s… a lot.”
Cormal bit back the urge to demand if it was too much, because that wasn’t helpful. Their focus was obvious. Cormal hadn’t expected to feel useless again quite so quickly.
