I feel it too.Luca said.
I called out my spell again, and I felt the “brick wall” begin to shake. “Okay, I think it’s working!”
The ward began to ripple under our ringers, the solidness changing texture.
Luca suddenly growled beside me. He spun around, and I cut my eyes at him. “Problem?”
“Someone’s coming,” he whispered. “Maybe three or four fae.”
“Shit, just what we don’t need.”
Luca took a step away. “Stay here and keep working on the ward. I’ll take care of it.”
I turned slightly in his direction, concerned. “Are you sure?”
He gave me a soldier’s salute and then ran away.
What’s going on?Yosef rang in my head.
Trouble, but Luca’s going to take care of it.
Keep at it, Lila. I have faith in you.
I nodded, even though I knew he couldn’t see me.
So, let me tell you, whispering a spell, which requires all your concentration, while at the same time trying to ignore fighting occurring right behind you, is a tricky thing. The back of my brain stung, begging me to run and go help Luca. Every shout and scream made me hunch my shoulders.
If I got the ward down, I could go and help him and then come back and get the cloak down so we wouldn’t lose the town. With renewed focus, I shouted out the spell, trying my best to drown out the fighting that felt like it was right behind me.
The words were in an ancient language that only those of the spell-casting community knew, but suddenly I heard Yosef’s voice in my head, echoing the words. Would that work? He wasn’t a witch, wizard, or mage. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t turning down anything.
My fingers soon eased further into the wall like a cushion. Good sign. Almost there. We kept going, and Luca kept fighting. I didn’t know how long had passed. My mind had entered an almost meditative state now as I called the spell like a chant.
“Get that spell down!” Luca shouted. I could hear his feet racing towards me. “We’ve got more company.”
I didn’t even want to know. If he was this adamant, that meant that more soldiers had shown. Too many for him to fight off on his own, maybe even too many to fight as a dragon.
I continued to strain, not caring if I burst a blood vessel.
Something large and hard touched my back. Not human-shaped. Luca was back in dragon form. This was bad.
Yosef’s voice called out stronger, bringing my focus back into my words, which I hadn’t let go of. I was running almost on autopilot. I screamed the spell even louder now.
And then…air. A breeze graced my fingertips. The ward was down.
Thank you, sweet baby Jesus. We did it.I called to Yosef. It was a good thing because my energy level was nearly zero.
But we still had the cloaking. I turned slightly and cursed, seeing that we were now surrounded by maybe a hundred soldiers. I had no idea. Too many to count. They had weapons aimed at us and what looked like a tank in the back that could do serious damage to Luca.
Oh, hell no. We’d come too far. We’d have to leave, but it hurt like hell to not get the others.
I tapped dragon Luca. “Back up, the ward is down.”
I ran through the mist with the little strength I had left and then stopped once the clouds cleared.
My heart leaped.
In front of me stood Yosef and about a hundred Prinathian soldiers.
