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“Gods blast it!” I spat as the relic pushed me out, snapping closed so hard on my magic, it felt like it'd actually bitten me.
“You all right?” Corporal Denaveire asked. He was a fairly experienced sorcerer now working alongside me. Mountain mint ash streaked down one of his cheeks as he studiously tried to find the right balance for our ingredients.
“I’m fine,” I said with a sigh. “Just trying to get the layering right and the relic is fighting me.”
“It probably just hasn’t accepted you as its new director. I’m guessing one of the crones from your village was in charge of instilling the spells?” That was Mirabella Dandybrass, a mixed indigenous warlock who looked like she could throw down with her fists just as well as with the powers her patron spirit gave her.
“It was a trio of crones, actually. It doesn’t like that I’m on my own.”
“Could we help?”
“No. Not only are you not witches, but you’re also not from the coven.”
“Natch,” the warlock said, using an older curse I didn’t hear too often. She had an interesting way of talking that could makeany talk fun… if I was allowed to enjoy casual conversation with anyone. “Could you maybe do something that would, I don’t know, make it seem like there were more of you?”
“I don’t think a glamour would work on the relic,” Denaveire mused, setting his herbs down. “But perhaps…mental replication?”
“Hmm, I hadn’t thought of that.” I pondered whether this aligned with the magic I knew, and as far as I was aware, there was no hard and fast rule against it. If I could trick the relic into thinking I was three people, well, that’d definitely solve the current hurdle I was facing. “Thanks, Denaveire.”
“No problem.”
I grabbed a notebook and began writing out different possible spell components that would allow me to tap into that re-duplication skill. It was a struggle considering just how exhausted my mind and body were, but after two full days of trying to install the relic with my team of seven other magic users, I was all too keenly aware that we were running out of time.
It’d be wild if we’d gone through hell and back to get the relic, only to be unable to utilize it before the Shrouded Shriek and Vekas’s forces swept in like a red tide. The heat was on, and each second that passed without us figuring it out was another excruciating failure.
At least Darla and Kai were giving me the space I needed. I was avoiding both of them like the plague, but I also knew that if they were determined to interact with me, they were both more than capable of finding ways. I was grateful for the reprieve, even if it did make me feel alone.
But alone was better. Alone was safe. I'd continue being alone for the rest of my life if it was necessary.
Granted, the rest of my life wouldn’t last much longer if I didn’t crack the relic.
At least the sorcerer’s suggestion put me on a track that seemed productive. I chased it well into the night, falling asleep on the ground in front of the altar we’d built at the convergent point of the ley lines. I wasn’t alone, either, as Chantrella, a fae soldier, and Dandybrass were also burning the midnight oil. I didn’t think the curse extended to work partners, but I did worry that being in close proximity to each other for an extended time would put them at risk.
“Hey, wake up, sleepyhead. I’ve been looking for you.”
The words took a long moment to register, but the smell of fresh bacon, eggs, sausage, and toast was certainly enough to get my eyelids fluttering. I groggily looked up to see Darla above me.
I wanted to be mad at her, but it was difficult when the food she was holding smelled so delicious. I was pretty sure that I hadn’t eaten any dinner, either. Whoops.
“You brought me breakfast?” I said, only for Darla to pull the plate away from me at the last moment. “Hey! That’s mean.”
“Sorry, you want the food, you gotta come do boy talk with me.”
“Darla. I’m in the middle of trying to save the life of each soldier and citizen here.” I’d been sequestered around the relic but was more than aware of the many townspeople and citizens filing into Fort Canid in the background.
“No talkey, no eggs and bakey.”
“Ugh,fine.”
It was the most juvenile thing, but I let her help me to my feet and haul me toward the closest alcove where we could have privacy. There, she handed me the plate, and I immediately began to scarf it down as she spoke. Multi-tasking was a skill, after all.
“Okay, so, I was going through regular training routines with a couple of the newer psychics who enlisted this year when noneother than Lieutenant Oren Leveen came up and asked to speak to me.Alone.”
“Oh?” That wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary, especially since he did a lot of the legwork for Kai’s commands, but Darla certainly seemed excited about it.
“Yeah. At first I thought maybe he just wanted to ask clarifying questions about the mission, ya know, since he’s so damn shy, he pretty much never talks to anyone but Kai unless it’s official business.”
“I did get that impression of him, yes,” I answered. Except my mouth was full of over-easy egg and toast, so it sounded more like “Eh dimph geth thampwession, yeff.”
