Magical Midlife Battle （Leveling Up, #8）(125)

Then again, they’d constructed temporary ley lines, something I’d never even heard of. They were good.

Nathanial grabbed me and put on a burst of speed, getting us high. He’d been there for my conversation with Sebastian and knew what was at stake. Most importantly, we’d worked together for long enough that he almost had a sixth sense when it came to me.

Sebastian rose with Trace and pointed in the opposite direction as me. Divide and conquer.

We flew out over the town. Garhettes jogged or walked briskly through the light cast by the street lamps below us, heading for their posts on the outskirts of town. Shifters raced past them, heading to their positions, ready to synchronize their attacks. They just needed to pinpoint the enemy.

That line glowed, the circle imperfect. Then again, it would have taken an alien with impeccable crop-dusting abilities to pull off a perfect circle. I wondered if that would matter. I bet it probably would, although that could be wishful thinking.

We flew closer through the darkness, nearly pitch black out here. No moon. I had a feeling that was by design. It would help their mages, no question, but it would screw their cavalry. The shifters wouldn’t be as affected by the darkness as human eyes. If Sebastian and I managed to do our job, we’d have the upper hand.

Nearer the blue line, I squinted as though that might help me see through the darkness. It didn’t.

We angled downward, needing to get closer. And then a softly glimmering yellow sheen filled the air in front of me.

Oh God, so fast?

How had they even gotten out here without being noticed? Our people should’ve heard engines.

We had people in the towns. We should’ve seen car lights, and they wouldn’t have been able to get out here without them.

Dread filled my middle, a painful weight. Momar had tricks. What the hell was in store for us?

Closer to the sheen, I could make out the first shapes on the other side. They stood shoulder to shoulder, their bodies still, no waving extremities working intense magic. They were apparently waiting to see if the trap would work before they ran to confront the enemy. That, or they were waiting for the enemy to come to them.

Request granted.

My peal of magic shot out. Attack!

A laser blast of a gun seared the darkness, zipping behind us as we traveled parallel to the blue line. We needed to find the mages, who would be set up on regular points around this circle. It was too hard to see from this far out, though. My eyes played tricks in the darkness, making me think I was seeing the ghostly forms of the soldiers but not quite sure. Pockets of black were interrupted with gray, the yellow sheen strengthening in hue and brightness. They were pulling off the impossible, and they were doing it faster than we could’ve ever imagined.

My heart sped up as we went, veering closer to the blue line to see the shapes as I watched them for movement. I needed to see mages working.

A blast zipped toward us, then again. Dread pierced me. They could see us, at least a hazy interpretation of us. Another blast, this one from right above. We wouldn’t have stealth on our side.

The blue line started to throb now, faint but noticeable. I didn’t know what that meant, though.

Maybe they were depleting the ley line of its magic. That would be ideal, since they were only at the yellow stage of the spell.

We veered closer, trying to see, risking their guns. The blasts came fast, scraping across my bottom, but more of them missing than hitting. I’d hold back on using magic until I had a real target. A mage target. The darkness was helping us as much as them, maybe more so because our potion was just a bit stronger, but any closer and they’d roast us. There were just so many of them.

Farther along now, Nathaniel first flew upward and then dove down, making us harder to hit. The ground rushed below us. Through my connections, I could feel the others spreading out along the perimeter line, all together. That had been the plan, hit them as a unit. A good plan, ensuring their forces couldn’t overwhelm us, but a slow plan because the gargoyles had to keep pace with the running shifters and basajaunak. Still, they should be here shortly.

The blue still throbbed. The yellow darkened, heading toward orange.

I had to find those mages! Where the hell were they?

A thought occurred to me. What if they were ducked down near the blue line, and I was only noticing the mercenaries because of their larger stature? Or hell, maybe they were covered in sheets. I had to get closer. Better yet, if I got on the other side of that sheen, I couldn’t be trapped within it. I’d have more time.

I tore away from Nathanial and angled up, driving high to cross over. The sheen curved upward, preventing me from getting as high as I would’ve otherwise flown. Nathanial grabbed me for a boost of speed, and we hit the curve.

Pain screamed across the parts of me that touched the dome. A clear, agonizing barrier, it had a

somewhat solid feeling. Nathanial grunted in pain, his skin sizzling. His arms went limp, and I dropped like a stone. My left wing ached from where it had touched the dome, still working but at a cost. Nathanial flapped, lowering in the sky as the blasts from guns cut all around us.

I grabbed him this time, trying to get him farther away, the equivalent of limping through the air. A blast hit my leg. Another got me in the side before I covered us with a magical deflective layer. I struggled to keep going, healing as fast as I could, drifting farther into the darkness.

That barrier reminded me of the time I’d been trapped under a mountain with Dave guarding me.