Adrenaline coursed through me, hope and fear mingling. We could do this. We could. If we worked together, we could keep this whole town from being destroyed. But only if we had enough time.
Heart hammering, I searched my connections for Trace, needing to find him fast. Sebastian would probably still be with him.
Nathanial slowed, ripping me out of my reverie, before turning around.
“Wh- at rrrrr ouuu do-ngg?” I asked, scrabbling to get free.
“He cccomzz,” Nathanial replied, adjusting his hold so I could stretch and look behind.
His wings and body mostly obscured my view, but in flashes I could pick out Tristan’s large form, coming fast, holding something. Sebastian.
Bless that weird mage. He’d figured out what it would take faster than I had, found the fastest gargoyle in our arsenal, and come to me.
Hope overtook my fear. Adrenaline still coursed through me, and with it, determination. When I dove through, I’d have to stay conscious long enough to claw out middles or rip off heads. I couldn’t pass out from pain like I had in that cave. I had to keep shields up for those guns, too, long enough to get the job done. After that, after the trap spell was ruined, I could give in to the pain, come what may.
We raced back toward our first location. I pointed to the tarp I’d noticed, and Nathanial’s wings tilted immediately. Cyra and Hollace kept pace. Tristan was still coming. He’d catch us by the time we got there, much faster than Nathanial.
The trap spell started to throb with energy. Tarps lifted, flung away, the mages standing up now as the sun peeked over the mountains. They probably thought they were far enough along in their spell to stop anyone from coming through. That, or they knew the darkness was no longer there to hide them.
Before this battle, we’d only come across male mages. Well, here were all the women.
Working in twos, or threes with one male stuck in, the mages held positions around the circle, working magic in harmony. They were a cohesive team, working together rather than selfishly hoarding power the way Sebastian had said most mages did. Momar had found the team that would elicit the most strength. Their ability to cooperate and share magic what was powering this spell.
Crap.
Magical gun blasts came at us as soon as we were within range, these people knowing their weapons to a T. The hyper-focused mages didn’t so much as glance at us. The nearest group had three.
I pushed away from Nathanial and flew toward the next group of two. Less work to do while trying to maintain consciousness.
I looked at Cyra as Tristan moved in to join us. Hollace flew overhead. She squawked, ready. I looked at Sebastian next.
“We need to do this together,” he called. “It’ll minimize the enemy spell’s power. Do it enough and we can make it through without dying. On the other side, one person will need to take out the mages and the others will need to provide cover. We—”
I knew all this. We were wasting time.
I motioned, readying a spell as Cyra shot her fire. I added to it, and Sebastian joined in a moment later. The three bursts of power converged as Hollace moved in closer. His lightning usually went straight down, so he had to find the right angle to get it to hit the spell where the rest of us were.
The color in that one section peeled back to red-orange as the rest of the spell pushed toward blood red. Then to orange. We needed Hollace’s boost. But he couldn’t get in there just right. He kept missing the mark, not able to add his power to ours. Tristan couldn’t help, and I had no idea where to find Nessa, let alone whether her magic would make a difference.
Hope dwindled again as I looked at those mages working, my energy starting to flag. The guns around them were no longer firing because they knew they weren’t getting through my shields. The mercenaries were watching, though, pushed in close to the mages. Waiting. Ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
The color around our one point of contact continued to deepen. The mages started to slow. We wouldn’t get a better shot than this. We couldn’t reduce the power of that point any more. If we didn’t take action now, we’d run out of energy and we’d all be lost.
The reality of the situation became clear. The person who got through would have to be a magic wielder, because they’d need to continuously hammer that point with magic, even when traveling through the spell. No one else could make it through.
Once that magic user passed the barrier, the point of entry would close and the guns would go active.
One person could make it through, and that one person would have to kill the mages before the soldiers could kill them.