Inari did not release Aloisia until they were back in Mavka’s hall. She perched on a bench and examined the slight tremor in her hands. The attack had, of course, left her shaken. She squeezed her fingers into fists. Inari went to the small stockpile gathering on the side table and returned with a dark green leaf.
“Chew on this,” he said.
Aloisia eyed the leaf. “All right.” She popped it in her mouth. Her nose wrinkled as she bit into it. “It tastes like soap.”
“Yes, but it’ll stop that shake in your hands.”
She clenched her fists tighter, not realising he had noticed.
Kaja sank down onto the bench beside Aloisia, looping an arm over her shoulder. “What do we do now? We have to try again.”
“We need stronger chains,” Dhara said.
Mavka nodded. “And stronger enchantments.”
“The hold was momentary,” Inari said. “Even with stronger chains and enchantments, it may only buy us a few minutes more.”
“The shaman, surprisingly, is right,” Ezra said.
Inari scowled at him.
“Perhaps if we had a cage of some sort, designed to better withstand it, we could use those extra minutes whilst the creature is restrained to get it into the cage for a more permanent hold.”
“Where are we going to get a cage?” Aloisia asked.
Dhara lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “The prison.”
“They’d let us?”
“For this? I’m sure they would. I’ll speak with Asmund. He’ll comply.”
“Excellent,” Ezra said. “Once we have one, the shaman and I will enchant it.”
Inari ran his fingers through his hair. “What use is it having a cage if we cannot weaken the Forgotten God enough to keep it in there?”
“What do you propose we do? I can give you a stronger spell, if you wish. Whether you are able to perform it is another thing…”
“By all means, give me the stronger spell. However, we should not just be enchanting the chains. We should enchant arrows too. At least so the Forgotten God cannot cast them aside. Ideally, they will weaken the creature further.”
“Then we have quite the job ahead of us,” Ezra said.
Dhara clapped her hands together. “We all have our jobs, yes?”
“No,” Aloisia said.
“You stay here and don’t die.” She pointed to Kaja. “And you keep watch over her.”
Aloisia’s shoulders slumped.
Upon Dhara’s order, everyone dispersed. Inari passed her another leaf as he followed Ezra to collect the chains. Mavka gathered some arrows. And Dhara left with a couple of their sisters in tow to get a cage from the prison.
As Aloisia paced around the hall, chewing on the leaf, she watched as Inari and Ezra wove the enchantments. The pair knelt at the centre of the room, the lengths of metal chains beneath their fingers as they scrawled rune after rune on them. Kaja followed for a while, but after the seventeenth round of the room, she paused to lean on a wall and left the huntress to her pacing.
Sweat beaded on Inari’s brow as their work continued. The strain of the spell was plain on Ezra’s face. Aloisia’s steps slowed as the hours passed. Unable to aid, and unable to rest, she kept moving. If she focused on her feet, her thoughts could not break through.
One more day.
Bile rose in her throat, and she took a deep breath, trying to settle her churning stomach.
