“Good. Then get to it,” said Lady Alice. “Meanwhile, the Elemental Mages will discuss strategies to use their Elemental magic. We already dispersed the fog. We need to keep our eye out for illusions, and, Miss Bingley, when the time comes, we will build illusions of our own. Let’s confer. There is no time to be lost.” She turned to Captain Lake and Sir Robert Fremantle. “We may need to rely on your cannons to keep them away for now.”
Somehow Lady Alice had taken command of the situation. Elizabeth could not afford to wonder at it – she had her own problems to attend to.
Just as the fog had suddenly gone away, the wind and the waves calmed all at once. The sea grew completely calm. The wind dropped.
Gradually, all the mages stopped working. It was clear that the Imperial flotilla was not sailing any closer. The wind had died down completely.
“What is happening?” said Redmond, puzzled. “If they are using Elemental Magic, why have they suddenly stopped? How are they going to come ashore?”
“They might be holding off until nightfall,” said Miss Bingley. “Perhaps they will come in using another fog illusion.”
“They are worried about being attacked if they come too close,” said Lord Grayson.
“The best part is that we are out of reach of their fire as well,” said Mr. Bennet.
“What if it was not the mages who whipped up that storm,” said Miss Kingsley. “What if it was merely a coincidence?”
Elizabeth allowed the seeds of hope to settle inside her. Perhaps they panicked too soon. They might still be able to salvage the situation.
“We do not know whether that is the case, but we must take advantage of the calm as long as we can. If they are not coming in until nightfall, then we have the whole day to prepare.”
Lord Grayson nodded at her. “Agreed.”
The Elementals returned to their tasks. They had come up with a way to extend the reach of their Elemental magic and try it, using each of the Elements to see what worked best.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth threw herself into her work with renewed effort, now that the situation did not look quite so hopeless. Still, she could not help growing more frustrated. They had started by working on blocking the waves, but now that the waves had slowed down, the specific Wards they had weaved had to be reworked again to block out other types of attacks. That was what they had carefully constructed before, and now they needed to redo it.
All the mages were so focused on their tasks, they did not even notice the first hailstone falling, followed by a second, then another and another. Blood trickled down the side of Lady Catherine’s head, and people covered their heads with their hands and started running for refuge as large hailstones the size of cricket balls rained down ferociously on them. They bounced off the pebbles on the beach and flew everywhere. Lord Harcourt gave a cry as a hailstone hit his cheek and a large gash appeared. One of the boatmen was struck on the head and fell to the ground.
“We need a large tent,” shouted Darcy. “Bond! Now!!”
Thinking quickly, Elizabeth imagined a giant blanket and started imbuing it with magic, Darcy and Redmond soon joined in, interweaving her threads with theirs. Mr. Bennet worked on extending one of the sides to make it larger. The fabric was loose, with gaps in it, more like a net than a tent. There was no chance to refine it. It was a makeshift solution, but it would have to do. As long as they could slow down the hailstones and reduce their impact, and people could find shelter.
It seemed for now, at least, they could prevent the hailstones from causing too much injury.
“People can’t see the net, Lizzy. I’m going to go out and bring them here.”
She nodded. Mr. Bennet abandoned the net and ran out under the hailstones, herding people under the invisible net. Once she was satisfied that it would hold, she stood back and looked around her. It was chaos. Several of the mages were holding bloodstained handkerchiefs. There were people sitting on the ground. Far more worrying, many of the soldiers on the cannons had abandoned their positions to take cover under trees or behind walls.
“Is that the best you can do, Boney?” said Lady Alice, with a glint in her eyes. “Hailstones?” One of them struck her on her brow and a small gash appeared, but she did not even seem to notice.
Looking around her, Elizabeth was shocked at the mayhem that had followed. People were running in all directions. They had abandoned their work to hide from the hail.
“Darcy,” she said urgently. “People need to return to their positions. Where is Sir Robert? The men need to hold their positions. Could you send someone to find him?”
A few minutes later, she heard orders being issued and the redcoats scrambled to escape the wrath of their commanding officers. The Elemental mages were back in their assigned positions, spread out along the sea, braving the hailstones.
Not long after, the hailstones slowed, then stopped.
“How strange!” said Redmond. “The hailstones stopped when everyone went back to their roles.” He gave a little laugh.
“What if—” Darcy said in a strange voice, as if trying to wrap his mind around the idea. “What if someone is watching us, and the purpose of the hailstones was to cause disorder? We have been assuming the attack is coming from the sea, but what if everything is happening from behind us? What if the Imperial mages are up there, in the hills?”
“How could they?” said Mr. Bennet, who was pressing a cut just above his eyes. “We searched the area thoroughly.”
No one answered. There were too many unexplained events, and no one knew what to make of them.
“What if the Council was right?” said Darcy. “And they have us hemmed in? What if it is an ambush?” He looked at Elizabeth. “What if Riquer brought us here so we would be stuck between the hills and the sea?”
