No. She had to try.
She pushed herself up on shaking legs, reaching out for Pierce when she faltered momentarily. He was already on his feet, gazing up at the kraken with a look on his face that she couldn’t quite read. It wasn’tdefeat, by any means, but she thought it was the look of someone who, maybe, had finally met a problem they didn’t immediately know how to solve. Pegasus versus kraken didn’t seem like a balanced match-up, no matter how powerful the pegasus was.
But maybe I can even the odds.
“Pierce?” she said, and her voice sounded oddly loud in the stillness. “I think I may have an idea.”
He turned to look at her, his expression grave. “I’m all ears.”
“What if…” She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, intensely aware of the massive dark shape looming over them. “What if I… tried to create some wards directly around the kraken?”
Pierce’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Would that work? I assumed that the wards acted from an external location, rather than surrounding the target.”
Celeste nodded. “That’s how they normally work, yes. But I’ve read a lot about wards over the years, and it seems like centuries ago, theydidused to use them directly against threats. It fell out of fashion, because the external wards are much easier to maintain. Using them directly is more of a stopgap measure until external wards can be set up.” She nodded again, more confidently this time. “But it can be done. I’m sure of it.”
Pierce rested his hand against her shoulder, the weight of it strong, reassuring. “And is this somethingyoufeel comfortable doing? Because I don’t want to risk it if you’re not sure. I can fly you back to Portsmith if you think it’s too risky.” He swallowed, a rare sign of apprehension from a man who was always so stoic and calm. “I’ve only just found you again. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you.”
I have to do this. I have to try.
Celeste took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. “I’m going to do it. It’s my duty, after all. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try.”
Pierce looked searchingly into her eyes, as if looking for some sort of answer. After a long moment, he nodded.
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
Celeste sagged a little, feeling at least some of the tension releasing from her body. They were really going to do this, then.
But really, it was, at least, a little exciting. After over twenty years of near-total confinement and daily predictability, she was going to do something completely different. Sure, she would’ve probably preferred something a step down fromgo head-to-head with a giant sea monsterfor her first real step outside the confines of her predictable life, but, well, sometimes you just had to jump into these things feet-first.
At that moment, a horrible, overwhelminglyloudsound erupted forth, shaking the rock beneath their feet. It wasn’t like the tremors from earlier – it was like a nails-on-a-chalkboard screech, but slowed right down until it was so deep that it made the very earth tremble.
“What was that?!” she gasped, pressing her hands over her ears. It did no good, though – the hideous sound seemed to pass straight through.
“I think it was the kraken,” Pierce replied. And indeed, it seemed to be moving its enormous tentacles about, sending them slapping down into the water with an almighty force that sent spray flying in all directions. It was clearly done rising from the ocean, and now it meant business.
“What do you need me to do?” Pierce asked urgently.
“I think… I think I need you to fly me up near its head,” Celeste replied, furiously thinking through her plan. “Wards are stronger the farther they are from land – that’s why my ancestors created them at the top of a lighthouse. If you can get me up high enough, we might have a chance.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
Before she could say another word, Pierce’s body started shimmering – and then the pegasus stood before her once more in all its glory, its magnificent pure white mane almost seeming to glow in the gloom.
Without even stopping to take a breath, she hopped up onto his back, grabbing on to his mane, and before she could blink they were both shooting up into the air, circling the kraken as itkreeeeked and thrashed. Pierce dodged the flailing tentacles easily, but Celeste had an uneasy feeling that the kraken was just warming up. She knew enough about magical monsters to know that they could move with speeds that should not be physically possible.
This is it. Do or die. Now or never.
She closed her eyes, feeling the magic flow within her, and cast her mind back to what she had read, what she had practiced. She had never let herself get to the stage of casting any spells, for fear of disturbing the wards, but she had gone almost up to that point, gathering the magic within her, visualizing where the ward would be, how she would allow the magic to flow from herself to the place where she wanted it to go. It wasn’tthatdifferent from maintaining the wards; it was just… more. Alotmore.
A gust of wind sent her damp hair flying as a tentacle whipped past her face, and okay, the kraken was definitely getting into its groove. Pierce was doing a fantastic job of getting her where she needed to be, and now she had to repay him by upholding her end of the bargain.
She felt the warm pull of magic within her, starting at her fingertips and toes and slowly building until her whole body was suffused with it. Keeping her eyes closed, she let her hands slide from Pierce’s mane, knowing that he would keep her from falling, and allowed the magic to more fully spread through every last cell of her body.
In her mind’s eye, she could sense the kraken’s position beneath her, and it was that position that she centered within herself. Above it, she focused her thoughts on one specific spot, directing all of her magical energy into that one, tiny, infinitesimal space.
Vaguely, she heard the kraken shrieking again, and she was certain that it could sense the massive build-up of magical energy directly above it – but she blocked it from her mind, letting the sound wash over her without paying it any attention. Then, pulling her hands slowly away from each other, she drew the point of energy out in all directions until it formed a net, glowing pale blue in her mind’s eye. Dragging it downward, slowly, carefully, she enveloped the kraken, which screamed and thrashed, hurling itself against the net with judderingthumps that reverberated up her arms and into her shoulders.
She quickly anchored the bottom of the net to the seabed around the kraken, digging it into the rocks and sand. It wouldn’t last for long – the link with the ground was the weakest point, being closest to the earth – but it might hold for long enough for them to come up with a more permanent solution. She really didn’t want to kill it if she could help it – she wasn’t even sure if such a thing was possible – but she couldn’t just leave it to run wild, either. Maybe Pierce would have some shifter contacts who could help him out.
