We move fast, but not far, staying on the path so I don’t have to keep track of my footing. At Nariel’s signal that we’re sufficiently out of range from the anchor, I pulse my magic, creating a dense cloud with actual physicalheftin front of me and then dispersing it.
I want them focused on me, not on what I’ve done.
Sosatisfying to be able to do magic with real weight. It’s like being able to sing a song at full volume instead of moderating for the neighbors on the other side of your thin walls.
Nariel’s more magically sensitive than me, so I trust him when he confirms, “They’re coming.”
Taking the bait.
Good.
We keep moving, drawing them far enough away that the Cloud Forest does most of the work on the out-of-sight part for us, but Nariel wasn’t wrong that the team from High Earth was coming in fast.
I feel them before I hear or see them, but it’s still eerie to watch them begin to emerge out of the mist.
No Destien at the front this time, to my surprise, and since he’s only ever in the front, I have more questions. Whatever damage he took at Stonehenge, he should have been healed by now.
That does explain why they’re using the same surround strategy that failed at Stonehenge, though. Destien wouldn’t have tried it on me twice, so someone with less experience battling me—possibly Evram, even—just lifted Destien’s last strategy.
But it is different with the mist, because we’re not all coming into sight of each other at the same time.
So the first to emerge are two on my right, and I hit them with a quick bolt of magic lightning that crackles through the air and smacks them with enough oomph to knock them off their feet, even with shields. I feel an answering sizzle against my shield and belatedly remember I’m in a cloud of mist full of water. Oops.
But that gives me an idea, and one that won’t spend as much magic, given the environment.
“Go,” I tell Nariel.
He casts a frown in my direction. “There are a lot of them, Sierra. I count twenty mages.”
That is a lot of mages.
But not impossible if I handle this right. I didn’t prepare the terrain, but I can work with what’s here naturally. That means I need to focus, though, not worry about Nariel.
“Not your problem,” I tell him.
Another second where he gives me a long, considering look and I think he’ll argue with me, and then he disperses into shadow.
Meanwhile, I’m drawing the mist to me, condensing it into tiny bullets of water. It would make me more visible, except there’s still enough mist further away from me to obscure everything. It’s like I’m in a spotlight of clear sunshine that’s only visible once you’re sharing the space with me.
And no one is going to get that close.
I’m not as sensitive as Nariel, but at this distance I don’t need to be.
Another pair appears behind me, and I shoot them. The water bullets burst on impact, but they’re so small and I can fire them with enough concentrated force to make an impact. I feel the flare of the mages’ shields cracking—they back up into the mist to fix that, so I have a window to not pay attention to them.
I’m already whirling to fire another round on my left, then another up into the trees—cracking the branches underneath the pair’s feet. They’re shielded, but that fall will take them out for a minute.
Clever, to come at me from above and try to use the terrain themselves. But not clever enough.
One of the mages on my left dodged, and she emerges out of the mist at the same time a pair tries to flank me from behind. She’s moving faster than the others, probably trained in speed magic, so I condense mist behind me into a wall on the left before turning to deal with the two others.
Matching flames shoot toward me from each of their hands—a mistake, rendered less effective in the mist, but nice and visible to their comrades who may still be finding us.
And also to me. I grip magic tight and for just an instant erode the earth at their feet into soft soil.
They lose their footing and fall down the mountain.
I spin back around in time for the speed mage to burst my mist shield into a billion exploding droplets. Before she’s made her next move, I strengthen my own shield and then zap the air, transforming each droplet into a tiny bolt of electricity she’s surrounded by. No way to escape that. As they start to hit her she falls at my feet, twitching.
