“A lightning bolt struck up there.” Syla waved toward the ceiling.
“We thought it might be something like that.” Tibby pressed her hands against the surface of the sphere and nodded for Syla to do the same.
Before she touched the artifact, her moon-mark started glowing. Hoping that was a good sign, Syla stood next to heraunt and planted both hands on the smooth surface. Magic flared within, as if it had been waiting for her.
“That’s promising,” she murmured.
“Yes.” Tibby closed her eyes, summoning her own magic, and her moon-mark also glowed.
Syla let her guide the way while standing close and lending her power to the effort. Outside, thunder rumbled and lightning continued to flash as angry rain fell and wind gusted. Thankfully, the chamber offered them protection.
Teyla sat in a corner, closing her eyes to rest. Wreylith hunkered down in one of the caves nearby, keeping an eye on them but also keeping her scales from moldering, as she called it.
Hours passed with Tibby manipulating the magic, as if she were tying threads together, or maybeweavingthem together. She drew often on Syla’s power to assist her, and, by the time morning came, Syla was exhausted. But with the arrival of dawn came a thrum of power from the shielder. It started glowing silver, like the one under the castle back home.
“Eyes of the moon, I think itworked.” Tibby stepped back and clasped her hands to her chest, the magical light illuminating her weary face.
“As the creator, should you be so surprised?” Syla stepped over to hug her.
“As the creator, I’mespeciallypositioned to be surprised. I put it together with desperation, vague instructions, and chicle.”
“Chicle? Gum?”
“Tabuvar had a bunch in his workshop. It’s how I stuck a few pieces for the core together while we welded more permanent solutions.”
A ripple of power swept outward from the sphere, making Syla’s skin tingle as it passed over her. It felt exactly like when she sailed or flew through one of the barriers, and she stepped out of the chamber to look upward with hope. Since the shieldswere always translucent, she couldn’t see anything except the clouds in the sky, but she thought shesensedthe magic extending outward from the shielder chamber.
Wreylith?Syla asked.Did you notice that?
The barrier has returned,the dragon replied.You may have to inform it that I am to be allowed through when we leave. I do not wish to be trapped with these angry clouds as you sail away.
I’ll do so.Syla eyed those angry clouds as they continued to spatter rain. Daylight hadn’t done much, if anything, to brighten the sky directly over the island.
The shield had passed through the lower layers of clouds as it had expanded and settled into its usual spot, extending a thousand feet above the highest point on the island as it created a dome over all the land. The clouds hanging low around the top of the volcano werewithinits new protection, and lightning continued to flash, a branch striking the ground nearby.
The barrier isn’t going to make the clouds disappear, is it?Syla asked Wreylith, afraid she was right but hoping the dragon, from her higher vantage point and with her greater senses, would say the phenomenon was changing, maybe even waning.
There is friction where the two magics meet. I can sense energy sparking, but I do not believe either is being lessened by the other.
At least if it keeps out dragons, that’ll be something. We’ll figure out another solution for this… other problem.Syla remembered Ravoran’s irate accusations and wished thishadbeen the answer. Maybe in time, it would be. She hated the idea that these clouds might be a permanent fixture over Harvest Island.
Are you ready to return to your ship?Wreylith asked.
Lightning struck down above their excavation area, and scree tumbled to the ground around Syla. Fel gripped her arm and pulled her back into the chamber.
More than ready,Syla said.
“I’m exhausted.” Tibby peered skyward and curled a lip at the clouds. “After all that effort, I was hopingthosewould disappear along with the dragons.”
“Maybe you should have used more chicle,” Fel said.
“Hilarious,” she told him.
“As all bodyguards strive to be.”
When Wreylith arrived, Syla sent Fel and Tibby back first so they could start their well-deserved rest. Weariness filled Syla as well, but she didn’t know how much sleep she would be able to find. Once they confirmed that the shield was in place and that there weren’t any dragons trapped within its confines, they would have to return to Castle Island.
“Where my problems have only just begun.” Syla wanted to slump against the wall while waiting but forced herself to push rocks aside to clear the swing path of the door. They didn’t want to leave the chamber open and the shielder vulnerable.
