Farrin moved faster than the new magic user, but his opponent seemed to have some kind of shield that kept Farrin from outright stabbing him. Whenever Farrin tried to move around him to reach Kavon—who arrogantly preened behind the air-channeling magic user—he slid in between them and pushed Farrin back.
“Did you hear everything Farrin said?” Rakel asked.
“Yes,” Steinar said. “You want me to relay the information to Halvor?”
Rakel created a sword of ice for herself. “Please. Go, I’ll cover you.”
Steinar squared his shoulders and took a deep breath, then plunged into the chaos of the battle.
Keeping her focus on her brother, Rakel threw spikes of ice in his trail to keep wolves from pouncing on him. She rained needle-thin icicles on two of the dirt and sand sculptures to keep them distracted. When Steinar had almost reached Halvor, the alchemist stepped towards him, raising her hand to throw a small vial at him.
Rakel created a wall of ice to protect him, but Eydìs yanked the woman’s hand backwards with a lasso of twine.
“We’ve got her, Princess.” Tollak strolled up to the alchemist and studied her through a round lens that magnified the size of his eye. He plucked the vial from the woman’s grasp, and dodged her when she struck out with a dagger in her free hand.
“Here, Frodi. You should try heating this.” Tollak held up the potion.
“We’re in the middle of a battle, old man. Thisisn’tthe time to satisfy your curiosity,” Frodi snarled.
Rakel let a smile bud on her lips and relaxed when she saw Steinar deep in discussion with Halvor.
I think I’ll start with helping the soldiers—and possibly Farrin if I can split my attention. Rakel turned towards the dirt monsters, grimacing when she tapped her magic and reached for the snow in the area.
As the temperatures had continued to rise, the snow melted and created a slushy mess. She never liked dealing with slush—it made everything cold and achy and squelched through any cracked surface—and the ash from the destruction made manipulating it feel even more gritty and unpleasant than usual.Still, Farrin said I should get them wet.
Rakel raised her fingers, and a soggy snow-and-slush-drift poured over one of the smaller golems like an icy wave. Wet, the creature was considerably slowed down, making it easy for her to scoop it up with ice and encase it in a thick coating, immobilizing it.
The creation wiggled in its casing, but it couldn’t break out.
Good.Rakel set her eyes on another one of the sculptures—this one was already contained by several Verglas troops who had surrounded it with their enchanted shields—thanks to Tollak.
Rakel shuddered in revulsion as the chunky feeling of slush washed over her when she reached for a nearby mound of snow.
“Got you!” A man who would have looked at home with Pordis among a merchant caravan clasped her wrist.
Rakel reflexively swung around and threw her magic outwards, creating a carpet of dagger-sharp ice slivers.
The ice made the man jump. “No you don’t!” he said.
Something pricked her wrist, and Rakel felt her magic start oozing out of her. It didn’t curl around her as it normally would; instead it was diverted—like aqueducts from a river.
“Careful, Rakel, that one drains magic.” Dryden shouted from her den of wolves. “He’ll suck you dry!”
Her friendly-looking captor smiled. “It’s true,” he said cheerfully. “I’m like a leech.” He must have pulled harder, for Rakel felt a little more of her magic trickle away.
In spite of the chaos of the battle, she felt confused.Why is he so smug? Should it matter if he takes some of my magic? Will he use it against me?
Rakel was still trying to decide how to react as she raised an ice cage around three wolves, locking them inside.
“Careful, Princess,” the magic-drainer said. “I don’t want to hurt you. If you keep using your magic, I can’t promise I won’t tap you dry.”
“What does that even mean?” Rakel asked.
“It means you won’t have a drop of magic left—as if you’ve scraped the bottom of your abilities—and then you’ll be helpless. So it’s best if you don’t struggle.”
The bottom? What is he babbling about? I have never reached the limit of my abilities. The only time I ever felt boundaries to it was with the mirror, and then I could feel the magic left in all the ice structures I had built.
Dryden drove her elbow into a wolf’s neck. “Frodi—Eydìs, someone’s gotta help the princess!”
