Page 71 of The Sundered Realms

Vhannor handed her the next spell as one of the casters looked right at them and sent a bolt of magic straight at their shield. It fritzed.

Through the warping air before her, Periannolu’s line of defense looked like it was coming apart, too.

Liris glanced down at the spell. Another scythe. But they were at an angle now, and she understood the pattern—

The illusion-shield vanished.

Liris scrawled a line of Thyrasel through the spell Vhannor had handed her, and cast.

Instead of a precision slice, a wave of fire erupted from their location toward the mercenaries.

Their shield went down instantly, and so did several of the mercenaries.

The powerful fire, meanwhile, kept going, reaching the edge of the protective sphere Damennol had cast—

—and reflecting. The fire hurtled back toward them.

The mercenary casters dove for the Gate, and Vhannor knocked Liris to the ground. Staring up, she saw the silvery outline of a shield spell above them just before the fire wiped it away as it passed overhead.

Her magical fire was too strong to dissipate, but not strong enough to break the caster containment sphere. Not yet.

Good for the prairie, but now they were trapped in here with the fire.

And since the spell wasn’t fading, the chaotic rush of emotion inside her wasn’t either.

“Liris, you have to dispel it. Liris!” Vhannor took her by the shoulders, staring straight into her eyes and commanded, “Tell me what you added to the spell.”

Order in the chaos.

Liris’ natural training to respond to tests kicked in, and she recited the line for him.

“Liris, you have to dispel this, because you’re the only one who knows Thyrasel. If you fail, no one will be able to rescue you before you die. You have to succeed. Understand?”

She thought she nodded but lost focus briefly when Vhannor had to throw up another shield spell as fire passed overhead again.

“Good. Keep listening for my voice, whatever you do. Now, hold the image of the spell in your mind—I know you memorized it. You know how you anchored the Thyrasel. I’m going to recite the rest of the dispel pattern, and you’re going to perform it. I’m with you for every step. Ready?”

Of course.

His hands tightened on her face. “Liris!”

Oh. “Always,” she whispered.

Vhannor didn’t waste another second, and neither did she. Liris spoke, and the chaos roiling inside her gradually became a manageable well. Her focus narrowed to just Vhannor’s voice and the images in her mind. It was only when she finished dispelling and felt the huge weight of the fire spell lifted that she realized it was in fact her vision narrowing as she blacked out.

Liris woke staring at a clear evening sky—through the shimmer of a protective barrier.

The battle for the portal.

She got to her feet, closing her eyes against dizziness; when she opened them, she took in what remained in a glance as she stumbled forward, balance growing with every step.

No living mercenary casters remained. She passed the first one she’d killed, noting absently she had no obvious identifying marks on her face or clothing: definitely a professional.

She’d killed. In the moment, it hadn’t seemed like anything.

It didn’t particularly now, either. Liris felt hollowed out.

Maybe feeling would come later. As she passed the rigid body of one guard’s corpse after another with his face contorted in pain and another wearing an expression of shock under the mask of blood, Liris was in no hurry for it.

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