Page 20 of Their Trials

Sweat started dripping into my eyes, further reducing my visibility as I held my hands out, desperately trying to keep the shields from failing. The stale air quickly grew to sweltering, and I could feel my control slipping. Holding three individual bubbles on top of all the other magic I’d used was draining me quickly.

“Guys!” I called out, unable to determine if they could hear me. “My magic is weakening. Whatever you're going to do, you need to do it now!” I warned them, my arms and legs shaking from exertion.

“How much time do we have?” Arryn called out in response, the tension evident in his voice as I strained to hear him, the Ankou dampening the sound.

“Fuck! I don't know! Five minutes? Maybe?” I said, giving them a number, praying I would be able to hold them all that long, but seriously doubting it.

Before Arryn could reply, the Ankou doubled its efforts, pushing against my shield harder, as if by taking me down, it would then have access to all the others, using brute force to weaken me faster. My muscles started shaking harder as I pushed back against the force the Ankou was using as its laughter echoed around me. As I struggled to hold up my shields, the smoke started to clear slightly, giving me a view of Rhowyn still inside my other shield, working my magic to blow the smoke away before it was quickly replaced.

She just didn't have the strength to clear the dense smoke and keep it from hammering at my shield, but she was buying me a little more time, what little good that would do.

The smoke cleared again, my muscles screaming at me as they shook. My eyes met hers, full of determination. I felt a burst of pride at having been picked to be her Consort. She was so strong. Stronger than any of us. She just didn't know it yet. I prayed I'd get to see her when she finally became a force to be reckoned with, that I'd be by her side as she grew into the woman I knew she would be. The only hope for our lands and people.

My knees buckled under the pressure, my muscles giving out as I continued to push my magic into the shields, giving everything I had to buy them more time to figure out how to deal with the Ankou. Rhowyn's eyes widened in panic just as the smoke obscured me from her view again, and I collapsed, completely tapped out. The smoke rushed toward me, swarming me as soon as my shield dropped, intent on my destruction.

I just hoped I had bought them enough time as I passed out, completely drained of magic and at the mercy of the creature who saw me as a meal.

Chapter Eight: Rhowyn

I was doing the best I could trying to control the air magic, but it was harder to use for me. I didn't quite have the skill or the finesse that Baer had. His eyes bored into me as I struggled, my panic increasing. “Arryn, what are we gonna do?” I asked him, knowing we were running out of time.

The smoke shrouded Baer's face again as the Ankou, as they called the creature, pushed through my efforts. I pushed my magic forward, willing it to do as I commanded. It relented, and I met Baer's eyes again, his body shaking with the effort of holding up three shields.

I was almost tapped out myself, but I couldn't stop trying. I heard Arryn call out to Charity's Consorts, trying to discern what magics they could wield to help us. “Hurry, Arryn!” I demanded from him. “He can't hold these shields much longer!”

Just as I said the words, not daring to remove my gaze from his, Baer dropped to his knees. I felt the magic snap, pushing me back as his shields fell, and I watched in horror as the smoke swallowed him up completely.

I tried to run to him, but Callum grabbed me around the waist, effectively holding me back. “Let me go, Callum!” I screamed at him.

“I can't do that, Trouble,” he said softly.

“He needs our help!” I begged, pleading with all of them to help Baer. I couldn't just stand there and do nothing. My hands grasped Callum's forearm as my panic raced through me, my nails digging into his skin painfully as he held me back.

“The others don't have anything that can help us,” Arryn said, sorrow dripping from his words, the defeat evident as I met his eyes, pleading with him silently to help Baer.

“Fuck!” Lennox cursed. “I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, not with everyone watching,” he explained as he stepped toward the Ankou, his hands outstretched as he started to draw on his magic.

At first, I couldn't see anything happening as Lennox's magic slowly built within him. My shoulders started to slump in defeat as I studied the smoke that shrouded Baer from my view, willing it to give me just a glimpse of his form. I prayed that he would be okay. That, somehow, he'd make it through this. I needed him, my bright spot in the world. The darkness I had fought all my life would surely consume me if he was taken away from me.

Finally, as if answering my desperate prayers, I started to see the smoke swirl toward Lennox. I scrambled in Callum's arms again, trying to get to Lennox, sure that the Ankou was going for him next.

“Shh... Trouble. Just wait,” he whispered.

“They need us, Callum!” I exclaimed, glancing up at him, pleading with him with my eyes for him to do something. Anything.

His eyes softened as he spoke quietly in my ear. “His magic is working. Give him time.”

“What!?” I gasped, whipping my head back to see Lennox pulling more smoke to him, where it slithered along his skin, sinking in as if he was absorbing it.

“He's a soul sucker. He's absorbing the Ankou's magic,” Callum explained, his breath warming my ear as his mouth brushed the shell, sending a shiver down my spine. My nails dug into his skin further as I held my breath, watching the smoke increase its flow into Lennox.

“Is that what he did with me?” I asked, referring to when my magic tried to consume me.

He didn't answer with words, simply nodding, his stubble rubbing against my cheek as he held me in place. I clung to him, afraid to hope that we'd make it through this. I'd never been so terrified before, even when I had faced the dragon. At least then, I was able to help, to do something. Standing here on the sidelines, helpless, didn’t sit well with me and proved just how little I knew about this world.

My fear continued to grow as I watched, afraid that if I looked away, the Ankou would win. I couldn't lose these men that I'd slowly come to depend on, even if they angered me and frustrated me to no end. Except Baer. Baer was always my safe place, my sunshine, my ray of hope.

Baer's form was slowly revealed as Lennox sucked up the smoke like a vacuum, devouring the magic of the Ankou. My eyes scanned his body, looking for signs of life, needing to know he was okay. Straining to see, I finally caught the stirring of the dirt near his mouth, churned up from his expelled breath.

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