Page 102 of Gift from the Wing

When my gaze turns back to Pyra, I scan the long stretch of darkness for any sign of life. It appears as an endless stretch of black until movement far in the distance, at least a couple football fields away, catches my eye. A meek amount of pale skin pokes out from underneath the black robes hiding them and if not for their careless movements, I never would’ve spotted them.

“Way down that stretch, there’s a group of people. I can barely see them,”I say, pointing my finger to the right.

“We’ll start heading that way,”Tillman says, but I grasp onto his hand before he can give the signal.

“They’ll see us coming in no time. They haven’t spotted us yet because of how far away we are and Caspian’s coverage, but they’ll no doubt see a black cloud heading toward them and sound the alarm.”

“Bring down the concealment, Primary, and we’ll charge,”Caspian says darkly, but I shake my head at him.

“There’s still too much of a stretch between us. I don’t know how to explain the distance in tactical terms for you, but it’s at least four training fields between us and them right now.”

“Fuck,”all four of them mutter.

It would take us far too long to run that distance and have the element of surprise on our side. The other opinion would be to transport closer and shock them, but even then, that leaves our army transporting blindly and potentially still scattered out.

“Conceal us, little wanderer,”Draken says.

“I—”

“Yes, you can. If you can tear down a concealment the size that structure was, you can conceal all of us,”he says confidently, cutting off my rebuttal.

“Feed her your magic, dragon. Primary, ground yourself and concentrate. No more doubt. Just do it,”Caspian commands sternly.

Cocking my eyes up to him, there isn’t a shred of uncertainty in his features or his bond. None of that is to be found in any of my men. When I glance over at Nikoli and Jamie, both shaking where they stand, any remaining hesitancy flees me.

They feel them. I feel her now that I concentrate on her and that’s all the motivation I need.

Reciting the concealment spell in my mind, practice before pushing my power out, I pause as the words repeat.

Conceal my possession from curious eyes. Only to me, you reveal its disguise.

That’s not going to work. They aren’t my possessions.

Calling my magic forth in my chest, I lace it with the intention to conceal those around me who are here to find my family, but only from those who intend to hurt us.

“Conceal my people from harmful eyes. Only to us, you reveal their disguise.”

My power flows across our army like a gentle breeze and only a few surprised noises flutter through the group.

Gazing around, I still see everyone clearly, and by the glances they’re all sharing, they still see each other.

“Time to test it out. I’ll tell Uncle Roye to stay back and man everyone while our Nexus goes and checks. We’ll have them transport to us once we have the clear,” Tillman says.

A smug-ass grin crosses his face when Roye startles and whips his wide eyes to Tillman, but he recovers quickly enough. With a nod to us, I turn the five of us toward the Mastery members.

“Caspian, move us about a training field away in this direction.”

Wrapping his shadows around us, he doesn’t question me at all and in a split second, his blanket of coverage falls away from us. I blow out asubtle breath as none of the Mastery members acknowledge us, and two more times, Caspian moves us closer.

Standing less than a hundred feet from the guards, their voices are finally audible, and they’re none the wiser that we’re now standing right on top of them.

“Clear,”Tillman relays in our minds.

Transports open and the entirety of our army steps up behind us and I continue to bounce my gaze from them to the Mastery members until they’re all gathered back with us.

Facing the volcano head-on, I scan the wall of darkness while simultaneously getting a headcount now that we’re close enough to tell. A wash of Corentin’s magic covers us in a silencing bubble and I shiver at the feel of it before turning toward him.

“Twenty out here. We’ll send a small team forward to take them out while you find the entrance, princess. How do you want to proceed from there, Tillman?” he asks.

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