Nothing but static. The connection was lost.
I shoved the Mark Two into my pocket as I took in the view. My visions did not hold a candle to the viscerally charged, color-streaked mayhem unfolding before us.
The boundary of Alderon’s In and Out Spell spread in both directions farther than the eye could see. However, the army of bad guys on the other side faced off with the Godmothers on our side over a relatively small area, maybe a few hundred feet in length.
Overhead a hundred flying monkeys consumed the skies. Ormé and the Gwenivere Brigade were stationed farther back on the Godmothers’ outer defensive line firing arrows at the monkeys. The Fairy Godmothers who weren’t busy trying to zap inbound creatures with their raspberry-colored magic were pouring magic into the In and Out Spell with their wands.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the spell was an array of monsters and antagonists. The main threat was the twenty or so witches and warlocks gathered at the frontline. They were my Pure Magic kin—I could feel it even without seeing their black auras. Their assembly discharged powerful beams of magic into the spell in a group effort to bring it down. By concentrating their efforts on one section, they had the greatest chance at breaking it.
They were succeeding too; the spell was falling apart. Giant cracks had formed in different areas of the force field. Most only glowed or rippled, showing weakness but not opening yet. However, there were several fractures that were starting to widen at the base of the force field. Monsters fought to be the first to squeeze through.
A blast of Godmother magic smoked the first ogre that burst out of the largest crack, but behind him were more ogres, horse-sized serpents, and beasts with human bodies and green lizard faces. Soon they would be coming in faster than the Godmothers could handle. Especially since the majority of women had their focus on the spell.
Where the failing force field was closest to us, I spotted Debbie and Lenore projecting their magic to sustain it. Above them, a flying monkey neither of the women had noticed dove in for an attack.
“Watch out!”
Magic Instinct reacted and my power enveloped a nearby boulder. It ripped from the ground and sailed across the plain like a lumpy Frisbee, colliding with the flying monkey a few feet before its talons reached Debbie. The creature collapsed at Lenore’s feet, then the rock smashed the beast a couple more times for good measure before going inanimate again.
“Ow!” I clutched my stinging neck.
“Crisa, those golden cracks just spread to your throat!” SJ exclaimed. “You are going to burn out! If we cannot stop you from using your magic, at least pace yourself.”
“It wasn’t me,” I said through gritted teeth. “It was a reflex.” I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. The pain receded enough and I raced up to the startled Godmothers with my friends in tow.
“Crisa, what are you doing here?” Debbie asked, looking at me for a half second before turning her gaze back to the skies and firing her magic at the flying monkeys.
“We’re here to offer an assist,” Ozma said. “Looks like you could use it.”
Lenore’s focus darted to us for a moment, but then her concentration returned to the force field as she discharged potent amounts of magic into its glistening boundary. It was an incredible display. Liza may have been the most powerful person alive right now due to her Pure Magic, but her sister was the most powerful wielder of normal magic for sure. She too had been alive for more than 150 years, and she was the Godmother Supreme to boot. Considering the painful repercussions of my encroaching Magic Burn Out, Lenore was probably even stronger than me for the time being.
“And you would be?” Lenore asked Ozma.
“Reinforcements,” Kai replied, assertively holding up Excalibur.
“Hello, Lena. Long time no see,” Merlin piped in, popping up next to me.
Lenore took a quick double take at the voice. It may have just been the Aurora’s fluctuating streaks and the force field’s erratic brilliance, but I could’ve sworn her face turned red.
“Merlin. You’re not dead.”
“That’s what they tell me,” he replied. “Now, enough coquetry, woman. We’ve got work to do.”
Merlin rammed his spear-drill into the ground and his entire body lit up like a flame, consumed in golden essence. Unlike me, he hadn’t overworked his magic and had let it rest long enough to channel more strength now. Merlin’s eyes radiated bright light as he held out his hands. When he did, approximately two dozen of our allies—a selection of Godmothers and Gwenivere Brigade girls across the battleground—glowed briefly then vanished from sight.
“That ought to help even the odds,” Merlin said. “Those monkeys can’t attack what they can’t see.”
“We still need help with the force field though,” Debbie said as vibrant rays of red magic pulsed out of her wand. “Magic injections don’t affect the spell as a whole. Since we didn’t know where along the border the antagonists were going to attack earlier in the week, our senior-level Godmothers reinforced the barrier at intervals preemptively. But it wasn’t enough.”
“Is this the only part of the spell the antagonists are attacking?” Jason asked.
“It’s the only part that matters,” Debbie said, most of her attention on strengthening the barrier. “It takes a lot of magic to impact the spell so the antagonists are more likely to break it by attacking a small section together. Once they started their attack here, those of us on duty in Alderon came to fight back. A few miscellaneous villains may be elsewhere taking shots at the spell, but they don’t pose a threat. We must focus here, where their numbers give them an actual chance at success.” She grunted and sweat streamed from her forehead. “As it is, our efforts to reinforce the force field in this spot are failing.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Glinda said, stepping forward. She exhaled deeply then, like Merlin, erupted with light. Silver energy ejected out of her. It expanded to thinly coat the several hundred feet of the In and Out Spell being assaulted—a second skin to hold the barrier in place. Her layer even started to seal some of the thinner fractures in the force field.
Unfortunately, some of the damage was already too far gone. The three open cracks at the base refused to even shrink; in fact, they’d expanded since I’d last looked. Monsters were entering two at a time, intent on eliminating the Godmothers. The fewer Godmothers alive to protect the spell after all, the faster it would come down. Right then, an ogre pushed his way into our side of the realm and charged the nearest visible Fairy Godmother. My eyes widened as the monster tackled the blonde woman straight into the dirt.
“Go, go, go!” I signaled my friends. “Destroy the monsters and protect the Godmothers!”
Everyone took off running, but I grabbed Ozma by the back of the collar.
“Hey!” she struggled.
I ignored her protests. “Debbie!” I called. “Can you conjure some form of water for Ozma?” I gestured to my young ally.
Debbie averted her gaze from the spell for a second and flicked her wand at Ozma. A dark gray cloud appeared next to her and rain started pouring out of it.
“It’ll follow you,” Debbie said, spinning back to her greater task.
“Wow. Thanks,” Ozma said.
“No problem. Weather manipulation is my specialty.”
“Now you can go,” I said, releasing Ozma.
She ran toward the fight with the cloud in tow. There were at least a dozen monsters on our side of the realm at this point and more were emerging through the trio of open cracks. If we could keep them at bay for the next ten minutes, the Aurora would be over, the In and Out Spell would magically reset, and none of our enemies would be able to break free. This meant that protecting the Godmothers who were keeping the spell up was priority one until then. Simple in theory, difficult in execution.
The scene swirled around me. My friends assisted with the ground assault. Merlin was making a good number of our allies unseen, and the Gwenivere Brigade was acting valiantly as
always. But I feared it wasn’t enough. Glinda may have been helping, but the original spell was already too weak. Monsters were coming through in a steady stream now. And although there were several dozen dead monkeys on the ground, at least fifty more were in the air. They dexterously bobbed and weaved to avoid our offense, yet their precision when attacking was shrewd and direct. In the distance, one plucked a Godmother off the ground and carried her into the sky.
“Tell me you listened to my warning,” I said to Lenore.
The woman glared at me, but there was a hint of remorse in her expression.
“The Mark Twos stopped working a few minutes ago—there’s too much magical interference with the Aurora.” A bead of sweat ran down her face. “I called for reinforcements right before they went dead, but I don’t know if they’ll get here in time.” Lenore ceased launching magic at the spell for a split-second, took out a flying monkey, then returned to her main task. “There are too many monsters and our strength is failing.”
I stomped my foot angrily. “I warned you!”
“I know!” Lenore snapped back. “And I’m sorry, Crisanta. Now just go make yourself useful rather than having a fit like a child.”
I was both outraged and surprised by the nerve of her. I was outprised. But she was right. If we lived through this, I could rub that “I’m sorry” in her face later. Even though I was on the threshold of Magic Burn Out, I had to defend the Godmothers in whatever way that I could. So I drew my wand and charged.
The cold air whipped against my face as I bolted. A flying monkey dove at me and I slid under its grasp.
Axe.
My weapon transformed and I took off the monkey’s right wing on my way back to my feet. The cracks in the In and Out Spell were spread out, but not by much. By the time I reached the general area where they were located, there were plenty of monsters to contend with. Some of them were taking wild swings at open air, targeting the invisible Godmothers based on the direction their magic blasts came from.
SJ launched portable potions at flying monkeys as Kai and Daniel combatted with a pair of ogres and Jason dueled lizard-people. Blue was closest to me. She was dealing with two bright yellow creatures that stood on long, thin hind legs. They had huge pincers, ruby eyes, and moved with the speed of scorpions.
One of them abruptly smacked Blue. She was tossed in my direction and rolled to a stop at my feet. She popped up immediately. “Kill the Samaracks first,” she said, pointing to the yellow monsters. “They’re blind but can detect heat signatures, so they can see the invisible Godmothers. SJ, Jason, and I fought them in the Shifting Forest. They’re feisty.”
She charged back into the fight and I went with her. No magical attacks were needed from me this time—feisty I could handle with brute force.
Shield.
I deflected a Samarack pincer as Blue rushed in and drove her hunting knife into the monster’s armpit.
Spear.
I twisted and thwacked the Samarack in the face. Blue kicked its knee, causing it to buckle. I slammed my staff on top of its head. Blue finished up by stabbing the monster in the neck. The thing dropped dead and we lunged at the next enemy in line.
Farther away, Ozma contorted rainwater into a punch and assaulted her own Samarack. She followed that move with an ongoing surge of water in the monster’s face, not letting up until it drowned then and there.
Half a dozen lizard men armed with weapons and six-inch, razor claws came through the bigger, center crack at that point. We needed to work harder.
“Ozma!” I shouted. “Keep anybody else from crossing over! Cut them off!”
Ozma rolled beneath the swing of one monster and ran straight at the force field’s widest fissure just as an ogre was about to pass through. She collected as much rainwater as possible and braced herself. A potent flash of silver energy burst from her. The water she released might as well have been a battering ram. She blasted the monster back into Alderon, knocking over several other creatures in the process.
I jabbed two opponents with my spear. Blue spun around and kicked a lizard man in the small of its back.
Shield.
I banged the weapon down between the creature’s shoulders. Blue leapt over, blocked an incoming strike, sliced one monster, then hammer-stabbed another.
Spear.
I rammed the butt of my staff into a lizard man’s forehead and shoved the monster back to Blue, who finished it off. A ways over I heard the shrill cry of a Samarack as Jason killed it. A moment later, a different screech attracted my attention—a flying monkey was swooping toward Daniel. Blue flung a throwing knife at it and the blade hit the beast square between the eyes, causing it to crash into the dirt.
Sword.
I clashed swords with a lizard man. The creature was stronger than me, but not quicker. I broke our deadlock, elbowed it in the face, then used the rounded pommel of my sword to jab its neck.
“Look out!” Kai shouted.
Blue and I bobbed out of the way as the ogre Kai had been brawling with came stumbling through our fight. Kai was on its pale purple back, strangling the ogre with its own leather necklace. Excalibur was sticking out of the creature’s left pectoral muscle.
The monster tripped and fell backward. Kai leapt away to avoid being squished and landed on her feet as the ogre went down. She withdrew Excalibur from its chest and slashed backward at a lizard man. Her precision was perfect, the wound she inflicted, substantial.
We were doing well, but my ears ached at the screeches piercing the air as worry knotted my gut. Despite our efforts, this threat would not be quashed. Our numbers continued to dwindle as monkeys snatched away or killed visible Godmothers. More monsters were coming through the widening cracks. And the spell was now covered in glowing shatter marks much like my hands.
I really didn’t know if we could make it until the end of the Aurora. Maybe if there were more of us, but it didn’t look like Lenore had called for help in time. Even my most optimistic side quaked with fear that no matter what we did, the spell would come down before we made it to the reset.
“I could use some assistance!” Ozma shouted. Her silver glow was getting weaker. Glinda’s extra layer of protection was also becoming patchy as the woman generating it faded in energy too. Both our allies were probably close to Magic Exhaustion. Their normal magic couldn’t sustain much more of this.
SJ hurried to Ozma’s aid. She began firing portable potions at the monsters attempting to cross over, but then a raucous cheer went up from the antagonists as a fourth crack split the barrier farther down. The largest ogre yet stepped through that crack and Daniel, who was closest, sped to meet it. I wasn’t far and raced to help him fight off the ten-foot-tall creature.
Spear.
Whiter teeth than those of a beauty pageant contestant grinned down at us when the ogre saw us coming. Its turquoise skin was almost beautiful in the Aurora glow.
The monster attempted to smash Daniel then swiped at me. I stabbed my spear into one of its big toes, but the creature didn’t flinch. The ogre took a swing at me with a mace the size of a small palm tree. Daniel rolled between its legs and slashed at the back of the ogre’s knees. Jason suddenly arrived and leapt onto the ogre’s back, climbing its decorative chainmail. The ogre stopped smiling. It took another strike at Daniel while stumbling around trying to shake Jason off. I backpedaled to move out of the way, but tripped over a dead lizard man. A half full quiver lay next to the monster. I snatched it up.
Bow.
My weapon transformed and I made good use of the new supplies. Daniel was dancing around the ogre’s attacks—avoiding mace swings, diving in and out at precisely the right times, and taking choice shots before the beast could lay a finger on him. Meanwhile, Jason kept climbing to get in position for the kill shot. They had the situation well in hand, so I took aim at other threats, covering them. A couple of flying monkeys with fangs bared toward my friends were inbound. I grabbed an arrow, transformed my wand into a bow, knocked the
shot, and released. The arrow pierced the chest of the flying monkey intent on grabbing Jason. Within five seconds, I had reloaded and shot a different monkey headed for Daniel.
“Ahhh!”
I whirled around and saw Kai being carried off in the clawed feet of another flying creature. I snatched an arrow—then hesitated. Flying monkeys were easier to hit when diving because their course was a straight line. When they were in retreat they flew way more erratically, making it more likely that I might hit the person I was trying to rescue.
Geez, it would be a shame if I went through all that to save Kai in Century City and accidentally killed her now.
Before doubt could infect me further, I took the shot. My arrow penetrated the creature’s right wing. It shrieked and dropped Kai.
“Ozma!” I yelled.
Ozma turned and launched a wave of rainwater beneath Kai, cushioning her descent like she’d done for me earlier. Then the Ozian turned her attention back to covering her chosen crack—just as two more cracks opened on ground level. Half a dozen monsters stormed through at once.
This is hopeless.
I checked my Hole Tracker desperately.
How have we only killed four minutes?!
There’s still more than that left in the Aurora.
The dome of the In and Out Spell trembled as the cracks spread, raining sparkles down in jagged bits like shattered glass. I could see less than ten Godmothers trying to keep the spell up, and all looked pale and sweaty—they were on the brink of Magic Exhaustion too.
An enormous blast of dark Pure Magic suddenly broke through the higher part of the spell. The force field snapped angrily, and a shockwave rippled through the whole dome. The puncture was crucial and caused destabilization across the barrier, not just in our battle area. Innumerable new cracks spread over the force field and the entire spell glowed; it wouldn’t last another one minute, let alone five.
Then I saw a miracle. A dozen scarlet comets arced across the sky and plowed into the dirt a few feet away from the fading In and Out Spell. The orbs of energy whirred and formed into twelve women. Lenore’s Fairy Godmother reinforcements!
Crisanta Knight: The Lost King Page 30
