Fate of Dragons

Chapter Nineteen Part II

The mage scouts that had gone ahead would set up shields to hide the approach of those who followed. Tesa followed Malía around the bend toward the entrance to the caves where the Karume hid with the dragons. She couldn't see anything except the curve of the rock wall to her right. To her left, a steep, rocky descent to the fields surrounding Saldive.

Before they rounded the corner, shouts and screams rang out ahead. Tesa's heart pounded in her chest. Something had gone wrong.

Malía paused and put a hand up. The group behind her stopped. Tesa's whole body felt tense as she watched Malía inch forward to peer around the rock wall. If the Karume had found the first scouts, then the rest of the plan was ruined It had depended on the element of surprise.

Tesa pulled her dagger out of its sheath and gripped it in front of her. She would be no match for a trained fighter, but the feel of the weapon in her hands comforted her. Perhaps not all of the Karume were trained fighters, anyway. After all, Linnie had joined them, and Tesa knew she hadn't completed dragon training yet.

Malía stepped back from her perch and motioned for them to get ready. Then, at another motion of her hand, Tesa and the others surged around the bend.

Tesa's feet carried her around the bend despite the fear in her chest. The path widened before the cave entrance, and the mage scouts were spread out before a group of Karume, hurling spells that crashed and fizzled into a shield. The Karume, too, worked furiously to set their spellstones—both the shield and their attack spells. Their shield did not block their own spells form getting out.

Boots pounded all around Tesa as the next group of mages ran to join the scouts at the cave mouth. They flooded forward and joined the scouts in launching spells at the Karume's shields. The original plan, to catch the Karume by surprise, had clearly been abandoned for all-out attacks.

A dragon screamed somewhere inside the cave, then another. Tesa noticed some of the Karume's eyes dart back nervously. She'd come to a stop beside Malía, slightly behind the attacking Yennar Lei mages.

Tesa looked down at the dagger she clutched in her hand, then at the shield. It barely shimmered in the harsh afternoon sun. For a moment, she felt useless. What good would a dagger do when she couldn't even get close to their enemy?

Tesa had promised not to use her unbound magic in Yennar Lei, staying in accordance with their laws. She glanced sideways at Malía, who gripped her own weapon and stared intently at the battle of magics raging before them. Tesa itched to slip into magesight and to get inside that cave to see what was going on. And hadn't Malía said that she was willing to do anything to get the dragons back? But Tesa wasn't sure if the situation warranted it yet. She didn't want to end up trapped in her room again. She looked around at the others crowded around her, all on edge. Renna was clenching and unclenching his fists as he stared at the battle ahead. He must feel the same urge to fight, too.

A burst of light flashed across the surface of the Karume's shield, and the Yennar Lei mages advanced. Had they broken the shield? The Karume mages swiftly laid down more spells, arranging stones in the dirt before them. The shield seemed to come back up. She could only tell because the spells the Yennar Lei hurled at it continued to spark and fizzle away.

Tesa could no longer stand it. Not able to see the magic for herself, and simply trusting in the few outward signs the mages had cast into their spells, would not do. She had to shift into magesight.

Instantly when she shifted, the cliff face became awash with color and light. She could now clearly see the shields that both the Karume and the Yennar Lei mages had set around themselves. Another shield behind the scouts kept Tesa and the other Arethians from being hit by any of the attacks lobbed by the Karume.