Memorybound

Chapter 35

Hailey could see them coming, a terrifying number of fairies right behind the shimmer. She summoned her magic and cast night vision on the soldiers, allowing them to see in the darkness. The soldiers gasped as their eyes adjusted. Hailey began to chat the word of power. Keeping the spell in place or this many soldiers required her to constantly be drawing on her power. "euphrone conspectus Taivalon buccellatum," she said over and over.

Isabella was chanting her own words, but Hailey had not time to focus on them or on what she was saying. The fairies in front of her flew back and were pushed into the shimmer. They would have to fight and struggle back through. Hailey glanced down the line of men, hoping that they were holding their own. Fleeing would not do them any good. Aaron's men swiped at the fairies with their iron swords. One of them even held a pan. A fairy clanged off of it and puffed into mist.

Clever, she thought. It would be easier to hit them with the large pan that with a sword. Another held a bucket. One held a shovel and they were all swinging as fast as they could manage. "euphrone conspectus Taivalon buccellatum," Hailey chanted.

Aaron stood behind his men, keeping an eye on them. A fairy flew past one of his men and Aaron swung at it with his sword. She wondered why he had taken that position until one of his men began to follow one of the fairies. He dropped his sword, grabbed the man and slapped him across the face and shoved him back into line. She could not hear what he said to him, but Aaron did not look angry, just determined.

The man shook his head and swung at the next fairy that came at him with renewed vigor.

"The men on the edges are starting to lose their vision," Isabella chided her.

Hailey continued to chant, concentrating only on the task at hand.

"You're trying too hard, Isabella told her. "Don't try to force the magic, let it flow through you. Like the river, you are not forcing it to go the way you want it to, you are directing its flow.

Hailey thought about that, panic rising in her chest as she thought of the men on the end who were fighting side by side with men that they could barely see. She shoved that thought out of her head and thought only of the magic, only of letting it flow through her. Something inside her, something that had been holding on tight, let go and power flooded into her.

Hailey gasped. No wonders Isabella was so much stronger than she was. It was exhilarating and terrifying. She felt that at any moment, she might be swept along with the magic, unable to control it or herself ever again.

Isabella only smiled. "Better," she said.

Hailey could feel it now, the connection to the river, the way the cold power flowed through her, and how she could direct it, not force it the way she wanted it to go.

Men around her were still screaming and dying. Isabella turned and ran, and Hailey watched her, wondering what she was doing.

A fairy led a man into the shimmer nearby and he was instantly attacked. Blood spattered the front line, and some of them flinched back. Then a severed arm was thrown back onto the ground in front of them. A white faced man turned and ran but no one followed him. The men just stepped closer to one another.

She glanced back to where Isabella had run, still holding the spell, still giving the men the ability to see.

A monstrous shape pressed against the shimmer, and Isabella stood her ground before it. The men behind her stepped back, giving the mage plenty of room to work.

Euphrone conspectus Taivalon buccellatum," said Hailey, feeling her heart thunder in her chest. They would not survive this battle without Isabella. She could see that now.