Chapter Thirty-Five #2
A look of concentration appeared on Kinan’s face, and a moment later, he was naked. His sister had already promised to look away for this part. Cormal wasn’t willing to break Kinan’s gaze to check what she was actually doing.
Perian said calmly, “I’m going to start sending you Life Magic, Kinan. Just relax. It shouldn’t hurt, not if it’s like it was for Sopellan, but it may cause some discomfort, especially as it’s your whole body, not just one limb.”
They knew all this, and the doctor had just reminded Kinan of it all, but even through the shield, Cormal could see the way Kinan relaxed a little more, like the calm recitation of what was going to happen was exactly what he needed to hear.
Whatever happened, Kinan wouldn’t come out of this the same. Either he was healed, they failed, or it went horribly wrong.
Cormal tried not to project his anxiety.
He just kept staring at Kinan, made sure that there was a smile on his face, and made sure that he was as outwardly calm as possible.
Being angry wouldn’t help anyone right now, despite how tempting it was to throw a few fireballs and try to get rid of some of the explosive energy inside of him.
He could only imagine what Kinan’s reaction would be if Cormal set the room on fire during his healing.
He cut off an aborted laugh because there wasn’t time to explain to Kinan that he was an idiot.
Though the man surely already knew that.
His gray eyes were so beautiful. Cormal could get lost in them forever.
Perian asked Trill, “Ready?” and at the man’s nod, he added, “Sending energy now.”
The shield tightened like it was being sucked closer to Kinan’s form, encasing him completely, and then between one blink and the next, it went opaque, just as it had for Sopellan. Brannal sucked in a breath.
“What?” Cormal snapped way too aggressively.
Thankfully, Brannal didn’t take offense. Cormal was very glad Brannal knew him so well.
“The pull is a lot stronger than it was with Sopellan—but we expected that,” he added, even as Cormal opened his mouth to… he didn’t even know what.
They had expected that. Kinan had to regrow a whole body. This was exactly what they expected, and Cormal yelling wouldn’t help.
“Kinan, are you all right?”
There was no answer, and while this ratcheted up Cormal’s anxiety, they’d at least discussed this possibility. But now that Kinan was in there, it was all different.
“What if he can’t breathe?” Cormal couldn’t help but ask.
“I’m allowing air through the shield,” Brannal promised.
They’d already talked about that, too. But the thing was, this shield wasn’t like any of their other shields. This shield had gone opaque and was being used in a completely novel way. So they couldn’t be certain how it was working. Anything could happen.
“Calm down.”
It was Delana, looking at him with an expression that said she was totally prepared to douse him in water if he got out of hand.
Looking down, he saw that his hands were clenched into fists, and he could feel the rising heat inside of him that could threaten a fireball.
He practiced taking a few deep, calming breaths. It didn’t work particularly well.
“He’s going to be fine,” Delana told him.
“You don’t know that,” he hissed out.
“But I choose to believe it,” she answered. “I never thought I’d see this group of people in the same room again. I never thought carnalions and Life Mages would ever be in the castle. I never thought you would pull your head out of your ass.”
This surprised a sound that was almost a laugh out of Cormal.
Delana continued with a softer smile than she usually used. “But you managed all those things. For the Prince. So believe in this for him, too.”
Cormal drew in another deep breath and let it out slowly. Nodded.
He’d never enjoyed waiting. Sitting here watching and not doing anything was excruciating.
And then, of course, something happened: Trill wavered and slumped to the side.
Molun and Arvus raced over to him, one of them was shouting about more energy, but Cormal wasn’t paying any attention, because he was on his knees right next to Kinan, desperately trying to see through that stupid opaque shield.
It wasn’t working, but he had to know if Kinan was all right. He had to.
His gaze darted up to Perian, whose eyes were closed, a look of intense concentration on his face, much as it had been when he’d managed to make Kinan visible the first time.
The location was much better today, and Perian looked so much healthier now. Cormal remembered how he’d kept sending energy to Kinan even when it hurt him. He’d poured all of his energy into Kinan until Brannal had interposed a shield between them, the only way to stop him.
Perian might not care about Kinan the same way Cormal did, but Cormal knew Perian would do everything in his power to help now.
Tears prickled in his eyes. He preferred throwing fireballs.
A very awkward-sounding Warrior announced, “They’re, uh, working on energy coming faster.”
Cormal didn’t envy those out in the throne room having sex to help this endeavor. He’d strip off right now if he thought it would actually help, but everyone in this room had been forbidden from contributing. They needed to marshal all their energy to be ready to provide Elemental Magic.
It should have been a relief, but just at the moment, Cormal would almost have preferred needing to jerk off to at least have something to do. He could feel sweat trickling down his back, and he knew it was all from nerves. It was the middle of winter, and he was just sitting here.
His gaze caught on the Princess, across and slightly down from him, staring at the shield almost as intensely as he was. He felt oddly in harmony with her, though he didn’t imagine it would last.
Trill perked up again and went back to sending energy to Kinan. Perian continued to focus, though Cormal could see sweat trickling down his brow. It was like the world’s weirdest, most silent battle. But Cormal couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
He didn’t know how long he’d been staring when Brannal suddenly spoke.
“Cormal, Molun, Arvus. I need you.”
They all straightened abruptly. The strain in Brannal’s voice was obvious, though the shield hadn’t wavered around Kinan. Part of Cormal wanted to let it fall, desperate to see inside, but he knew that was too risky.
He added his shield first, settling it against Brannal’s, thinking of them as one shield, as connected elements that belonged together.
They’d always bonded through fire. Then there was the strange sensation of Molun’s shield being added, water but also air—and also neither, because this was a shield rather than the raw elements—and finally Arvus, settling his shield on top of them, solid and immovable.
They went opaque, which Cormal knew was a good thing, but he’d been hoping for a glimpse first. Brannal staggered back, and Delana and Tinnadal helped guide him to a chair—they’d had plans for feeding them and…
stuff, but Cormal couldn’t pay attention to any of that under the onslaught of the shield.
When a demon attacked a shield—or another Mage in training did so—it felt like it was being hit with a force.
The stronger the attacker, the stronger the force.
It was brute force, and the Mage had to reinforce the shield after the blow.
That sapped a Mage’s energy, until eventually, they had to release the shield.
This felt… different. Brannal had tried to explain it, but it hadn’t been enough for Cormal to truly understand. This felt more like the shield was being… sucked away. It was a constant effort to keep up with demand.
Cormal supposed it had the same effect, but it felt very different. The strain was immediate, like he’d been dropped in the middle of a battle he hadn’t expected, and he was surrounded by demons.
Molun swore, “Fire and water,” and Arvus let out a hiss of noise.
Everything that Trill had explained to them about healing, as well as the bits they’d picked up from Lokinna’s book, agreed that Life Magic helped the body heal at an accelerated rate.
But they were learning now in this distressingly practical way just how much more energy it took when you were building from nothing, when you had to convince the body to…
grow from a starting point of zero. Or whatever it did.
It seemed like eternity and no time at all before Cormal felt like he was going to buckle under the strain.
He was drenched in sweat, and his hands were balled in fists to try to hide that they were shaking.
He’d closed his eyes, because that helped him pull all that energy from inside him and focus on the flow of magic.
He was reminded anew of how amazing it was to have Brannal back on his side.
He had no idea how the man had lasted as long as he had, but he didn’t ever, ever want to go up against the other man again.
The energy draw was relentless. Even fighting a nest of wraiths, there were ebbs and flows in the attack, the moment right before or right after a wraith battered against a shield. Here, the pull on the shield never let up.
Each moment, he became more aware than ever that letting down this shield could result in death—but not of him. That he could deal with. No, this could mean the death of Kinan, and there was no way Cormal could let that happen.
He didn’t want to be the one to fail at this, not ever, but Kinan was more important than any other consideration.
“I’m not sure—” he started.
“Replacement, please!” Molun blurted. “Son of a wraith, this is hard.”
Cormal’s eyes popped open as he spluttered a laugh. He appreciated so much that Molun had made this a joint request.
Delana, Tinnadal, Rollanor, and Livala approached, coming to sit beside them. Livala looked incredibly nervous. Though it took a moment to remember how his muscles worked, Cormal reached out and took her hand, squeezing it in his sweaty grasp.
“I believe you can do this. But you don’t have to.”