The Princess and the Bard (Royals of the Realms #1)

Chapter Fourteen: A Demon and its Dark Magic

The breach was at least twice Alori's size, and might have been larger. Large enough for a lesser demon to take advantage of, should they notice or be tipped off to the opportunity by someone with nefarious intentions. If that happened, the enemy could show up anywhere.

It was a misnomer that a breach represented quantifiable space, or that Alori's shield only protected the sky from invasion. Theoretically, her shield was more like air trapped inside a bellows, permeating all it touched with magic. A breach meant there was a leak, that defenses had been lowered and the entire area was vulnerable.

Although most of the shield was invisible to the naked eye, Alori was trained to sense it by concentrating on its aura. If she'd had command of her magic, she could have made the task easier for herself by casting a reveal spell to trace the aura in light, but there were as many problems as there were benefits to using such a spell. 

If anyone could see the breach– and few would miss it, brightening the sky like lightning– she would be making her enemies' jobs easier, too.

Taelan and Reeve stood watch beside her as she studied the shield's damage, sitting cross-legged on a rickety chair Taelan had found on one of the porches. She kept her eyes shut while she worked. Her mother had once compared repairing a breach to mending a torn knit sweater. First, one had to identify the type of yarn the sweater was made with, then the weave. Once those elements had been decided, it was a matter of choosing the proper gauge needle. It was the same with schools of magic and their execution. Repairing a shield was a slow and deliberate process, requiring time and patience.

On top of that, the magic that went into creating protective shields was complex, sensitive, and as ever-shifting as water. It required mastery of all three primary magics.

Alori was the only mage in the Ville-Realms strong enough to craft a permanent, rechargeable shield, which was why she had inherited the Shieldmaker title upon her mother's passing, and why her job was so important. Shieldmages had the ability to create smaller, temporary back-up shields to supplement hers. Some of them could even manipulate her shield, albeit with limited capability. Once placed, the magic within a shieldmage's shield would eventually slow and become languorous, dissipating altogether within a day, more like vaporous clouds than the rushing confluence of magic that was Alori's responsibility to navigate and tame.

"Is there anything we can do to help you, my lady?"

She shook her head at Reeve's question, her eyes squeezed shut. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since Fox went to fetch the shieldmage, but she hoped he'd return soon. She was almost finished with the repair design– it was down to choosing the right needle to stitch up the damage, so to speak, and the process would be easy after that– but she wouldn't be able to begin the repair on her own.

She had to focus and get this last part right. If she used the wrong type of magic– elemental or arcane, when a rune would have been better suited– the patch might not hold up. Even worse, if the shieldmage was late, and they took too long implementing the patch, Alori ran the risk of having to start over.

Magic was a fickle mistress, and ERA magic was in a league of its own.

If Thelix or whomever he was working for arrived before the shieldmage, they would be in real trouble. Alori didn't doubt the blond bard was involved in the breach somehow. Waiting or seeking him out prior to dealing with the damage was no longer an option. It was too risky to leave such a large hole in the shield unrepaired.

There! Alori wiped her hands together, then ran them along the tops of her thighs before uncrossing her legs.

The arcane words of power she'd whispered dominated the completed spell, echoing within her like an ancestral song.