The next day, Aithne and Briant waded through knee deep snow. “Do you think it will really work?”
Briant shrugged. “It’s hard to say with the way things have been going.”
Aithne snorted. “No kidding. It’s so frustrating to keep failing.”
“It is for me, so it must be for you. I think we’re far enough away now.”
Aithne used her wind spell to clear the snow, stopping after a minute to smack her forehead with her palm.
“What’s wrong?” asked Briant.
“Why did we slog through the snow? I could have cleared a path.”
He grinned. “I was going to suggest that, but we’ve been cooped up for so long I wanted the exercise.”
She snorted and cleared away more snow. When she was satisfied with the space, they sat side by side, and she increased the heat. Taking Briant’s hand, she channeled it into him, and he passed it to the earth. The cold from the air and the ground dissipated.
“Are you doing okay?” she asked.
“Fine, but we’re going to need more heat to turn the sand in the soil to glass.”
She nodded and closed her eyes, channeling more heat through Briant. When she opened them, his hand hovered over soil that glowed red. It appeared shiny, and the red glow spread across a larger area. Part of her felt like they had enough area and heat, but her worry for her mother smoldered inside her. Aware of her powerlessness and the detrimental effect of anxiety, she redirected her worry into channeling to Briant.
“Aithne, that’s enough,” said Briant.
She tried to pull it back, but it had built up momentum.
“Aithne!”
“I’m trying,” she growled, gritting her teeth.
Briant made a strangling sound and jerked his hand away from hers.
Gasping, she raised her hand and aimed her palm across the open field. Flames shot out of her hand, melting the snow and setting fire to the fringe of trees nearby.
Briant jumped to his feet, yelling a spell to summon a rain shower from thin air. The rain doused the fire and chilled the area they’d been heating. Steam hissed from the earth.
Aithne rolled to her feet, jaw slack. “Wow. I didn’t see that coming. Are you all right? Did I burn you?”
He shook his head, surveying the shiny black soil in front of them, and the swath of bare earth beyond. “No, I felt the magic but not the heat. Your hand felt warm, and not much more than normal.”
She nodded. “So, what do you think? Did it work?”
He bit his lip. “Looks like it, but does it look strange to you?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never done this.”
He laughed. “I don’t think anyone has.” He picked up a rock and threw it into the shiny spot. The earth splintered like ice on a pond, and the rock sank, taking the broken shards and splintering more until the entire area was thick and black with a sheen of water. He crossed his arms and shifted his weight to his left foot. “Nope. It didn’t work. I don’t know what that is.”
Aithne picked up a fallen branch and leaned over to poke it into the edge. It slid toward the middle and she had to let go of it. As it sank, she said, “That’s a lot deeper than it should be.”
Briant nodded. “We need a rope.”
“How about a vine?”
He shrugged. “If it’s not too fragile.”
Aithne went into the woods and pulled a vine out of a tree. It broke, but it touched the ground with her arm extended.
With some work and magic, they tied a rock tied to one end and infused the whole thing with magic to strengthen it. Briant tossed it toward the middle while Aithne held the other end. The rock sank as if going through oatmeal, taking the vine with it. Aithne’s end tugged, and she released it with a cushion of air underneath to keep it out of the muck. When it stopped, only a foot remained visible.
She released the air, and the vine drooped and sank. Clearing her throat, she asked, “How do we fix this?”
Briant shook his head. “Without knowing what went wrong, we may do more harm than good.”
This looks like an opportunity to practice your wards to keep animals and small children from encountering it, said a faint male voice in Aithne’s head.
Briant nodded. “Vask says—”
Aithne’s jaw dropped. “That was Vask?!”
Briant frowned. “You heard him?”
“Did he say we should ward it?”
Briant’s eyes widened. “Yeah. How did you hear it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t understand any of this. But he’s right.”
“That happens a lot. You take this side, I’ll get the other side.”
The heat was excessive, said Saphir. I heard the rock break something, followed by splintering.
The film on the top broke, answered Aithne.
Briant spun to look at her. “I heard you!”
“Me? Or Saphir?”
“Both!”
There was a moment of stunned silence from the dragons. It felt like a weight to Aithne.
This … this could be useful, said Saphir.
Indeed, Vask agreed.
Aithne’s legs felt weak, and she sat on the ground. “Briant, I think life is going to be more complicated with you and two dragons in my head.”
***
