Tempered by the Will

24 - Intercepted

Expecting more arrows to come flying in, Vica did the only thing she could think of to defend Bren and herself. With her hands in the air, she summoned her magic and let it pour out of her in all directions like a tidal wave. Her power solidified into a translucent barrier that moved and swirled around them, an irregular dome that enveloped even the gondola itself. The water sloshed around the smooth domed edge, turning and rocking the boat as it floated down the canal now that the pointed bow could no longer cut through and lead the way.

"Bren!" she hissed, but it was to no avail. When she looked down to check how deeply the arrow had embedded itself in the elfling's back, she saw suddenly that he was not only unconscious, but inexplicably trussed up in glowing binds as well. Hex ropes! Hex ropes were streaming from the protruding shaft and wrapping around his arms and chest. How that was possible she didn't know, but this was no time to marvel at the feat of magical engineering. With her arms still moving around her in a circle to keep the barrier intact against the force of the strengthening current. She hadn't seen any other arrows come whizzing toward them yet, but she couldn't afford to let down her guard. Wherever those hexed arrows had come from, there were bound to be more.

What frightened her even more was that Bren had become immediately insensate with the one strike. An arrow could incapacitate, but he shouldn't have lost consciousness because of it. Back home, she knew that some in the village would dab the arrowhead with a mixed herbal sedative to better secure their meals, but such things would never render even a rabbit asleep, merely drowsy after some time.

There had to be some other kind of curse laid into the arrow as well. If one of those hit her...

Constantine and Felix, where were they? They were supposed to be taking a parallel route that followed the canal's course, keeping to the woodsy areas when they could so that they could stay out of sight of Lady Murena's spies. Surely they were too far away to help her, and with only a glimmer of daylight remaining, she could barely see anything except the fuzzy outlines of boulders and tall grasses that would reach all the way up to her chest if she stood among them. The drooping trees and aquatic plants that had made the canal look so beautiful before were only obstacles now, and every breeze that twitched the branches and leaves made her think the enemy was hiding among them.

Meanwhile, the boat had taken to spinning a little more quickly as it bobbed on the waves thanks to her spherical barrier that enclosed it. She could hardly get even a half-decent, darting glance at anything with the gondola swaying from side to side more unsteadily with every wave that pushed them onward -

There! She saw something too rounded, too curved to be anything natural  hiding among a thick swatch of water reeds some distance ahead. It was too far to tell for sure, but it looked like it could be the outline of a shoulder. Instinctive readiness mixed with fear flared in her at the realization that she had walked into a ready-made ambush far sooner than she had been expecting. It seemed Lady Murena was quick, quicker than any of them had thought she would be, and she must have assembled people along the canal in advance and instructed them to bring her in with minimal fuss.

Well, Vica would not go quietly. She would go only with great chaos and a loud warning that she was not to be taken lightly. Luckily for these people, they hadn't killed Bren, and he had better stay alive too. Here they were, rocking even more wildly in the canal waters that were churning faster and faster for some reason, rushing headlong toward the bend that would have them crossing the reed patch -

Her raw magic barrier wobbled when she pulled one hand away and flung it forward in the direction of her yet unseen target, making the gondola careen even more uncontrollably and nearly smash into the stone side of the waterway on the opposite side. Vica's body jerked forward and buckled, nearly toppling directly onto Bren's crumpled form, but she managed to avoid him just in time. Her knee cracked against the hard wooden seat instead, but she grit her teeth, narrowed her eyes, and sent forth a concussive blast of raw magic straight ahead.

It radiated out from her in all directions, even making Bren roll over just before she caught him and held him steady, and her barrier flexed and wavered as well. Damn it, this was hard to do when her feet weren't planted on a firm surface, and even now the boat spun once more, forcing her to take her eyes off the man who went slamming out of the reeds and into the sloping canal wall.

They needed to get out of here. Forget trying to travel down the rest of the way to the border of House Murena's domain: they wanted to start a fight here in free territory. Well, what they wanted, they would get, and she was going to make it clear that she was no helpless victim.

And someone was going to have to undo these hex ropes on Bren, too. She was afraid of hurting him, and the only way she knew how to destroy the restraints was with her rot-fire. If she was stupid enough to try that, there wouldn't be much left of Bren to save afterward. Which meant if it wasn't Felix, it was going to be have to be one of Lady Murena's minions -

Something crashed against her barrier from the side, which sent the gondola spinning the other way now. Damn them! With clenched teeth, she sent out another sweeping ray of magic, and this one cracked several low boughs off the waterside trees. But it had the incidental and lucky consequence of pushing her and the boat backward as well. She glanced back over her shoulder just as the vessel bounced against the wall, and with a grunt of effort, she lashed out with another clumsy tendril of power in the direction of the thickest tree she could see nearby. The tip of it wrapped around the trunk, and with the help of the makeshift anchor, she controlled the boat's bobbing long enough to nose it into another patch of thick water reeds. There. Now she could -

Another heavy impact against her barrier nearly threw her off the gondola entirely. As it was, she folded over and toppled sideways, feet flying gods knew where along with her balance. The side of the boat cracked horrifically against her rib, and she let out a half-enraged, half-agonized cry when she felt lightning-hot pain explode along her entire side. Her barrier crumbled, leaving only a jagged, uneven portion remaining to shield Bren and herself from the front.

It wasn't enough. Several arrows came whistling toward her from different directions, tips glowing a faint white in the evening darkness. One of them slipped through, pinning itself to the back of Vica's thigh through her cloak, and her cry rippled out over the water...