You are maintaining the fog by yourself. He began moving toward Avram once more.
The fog is an illusion.
The fog is real. You are creating and maintaining the fog because you are Carpathian. The spell you used wasn’t necessary, he insisted.
I’m not taking chances with your life. She sounded a little snippy.
He smiled because he liked her snippy. As he neared the ridge, he stepped very carefully, easing his body forward. He felt the light tentacle and dissolved instantly. The tentacle thrashed, reaching out to capture whatever had brushed against it. Finding nothing, it retreated, settling back into its hole much like an eel might.
Can you counter Avram’s traps? Mostly, he was concerned for the cat. He could get rid of the traps, although it would take time to unravel them. He wanted to put distance between this place and wherever he would settle for the day.
He felt Julija’s presence as she reached out to feel for the strains of magic. Be very careful, Isai. The entire area there is a minefield of traps. He’s using a blanketing spell, creating allies with the insects. He will continue to use them, growing them in strength and size as he has the time.
Counter it. Take it down. He wanted Julija to realize she could use her Carpathian gifts with her mage talents and do anything she needed to do.
Avram is considered one of the best at these kinds of blanketing spells.
Perhaps he is. Perhaps he is the best of all mages. You are both mage and Carpathian. You will remove this spell for your lifemate. He decreed it, using an implacable tone.
She muttered something he didn’t catch. The words floated through his mind, making him want to smile again. Not words really, her little attitude. She was talking to herself, and her sentiments about her lifemate weren’t necessarily flattering. She did that for a few minutes and he realized she was gathering her courage, trying to overcome her feelings of inferiority, of weakness. She repeated his words to her several times and as she did, there was that strength he knew she had, filling her. He felt determination pouring into her. Next was laser-like focus.
I call to those covered by darkness
By your own will I set you free.
Let your wills be regained as I command
Through my will so mote it be.
She took another deep breath as she now had Vasile’s full attention, his understanding that she was fighting him on a level he hadn’t expected. She had to believe in herself the way Isai believed in her. She couldn’t hurry. She couldn’t make a mistake. She just had to remain calm and do what came so naturally to her.
I gather that which has been shattered
All remnants do I retain.
I return you now to Mother Earth
So that it is her power that stands and reigns.
Each piece is a part
All elements bind.
By universal power
I propel you now to connect and bind.
Thunder rolled across the valley. Lightning zigzagged through the sky, looking as if it was tearing it open. Colors broke through the dark velvet background of the night. Green and purple shimmered in the sky. The aurora borealis brought to life over the Sierras. More colors flickered through the star-filled sky.
He felt the power of her spell. No—the power of the wielder of that spell. Magic warred with magic. The valley and peaks shone with it. Reverberated with the strands as they were peeled back, reluctant layer after reluctant layer. Each one of Avram’s strands were shredded, ripped apart, as Julija’s magic prevailed. He could see the black layers infused now with color. The sparks of red and pink ate through the black, leaving holes and then thin strips that floated aimlessly through the sky.
Blue? Isai was on the move, rushing through the magic grid, now torn apart. The colors were incredible, as strands still clashed in small places, Avram desperate to revive his fading spell. There was power in the colors alone. Julija’s magic wound around each remaining strand of Avram’s and slowly strangled it. The colors were brilliant, sparkling, almost too bright to look at as they consumed the black of her brother’s spell.
Isai found the battle beautiful to watch. He could see the feminine power engulfing the masculine one, refusing to relent even when Avram chose to make a stand, pulling his magic back to the immediate area surrounding him. Julija’s magic continued to attack, no less strong, bringing each layer of her brother’s magic down