Page 75 of Dark Reckoning
“It's a possibility,” Kakashi said.
Then I understood why he was so willing to help Salino become Sole Emperor. Whatever spell he cast on himself and Aldéric would give them a fighting chance the other mages probably didn't have. Sage had told me that much over breakfast. Kakashi knew beforehand that whatever plan we came up with, that some of us wouldn't survive. I looked at the other mages, and they were quiet. It would seem that they had hoped that they would live, but had resolved themselves to their doom if they didn't. Hell, maybe I had too. I was still here and I wasn't going to run away. We had a job to do.
“All right, we need to discuss the plan now that we have the weapon,” Xirsi said as he wrapped some sort of beaded band around his wrist.
“He won't be alone, so we need to prepare to fight his army as well as him,” Kyla said.
“So, that means we'll be fighting as one but in two teams,” I stated. “One against those creatures and one against the Dark God.”
“Exactly,” Kyla said.
I’d never worked with these other mages. Didn't know how they fought, and we didn't have time to practice. “So, what's the best defense we can use, then?” I asked.
“Hit him with everything we have,” Xirsi said. “Use your offensive magic while using your defensive to protect yourself and each other.”
“More importantly, how do we make sure that son of a bitch doesn't teleport out as soon as we teleport in?” Sage asked. “I ain't trying to chase this motherfucker around the globe and we may not be able to do the location spell more than this once.”
“I'm already ahead of you,” Aldéric said, then held up a crystal that shined and sparkled in his hand. I didn't know what magic it held, but even I could sense it was powerful. Inside of the crystal was a something red.
“What is that?” I asked.
“What was used back then when the Council took down the god they fought. What it does it seals the area within a half mile radius. Nothing can get out and nothing can get in,” Aldéric explained. “As soon as we arrive, I will activate it with my blood.”
“Can we shrink that distance?” I asked. Half a mile was a lot of ground to cover.
Aldéric shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. The power of the blood inside determined the distance.”
“Must be some powerful blood inside. Whose it is?” Sage asked.
“The blood of the Dark Goddess all those years ago,” Maryanne stated. “That's why it's powerful enough to keep him from leaving the battle. It was recovered from the site of the ancient battle at that time and kept in our vault for events like this.”
“Perfect, because we'll need it,” I said, willing to take whatever advantage we could get.
“Adrian, I'll need you to help me protect Kakashi. You hold up defense while I do offensive strikes to keep him at bay. Make no mistake, Kakashi will be his main target,” Aldéric said.
“I understand. Okay, so we're set, right?”
“As set as we can be,” Rene said.
“Wait.” I turned to Sage. “What about Shi? She's going to want to fight by your side.”
“I'm leaving her here,” he said.
I frowned and shook my head. “Sage, she's going to hate that. You know how she takes her job seriously.”
“She's going to have to accept her place in this,” Kakashi interjected.
I looked at him. “Meaning?”
“The magic that we'll be focusing on will be to protect us. Magic users. None of us can afford to be focusing on a shifter simply to pacify her pride,” he said.
Sage growled, but remained silent.
I protested. “She can help. I would think having the most help we can get would benefit us. Besides, I can give her a protection amulet that can—”
“And do you think your amulet can protect her?” Kakashi shot back.
“She'll be...,” I started to reply, because I thought I had the answer, but I really didn't.
