“Fuck, Jala, what happened? I thought you had finally found the trance and then you just froze!” Neph demanded as he dropped to the ground beside her and began patting her shoulder roughly.
I’m on fire, she realized dimly and nodded stupidly at the realization. That would explain why it hurts so bloody much. She tried to summon words to answer him but her voice caught in her throat. Spots danced before her eyes and the massive white walls of the arena seemed to blur, blending momentarily with the twilight sky. She blinked rapidly, trying to focus and the sky shifted once more above her.
“Jala, can you hear me?” Neph asked, his expression growing frantic.
She nodded faintly and gasped for air, her throat felt raw. I must have had my mouth open before it hit, she realized slowly. A low moan escaped her lips and the sound sent lances of pain through her.
“Can you heal yourself or do I need to get Rose?” he asked, staring down at her, a faint sheen of panic hid in the deep blue depths of his eyes.
“I …,” she began but broke off as the word tore at her throat. Her gaze was locked on the sky above and the clouds that refused to return to normal. She blinked again, wondering if she could heal her eyes if needed as unfocused as she was.
Shall I fetch Rose? Marrow asked. He was beside her she realized and wondered how she had failed to notice a three hundred pound cat approach.
Slowly she shook her head, “No,” and instantly regretted the movement. She took a deep breath and called on the healing magic sending it coursing through her charred flesh. A wave of dizziness washed over her as the worst of the pain faded. No matter how hard she tried she could not tear her gaze from the sky. With effort, her breathing slowly returning to normal.
“Neph,” she said, her voice quavering. She forced her eyes to meet his.
The mage was staring down at her with a bit of glassiness to his pale blue eyes. He was biting down hard on his lower lip as he watched her. At the sound of her voice he leaned closer, a bit of relief showing in his expression. “Yes? Damn it, Jala, I’m sorry. I thought you had shields up,” his voice was rough as he spoke.
She shook her head and waved a hand at him dismissing his guilt. “Don’t worry about it, it was my fault,” she said, her voice regaining some of its strength. “But Neph, is the sky really turning red or do I need to repair damage to my eyes,” she waved a hand feebly in the direction of the sky and watched as the crimson colored clouds grew above her.
Neph blinked once and then looked up. She watched silently as the blood slowly drained from his face. He licked his lips and then looked back down at her quickly. Without checking to see if the healing was complete, he looped an arm behind her shoulders and picked her up. “We have to get to Sovann’s,” he whispered, his gaze flicking once more to the cloud.
“What does it mean?” she asked in complete confusion. Neither Sovann or Neph had ever mentioned such a spell to her before. Her mind slid back to Merro and a black cloud that had been summoned with magic and she shuddered.
“It means the Barrier around Sanctuary has been activated. I thought that thing was a fucking joke. I didn’t realize it was real,” Neph explained as he carried her quickly toward a transport arch.
“I can walk Neph,” she protested, but he ignored her. With a sigh she looked down to Marrow who paced quickly beside them.
What does that mean? Barrier on Sanctuary, I don’t understand, Marrow said with worry in his voice.
“I don’t know,” she replied and looked up to Neph’s pale face. The Mage normally had a fair complexion but at the present moment he looked like an albino. “Neph, what does that mean?”
“It means the Justicars are entirely in control of the city right now, but I don’t understand how it happened. As far as I understood from the legends, the Barrier needs the consent and signet rings of a majority of the council. Even counting all of their votes and the few that might have sided with them there aren’t enough to raise the Barrier,” Neph explained and slid to a stop by the archway.
Carefully he lowered her to the ground but kept one arm on her shoulder as he activated the transport. Marrow pushed in quickly against her leg and the familiar sense of vertigo washed over her as they reappeared in the Merro district.
“What does it do? The Barrier, that is,” she asked, her gaze once again rising to the cloud that was now mostly covering the city. It seemed to roil above them like a thunderstorm, the crimson fog pulsing as if alive.
Neph was staring upwards as well and his voice was faint when he spoke. “It prevents leaving the city by any means. We can’t escape by magic or spell hawk, or even a ship if we wanted to risk the Serpents. We are effectively trapped here with Lord Commander Kellis in complete control. The Barrier will weaken our magic Jala. It will weaken our spells and feed the energy to the Justicars. The Barrier was designed with the idea that the Justicars would be protecting the city and wouldn’t be corrupt.”
She nodded slowly, remembering her trial and the look of contempt Kellis had given her, and the smile he had offered Lord Morcaillo. She swallowed heavily and looked back toward the inner city. “What about Finn and Valor and the others?” she asked. It was possible that Wisp was already in this district. She had been helping Sovann most nights. She knew Finn and Valor were still at the Arena in the area reserved for blades. As of Jail she couldn’t even guess where he might be.
What about Emily? Marrow asked her, his concern clear in his voice and through their link.
Emily should be safe enough. The Justicars don’t know about her yet. It’s the ones they can see we have to worry about, and Kellis hates Finn, Jala replied.