"You claim to be the Empire's court mages, is that right?" A young infantryman with leather armor fouled by grime and blood pushed through the gathered soldiers. "Indeed we are, sir," Aurelia replied, her melodious voice deliberately gentle, seeking to defuse the mounting tension. "I'm begging you, my ladies! The healers' tents are too far, and there's a line! Please, you have to save him! He fought for our house, for all of us!"

  Aurelia's eyes sought Lostya's, silently requesting guidance. "Go attend to them, Aurelia," Lostya decided. "We'll manage here."

  "I cannot handle the burden alone."

  "I'll assist you," Julia volunteered. "Very well. Ash and I will handle this." Ash Davan responded with a noncommittal shrug.

  "Bring your wounded to that clearing," Aurelia instructed as she dismounted, indicating an open area nearby. "Those with the gravest injuries, direct them to me. The less severely wounded should be taken to this lady."

  "What approach do you intend to take?" the knight inquired of Lostya. "Breaking through the barrier with magic..." She paused meaningfully. "Three hundred feet, Sir Knight. I truly have no desire to see your men caught in the blast. I trust you will honor your word." The knight sighed in resignation, ordering his subordinates to maintain distance. Two quartermasters led the sorceresses' mounts away. "Now then, Ash, what are we facing?"

  "A single-layer Asiro Barrier," Ash observed, studying the golden wall intently. "Enhanced with offensive enchantments." She noted the electrical discharge dancing across the surface. "That explains why the casualties suffer burns in addition to impact trauma."

  "Lightning magic—your particular expertise."

  "...Golden lightning, though. I'm unfamiliar with this variant." She noticed several Cynthian infantrymen approaching the barrier's edge, their eyes traveling suggestively over her blue dress. "I hate the way they stare," she muttered, her voice dripping with contempt. "I ought to blind the lot of them."

  "Look there—they're not prostitutes after all," one Cynthian soldier remarked, nudging his companion's shoulder. "She threatened to blind us. If my hearing serves me correctly. Frightening witch." Lostya glanced leftward, noticing a diminutive figure seated on the ground some distance away, idly tapping stones against the earth—nothing more could be discerned from this range.

  "Your hearing is perfectly sound," Ash Davan replied sharply in Common Tongue. "If you possess sufficient courage, approach closer."

  The two soldiers had begun to advance when an authoritative voice halted them. "Neglecting your duties? Go assist with the fortifications immediately!" The curious onlookers dispersed, leaving only the original pair.

  "It isn't as it appears, commander," one soldier in chainmail explained nervously. Ash noted his imposing stature and meticulously groomed beard. "She threatened to blind us."

  "Is that a fact? Then I'm amazed those leering eyes of yours are still in your skull." He roughly shoved the men aside before addressing the sorceresses. "And who might you be? Where have those Godman dogs retreated to? Ah, I see them cowering in the distance. Cowards. And they've sent women in their place?"

  "Maintain your distance, sir! She'll take your sight!"

  "Will she indeed? I'm curious to witness what parlor tricks a camp follower might perform." Ash bit her lower lip, flexing her fingers as azure sparks danced between them. "Don't squander your power on such trivial targets," Lostya cautioned.

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  "So you're witches, then?"

  "Merely unusually talented camp followers," the raven-haired sorceress replied with calculated mockery. "Hah, little whores. Did the Godman bastards send you to open this barrier for them?" His eyes narrowed to slits, crow's feet becoming pronounced at their corners. "Have you not witnessed the fate of those who contact this wall? It stands invincible, whores. This is the magnificent spellwork of our—"

  "The Academy Headmaster," a soldier behind him prompted. "Precisely! The Headmaster's extraordinary magic, yes, exactly!"

  "Disregard him, Ash. Let us proceed," Lostya advised. Ash Davan raised her right hand deliberately; electric blue energy crackled between her fingertips, coalescing at her index finger. With a whispered incantation, a bolt of lightning erupted from her fingertip, streaking toward the Cynthian officer's temple. He gasped involuntarily, attempting to retreat, but stumbled over his own feet and collided with his subordinates—whose upright spears nearly impaled him. The lightning struck the barrier and exploded in a shower of golden sparks and brilliant light, yet the wall remained entirely unaffected.

  "Hmph." The sorceress clicked her tongue in disappointment. "Though it's only a single-layer barrier, you shouldn't underestimate its resilience."

  "I understand, Lona. I comprehend everything you're implying. I merely wished to gauge its resistance." The reddening at the base of her neck betrayed her frustration. "Let's try another approach." She extended her palm; a discarded spear from the battlefield slowly levitated, hovering in midair. With a swift closing of her fist, the weapon launched like a bolt from a crossbow toward the barrier. "Incoming!" the officer bellowed in alarm. The spear shattered against the golden wall, breaking cleanly in two. Only then did the officer's clenched jaw relax. "I recognize the limitations of my force magic," Ash admitted. "I'm aware, Lona. Spare me your lectures."

  "They might genuinely be sorceresses, commander," the leather-armored soldier observed while helping the officer regain his footing. "They appear determined to breach the barrier." His chainmailed companion nodded in agreement. "Perhaps we should notify Earl Alofenk..."

  "Let them continue."

  "What?!"

  "I wish to witness their capabilities," he declared dismissively, shoving his subordinates aside. "Can you not see that their attacks haven't left so much as a hairline fracture in the barrier? These witches—or unusually talented whores—are utterly impotent against our defenses."

  Seeing that insufferable, smug grin, Lostya Huggins decided then and there that after she broke the barrier, she would help his incomplete set of teeth become even smaller. She extended her hands, palms upward; subtle currents of frigid air began swirling around her, coalescing between her palms and gradually shaping itself into a transparent javelin of pure condensed wind. "Ash, infuse it with lightning," she instructed, extending the ethereal weapon.

  "Are you certain?" Ash Davan hesitated visibly. "You'll need precise control to prevent the electrical energy from traveling back along the construct..."

  "I understand the principles involved. While not my primary discipline, I possess sufficient knowledge of lightning manipulation." The Cynthian officer swallowed nervously, evidently reconsidering his earlier provocations. The golden-haired sorceress delicately placed her hand above the wind javelin; blue lightning flowed from her fingertips in controlled streams, gradually enveloping the shaft until the entire construct pulsed with crackling energy. "Perhaps this will prove more effective, sir," she offered with a disarmingly pleasant smile.

  The moment the javelin touched the barrier, it was as if a storm broke--a violent explosion of gold and blue lightning, a shower of sparks, and a flash of blinding light, all erupting at once. Unlike before, Lostya maintained her grip on the construct, physically wrestling against the barrier's formidable resistance. Ash observed with growing concern the prominent veins bulging along Lostya's right hand and the straining muscles of her forearm. Blood trickled from her bitten lip, but the sorceress ignored it entirely, focusing all her concentration on maintaining control of the violently vibrating wind spear.

  She lost track of how long she held it there, locked in a battle of wills, before the magic gave out and vanished like the wind. The spell had drained no small amount of her Source, but it was the sheer physical strain that had truly left her weak. The sorceress collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. "Still insufficient," she concluded, wiping blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. "Perhaps... we truly must resort to greater magics, as we employed at Crivi."