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It wasn’t a calm thought, not in the slightest. I was not at peace. But it was so obvious to me how this was going to end that I couldn’t even begin coming up with a plan.

The ravens had reached the end of the dock and were unfolding in a way no bird was meant to do. Black feathered bodies stretched and split, opening to their true forms. It was just like Kalcedon and his Osprey spell. Only the feathers didn’t shed and drift away; they simply ceased to be. It was a neater transformation than his, nothing wasted.

They weren’t human. Not a drop. They must have crossed over in one of the moments when the Ward was down. Whether they were responsible for its failing or were mere opportunists, I could not say.

The faeries took their true forms in a blaze of unguarded heat.

A male and a female stood in front of me, tall and thin with dragonfly wings and leaf-green skin. Shiny armor plated like beetle-shells. Swords of blood-red metal.

Oraik screamed. He stumbled back, only to trip and fall onto the bottom of the boat.

Both faeries charged.

Their power unfurled around them as loose and lazy as a summer’s day, thrumming through my bones and burning straight to my core. I’d always expected pure fae creatures to be powerful beyond comprehension, but to my surprise they felt shades weaker than Kalcedon. They must have spent too much on the fog and the raven forms.

So, like I’d done a hundred times to Kalcedon, I reached forward and shoved my hands into their magic, taking fistfuls instead of pinches. The female realized first. She dragged her power back as the male thrust his sword towards me.

Too late. Too slow. My hands spun, forming phrases faster than I’d ever dared, trusting my endless hours of study to get it right without having the time to think.

My shield snapped in front of us. It wasn’t a fancy one, but it was efficient.

The male’s sword shattered on impact, crumbling into dust. Still hurling towards me, he slammed into the shield and jerked back, nearly falling. It might have been funny if I weren’t still convinced I was about to die. I’d never seen someone run head-first into the invisible equivalent of a brick wall.

A spell shot out from the female, a narrow piercing blade. It shattered on my shield too. I wished I’d gotten further with Tarelay’s work, since then maybe I could have grabbed her attack and used the magic to my own purposes. Instead it simply failed to reach us.

“Get the sail down,” I begged Oraik. My fingers were still twisted into the shield.

“I don’t know how,” he wailed. One trembling hand half-blocked his face as if he was scared to look at the faeries head-on.

The male’s face opened in a silent fanged roar, anger removing his last vestiges of human resemblance. Behind him, the female paced, her cat-like eyes not leaving Oraik. Her lips moved as if she were saying something, but I couldn’t hear it.

“That rope. Pull that rope, below the knot.”

He scrambled up and did as he was told.

I’d meant to take us away from everything. But the faeries would inevitably follow, and I couldn’t trust the same trick to work twice.

We were going to have to trust the Colynes. It was our only chance at escape. I couldn’t call Kalcedon without dropping the shield.

The sail unfurled; in wavering words I directed Oraik how to catch the wind and pull us away from the docks.

The spell was heavy in my hands, dragging on my fingers so hard they screamed. I wasn’t sure how much longer the spell would hold, but it had to. I had to keep the shield going until we reached the safety of the Colynes tal-rih and the witches there. I hoped they were strong enough to help us fend off the faeries.

Oraik was speechless as we sailed towards the Colynes ship, just carrying out my commands wordlessly. The faeries stayed rooted to the shore, and soon we couldn’t see them anymore. The shadow remained heavy over the town.

“What will happen to them? Those people?” he finally asked in a voice so soft I barely heard it.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s my fault. Isn’t it?”

“You didn’t make it happen.” I shivered. I was starting to feel the end of their magic, and I knew that soon if I didn’t drop the spell the cold was coming for me. We were getting close to the Colynes vessel now. The warship reared overhead like a mountain next to us, but I still didn’t dare drop the shield. Not yet. Not until I absolutely had to. Once I let go of the magic there was no getting it back.

The ship behind it was visible now, too, no longer hazy from a distance. It was another warship. Its sails were white, its flags white-and-gold. Cachian.

“But if I hadn’t been there,” Oraik said, still focused on the town. His shoulders were hunched over. I’d never seen Oraik look so defeated.

“You couldn’t have known. Can you try to get their attention, up there?”