Page 106 of Awakening

“Are you hurt?” Trystan asked, his eyes darting between Marc and Morgaine.

“I don’t think I was ready for that,” he grunted, getting up on one knee, “but I’ll be fine.”

“I have three words for you. Giant bark spiders.”

“Don’t remind me,” Marc groaned, recalling how he’d said the same thing to Trystan just the other night.

“We have to fight together. We’re stronger that way. First we need to help Emrys before she kills him.”

As he watched Emrys struggle against Morgaine, Trystan’s eyes flickered. He had an idea. Marc, still at his side, had regained his strength.

“You ready?” Trystan asked. “I’m going to distract her while you break the connection between them.”

Trystan summoned an arrow and let it loose. This time, it penetrated the aura surrounding her and struck Morgaine in her back. The glow of the arrow’s magic spread through Morgaine’s upper body then disappeared. It appeared to weaken her slightly and was enough to break her concentration. Trystan shot again, striking again in her back. It was working. Morgaine’s magic was waning.

Trystan glanced over at Emrys. Painfully, he stood his ground, but his energy was weakening. He hoped that Marc would be able to break the connection before it was too late.

A few more undead clambered toward them. Trystan quickly picked them off then resumed his attacks on Morgaine.

Marc circled around behind Morgaine unnoticed and climbed on top of a nearby wall. Trystan kept Morgaine’s attention tied between himself and Emrys. Marc jumped down from the wall and sliced through the magical forces between them.

A blast of green light exploded around him as Excalibur’s magic severed the link. The force of it blew both Morgaine and Emrys back a great distance away from each other.

Emrys, nearly exhausted from Morgaine’s overwhelming power, scrambled away and hid behind some rocks to recover. He sat for a moment, catching his breath, waiting for his energy to return. He never expected his powers to have weakened so significantly.

A wolf appeared in front of Emrys, snarling viciously, its eyes focused on something behind him. In a blink, it lunged forward and tore its teeth through a rotting corpse, shredding it. It turned to Emrys and bowed its head down. Emrys reached up and grabbed hold of it. Without any command, he and the wolf instantly faded into shadow form.

For the time being, Marc and Trystan would face Morgaine without him.

Trystan and Marc stayed closely connected to one another, leveraging each other’s abilities. Marc, with Excalibur, had his strength. Trystan, with Lokheira, had his skill. What they had yet to realize was that their love was the most powerful element of the bond they shared and it united the power of the two weapons.

As Morgaine cast a fireball at them, Marc blocked it with his shield, protecting them both. Trystan swept around the shield and let loose an arrow, striking Morgaine in the chest. The arrow weakened her for a moment and then disintegrated.

Morgaine continued to cast spell after spell at the two of them, and with each one, Marc deflected it, and Trystan took another shot.

Then, without warning, Morgaine vanished in a puff of smoke.

Marc and Trystan, back to back, watched and waited.

She reappeared closest to Marc. From her fingertips, Morgaine sent out hundreds of tiny, flickering, purple orbs of dark magic. They scattered and flew erratically toward them.

Marc deflected as many as he could away from Trystan with his shield. A few orbs escaped his block. They soared toward Trystan. Marc threw himself in their path. He flinched in pain as the orbs hit him, sending burning pulses of dark magic into his body. In his hand, Excalibur let out a small burst of green magic. It was enough to disintegrate the remaining orbs. He passed the shield to Trystan and rolled toward Morgaine. With a powerful swing, he swiped at her with Excalibur as she turned. The tip of the blade sliced a thin layer of skin across her back.

Morgaine winced at the pain.

Marc lunged, thrusting the sword deep into her shoulder.

The sting from Excalibur caused Morgaine quick piercing pain.

She vanished again.

Trystan passed the shield back to Marc as Morgaine appeared on their flank.

Another arrow let loose.

Fire ball.

Deflected.