#saraj

Continued from this post.

Saraj was as good as his and Safrona’s word. The ethereals worked efficiently around the port to set up the infrastructure for the temporary dome that would cover the town until Aranya’s titan project was in place. The configurations that would alter the eco-dome’s purpose from sustaining a climate to reflecting magic went off without a hitch.

The docks, however, would be left without protection.

It couldn’t be guaranteed that a very visible shimmering energy bubble over the harbor wouldn’t spook the hell out of captains and crews trying to see their ships in and out of port, and so only the town itself would be shielded against magical espionage and attack for now. 

“It’ll be different when the titan enchantment is done,” promised Aranya to Blaque, as they stood side-by-side at the point where initiation of the energy field would be engaged. “I’ll find a way to make sure a beacon is placed for the harbor perimeter, beneath the ocean.” Her tone was determined, her slender hand giving a slight squeeze to the purveyor’s, yet the unconscious gesture seemed more to be one of resolve rather than reassurance. She would not cease her endeavor until she could do just that. She would accept no less.

“Let’s finish this, Saraj,” said Aranya.

With a calm nod of his shimmeringly wrapped head, the ethereal went to the first of the six reactor arches that had been erected around Sunspire Port, and gave the order. Simultaneously, the rings of the arches crackled to life, their energy sparking and merging, solidifying between them, until at last, the whole sky above the town was an amazing bright, prismatic violet.

"Now to go to Stormheim, to learn what I can about the magic of the Makers,” murmured Aranya. The phoenix-mage met the eyes of the assassin. “I won’t go alone, Halenvar will be with me, but I will be as careful as I can,” she promised. “The Kvaldir will hate a Valarjar out of principle, simply because he is marked as one of Odyn’s chosen. Having the love and favor of the Prime automatically wins their hate, whether or not they even remember him.”

There was that slight squeeze of the First’s hand again. Yet, it felt a little different this time.

“But the Unworthy Dead will never forget their reasons to hate me. They will never forgive me, for the innocent souls that I robbed them of tormenting,” the woman pointed out. “So I will be as careful as I can... But if it comes to where I can do no more... I know my shadow won’t be far from me.” A soft smile touched her lips.

A last look was given upward along the arch with her smoldering eyes, sweeping the dome overhead. “If anyone, for any reason destroys or sabotages this defense in the meantime,” the arcanist said in a low, dark tone with her clear voice. “I swear to A’dal, I will shove my hand through their ribs and burn them from the inside.”