The Siege of Skyhold (Mage Errant, #5)

by John Bierce

“Hugh wouldn’t do something so foolish in a siege,” Kanderon said. She shifted her forelegs in closer a little bit, which sent Hugh sprawling onto the ground. Alustin gave the sphinx a wry look. “Ignoring the fact that he definitely has done plenty of foolish things just like that— because his crippling social fears are balanced by an unhealthy lack of fear for literally anything else— Talia most certainly would. And do you really think Hugh would refuse to go along with Talia or one of the others on a ridiculous adventure?” “You make me sound like a complete pushover who would do anything to please my friends,” Hugh said, picking himself up off the ground. Alustin and Kanderon both gave him flat looks. “Fair enough, I suppose,” Hugh finally said.

“Hurry up, we’re only waiting on you, Godrick!” Sabae called down from the deck. “When did Hugh board?” Godrick asked. “Just now! He launched himself from his bedroom and levitated down to the ship!” Sabae said. “There have ta’ be healthier ways ta’ avoid crowds than jumpin’ off cliffs,” Artur muttered.

Godrick took a deep breath, adjusted his grip on his hammer, then activated his opal enchantment again. Not in the directed beam function, or even the flare function— instead, he activated a function of the enchantment he’d only discovered a couple of weeks ago. Talia, to his irritation, had named it party mode. Dozens of beams of multicolored light lanced out from the opal, sweeping madly across the bridges and battlefield. Some flickered madly as well— Godrick wasn’t sure if that was an intended aspect or whether it was enchantment decay, but it only made party mode even more distracting, which was exactly what Godrick wanted.

“Sorry I’m late, Valia here trapped me in a cage of sword echoes,” Alustin said. “How did you even get out?” Valia demanded. Alustin gestured at his dislocated shoulder. “That… literally doesn’t explain anything,” Valia said. “There’s no reasonable way for you to have gotten free from hundreds of lethally sharp blades simply by dislocating your own arm.” “It’s really no fun if I give away all my secrets,” Alustin said.

Hugh took Mackerel off, then set the strap over Thaddeus’ shoulder. “Mackerel, make sure they head straight to the shelter, and don’t let them get into any trouble,” Hugh said. “Reach out to me if anything goes wrong, and I’ll come running.” Mackerel sent Hugh a mental image of a pinecone wearing a hat, which… was probably agreement on his part. Hopefully.

The third appeared to be an utterly standard bonefire explosion, save for the flames being green. “I added powdered copper to that one, to make it look cooler!” Talia shouted. Hugh started to roll his eyes, then stopped himself. Just because he was angry about having to be carried didn’t mean he needed to take it out on the others. “You know what?” he shouted back. “It did look way cooler!” Talia’s smile stretched all the way across her face at that. Then she hit a tin mage with an especially large dreamfire bolt, turning him into bees.