"No, block the pass first," Brianna said.
"But people are dying," Mianna said, her voice high pitched and frantic.
"And the more trolls that get through, the more people will die. There are many more coming, and if we don't stop them before they get here, we have no chance."
Lyall nodded. Brianna's words made sense. "Block the pass," he agreed and took Brianna's hand.
Terion took one last look at the field below and nodded as well. "They're right, Mia."
Mianna scanned all of them, their faces firm, then nodded. She took Terion's hand with one hand and Brianna's with the other, joining them together in one long chain.
Lyall's hand held the gem. He hoped their connection would spread the power through them so that they could all use their magic. There was only one way to find out.
He summoned his magic, letting it flow through him and focused it on the ridge. A rainbow of colours joined his, obscuring his view of the ridge for a moment, startling him. He glanced at the line of people beside him.
Brianna frowned in concentration, blue and green magic streaming from her. Mianna, eyes closed, gave off the yellow light, and Terion's red light blended with hers, creating orange in between. Lyall's own magic had taken on a violet hue.
He'd never seen anything like it. Yes, magic had colours, and some people's colours were different, but to see a rainbow like this? What did it mean?
He shook himself. He didn't have time to wonder. People were dying.
Focusing his attention back on the ridge, he picked the narrowest point of the pass and began to weave.
It was a fiddly and difficult job. Brianna, Mianna and Terion tried to shove their magic in as though they could hold off the trolls with sheer force of will. As the only one with any magical training, Lyall tried to bind their weaves together, to make the barrier strong enough to withstand the onslaught, both magical and physical, it would no doubt be subjected to.
Every now and then, there was a dying scream below them, sometimes human, sometimes troll. The magic would falter then, as the other's attention wavered, and Lyall had to work doubly hard to patch the holes again.
A loud roar in the field below startled him enough for him to glance down for a moment. Mages poured into the field, swords held high, surrounding the remaining trolls. He smiled, grateful for his father's show of support. The knowledge that the villagers had help enabled him to focus back on the barrier they were building. If they could just make this hold …
A dark purple maelstrom of magic poured down the tunnel, crashing into his barrier, tangling with the bright colours. Lyall fought to hold the barrier, adding his magic to it as the dark magic ate it up. Beside him, Brianna, Mianna and Terion added theirs.
He could feel Brianna's hand tighten on his, as though by holding him tightly, she could bind their magic together. It gave Lyall an idea.
"We need to each hold one part, make a rainbow," he said, not taking his focus away from the ridge.
He had no idea if the others could hear him, or if they were too focused on the ridge, but slowly, their colours separated from the writhing mass. They each took up one part of the pass, the colours separating into a rainbow, blending where they joined. Using the colours helped them each focus on their own section and joining with the next.
It was hard to limit his focus to one area and not jump in and tidy up the loose magic that the untrained mages used, but Lyall forced himself to. He wove his own colours together, over and over, until they formed a tight barrier. Beside him, Brianna copied him. He hoped that the others copied her.
Behind the barrier, the dark magic rolled and tumbled. Then the head troll appeared out of it, holding his partner's hand.
But their combined magic was no match for the magic of four that had built their barrier. The magic rolled around, searching for a crack, but it could find none. Beside the mage, trolls beat at the barrier with their swords, but they couldn't touch it.
Lyall smiled. They'd done it. Even as he celebrated though, he knew it was too easy. As he watched …
Up, up, the dark magic rolled, then it was over the barrier and flying straight at them!
Their magic might have held, but their plan hadn't been strong enough. They had counted on being able to keep the trolls at bay physically, but magic wasn't bound by physics. Lyall wavered between holding their barrier and keeping the trolls at bay, to pulling it away to fight the magic coming at them.
There was no doubt they could beat it, they were easily stronger. But that would leave the pass free, and the trolls, far greater in number than they were, would pour through. But once they died from the magic that would happen anyway.
Before he could make a decision, the magic that rolled towards him stopped. Lyall stared at it as it hovered in the air in front of him, then to his complete surprise, it withdrew back behind the barrier.
"What's going on?" Brianna demanded.
"I don't know," Lyall admitted. He focused back on the pass where the trolls had stopped hammering at the barrier with their swords. They stood there, waiting, staring at the head troll.
The head troll seemed to look straight at Lyall. When he was sure he had his attention, he held up the gem, then placed it in his pocket. He stared at Lyall as if challenging him.
Was he … offering a truce?
Below him, the other trolls still fought. They weren't winning. Slowly, surely, bit by bit, they were going down. But the battle was taking its toll. For every troll lying on the ground, there were two or three humans, some villagers, some mages.
Lyall looked back at the mage troll who still stared at him. Could he trust him? If they dropped the barrier, would he tell the trolls still fighting in the meadow to stop, or would he bring the rest of them down to finish the humans off?
"Why did he stop?" Mianna asked.
"I think he's offering us a truce," Lyall voiced his thoughts. "He can see we're more powerful than he is, and he knows he can't win."
"He's just trying to trick us," Brianna growled. "If he can get us to lower the barrier, then he can bring the rest of the trolls down and wipe us out."
"He could have already wiped us out," Lyall said quietly. "We had a choice of holding the barrier until he killed us, or defending ourselves. Either way, those trolls were coming. He doesn't need to be still standing behind that barrier. But he is."
Brianna frowned, but she had no argument for that. "What do we do?" she asked gruffly.
Lyall took a deep breath. "We lower the barrier."
"But they'll kill everyone!" Mianna squeaked.
"We can fight them if they try. But we can't fight them and hold the barrier. I'm sorry. It was a good plan, but it failed."
"Lower the barrier," Brianna said quietly. "But be ready to fight if we need to."
Mianna stared at her for a moment.
"She's right, Mia," Terion said quietly.
Heaving a sigh, Mianna nodded as well.
Even with everyone's agreement, it took all Lyall's willpower to pull back his magic. Beside him, the others did the same.
Then they waited, the rainbow hovering in the air above the trolls.
Without moving from his spot, the troll mage gave a guttural yell. The trolls in the field below paused.
The villagers and mages, seeing an opportunity, hacked at anything they could reach.
"Stop!" Brianna's voice rose before Lyall could speak.
It was enough to make the villager's heads turn in her direction.
Lyall added his voice to hers and the mages paused too.
The trolls took that chance to retreat, back to the pass where the mage troll still waited.
"What do we do now?" Brianna demanded.
Half of her wished they'd just destroyed the trolls while they had a chance. A quick look down at the villagers, helping the wounded to shelter, didn't change her mind.
Lyall thought the trolls wanted a truce, but she found that hard to believe. What if they could see that the four of them were more powerful and planned to bide their time until their guard was down?
But she couldn't argue with the fact that they could have attacked and didn't. When that dark magic came at them, it had taken all her resolve to hold the barrier instead of pulling her magic back and defending herself. And Lyall was right, if they had died, the barrier would have fallen anyway.
So what did the trolls want?
She looked back towards the ridge, but they weren't moving. They hadn't come forwards into the field, nor had they retreated.
One thing was certain, she couldn't do anything from up here. "I'm going down to see what's happening."
The others nodded. Lyall followed her quickly back down the ladder, leaving Terion to help Mianna who was having trouble because she was shaking so much. Brianna looked back at her twin, clutching her husband, but didn't have the patience to wait. She slid down the ladder and practically ran out into the field, Lyall close behind her.