Trent might have been shirtless, but his pants were still on. And given he was the chief’s right-hand man and arguably one of the smartest people in the village, he was always prepared for anything. And that included having a lot of pockets to hold stuff.

The rocks he was going to keep in his pocket were insurance if he had to move. But the real meat of our plan was to grab the tin plate the guards had used for cooking and fill that up with rocks for quick access. After tying the horses’ reins to the branch of a tree, we got to work on collecting.

I couldn’t see him, but I could see all the rocks being lifted off the ground. For this to work, we were going to need a barrage. It was too risky to turn visible again, so this time we decided on a meeting point about twenty feet away from the camp. Once he was done collecting rocks, he’d draw a line over the dirt at the meetup point.

By the time I looked over to see the line, the tin plate was overflowing with almost one hundred rocks of various sizes and pointiness. I put my hand in the air above the line, trying to feel for Trent and the solidness of his body pushed back.

I enabled sounds.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Yes. I’ll shoot them from the north side, and you from the south. With my constant barrage, their attention will be toward me.”

“Then I’ll take out as many as I can from the back.”

“If they run, just let them go. All we need is to clear the crates and escape. Here, keep this. If you run out of water, well, it’s better than nothing.”

He handed me a really sharp and long rock that resembled the blade of a small dagger. I said to move and silenced us again.

Then the onslaught started. Trent flung rock after rock at them with incredible speed. He wasn’t as strong as the chief, but he came pretty darn close.

As the first few rocks hit their mark—various parts of the guards’ heads, shoulders, and even faces—they staunchly braced for impact while yelling.

“What’s going on?!” one of them groaned, grabbing a cloth from the right table and shielding his face with it.

“Anyone see anything? Who’s doing that?!”

“I don’t see nothin’, cap’n!”

As the rocks kept coming, I sent my first water ball. Then another. And more. Three men collapsed on the floor in under ten seconds, but the group didn’t notice—having to be on guard for Trent’s constant barrage of rocks. He was doing a great job. He didn’t stay in one place but moved at steady intervals but stayed on the north side.

Only until one of the guards nearly tripped over a body as he was fumbling backwards did they see the pile of bodies forming.

“Huh? They get hit by them rocks?!” the so-called captain bellowed. “Flip the tables! Get behind!”

“Some kind’a ghost out here!” another said, panicking with shallows breaths. “I see a floating plate! Cap’n, I say we run!”

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“Idiot! You want to abandon them?” he pointed at the bodies. “You call yourself a soldier?! The lot of you, move the crates and put ‘em in front of us! We’ll form a barricade to breathe ‘till we figure out what the hell is going on!”

Three men turned the tables clockwise on the ground quickly and hid behind them, dragging the unconscious bodies behind the table. Three others pushed the crates beside the tables and formed a defensive line.

The crates blocking the exit were disappearing one by one. Finally, an opening big enough for us to slip through formed.

Not enough. The horses won’t fit.

Come on! Almost there!

The guards were spooked. All I had to do was wait patiently and they took every last crate and blockaded themselves in. Maybe they really did believe a ghost was behind this.

I ran over to where the rocks where flying, tapped Trent’s shoulder and enabled sounds.

“We can go now,” I whispered.

“Get the horses through. I’ll keep shooting,” he whispered back. “Use the rock on the wall and make an X before you go. I’ll follow then.”

“Alright.”

He continued his barrage. I headed for the tree where the horses were parked and undid the knots, one at a time. I moved one horse through the hole and tied it to a tree outside the wall, then went back to do the same for the other. Before I could get the second one, the barrage of rocks had stopped.

Guess Trent ran out of rocks.

I quickly released the second horse and went to the hole. I carved a big X before I went through. As I did, the tin plate dropped on the ground and the men looked through the gaps between the crates with peeled eyes.

Once outside and on our horses, I turned off our invisibility.

We were finally out.

* * *

There was nothing but trees and a long dirt road encircling the walls that we avoided. It was better to get mixed up in the shade of the trees. Trent and I were keeping a lookout for any Holy Knights in the area. We weren’t sure if they were going to split up or stay with Alderman.

There was a narrow river deeper in the forest. Trent pulled us toward it and we let the horses refuel before setting off again.

The wind was picking up and I was starting to feel cold. This was the worst time to not have a shirt. As we galloped across small hills and clearings between trees, I felt an eerie feeling like we were being watched.

“Divine Restraint!”

A circle of light closed in around my chest, burning and reddening my skin akin to a fire.

“AHHH!”

I lost control of my horse and fell off, plunging to the ground where I hit my head on a fallen tree branch.

Trent pulled in his horse to a stop and put his hands up.

A Holy Knight jumped off his horse and walked up to me. From below, I could see his brows furrowed as he examined me. He reached down and started patting my pants, then took off my shoes. Finally he patted my ass and crotch and snarled when he felt the glass.

I couldn’t move my body at all. Any attempt would burn my skin off as if I were right next to a hot stove.

“Don’t move,” he warned, turning his head to face Trent while trying to reach below for my cards.

He’s not restraining Trent…. Does his card only have one target?

I quickly shouted, “He can only restrain one of us! Hold him off! I’ll use that!”

I squirmed and wiggled my hips, making it extremely difficult for his hand to get my cards.

“Hold still!” he said with a breathy hiss.

Tears flowed down my chin as I howled in pain. But I continued to struggle. He wasn’t going to get my cards.

Trent grabbed him by the neck and tackled him to the ground.

It was then that I learned they weren’t called Holy Knights for nothing. Even while on top of Trent, pinned down by his hands, the knight used sheer strength to pry Trent’s hands off his neck before rolling off to safety.

Both men caught their breath, but the knight recovered first. He unsheathed a sword and ran at Trent.

But I was quicker. The fastest waterball I could manage smacked the knight directly on the head. He fell face first on the ground.

The magic light around my chest dissipated slowly like smoke. Within seconds, I could move again. I hadn’t imagined it. The skin on my chest had been literally burned off, and an outline of a circle spread across my chest and back.

I got up slowly, choked full of adrenaline as my eyes darted around in search of more people in hiding.

“Looks like he was the only one,” Trent said.

My vision started getting blurry.

“Alster, stay with me!” Trent said, smacking both palms on my cheeks. “Son! Son!”

The adrenaline fully wore off.

I was in so much pain, my legs gave out.

I passed out.