“He’s probably incorporated a repelling spell into his protective circle,” Eli said. “It should be easy enough to counter.”
“Will it affect me, though?” Aiden asked.
Eli hesitated. “The charm around your neck should be enough to counter it, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
Aiden moved to the back of his truck, unlocked the weapons safe, and then pulled out a rifle and an ammo clip. He slung the rifle over his shoulder, clipped the ammo to his belt, and walked back around to us. “Let’s go.”
We followed him across the hill for five minutes and then began to descend. This time the path really was a goat track—or rather, a wolf track—and there was lots of rubble to slip on. Luckily, no one’s butt actually hit the ground, although there were a few close calls.
As the path flattened out again, the thrum of magic began to stain the air. Not wild magic, but dark. It crawled across my skin, stinging and biting, and it had my heart doing its speed thing again. The heretic might have been weakened by his battle with our three witches, but he was still far stronger than Belle or me.
After another five minutes, Eli said, “Stop.”
All of us immediately did so. Aiden swung around, eyebrow raised in query. Eli waved a hand. “The barrier starts ten feet from where you’re standing, Ranger.”
Aiden took a couple of steps forward and then stopped. “Okay, I’m feeling a light impulse to turn. It’s ignorable but I wouldn’t want to get any closer. Eli, you might have to accompany me to higher ground so that I don’t risk getting caught.”
He nodded. “Let me create the wormhole first.”
“Wormhole?” I asked.
“Otherwise known as a trench under the protective circle.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Why not simply create a doorway through it? He knows we’re coming?”
“Yes, but it’ll take more power, and might well warn him there’s a third witch out here. I’d rather avoid that if we can.”
“But wouldn’t he have guarded against the wormhole possibility? If you’re aware of it, he must be.”
“That’s true, but for whatever reason, he hasn’t.”
I grunted and motioned him to continue. He stepped closer to the unseen barrier and then, without first raising any sort of protection circle, began to spell. The ground around us trembled in response; as Eli’s spell strengthened, earth threw itself sideways, forming a trench that was barely two foot wide and one deep.
I crossed my arms, trying to ward off the gathering chill with very little success. The open tunnel raced toward the unseen barrier, dipped slightly as it went under it, and then stopped about three feet inside.
The trembling stopped, the magic subsided, and Eli staggered back and would have fallen had Aiden not quickly grabbed him.
“I’m okay,” he said. “It’s just been a trying day.”
“Another understatement of the century,” I muttered.
He glanced at me, his smile wan but at least there. “I couldn’t dig the trench any deeper, I’m afraid, so I hope you can squeeze under without touching the barrier.”
“I take it he’ll sense our presence the minute we do?”
“Yes.” He paused. “I have some sense of the heretic—he’s standing close to the wellspring. I believe Ira is either with or near him, but I can’t be certain.”
“What sort of distance are we talking about?” Aiden asked.
Eli hesitated again and then said, “Maybe half a mile.”
“So if he’s that far away, why can’t you two come through this trench with us?”
“Because his magic will alert him to the presence of anyone inside the protective circle. Our only chance is to go around it and get above him. We can then create a second small hole in the barrier while you’ve got him distracted, and shoot him.”
A good plan in theory but I really wasn’t sure it would work in practice.
Aiden glanced at us. “Give us ten minutes to get in place before you go in.”