“Of course,” she answered.
“Can you describe how you do it? How long will it hold?”
She sighed heavily, but answered, “I push all of the air outward in a burst and hold it still. It makes a shield. It will withstand any blast, weapon or magical, and I can hold it for about thirty seconds.”
“How big can you make it? Like could you protect the eight of us inside of it at once, for the full thirty seconds?”
“Yes,” she answered. “I have held it over a whole farmhouse before, while under attack from a psoglav that fired energy bolts.” She paused and then added, “Nothing can leave the bubble either. It’s impenetrable in both directions.”
“Thanks!” I said to her brightly. I let her pull ahead and Owen caught up to me.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“I’m thinking that we lure the besy to the edge of the valley, where the slope starts up the mountainside, and then I cause an avalanche. It wipes out the cohort and Astrid puts a shield around our group to protect us.”
Owen thought for a minute. “It might bury us. Even if we’re under the shield when the avalanche spreads past us, it will bring a mountainside’s worth of snow and trees and rocks with it. When Astrid releases her shield, we could be under a whole slab of snow, maybe 12 or more feet deep.”
“Hmm, that’s a great point,” I said.
I called up to Astrid, who heard my and Owen’s discussion. “What happens when you release the shield? Does it just disappear or can you blast it out?”
She thought for a moment. “Usually, I dissolve it. I have never tried to blast it out. I will have to experiment.” Julian perked up at that and stepped up to walk beside her, asking questions about what she wanted to try.
I tabled my idea for now. It wouldn’t work if we ended up buried under the avalanche ourselves.
I tried to think of more possibilities as we trudged along, Owen’s presence steady by my side.
BUT, by the time we reached the campsite, I had no other ideas. It was about midday and Theo and Cato were heating up one of the Varangian’s trail food pouches over a small fire. They’d just switched shifts with Rurik and Bard.
I told them what happened with the todorats and Theo shared a couple of interesting observations after watching two balachko fight.
After we ate, I asked Astrid to try her bursting shield experiment. She agreed and asked Julian to bury her in the snow. He left her head uncovered until the end, when she formed an air bubble around it. Then he buried her the rest of the way. We watched and a few seconds later, the snow exploded off of her face in a burst of white. The force of it knocked Julian back a few steps.
I grinned at Astrid and she smiled back at me, obviously proud of herself. I asked her to try again with something heavier. She stretched out on the ground once more and Julian moved a few heavy rocks to cocoon her. He waited and then, when she formed her shield, he placed the heavy rocks quickly on her body and stepped away.
He looked anxious, his eyes creased with worry and his hands clenching open and closed. He looked ready to jump forward at any moment to uncover her. Just as he started forward though, the rocks blew outwards and away from Astrid’s body.
I felt confident that her magical skills were equal to my plan.
I set up my sock-drying tripod, joining Theo and Cato by the fire.
I outlined my avalanche idea and told them to think about any potential flaws. Then I walked down the slope and found Rurik and Bard and updated them on what we’d done after trailing the todorats.
There were no real changes in the bes camp. The two balachko that Cato and Theo saw fight had been moved into their tent where, presumably, they were still unconscious. The bes leader tried drilling the bauks again, with mixed results.
“It’s taking a lot for the leader to hold them all together,” Rurik noted. “The longer they’re away from Abaddon, the more independent they feel.”
I told them my plan for creating the avalanche and Rurik liked it immediately.
“I think we are out of time,” he said. “This sounds like the best idea for eliminating this cohort quickly and getting back to the portal. My intuition is full of urgency right now.”
I agreed. “Let’s discuss it again tonight and if everyone agrees, we’ll do it tomorrow morning.”
That evening, with no objections voiced, I finalized the plan.
“We’ll stay on this side of the valley, so that we don’t cut off our access to the trail home. We’ll head down the trail into the valley at first light. They should notice us quickly and that will give them time to form up. I’m assuming they’ll charge us on sight, but hopefully, with some sort of military cohesion. We want them as grouped up as possible.
“When they’re bunched together and almost to us, I’ll shake the earth and cause the avalanche. As soon as I let go of my whistle and we see the snow start to slide, Astrid will create the shield.
“We’ll stay as close together as possible, to make it easier for her. As soon as the snow stops moving, Astrid will burst the shield outwards, with any luck knocking back any snow that ended up on top of us.
“From there, we’ll see if any besy survived. If they did, we’ll engage.”
Julian added, “In the event the shield doesn’t work, or doesn’t burst enough snow off of us,” he ignored the dirty look Astrid shot him, “let’s go over some quick avalanche safety tips. First, make an air pocket in front of your face….”
LATER that night, as I lay in his arms in our tent, I asked Owen if he’d ever been in a battle before when he was in the army.
“Once or twice,” was his
