“I can’t believe you got me into this.”
“It’s not my fault you are part of a prophecy!”
“Yeah, well,” Laurel grunted, focusing all her energy into the shield surrounding them, “you’re the one that yanked me out of my home and into this mess. I should have shot the messenger.”
Allmand looked at her in horror. “You wouldn’t do that! You are a chosen Conduit for the Earth Mother, charged with protecting the land and sky and sea! You are to harm none, lest they harm you or the earth! And I haven’t done anything!”
Laurel shot him a look. “Yeah, well, you are harming my concentration right now, so I might have to do something drastic.”
Allmand looked at her, then at the shield around them, then the approaching cloud that glimmered unnaturally purple. “Yes, of course, you are right. I will just meditate and help you focus on your mission.” He sat gingerly on a rock behind her, and started swaying and chanting under his breath. Laurel sighed, trying to tune him out.
Of all the people that could have been sent to collect her, why him? He was so pompous and foolish, and really was about to get them killed. He had been the one bragging at the inn that he was escorting a Conduit, and look where that got them; attacked in the middle of a forest, with no help coming from any direction. So it was up to her to save them, if she could just ignore his progressively louder chanting.
She looked out, past her shimmering energy shield, and eyed the purple cloud. It seemed to have stopped about a foot away from her shield, and was slowly oozing around it, circling, locking them in. She needed to find a way to either dispel it, or for them to get away.
“So, do you have a plan?” Laurel jumped, and the shield quivered for a moment as Allmand appeared behind her shoulder and spoke.
“No, Allmand, I don’t. Do you have a plan?” she snarled, focusing again on her shield. The purple cloud seemed to have sensed the momentary weakness, and crept closer.
“No pressure, honest. It’s not like the world is depending on you or anything,” Allmand sulked.
“Allmand, that thing keeps getting closer, and I think it knows we’re trapped. I’m not going to be much use to the Earth Mother if I’m dead, so either come up with a plan or SHUT THE HELL UP!” she roared, and the shield around them glowed, and emanated heat.
“That’s it!” Allmand cheered, totally ignoring Laurel’s words. “Did you see! Your power! It’s getting even stronger! Now just push it at that cloud, and let’s get out of here!”
“Just push it?!” Laurel yelled, incredulous. “Are you serious?”
“Trust me!”
Laurel groaned. “That is the last thing I want to do,” she muttered, but then she shut out his gleeful pronouncements of her power and focused everything she had into her shield. She channeled her rage at being forced to leave her home and her life, her rage at being called to a position she never wanted, and her rage at being forced to work with the moron beside her.
She took all that rage and concentrated it into her shield, until it glowed white-hot, and then she pushed, forcing all that energy straight into the purple cloud. There was a terrible whooshing, hissing around, and then as suddenly as it appeared, the purple cloud was gone.
Laurel slumped to the ground, exhausted, as Allmand skipped around her.
“You did it!”
Laurel glared at him. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Allmand grinned. “I’m your Channeler. It’s my job to make sure you can raise your energy, and that seems to work best by pissing you off.”
Laurel sank back onto the grass with another long groan.
Inspired by a writing prompt from The Character Comma’s prompt generator.
© The Lightning Tower, 2020