[Bestow, Protection]

  Draco handed me a portal wallet.

  “Could you please go make ten copies just so we have some extras? These are new portals that Mossbeard and Opal helped me make this morning. After that we’ll get Lu and did you manage to get a wagon full of doctored ale?”

  “Yes, it’s all loaded and ready to go, I will copy the portal wallets and be right back.”

  I did, then we portaled to the pub. Lu sat on the wagon drivers seat and we portaled the wagon with the kegs to portal number three. The second farthest portal they’d made on the road but the road was blocked here by a young forest, with the tallest tree about ten feet tall.

  “Well Rose, what do you think of project slow down the army? You have Woody and three of his fellow trees to thank. They planted the trees on the road, then cast the fast growth spell they’d used on the crops. It’s very thick, and fifty feet wide. Unless that army abandons all of their supplies, they’ll have to pause to cut it down. Either way it’s a win for us. Plus there is another set of spell casting trees on the other side of this forest that are casting drought spells, drying up every water source that the army could use. By the time the army makes it through this forest blockade they’ll be dying of thirst and there sits relief ale in a busted down wagon. What do you think?”

  “Draco, I think you are brilliant!”

  “Well of course I am, but I didn’t bring you out here just to praise me, after Lu and I break a wheel on the wagon and jack it up on some rocks, it’s time to portal to the furthest portal number four. We should be behind the army. Where I hope we put you to work.”

  So that’s what we did, and right by the portal thirty five or six bound soldiers with weapons were stacked. Lu grabbed the weapons. I jumped us all to War World, as Lu untied each prisoner I removed their memories for five years, turning the black weapons into licorice. Then we sent each of the soldiers off in a different direction. It had to have been gnomes they were bound and stacked just like Bimble had done with the thugs from the Harris’s estate.

  By the time we returned two more bodies and weapons were by the portal, we jumped again to War World but Draco this time declined a trip and instead leapt into the air for some aerial surveillance. Lu unbound and I wiped memories and sent them on their way. Things were looking up, we already had more than ten percent of the army sent off world. We portaled back to town, directly to the guard house. I wanted to give Dogberry the news, so he could share it with Arthur. I also had a great idea for the gate defense if it came to that.

  We didn’t know the guard at the desk, but when we asked for Dogberry he said just go right on back, so he must have known us. I knocked and Dogberry looked up. We went in and sat down. I quickly brought him up to speed on the numbers captured so far, and that they’d already been sent offworld. I also told him where I’d sent the three elder Harris’s.

  “But Dogberry, the thing that Maz discovered is that bullets fired from outside a magical field just fall to the ground when it hits the field. So I’ll make a magical field at the gate then we give the guards these stun wands, they look like your billy club but an electrical shock knocks the person out. If we attach them onto a stick, it’ll help defend the town. Once I have a working copy of the stun spear I’ll bring them to you. I’m going to create a magical field at the gate right now. Will you let Arthur know everything that is going on?”

  “I have a meeting with Arthur later this afternoon, I’ll let him know. It sounds very encouraging.”

  “Dogberry,I’ll be back tomorrow with another update.”

  Then Lu and I portaled to the front gate where I used the Nyx portal creation method, being very careful not to let the field extend past the gate, so the guards knew exactly where the invisible to them, magical field ended and the line that they needed to keep guns out of.

  After that we portaled to road portal number four and another four bound soldiers and their weapons had been stacked up. We jumped, wiped and released. We jumped to Juliet’s World, I authored a stun wand and a bamboo pole that the wand would slot into perfectly. When I had one that was secure enough that Lu had a hard time ripping it apart I thought we had a winner, I made fifty copies and we portaled back to the guard house. Where I asked Dogberry to rip the wand off the end. He couldn’t do it. So we left the new weapons with him and we portaled out to the Harris’s to see how Maz was making out.

  “Perfect timing Rose, I’ve done all the magical field rifle tests that need to be done, or at least all I can think of right now. What we need to do is to see if you can cast a magical field on a person. Can you try casting one on me? I’d quite like being invincible.”

  “I’ve never even tried this before but I have cast magical fields over a space where beings, gnomes and humans were in but they don’t have personal magical fields as far as I know.”

  So I tried, I used the old method not Nyx’s as the old method was so precise and I was pretty sure I could recover any magical energy that I’d expend. So first I created a magical ball right around Maz’s head then I blew it up to include his body.”

  “Okay, Maz it’s created go ahead and move three feet to your right, nope it didn’t work, the field stayed right where you were.”

  “Alright Rose, maybe it didn’t work because I’m fictional or non magical, try casting it around Lu, that’s really the person we want this to work on. Not me, I'd be useless in a fight anyway.”

  So I repeated the process on Lu with the same result. Then I gathered a bunch of ambient magic using Nyx’s method and sucked it into my body to refill my reserves.

  “Alright Rose, try it on yourself please.”

  So I just used Nyx’s method. It might not be as precise but precise wasn’t working and Maz obviously wanted to test this every way he could think of. So I created the magical field and stepped a couple of feet away, the field remained firmly attached to the ground.

  “No Maz, this is a waste of time, it didn’t work.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “No Rose it’s not a waste of time, we have now learned that it is unlikely that a magical field can be cast around a person. We are not done.”

  Maz attempted to lift a field stone off the ground. When Lu saw what he’d intended she went over and effortlessly placed the stone on the table for him.

  “Please try and cast a field just around the stone.”

  I did. Lu picked up the stone and moved to her right, the field moved with her. I asked her to move further right and the field continued to move.

  Excitedly, I said, “Maz, it worked.”

  “Good, I had a theory, that the magical field attaches itself to the ground, but the rock was above the ground so it attached itself to the rock. Lu could you get on the table while holding the rock and Rose please blow up the magical field so that it encloses Lu but does not touch the ground.”

  “Alright it’s covering Lu head to toe.”

  Maz said “Lu please stay on the table but move as far as you can.”

  It worked Maz.

  “Alright Lu go ahead and get down and move around.”

  “No as soon as Lu touched the ground the magical field froze into place right where she stepped down.”

  “Yeah I was afraid this would happen, alright next test, a smaller stone and a smaller field.”

  We kept at it for hours, I refilled my magic using Nyx’s ambient magic trick, but in the end we had two imperfect but much better than nothing portable magic fields. Then Lu and I portaled to the road portal four another ten soldiers and their weapons were neatly stacked up.

  Lu and I jumped to the War World with them where we repeated the release cycle that we’d established. We portaled back to the road portal number four just as a gnome was dropping off another body and weapon.

  “Thank you, Has anyone been hurt? Is there anything I can get for you? Food, weapons, anything at all? I’m Rose by the way and this is Lu.”

  “No one has been hurt as far as I know. The dragon gave us food and drink but only half of us have those zap sticks. We could take down more of this army if we had more of these.”

  “Certainly, it’ll just take a minute I’ll be right back.”

  I jumped to Juliet’s World and authored thirty more of the stun wands and jumped back to portal number four.

  “Here you go, is the army very far ahead?”

  “Not too far, they were just setting up camp when I left to bring the body and weapon here. They are almost to the new forest, which will slow them down and spread them out in the morning. We should have very good hunting. Plus they keep wandering into the woods. They are so stupid, they don’t even go in pairs.”

  “Well if you need anything else just have someone wait undercover near here I’ll come back a few more times during the night and of course first thing in the morning.”

  “Thanks for these, Rose, bye Lu.”

  Lu said, “Bye Ema good hunting.”

  The gnome laughed and then disappeared into the forest

  Then we portaled back to the tower. Everyone was having supper.

  “Ruby how was it being back at the teahouse, do you miss the wheeling and dealing of a traveling saleswoman?"

  “No Rose, it was nice being back, but are you sure you don’t need any more wine sold?”

  “Yeah, we’d just be competing with ourselves. The Harris are gone for good and if that crony of a judge releases the two brothers I will send them to the same place the rest of the family is.”

  “Next week Opal, hopefully things will be back to normal. Maybe you and Mossbeard can work on your picture book.”

  “Can I still do healing, Rose?”

  “Of course you are really good at it and Draco and I want to try some experiments with your healing, once things quiet down. There are some not nice people headed our way and we are doing everything we can to stop them out on the road. But and this goes for everybody.” I looked around. McCracken, Gigi, Ruby, Mossbeard and Opal. “If they happen to get past us and get into town I want you to portal here to the tower and when everyone is here I want you to destroy the portal. I don’t think the tower would admit anyone it shouldn’t but there is no need to take chances. Starting tomorrow night I think we should invite our friends and their friends and have a big sleepover party for a few nights. Doesn’t that sound like fun sweetie?”

  “Yes Rose.”

  Lu and I went back to the road portal number four two more times during the night and we processed another twenty five soldiers and their weapons. On our first day of the fight we had taken out close to a quarter of their forces. With zero casualties on our side. I just hope that ratio keeps up when we spring the trap tomorrow morning.