In the Imperial Box, Micheline watched with a growing sense of apprehension as Ashlynn erected barrier after barrier, and that apprehension only grew when Dirar added his protective ward to each of those barriers.
Now, the gleaming, icy barriers and the ice-trees that supported them shone with reflected starlight, and the whole arena felt… grander somehow. As though the Heavens were watching this final match or standing in judgment.
"Is sorcery really so dangerous?" Micheline asked in a hushed tone. "Is it more powerful than the miracles of the Church?"
"Ashlynn says that the miracles of the Church are just forms of sorcery," Charlotte said without taking her eyes off the spectacle outside the Imperial box. "But in terms of how powerful it is… It's a little scary," she said, lacing her fingers through Adala's and giving her hand a squeeze.
