Chapter 76 While You Are Gone.

  ‘I can feel a pressure building.’ Shamesh told Isaac as the dark mage was trying to feed him mana.

  “Are you still coating the crystal in your mana?” Isaac asked with his eyes still closed as he tried to feed Shamesh as little mana as possible.

  ‘Yes.’ Shamesh continued his mental replies. ‘The mana from you is interfering with my mana circulation.’ He added as soon as he realized it.

  “Shit.” Isaac swore and yanked his mana back out of his retainer. He was trying to give Shamesh mana, not cause a mana reversal. “She could have stayed to help.” He grumbled and then removed his hand from Shamesh’s back. Isaac was silent for a moment as his mind ran through every possibility that he could think of. Some of them made sense and others definitely did not. “I got it!” Isaac exclaimed and took a deep focusing breath. “Shamesh, use the incoming mana. Do not think of it as yours or mine. Just accept it as more naturally incoming mana.”

  ‘Understood.’ Shamesh replied.

  Isaac focused on his connection to his physical shadow and on the thin line of mana that connected them. It looked like mana, it felt like mana, but Isaac had a sneaking suspicion that it was actually something else that was coated in mana. Isaac had a feeling that the tether that connected them, the tether that he couldn’t duplicate onto another remade skeleton, was actually the infinitesimally small connecting space that existed between a person and their shadow itself. It was what made a person’s shadow ‘theirs’ and not just a darker area on the ground. It was the conceptual fusing of what existed and the silhouette that it cast when illuminated. The mana that he sent to Shamesh just used their tether as a guide to reach him. The tether was never the mana that was sent. That was the reason why Shamesh could still exist in an anti-magic zone. The tether also served to protect the mana that was sent from object to shadow, Isaac to Shamesh.

  With a deep breath, Isaac focused on his mana that was sent along the path from his core to Shamesh’s. With the most gentle push, more dark mana was sent down that stream, more mana than Shamesh’s body consumed. Usually this would just make it easier for Isaac to do things like heal Shamesh with death flames or shroud him in shadows but whenever he did that, he had always done so with intent. This time, the mana sent was entirely devoid of intent and was just pushed along and left to its own devices. It was like a cup of water poured down a drain, there was a path that the water had to follow but it no longer required any input.

  Shamesh kept entirely quiet as his mana reserves were put into a slightly imbalanced state. His mana was suddenly more similar to Fen L’Vore’s than to Alexander or Jala’s like it had been before. The slight imbalance wasn’t enough to truly push him into the same realm as Fen but it was still noticeable when it was actively happening inside of him. He mentally shifted the imbalance to the forefront as he washed the crystal in his mana. The slight change in the natural distribution of mana was immediately noticeable to Shamesh and Isaac, but for different reasons. Isaac was just so attuned to dark mana that he could instinctively feel the difference where Shamesh could tell because it was his own mana. That simple fact, the fact that it was his and not his master’s, made sure that Jala’s idea would work.

  Upon noticing the slight imbalance in Shamesh’s mana, Isaac stopped messing with how much more power he was dumping down the figurative drain. Isaac sat in silence as he made sure to keep the stream steady so as to not mess up Shamesh’s mental control. He had no real way of knowing how adept his physical shadow was at internally controlling his mana but it seemed like he was doing an alright job at it. Isaac wasn’t going to take the chance that he might accidentally mess up what Shamesh was doing so he remained vigilant until he was absolutely certain that he would be able to passively maintain the slightly elevated amount of shared mana. After what felt like hours, but was actually only around fifteen minutes, Isaac opened his eyes. Just because his eyes were open did not mean that he wasn’t still giving his precariously balanced cup his full attention, however, he was just on the way to becoming functional again while doing so.

  A few minutes later, Isaac sighed with relief and turned to look at Lenna. He gave her a smile that somehow conveyed that he was only half paying attention to her.

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  “Good job.” Lenna praised him. “Keep your focus.”

  Isaac nodded. “I will. Any problems I should know about?” He asked her.

  Lenna shook her head. “Nothing major, anything minor can wait until you are done.” She told him.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He replied and turned back to Shamesh. He closed his eyes again to help maintain his focus as he listened to what was going on around him for the first time in a little while.

  “Lady V’Nova, could you please explain further.” Solomon said to Lenna. It was clear by the weariness in his voice that he had said that at least a dozen times already.

  “Further details are not necessary, Sir Solomon. You cannot tell me that you have not gotten the gist of the relationship between the two.” Lenna countered.

  Sir Solomon sighed. She was right and he knew it. He just wished that he had gotten enough information to actually understand the reality of Isaac and Shamesh’s connection and not just a close enough idea. “You are right, I get the gist.” He conceded. “I suppose the knowledge that it, sorry, he is not a lich will have to suffice. If the court of Safeharbor judge him safe, then I will defer to their and your judgment.”

  Lenna simply replied: “Good.”

  “To do anything else would be to challenge another hand of the crown. If I were to do that, then both Sir Michael and I would need to have a meeting with his highness, and none of us want that.” He went on. “The last thing we want is to waste our ruler’s time on what will most likely amount to nothing.”

  “What are you going to do with the prisoners?” Isaac asked Sir Solomon without so much as shifting his position. Isaac was confident in his ability to do two things at a time, but not three.

  “They will be detained in the high security military cells.” Sir Solomon replied. “Usually, I would never do something like that, they are nobility. Today is not a usual day. Today we have hard evidence, multiple dead soldiers, and a mostly unknown danger lurking inside, under, and/or just off of our coast. I do not have the luxury nor the want to follow standard procedure.”

  “Would you like to return with them now?” Lenna questioned the well aged human paladin across from her. “It might be a good idea to get you and your men some proper healing. The day will be a bit crazy but you can trust in Heitor’s capable hands. If anything changes, we will let you know.” She assured him.

  Sir Solomon sighed deeply. “I would like to know what is inside of that tower.” He spoke with only mild irritation in his voice. “But I am aware of the wisdom in your recommendation.”

  “Isaac, what should I do?” Lenna questioned her mate.

  “Go with Sir Solomon, take the Court Mage with you.” Isaac began. “If she hasn’t woken up by now then she won’t for a very long time. She is definitely in a coma from blood loss and shock. Honestly, she might never wake up again without magical intervention.”

  “But what about you? You are in no position to keep an eye on your surroundings yourself.” She countered.

  “Shamesh, I need a moment.” Isaac warned his physical shadow and then sat up straight. As he did so, Isaac let the amount of mana that he was feeding to Shamesh return to normal. “Rise.” He ordered his literal shadow that did as it was told. “Animate.” He continued and it turned slightly to look at him. “Duplicate.” He instructed and it became two. “Solidify.” He went on and they became hard enough to pick up around two dozen pounds and to act as physical barriers. “If anyone that is not in this room tries to enter, tackle them and turn into death flames.” He instructed his two new guards. “There, Shamesh, Alexander, and I will be safe while you are gone.”

  Lenna nodded. “Thank you.” She told him and met Sir Solomon’s eyes. “Come, let us get this over with. I want to be back before something unexpected happens.”

  Sir Solomon looked back and forth between Lenna, Isaac, Shamesh, and the two new shadows that were loitering around their maker. “I feel as though I have lost my say in the matter.” He grumbled and then looked down at the prisoners.

  The marquess was already rising to his feet and was trying to help his wife up as well. The marchioness looked so utterly out of her depth that she probably wouldn’t have had the strength to stand if her husband hadn’t been helping her.

  Lenna scooped up the unconscious Court Mage and gave Isaac one last nod before she headed out. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She told him.

  “I know.” He replied with a smirk.

  “Don’t do anything until I get back.” She added.

  Isaac chuckled. “See you when you get back.” He dismissed her without agreeing to her demand.

  Lenna narrowed her eyes on him and Isaac’s smirk only grew. Even though his eyes were closed, he knew what she was doing. Lenna huffed a breath but then left without another word. She knew that he knew how she felt about him. The reverse was also true. Neither of them liked being apart but that was just a part of the job, especially when both of them were at or above the pinnacle of mortal power, and they would just have to get over it.