Swamped Chapter 211 Page 19

Strange. On close examination, the spell is mostly light ether and a smaller amount of sound ether. That suggests an illusion, one that makes some noise to be more convincing.

Why would someone be standing out in a relatively open space with a spotter just to make an illusion? It would be far easier to hide yourself and cast it.

What this means is the spell isn’t nearly as pressing as you thought – you were worried there would be an explosion or something, but the most the spell can do is create an incomplete illusion. So rather than stop it, you think it best to find out what that illusion is – but in a safer space, since you don’t know what effect it was intended to have. Or for that matter, who it was supposed to fool.

You use light magic of your own to create a barrier around you and the spell. The outside reflects light, and the inside has its own light source. So no one on the outside can see the inside of it unless they’re inside. You then create a similar spell for sound. Then you simply guide the spell to complete and play itself out within the barrier.

What you see is a tunneler. And you hear it, too. The goal must have been to cause panic at the tunneler’s return, but you don’t know the reason why.

You pass the information along to Norle and ask her to pass it on to Lee – it’s simpler for her to make the mental link.

“So I just heard from a wizard that your friend there was about to make an illusion of a tunneler,” Lee says to the spotter. “Mind telling me why?”

“You’ll get nothing from me, Protector,” the spotter growls. “There’s no way another wizard could work out what the spell was going to be, and even if they could, it wouldn’t change anything.”

“I’ve got a question, myself,” Lef interjects. “Who are you two? You’re too old to have only grown up after I left here, but I don’t recognize your faces. And it’s hard to imagine merfolk from a colony that isn’t cursed deciding to move here. So what exactly are you doing here?”

“None of your damn business, that’s what,” the spotter snaps.

“Well, it’s clear you’re working for someone else,” Lee notes. “Because if it were just the two of you, there’d be nothing to gain by clamming up. You’re both caught, whatever plan you had isn’t going to work, so what’s the point?”

“Probably somebody who’s at odds with your Protectors, too,” Lef muses. “Considering they’ve made no secret that they dislike you just for being one.”

“True, usually when I hear that tone, it’s somebody calling me ‘grebling’,” Lee agrees. “And that gives me a pretty good idea of just who their employer is.”