Taking a breath, Sonder stepped back from the wall after she was finally done inspecting it.
She shouldn't delay any further.
She planted her staff firmly on the ground.
What she was going to do was create a platform.
She was excited, in a way. It was the first opportunity she had to really try and use her staff.
She let her mana flow through her arms, into her bracelets, and then into the staff.
The staff absorbed and channeled the power. It was a conduit so attuned to arcane energy that it let it flow through it like water.
There was a slight tremor beneath her feet, and the swamp grass was flattened in a blue circle: the barrier.
It was much easier to create one with both bracelets and staff.
She pushed the barrier up with her on it.
It lifted steady and smooth. Sonder balanced herself as she rose.
The top of the wall grew closer, and so did the sharpened stakes above.
She tried to keep sharp. The kobolds would most likely panic if they saw a mage drifting through their defenses.
She expected an attack of some kind.
And the Chackara behind her… if they saw this, they might interpret it as a signal, or a provocation, or something else. Even if the captain had let her go, she was sure that the reptile-men didn't trust her.
In any case, she had to be quick.
The platform drifted higher until she hovered just above the wall.
That was when the first arrow sailed past her face.
Sonder jerked back instinctively and dodged the second arrow that flew by just a bit lower than her platform.
The third struck the barrier and bounced away with a hollow snap.
Then came what she feared: a rising volley of arrows.
She turned her staff sideways and called on air.
The air around her condensed and twisted into a sudden spiral. The moment the arrows entered it, they were caught and deflected, hurled away like leaves swept by the wind.
The volley didn't touch her, but she didn't wait for another to come.
She forced the platform down in a sharp dive, landing hard on the inner side of the wall.
The barrier cracked the ground beneath her and broke apart in a burst of shimmering blue.
She straightened and looked.
Kobold soldiers surrounded her, at least a dozen, maybe more, melting out from behind crates and barricades. Their spears were raised, eyes wide.
Some trembled, and others looked resolute enough to strike.
All of them stared at her as though she was a monster breaching their walls.
Sonder raised her empty hand, palm outward.
"Wait-" she began.
They did not lower their weapons.