Sparrow had barely moved the entire day.

Theo would know. He’d spent as much time as possible within eyeshot, browsing random wares he had no interest in. He did find out what tomatoes looked like, at least.

The sun had set, and there was nobody left in the area, besides a number of priests ostensibly cleaning and looking after the already immaculate area, conveniently in an area that allowed them to keep an eye on Sparrow.

All that time observing had lead Theo to some theories about what the glowing green sphere was. Someone had asked Love in Judgement, and they received a calculated stare.

“That is private information, for operational security as you would understand.” And that was the end of that conversation.

He looked around, at the two priests still surreptitiously posted around the courtyard. They wore blindingly white robes, hoods down as he studied their faces. They were both men with rather full faces. Much fuller than he’d expect a priest to have.

He approached carefully, leaving the closing market as he whistled. The whistle of course, was casting magic that made him blend into the night. He felt darkness drape itself over him like a cloak, and an air of almost apathy radiate outwards from him as he placed his pack to the ground silently.

He disappeared between the flickering torchlight and whatever moonlight could filter through the grandiose skyline of temples and stone.

Theo hid in the shadows of archways and columns, carefully making his way back towards Sparrow. He held his breath and he slowed down and observed.

The two priests were slowly inspecting each and every pillar, rotating around Sparrow as the centre point as they stayed as far apart from each other as possible.

To Theo’s dismay, they manoeuvred to always be in the light, enough to be visible by the other priest. And of course, the white robes made it easy to see exactly where they were.

He watched their circuits patiently, waiting for what seemed to be days as they meandered about. Finally, as the moon shifted higher into the night sky, there was one spot by a column that was shaded.

One spot where the other priest would lose sight for a moment.

In other words, even if everything went perfectly, he was on a very tight time limit.

He reached into his pocket, checked its contents, and made up his mind.

---

Half an hour later, when the priests were coming to that point in the circuit again, Theo was hiding nearby. A priest approached, and as they passed into that splinter of shadow, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a device that he sprayed at their face.

Before they could react, before they could even cough, they froze, and it took all of Theo’s strength and finesse to move their rigid body behind the column without making much noise.

He’d called in some favours from the ball to get his hands on a replica of the device. How fitting that this tool was back in Etol.

Still, he didn’t particularly enjoy using the duplicate of something that traumatised his girlfriend, but he understood why spies carried it. That priest was immediately out of the count, and without a single sound.

He put the toxin back in his pocket, and circled round, behind the other priest.

He waited for them to get around to the other priest, and as they recoiled back in surprise, Theo sprayed them as well.

Hiding back in shadow, Theo observed the area for a few more minutes, for any sign that people were alerted to the priests’ absence, or that he had been spotted.

There was no sound, the area as deserted as the plains ran through on his way here.

He crept out of the shadows, approaching the bubble surrounding Sparrow.

There was a slight pull from it, and he watched as tiny glimmers of mana strayed from their path to make its surface shimmer, and felt a little bit of mana forcefully taken from his body. It bled away, and the glow noticeably brightened.

Being bled was a pretty accurate descriptor. It wasn’t a painful sensation, but it definitely wasn’t pleasant, and if it went on for a while, he could imagine feeling very weak.

Theo’s eyes widened.

It attracted mana, siphoning it from its surroundings.

And if it was doing this to him, who was outside its confines, he could only imagine what it was like inside.

In other words, it was keeping Sparrow drained of mana.

“Let’s get you out of here.”

Sparrow started making noises, trying to say something, but it was impossible to hear what they were trying to say through the gag.

They struggled against the restraints, but soon gave up, conserving their strength. Instead, they made intense eye contact with Theo.

He touched the forcefield, feeling the surface under his fingertips. It was rigid, without any give or flex. It felt like he was touching stone.

He let out a breath, as mana left his system faster than before. It felt like someone had grabbed his hand and started peeling his skin off. He quickly drew his hand back, shaking off the sting.

Theo didn’t let that get to him, taking in a deep breath while continuing to probe it. “I hope you’ve been holding up alright.”

If it felt like stone, maybe it fractured like stone. Theo drew his fist back, and a year of fighting lessons and sparring, combined with every kind of internal magic he had that was helpful, culminated in a punch that lifted him off the ground.

Unfortunately, not a single thing happened to the shield. If anything, it just got brighter, almost opaque. A gentle hum reverberated, like a wine glass rubbed just right along its rim. Sparrow’s insistent sounds increased, as Theo shook off his numb hand.

“It can’t have been easy. It’s been a while, and news travels slow, and you’re under constant surveillance, it looks like.”

There was no way Theo was putting out more force than that. He would have to change tactic.

What else could he do? He looked around its edge, examining it for any obvious runes or anything else of the sort.

He wished Chrys was here, because he wasn’t able to spot anything.

He wouldn’t be able to dig under the shield either, and especially not in a way that wouldn’t make it blatantly obvious what was going on.

He looked back at its changing colour, took stock of the mana remaining in his body, and came up with a stupid idea.

“Still, I’m going to get you out of there, but bear with me I don’t know what I’m doing.” He paused, adding as an afterthought, “You might want to close your eyes.”

Theo pressed the whole of his hand on the surface of the forcefield, and willingly gave it his mana.

He bit down a scream as fire travelled through his veins.

The shield glowed a blinding white, bright enough that even after closing his eyes they turns a light pink as the light casually disregarded his eyelids.

Theo started to smell smoke, and his arm no longer hurt. He wondered if that was his flesh cooking and turning to ash.

It didn’t smell like meat or anything, however, just a pungent, sickly-sweet aroma he wasn’t familiar with.

The light eventually faded, spots covering the entirety of his vision.

He could feel his arm and hand, still intact as he rotated his wrist and moved his fingers.

What he couldn’t feel was any sign of the forcefield.

As his vision cleared, he found Sparrow within arm’s reach, eyes closed. “You can open your eyes now. The light’s gone. And don’t worry, I dealt with the priests already. Pretty clever, using their toxin against them, wouldn’t you say?”

“Unfortunately, not clever enough.” Before he could remove Sparrow’s restraints, Theo found himself immobile as a hand sprayed his face with what he already knew was paralytic toxin. That same hand reached into his pocket, and pulled out his own.

The owner of that hand walked in front of him, and Theo started to realise that Sparrow’s noises were of alarm and caution, not just trying to talk to him.

It was the priest who guided him here in the first place, Love in Judgement.

“Thank you for returning that.”