Moonlight swirled with the rain and wind. She whipped her hand in a circle, drawing that moonlight to her until it formed a large ball around her hand. She flung it toward the fire. It hit the ground a man’s-length from the flames, burst upward, and arched over the fire, forming a glittering bridge. She summoned the strength of earth to anchor it. She channeled some of the power from all four branches of the Great Mother to give the bridge strength. It still looked as insubstantial as moonlight, but it was as solid as the land.

She barely had time to make it strong enough to hold him before Mistrunner charged over the bridge and into the storm, trotting toward her.

Tears stung her eyes as he came up to her, whickering softly, snuffling her chest for the reassurance of her scent.

“Silly boy,” she said as she rested a hand against his cheek. “Silly, silly boy. You know better than to try to leap over a wall of fire.”

His presence helped her regain emotional control. Her anger at the Fae turned to ash. They would never be her people, but she wasn’t planning to stay among them forever. Just long enough to drive the Inquisitors out of Sylvalan once and for all. Then she could go home.

Men rushed over the bridge she’d created. They hesitated when they realized she was watching, but when she did nothing to stop them, they hurried toward the Ladies they had escorted to this place—the five women who were somehow different from the others.

Her legs trembled with fatigue. It felt good to lean against Mistrunner. But she had to deal with the storm. Wind still whipped the rain with blinding fury. Since she had contained the storm’s release to the circle within the clearing, she suddenly realized she was standing in ankle-deep water that was swiftly rising.

She tried to get a sense of the size of the storm…and almost whimpered.

If she released it, it would devastate this Old Place, drown the crops for miles around, flood the creeks and cause even more damage.

Start with the simplest thing first.

Stepping away from Mistrunner, she banked the wall of fire until it was nothing more than a smoldering circle. Then she pushed the circle holding the storm outward just beyond the fire circle. The ground sizzled and steam rose as the rain and standing water rushed to fill the larger space.

As soon as the fire was out, other Fae men rushed into the storm to reach the Ladies of the Moon.

She ignored them as she gathered the wind in the clearing, shaped it into a wide wedge, and sent it flying toward the farthest edge of the storm. It sheared the cloud bank, driving the clouds before it, heading east.