All I had to do was pump the circle full of mana at a steady rate. That was my whole job right now, this entire battle rested on it, but the bastards outside the door were doing their damnedest to make that as difficult as possible.

The sounds of the scuffle outside the innermost castle room were getting closer, and the more intimate sounds of the battle had become clearer; the noise of bellowed orders, metal striking metal or occasionally softer material followed by screams (I had to stay focused on the circle, I can't let the battle distract me). 

"You have to work faster! They're almost on top of us!" The panic that was building inside me decided to verbalize itself to my partner. He shot an accusatory glance at me, the sharp movement throwing the hood of his cloak back and revealing the sweat and panic visible on his face. "I'm doing the best I can, I was supposed to have plenty of time and a peaceful atmosphere. For gods' sake, I'm not even meant to be doing this Irtoy!"

It was supposed to be Geonfrey doing that job, one of the most skilled spellcrafters the Kingdom of Ponpriness had ever seen, but he was dead in a ditch after the ambush that kicked off this battle had waylaid his caravan. Instead, Jenji was the one who was making the adjustments to the spell on the fly, and he did not have nearly the same speed or polish that Geonfrey would have.

The Volsew were supposed to be on the back foot in this war, so why had they pulled together such a sizable force to lay siege to the site of this ritual? It would almost certainly leave many of their settlements poorly defended, their people would be forced to flee further West, their towns razed and conquered by our forces.

So why all the fuss over this summoning? They were certainly a rare occurrence, what with the resources and time required to pull it off, only to summon a new person with a slightly higher than average mana pool. And even then, there was never a guarantee they would even be helpful to the cause. Certainly not impactful enough to justify the Volsew throwing everything they had at this. Honestly, it shouldn't have been important enough to justify the size of the guard either, though now they seemed woefully insufficient for the job.

"I've got him!" Jenji exclaimed "I've got the signature of our summon, put all your mana into the spell now! I'll keep him locked onto."

I poured all of my focus into the spell, filling every line and matrix with mana, nearly to the point of passing out. The circle glowed brighter than any summoning I had ever seen. It was as though the sun had snuck into the small room with us. Jenji continued to maintain the spell, working while effectively blind, still deftly weaving and replacing parts of the spell circle.

After an agonizing instant that felt like an eternity, I felt the familiar sensation of a spell being completed as the circle started rejecting my mana. The glow died down to that of a candle light as it finished transporting the summon from wherever he had appeared on this plane. Jenji looked up at me with a haggard smile "The spell worked!"

"Il litna!" a blast of lightning shot forward directly between Jenji and I, striking the summoning circle. A piece of stone beneath the circle was dislodged upwards toward Jenji, knocking him down and leaving a gash that was already starting to well with blood on his forehead. The summoning circle was broken, and despite the spell having succeeded, no one was sitting in the center like they were supposed to be. I looked towards where the blast had come from, seeing the door splintered into pieces and three Volsew standing in the doorway. The tallest one standing in front wore a full breast plate, something few of their kind could afford to armor themselves with. His fur was a dark grey, as was the slightly shorter one that had cast the spell, who was now standing back and assessing both the damage and the threats her spell had left. The third was much shorter and had orange fur, and held a worried expression on their face. The sounds of the fight outside the room had all but died down, leaving a foreboding quiet in it's aftermath.

"Sir Tucash, t-the spell was completed just before we entered, a hero has been summoned!" the orange Volsew's maw quivered as they delivered the news to their armored leader. Ah, so that explained what this had been about. A summoning was a rarity, but if there had been a hero on the other end of that spell, that changed things. It was said heroes were nearly identical to normal Outlanders, but that they were beloved by Fate. It explained why so much had been allocated by both sides to effect this summoning.

Tucash swept his gaze around the room taking in the crumpled Jenji and my exhausted form. Even if I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, I didn't have the mana left to accomplish anything. Tucash apparently came to the same conclusion, as he strode across the room toward me without any air of worry, his paw resting on the hilt of his sword. 

"You're no Outlander, and neither is the spellcrafter in the corner," the low growl in his voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end " yet my own spellcrafter has confirmed the spell was completed." I'd used too much mana, and the edges of my vision were beginning to go dark. Tucash's voice was beginning to fade away, as the darkness took me, I heard the final phrase.

"So where is the hero that you summoned?"