Aahz said he wasn’t even sure what was going to happen when we cut the side-flow. He hoped nothing, but he didn’t know for sure when I had asked him.
“Ready!” Aahz shouted, even though the room was empty and there were only the three of us in it.
To an outsider watching us who couldn’t see the energy flow, we would have looked darned silly. Aahz crouched in front of me, holding onto the shovel I was holding in the air. Tanda beside us, her head tilted back, staring up into nothingness.
“Ready,” she said.
I knew she was sending her mind out, linking gold, pulling it in to add to our shield.
“Now!” Aahz shouted again.
Instantly the shovel started growing in size and in weight. I braced myself as Aahz did the same. I was stunned at how heavy it got so quickly.
The shovel grew and I strained against dropping it, trying to do my job of just holding it steady.
“About half!” Aahz said, his voice strained from holding up the ever-heavier shovel. Aahz was one of the strongest demons I knew, and he was having problems. I did my best to help lift at the same time as holding the shovel in position. I doubted I was doing much good, but I knew for a fact the effort was going to cost me later.
The shovel was getting bigger and bigger, growing quicker and quicker.
“Almost!” Aahz said, his voice barely a croak under the weight. Above me the shovel looked like a massive gold coin.
“Now!” Aahz said.
I pushed sideways, letting the shovel fall toward the side-flow of energy as Tanda kept adding more and more gold to it.