Just as the Treants crossed the wall.
And prepared to meet the Spirits' attack.
The figures surging toward them like a tide suddenly stopped only a few hundred meters from the wall.
It was as though an invisible dam lay across their path, cutting the raging tide short. Hermione clearly saw the leading Spirits slam headfirst into that "dam," their bodies twisting and deforming under the high-speed impact. Rippling folds spread across their grayish-white skin, as though they had struck a pane of transparent glass.
"Eek!"
The Ragdoll Fox instinctively tucked in its neck, as though it had been the one to break its neck in the collision. Then it caught itself, its tail rising high as it leaned forward, almost tumbling off the railing. "Wait, is this part of the defensive Magic Array too? How come I didn't know?"
It made no attempt to hide its astonishment.
Its two differently colored button eyes glittered in the magical moonlight.
Anyone witnessing this scene would have thought a wizard's magical barrier had stopped the Spirits. Only Hermione knew that this had nothing whatsoever to do with her or her Wizard Tower.
"It wasn't us."
Frowning, she rapidly leafed through her spellbook. Her fingertips swept across a page as she cast Birdsong Chirp. A blue-green glow rose from the book and became a tiny nightingale. With a flutter of its wings, it formed thousands upon thousands of Avatars, which vanished soundlessly into the air.
At the same time, she looked around.
From the distant mountains to the nearby camp and the sky overhead, she saw no sign of reinforcements anywhere within sight. Birdsong Chirp returned no information either.
The Spirits' distinctive, murky aura filled the air, mingling with the dusty scent of the night wind and pressing down so heavily that it