:Okay:, he says, out loud as well as in Mindspeech; holding the shields and the node energy is taking all the concentration he could have used to separate the two. He is suddenly very aware that he has never killed anything larger than an insect on purpose, despite his father's annoyance at his "terrible aim". But this time Moondance is actually in danger. 

:Now: Moondance barely flicks his fingers, but energy explodes into the creature on the left. 

And fire goes into the area of the creature on the right. Inefficient, poorly aimed, and cutting in and out, but enough that it should at least occupy the thing for a moment.

The colddrake is, unfortunately, smart enough to recognize where the fire is coming from. It makes a dive at Abras' shield. 

:Look out!: Yfandes barks to him; Moondance is too occupied to interject anything. 

He can't shield his mind and hold the barrier and channel node energy and throw fire and be this bone-shaking terrified at the same time. The fire cuts out and some of the node-energy backlashes on him; now he has a splitting headache. But the colddrake is clawing at empty air: his shields are still up.

Moondance is still on his feet, but visibly exhausted. His colddrake is twitching, not quite dead yet but certainly on its way there in the next few minutes. :Abras, do you need help?: 

He pulls from the node again but the pain blurs his vision and the fire goes over his target's head. :I can't shield and shoot at the same time--: he tries again, and most of the fire scorches the ground but some goes at the drake.

:Steady. I have it. You shield: And Moondance braces himself again and gathers the power again and throws it at the third drake. Which is, in fact, easier to take down than the previous two; it's slowing, disoriented by the fire and pain. 

As soon as it's down on the ground and twitching, Moondance sits down on the snow. :You can drop the shield now: 

If it's safe to sit down in the snow Abras is absolutely doing that. He starts pulling the shield-energy back into himself, but only gets about half before dropping the rest in favor of clutching his head. 

"Backlash?" Moondance says out loud; he's trying to look and sound sympathetic but mostly he's too tired for any expressions. "I am sorry, it seems I asked slightly too much. But you did very well." 

Abras is barely making his own facial expressions let alone trying to read anyone else's, but he can still translate "I asked too much of you" as "you weren't as good as I thought you were". "Yeah. Mishandled the node. Thanks for . . ." he gestures vaguely at the third colddrake corpse. "Everyone okay?"

"I am fine. Simply fatigued; it will pass." 

The other scouts are jogging back over now, smiling. 

A few minutes later, Moondance speaks again. "...We are missing the queen drake. The ones we killed were all juvenile." 

"So does that mean we need to go kill that one too now?"

"I think the path of wisdom is not to go alone, given that we are both tired. I might call for your aunt and my shay'kreth'ashke to join us, for this part." He pauses. "Though, I believe you have the better Mindspeech range of the two of us. Might you try?" 

That's a relief to hear; he doesn't think he can handle another fight like that just yet. "Yeah, I'll try." He stretches out his Mindspeech, farther than he's had occasion to go before, and after a couple false starts he taps on Savil's shields.

:Glad to hear from you, ke'chara!: She strengthens and stabilizes the link from her end. :How did everything go?: 

:Uh, good news and bad news. Good news, everyone's okay; bad news, there's still a queen colddrake out there and Moondance doesn't think we're up to dealing with it. Can you and Starwind come out here and help?:

:Of course. Should we meet you where you are now?: 

Abras relays this to Moondance and passes his response on to Savil.

They'll wait where they are. Moondance isn't sure where the queen is, and he'd prefer not to go into trance again until someone rested and ready to fight is there to guard him – not to mention, searching with his land-sensing Gift is itself tiring.

The other two scouts pull out snacks, hand around strips of dried fruit and meat. Moondance is already perking up by the time Starwind and Savil reach them, riding double on Kellan. 

Time and food help with the headache. When the others arrive, Abras has simultaneous post-fight and pre-fight jitters, but also the energy to get back on Yfandes and prepare to set out again.

Starwind hugs Moondance, then stands guard over him while goes into trance again, and then points out a new direction and gets up on Yfandes behind Abras. They ride out, Savil and Starwind in the lead. 

Abras rides in silence, rubbing his temples and contemplating the next fight. His mistake was in trying to use extra power to compensate for poor control; probably they'll just have him shield this time, but if they don't he'll want to limit his use of node energy and stay calm enough to direct it properly. Easier said than done.

Abras is the only Empath with them. Which means that, mind-shields or not, he's going to be the first to pick up the mental overtones of distress and panic in the distance.