“How dare you,” she sneered, and sent a bevy of fireballs toward him. Aaron ducked behind the podium as the fireballs thwapped against it.
Alex shot off a round of scatterclips, catching a few of Gondoleery’s guards and sending them flying backward into the night, but he couldn’t get a good shot at Gondoleery behind her layers of protection. She turned her focus on him and shot several spears of ice from her fingertips.
The head mage dodged and dove toward the back of the stage and leaped off, hitting the dirt behind it as the ice sailed over his head. Once protected from Gondoleery’s attack, he dug frantically in his pocket for Simber’s dewclaw. When he found it, he held it tightly, closed his eyes, and whispered, “Seek.”
A glowing orb shot out from Alex’s hand and disappeared in the storm, heading to the road where Simber and Florence were stationed. As soon as he saw the seek spell was successfully launched, Alex grabbed a handful of heart attack spells and crept around the side of the stage, clearing the dust from his eyes and trying to assess the situation.
In the amphitheater, more fake Necessaries in the audience revealed themselves as Gondoleery’s palace guards. They surrounded her as well, forming several additional rings of protection around her while still allowing her to shoot ice spears and fireballs over their heads and between their bodies.
Gondoleery uttered a chant, and the blowing dust grew stronger. As Artiméans everywhere began flinging spells, Gondoleery and her people dodged them. The Unwanteds’ accuracy was off because of the dust, which only made the high priest cackle. Just a few of her guards had been taken down so far.
Gondoleery scanned the stage, trying to find the one person she knew she had to kill in order to stop the Artiméans’ magic from working, but she no longer saw him. And then her eyes alighted on the podium again, behind which she knew Aaron was still hiding. She slammed a dozen fireballs at it, and finally the old dried-up piece of wood caught fire. The strong wind fanned the flames.
“Get down here!” Alex shouted to Aaron. He jumped onstage and nearly tackled his brother, pulling him off the back to give him the protection of the structure. “What is this, your first battle?”
“Pretty much,” Aaron said, feeling completely out of his element. He scrambled to his feet.
Alex stayed low and grabbed his brother’s arm. “Come on. Stay protected. Follow me!”
The Necessaries and Ancients who’d remained in the Commons were running everywhere, disoriented and useless, and often getting caught in the crossfire. In the midst of the confusion, Simber swooped in overhead with a tremendous roar, causing the Necessaries and Ancients to run away in fright. Aaron watched helplessly as his entire recruiting plan backfired, leaving him the sole Quillen to fight with the Artiméans.
Lani, Sean, and Carina had managed to put out the fire on Samheed’s chest, and he was back on his feet, a bit singed but saved by the extra protection from the vest. They took cover behind the rows of seats that made up the curve of the amphitheater, as did the other Artiméans who were still standing and able to fight. Alex and Aaron stumbled across Henry, gripping his side where an ice dagger had glanced off him, and they dragged the boy to safety so he could get bandaged up.
Not long after Simber’s appearance, Florence came thundering in. Gondoleery turned all her attention on the warrior, and Florence took the brunt of Gondoleery’s fireballs for several seconds as she tried to weave through the throngs of hysterical, retreating Necessaries. Gondoleery soon discovered that her magic had no effect on Florence, but during the time she’d spent firing spells at the warrior, Sean, Carina, Samheed, and Lani had managed to take down several of her guards.
As Florence took on a handful of university students while trying to get to Gondoleery, Simber dove down from overhead in an attempt to grab the old woman. But she turned her weapons on the cat, sending a stream of ice spears at his underbelly. They clinked off him and dropped back to the ground, several pieces striking one of her guards and impaling him.
Gondoleery switched to fireballs. Simber dipped his wings and curved sharply, the fireballs missing him and being carried by the squalls into the Necessary quadrant nearby. Smoke added to the dust in the air, which made the visibility even poorer.
With her ranks thinning, Gondoleery paused in her firing and shouted something to her remaining protection crew. They lifted their rusty weapons and began to slice through the crowd of advancing Artiméans, traveling as a unit and heading toward the road in the direction of the palace.
Sean and Carina, anticipating Gondoleery’s move, had slipped ahead to find barriers to hide behind. They reloaded their components, and once Gondoleery’s pack came into striking distance, they began pelting her guards with heart attack spells, trying to cut deep enough into the layers of protection around the high priest to enable them to get to the woman herself.
With guards falling all around her, Gondoleery didn’t seem to be bothered. She sent a dozen ice spears at a group of hidden Unwanteds, aiming for their arms so they wouldn’t be able to throw their components, and she hit her mark.
The crowd scattered as Gondoleery began attacking anyone in the way, and soon she and her protectors were moving swiftly through the quadrant. Florence, who kept having to dodge guards swinging sharp objects, grabbed her bow and nocked an arrow so she could take a single deadly shot if presented with the opportunity. But Gondoleery was clever and kept moving constantly, avoiding spells cast her way and keeping a tall guard between her and the towering ebony warrior at all times. To her great frustration, Florence never had a clear shot.
By the time Gondoleery and her thinning ranks reached the road, Alex understood why she had decided to move in that direction. Stationed there, with a fleet of Quillitary vehicles, was Governor Strang and the new Wanted Quillitary recruits. With horns honking, engines revving, and a whole new battalion of guards running toward Gondoleery to fill in the holes in her human shield left by the fallen, Gondoleery’s company took on renewed strength. Things began looking bleak for Artimé.
“Everybody take cover!” Alex cried, Aaron at his side. “Regroup! Reload!”
Simber flew over their path carrying wounded Artiméans and depositing them in a safe spot for Claire and Henry to attend to, seeking but not finding any opportunity to pluck the high priest from the ground.
Seeing Gondoleery’s reinforcements arriving, Florence thundered out to the road to try to weave her way into the inner circle of human armor before it closed up again. As she ran, Governor Strang shouted a command, and suddenly a swarm of vehicles peeled out on the loose gravel road and charged toward the ebony statue.
“Florence, look out!” Lani cried. But it was too late.
The vehicles rammed at the statue’s legs, trying to stop her. Florence nimbly jumped up and landed on the hood of one, smashing it and cracking her foot. She leaped to the next hood, crushing it, and then tried running across the tops of all of the vehicles that stood in her way. But the drivers began to anticipate her moves, and at the last second, a vehicle she was aiming for quickly slammed into reverse. Instead of stepping on the hood, Florence landed off balance with a jolt on the ground. Her already cracked foot shattered. Her knee buckled, and all her weight slammed down on that one point. It cracked and her lower leg broke off, leaving her helpless to walk and surrounded by vehicles.
Simber flew to Florence’s side, roaring at the drivers, but they all rolled up their windows and were safe inside their vehicles for the moment.
“I’m fine!” Florence yelled to Simber. “I’m just stuck here. Follow them! I’ll do what I can to help!”
Upon overhearing this, the drivers in undamaged vehicles raced around Florence to catch up to Gondoleery and her remaining posse of guards, while Alex shouted for all spell casters to huddle up if they were able.
Unwanteds, covered in a layer of dust and shielding their eyes from the wind, darted from their hiding places and found Alex. It was a decidedly smaller team than what he’d started out with t
his morning, but it was a strong one.
“We’re not giving up!” Alex cried. “I let Gondoleery get away once, and I’m not going to let that happen again. I won’t stop until she’s dead. Are you with me?”
“We’re with you, Alex!” the people of Artimé shouted.
“Take a moment to drink some water, wipe the sand from your eyes, and gear up for more,” Alex said. “We need to overtake Gondoleery’s party and reach the palace before her. We must keep her from getting inside. If we can stop her . . . we have a chance. A good one.”
“Alex,” Aaron said in a low voice, “there’s a shortcut through the Wanted quadrant that will take us to the portcullis.”
“He’s right,” Samheed said. “I used to take it all the time. We’ll be able to head Gondoleery off at the gate if we hurry. And we can use invisible steed spells.”
“Let’s do it, then,” Alex said, fumbling for the proper components and casting two invisible steeds, one for him and one for Aaron. “Climb on,” he said. “Like this.” Alex mounted the creature.
Aaron looked alarmed. But he tentatively reached out, feeling for the animal, and climbed on its back.
“Hold the reins and don’t fall off. Samheed, lead the way.”
Samheed led at a gallop. Alex set off after him and Aaron followed. Sean quickly cast two more steed spells for Sky and Kaylee, and the rest of the Artiméans came along behind.
Their steeds ran as fast as their feet could carry them. Alex kept a watchful eye on Simber, who was swooping in and out over Gondoleery’s head so that Alex and the others would be able to tell where she was.
“Why doesn’t Simber just grab her and destroy her?” Aaron asked, once he got used to being on the steed. “Can’t he pluck her out of the crowd and take her away?”
Alex shook his head. “I don’t know. Some really strange things are happening with him. She’s obviously doing something to fend him off.”
Following Samheed, they darted between rows of houses and across paths through the Wanted quadrant, and then veered sharply down the row of governors’ housing. Occasionally Simber appeared above the roofs of houses, following Gondoleery and transporting wounded Artiméans out of danger.
As abruptly as the steeds appeared, the spells wore off, and one by one the Artiméans were deposited to the ground. They picked themselves up and began running the rest of the way.
“We’re going to beat her there,” Alex shouted over his shoulder. At Haluki’s house, they turned and ran up the hill to where the portcullis used to stand. Now there was a gaping hole.
“Forgot . . . to mention . . . that,” Lani said, breathing hard and pointing to the broken gate. “I drove through it when I couldn’t find the brake.”
“Nice,” Samheed said, admiring it. “We can use the gates as shields. What do you say, Al?”
“Excellent,” Alex replied. Breathless, everyone searched the sides of the road, grabbing whatever bits and pieces of the portcullis they could find. They stacked the pieces up in the road, creating a barricade in front of them. And then they lined up, stretching all the way across the road behind the barricade, and looked down the hill at Gondoleery’s approaching party.
Simber, seeing the Artiméans in the road, realized they could be run down by the Quillitary. He paused in his care of the wounded and began diving down and smashing one vehicle after another, rendering them useless. When the drivers got out of their smashed cars and tried to run to surround Gondoleery, Simber picked them up in his claws and flew them out over the sea, dropping them in.
“Her ranks are thinning,” Alex shouted to his comrades, who were all singed and filthy from mingled dust and sweat. “Arm yourselves, friends. Whether we live or die, this is the moment that defines us all.”
The Artiméans pulled out their best spells. Samheed put up glass walls in front of the barricade, leaving room between for spells to be cast. Sky drew her sword, and Kaylee drew hers.
“We’ll fire all at once,” Alex said as more straggling Artiméans arrived to make a second line behind them. “We fight to end the fight. Give it your all. Wait for my signal.”
Aaron unsheathed his dagger and looked at it. He’d have to throw it to do any good, and that would leave him weaponless. He would have to choose the right moment to use it.
Alex glanced at him. The Artiméans wouldn’t have had these extra moments to prepare if it hadn’t been for Aaron. And they had a better chance to take Gondoleery out with every Unwanted that arrived before she reached them. Alex pressed his lips together in a firm line, then reached inside his robe to his component vest. He pulled out a handful of heart attack spells and shoved them at Aaron. “Here,” he said.
Surprised, Aaron fumbled the components, dropping some on the ground. He hurried to pick them up. “Are you sure?”
Alex pointed at the dagger. “What’s that bitty thing going to do against Gondoleery’s fireballs and ice spears? It’s not fair for you to be standing here, risking your life, practically unarmed against her. I’ll take responsibility for your actions,” Alex said. “So don’t mess up. You know the verbal component?”
“I—I—yeah, of course.” Aaron held the heart attack spells in his hand and stared at them, remembering the last time he’d used them—to subdue Panther after she killed Eva. And he remembered the time before that, when he’d killed Mr. Today. Red and heart shaped, and so beautiful in flight with their feathered wings . . . yet they were deadly, and they’d caused Aaron so much pain and shame. He hated the sight of them. He couldn’t stand holding them.
“No, thanks,” Aaron said forcefully, shoving the components back at Alex. “I’d rather take my chances with the dagger.”
Surprised, Alex let him pour the components back into his hand. There was no time to argue. Gondoleery was approaching. And she could see them.
“Everyone ready?” Alex whispered.
“Ready,” they said softly.
“All together now, aim,” Alex said, voice calm and steady, as the high priest came within range, “and . . . fire!”
With shouts of various spells, more than thirty components flew through the air at once, striking their targets, and the outside layer of Gondoleery’s protection went down. Aaron hung on to his dagger.
Gondoleery fired back, a round of ice spears shattering the glass shields and sending shards flying everywhere. Immediately she followed with a round of fireballs, which smacked the barricade, but none penetrated. She shouted a command, and a handful of guards rushed forward brandishing weapons.
“We’ve got them!” Sky yelled to Alex. “Focus on the old hag!” She and Kaylee rushed around the barricade with their swords and attacked the approaching guards, backing them off to one side so the Unwanteds could cast more spells.
The Artiméans quickly reloaded and sent off another round at Gondoleery, and then a third.
The guards around Gondoleery toppled to the ground as fireballs and ice spears peppered the rusty metal-gate barricade and zipped over the Artiméans’ heads.
“Again!” shouted Alex. “That’s the way!”
The spell casters shouted their spells and sent their next round of components flying. When at last Gondoleery’s inner guards had fallen and she was exposed, the Unwanteds sent a bevy of spells at her. She ducked and dodged, blasting a few Artiméans with ice spears.
When the next round of spells went out, Gondoleery fell too.
Everyone stared for a split second, holding their breath and watching the woman, before the Artiméans sprang into action, charging around the barricade. Simber swooped down. Aaron ran forward, dagger drawn, and Alex came right behind him, scatterclips in hand. They approached the pile of bodies cautiously, but Alex was nearly certain he’d struck the woman with his last heart attack spell.
Carina stayed back, not trusting any of it, trying desperately to see through the dust storm. Reluctantly she crept forward with the others, and then she saw something move. “Watch out!” she yelled. “It’s a trick!”
<
br /> With Alex and Aaron at close range, Gondoleery lifted her arm and pointed at Alex. Electric blue flames sparked from her hand in anticipation. With a primal cry, Gondoleery sat up and sent giant blue fireballs flying from her fingertips.
“No!” Aaron cried, shoving Alex out of the way. The first flaming blue ball flew between them, but the second slammed into Alex’s stomach and sent him soaring backward, on fire.
Gondoleery followed Alex with her fingertips, fireballs bursting forth. Aaron jumped in the way and took the next two shots, fire exploding on his chest and the heat singeing his eyebrows and hair. The impact sent him reeling. With a surge of anger, he reared back and launched his dagger at the woman. It spun through the air, straight and true, striking her square in the chest. She staggered back and fell, and the dust storm immediately stopped. But Gondoleery managed to climb to one knee. Simber flew at her. She sent fireballs streaming at him. He weaved and dodged them, flying out of range to avoid them.
Aaron rolled on the ground, trying to put out the fire. Keeping his eye on Gondoleery, he shouted, “Alex! Are you okay?”
But Alex didn’t answer.
With Simber out of her way, Gondoleery aimed and fired again. Alex took the hit, and his robe shot up in flames.
Aaron ran to help his brother, but Gondoleery bowled him down with another fireball.
The Artiméans exploded into action.
Simber bolted from the sky and flew toward Gondoleery. “You . . . will . . . not . . . win!” the giant cat roared in the high priest’s face. He dove in front of the boys and spread his wings wide to protect them. With a grimace, Gondoleery dug deep inside her soul and poured out a round of blue flames, pelting Simber’s chest and enveloping him in fire until she could cast no more.
Engulfed in flames, the giant cat roared a final command to the Artiméans: “Save . . . yourrr . . . mage!” And then he exploded, lighting up the morning sky. Simber’s body returned to its original form, the sand from which the giant cheetah had been created. As the blue flames turned white, then red, and disappeared, the sand fell into a shapeless heap on the road.