Island of Graves (41 page)

“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!”

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.

In the instant stillness, the world stopped for a moment and shuddered, absorbing the shock of the explosion. Simber was gone. He was nothing. All that was left of him was a giant pile of sand, eerily settling in the suddenly windless land.

And then, as Alex lay hurt and unaware, the uninjured of Artimé ran to aid their mage, whose robe was covered in flames. Aaron came to his senses, found himself smoldering
once more, and quickly rolled over to put out the fire. He lay there, exhausted and breathing hard, unsure if he could ever get up again.

But then a tiny bit of light caught his eye. On the ground in front of him, something silvery glinted in the morning sunshine. Aaron lifted his head and struggled to move toward it. With effort he reached out and plucked up one of the scatterclips Alex had dropped when he'd been struck. And just as everyone else was exclaiming over Simber or Alex, Gondoleery staggered to her feet once more, the dagger still stuck in her chest. She raised a shaking hand in triumph as tiny sparks spat from her fingers.

Fury fueled Aaron. With a tremendous cry, he pushed himself to his knees. He aimed the scatterclip and threw it at Gondoleery's face, shouting with all the passion he had inside him, “Die a thousand deaths!”

T
he scatterclip struck its mark, and Gondoleery fell once more. Forever, this time. She landed unceremoniously atop her dead guards. And as suddenly as the battle began, it was over.

Aaron sank to the ground with a whimper, trying to rip the still-smoldering vest off his body, and finally succeeding. It had saved his life—he was certain of that.

By now Lani and Samheed had smothered Alex's burning robe to extinguish the flames. They tore it off him and doused him with water from the flasks they carried, which woke him up quickly. Carina came running with her healer's kit to assist.

Aaron flung his burned component vest as far as he could, then coughed the smoke from his lungs and stood up, dazed. He stared at the giant pile of sand that had once been a living statue made by Mr. Today. A statue that had saved his life. Simber had said Aaron would be protected, and the beast had kept the promise and done it himself—and died doing it.

“Simber,” he whispered. Aaron didn't know what to do. Did Alex know? Had he seen it happen?

With Alex sitting up and talking, people left his side to stare at the destruction or assess others' injuries. Soon Alex heard what had happened. He rose to his feet, and with a strangled cry, he staggered over to Simber's remains. The mage knelt on the road next to it, almost unable to believe the horrible sight. He fell forward, choking and sobbing. “No!” he screamed. “This can't happen! Not you! Not you!”

Everyone around them was in a state of shock and disbelief. Simber, their beloved protector, was gone.