Artemis didn’t even give the old warlock time to recover himself. There was no time. Time was surging and nraveling at once.
“Come on,” he said. “Forward.”
Holly backpedaled to her feet, pulling No1 to his. Behind them on the slopes, the demons had frozen at the sight of the disappearing imps, but now were advancing again with renewed determination. No doubt they believed that Holly was responsible for the disappearance of their little brothers.
Temporal booms echoed around the island as chunks of Hybras spun into the time tunnel. Some would materialize on Earth and some in space. It was doubtful that any demons unlucky enough to be transported would survive. Not without concentrated magic to forge a compass for them.
Artemis dragged himself the last few steps to the bomb, dropping to his knees beside it. He wiped ash from the readout with his sleeve, then spent a while studying it, nodding along with the flickering of its digital timer.
The numbers of the timer were behaving erratically: jumping forward, slowing down, and even backing up slightly. But Artemis knew that there would be a pattern in here somewhere. Magic was simply another form of energy, and energy conformed to certain rules. It was simply a matter of watching the timer and counting. It took a while, longer than they could afford, but eventually Artemis spotted the repeat. He ran the numbers quickly in his head.
“I see it,” he shouted to Qwan, who was on his knees beside him. “It’s mainly forward. An hour per second for a count of forty, followed by a deceleration to thirty minutes per second for a count of eighteen, then a slight jump backward in time, one minute per second back for a count of two. Then it repeats.”
Qwan smiled weakly. “What was the first one again?”
Artemis stood, heaving the bomb from its cradle of ash and fungus.
“Never mind. You need to prepare to transport this place. I’ll move the bomb to wherever you need it.”
“Very well, smart Mud Boy. But we still have only four magical beings. We need N’zall.”
Holly backed into the group, still firing. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Qwan nodded. “I have faith in you, Captain. Then again, I am a trusting person, and look where that got me.”
“Where do you want this?”
Qwan looked around. “We need to form a circle around it, so somewhere flat. Look, that level spot. There.”
Artemis began dragging the bomb toward the indicated spot. It wasn’t so far. Then they could all stand around in a ring and watch it explode.
Everyone had their jobs to do now. The chances of their tasks coming to fruition were slightly less than the chances of a dwarf-goblin marriage ever taking place. And a goblin would rather eat his own feet than marry a dwarf.
Artemis had to position the bomb. No1 and Qwan were in charge of spell-casting, and Holly had the unenviable tasks of keeping them all alive and persuading Abbot to join their group. And all this while the island was disintegrating around them.
The volcano was literally being torn apart. Huge segments vanished into space like parts of a giant 3-D jigsaw. In minutes, there would be nothing left to transport.
Qwan took No1’s hand in his own, leading him to the small level spot.
“Okay, young fellow. That thing you did up there with the soldiers, that was good. I was impressed. But this is the big time. I know you’re in pain. That’s just because you are now sensitive to the spell’s breakdown. But you have to ignore that. We have an island to move.”
No1 felt his tail vibrate nervously. “An island? An entire island?”
Qwan winked. “And everyone on it. No pressure.”
“What do we do?”
“I need only one thing from you. Call up your magic, every drop. Let it pass through me and I’ll do the rest.”
That sounded easy enough. But calling up magic when there were arrows flying and chunks of the countryside disappearing was about as easy as going to the toilet on command with a dozen people watching. Who all hated ou.
No1 closed his eyes and thought magical thoughts.
Magic. Come on, magic.
He tried to open the same doors in his mind as he had when he had conjured up the human soldiers. To his surprise, he found the magic came easier now, as if it were ready to come out. The cage had been opened and the beast was free. No1 felt the power surge through his arms, animating him like a puppet.
“Whoa there, big fellow,” said Qwan. “No need to blow my head off. Put a leash on it until it’s time to go.” The old warlock shouted to Artemis, his thin voice almost whipped away by sonic booms, “How long?”
Artemis was dragging the bomb with some difficulty, digging his heels into the crust and heaving. He couldn’t help thinking that Butler would have simply slung the bomb and its casing over one shoulder and hefted it onto the plateau.
“Count to three hundred. Maybe two ninety-nine. Providing the deterioration remains constant, which it should.”
Qwan had stopped listening after the words three hundred. He gripped No1’s hands tightly.
“Five minutes and we’re going home. Time to start the mantra.” Qwan closed his eyes and bobbled his head from side to side, muttering in the ancient demon tongue.
No1 could feel the power of the words shaping the magic into rising circles of blue fire around them. He held on to his new mentor and joined in, repeating the mantra as if his life depended on it. Which, of course, it did.
Holly now had to draw Abbot into their little group and persuade him to join the magic circle. It seemed, judging by the way he was waving his fancy sword, highly unlikely that he would do this voluntarily.
The demon attack was mostly in disarray now, what with large tracts of their surroundings flashing off into another dimension, but Abbot and his council members were as dogged as ever, forging ahead with barely a pause when some of their number disappeared.
Holly held her fire, wondering what would be the best way to communicate with the pride leader. She was a trained negotiator, and suspected from her own observations and what No1 had told her, that Abbot had Acquired Situational Narcissism. He was completely in love with himself and his own importance in the community. Narcissists would often chose to die rather than accept what they saw as demotion. To Abbot, Holly would represent someone who was trying to remove him as pride leader, and therefore someone to be dealt with immediately.
Great, thought Holly. No matter what dimension you’re in, there’s a bigheaded male trying to take over the world.
The demons were advancing in a ragged line. Abbot was at the head, urging his mesmerized troops forward. The red sky was splitting into interwoven tendrils behind his head. The world, as Abbot knew it, was ending, but still he would not give up his position. Death for all before disgrace for him.
“Call off your warriors, Abbot,”shouted Holly.“We can talk about this.”
Abbot did not
reply, as such. Not unless howling and stomping could count as a reply.
The demons were spreading out even more now, flanking her and avoiding being sucked off into another dimension all in one group. Abbot skidded ahead, digging his heels through the crust of ash, leaning his torso back to avoid tumbling. He was completely coated in ash now; even his ram’s horns were gray. Gray maelstroms trailed behind him as each lurch forward threw up a thousand flakes.
There’s nothing I can do, thought Holly. This guy wouldn’t listen to his own mother. If he knew who his mother was.
There was no way out. She would have to up the charge and knock him senseless for a couple of hours. Qwan would have to put Abbot in the magic circle unconscious.
“Sorry,” she said, and flicked up the power setting above the pistol’s thumb-rest.
Holly aimed with practiced accuracy. The beam that pulsed from the Neutrino’s barrel was a more dangerous red now, and should knock Abbot head over heels a couple of times.
I’ll try not to enjoy that sight, thought Holly.
It was a sight she never got to enjoy, for at that precise moment, the time surge reversed for a count of two. The beam disappeared into the past, and Holly felt like throwing up as her atoms were scrambled once again by time quandary. She caught a glimpse of her ghostly past self a couple of feet to her right. Out of focus past versions of the demons scrambled behind them like speed trails. Then the past was gone for another minute.
Abbot was still coming. Dangerously close now. Holly reckoned she had time for another shot. And with any luck, the demon council would lose their singularity of purpose with their leader out of the picture.
She adjusted her aim, then the world shattered before her like a broken mirror. A curved section of the earth rose above her like a tidal wave, then dematerialized in a glittering flurry of sparks. Holly caught a glimpse of alternate dimensions through the gaps. There was sun and space and enormous multi-tentacled creatures.
The sheer amount of magic present in the air squeezed Holly’s head like a vise. She vaguely noted as Artemis and the others succumbed to the magical overload.