“Why just one?,” asked Ray. He sat down so he could lean his back against the leg

  of his robot.

  “I think she’s been doing this long enough to know how many she can run,” said

  Johnny Mac. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “Back

  home, you can only run so many corner boys before you start thinking about which

  one has to be shot for dipping into the till, or cutting the product too much to make

  more money on the side. I think this is the same. She knows she can only run one, but

  she keeps messing up and getting more than one when she does the whammy.”

  “What does some homie from the backwoods know about some corner boys?,” said

  Ray. He smiled to show he was being a touch sarcastic.

  “More than some tree hugger from Cali,” said Johnny Mac. He grinned. Then he

  shook his head. “Fayetteville does a lot of traffic thanks to being a pipeline into and

  out of Bragg, and being close to Ninety Five so stuff can run up into Dee Cee and

  Baltimore.”

  “So she wants to use the Abyssals as a power source, but she can only control one at

  a time,” said Ray. He closed his eyes from tiredness and thought. “Maybe she wants

  one she can control so she can use that to eat the others. That would take a lot of time

  unless she had something big enough to scoop up small fry and add their mass to its

  own until it could take on big whales.”

  “What could she do if she had something like that?,” said Johnny Mac. “Once she has

  one working, maybe she can get another, and then another. It’s just that it takes fifty

  years for each try.”

  “The worst thing in my opinion is she already has four of these things, and was trying

  for the fifth when we came along and blew up her apple cart,” said Ray. “I like that

  metaphor. Blew up the apple cart. It has a nice sound to it.”

  “It’s better than we stumbled over the master villain and she blew up our apple cart,”

  said Johnny Mac. He waved at the fallen robot.

  “I can fix that when I have a recharge,” said Ray. He made a gesture with his hand at

  the enormity of the task.

  “What do you think of the idea?,” asked Johnny Mac.

  “It’s plausible, but not provable yet,” said Ray. “I like it because it fits, and it might

  also explain the amount of power she’s been using other than those spell stones.”

  “She tapped her monster as a power source?,” said Johnny Mac. “How?”

  “I don’t know,” said Ray. “Magic isn’t my thing. Ishvar might be able to tell us if we

  ask her.”

  “If she says yes?,” asked Johnny Mac.

  “Then we’re looking at someone who’s been around for a long time with a thing on

  the leash that she can use as a battery and if she gets mad enough can be let loose to

  eat through town as a diversion, or revenge from beyond the grave,” said Ray.

  “How do you want to handle this?,” asked Johnny Mac. He moved to stand in the

  shade cast by the robot.

  “We need to get back to Barley and find her,” said Ray. “Then we need to stop her

  using spells to stop us, and make sure she can’t do any summoning. Woad and his

  guys are going to want to talk to her, but that’s not my concern as long as we stop her

  before she can do more damage.”

  “The Duke just wants her stopped,” said Johnny Mac. “He didn’t say anything about

  bringing her back alive.”

  “Neither did Woad,” said Ray. “I just want to make sure that we try at least before we

  put her head in a bag.”

  “If we can put her head in a bag,” said Johnny Mac. “We’re the ones getting

  hammered so far.”

  “I know,” said Ray.

  Lightner landed on the desert floor. He looked around.

  “It appears that you no longer need my presence,” the powerhouse said. “I shall return

  to my place and allow my other identity control until it is necessary for my return.”

  “Hold on,” said Johnny Mac. “We’re heading back into town. We might be fighting

  when we get there.”

  “And you think I will make that much of a difference?,” asked Lightner.

  “Yes,” said Ray. “If you hadn’t shown up, Barley would be toast right now. You’ve

  helped destroy resources our enemy needs. We need to keep pressing forward. You’re

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  the biggest presser we have.”

  “I don’t think I have ever been described in quite such a manner,” said Lightner.

  Lightning rolled over his body as he moved. “I still am required to exchange places

  now that the immediate danger is done. That’s part of the deal.”

  “We’re going to need you, if Johnny Mac is right,” said Ray.

  “And I will be glad to lend all the assistance I am able in such a case,” said Lightner.

  “But I have to carry out my part of the partnership to the utmost of my ability.”

  He mumbled some words and the lightning shot into the sky. Lightner’s younger body

  remained. Smoke rolled from his skin and his hair frizzed in all directions.

  “Do you know what’s going on?,” asked Ray.

  “Yes,” said Lightner.

  “We’re going into town as soon as Ishvar is ready,” said Ray. “You in?”

  “Yes,” said Lightner.

  “You should have got something out of the deal other than yes/no,” said Johnny Mac.

  Lightner shrugged.

  “I harvested all the energy out of the spell stones,” said Ishvar. “I think we’re ready

  to go.”

  “I’ll need to get something to eat at some point,” said Ray. “Can you get us back to

  town?”

  “Certainly,” said Ishvar. “The tower should work just as well getting us back there

  as it did bringing us out to the desert.”

  “Let’s do that then,” said Ray. “I can fill up at the Oak, and then we can start trying

  to find the Librarian.”

  Ishvar raised a hand. The tower that was the outer shell of her spell appeared, then

  sank back into the sand. She made an irritated sound behind her golden mask.

  “I can’t make a connection inside the city, and I don’t know enough to make one

  outside of it,” said Ishvar.

  Ray and Johnny Mac exchanged a look. It looked like they needed to get back to

  Barley a lot sooner than what they had planned.

  “Buble, Ray needs some food,” said Johnny Mac. “High calorie and as much as you

  think you can carry. Then we’re going to work out a way to get back to town to see

  what’s going on. We might have to do some fighting when we get there. I want you

  to protect the citizens as much as possible and help Ishvar with any kind of magic that

  will help us out. Use your best judgement on it.”

  “Food first, Master John,” said Buble. He looked in the direction of Barley. “I can’t

  set up the ring system. Something is blocking the connection on the other end.”

  “She set up a wall to keep us out, and everyone else in,” said Ray. “It’s a classic and

  I fell for it.”

  “We fell for it,” said Johnny Mac. “Plus she was ripping up the neighborhood. The

  giant walking building had to go.”

  “And she might have been able to summon it back to help her if it hadn’t been

  destroyed and the spell removed,” said Ishvar. “The last thing we need is a servant

  getting in our way while we try to settle the rest of this.”

  “Is that possible?,” asked Johnny Mac.

  “Certainly,” said Ishvar. “Our opponent has shown herself capable of top tier feats.

  She would have certainly been able to call her servant back to her to use as a

  distraction. And we would have been in a position of having to split our forces.”

  “Which would have gotten some of us killed,” said Ray.

  “Almost certainly,” said Ishvar.

  “I got this from the kitchen,” said Buble. He produced a covered tray from behind his

  back. He handed it to Ray. “I hope that it is fair enough.”

  Ray pulled off the lid and set it aside. The tray held a variety of small dishes pushed

  together. He realized everything was finger food. His stomach told him it didn’t care.

  It wanted the food right away.

  He dug in and emptied the plates as fast as he could chew. Energy poured into him.

  The vents on his arm began spouting fire again as he stuffed everything down. He felt

  more normal when he was done.

  He picked up the cover and put it back on the tray of dirty dishes. He handed it back

  to the giant rabbit. The butler put the tray back where it belonged to be cleaned later.

  If they lived through the next few hours.

  “So long distance teleportation is out for the moment,” said Ray. “We still have a way

  to get back to Barley. We’ll need to get through the theoretical wall when we get

  there.”

  “I can do that easily enough,” said Ishvar. “I will have to punch a hole with the added

  energy from the spell stones. It should be fine.”

  “I have a suspicion that the shield will be generated by the outer wall of town,” said

  Ray. “How do we cut it off if I’m right.”

  “I could possibly alter the spell in some way,” said Ishvar. “I’ll have to look at it.”

  “We might need to physically wreck part of it,” said Buble. “Like the university

  wall.”

  Ray and Johnny Mac looked at Lightner. He looked annoyed that they would

  question him, even silently.

  “Yes,” Lightner said.

  “Here’s the plan,” said Ray. “I get us to Barley. Ishvar gets us in. You three deal with

  the shield. Johnny Mac and I look for the Librarian. Once we engage, we’ll try to

  keep her busy until you guys can bail us out.”

  “How are you going to get us to Barley, Ray?,” asked Johnny Mac. “Teleportation

  isn’t working.”

  “Flight still is,” said Ray. He smiled.

  “Lamp, I need you to construct a flying transport from the pieces of the robot,”

  thought Ray.

  Affirmative. Blue flame ripped from the metal arm and covered the broken machine.

  The robot came apart in sections. Then the flame put it back together in a different

  configuration of wings and engines on a round body.

  “That looks cool,” said Johnny Mac.

  “Yes,” said Lightner. He held up a hand to shade his eyes.

  “It doesn’t matter how it looks,” said Ray. “It only matters that it can get us to town

  in time to save the world, and maybe all of reality as we know it. Let’s get this show

  on the road.”

  He walked to where a ladder step led to the entrance in the side of the aircraft. He

  climbed up to the cockpit and took the pilot’s seat. Seats were placed behind and to

  the side for his passengers.

  “This is really cool,” said Johnny Mac. He took the seat to Ray’s left. “The controls

  look simple as heck.”

  “Strap in,” said Ray. “If we hit something in the sky, I don’t want any of you falling

  out of your chairs before we crash and burn.”

  “Yes,” said Lightner. He gestured for Ishvar to sit. He worked the buckles on her

  harness before gesturing for Buble to take a seat. The butler raised a hand to fend him

  off and strapped himself in. The boy champion took his own seat and secured his

  harness.

  “Everyone ready?,” said Ray. A chorus told him they were secure. “Let’s go.”

  The aircraft leaped into the sky as the door shut and the landing gear retracted.