Chapter Thirty Six
A Cunning Plan

 

‘The Cavalry,’ Sarah explained quickly, were Warlocks from all over the world who had been on standby, waiting for Cunning to make his move, with Charlie being the lynchpin that kept it all together. As soon as she found out, she contacted all of them and they’d made their way to the school as quickly as they could. Most of them were quite young, too, students who had graduated from their respective schools only five or so years before.

That, Emily noticed, solved one problem, but brought with it a new one. Every single one of the reinforcements, Familiars included, had drifted downwards, each four or five of them together taking on a Spirit. The School Grounds had turned into a warzone, explosions and flashes of magic lighting up the evening sky. And it wasn’t going to last much longer. Magic was being drained out of the air, and not flowing back nearly quickly enough, drifting to the various Familiars and from them into their Witches and Wizards. . 

“We should finish this soon,” she said, watching the ebb and flow of energy, like motes of dust on the wind. That was more easily said than done, however. While the mages were able to contain the various spirits and keep them from harming anyone, most of them were having trouble keeping the creatures down. Whenever a Spirit was destroyed, its opponents quickly ran over to the next one, but their magical reserves were already running out. “Where’s Lalonde? Where’s Cunning?” 

It was hard to get their bearings. The Spirits that had been assaulting them had been driven back by several mages, but the din around them was more than a little disorienting. Jacob and Dennis quickly moved to their side, Sarah holding her wand at the ready. She likely only had one more of her big bang beams in her, and she was keeping it at the ready. 

Between the rampaging spirits and the magic, it was difficult to make out much. So many explosions were going off around them, it was already hard to concentrate, but clearly something was evaporating in all that heat, because the air was filled with a smoke-like haze. “That way, I think,” Jenna said, and waved. Her bracelet glowed slightly as she sent forward a gust of wind, clearing a path. It didn’t help much. 

“Do you need a hand?”

They spun around to face the familiar voice. Lord Mangrove, holding a pocket watch, stood behind them. He looked as prim and proper as ever, although his usually-perfectly maintained facial hair betrayed something of a stubble. And poking out their heads from behind him were Benjamin and, little nose sticking out of the hood of his jacket, Simon. “Sorry we’re late!” Ben said. “We only heard at the last moment!”

“I’m never late,” Alistair Mangrove said, and held up the watch. “Let’s see if I remember how to do this.” Emily saw a little bit of magic emanate from him, and then, suddenly, what felt like a gale of wind swept away all the dust and vapour filling the air. It quickly died down. Everyone looked at him in shock. “The trick,” the Headmaster said, “is not to work harder. Work smarter.” He winked, then looked around, seeing Cunning not too far from them, behind the rubble of one of the classrooms, then broke into a run. 

Cunning had been fighting Lady Lalonde, and she was losing. Emily hadn’t seen her Familiar, and without it, she was barely recovering her magic at all. And it didn’t help that Cunning seemed to be a vacuum, drawing all magic from the area to him. She wondered if him getting his hands on pieces of the Heart had anything to do with that. 

The Headmistress was barely standing, and had one hand pressed to her side. Her dress was slowly soaking through with blood, and torn in several places. Cunning looked out of breath, but otherwise none the worse for wear. Emily and the others followed Lord Alistair as he made his way to the duo, and it wasn’t long before they could overhear Cunning, monologuing. Lady Lalonde was slowly being lifted in the air, and apparently too weak to stop him.

“—n’t have happened if you and your decaying breed would accept reality, Ellen!” Emily had never heard someone’s name be hissed that way. Cunning pronounced Lady Lalonde’s name like a slur. “But you always knew this was coming, didn’t you? Ah, speak of the devil. Good to have you, Alastair!” He waved at the Headmaster, and it was only because she’d been waiting for it that Emily saw the tendril of telekinesis, gripping a tiny pebble, and flicking it at Lord Mangrove. She snatched it out of the air, and briefly Cunning’s eyes rested on her. He licked his lips. “No matter. I’ll get it one way or another.”

“No, you won’t,” Leah said, bringing her wand to bear.

“Wait!” Emily shouted, but she was too late. The tip of her focus burned, a brief moment of bright quiet before the storm she was about to unleash. And clearly Cunning had been waiting for it. He’d seen her do it before, after all. The Headmistress, fighting to pull herself free, was suddenly yanked sideways, put between Cunning and Leah. Emily did what she could to nudge the tip of Leah’s wand, but it wasn’t enough. 

The stream of energy, usually enough to tear one of the monstrously large Spirits to pieces, hit Lady Lalonde square in the chest, over as quickly as it began. Everyone gasped. Emily vaguely heard someone shouting and presumed it was the Headmaster. As the smoke cleared, Lalonde’s face came into view. She was smiling, one hand on her brooch. “That wasn’t half bad, Stillman,” she said. The shield she’d conjured flickered and died. “Don’t blame yourself.” Before she could say anything else, she was thrown backwards toward cunning, who held her in front of him like a curiosity. 

“Nobody attack!” Lord Mangrove said. “He’ll just use her as a shield again. Surround him!” No time to argue, everyone did as they were told. Emily and Jenna went left with Simon and Benjamin, while Lord Mangrove circled right with Jacob. Dennis hid behind them, though Emily could only commend him. He was still here. The thirteen year old had shown bravery beyond his years. 

“Now, let’s see,” Cunning said, ignoring them. Ellen, dropping all pretence, snarled.

“Yaz is going to rip your head off,” she said. “If none of the kids here get to you first.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” the man replied. “You’ve trained your soldiers well, Ellen. But it just… It won’t do. Not anymore.” He tapped her on the forehead. Her body stiffened up, then went limp. Lord Mangrove jumped into action, at the same time as everyone else. They made it within ten paces of him, when magic, dirt and stone all exploded outward. “Sorry children!” Cunning shouted triumphantly. “Too late!” Lady Ellen’s body was thrown away, but Emily and Sarah caught it together before it hit the ground. The way she’d apparently try to soften the landing immediately told them that the Headmistress was still alive.

Leah ran over, Sarah right behind her. She mumbled something, and Sarah turned around. “She’s breathing!” she shouted at Lord Mangrove. The smile on the Headmaster’s face was one of grim determination. 

“Good.” 

Holding the pocket watch in one hand, he released a flurry of small spells, each barely noticeable, conjuring something up in thin air that disappeared almost immediately afterwards. Only when she looked at Cunning did Emily see what the headmaster was doing. Nails and needles were being fired into the man’s shield, too fast to catch with the naked eye. The shield was already showing cracks. 

“You know,” Cunning said, “if you’d been here on time, this would have worked.” Lord Mangrove glared at him.

“Explain.”

“I have it,” was all Cunning said. “Her piece. Do you know what that means?”

“Don’t.”

Slowly, a maniacal grin spread across Cunning’s face. “Too late.” He raised his hand, and Lord Mangrove started to convulse. What Emily saw was horrifying. The winds of magic as she’d seen them before, they’d always flowed into mages through their Familiars, although a little bit of it always went directly to the mage as well. But this time, magic flowed out of him. No. It was being drained. And clearly whatever energy or life-force drove Lord Mangrove was being extracted with it, the colour being sapped from his face. 

Benjamin and Jacob immediately sprung into action, both of them bringing their focuses to bear and unleashing a barrage of explosive magic at Cunning, who raised his shields with a dismissive smirk. Emily and Jenna ran over to the Headmaster to catch him as he dropped to his knees. “What did he do?” Emily asked.

“He— He has too many pieces of the Heart,” Lord Mangrove said. He was clearly having a hard time breathing. “There’s nothing we can do.”

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“Isn’t there something you can do?!” she demanded. “You have a piece too, don’t you?” The Headmaster shook his head. 

“No. Those of us who swore to keep it safe, we… have safeguards. To keep us from the temptation of using it.”

“Then get rid of them!” Emily wanted to slap him, he seemed so defeated. 

“I can’t,” was all Alastair said. “He’s won.”

“No he hasn’t’!” Jacob shouted as he released one blast of magic after another, but Emily could tell Cunning’s shield wasn’t weakening. In fact, it seemed to be recovering from Lord Mangrove’s attack. 

“He’s going to take yours next, isn’t he? Does he need to touch you?” Emily asked, hoping the teacher wasn’t so lethargic he couldn’t help her think of a solution. “Like he did with Miss Lalonde?”

“Not anymore,” Lord Mangrove said. “With where he’s at, distance is no longer an obstacle. He can drain what he wants from me and into himself.”

“Is it instantaneous?” Emily demanded.

“I… don’t know.”

“Okay, there’s a chance,” she mumbled to herself. “A small chance, but it’s there.” Lord Mangrove looked up at her, his grey eyes dull. He didn’t even ask. “Just… trust me,” Emily said as she relayed her plan to Jenna.

“That’s awful! We don’t even know if it’ll work!”

“True,” Emily said as she ran scenarios through her head. “Very true. But I haven’t been wrong yet, right?”

“If you are, we might all die!”

“We might all die anyway,” Emily said through gritted teeth. “You ready?”

“I’m ready. I trust you.”

“I trust you too,” she said, and she felt something strange in the back of her head, like a little door opening. Well, she could wonder about what that meant later. Right now, they had to stop a monster from gaining what might as well have been ultimate power. She turned to the boys. “Keep him distr—” she started, but it was too late. 

Cunning expanded his shield outward, pushing them back, while flinging rocks and shrapnel at Benjamin and Jacob. A brick thunked Jacob in the head, and he stumbled backwards before falling on the ground. Jenna immediately ran over, and Emily quickly understood he seemed to be mostly okay, even if he was unconscious. The one who needed reassurance was Dennis, and Jenna did her best to calm down the pup.

Benjamin, while he was still standing, was not faring a lot better. Simon was doing his best to stop what he could, but it wasn’t enough. Emily flicked several projectiles out of the air, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to catch them all. One of them, a piece of glass no bigger than a marble, sailed through the air slowly, but driven by more than just simple physics. It wasn’t going to stop, and it was heading right for Benjamin’s forehead. The boy didn’t seem able to move away. 

“I’m sorry, children,” Cunning said, “but I do need you out of the way.”

The shard of glass flicked forward, suddenly a lot faster. Benjamin didn’t have the time to react. There was a small blur of motion coming from his shoulder, and then the sound of something small hitting the ground. With a scream, Benjamin threw himself on the ground, wrapping himself around the shape of the ferret that lay limply in his arms. 

Emily heard him whispering, hyperventilating, panicking, and she ran over as quickly as she could. Benjamin was crying, holding Simon as gently as he could. Cunning had stopped, frowning. He seemed almost confused. Emily ignored him. “Ben,” she said. “Benjamin.”

“I’m sorry,” Benjamin mumbled, over and over again. “Simon, don’t do this. I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.”

“Ben, listen to me,” Emily said. “You two… you trust each other, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Benjamin said, clearly having trouble focusing. “Y—yeah.”

“Then trust him to be okay. Let him not be your familiar for a second.” She hoped she remembered what Lady Lalonde had told them, and that she understood what had happened before. “Just… tell him it’s going to be okay and that you’re here for him.”

“I… okay,” Benjamin said, and did as he was told, holding the little furry body against his chest as he rocked back and forth. It felt like both an eternity and faster than the blink of an eye, and Simon’s very human body was suddenly in Ben’s arms. “Wh—” was all Benjamin managed when the other boy wrapped his arms around him in return. 

Emily released a breath of deep, deep relief and found herself somewhere between laughing, sobbing and screaming. She pushed it all deep down, and turned her eye to Cunning, who observed the scene with a dispassionate glare.

“How… touching,” Cunning said, and turned back to Alastair. “Anyway.”