“We do things right here in Artimé,” she replied. “It’s incredibly good to see you.”
“You too. Is Sean all right?” Samheed whirled around to toss scatterclips at a soldier running toward him, sending the chap flying backward toward Quill. He faced Meghan now, and hastily froze two young Quillitary soldiers heading toward Mr. Appleblossom, who left his tree and was fighting on the grounds nearby.
“He’s better than when he got here,” Meghan said over the din of clashing metal. “Still in the hospital wing.”
An attacker sliced into Meghan’s arm, which made her furious. She sent her to the ground with a dagger spell to make her regret it. When Meghan turned back toward Samheed to express her disgust, she gasped. Looking over Samheed’s shoulder, she saw a stealthy figure coming up in the distance behind him. And when she caught sight of the man’s face, she grabbed Samheed by the shirt. “Samheed!” she screamed. “Look out!”
The General’s Vendetta
Samheed whirled around, components drawn and ready to cast, and then he gasped too. Not twenty feet away was a small group of soldiers advancing on him and Meghan, weapons poised. And behind them stood a man, a head taller than the rest. The man’s eyes bulged and his nostrils flared.
“General Blair,” Samheed whispered.
Meghan gulped and whispered back. “I see him. I thought he was dead.” She came to her senses and pulled some components from her pocket. “I’ll take the left guards, you take the right, and I’ll leave you the honors of handling the general.”
“I appreciate that,” Samheed said. He looked at the components in his hands and then shoved them into his pocket, opting for a different arsenal. He chose the components he wanted. “Ready?” he said under his breath. “Go.”
One after another, he and Meghan sent four guards flying backward, pinning them to the nearest trees, and four guards running screaming into the sea. And all the while, General Blair, a wild look in his eye, advanced as if nothing were happening to his group of protectors. Finally Samheed reloaded and pulled his arm back to take out the general, but the general was quicker. He held a circular piece of jagged metal in one hand and a pistol in the other.
“Don’t move or you’re dead,” the general said, his voice thundering loud enough for people all around them to hear. The angry scar on his neck pulsed with each word.
Samheed froze.
“You see this weapon here? It has your initials on it, Burkesh. I found it imbedded deep inside my neck.”
The general held Samheed’s throwing star.
“I’ve come to return it. Now put your weapons down and take what you deserve!”
“He’s gone mad,” Samheed muttered.
“Stay still,” Meghan whispered. “Can you put up a glass shield without moving?”
“Good idea.” Samheed concentrated and whispered, “Glass.” A shield appeared in front of him. Immediately Meghan moved to the edge of it and without hesitating, fired off a heart attack spell.
A nearby soldier jumped in its path, took the hit, and fell to the ground. She shuddered and was silent.
“Don’t make me angry!” the general roared. And before anyone could figure out what was happening, there was an earsplitting blast. The glass exploded and shattered at Samheed’s feet.
Meghan screamed and moved to Samheed’s side, fumbling with her pockets.
General Blair fired the gun again, but there was only a click.
Samheed saw his chance and searched his pockets for the spell he needed to finish the general off. But he’d shoved components in his pockets so quickly and without any planning that he couldn’t find what he needed. At last his fingers landed on the familiar heart shapes. He snatched them up.
Fuming, General Blair tossed the pistol aside. He switched the throwing star to his right hand, reared back, and let it fly. At the same time, Samheed wound up and sent two heart attack spells soaring.
Meghan looked up just in time. “No!” she yelled. She leaped into the air, shoving Samheed aside as his heart attack spells hit the general square in the chest.
The man’s eyes widened, and his shaking hands gripped his shirt. At the very same moment, the throwing star found its mark, sticking fast into Meghan’s chest. Without a sound, she tumbled to the ground in a heap.
The shuddering General Blair dropped to his knees, gasping for breath, and fell forward, his face in the lawn. The onlookers from both sides began shouting. They burst into an intense battle, fighting for their lives and their honor.
“Meg!” Samheed cried. He staggered to his feet, fell, and crawled toward her, but the enemy was quickly closing in around him and he couldn’t reach her. He lunged for more components, sending a round of heart attack spells at every soldier in range, and planted two more in the general’s back to make sure the job was done.
A cry went up from a Quillitary soldier. “They’ve killed the general! Fight to the finish!”
“Simber!” screamed Samheed in a horrible voice no one had ever heard before. Finally he was able to stand. A new wave of soldiers approached, slashing the air, trying to get a piece of him. He ducked and darted away from their lashings, and began shooting off lethal versions of scatterclips. “Die a thousand deaths!” he cried with every throw, and one by one each scatterclip caused the fall of another Quillitary soldier. Yet behind each fallen soldier was another to take his place.
From the roof of the mansion, Carina heard Samheed’s cry for help. She shouted for Simber and began pelting the soldiers from her spot up high. Heart attack spell after heart attack spell went soaring, and lethal scatterclips went flying as fast as Carina and Samheed could send them.