Ray’s plane crossed the continent faster than the speed of sound. Its wake disturbed

flying creatures along its flight path. People looked for a sudden storm, but put the

sound of thunder down as a simple blast of lightning not to be worried about if

nothing else happened.

“This is pretty fast, Ray,” said Johnny Mac.

“Not as fast as space warping,” said Buble. “It is faster than the available technology.

How is it staying in the air?”

“Magic,” said Ray. “There is Barley according to the scope. I am going to do a fast

circle. You guys do what you do so we know what we’re dealing with.”

“I’m ready, Ray,” said Ishvar. “The scan might be incomplete from the moving, but

I should know something.”

“I’m ready too,” said Buble. “Do you think she noticed us?”

“It depends,” said Ray.

“Depends?,” asked the rabbit.

“Depends on how soundproof her dome is,” said Ray. “I’m going to take us around

with Ishvar facing the town. Keep an eye out on your side, Johnny. She might have

some air cav who can keep up with us.”

“We don’t have guns?,” asked Johnny Mac.

“We have them, but they’re fixed up front,” said Ray. “I’ll have to turn the whole

plane to shoot.”

“All right,” said Johnny Mac. “A turret would be good is all I’m saying.”

“I’ll put it in the next plane I come up with using magic blue flame,” said Ray.

“Starting the circle. Let me know if I have to go around again.”

Ray piloted the plane around the wall. A dome of orange letters covered Barley. He

thought he saw people on the ground throwing forces against it. He wondered if they

could see his Ray Plane in the air above them.

He felt Ishvar’s golden light behind him, but ignored the feeling it gave the back of

his neck. She was his ally now. He didn’t know how they were going to pay her price,

but he wasn’t going to hand over Buble. The butler had earned that much in his

opinion.

They would work something out after they had dealt with the Librarian.

“Go around again, Ray,” said Ishvar. “I think I see a weak link we can exploit.”

“All right,” Ray said. He took the plane around again, watching the sky and ground

as best that he could. He didn’t want to be shot out of the sky before they came up

with a plan.

“She’s using spell stones in the wall to power her dome,” said Buble. “That is at once

expensive and cheap.”

“I’m going to take us out so we can talk,” said Ray. “Anybody see anything we can

use?”

“Why is it expensive and cheap to use the magic rocks for her dome?,” asked Johnny

Mac.

Ray pulled away from the covered town and picked a spot where he could watch the

enemy and the sky around him. He set the jets to hold the plane in place so they could

talk and come up with a plan.

“Magicians have three sources of power, Master John,” said Buble. “They have their

inner spirit, which uses their own resources to run spells. They have other people and

animals’ inner spirits which can be sacrificed to run spells. They have a patron that

grants them a finite amount of power that has to be renewed by worship, or obedience

to procedures. This is different from a persona like myself who essentially is magic

come to life and capable of feats within my skill set.”

“Okay,” said Johnny Mac. “Got that.”

“To see a dome like that, I would expect a persona like myself with a narrow focus

just creating a wall with his skill set, but to have a human magician do something like

that is usually considered impossible because their bodies would burn up, or they had

to sacrifice a huge number of lives, and the dome would run out of power anyway, or

the god just wouldn’t grant that much power in the first place unless some kind of

important quest was going on,” said Buble. “So the use of spell stones is a cheap way

around the limitations on humans because they take a small amount of life from

nearby and store it for later use.”

“But spell stones aren’t usually cheap to make,” said Ishvar. “They’re an item that

requires material to be put together by an expert over time.”

“And these are embedded in the wall around Barley,” said Buble. “That requires time

to do.”

“That’s a lot of planning ahead for a plan b,” said Ray.

“No,” said Lightner.

“Seriously?,” said Ray. He turned to look at his passenger. “Seriously?”

“Yes,” said Lightner.

“What is he talking about?,” asked Johnny Mac. “I don’t understand one word

replies.”

“When we blew up the walls around the school and the other hideouts,” said Ray.

“We blew up the backup plans. This was the real plan all along. And that’s why she

was okay with us chasing the lighthouse out of town so it couldn’t kill anyone by

accident. We wouldn’t be here to stop her from cutting on the dome and summoning

the Abyssal so she can take control of it and have it eat the rest of the Abyssals which

she can then sacrifice to become a god.”

“That old plan,” said Johnny Mac.

“How do we stop her plan from going forward is the key issue,” said Ishvar.

“Everything depends on the spell stones, doesn’t it?,” asked Ray. “As far as we know

she could be using the stones for more than putting up a dome to sacrifice the town.

She might be using them to power her summons too.”

“It’s more than possible,” said Ishvar. “Any confrontation would be almost suicidal

because she might be able to cast spell after spell while we run out our personal

power trying to stop her.”

“Can you get me inside the dome?,” asked Ray.

“Yes,” said Ishvar. “I’m sure she will notice when I do.”

“We’re not going to be able to knock the wall down from the outside,” said Johnny

Mac. He split a look between their magical advisors. “We’re all going to have to go

in, aren’t we?”

“It will be dangerous for you guys to do that,” said Ray.

“No,” said Lightner.

“Lightner’s right,” said Buble. “We can’t possibly do anything to the wall from out

here. So we’re all going to have to go in.”

“And she will fight us,” said Ishvar. “The stored energy in the spell stones might be

enough to do minor summons to keep us from interfering.”

“So some of us have to get her attention and keep it while some of us are trying to

disrupt everything else,” said Ray. He looked his group over. “Disconnecting the

spell stones could end the danger, right?”

“It will cut into her personal power,” said Ishvar.

“You know how this is going to have to go, Ray,” said Johnny Mac. “We’re going to

have to take her, while Buble, Ish, and Lightner stop the spell work.”

“We don’t have time for anything else,” said Ray. “We just have to find her before

she can call out the dogs on us.”

“Where will you start looking?,” asked Ishvar. Her golden helmet didn’t conceal the

puzzlement in her voice.

“At the library,” said Ray. “That seems to be the key to the plan somehow. I’m sure

she went back there after the fight. I couldn’t find her anyplace else in the city, and

I didn’t have time to search every blocked area. The places I did hit were going to be

marked by the constellation at some point.”

“We’ll try the wall next to the main gate,” said Ishvar. “That will give people a

chance to flee if we don’t stop the summons but do knock the wall down.”

“And the entry points are the weakest part of the installation which will make our job

easier,” said Buble.

“I can see that,” said Ray. “Knocking the gates down might shut the dome off.”

“So we’re going for it?,” said Johnny Mac.

“Yeah,” said Ray. “Let’s do this before I reconsider and head for the high lonesome.”

“High lonesome?,” asked Ishvar.

“That’s where cowboys go to watch their cows graze, but they’re mostly alone while

they’re on guard,” said Ray. “Which one of us needs to be dropped off first?”

“You two need to be dropped off at the university so I can open the dome for you,

then we’ll have to go on our own power to the gate,” said Ishvar.

“I’ll program the plane to carry you,” said Ray. “Just don’t touch the controls. It’ll

hover over the gate so you guys can get off, then I’ll have it drop down in front of the

gate and start shooting to help drain some of the power out of the spell stones.”

“Let’s go ahead,” said Ishvar.

Ray worked the controls to bring the plane over the library. He couldn’t see through

the protective writing. He hoped he wasn’t leading Johnny Mac into a killing floor.

“I’m going to need my number two iron, Buble,” said Johnny Mac. “This is going to

be hairier than a dog’s butt.”

Buble pulled a long gun from his jacket and handed it over.

“Everyone ready?,” said Ray. “Come get us when you think you have the city safe.”

“Lamp, as soon as Johnny Mac and I disembark, have the plane take the others over

to the main gate, hover until they disembark, and then take position and target the

gate with the main guns. Evade any attacks where possible,” thought Ray.

Affirmative.

“The plane will carry you,” said Ray. He undid his harness. “Just don’t touch the

controls. They’ll work on their own. Come on, Johnny. Let’s see if we can be heroes

one more time.”

The two made their way to the side door. Johnny Mac had his long gun slung so he

wouldn’t lose it, and could quick draw it if he had to. The door opened and the three

steps extended down.

“We’re jumping into that?,” Johnny Mac said. He pointed at the seething letters under

them.

One golden letter punched a paragraph out of the dome.

Ray jumped for the hole. He felt the blue flame wrap around him to slow his fall. The

first goal was to find the Librarian. Then they had to keep her busy. How hard could

that be?

Johnny Mac fell pass him. He screamed as he headed for the ground.

“Lamp, stop him from hitting the ground,” thought Ray.

Affirmative. Blue flame wrapped around Johnny Mac and slowed him down so he

was able walk off his wild ride.

Ray touched down a second later.

“Let’s not do that again,” said Johnny Mac, rifle in hand.