"Caley, stop," Ken said as I approached the front door.

"What?" I asked. "I have to see what's going on out there, don't I?"

Ken hesitated, then sighed. "Of course you do. But please, at least take your staff with you."

That was probably a good idea. "All right, I'll just need to run back to my - " I started to turn…and saw my white waxwood staff with its phoenix topper leaning against the bureau beside the door. It definitely hadn't been there when I left my sweater there barely a half-hour earlier…I knew for a fact that I'd left my staff in the workshop.

"Thank you," I said to nobody in particular, understanding that the Hall had brought what I needed to me. I really needed to not get into the habit of relying on that though.

I quickly pulled my cardigan back on, scooped up my staff in my left hand, and opened the door just as the bell deep inside the Hall gave another slightly discordant BONG and something crashed into the front gate again. At least, that's what I assumed was going on.

"Please be careful," Ken said.

"We will be," Sparkle said, landing on my shoulder.

"Call the police station," I said, "see if you can reach D.T.. If she's not there, try the pub."

Ken smiled wanly and nodded as I moved past him out the door, and set off down the drive at a gentle jog. Not for the first time that evening, I was profoundly glad I'd chosen sensible low-heeled ankle boots instead of something 'nicer.'

I briefly wondered what time it was. It had to be at least eleven, maybe close to midnight. I hadn't paid much attention to the time after von Einhardt's appearance at the pub, or while D.T. was walking me home. Not that it mattered very much at all.

There was another resounding crash from up ahead, but all I could see were shadows moving. Why had nobody ever installed electric lights on the wall, or at least at the gate? Something else to get taken care of as soon as possible.

But I could make my own light. With a small effort of will and a flick of my right hand, I sent a ball of light speeding ahead of us and arcing upward. As it reached the gate, I fed it more energy, brightening it until it was lighting up the gate, the wall on either side, the drive, and the street beyond.

There was nothing there, all the way to the woods on the other side of the road.

I slowed to a walk and then stopped well back from the gates. "What the heck?"

Sparkle, who'd been clinging to my ear for balance the whole way, now took off and headed for the gates. "I'll go look!"

"You'll do no such thing!" I said sternly, and she came to an abrupt halt mid-air. "Come back here. Until we know what's going on, we stay well back."

She huffed, but obediently flew back to hover beside me.

"Thank you, Sparkle," I said softly. I shifted the light, moving it out over the street...and saw that there were at least two trees down across the road, with what might've been fragments of others scattered all around.

I moved the light a bit further, and saw that a hole had been smashed through the trees across the road from the gate.

"And that," I said, "is why we're not - "

There was a rumbling sound, and an enormous blur suddenly darted out from the woods into the light, across the road, and smashed into the gates with a resounding crash.

Sparkle and I both yelped in surprise and jumped back. I feel no shame at all in admitting it.

With its forward momentum stopped by the gates, the blur resolved into what my brain translated as an enormous boar. It was definitely porcine, with huge tusks jutting up from its lower lip and bristly dark fur down its spine and in patchy clumps elsewhere. Its eyes glowed an absolutely malevolent red as it glared at me through the bars of the gate, then snorted and gave its head a shake as if to clear it.

It was the size of a large delivery van.

" - going any closer," I finished weakly. "What the hell is that?"

"Sorry, never seen anything like it," Sparkle said.

It scraped one hoof on the pavement before pushing its tusks against the gate, which groaned and bent in just a little. It huffed, turned in place, and trotted back into the woods out of sight.

No doubt to get room for another charge.

"What do I do?" I asked.

Sparkle shook her head. "No idea."

It occurred to me then that this might be my own personal test. I'd resolved after the incident with the troll not to let another overtly hostile monster get away, and this giant boar-thing was mounting an open assault on the Hall's first line of defense.

Could I live up to that vow? Could I kill this thing if I needed to?

I stared at the gates, seeing the way they now bowed in a bit where they met. If that monster could break down the gates, it would make short work of me. Could I retreat to the Hall? Shut the door and hide inside? Until when?

Would the Hall even be able to keep it out.

I made a frustrated noise. I really needed to learn more about the Hall's defenses, passive and active, whether I was prepared to understand them or not. I didn't need to understand them to know what they were, and what - if anything - I had to do to maintain them.

In the meantime, I had to stop thinking about the future and concentrate on what the hell I was going to do right now. How did one stop a giant boar?

I briefly imagined summoning a giant mounted hunter with a boar lance, and gave my head a shake to clear it. I could throw up a big shield, but at best that would just buy me a bit more time, and probably exhaust me. And what would I be buying time for? The only help that might show up was D.T., and...

And what? What would she be able to do?

Okay. I took a deep breath and let it out. I supposed that sometimes the best defense had to be a good offense.

I saw a flicker of movement in the shadows beneath the trees across the street, and heard the rumbling of hooves on rough ground. Then the enormous boar (or whatever it actually was) seemed to sail out of the shadows beneath the trees and slam into the gate with a deafening crash, bowing them further inward. It staggered back a few steps and shook its head.

I aimed the phoenix-capped end of my staff at it through the gate, spun it in a short circle, and shouted, "Glacius hastem!"

A half-dozen spikes of ice formed in the air in a rough circle where my staff passed, each of them as long as my forearm and as wide, tapering to a lethal point. Then I thrust my left hand forward and shouted, "Impulsus!"

My force spell caught the ice spikes and sent them whistling through the bars of the gate with the speed of a fired bullet. One, I have to admit, was aimed badly and shattered on one of the bars. The rest slammed into the boar's head and shoulders.

One of the ice spikes shattered on one of the boar's tusks, making it flinch as tiny shards of ice peppered its snout and eyes. Another sank a few inches into the creature's left shoulder. The other three left shallow gashes on its hide as they hit badly either didn't penetrate fully and fell to the pavement, or bounced away into the darkness.

The boar squealed angrily and slammed its tusks into the gate, shaking it.

Sparkle began flinging tiny, brilliantly bright sparks of purple energy at the creature with both hands. One after the other they sailed into the creature, leaving scorch marks on its hide, but not really doing much until one struck it squarely on the snout, making it rear back, squeal, and shake its head.

Well, we certainly weren't getting the job done. I wasn't about to try throwing lightning through the gates, figuring it'd just ground out on the metal.

"Sparkle," I called, "go for its eyes!"

She did, redirecting her aim and throwing her energy bolts faster. They might've been tiny, but her aim was good, and four of the glowing purple sparks struck the boar's left eye in quick succession, causing the creature to rear up and throw its head back with a squeal of pain.

When its hooves struck the pavement again, it glared at us with only its remaining right eye…the left one was a scorched, burned-out ruin.

I would never underestimate my tiny fairy friends again. I briefly imagined what a dozen of them - or a hundred of them - all working together that way could accomplish.

The boar gave another squealing roar, turned, and trotted back into the darkness. As it turned, I noted that there was no collar on this creature's neck. I wondered what that meant.

"I think I made it mad," Sparkle said breathlessly as she dropped down and landed on my shoulder. "And I think I need a nap."

"See," I said teasingly, "this is why Ken's been bothering you about working on your stamina."

She huffed and grabbed my ear for balance. "What do we do now?"

Ariana Pendragon stepped into view on my right, startling us both. She was dressed in a plain white t-shirt, jeans and trainers, with her sword held loosely in her right hand, and looked like she'd been dragged out of bed. Neither Sparkle nor I had heard her approach. "Ken called my cell and opened a door for me," she said. "Was that a giant boar?"

"It was a giant boar," I said, relief flooding my body and my voice. "I am incredibly glad you're here."

"Cool." She gave me a quick smile, then nodded at the woods across the road. "Nice job there, Sparkle, taking out its eye. That couldn't have been easy."

"Thank you!" Sparkle said, still sounding a bit breathless, but just as relieved as I felt.

"What do we do?" I asked.

"Start by being glad that boar isn't old Glatisant," Ariana said. "That thing's a bloody menace. Fortunately, it sleeps more than it's active these days, and it's immune to being summoned." She glanced at me. "Emrys sends his apologies for not being able to help out, but he's tied up in negotiations with one of his cousins and can't break away. Honestly, I was glad for the call. I've been bored out of my skull."

I gave her a weak smile, then looked back across the road. "I have no idea what to do here."

Ariana made a thoughtful sound. "Think the gates will hold?"

I shook my head. "I have doubts."

She nodded slowly. "You might think about opening the gates rather than letting it hit them…but I can understand not wanting to let the Hall's defenses - "

The boar, moving even faster than before, sped out of the woods and slammed tusks-first into the gates, bending and twisting them even further. I was somewhat relieved to see Ariana jump in surprise even as I did.

"Holy shit," she said, "that thing's fast."

It glared at us through the twisted, buckled bars with a single, balefully glowing red eye, huffed, turned, and trotted back into the woods.

"I definitely made it angry," Sparkle said in a small voice.

"I don't think those gates are opening without major work," I said.

Ariana nodded. "All right. I'm going over the wall. I can do more out there than in here. Give me a leg up?"

I stared at her blankly.

She laughed. "Sorry. I'm used to working with Emrys. Can you give me a plane of force about two feet off the ground, then use it to boost me to the top of the wall?"

"Oh! Yes, no problem at all." I gestured with my right hand and a transparent, flat blue square of energy appeared beside the wall to the right of the gates. Ariana nodded, trotted towards it and then hopped up onto it. As she did, I gestured upward, using the force spell to boost her to the top of the wall. She saluted me with her sword as I released the spell, then she dropped down on the street side of the wall and out of my line of sight.

She reappeared a moment later in the middle of the street, as she brandished her sword and called out, "Well? Come on then, old boar! Or are you afraid to face the daughter of Pendragon?"

Apparently it wasn't, because it came thundering out of the darkness of the woods again, clipping another tree as it came and sending it crashing down across the street. Ariana back-stepped lithely, pivoted and swung upward, slicing a nasty looking gash in the boar's side.

It tried to turn to face her, but was moving too fast, and slammed into the gates at an angle. The top right hinge gave, and the gates swayed inward drunkenly as the boar righted itself, turned, and lunged at Ariana. She danced out of the way of its short charge, her sword seeming to flash with its own light as she deftly separated one of the creature's tusks from its face.

In retaliation, it swung its entire head towards her, catching her full-on and sending her flying into the wall to the right of the gate. She hit with a thud and slid down to the verge with a grunt.

The bottom right hinge gave out, and the gates toppled inward, tearing both left hinges off and crashing to the drive.

The boar huffed and trotted back into the woods in a way that was distinctly smug.

"Ariana!" I called, moving closer to the gates.

"I'm fine," she groaned, then pushed herself to her feet. "Tougher than I look and all that. Even still, ow." She gave herself a shake and picked up her sword from where it had fallen. "That thing's a lot bigger than the monsters I'm used to dealing with. It's like trying to fight a small cavalry charge. I can't get out of the way and still be in a good position to hit it."

A small cavalry charge? I blinked a few times, then smiled slowly. "I know how to stop it."

"Good thing," Ariana said, limping over to me. "Now that the gates are down, the next charge will either flatten us, or take it all the way to the Hall."

"Or both!" Sparkle added.

"Or neither," I said, and began using my staff to gather energy.

There was still plenty of moisture in the air and on the ground from the recent rain, so I started there. Focusing my will through my staff, I murmured "Aquam glacius." Moisture gathered from the air and ground around us, forming a slick of ice that completely covered the stretch of road between the woods and gate.

I spread my arms and called out "Ferrum et lignum voco et mutare" as I cast my will out towards the gates and smashed trees. The gates resisted for a moment, then twisted together into larger spikes of iron, as the trees floated towards us, reshaping into thick, spike-ended poles. The iron and wooden spikes embedded themselves into the pavement where the gates had previously stood, facing outward at an angle I hoped was low enough without being too low.

Ariana was grinning and nodding. "Oh yes, that's very good!" She trotted forward and banged the flat of her sword against one of the iron spikes, making the sword ring like a bell. "Come on then, old boar! Come and get us!"

In the woods across the road, the boar fairly roared a challenge and we heard the thud of its hooves and the crashing of its passage as it charged. Ariana ran back to me, grabbed my arm, and dragged me further back away from my new barricade. But she watched the road as she did, not wanting to miss the show.

The boar materialized across the road from us and struck the ice-slicked pavement moving even faster than before. Its hooves shot out from under it, sending it crashing to its side on the road, turning as it shot towards us belly-first.

My improvised barricade of iron and wooden spikes worked perfectly, impaling the creature in a line across its belly and bring it to an abrupt halt. It squealed and thrashed, but was unable to extricate itself or rise. Pale red fluid that wasn't quite blood poured from its wounds.

"May I?" Ariana asked, gesturing with her sword.

"Please," I said, feeling both triumphant and nauseated at the same time.

She hurried forward, and with two swift strokes sliced the boar's head from its body. More pale red not-blood poured out onto the ground beneath it.

I tried not to throw up and failed miserably, emptying the contents of my stomach onto the grass beside the driveway. The less said about that, the better.

After a minute, a gentle hand rested on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Ariana watching me sympathetically. "First time?"

"Yeah," Sparkle said softly.

Ariana sighed and squeezed my shoulder. "It gets easier. If it helps, that thing wasn't a 'real' animal of any kind. That goo it's hemorrhaging all over your driveway and lawn is a type of ectoplasm. It'll start to dissolve in a few minutes, and take the boar with it." She looked over her shoulder. "Shame, really. That tusk would make one hell of a souvenir. And just think of the smoked ribs."

I somehow managed to gag and laugh at the same time, which left me coughing for a minute.

"Sorry," Ariana said with an unrepentant smirk as I got the coughing under control. "But laughter is better in this sort of situation. You did really well, Caley, all things considered." She turned to look at the remains, and after a moment I rose and turned to stand beside her. "Personally," she said, "I'd've gone for fire or lightning. But I don't think either would've been as effective as that good old-fashioned spiked barricade. Emrys would've added some artistic flourishes, but your spellwork was perfectly good."

"You gave me the idea," I said, "with your comment about cavalry." Steam was starting to rise from the boar and the goo it had bled all over the place as it began to dissolve. "That's really weird."

"That," Sparkle said, "is the mark of something that was summoned and shaped by another spellcaster."

Ariana grunted. "She's right. Somebody made that." She glanced at me. "Already making enemies, kiddo?"

I sighed. "I think I came with one built-in. So…we just leave that?"

"Yeah, it'll be completely gone before sunrise," Ariana confirmed.

We were all silent for a moment, then I looked up at Ariana. "I don't think I'm getting any sleep tonight. Can I offer you a drink or something?"

She smiled. "Well…I can't stay long, I need to get back to Emrys. He gets into trouble when I'm not around, and that's when he's not negotiating with relatives. His family makes everything worse. But yeah, I can stay a few, and I wouldn't mind something to wash that down with." She nodded towards the boar, which was starting to take on the appearance of a slowly melting painting.

I swallowed a bit of bile. "That's…rather Dali-esque."

Ariana grunted. "Best not to watch. Come on, let's go inside. I think you'd better call Margrave and arrange to get that gate fixed, too."

"Wait," I said. "I just need to…" I felt drained, but there was one more spell I had to cast. I pulled myself together and re-cast the spells I'd used to build the barricade of wooden and iron spikes out of the trees and what was left of the gates.

Gathering the material, I built it into a stronger, more solid barricade across the opening in the wall where the gates had stood. Or at least, I tried to.

The iron seemed to flow like water, weaving through the wooden spikes as they formed posts, then connecting to what was left of the gate mounts in the wall on either side of the drive. But I was tired, and my control slipped at the end. The end result looked lopsided, had holes in it, and was wobbling a bit. I was wobbling a bit too, for that matter.

But it stayed upright, and so did I. When Ariana shoulder-checked it a moment later, it barely moved.

She nodded approvingly. "Not great, but a good effort. Especially considering you're still new to this." She took a long look at me. "Come on, let's get you inside. You look less steady than that barricade of yours."

We turned and started walking towards the house, Ariana propping her sword on her shoulder. I noticed for the first time that she didn't have its scabbard with her. She really must've come in a hurry. "Thank you again for coming. So, you know Margrave?"

She smiled. "You're welcome. And yeah. He and his people have been managing my finances since before Oakwood Hall was built. I wouldn't trust anyone else to at this point."

"You think he'll be up at this hour?" I asked. "I'd hate to wake him."

Ariana's smile turned into a smirk. "Oh, he'll be up. I don't think he ever sleeps."