“What are you two going to do?,” asked Ray. He glanced at them, as Lightner

smashed against the orange barrier keeping him from using his full strength on his

target.

“We want that thing out of the city, right?,” said Johnny Mac.

“That’s right,” said Ray.

“Stargate, Buble,” said Johnny Mac.

“End zone?,” asked the rabbit.

“Send her to the desert,” said Ray. He showed them his map of the continent and

where he had dropped the other house. “Nobody’s there to get in the way.”

“I can do that,” said Buble.

“Why not just cut off the trip before she gets to the end?,” asked Ray.

“Because she can jailbreak a door,” said Johnny Mac. “Just leaving her in transit

means she can get out and go wherever, but we wouldn’t know where that was.”

“And she would just start over since she seems to be long lived,” said Buble.

“So dropping her in the desert is the best option for what we got available,” said Ray.

“Yep,” said Johnny Mac. “Stargate or Rings, Buble. Let’s see what we can do to

move her out of here so we can deal with her stone man.”

“I think Rings is the better solution,” said Buble.

The butler raised both hands. Space folded at his command. A platform appeared

under the building as it swung a fist at Lightner’s flying form. The flying brick wasn’t

doing much damage, but he wasn’t taking any hits either thanks to his lightning

speed.

Rings rose out of the platform. When they had walled the city from the walking

lighthouse, light flashed. Then the rings dropped back to where they belonged around

the platform. The building was gone.

“Good job, Buble,” said Johnny Mac. “She’s out of the city with Lightner trying to

bust her face open.”

“Lightner needs help, and it’s dangerous to use the rings since that just exchanges

whatever is on the platform here with whatever’s there,” said Ray. “We’re going to

have to fly out there.”

“That was a huge display of power, Buble,” said Ishvar.

“Not really, madam,” said Buble. “All there is to the idea is the warping of space

using a focus. Master John has shown me some things I can use in my own duties

with a lesser expenditure of power than normal.”

“You showed him how to be better at being lazier?,” asked Ray.

“I showed him some ways to maximize his skill set,” said the boy. “I am empowering

him to be a better worker.”

“We still have to help Lightner,” said Ray. “I am not so sure about this empowering

thing, but I don’t have time to think about it. If you guys want to stay behind, I

understand.”

“Allow me, Ray,” said Ishvar. “This has been an exhilarating experience for me. Let

me show you an older trick that we used to use in the wilder days.”

Ishvar raised a gauntleted hand. Gold letters formed a tower in front of her. It

obscured the damage done when the Librarian’s building started walking around.

“Follow me, and don’t leave the staircase for anything,” said the golden magician.

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She led the way into the tower.

The intrepid band followed her into a dark foyer. Images on the walls were obscured

by the light of torches in sconces on the walls above them. Steps led up to the top of

the tower.

“Each step is a unit of distance to where we want to go,” said Ishvar. She moved

gracefully up the stairs. “The farther you want to go, the bigger the step. The problem

with this spell is you have to reach the top of the staircase to reach your destination.

If someone were to interfere with the spell, we would fall to reality at the step we had

all used.”

“But we wouldn’t be where we wanted to be?,” asked Johnny Mac.

“Exactly,” said Ishvar. “And there is a danger of arriving in a spot where something

is already standing.”

“What happens if we do that?,” asked Johnny Mac.

Buble made a blowing up gesture with his hands so the boy could see it.

“We blow up?,” asked Johnny Mac.

“Two material items can’t overlap,” said Ishvar. “That causes problems for the lesser

material.”

“And the lesser material is blown up,” said Ray.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” said Ishvar. “We’re almost to the top, and we can

start back down to the door when we reach the landing.”

“Do you travel like this often?,” asked Ray.

“I rarely travel at all,” said the magician. “This is the first time I have left my home

in a long time.”

“You would be able to meet all the companions you wanted if you traveled some,”

said Ray.

“I don’t want companions,” said Ishvar. “I want temporary toys I can discard when

I am done.”

“Traveling will get you that too,” said Johnny Mac. “I know some brothers back

home who would get with you in a heartbeat.”

“Really?,” said Ishvar.

“My cousin would love to meet you,” said Johnny Mac. “I mean there’s an issue with

him being back home, and you being here, but I could hook you up.”

“Really?,” said Ishvar and Ray with different expressions in their voices.

“Sure,” said Johnny Mac. “He’s a dog.”

“We talked about this,” said Ray.

“We didn’t exactly talk about this,” said Johnny Mac. He shrugged at the look he

received.

“All right, gentlemen,” said Ishvar. “Join me on the landing, and then we can start

down.”

Ray reached the landing. He looked around. He saw galaxies moving across a space

that looked as close as the length of his arm. Everything seemed to be traveling fast

like the wings of a hummingbird.

When Ishvar was sure everyone had joined her on the landing, she started down

toward the foyer. The group followed her.

“What did you see, Ray?,” whispered Johnny Mac.

“Stars moving across the night sky,” said Ray. “They were moving fast too.”

“I saw giant fish floating in the air,” said Johnny Mac. “What do you think it means?”

“We saw something different,” said Ray. “It probably doesn’t mean anything.”

Ishvar waited at the door for the group to gather at the foyer. She opened the door

when she was sure she had them with her. She ushered them out, before stepping out

of the enspelled transportation.

They stood in the desert not far from where Ray had dropped the building he had

stolen. The Lighthouse and Lightner were trading blows in the distance. The sound

of impacts reached them where they stood.

“So how are we going to handle this?,” asked Johnny Mac. “We’re back to fighting

but she has that shield to take the hits.”

“I think she also has spellstones embedded in the construction,” said Ishvar. “She is

not using her own power to run that thing.”

“Ishvar, I want you find a way to punch through that shield,” said Ray. “You’re the

only one who can. You guys are going to have to keep her safe. I’m going to go help

Lightner and run a screen for you.”

“How are you going to do that, Ray?,” said Johnny Mac.

“I’ve got some tricks of my own,” said Ray. “Knock the shield down. Lightner and

I will do the rest.”

“Lamp,” thought Ray. He started running toward the conflict. “I need a Gundam.”

Affirmative. The light reached into his mind and pulled out a design. Blue flame

pulled the loose sand up around him, lifting him off the ground. Control mechanisms

built themselves and powered up as armor plating wrapped around the chassis.

“Need a gun,” thought Ray. Screens gave him an outside look as the Lighthouse

turned to face his bull charge. He hoped the others could knock down that shield. If

they couldn’t, he was in for a brawl.

A rifle built for giant robots dropped into his hands. He checked the breech before he

did a hipshot as he ran. The large bullet hit the Lighthouse’s torso, driving it back. He

didn’t see any damage on the surface of the blocks.

Ray decided that he should keep pouring artillery into the target until the others

figured out how to end the fight. He just didn’t know enough about magic to figure

out a way to drain the spellstones.

He pulled the trigger on his rifle time after time. That drove the animated building

back, but he wasn’t doing any other damage as far as he could see.

Lightner was doing anything either, except being the world biggest annoyance.

Ray hoped the others came through. One solid blast from the finger gun would ruin

his day.