Maurice placed the golden orb around them, as Gregor rushed forward with his iron sword. “Take that, you ugly beast!” he shouted, and stabbed the ogre in the stomach. The creature doubled forward, roaring in rage as his stinking guts tumbled out into his hands.

Boom! A piece of the wall disappeared to the left of them.

Terry stepped forward, brandishing her saber. In spite of the ogre’s vicious injury, it swept a mighty fist down, trying to smash Terry with one blow. She skillfully sidestepped, and the ogre’s fist hit the ground uselessly. In a flash, Terry sliced open its wrist lengthwise so that the blood pulsed forth with every heartbeat of the creature.

Boom! A piece of the wall disappeared to the right.

Arabelle stepped forward and threw a lightning bolt at the ogre’s head with her platinum wand—but the creature seemed to have some sort of magic defense. Still, the bolt stunned the ogre, knocking it to its knees.

“Going in for the kill,” Gregor roared, and stabbed the ogre in the heart. Disgusting green ogre blood burst out of its chest, and the creature groaned its last.

Boom! A cannonball whistled right over Gregor’s head.

“Get within the city walls!” Hemdale urged. They did so, then Arabelle jabbed her wand towards the cannon fire and shot out a sound wave. They rushed back to the castle, returning to their planning room in the banquet hall.

“Did you kill them?” Maurice said.

“I don’t know,” Arabelle replied. “I may have just stunned them. My powers are better at fighting other magic—anything I do to harm humans may also harm me. And you.”

“I wish that dome would have worked,” Maurice said. “The minute we leave, they’ll attack again. This is only the start of Zyzzyva’s counterattack.”

“What dome?” Arabelle said.

Maurice explained their massively failed attempt to protect the city. Arabelle listened quietly, and nodded.

“Let me try the spell,” she said, “with my platinum wand.”

They found the spellbook amongst the books and papers that Hemdale had brought and went out into the back courtyard, where the chariot stood. The sky was clear and studded with stars that winked and blinked all around them. The moon was a low sliver in a night sky like a jewel box. Maurice held the book open to the proper page and Arabelle read the spell carefully out loud.

As before, the sky began to shimmer, then something half transparent solidified above them. But by faint moonlight, starlight, and their oil lamps, it was impossible to see whether or not it was solid.

“Do you think it’s working?” Gregor said.

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Terry shrugged, then said, “Ouch!” and waved her arms over her head. A bird had fallen right onto her.

“What is this—” she said, as it flapped and fluttered on te ground, stunned.

“I think it works,” said Maurice.

“Let’s go inside, before we get hit by any more birds,” Hemdale said.

They gathered again at the table, cheered up considerably by this small victory. “This gives us a chance,” Terry said. “We can at least defend this city against Zyzzyva, while we figure out what to do next. Will it stay up when you’re not here?”

“You bet,” Arabelle said. “It’s conjured. It’ll stay.”

“So we can truly hold the city,” Terry said, relieved. “Now we can think about our strategy.”

“You’ve convinced me. I think we should attack the wizard,” Terry continued. “We are four, really—five, with Hemdale,” she added, graciously, and Hemdale nodded back. “Our powers are concentrated—we cannot do very much against any army, but we can attack the head and destroy it. Zyzzyva is the head. We need to attack, and now.”

Terry turned to Arabelle, and asked, “I think we should attack at dawn. Something tells me it’s advantageous from a magical perspective as well as tactical. Is that right?”

Arabelle said, “Yes,” in a voice that was a little surprised.

“Apollo’s horses,” Terry said, “will attack this evil wizard at dawn. We will kick down his castle. Hemdale, Maurice, Arabelle.”

“Yes,” they chorused.

“You will find the most amazing castle destruction spells in the spellbooks. Find spells against trolls. Who else was there?” she asked Arabelle.

“Witches,” Arabelle said.

“Yes,” Teresa said. “Every anti-witch spell. Every anti-witch monster you can conjure on that wooden wand, Maurice, or the platinum, Arabelle. Together, you can wreak havoc spell-wise, if we plan. There are wooden wand spells, and there are platinum wand spells, but how often do the two work together? We need synergy to win. Gregor,”

“Yes?”

“You’re the general. You lead the human troops. You need to recruit every human in the city and the countryside to join. Don’t forget the petty criminals—use your brand as a highwayman to give you credentials with the people who can actually help us. This country needs its underworld right now if we are to achieve victory. Raise a motherfucking army, Gregor, that can actually help us defeat the wizard.”

“YES!” Gregor said. “Will do!”

“Gather who you can, then guide them south,” Teresa said. “If you don’t hear from us, just go south in general, every day.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Gregor said. “But I get three days to recruit, right?”

“Three days. If you don’t spend all your gold on the taverns, I’ll be disappointed. And I’ll give it back to you, out of the royal treasury.”

“Yeah!” said Gregor. “Can I start—now?”

“Go for it,” Terry said, and Gregor made haste to raise his glass, and also an army.

Hemdale, Maurice, and Gregor began to pore over the spellbooks, intent on developing their strategy.

“What are you going to do?” Hemdale asked.

“Take a walk,” Terry said. “I just want to walk the perimeter of the dome. If I get back early enough, I’ll drop in on you and see what you find. I truly believe there’s a strategy that can defeat Zyzzva buried in those books, using two wand-wielders. It’s up to your genius, Maurice. This is your part.”

Terry put on a cleric’s cowl, exited the castle and began the short walk to the abbey. From there, she could walk along the city walls and see the dome in action. As she walked, she saw people slowly emerging from their hideouts, even though it was rather late at night. A rumor was already circulating about the dome. A handful of taverns were open, and people were trickling into them. She could hear Gregor shouting in one: “Three cheers to the warrior princess!”

“Hooray!” The people responded. It was clear he was already hard at work.

She reached the abbey, and exited the broken gates to walk the perimeter of the city. The dome touched down about 10 feet outside of the city walls. The carcass of the old ogre was just on the other side. She rapped it with her knuckles. It felt like glass.

“May I walk with you?”

She turned around.

“I’d like that, Old Tom,” Terrry said.