Tamblin Demosthene and the Empty Places
Continued from Tamblin Demosthene and the Narrow Ground
The door to the Demosthene mansion had exploded inward under the impact of several simultaneous Reducto spells. Tamblin and Cascata had been knocked down and Tamblin's leg had been cut badly by flying shrapnel. Before either could get back to their feet Cascata pointed at the open doorway.
"Death Eater!" she screamed.
Tamblin looked and saw the dark shape of a heavyset man framed by the bright summer day outside. Backlit as he was, it was impossible to see the man's face, but a tilt of the head made it clear he was looking down at the two children on the floor before him. As the Death Eater started to raise his wand a bright blue beam struck him in the chest. There was a ghastly smell of cooking meat and the man fell backwards out of the house. Tamblin glanced up at Karkaroff, where he still stood at the top of the stairs. The man was clearly terrified, but his help had given Tamblin and Cascata a chance to recover.
Two spells arced through the open doorway to explode on the stairway next to Karkaroff. Tamblin couldn't see the Death Eaters who had launched them from his angle down on the floor. He scrambled to his feet and Cascata helped him when she saw he was wounded.
The bloodwand was somehow in his hand, though he had no memory of reaching for it. Cascata had her wand out too. Tamblin sent several stunning spells through the open doorway. He couldn't see anyone to hit but he needed to try and keep their heads down.
"Study," he yelled at her and pointed with his free hand.
She ran toward the door and Tamblin hobbled backwards to follow her, still trying to throw too many spells through the doorway for the Death Eaters to follow. Walking on his leg was making the wound bleed a lot faster and he was feeling faint. His mind flicked through a quick calculation. If he died Cascata could still survive. If she died he'd lose his anchor- a fate worse than death. He grimaced and continued walking back toward the study as quickly as he could manage.
Karkaroff tried to come down the stairs but many more spells exploded around him. The Death Eaters had him pinned down. Tamblin looked frantically for some way to help him. He couldn't fight off the Death Eaters alone, he could barely stand at the moment. He couldn't keep them from firing on Karkaroff from where he was.
"Igor, jump!"
There was no answer.
"You have to jump down here. The study. You have to get to the study!"
Tamblin screamed at the man but got no reply. A Death Eater poked his head in the doorway and Tamblin fell down as he tried to dodge the spell. He sent back another stunner and was glad to hear the man collapse as it hit.
The problem was that he wasn't sure he could stand back up.
But he didn't have to. He'd made it to the study door and he felt Cascata grab his shoulders and pull him through. She was so diminutive that it took her a while and when she tried to slam the door shut a large hairy hand had thrust through. The hand had long black talons on the end of it. Tamblin's vision was getting cloudy, but he fumbled at the desk drawer. As he found what he wanted the hand shoved the door open and Cascata was knocked aside like a doll.
Tamblin threw the Amphisbaen through the doorway. The homunculi's twin snake heads latched onto the monstrosity on the other side and the thing fell back yowling. Cascata slammed the door closed again. Tamblin leaned against the desk and pulled with his remaining strength on the sextant. The sextant allowed the study to move between various Demosthene holdings. He turned it from the paired wavy lines that represented the mansion to a symbol that looked like three interlinked circles. Then he collapsed on the floor.