Chapter 23
Wolfe's Bane
It looked like something Yamato had made. It was the size and shape of an average rain barrel, covered by glyphs Wolfe had already seen on anti-magic field generators. Knowing Yamato like he did, he instantly knew why Yamato had placed the device in front of the Umbral Gate. He had probably attuned it to the Gate's massive energy signature. If the Gate was opened, it would probably go off. Maybe it would even go off if the Gate was opened on the other side. Either way, the two smoking corpses next to the device suggested that it couldn't be approached without some severe consequences. He sent a duplicate over to see if it could move the device, but as the duplicate drew within seven feet, he winked out of existence.
Seconds later, a thin piece of folded parchment came floating out of a narrow slit in the device. It unfolded itself and an unwelcomingly familiar voice emanated from it. Yamato!
"I am very sorry, Mr Wolfe, but I have taken precautions against manifestations like your duplicates approaching my precious creation. Well, it seems that you managed to overcome my little diversion in time to find this surprise. Truth be told, I didn't think that even you would be able to fend off so many enemies and live. But it doesn't matter anymore.
"The device you see before you is a creation of mine I call the Cylinder of Annihilation. Once activated, it cannot be deactivated, and I assure you that I am not bluffing. You may have noticed your duplicate's inability to approach the Cylinder. That is because I've made it capable of blocking any magic that reaches an anti-magic perimeter. And if your inferior brain by any miracle did get to the point where it wonders how the magical countermeasure preventing anyone from attempting to touch the Cylinder works in spite of the anti-magic, I'll indulge you," Yamato continued gloatingly. "I've refined anti-magic to a point where the generator can project its influence to certain parts, rather than simply all around the generator. All magic coming within seven feet will be stopped, but anything or anyone crossing that thin barrier will be burned to a crisp by my countermeasures. Quite ingenious, if I may say so myself. As for what my creation does, it vaporises everything within half a square mile. It otherwise leaves the rest of the surrounding real-estate intact but kills anything within a radius of twenty miles in all directions, including everything in the air and underground. Plants and earthworms are killed, sterilising the soil so nothing will grow there for a very long time. In short, it has the effect of one enormous Killing Curse."
Wolfe now understood why Yamato had the device placed in front of the Umbral Gate. He wanted to cut the Mirror Realm off from the Earth Realm with the primary explosion and let the Killing Curse effect take care of any future opposition that might arise to retaliate for the Gate's destruction, thus killing two birds with one stone.
"Open the gate to evacuate the weaklings you tried to protect, and it will explode. My spies took readings of the Gate's signature, and I attuned the Cylinder of Annihilation to detonate if it opens. Try to physically destroy it, and it will explode. Try to physically move it, and you will end up like the fool I instructed to install the final piece of the Cylinder. All you can do is save your own miserable hide by turning into a phoenix and Apparating to safety, but I doubt your emotions will allow you to abandon your relatives, who are undoubtedly present for the wedding. I win and you lose, Mr Wolfe, as we both knew would happen in the end."
The parchment smouldered and turned to ashes after the last sentence was spoken.
"He didn't say that thing couldn't be moved physically," Jelly said. "It might kill others, but I think you can take anything that Cylinder can dish out. I bet Yamato didn't count on that."
"Maybe. But I bet it'll hurt like hell," Wolfe replied.
"Since when are you afraid of pain?"
"I'm not. Let's get dangerous."
Wolfe dissolved all save one of his duplicates, wordlessly handed it his sword and wand, and he sent it to find Nicolai and tell him all Yamato had revealed about the weapon. If anyone could work out a way to get past Yamato's safeguard, it would be Nicolai. He hoped that his cousin would be able to do so quickly, because there wasn't a doubt in his mind that Yamato would be making more of these Cylinders of Annihilation very soon—if he didn't already have a few extra ones lying around.
Next, Wolfe approached the Cylinder of Annihilation and circled it, looking for something phoenix-claws could get firm purchase on, but not finding anything. He had hoped to grab it and teleport it a remote location where it wouldn't do much damage. It was a shame that he couldn't make his Animagus-forms grow to gigantic proportions like he could make his normal human form grow, for it would have solved his dilemma.
He turned to the crowd around him. "Stand back. I'm going to turn into a dragon, so I'll need a lot of space lest someone gets hurt."
The people surrounding him began to pull back in a hurry, and when Wolfe was satisfied with the distance, he began his transformation. He would rather have transformed into a roc, but the gargantuan bird's claws were too big to grasp a barrel-sized object tightly enough. A Hungarian Horntail, on the other hand, was just the right size grasp the device firmly in one paw, and he reached for it with a scaly arm … a golden scaly arm. From the looks of it, the Phoenix Fire transformation still affected him.
He was relieved when the anti-magic barrier didn't neutralise his Animagus transformation, but his relief was quickly replaced by a feeling of agony shooting up his reptilian arm as he grabbed the Cylinder of Annihilation. He briefly wondered how badly it would have hurt if he hadn't been in an incredibly tough dragon-form, before shunting all irrelevant thoughts aside along with the pain and taking to the air with surprising finesse.
Ferreting out the miscreants who had helped organise the attack on the wedding hadn't been too difficult. Ironheart had instructed Hermione, Gudrun, Gavin, Mayumi, and even some of his wife's gangster relatives to pretend to feign ignorance as they 'speculated' about the attackers having had inside help. Not all the locals were using Nicolai's translation gadgets, but those who did informed those who didn't, and the word spread quickly enough. The guilty parties hadn't been able to stop their minds from dwelling on it, which allowed Ironheart, Jasmine, and Charlie to identify them with ease.
One by one, Ironheart had some trusted local aides lure the malefactors to an isolated area, away from the rest of the guests. Once there, they were detained by Hermione and Gudrun, who themselves were backed up by a pair of Italian wizards who were relatives on the Buccafusca side of the family. Ironheart had tried to decline 'The Godmother's' offer to use those goons as enforcers, but since she had taken the rude interruption of her great-grandson's wedding reception very personally, she had been unswayable.
In hindsight, Hermione had to admit that their unique style of dealing with traitors had been very effective. Three of the four captives were each sweating bullets in four conjured transparent and soundproof boxes, and one by the name of Refa had actually peed himself. An arrogant young Etti baron whose name eluded Hermione at the moment seemed to be unaffected by his treatment and confident that he would be able talk his way out of it. He pressed his face close to the glass and shaded the area around his eyes with his hands, hoping to peer through the reflective surface on the inside.
"That one doesn't look too frightened," Gudrun said, pouting disappointedly as she slowly walked back and forth in an effort to bleed off some of her nervous energy and boredom. "Why did I volunteer for this babysitting job? It's not like they're going anywhere." She snapped her fingers as a thought came to her. "Say, let's have some fun to pass the time. I bet he'll be frightened if we literally rattle his cage a little."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it hasn't even been ten minutes! And the reason Ironheart insisted on us being here is to make sure that our captives don't end up sleeping with the fishes before he gets the chance to pry some additional information out of them," she added, using a Muggle movie reference the significance of which she hoped wouldn't be clear to their probably pure-blood pair of enforcers.
Gudrun smirked and giggled at her comments and cast a furtive glance the two Italian wizards. The elder was one of Nicolai's uncles by marriage and was named Mario. By the looks of him, he was no stranger to the present situation, and he held himself as a seasoned enforcer.
The younger one—whom Ron had pointed out to Hermione yesterday and identified as Luigi Buccafusca—didn't seem any happier than Gudrun to be there. According the Order's intelligence files, he was the eldest grandson of Aria's deceased half-brother, who had been 'The Godmother's' son by her real husband, and not the incubus that had sired Aria. Ron had also told Hermione that Luigi was already guilty of bribery and corruption in despite his relative youth, and that he was being groomed as the family's future head. That would certainly explain why he acted like his current task was beneath someone of his perceived stature. In fact, his demeanour strongly reminded Hermione of the deceased Draco Malfoy's.
He oozed cockiness and seemed convinced that Gudrun was being coy in the playful and provocative sense. He flashed Hermione and Gudrun a startlingly white smile that contrasted sharply with his Mediterranean tan, before approaching them in a manner that could only be described as a strut. Unlike Malfoy, Luigi actually was handsome in a slick and suave way, though Hermione thought that it ought to be easy for any woman with half a brain to see through his superficial charm.
He stopped at an arm's length from Gudrun, giving her a very theatrical once over, brushing his shiny brown locks to the side in an obviously practiced manner as his face tilted back upwards.
"Fa cosi caldo qui o e la tua presenza?"
"Really, that was the lamest pick-up line I've ever heard," Gudrun said exasperatedly.
Hermione furiously searched for Nicolai's translator device she had tucked somewhere in the tiny purse that matched her dress. She had known that it would be quite safe from slipping out, but it appeared that it had slid around to her back.
Luigi's eyes didn't betray the puzzled look that came to other people's eyes when they didn't understand a word another person was saying, so she assumed that he either understood English well enough or that he was wearing Nicolai's magical translation gadget. He seemed unfazed by Gudrun's sharp reply, and slid closer to her instead, and continuing his seduction attempt a lower but still audible tone. "Mi piacerebbe da pazzi vederti nuda."
"Oh really?" Gudrun replied huskily, curling her lips up in a coquettish smile now.
Encouraged by her reaction, Luigi closed the remaining distance with Gudrun and leaned in closer, whispering things that Hermione wasn't able to hear. Annoyed beyond belief by the elusiveness of her own translation gadget, Hermione nevertheless continued her search, going through the contents of her purse more carefully. She kept shooting periodic glances at Gudrun, until she noticed that the smarmy's git's left hand was now freely roaming Gudrun's bum. Even more shocking, Gudrun appeared to be fondling him right back. Her hand was down his trousers!
Hermione knew that Gudrun's promiscuousness would certainly have had her labelled a nymphomaniac by the repressed Muggle physicians of the Victorian age, but she also knew her friend well enough to discern that this was something she would not do! She prepared to draw her wand and demand from Luigi that he remove whatever charm he had placed on Gudrun, but hesitated when his hand stopped roaming and his eyes grew wide with dismay. Hermione clearly saw the shape of Gudrun's hand contract, and realised that Gudrun had just been playing along. Hermione gleefully mimicked Gudrun's threat in her purse, causing her hand to accidentally close over the translator she hadn't been able to find.
"Now listen up, bambino!" Gudrun began mockingly, raising her voice and further contracting the hand she had down his pants, which caused him to flinch some more. "This little tooth-pick you call a wand wouldn't even register in my wizard's sleeve! Did I put it crudely enough for you to understand?" She quickly withdrew her hand from his pants. "And this"—she kneed him in the crotch with a vengeance before he got a chance to straighten up—"is for insinuating that I married my husband for his gold. He's a million times the man you'll ever be. He's got a real wand, and he knows how to use it too!"
Luigi soundlessly sank to the floor while clutching his genitals. There wasn't enough air left in his lungs for him to utter a sound. Mario was now coming their way, though his booming laughter told Hermione that he felt that Luigi had got what was coming to him and that he wasn't going to give Gudrun any trouble over her chosen course of action. Hermione popped the translator in her ear in time for her to hear what he was going to say.
"You did very well, madam. This boy should have realised that you're too much for him to handle the moment he laid eyes on you. Isn't that right, Luigi?" Mario was now bending over Luigi and looking at him reprovingly.
Luigi only managed a whimper.
"Please take him back to his corner and keep him quiet," Gudrun grumbled.
"Anything for a lady," Mario nodded, and hauled Luigi to his feet, half-carrying him back to their assigned place.
Hermione was curious. "What was that lame pick-up line he used?"
"Is it hot in here, or is it just you?" Gudrun shook her head. "Something along those lines."
"And after that?"
"He said he'd sure like to see me naked. I can't believe he thought he was being charming. I bet the witches back in Italy swallow his crap because they hope to marry into his influential family."
Hermione opened her mouth but closed it again, unsure whether or not it was polite to ask Gudrun.
"What?" Gudrun asked, appearing to have noticed Hermione's discomfort.
"Did you really touch his … wand?"
"Eeewwww, no! Lord knows where his teeny weenie has been. I kept my hand outside his underwear." Gudrun gave Hermione a mildly offended look. "You didn't believe I was for real, did you?"
Feeling ashamed, Hermione lowered her gaze to the floor. "For the briefest of moments, yeah. But I assumed he placed you under a curse!" she added quickly.
"Hey, it's all right. I suppose I was pretty convincing."
Hermione lifted her gaze as she felt Gudrun touch her arm. Searching Gudrun's face for lingering resentment, she was relieved to find none. She smiled and looked at the groaning Luigi. "He certainly felt the impact as you drove home your point."
Ironheart was visibly relieved when Ginny and the other Rangers turned up unscathed. "Can I sound the all clear?"
"We're not out of the woods yet," Nicolai replied in even tones. His helmet was still in place, so Ginny couldn't see if his facial expression matched his voice.
"Where is Max?" Heidi's anxious voice sounded across the room. She swept in moments later, followed closely by Robert, Henry, Westley, and Rachel, who was carrying Sissi in her arms. Ginny knew it was familiar territory for the girl who—currently eight years and nine months of age—had taken a fairly active hand in helping Heidi with the younger children since she was seven and a half. She had even bathed and changed Danny a few times
"Sawing down the trees of the proverbial woods we're in. Apparently Yamato has made a magical bomb, and he had it placed in front of the Umbral Gate."
"He wants to cut us off from the Earth Realm?"
Nicolai nodded, causing the halves of the opening helmet to wobble slightly. "I think it's safe to assume that the bomb's placement is meant to thwart evacuation efforts. However, I'm afraid that our situation is far more dire than simply being cut off. Knowing Yamato, that device is powerful enough to do a whole lot of damage. Max will let us know as soon as he has more information."
Ginny cleared her throat. "Aren't you forgetting something important?"
"Right." Some brightness returned to Nicolai's eyes. "Thanks for reminding me. My concern for Shamballah makes it a bit difficult to see the brighter side of things." He turned to Heidi and Ironheart. "Max pulled off the Phoenix Fire transformation. He's a super sorcerer."
"Really?" Ironheart asked incredulously, while Heidi only managed a gasp.
"Is he stronger than Uncle Harry now?" Robert asked, reminding Ginny that Wolfe's transformation meant that he had indeed surpassed Harry. It was hardly surprising, since Wolfe had been pushing his powers to the limit ever since he began hunting Yamato, whereas Harry had been taking things easier.
Before Nicolai could reply to Robert's question, Mary, Elena, and Aria surged into the room and converged on Nicolai, competing to smother him with hugs and kisses.
"Don't you ever rush off to fight like that again!" Mary said in between kisses.
Elena sobbed. "We were so worried!"
"You nearly gave Mama a heart attack," Aria said, her lip movements telling Ginny that she was speaking Italian.
"Speak for yourself, Aria!" a gravely old voice with the slightest wheeze to it came from the entrance to the room. Turning towards the source of the sound, Ginny saw 'The Godmother' hobbling into the room aided by a walking stick. "You coddle the boy too much. He is an emperor, for crying out loud!"
Nicolai looked relieved that someone was sticking up for him. "Thank you, Mama Buccafusca."
"We have been very busy while you were out fighting," 'The Godmother' continued as if she hadn't heard him. "We caught four traitors, and Mr Fidelity here"—she nodded to Ironheart—"assured me that we got all of them. But I wouldn't put too much fate in the words of that worthless womaniser."
Ironheart looked indifferent at the obvious attack on his record. Ginny guessed that he was used to it by now. "If there are any more—and there may well be—they didn't attend the wedding and the reception. We've formulated a plan that might secure their co-operation in flushing out more spies and sending false information to Yamato. We get them to sign a hexed document that delivers a crippling curse if they even think about betraying us."
"Sound like Dark magic to me," Mary said warily, and turned her younger sister. "Could you and your friends step outside while we discuss grown-up things?"
"Really! You only turned eighteen two months ago!"
"Please step outside for a moment," Heidi said with a delicate balance between gentleness and firmness, getting the desired effect from a grudging Robert and Rachel.
"Dark magic is only such if cast with evil intent," Nicolai began, after the children had left the room. "I know your tutors and teacher at school talked about darkness and light, but the truth is that life is grey. Is Levitating people only to let them fall to their deaths any better than casting the Killing Curse on them?" He held up his hand to forestall any comments. "Yeah, I know that the nature of the three Unforgivables requires the casters to have truly evil intent, and that the only way non-evil people can use them is by working themselves into a quasi-sociopath state of mind with all the inherent dangers to his or her soul. But is killing someone with a spell any different from killing them with a weapon? And what if the only way to save one or more people in a certain situation would require mind-control, torture, or killing? Life isn't black and white, and as an empress you need to learn to discern the shades of grey."
"If it's really necessary," Mary relented, though she still looked unhappy.
Ginny wasn't too thrilled either, but sometimes one couldn't afford to be squeamish. "How exactly will we get them to sign those documents? Subterfuge? Trick them into signing something that looks like a conditional pardon in exchange for whatever services you require of them?"
"Yes, how do you know they'll co-operate?" Mary observed astutely.
"Leave that to me and my people," 'The Godmother' said. "I'm gonna make them an offer they can't refuse."
"Max!" Heidi suddenly cried out, and a sideways glance from Ginny confirmed his entry. The children were on his heels, having taken his arrival as an opportunity to invite themselves in again.
Ginny immediately noticed that he wasn't covered in blood, though his clothes were still in tatters. This meant that it wasn't the real Wolfe, even though he was holding the Phoenix Katana and Wolfe's wand for some reason. Heidi, however, hadn't seen him earlier, so she had no way of knowing. She rushed over to Wolfe's duplicate and engulfed him in a tight hug, which the duplicate gingerly returned the gesture, careful not to poke Heidi with the sword's scabbard.
"I'm not the real Max, but he feels what I feel, so he'll nevertheless appreciate it."
"Oh!" a blush of embarrassment crept onto Heidi's face.
"You're actually better off. The real me is covered in smelly Worogh blood."
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need to know about Yamato's device," Nicolai said.
"Yamato calls it the Cylinder of Annihilation," Wolfe's duplicate began. "He claims that once it is activated, it can't be deactivated."
"He's here?" Ginny asked incredulously.
The duplicate letter shook his head. "He left a talking letter to gloat."
"Ah. But how can you be sure that he's not bluffing?"
"I was disabused of that notion when another duplicate winked out while trying to approach it. Yamato has worked out how refine the anti-magic bubble into a localised perimeter—like a wall of anti-magic. No magic can cross that wall."
"But something physical could?" Ironheart asked. "A being?"
"Beyond the anti-magic barrier there is a wicked lightning curse that cooks anyone crossing the barrier."
"That contradicts his claims that it can't be deactivated," Ginny said, thinking like she was trained to do by the senior artificers. "Why would that barrier otherwise be in place?"
Wolfe's duplicate held his hands up in a warding gesture. "Please don't interrupt me. If you let me talk I'll explain everything. Now, Yamato admitted that it can be destroyed physically—probably by throwing something really massive on top of it from distance—but doing so will set off the explosion."
Ginny shook her head. It still didn't make sense. If the device exploded upon its destruction, it wouldn't need defences.
"Please hear me out before jumping to conclusions," Wolf's duplicate said, his intent stare revealing that he had been reading her mind. "The original Wolfe could feel the magic within the device become more intense and more powerful. My guess is that the defences are in place to prevent the device from being destroyed before it generates its maximum yield. Once it does, it vaporises anything within half a square mile around it and sends forth a wave of magical energy twenty miles in every direction, including underground, which means that being in a sealed off bunker won't save you from the energy's effects."
"Which are?" Elena Ironheart spoke up.
Wolfe's duplicate saw the children and hesitated briefly, before deciding that it needed to be said. "It allegedly sucks the life out of everything it touches, like the Killing Curse does."
Everyone save Westley and Sissi gasped with dismay. Ginny envied their youthful innocence.
Wolfe's duplicate looked at Nicolai. "I don't suppose you know how to deactivate such a device, would you?"
Nicolai narrowed his eyes pensively. "Did you tell me everything?"
Wolfe pondered the question for a few seconds, before he shook his head. "There is something else. Yamato said that the device would explode if it detected the Umbral Gate's energy. Is that possible, or was he bluffing? Wouldn't that anti-magic wall block such detection?"
"It's possible. Anti-magic effectively blocks spells from being cast, but not some enchantments already in place, like those on magical devices, remember?"
Ginny knew this to be because of the 'passivity' of the detection artefacts.
"And just like Vision Enhancement Goggles and Magic Communicators continue to work—although with vastly diminished effectiveness—the detection capability of the Cylinder of Annihilation won't completely be suppressed," Nicolai continued. "It's a good thing that you remembered that bit of information. It's given me more insight into how it works."
"You can deactivate it?" Wolfe's duplicate asked.
"It would have been possible with a slightly adapted anti-magic field generator, but I don't have one," Nicolai replied morosely.
Ginny wobbled over to a wall to hold herself upright. Fear unlike any she had felt in a long time wrapped its coils around her heart. If everyone here died, her vision of the future wouldn't come to pass. Robert wouldn't marry Rachel, and Danny wouldn't marry Sissi. Her anxiety prevented Ginny from feeling the relief of her own children being out of harm's way—at least—Richard and Holly. If what Hermione had said earlier that day was true and Danny and Sissi did have some sort of connection, Danny would surely waste away.
"Don't worry about it, cousin," Wolfe's duplicate said solemnly. "The Cylinder's defences can't harm a super sorcerer enough to keep him from grabbing it. The original turned himself into a dragon a few minutes ago. Most of Shamballah's metropolitan area is already out of danger, and in a few seconds all of Shamballah will be outside the reach of the death-wave."
Ginny's fear evaporated and was replaced by blessed relief, the sponginess in her legs slowly dissipating. Everyone else heaved a sigh of relief.
"Your daddy is awesome, Robert," Rachel piped up, eliciting laughter that bled off the tension for the assembled adults.
"Thank you, Rachel," Wolfe's duplicate replied
Nicolai frowned. "Did you say a few minutes ago? Is your dragon-form that much faster now that you're a super sorcerer?"
"Fortunately, it is. I was as surprised as you are, though."
"Where are you taking the device?"
"To a rocky and barren place with very little life and even less intelligent life. It'll keep the damage lim—" Wolfe's duplicate's breath caught in his throat as his complexion went ashen.
Heidi's arm slid around his waist. "What's wrong?"
"It appears the destination isn't as barren as anticipated."
He gained altitude and speed far more easily than a lumbering dragon normally would have, and knowing that time was of the essence, he decided to push the limits of his increased power. He flew faster and faster, faster than a dragon should be able to fly. While the big creature's flight was magical, it was subject to drag, just like everything else. Now it seemed like that was irrelevant, and he kept accelerating until the landscape rolled away beneath him in a blur. He was dimly aware of the shockwaves caused by his flight. He had long since passed the city limits, and he pushed on in an attempt to reach a place he knew to be a barren region with very few inhabitants.
He felt the power within the Cylinder of Annihilation grow to critical proportions and he knew he was running out of time. He had ten minutes at most before it would explode, and he began to frantically search for a spot to leave the bomb, for he knew that even at maximum speed, it would take him a little over a minute to get out of the kill zone.
Finally he found a spot near a rocky mound that looked even more barren and devoid of life than the surrounding area and he dove towards it, waiting until the last possible moment to slow down for the landing. The ground shook and dust billowed out in all directions as his dragon-self landed a little too roughly. He set his burden down as quickly as possible, feeling blessed relief as soon as his dragon-claw was free of the continuous torture that had plagued it throughout the flight.
He spread his wings and prepared to take off, but stopped when he saw a pair of glowing eyes watching him from the gloom of one of the caves. Then he saw another pair of eyes, and another, and a few seconds later three spotted feline cubs toddled out of the caves, looking at him curiously. Their pale yellowish-orange mother wasn't far behind, and she quickly leapt in front of her cubs, growling menacingly at him. The average adult male Polm weighed in at half a ton, stood five-foot-six at the shoulder and was half-again as long, not measuring their bushy tails. The females' mass and proportions were seventy-five percent of that of the males', but even so the one threatening him would be no match for any but the smallest dragon-types.
Some people called them Thunder Cats, because their bellows sounded like thunder when they soared overhead, using the sound waves created by their sophisticated vocals to locate prey, like dolphins used their sonar. Their flight was accomplished by the folds of skin resembling a horizontally drawn up curtain running along the length of their sides. This excess skin would redistribute itself between and around their legs when they soared like flying squirrels. They had a magical jumping ability could propel them up to a nearly a mile high and two miles far under favourable weather conditions, after which they soared, powered by the gathered momentum of their leap and using their bushy tails as rudders.
As various scents wafted from several apertures in the rocky soil beneath him, Wolfe knew that he couldn't have been any more mistaken in his assessment of the presence of life. There had to be hundreds of mothers from prides all over the continent, rearing their young. Shocked, he reverted back to human form. These magical felines were as intelligent as phoenixes and unicorns, and they understood several of the languages spoken by the humanoid beings. They refrained from preying on other intelligent creatures because they knew the potential problems of retaliation that could bring. A pride of Polms had once offered him a meal when he had run out of supplies.
Wolfe looked at the mother, whose hostility had been replaced by surprise. "I'm sorry. I thought this place had very few living beings." He gestured to the cylinder. "That thing was created for the sole purpose of extinguishing life. It was in Shamballah, and I brought it here in the hopes to limit the deaths to a few shrubs and insects. I didn't know this place was a communal warren where you raise your young. I'll take my burden elsewhere, but I won't be able to go far enough for you to be safe. Tell the others to leave this place immediately and soar for Shamballah. Their leaders are from my pride, and I promise you that you will be allowed to finish raising your cubs there until a new place can be found for you."
"It is as foreseen by the centaurs," Jelly translated her growls flawlessly as she answered. "You are the Golden One. The unwilling herald of doom. We expected this, but we had hoped that it would not come to pass this soon. Your warning will be heeded." The female stalked forward, and Wolfe saw that she couldn't possibly be the cubs' mother, for there were too many grey streaks in her fur. Either way, she didn't waste any time in throwing her head back and roaring out a general alarm call.
Wolfe didn't wait around to watch the evacuation. He immediately changed into a dragon again, endured the pain as Yamato's hellish invention tried to fight off his grip, and took to the sky once more. He knew there was only one safe place for that device to detonate, and it was as high in the air as possible. He had literally risen to great heights before destroying Korumu's Stone, and he knew he could do so again, but he didn't know whether there was enough time to get high enough since he racing the clock this time. He looked over his shoulder and saw the ground increasingly lose definition as he gained more altitude, yet there was a long way to go before reaching the twenty miles. The surging energy within the Cylinder of Annihilation told him that he had run out of time. The Polms were still too near.
There was only one thing he could do. He pressed the Cylinder of Annihilation into his scaly underbelly and doubled over in mid air, completely enveloping it in his reptilian flesh. The he concentrated on his own magic, shaping it into a shield where his skin was being seared by the device. Feeling the shield take shape, he allowed himself a small smile at having found a way around Yamato's countermeasures. Hopefully it would be enough to smother the explosion and the resulting effects, though he harboured no illusions that he'd survive. He knew he was strong enough to survive the physical part of the blast—though barely—but he knew that even his vast reservoir of power offered no protection from the Killing Curse. Had he been ignorant about the protection he had inherited from Harry, it might have protected him one more time. Even though he was again sacrificing himself for others, he couldn't banish that tiny voice of expectation in the back of his mind, which wouldn't have been there if he hadn't known about the protection. Now he knew why good old Aberforth had kept the information to himself.
"It's been an honour, lad," Jelly said solemnly.
"It's been nice knowing you too, Jelly," Wolfe replied, as he mentally told his last remaining duplicate to ask Nicolai to work closely with the resistance, and to ask Ginny to relay the message to Harry that his powers were badly needed in the defence of the innocents in the Mirror Realm. Then he had it hug Heidi and his children one last time.
He was painfully aware of the duality of it all. This ability to spend his last moments with his family was both torture and consolation at the same time. His ascension induced by the Phoenix Fire transformation had given him the power to save everyone but himself. His desire to do the right thing had proven a boon, but also his bane.
Author's Note: And we've finally arrived at the chapter where the full meaning of the story's title becomes evident. A special thank you to those who jumped in and reviewed the previous chapter to soothe my bruised ego.
Make the best of the New Year, people. Peace and love to you all.
aberdeenflyers: The moment I made Wolfe achieve the Phoenix Fire transformation, (which, I pretty much ripped off DBZ's Super Saya-jinn transformation) I knew that it would make it very difficult to write an interesting climax.
So in case you and the other reviewers were wondering whether or not Wolfe would pull another Harry Potter, the answer is no. He's no longer protected from the Killing Curse. Defeating Yamato will be up to Harry & Co.
StarWest45: Nope, Wolfe's taunting wasn't inspired by Han Solo. It was another Corellian. And no, I have not read the Rhapsody books, so the resemblance is coincidental.
potterscientist817: Writing a literary analysis in itself isn't that hard. The hard part is figuring out how to put whatever information you gather on the subject in your own words, so as not to reveal that you copied most of it. ;-)
Tigrin-Phoenix: Actually, they already have some type of magical rapid-fire cannon on the Cruisers. They've seen action in Mind War.
theoneandnly: Maybe you meant to write theoneandonly, but I couldn't be sure so I copied what you had letter for letter. Anyway, thanks for reviewing.
blah29: The sad ending is coming.
Harrypotterfan777777: The branding enables one to wear the special armour, but it doesn't mean that one has to fulfil active duty as a guard. So Ginny won't be separated from Harry.
lluvatar: Thanks. I'm rather proud of it myself.
Miss Stephanie D.: My sentiments regarding your review have already been expressed in an e-mail. ;-)
roastpuff: Much appreciated.
hootild: I don't plan on making Hiro a very prominent character.
Gogirl: Actually, Wolfe holding back the Woroghs was inspired by a New Jedi Order Star Wars novel. -disclaimer of sorts.
maaike-fluffy: Het is inderdaad een snel hoofdstuk, ondanks de relatieve lengte.
Lipton: Ah, so you read the NJO novel Traitor, eh? Yep. Good call.
Fragarach: It reminded you of Kill Bill I? That's high praise.
Elric Magus: I'm glad it met your expectations.
Saint Mike: That's a good thing.
Phoenix, Lord of Chaos: You can thank my betas for that.
Lyambren: Really? You have a story posted somewhere?