Toil and Trouble: 7

                                    

                                              


                          
            
                          
By the time I reached Jay, I was already scrambling to retrieve my syrinx pipes. Rooting around inside your own underwear is an inelegant business, but I had not the leisure to care just then. Why do the damned things have to wriggle around so much in there? It's not like there is much room to manoeuvre; I cannot be said to be incapable of properly filling out a brassiere.

                          
Fortunately, Jay has observed this process before.
                          
'Behind us!' I panted, and then wished I had not, for Jay took one look and sped up into a proper sprint, and soon began to draw away from me.
                          
'Stop!' I yelled. 'We can't outrun them, idiot!' They were gaining on us already, not least because Katalin, curse her, had legs about three times as long as mine. 
                          
There — I had it. My fingers touched metal, and I drew out my tiny silver pipes, warm from their snug little hiding place. I set them to my lips and played an urgent melody, no easy task while I was still moving.
                          
Jay didn't stop, but he did slow down. 'How long does it usually take Addie to—'
                          
He didn't need to finish the sentence because Adeline, my beauty, was already whistling down from the skies, her silvery-white coat glittering in the sun. Addie, a rare winged unicorn, and my friend of some years. 
                          
'I asked her to hurry,' I said and ran forward to meet her. I was up on her back in seconds and ruthlessly hauled Jay up behind me. Catching hold of the silver rope she's kind enough to wear, I gasped, 'Away, Addie! Doesn't matter where, so long as it's fast.'
                          
She leapt, her huge wings flapping, and we were airborne. Jay clung to me with one arm and clutched Bill with the other, while I kept my anxious gaze upon Katalin and her companion.
                          
'Oh, no...' I muttered after a moment.
                          
'What!' yelled Jay.
                          
'That man! He's got a Wand and he's... yes, I really think he's going to—'
                          
A missile like a tiny, crackling lightning bolt shot past my nose. 'He is!' I gasped, outraged.
                          
'They're shooting at us?' Jay shouted.
                          
I was too busy scrabbling for my Sunstone to reply.
                          
'What was that you were saying about not being in mortal danger?!' 
                          
'I acknowledge myself mistaken upon that point.' I had the Wand out by that time, and as Addie gathered herself and put on an extra burst of speed, I mustered my wits, my resolve and my magick and sent an answering shot back. Then several more for good measure; I was feeling a trifle irritated.
                          
I had the satisfaction of seeing Katalin's companion drop his Wand and go on the retreat, arms raised. 
                          
My next missile hit him in the stomach, and he dropped.
                          
'Hah!' I crowed, arms raised. 'It's victory for the Sunstone Team!'
                          
'Don't celebrate too early,' cautioned Jay, which was not unreasonable of him, but quite unnecessary. Addie was flying like a bolt of lightning herself by that time, and the two Ancestria Magicka agents soon diminished into tiny, indeterminate specks and disappeared from sight.
                          
I glanced down at the city of Milton Keynes spread out below us. 'Miserable spot, but there's probably some good tea down there somewhere.'
                          
Jay shook his head. 'Too close. We'd better fly on a while.'
                          
Addie bore us generally west. We passed over a number of villages, and when the larger sprawl of Buckingham (thank you, phone) came into view we decided to land.