Blade of Deceit

"We can use phosphoromancy to hide ourselves from The Beast and make him think Quentin is facing him alone." Alice looked around the semi-circle at her friends. The crew from Brakebills sat in a flowered clearing, overlooking Castle Whitespire.

"In theory, that's a great idea, Alice, but how are we going to stab him with the Leo Blade if none of us is strong enough to handle it?" Eliot queried, a cigarette floating within reach of his fingers.

"We've got a Funnel spell from this ancient text on battle magic," Katie said, taking a book from her rucksack and flipping it open, "it should work."

"How?" Margot asked.

"Well, if we can channel ALL of our energies into one person, they should be strong enough to use the Blade."

Quentin shifted his weight and looked up at Julia, hair falling away from his face.

"Jules, I think you should be the one to kill The Beast."

She blinked, "Why me?"

"Simply because I trust you the most. Sorry everyone, but if I'm putting my life on the line, I'm at least going to put it in the hands of my oldest friend."

Quentin looked around, apologetic, but firm.

"That's fair," Penny agreed. "Besides, each of us needs to concentrate on channeling our energy."

"But Alice is the better magician," Julia challenged.

Margot leaned in. "You're good at picking up energy from other people, Julia, besides we need Alice to cast the phosphoromancy spell to hide us."

"And," said Eliot, "If you freak or the funnel spell fails, at least I can use Physical magic to keep the blade from clattering to the ground and busting the entire lot of us."

"Eliot, if you can use physical magic to handle the blade, why don't we just stab The Beast from far away and get this nightmare over with?" Julia asked.

"I've tried," said Eliot, " but I can only lift it out of the box. I'm sure I can keep it from falling to the ground and revealing us to The Beast, but it seems to require an actual human hand to be of any real use."
"That makes sense," added Quentin, "In the books, the magic of Fillory only works with intention. If you're going to go so far as to stab someone, you have to do it in person."

---

Alice looked over the book of battle magic from Katie's bag. Flipping through the spell, she jotted notes while everyone else fidgeted, waiting. The enchanted paper multiplied and spread itself among the group, like paper birds they alighted in front of each magician.

"Here is the spell," Alice announced. "Along with specific tasks for some of us."

"Why am I in charge of casting the Funnel spell?" Penny asked, looking up from his instructions.

"If anyone falters, you can get inside their heads to help guide them. And, you're not doing it alone. Katie is casting, too. We need two dimensions to make this work, physical and psychic."

"I agree," Margot said. "Draw as much energy as you can from me and Eliot while Quentin distracts The Beast."

"Sounds decent," Penny admitted.

"Now we just have to figure out how to get to The Beast before he gets to us."

---

Quentin sat in the clearing, poring over his Fillory books for a solution. Margot leaned over his shoulder. "Any ideas?"