The Grants Artefacts

24 The Raid on the Armant Kennels

The raid on the Armant Kennels

When Arundel used unassisted flight carrying another person she had to use a whole host of other spells to make it work. Other people were impossibly heavy and when wind chill and air resistance was taken into account it became exhausting and dangerous. Arun had spent months working out how to do it, practising with her sister once bags of flower, pillowcases and later, a friends dog, had all been successful. The easiest way was to give the other person a piggyback. The werewolf's enjoyed watching Lupin clamber onto Arun's back.

"Don't be sick on me," she told him.

"I give no guarantees," he told her.

"Have you ever done this before?"

"No."

"Wish us luck," she told Fenrir with a smile. The werewolf snarled and waved a hand at her.

"Don't mess this up."

She launched herself into the air and shot away into the Western Desert. On her back, Lupin clenched tightly but he was laughing not screaming. She landed a little later about a mile away from the Armant Kennels. At night the stars above the Western Desert looked like clouds of shimmering glitter dust. Lupin fell off her back and rolled on the floor.

"My god that was fun!" he sighed.

"Careful, scorpions," she told him, and he got up pretty quickly after that.

"Where're the Kennels?"

She pointed into the darkness. "So, this is what we are going to do...."

The Kennels were not well guarded, there were only four guards on turrets and a keeper of the keys who locked the werewolf's in at night. The werewolf's had a hex put on them to stop them appariting and the idea were that they would dehydrate in the desert if they ran before they ever reached civilisation. Arun used a spell of her own creation, a variation of the Bombarda spell to blow a section of the wall to smithereens. She whooped as rubble was shot into the air and laughed as the alarms started to sound, the guards ran for her and she kept them occupied as Lupin snuck in over the gates and made for the storerooms. She killed one guard, which upset the others and she enjoyed fending them off, buying for time as Lupin found the Wolfsbane. He was taking too long, she used a rope coil spell and tied the guards together then she took their wands with a flick of her hand. Another flick and they were wrenched into the air and the rope coiled around a beam to suspend them. She ran into the compound in search of Lupin. A series of bangs and fizzes and a flash of lightning came from the main building and Arun veered to the right and found Lupin engaged in a fierce battle with a surprisingly adept wizard. She skidded to a stop next to Lupin and she blocked a curse Lupin was about to miss and sent back a counterattack of her own which he swiped away. "We don't have time for this!" she shouted at Lupin as they dived out the way when he sent arrows shooting from the end of his wand.

"What do you suggest..."

Arun rolled out, used an air shield to deflect the next volley of attacks and then she pulled her hands wide apart, "Succido" she screamed and brought her hands together. Her spell shot a wave of white air across the room, it hit the man directly in the chest, and the effect it had on him was horrific. He shrunk from the navel outwards, like he was sucked into a black hole. His scream was gut-wrenching and he crumbled to the floor, folding in on himself until he looked like an ovarian cyst.

"Oh my god!" Lupin cried.

"Don't worry, it's reversible," Arun snapped.

He covered his mouth with his hand.