TWENTY-SIX

Cire flew up to the ceiling as soon as we were outside The Volcano and pointed in the direction of the fleeing Dragonet.

"There he goes!" he shouted. "He's changed again— he's a Flibberite, I mean she!"

Massha's salesclerk, I thought grimly. But Flibberites couldn't cover ground as fast as Dragonets. We stood a better chance of catching him now.

The Mall would be closing very shortly, which meant the crowds had thinned down a lot. Eskina and I pelted down the nearly empty corridors. Our prey was clearly visible ahead of us.

He knew we were following him, too. He turned and launched another powerball in our direction. I threw myself to the left behind the nearest obstruction, a cotton-candy stand. The cones of fluff blackened, smouldered, and went up like torches.

"I'm not hurt," I shouted, as much for my allies as for Rattila. "Is that all you've got, you pitiful little vermin?"

In answer, a cannonade of small embers followed. I avoided almost all of them. One struck my arm like a foul ball. I batted out my burning sleeve and kept running.

"You are under arrest," Eskina shrieked. "Felony theft, conspiracy, receiving stolen goods, larceny, criminal damage to property, grievous bodily harm, kidnapping, fleeing and eluding—"

Another bolt roared toward us, this time aimed at her. She had been expecting it, though, and flattened herself behind an empty musician stand. The firebolt slammed into a wall, leaving a singe mark the size of a medicine ball.

"Is that the thief?" the gray-spotted Shire horse demanded, as we rolled past the oat shop.

"The master thief!" I shouted back.

"My friends and I will help!" he whinnied. He threw back his head and let out a long neigh. Shopkeepers and clerks poured out into the corridor. What guards had not already converged on The Volcano joined the throng.

"No, don't get in our way!" I yelled. All I needed was for innocent civilians to get hurt by this maniac. The shopkeepers paid no attention, falling in around us. Those who could fly caught up with Rattila, only to get pelted with magikal fire. A Phoenix was burned badly enough to burst into a pillar of flames. By the time I passed him he was reduced to a heap of ashes, out of which peeked the curved shell of the new egg.

Others weren't so lucky. Imps, Gnomes, Deveels, and Djinnies who weren't quick enough to dodge or magikally avert Rattila's attacks suffered burns and scorches. The corridor was getting crowded again.

"He's only got one idea," I hissed to Cire when he swooped low enough for me to hear. "Can you counteract those fireballs?"

"Think so," the Walroid stated. "I can extinguish them when I see them coming."

I groaned. "So why weren't you?"

"Oh, come on, Aahz! It's been a long time since I saw action like this." In training or not, once Cire had the idea, he made good use of technique. Rattila snapped out missiles at the growing crowd as we followed him around corners, up ramps, and down stairs. Cire sailed along at a comfortable altitude, snuffing out the crackling spheres like birthday candles.

"Where is he going?" Eskina demanded. We passed through the center court of The Mall.

"The loading dock," I guessed. "That's where the other rat went to ground."

"I can beat him there," offered one of the Shire horses. Risking Rattila's attacks, she galloped past him.

"We must stop her," Eskina warned.

"We can't catch her," I retorted. "Besides, there's nothing there but garbage, unless it's the back way into the Rat Hole."

I couldn't have been more wrong.

We banged through the swinging metal doors into the unadorned space where the shop owners received their deliveries and dropped off their refuse. I spotted the Shire horse and the other clerks who had run on ahead of us. They were all standing stock-still, staring at a pair of figures at the end of the long chamber.

The one on the right was Chloridia. She had come back!

Just in time I recognized the shadow thrown up on the wall of the figure on the left. Rattila had turned into a basilisk! The still figures had been turned to stone statues.

"Don't look!" I warned Eskina and Cire, as they stumbled to a halt behind me. I pulled them down behind a crate. I couldn't warn the others, who piled into the room, took one glance at the sinuous figure wavering back and forth, and froze in place with surprised looks on their faces.

"Chlory!" I shouted. "It's me, Aahz! That's Rattila! Stop him!"

I peeked around the corner to see if she heard me. She heard me, all right: a bolt of bright green light shot toward me. I ducked back as the magik came close enough to sizzle a few of the scales on my cheek. I glanced again. Chloridia marched toward us, a blank look in her eyes.

"Rattila has her in his power," Eskina hissed.

"Well, she's not as strong as I am," Cire insisted. He stood up and flung a double flipperful of golden light in her direction.

The four-eyed enchantress chanted a brief phrase, and the light dissipated. She leveled her hands at us, and the packing crate blew into pieces. Rubber Kewpie dolls went flying in every direction. We backed off. Chloridia advanced on us, with Rattila behind her, cackling.

"Take that!" Cire announced. A pit opened up at Chloridia's feet. She simply stepped out onto the empty air. "Uh-oh. Run."

We ran.

"Quick," Cire demanded, as the swinging doors swished shut behind us. "What are her weaknesses? What can I exploit?"

"Nothing," I spat out, after searching my memory. "She's a consummate professional. She teaches magik at the Kallian academy in the off-season from her daily show."

"Fishguts!" Cire swore.

We headed into the nearly empty midway. Behind us the basilisk's scaled belly hissed on the tiled floor. I couldn't hear Chloridia's footsteps at all.

That was because she had taken to the air. As we rounded the corner into the food court, she alighted in front of us, her four purple eyes as blank as poker chips.

"Chlory, snap out of it!" I ordered. "You're under a spell! Listen to me!"

A sneer twisted her lovely face as she waved an arm. The entire display of pies in a pastry-shop window came flying at us.

I dove for cover behind a caramel-corn wagon, pursued by a plank of lemon meringue pies. They all splatted harm- lessly on the glass, showering me with blobs of filling. Cire yelped as a pot of soup dumped itself on his head.

"Ugh! I hate licorice!" Eskina wrestled with strands of black and red looping around her like whips. They knotted themselves, pinioning her arms to her body. She attacked them with her sharp little teeth.

"Chlory, it's mind control!" I called. "Think! I know you're in there somewhere!"

Chloridia's arms waved again, and more display windows burst outward, their contents flying to do her bidding.

"Aahz, look out!" Cire shouted.

He dove toward me just as a roasted chicken on a skewer arrowed toward my heart. He jumped in the way. The skewer missed me, but it went partly through Cire's arm. I dragged him into the doorway of the chicken shop and yanked it out.

"Ow!" Cire protested. "That hurt as much coming out as going in."

"Sorry," I offered. "I never knew you'd take a pullet for me."

Cire's face screwed up in a pained grin. "What are friends for?"

The blinding glare of a warming light gave me an idea. I picked up the nearest heavy object, a rolling pin used for making the shop's celebrated pot pies, and put it in Cire's good hand.

"Take this. When you get the chance, use it!"

"For what?"

"Hey, Chlory!" I called, standing up. The blank eyes turned toward me, and the hand flew up to throw another spell. "The media is here! They want to interview you!" I turned the light so it shone in her face. "Look! The cameras are rolling! Come over here for your close-up!"