Commander’s Palace were throwing themselves upon the marauders of Skytower. But Titus scarcely heard anything, his attention fixed on Fairfax. There was a smear of dirt on her face and bits of rock dust in her hair, and he was reminded of the day they first met, seven months and forever ago.
The cell stopped six feet from the Bane. At last she looked upon the monster himself. She did not appear afraid, only weary beyond words.
“My dear, dear Fairfax,” murmured the Bane.
“My lord High Commander,” replied Fairfax, in her low, rich, slightly gravelly voice. “Or is it Palaemon Zephyrus? No, I forgot. Your real name is Pyrrhos Plouton, you nasty old man.”
The Bane’s good humor apparently could not be dampened by a few barbed words. “About to be an even nastier, even older man, thanks to you.”
“You will not have me,” she said flatly. “Nor will this cell hold me.”
“This cell is built to be strong enough for me.”
“I thought so,” she said. “Step behind me, please, Kashkari.”
A bolt of lightning left her hands and struck the wall of the containment cell, which lit up and crackled. The Bane’s expression changed. He had built the cell to be strong enough for him—but he was not capable of lightning.
Suddenly Titus felt the Bane’s wand at his temple.
“Stop or the boy dies,” snarled the Bane.
“Keep going!” Titus shouted. “It does not matter if I die. Finish him!”
Fairfax hesitated.
“Do not think. Do as I say!” he shouted louder, even as his voice turned hoarse. “Break free now!”
A pain like ice gored him in the stomach. He fell down. Ice turned into fire, charring all his nerve endings.
“Be a good girl,” came the Bane’s honeyed voice, “and he won’t suffer any more.”
“No . . .” The possibility that she might listen to the Bane horrified Titus. “No . . .”
Her jaw worked. An agony like having his spine ripped out skewered through him. He convulsed, but he kept his eyes on her, willing her to hold firm. Her hands shook. Her whole person shook.
The Bane lifted his wand. Titus braced himself for worse. The Bane half dropped his hand, raised it again, and slid it to the side. Titus blinked, so confused and taken aback he only faintly noticed that he was no longer in pain.
The Bane waved his wand about like the conductor of an orchestra. A sneer twisted his lips, an expression of sheer disdain. Yet as Titus watched, that disdain turned into consternation. Then, outright anger.
The next second the walls of the containment cells disappeared. The Bane knelt down and lifted Titus. “Get off that base,” he said to Fairfax and Kashkari, both flabbergasted. “I can’t keep him away for long.”
No, not the Bane. This was Titus’s father, and Titus was looking into the kind, beautiful eyes that his mother had loved. “Father. Father!”
“You look just like your mother,” said his father, hugging him tight. “You look just like Ariadne.”
He kissed Titus on the forehead. “Someone stun me right now and put a spell shield around me. The Bane can’t use me if I’m unconscious.”
Fairfax and Kashkari raised their wands. But whereas Kashkari fulfilled Titus’s father’s request, Fairfax lifted a chunk of stone and sent it flying toward—
West, who was just sitting up on his platform. He promptly tipped over and fell onto the floor.
“Good thinking!” cried Kashkari.
With Titus’s father unconscious, the Bane had turned to West. But now, with his last spare out of commission . . . Fairfax, Kashkari, and Titus looked at one another: faced with a clear path to the Bane’s sarcophagus, they were at a loss over what to do.
A wall of flames roared their way.
The Bane’s original body might not have fingers left to grip a wand, or even a tongue for speaking the words of an incantation, but his mind was perfectly functional. And the mind was all that was needed to power feats of elemental magic.
While Kashkari and Titus shouted for shields, Iolanthe raised her hands and pushed back against the fire. “Keep an eye on West and your father,” she cried. “Keep them safe.”
It had amazed her to hear Titus calling the Bane’s current body “father.” But it all made sense. Now if only they could defeat the Bane and get out of here.
She lifted one of the stone platforms and sent it crashing toward the sarcophagus, and then another—the best way to keep everyone safe was to keep the Bane busy defending his original body. She advanced. The fire he had