Sid and Max are facing off.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s old. It\u2019s comfortable. It\u2019s familiar. It\u2019s new.<\/p>\n
Sid scuffs the floor. It\u2019s just a scuff, but he\u2019s bought himself a pair of brand-new Nike Summoning Boots. They\u2019re the best shoes in the world, if you want to scuff summoning circles with them.<\/p>\n
One stroke across the floor, and his summoning circle is there, complete with a pentagram inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cNice,\u201d says Max.<\/p>\n
Sid\u2019s pentagram is glowing now. It\u2019s shining with white lines springing up from the earth. There are all kinds of cool little details, including a little Sid logo. It\u2019s the only logo that markets 100% Sid!<\/p>\n
\u201cIsn\u2019t it?\u201d Sid says. \u201cI got a sponsorship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Max looks a little smug.<\/p>\n
Max spreads his hands wide. Pillars of silver fire burst up from the ground and surround him. There\u2019s a little angelic chorus, like there\u2019s been<\/em> a little angelic chorus, on their last few duels. It\u2019s the joy of the substrate, resonating through the world, that it gets to see Max doing his stuff.<\/p>\n The world shivers all around him.<\/p>\n It pulses with light.<\/p>\n The song reaches its crescendo. It falls to silence. The other battles around them have gone still.<\/p>\n \u201cWell played,\u201d Sid admits. \u201cWell played. But \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n Here he snidely uses psychological warfare:<\/p>\n \u201cNot quite as loud as I\u2019d expected, Max.\u201d<\/p>\n Max laughs.<\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t bribe too many angels,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a school night!\u201d<\/p>\n He sweeps his longcoat dramatically. He spreads his arms: SNOWSTORM!<\/p>\n Clouds gather over his head. The snow fairy manifests. Snowflakes begin to fall all around Max. Max pushes at the air and the snowstorm flows over and dumps snow on Sid.<\/p>\n Sid shakes snow out of his hair.<\/p>\n Max intones, in the voice of a great summoner at work: \u201cSnow \u2014 harder!\u201d<\/p>\n But Sid is ready. He\u2019s not going to be snowed out \u2014 tonight!<\/p>\n He draws a sword.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a 21st century sword, and it\u2019s made in Ipswich, so it isn\u2019t really very good \u2014 but it is<\/em> a sword. It\u2019s sharp enough for this. He pokes it right into the cloud.<\/p>\n \u201cOw!\u201d says the snow fairy.<\/p>\n The clouds swirl around. They\u2019re just a little bit red.<\/p>\n Sid says: DON\u2019T SNOW ON ME.<\/p>\n The snow fairy is now uncertain which magician to listen to. It attempts to hedge its bets.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps you\u2019re not familiar with the benefits of snow,\u201d it says. \u201cThere are many! It\u2019s cold and white and Christmasy!\u201d<\/p>\n You can taste that Christmas spirit in the air!<\/p>\n \u201cYou might like<\/em> snow,\u201d the snow fairy proposes.<\/p>\n But Sid ignores this. He scuffs the floor again. There\u2019s a dual<\/em> summoning circle now.<\/p>\n He invokes Double Thing. DOUBLE THING!<\/p>\n It\u2019s like a thing, but twice as much!<\/p>\n Half the double thing scrunges upwards from the earth. Half the double thing scrunges upwards from a different part of the earth. The double thing rumbles and shakes its double hands!<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s an . . . earth thing,\u201d says Max, after staring at it for a bit.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s four times <\/em>the thing,\u201d says Sid, proudly.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to fight,\u201d protests the double thing.<\/p>\n \u201cHa ha!\u201d laughs Sid. \u201cBut I want you to fight! You\u2019re an ancillary in a magical duel. Now, stop that fairy from snowing on me harder, or we\u2019ll both get chilly!\u201d<\/p>\n The double thing doesn\u2019t \u2014<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t want to get chilly. So it oscillates until the fairy becomes confused.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it one thing?\u201d asks the fairy. \u201cIs it two things?\u201d<\/p>\n It becomes progressively dizzier as it tries to evaluate the situation. \u201cNo! One! Five! Seventeen! Eight!\u201d<\/p>\n The fairy faints.<\/p>\n \u201cThat isn\u2019t snowing harder,\u201d says Max. After a moment, he adds, \u201cThat\u2019s not even snowing smarter.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s snowing lower,\u201d the double thing points out.<\/p>\n Sod-all Steve, who\u2019s notionally the highest-ranked summoner (ever since Eugenie went to have a second word with Lucy about her ape), attempts to launch a surprise attack on the pair. He steps into the circle. He summons two SOD SPEARS to spear through Sid and Max. They pass through the domain of the oscillation.<\/p>\n So much for Sod-all Steve and his participation! He\u2019ll be vibrating and rattling for quite some time.<\/p>\n Sid glances at him. He smirks. Then he turns back Maxwards.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, double thing!\u201d says Sid.<\/p>\n \u201cHm?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAttack!\u201d<\/p>\n It looks at Sid. It hesitates. Then it looks speculatively at Max.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, I don\u2019t really want to fight him,\u201d says the double thing. \u201cLook at him! Maybe you two should resolve this peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n Max sneers.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want a double thing\u2019s pity,\u201d he says. He draws back. He readies himself to invoke SCRUBBING BUBBLE. It\u2019s the battle magic that doesn\u2019t actually help!<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not pity,\u201d says the double thing in frustration. It spits out bits of sod spear. \u201cIt\u2019s not having an actual stake in the conflict \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n But Max ignores the double thing. He even interrupts its sentence!<\/p>\n S<\/em>CRUBBING<\/em> B<\/em>UBBLE<\/em>!<\/em><\/p>\n The wind screams down from the sky. The world flares up with red and purple light. Scrubbing bubbles bubble up from the earth, scrubbing ominous contrails through the air. Max shoves the magic with his hands. The bubbles scrub closer to Sid and the double thing.<\/p>\n It makes the floor so clean they can see their own reflections in it. It washes away Sod-All Steve and all his dreams. It removes the blood and dirt of ten thousand battles \u2014<\/p>\n But it doesn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n In fact, the double thing thinks, as it swarms towards Max and his summons, it\u2019s probably the opposite<\/em> of helping.<\/p>\n Sid is bloodied and tired when he wins at last. He is panting. He is gasping.<\/p>\n But he is, at last, the foremost of the summoners at the Lethal Magnet School for Wayward Youth. He has walked through fire and it has strengthened him. He has hardened his will in the gaol of the House of Torment and he has become something incredible.<\/p>\n He is laughing. He is hugging the tottering Max. His heart is dancing.<\/p>\n He alone will claim the Christmas Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sid and Max are facing off. It\u2019s old. It\u2019s comfortable. It\u2019s familiar. It\u2019s new. Sid scuffs the floor. It\u2019s just a scuff, but he\u2019s bought himself a pair of brand-new Nike Summoning Boots. They\u2019re the best shoes in the world, if you want to scuff summoning circles with them. One stroke across the floor, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"series":[50],"class_list":["post-5926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vidars-boot-chapter-16","series-vidars-boot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Icon_Winter.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5926"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5956,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5926\/revisions\/5956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5926"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=5926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}