Prophecy

The final mission

Chapter 20

The next morning, Phoenix made their final preparations and left for their start point. Chimera had to give them an hour to reach their start point, pick up the 'cargo' and get started.

James and Tiffany were indulging in the rapport when Alexander stopped by. He looked at James and Tiffany; in the pleasurable loop they could enter nearly at will by now, and the rest of Chimera napping. After their late night, they were only too happy to get another hour of sleep, since the mission today promised to be a long one.

Alexander evaluated the relaxed Chimeras and sighed. "What are you up to now James?"

James opened one eye, from within the rapport and regarded Alexander and Martin, who was walking up. Tiffany never missed a stroke as James replied. "What makes you think we're up to something, Sir?"

Alexander regarded James sourly. "A: I've known you for almost thirteen years, and the only time you are this calm is when you think you have the upper hand. B: I watched every mission you ran this year, and at this point, you're always running over the mission plans with Adam. C: I am told that you didn't even bother watching Phoenix leave, as if you already knew where they were going."

James put on his best innocent look. "Maybe we're just thinking of the summer being over."

Alexander, also known as Uncle Alexander Evans had been watching the twins perfect their innocent look for more than a decade, and it didn't fool him for an instant. "Bullpuckey, to be polite."

Martin regarded James thoughtfully. "Alexander," he said, "maybe it has something to do with the fact that James was using the Totem skills last night."

James grinned. "Now, how can you know if that was me?"

Martin frowned at James and spoke in short broken sentences, like you might use to a not too bright child. "Two Shamans. One camp. Wasn't me. Had to be you."

Alexander, with his knowledge of the twins, recognized the instantly suppressed anger Martin's patronizing tone and sarcasm woke in James. James responded with the same patronizing tone. "I realize you're been one the Borders a lot, but you might have heard about my Soulbond somewhere?"

Martin flushed as James's tone registered. "Yes, and?" he said without thinking.

James smirked as his trap closed, and he used the same short sentences Martin had used on him. "Two people. One Soulbond. Tiffany knows everything I do. Could have been her."

Martin flushed darker and then blinked. He regarded James and Tiffany, and spoke in a neutral tone. "You do remember that telling any woman the Shaman secrets is forbidden, and that doing so can get your Shaman powers stripped from you?"

James nodded. "I owled Rolling Thunder about that, and the Council has decided that since I didn't actually tell her, and I had no way to stop what was happening, they would make an exception for Tiffany."

Martin nodded as he followed the logic, and looked at Tiffany with a new respect. "So you know all the Shaman skills James does?"

Tiffany trade places with James, settling in front of him, and letting James start his slow rhythmic brushing before she answered Martin. She reached under her robes and 'drew' the same sort of raw magic weapon James had shown the Professors at Hogwarts. "Would you care to dance the circle, and test my skill?" she invited Martin.

Martin stared at her weapon, noting the steady glow, and clear definition of it. He could see the inscription on the handle, but he couldn't read it at this range. "I don't think that's necessary," he said, "although I've never seen anyone use a spoon as a weapon before."

James smiled wryly. "Just be glad you can't hear some of the thoughts she's had with that thing."

Martin's eyebrows went up as he thought about it. "I can imagine. Thanks, I'll keep my knife, thank you."

James stretched and got up. The next thing he said was over the Chimera link. "Time to go people. Everyone up." The rest of Chimera got up and began stretching sleep-logged muscles as they listened to James. "Remember the plan, and make sure you know you're part if we move to an alternate plan."

As James and Chimera got ready to mount their broomsticks, the whole team meshed, in the close technique James and Rose had perfected for Quidditch and taught to the rest of Chimera. While they were this close, James led with Rose advising after looking a few seconds or minutes ahead with her Sight. The meshed link was suffused with James's eagerness and all of Chimera began mirroring the fierce, and yet focused look on James's face.

"What's the final Law of Combat?" He asked as Eight Chimeras mounted their Broomsticks simultaneously, and seven voices spoke as one. "We're not here to die for our cause, but to make the enemy die for his."

Eight Broomsticks lifted away, and with the perfect synchronization that only comes with a link, two four person diamonds swept through the sky, heading for Chimera's first ambush site.

Martin and Alexander stared after them for a minute, and then looked at each other. "Did you see the way they looked?"

Martin looked after the rapidly disappearing group. "They looked like a group of weasels in a cage full of blind chickens."

Alexander frowned at the vivid description, but had to admit it was accurate.

Chimera got to their first ambush site and set up with the speed of long practice. Once they were ready, James reached out with the Totem skills and found a hawk flying high overhead. Using the hawk's eyes, he found Phoenix and tracked their course. "They're still on Mercy's alpha route. Dragon and Griffon are running point, Pegasus is the right flank, Unicorn is left, and Sphinx and Hydra are in the tail gunner's slots."

He checked the ambush site. The hawk could plainly see the Chimeras from his vantage point, and James sent him back for one last look at Phoenix, and then released the hawk with his thanks. "We've got about ten minutes before they get in range. Remember that we only want one team here."

Mercy had noted the circling hawk, and its unusual behavior. She thought about it for a few seconds and then she used the ring. "Griffon one, Dragon one, leapfrog ahead for the next fifteen minutes."

"Roger that Phoenix one." Dragon moved ahead as Griffon dropped into covered position. When Dragon had reached the limits of Griffon's covering fire, they settled down into covered positions of their own, and Griffon moved ahead to the limits of Dragon's protection. Moving like this slowed the convoy down, but it provided maximum coverage and protection for the group.

Jerrick had heard the order, and noted the slowing, and he flew up next to Mercy. "Is something wrong?"

Mercy pointed at the hawk. "It's nothing most likely, but that hawk circled us, then an area ahead of us, and then us again."

Jerrick frowned, and then comprehension cleared the frown. "You think James is using the Shaman skills to watch us."

Mercy nodded, watching the route in front of them. "That Yank is just sneaky enough to use the wildlife to watch us."

Jerrick grinned wryly. "James would pirate a satellite if he could."

Mercy, who'd grown up in a Muggle born wizard's home, understood the reference. She grinned at Jerrick. "I hope he doesn't have a laptop to do it with out here, or we're in bigger trouble than I think we are."

Dragon was moving forward when their point man held up a hand, freezing the convoy in place, as the hand sign was passed down the line. The Dragon team leader, Debra Valentine, moved up carefully, and settled down next to Terry Boot jr., who was the point man currently. "What have you got Terry?"

Terry was keeping his eyes forward, watching an area ahead of them, and slightly to the convoy's right side. "Look ahead, about seventy meters forward, and at the two o'clock position."

Debra looked at the area he specified, and was about to ask what she was looking for, when something moved, and she saw Hangeld's back. He was facing away from her, and covering the route that was the most protected way to pass this area. Most people would have taken that path, as it offered speed and cover for the convoy. Mercy though, was not most people, and she had decided to take the second best route, in hopes of fooling Adam and James, and avoiding contact for as long as possible.

Debra's eyes narrowed and she started the slow side-to-side sweep that was the best way to scan an area. Knowing how Chimera set up ambushes, and where the first one was, it didn't take her long to find the rest of Chimera.

Chimera had set a basic ambush up, with six of them about five meters apart, to pour maximum fire on to an area, and the last two members about twenty meters out, to watch for danger from either side. Mercy's course however, had brought the convoy up behind Chimera. Debra thought about it for a minute, and grinned as she sent the situation down the Dragon link. "Anybody feel like Chimera hunting today?"

Five mental smirks came back to her. "It's always a good day for that." one of her Dragons said. Debra quickly evaluated the situation, and called a SITREP (Situation Report.) back to the other point team, Griffon.

After informing Arthur Weasley what she was going to do, she gathered her team, and they cast the invisibility spells that every Manticore learned in the first year. Dragon slowly and carefully moved forward and settled into their own ambush site. "Terry, you shoot James, and don't stop until he's down. Zach, you do the same thing with Adam." Debra was hoping that even if they didn't 'kill' all of Chimera on the spot, they could at least deprive them of their strategic and tactical leaders. She finished detailing who would shoot at who, and what their secondary targets were, and then settled behind her own weapon.

She checked and when everyone sent back a ready response down the link, she gave the order to fire. Six M-4 Carbines went off as one, and Debra's plan went off perfectly. Had Chimera actually been there, they would have been liberally sprayed with the magically enhanced wax pellets that Manticore used.

The small bullets were spelled not to break the skin, even if you had the bad luck to be hit directly in the eye, but they were as painful as a bee sting and left a welt for several hours. Dragon had cause to regret that, as Chimera opened up on them from the side.

Chimera had set illusions in mostly hidden positions, and set an ambush up that was at a ninety-degree angle to the half concealed illusions. They were covered by their own invisibility charms, and they had seen the convoy coming and watched them stop, and Dragon start moving. When Dragon had covered themselves with the invisibility charms, Chimera had used a Muggle item used by search and rescue teams in the mountains. The item could detect body heat, and Chimera used it to track the Dragon team until their fire gave them away.

As Dragon opened fire, Chimera used that as their signal to open fire, and they continued shooting until the Dragon team members appeared and set down their weapons. The rules of the war games were simple. If a pellet hit you, you had to remove all magic covering you, and sit down until the mission was over, or somebody checked on you, and 'Port-keyed' you back to base.

In less than a minute, Dragon was wiped out.

Chimera moved up, and Dragon watched silently as Chimera set up nearly a dozen of the training Claymore mines that around the 'dead' bodies of Dragon. Since Dragon was dead, they weren't allowed to say anything, and Chimera disappeared without a word.

"Griffon is going to get slaughtered when they fly in here." Jack McKinnon sent down the link.

"I know," said Debra, "but there is nothing we can do, unless you want to break the Rules of Engagement."

Jack sent a picture of a donkey down the link. "Do I look that stupid? I saw what happened to Lily."

Wolfpack took the Rules of Engagement, or ROE that governed the war games very seriously. Lily Higgs, of the Unicorn team had tried to warn her sister after being 'shot' and 'killed', and been caught at it.

Alexander had pulled everyone, including the first year trainees into a group, and given a lecture about Honor, Trust and Discipline that had lasted nearly three hours, using Lily as an example. After he finished the lecture Alexander had taken her weapon and her wand.

"If I cannot trust your word or sense of self-discipline, I will not allow you to carry things that could hurt people. For the next week, you will have to depend on other people to do everything for you, from defending you, to anything you normally do with Magic. Maybe when you understand Trust from the inside, you will be a person that we can trust to do things with us."

Alexander had held to his word, making her team take her everywhere they went, even on missions, and at the end of the week, Lily was judged rehabilitated, and given her weapon and wand back. That was still the only time anyone had broken the ROE.

Debra stopped remembering the incident as her ring pulsed with an incoming call. "Dragon one, status report."

Debra grimaced as she listened to the call be repeated twice. Mercy would figure out what had happened soon enough. Debra sighed as the call she was dreading came over the ring.

Mercy's voice was tinged with worry, even over the rings. "Griffon one, Dragon team is out of the net. Check status and report."

Arthur Weasley's voice answered, "Roger that Phoenix one."

Debra watched the first three man element of Griffon come into sight. They saw Dragon, and held up the element long enough to look for Chimera, and then the second element leapfrogged past them.

Michael Weasley led the second element, and he stopped his element short of Dragon. He took his time looking around, and sent back a report to Arthur. Using the link, he told his older brother that Dragon team was out of the game.

Arthur swore, and asked how they'd been lost.

"I don't know. I have not approached. I'm not sure why, but something is telling me there's something wrong here." Michael wasn't sure what is was, but something about this whole thing just didn't look right.

"What's wrong, Michael? Is Chimera still there somewhere?"

Michael realized that was what was wrong. Over the summer, different group personalities had emerged, and Chimera never retreated when they had the upper hand. He explained his reasoning to Griffon one, and waited while Arthur used the rings to report back to Mercy.

Arthur came back, and sent down the link. "Mercy says send one man forward to check Dragon, but on the ground, no broomstick or Magic use at all."

Michael acknowledged the order, and motioned one man forward. When Franklin Finnigan came forward, Michael explained what he had to do, and took his Broomstick.

Franklin moved forward, using every bit of cover he could find, and that was why the first few claymores didn't hit him. They had been aimed at the sky, intended to take down anyone on a Broomstick, since they had the best chance of getting away if they were warned.

Franklin started sprinting back the way he'd come, but it was far too late. As Michael watched helplessly, pellets from at least two different claymores hit Franklin. Michael was the one swearing now, as he reported to Arthur. "Arthur, Franklin is KIA" (Killed in action. Raven) Arthur was silent for a minute, and then asked if he could be retrieved.

Michael looked forward, and weighed the chances of James having placed two rows of traps against the ingrained rule of never leaving anyone behind. Dead or alive, you simply didn't leave any of your own behind. Michael estimated distances quickly. Franklin was at least seventy meters away, and Dragon was thirty meters past that. "I think I can get close enough to 'Winguardium Levosa' a Port-Key on his body."

Arthur considered it, and agreed. "Just close enough to get the key on him, we're already down one effective, I can't afford to lose you also."

Michael began using the route Franklin had used, on the theory that any traps on that route would have been tripped the first time. About twenty meters from Franklin, he stopped and pulled one of the small wooden disks they used as Port-keys. The real Port-key would be activated by the person putting it on a dead or injured Manticore, and then placed on the body. It would send the body to a pre-arraigned site, where Phoenix or the team's Mediwizard would be waiting. With the ones they used in training, they simply allowed the person to gather their things and fly back to camp, or to follow along if the camp was out of link range.

Michael used his wand to levitate the key onto Franklin, and was surprised at how easy it was. He'd never tried to test the range of a 'Winguardium Levosa' spell before, and on an impulse, he sent another key towards Dragon. He dropped the key on the Dragon furthest from him, to be sure he could get them all, and in a short time, Dragon was following Franklin back to today's KIA rally point, where you went if you 'died'.

He reported what he'd done back to Arthur.

"While it's good to know we can use the keys at that range, I would prefer that you not take chances like that, Michael. After all, if I go down, you're in charge," said Arthur, and Michael was quick to deny that. "If not you, then who, Michael?"

Remembering his thoughts on the same topic some time ago, Michael winced and remained silent.

Mercy decided to avoid the entire area, and swung the convoy out wide in a boxing pattern, that was the easiest way to get back on their original course. This was a simple matter of making a single ninety-degree turn, and moving a set distance. At the end of the distance, you turned ninety degrees again, so that you were moving parallel to the original course, and moved as far as you thought you had to go to avoid the danger, as which point you simply turned ninety degrees again, in the direction of your first course heading. When you had gone the same distance as you had on the first turn, you turned again, making a box shape, and continued along your first course.

Phoenix continued along their course, with Griffon still on point, but using a new point team technique. One Griffon was out in front at least two hundred meters, and there was another Griffon on each side, out one hundred meters from the course. The three of them made a huge triangle, and would hopefully see any ambush before the main body of the convoy was caught up in it. It was slower, and more dangerous for the point team, but everyone knew that point was the most dangerous job, and somebody had to do it.

After the loss of one entire team, and the trap that took out Franklin, nerves were getting tight, and it was not surprising that five or six people fired when three giant figures rose up out of the woods and started running at the convoy.

It was Jerrick's eye for details that quickly noted that the figures were running through the trees, but not damaging them. "Cease fire," he called over the rings, and the Phoenix and Unicorn teams stopped firing. An instant later, the three figures started a bizarre ritual that an older Muggle born student recognized as a Three Stooges routine.

Mercy stared at the illusions, and sighed. "That has got to be the Yank's work. Adam would have used something from one of his westerns to scare us."

While they were halted, Mercy was examining the map. "Jerrick, look here. Here, and here are the best places to ambush us again. What if we simply dumped stealth, and swung wide out here to use speed to try and carry us through?"

Jerrick looked at the new route she was proposing, and estimated the amount of cover they would have. "If Chimera catches us out there, they can do a lot of damage." He warned her.

Mercy grinned impishly. "Calculated Risk. Adam and James have thrown their book out the window on this mission, and we need to do the same."

She thought for a minute, and then groaned as a thought hit her. "Jerrick, how much do you want to bet they're using Rose's Sight today?"

Jerrick considered the actions of Chimera over the summer, and the way they were acting today. "Not a Knut. They're using her Sight, or James has hijacked a satellite to watch us with."

Mercy giggled at Jerrick's sour tone. "I don't think the Yank would go that far."

Jerrick looked at Mercy, suddenly serious. "I know James is your friend, but have you ever thought about the things he has done?"

Mercy frowned, and then realized what Jerrick was talking about. She grinned at him again, as she gave the point team the go ahead to start moving again. "No, silly, I meant he didn't have a laptop out here to hijack it with."

It was Mercy's turn to be serious as she tried to figure out how to beat the advantage Foresight gave Chimera. Mercy and Jerrick were flying in the middle of the formation and close together as they tried to insure their cargo would go through.

"The problem is," said Jerrick thoughtfully, "That whatever we decide to do, Rose knows instantly, or before we make it sometimes."

Mercy nodded, and made her decision. "This is what we're going to do. I'll lay in the course for say, 3 klicks and when we get there, I'll decide on a new course. That will give them a shorter time to prepare for us." She shrugged. "Short of killing Rose, I don't know of any way to prevent her from seeing what we're doing, so all we can do is be wary and prepared to take out Chimera when we see them."

Jerrick raised an eyebrow at her phrasing. "We?" he questioned. "Are you going to help?"

Mercy looked around, making sure no one else was in earshot. When she was certain nobody but Jerrick could hear her, she turned back to him, and her eyes were bleak. "I can't. This is only training, and I know nobody gets hurt. I could do it, the ideas are there, just like the defensive plans I do use." She looked away from Jerrick, staring at nothing. "There's a part of me though, that exults every time we 'kill' an enemy, and keeping that part down is a constant battle."

Jerrick heard the unsaid portion of that statement that Mercy was afraid of becoming like her father. "We all enjoy winning." he said.

His co-leader looked at him strangely. "Who said anything about winning? That part of me enjoys the killing, not the winning, but the thought of the death."

Jerrick watched Mercy compassionately. "Have you talked to anyone about this?"

"Who? The other Mediwizards work for me, and you know about the whole Chain of Command thing."

Jerrick did know about the Chain of Command, every Manticore leader had heard chapter and verse on the subject. Jerrick remembered the first lecture that Alexander Evans had given on it.

"A good leader doesn't show pain or fear to their troops except under extreme circumstances. The good leader doesn't allow any of their troops to be better than them at anything, unless that troop is extraordinarily talented, and then, only in the area of that talent." Alexander had paused and looked at the Team leaders. "If somebody in your team is better than you at everything, or even most things, you need to consider giving them command. Most important, you never let the troops see weakness. You can make a mistake, but never the same one twice. If you're uncertain about something, or have a problem you cannot solve, you always take it higher up the Chain of Command, never lower."

Jerrick shook off the memory and thought about who was above them in the Chain. "What about Melissa? She's higher than you."

Mercy shook her head. "Anything Melissa knows, James will find out, and I'd rather not give him more ammunition to get me to use that talent."

Jerrick grinned. "James is still after you? You've been telling him no for two years now."

Mercy rolled her eyes, in what Manticore was beginning to call the "James syndrome" and laughed. "You know our fearless leader. He's stubborn, obstinate, obsessed and has a one track mind besides."

Jerrick laughed, agreeing totally with Mercy. "And those are his good points."

The two Phoenix leaders shared a grin at James's expense, and then Jerrick had a thought. "What about April Erskine? As a liaison, she's outside the Chain, and she won't tell James anything he doesn't need to know."

Mercy considered the idea, and nodded slowly. "She would work. I'll talk to her when we get back to Hogwarts."

Mercy brought her mind back to their current problem as they neared the end of the first route she'd given them. Pulling out the map, she located their current position, and traced a route out for Jerrick. Jerrick flew up to talk to the point team, and the convoy moved out les than five minutes later.

With the spread of troops, and the care everyone was using looking for Chimera, the convoy should have been reasonably safe. Under any normal circumstance, the formation would be as safe as any, and safer than most.

James and Chimera were not playing by any normal rules today though. Using Rose's Sight to find Phoenix, Adam's strategy and an idea James remembered from an old Muggle war movie, Chimera carried out the first Broomstick bombing run.

Muggle grenades worked with a time fuse, and would explode 3-5 seconds after the pin was pulled. The grenades Chimera was using had proximity fuses, and Chimera dropped forty of them from two hundred feet above Phoenix.

As the grenades fell, the fuses armed, and when they came within a certain distance of a target, they would explode. Since the Mediwizards and other Phoenix people were clustered together hauling the cargo in bags designed to be carried by Broomsticks, they were the hardest hit.

By the time Mercy and Jerrick restored order and figured out what had happened, Chimera was long gone, leaving more casualties in their wake. All of the Phoenix Mediwizards were gone, as were two people from each team that had flanking duty.

By the time the 'dead' had been Portkeyed and the cargo redistributed, Tempers were beginning to flare, and the team leaders had to keep close tabs on their teams. Chimera had already decimated one entire team, all the Mediwizards except Mercy, two each of Unicorn and Pegasus and a single Griffon. In return, nobody still alive had seen even one Chimera.

Just past the point Mercy had chosen for the new route, Phoenix held up, while Mercy and Jerrick worked out the new route. When they were done, Griffon moved to tail guard, and the flanks switched sides as Sphinx took over point.

It was Griffon again, that sent the alarm over the rings, as Emma and Hangeld came flying as fast as their Starblades would go, right up the middle of the formation. Several people shot at them, from both sides of the formation and it's not really surprising that Robert House, a 7^th year Hufflepuff in Unicorn was hit by friendly fire.

Conor McCloud, the Pegasus team leader was sending the cease-fire over his team's link when it happened, and he groaned. Less than a minute later, his ring pulsed with an incoming call. "Pegasus One" he said, answering the ring.

"I suggest," said an angry James, "that you have a long talk with Mario. He just killed one of our own from stupidity. You had better make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Yes, Sir." Said Conor, and if looks could kill, Mario would have died on the spot. Robert was the last Convoy person lost to that tactic, but James and Adam were ready with a new tactic, and in short order, Hangeld's uncanny accuracy as a sniper had taken out Sonya Gebbs, Zachary Moore and Conor McCloud, depriving all three teams of their primary team leaders.

Mercy found a large clearing, and they settled Phoenix into a tight perimeter with interlocking fires, and Wizards on broomsticks covering them from above. The remaining team leaders met to try and figure out what to do about this new tactic.

They had been talking about ten minutes when Jerrick's sharp eyes spotted something amiss in the tall meadow grass. "You are one sneaky son-of-a-bitch James."

When the other team leaders turned and stared at him, he pointed at the long tailed mouse calmly watching them. The mouse seemed to wink at them, and then it turned and ran away suddenly.

Mercy closed her eyes and sighed. "Do we really need James?" she asked plaintively.

Jerrick smiled sourly as he scanned the grass for more unusual wildlife. "Yes, unfortunately we do. It's that whole Prophecy thing you know. We need all eight of them for awhile longer at least."

"Seven, actually." Mercy muttered. The other team leaders hid smiles at the quiet comment.

They talked about it, and tried to figure out what they could do to overcome the advantages Chimera had and in the end Jerrick summed it up in one sentence. "How are we supposed to overcome the people chosen by Prophecy to beat the greatest dark Wizard yet?"

Chimera had enough skills to win against the Patient Child, and Manticore simply couldn't figure out hoe to overcome all of those skills.

"Which is actually a good thing to know." Said Mercy. "If we can't do, knowing Chimera like we do, then we can assume that nobody else can either."

"That's all well and good for the war," said Ron Stone wryly, "but it doesn't help us here and now. I do have an idea though. Since we can't win allowing them to hunt us, what if we hunted them?"

Ron wanted to send one person and illusions of the rest of the convoy one direction, with a team flying high cover. When Chimera attacked, the covering team would send a message back over the rings, and then keep Chimera busy long enough for Phoenix and the remaining team to get a good head start.

"You realize Chimera will figure it out quickly, if they even fall for it," said Jerrick. Since nobody could think of anything better, they set the illusions, and one of Jerrick's people lifted off with Griffon flying high above him covered in invisibility and silencing spells.

Barely a kilometer from the start point, Hangeld sniped the Phoenix member, and Griffon sent the call as they flanked around the place the shots had come from.

Mercy and Jerrick had the convoy ready, and they lifted off, running flat out for their destination, trading stealth for speed. They had covered about seven kilometers when Arthur Weasley called in. "There are only two Chimeras here, I say again, two Chimeras."

The same thought went through Mercy and Jerrick's mind; Where was the rest of Chimera?

Hangeld and Emma were the sniper team for Chimera. Armed with a big gun and with Emma to watch his back while he concentrated on his target, Hangeld had both the patience and the eye to wait for his best chance shot. Normally, after taking the shot, they left the area. This time James had given them an additional task, and they were supposed to tie up and eliminate the following team that Rose had seen.

After Hangeld took the shot, and the Phoenix had gone down, Hangeld and Emma had moved just 30 meters, into a position that gave them good cover. Emma was already scanning the sky with the heat-detecting device, and she soon found the team flying in. She studied the team and its formation carefully.

"It's got to be Griffon. Only five people, and they aren't cautious enough to be Sphinx."

Over the summer, each of the teams had begun to show group personalities, and using that information was one of the lessons they'd learned that year. It was more than they'd know about the Patient Child's forces at first, but any surviving groups would do the same thing. Hangeld interrupted Emma's thoughts. "Can you tell which one is Arthur?"

Emma checked the scanner. "I have two teams of two, thirty meters apart, and a single person slightly behind them and between them."

"Mesh with me, and we'll take the single person out first." Hangeld opened the last of his shields, and they meshed with the ease of long practice.

Once they were in the mesh, Emma began tracking their target. "Dropping lower, coming down at our one o'clock, passing into the trees now. Reference point two, he's left of it about two meters."

Muggles had long since figured out ways to fight even when you couldn't see your target. One of the night fighting techniques they used were Target Reference Points, or TRPs. You chose a point you could see at night or in low visibility, and used it to track your target.

Hangeld shifted his point of aim slightly to the left of the large oak tree that was TRP 2, and flipped the safety off on his weapon.

"Still on course, two meters left and three meters forward."

Hangeld adjusted his aim slightly, and squeezed the trigger. He used a technique called searching fire. Since he didn't know where his target was, he used the burst setting, where every trigger pull sent three rounds down range, and shifted his point of aim slightly between each shot.

"We have a hit," said Emma after the fourth burst, and Hangeld finished triggering the fifth burst and flipped the safety on. Grabbing their broomsticks and activating the booby-traps they had set earlier, they pulled back to the next preset position.

Behind them, Michael was swearing. With Arthur gone he was in charge, and he didn't want the job. "I'm going to hex you later for choosing me for this." He told his brother as they 'ported' him away.

Arthur grinned at the younger boy. "Actually, I didn't pick you, you did."

Michael was startled enough to speak aloud. "Bloody hell I did," he swore, "You know how I felt about this."

Arthur shrugged, and turned serious. "I couldn't figure out who to use as my second either, so I asked Alexander. He said to choose the first person to ask about it. That person was thinking ahead, concerned enough to ask, and knew the team well enough to worry about it. Plus, he was brave enough to stand up and ask about it, all of which make a good team leader."

Michael muttered something Arthur chose to ignore. Arthur hugged his brother in a rare display. "I have faith in you little brother," he said as he mounted his broomstick. "Take care of our people."

Mercy was worrying. There were only two members of Chimera accounted for, and that meant the rest of them could be anywhere. She blinked, and considered something quickly. In the next few seconds after coming to her decision, she did three things quickly.

She called the Griffon team, and told them to pin down the two Chimeras there.

She called the halt, and dug out her map; and last she called Jerrick forward to her.

"Jerrick, get with the point team, bring us to a course of 310 degrees, and move out at top speed."

Jerrick frowned as her thought about that course, which took them roughly parallel to their destination. "Why?"

Mercy smirked at him. "I'm going to use the link against Chimera. Griffon is pinning down the two Chimeras there, and we're going to exceed the distance they can separate. By the time the other six can free their element up, we'll have a huge head start."

Jerrick looked at the map, and thought about it. "It will work, but if all of Chimera attacks Griffon, we'll lose the whole team."

Mercy closed her eyes, and when she opened them, Jerrick shivered. He'd read stories about people with cold eyes, but this was the first time he'd seen eyes he would call dead.

"Yes, we will lose the team." Said the stranger in Mercy's body, and then she blinked, and her eyes were soft and sad again. "But I can't think of any other way to get the convoy through, can you?"

Jerrick looked around as the convoy moved out. They had started this morning with fifty-two, and they were down to twenty-six.

Somehow, Jerrick figured that number was going to drop before this was all over.

James was watching the convoy through the eyes of a raven, and noted the course change. He passed the information to Adam, who started plotting an ambush spot on that heading. They were still working when something changed all their plans.

"James, there's something strange going on here. Michael is not trying to kill us, he's just pinning us down."

Adam looked at the map, and figured out Mercy's strategy as soon as he mentally added Hangeld's position. "James, Mercy is trying to use the link against us. Her new course will take her out of the range of the links in less than eleven minutes."

James sighed as he considered what this would do to their plans. "I would give a year's profits to get her to do offensive work," he said. "Adam, take Lisa and go get Hangeld and Emma. Don't worry about killing Griffon, just rejoin us soonest."

Adam and Lisa were moving even before they figured out what James had in mind. "You're going to try and slow them down enough for us to get Hangeld and Emma and rejoin you."

The other four members of Chimera were heading for Mercy's last known location. "Yes, and you'd better hurry. We're going to be at the limits of our range soon."

Using the superior speed of the Starblades, James, Tiffany, Rose and Melissa were soon approaching the convoy. James discarded stealth and harassment tactics for sheer mayhem. "Alright people," he said, "let's make a strafing run right down the center, and try to get Jerrick and Mercy. Full speed down the center, and fire at will."

The four of them dropped the vestigial shields they kept over their thoughts normally and meshed as they came in sight of the convoy.

Hydra was the rear guard, and they sounded the alarm. Breaking into two groups, Hydra attempted to pin Chimera between their elements. Using Rose's sight, the Starblades and their tighter link, Chimera broke into four separate elements, and started flying wild patterns that had the smaller two man element of Hydra under continuous fire from one or two Chimeras at all times.

Daniel called for help, as soon as he realized that he didn't have enough forces to pin any Chimera. "Mercy, we need help. James has pulled all the stops, and they're going to eat us alive."

Mercy was watching the fight as the convoy fled, and she had already come to the same conclusion. She looked around and made a decision.

"All convoy elements" she sent over the rings, "listen up. All elements are to take their orders from Jerrick. Jerrick, I'm taking the remaining four Phoenixes, and we're going to run with the cargo. You engage this element of Chimera, and try to remove them."

Mercy and the last of the Phoenix team took the cargo, and started off, heading for the destination as fast as their overburdened broomsticks would let them.

The remains of the linked teams turned to Jerrick, who started issuing orders as they flew towards the dogfight nearly a mile behind them now. "Everyone is to target one Chimera first. We'll gang up on them one at a time, as our sole advantage lies in sheer numbers."

Somebody asked whom they should target first, and Jerrick looked at the rapidly approaching fight. He noted that Chimera had already killed Daniel and William, and were starting on the other group. He looked at the Chimeras, and chose. "We'll take Tiffany first, she's the easiest to see."

Looking ahead, the others had to agree. Three of the Chimeras had black hair, but Tiffany's bushy mane of red hair stood out like a banner.

Warned of the plan over the radio, the last two members of Sphinx began the Tiffany hunt, and Jerrick's team hit the area a few seconds later.

With thirteen people after one, they soon caught Tiffany, despite the maneuverability of her broomstick. Jerrick had only been considering the easiest target when he chose Tiffany, and had not considered the effect of her 'death' on James.

James felt the pain of the wax pellets hitting Tiffany, and his head whipped around, seeing her, and then finding the unlucky Unicorn that had shot her. He broke off the attack he was pressing on Jerrick and flew at Mario Brothers.

Mario turned from Tiffany, and started reloading only to find James bearing down on him. Mario was caught flat, as he dropped his magazine for the weapon. He tried to escape, but James would have none of that. James waited until the range was less than twenty yards before triggering a full clip of ammunition at Mario.

Mario winced as he was hit with over twenty pellets.

Even as James eliminated Mario, Melissa was taken out by another one of Jerrick's people.

James and Rose dropped the Chimera link, and used the twinbond to mesh, and even as they meshed, Rose got two more convoy people as they had to come to near stops to avoid hitting each other.

With odds of ten to two, James and Rose knew they were in trouble. They dropped any pretense of needing words, as they began using a technique they had perfected on the Quidditch Pitch. Using bursts of bullets in place of Bludgers, they would cut a target out of the group and eliminate him. As soon as they killed that one, they used the speed of the Starblades to break contact with the convoy's people.

"Adam, where are you? We need you now." sent James.

Adam and Lisa had been invisible when they hit Griffon, and they had taken Michael out in the first volley. With their last effective leader gone, Griffon had fallen in seconds.

The four surviving members of Chimera were pushing hard to catch up to the aerial battle. "Two minutes to your position." reported Adam. "We're all invisible, and our attack should disrupt them entirely."

"Negative. Bypass the fight, find Mercy and take out the cargo," said James. "As long as it's just Rose and I, we have all the advantages here. You have to stop that convoy."

Adam was dubious about that. "Are you sure about that?"

James sent a flash of humour down the link. "Calculated risk. Rose and I can mesh better with the twinbond, and anything else that moves is fair game." James sent another flash of humour. "In fact, we have some things we've been saving, and this looks like a good time to try them out."

Adam altered his course, feeling the three Chimeras with him alter course to follow. They spread out, nearly a hundred meters apart as they looked for Mercy and the rest of the convoy.

Back at the dogfight, Jerrick was worrying. James and Rose had used the speed of the Starblades to pull away from the last nine people, and were keeping just out of range, while staying close enough that he couldn't let his people turn and rejoin Mercy. He also had no idea where the other Chimeras were, and that was nearly as annoying.

Jerrick sent a ring message to Griffon, and was not terribly surprised when he didn't get an answer back. He then called Mercy. "Mercy, Griffon is not answering, so we're going to have company here soon, and I think Chimera can take what I have left."

Nearly ten miles away, Mercy thought quickly. "I hate to ask this, but just keep them busy for another fifteen minutes. By then our lead will be too large for them to catch us short of our delivery point." She thought for a second longer, and then said, "That way, the supplies get through at least."

Jerrick sighed. "I hope those are vital supplies at least. I would hate to find out we lost all of Phoenix and the rest protecting the mail run."

Mercy grinned. "Ours is not to reason why," she sent over the ring, quoting an old military saying she'd learned from Alexander, and Jerrick joined her on the last line. "Ours is but to do or die."

Jerrick noticed James and Rose changing course, and signed off with Mercy's "Good luck" ringing in his ears.

Jerrick watched the Evans twins stop and groaned, as there were suddenly ten sets of twins in the sky. He watched helplessly as they all began weaving in and out of each other, making it impossible to tell which two where the real twins. Matters only got worse as all the twins started back to engage his people.

Since the remains of the convoy and Chimera were outside of the area the links could separate, all the 'dead' Manticores were circling the area with those members of Wolfpack that could use broomsticks. Most of them were watching the dogfight, but the Phoenix team members were watching Mercy run for the destination.

A collective groan rose from those people as gunfire announced the presence of Adam and the missing Chimeras. Only one of the remaining Phoenix members went down, but that was enough to cost them a quarter of the supplies.

Adam was getting worried. Chimera was once again pushing the limits of the link, and it was showing in the accuracy of their shooting. He had Lisa and Emma sling their weapons and start using magic, but even that didn't help much, and Adam knew that Mercy was too good not to notice the problems they were having.

"James," he sent, "Can you bring the fight this way? We're going to lose Mercy soon if we don't do something."

James considered the rapidly worsening headache he had, and agreed. "Follow Mercy, and don't lose her. Rose and I are in route. We don't have to wipe them out after all, just stop the supplies."

Jerrick swore as two of the twins harassing his troops broke off suddenly and flew away from his team. Watching them fly in the same direction Mercy had gone earlier, he called her. "You have the Yanks inbound at high speed." He warned her.

Mercy's answer was not at all ladylike. "I'm not surprised. The rest of them are here already, but not doing too well. I think they're pushing the limits of the link again."

Jerrick regarded the disappearing duo sourly. "Not for long." He muttered as he gathered his people and headed after them.

Mercy had broken the invisibility spells Chimera was using, and was managing to stay one step ahead of Adam by the skin of her teeth. Without the cargo, she could have evaded Adam, but with the cargo weighing her three remaining troops down, she was barely staying out of magic range.

When Jerrick called to warn her about the Evans approaching, she made a hasty decision. Passing orders to her three, she called Jerrick back and outlined her plans. As James and Rose came into view, Mercy and the other three ducked under the cover of the trees.

Adam and the others waited for James and Rose, and then they went into the trees after them. They had barely gone below the level of the trees when Mercy and other Phoenix people rose back up, and took off on a course that took them on a route that would soon intercept Jerrick and the others.

Chimera searched the woods for nearly five minutes before Adam figured out what had happened. He relayed his thinking to James, who reached overhead for an eagle with the Totem skills. Using the eagle's eyes, he quickly found Mercy's element and saw that they would meet up with Jerrick long before Chimera could catch them.

They went after them, but barely a minute into their pursuit, Adam slowed. "Wait, there's something wrong here. This is too easy. Mercy knows about James and the animals, and that we can see what they are doing. Either she's getting desperate, or this is a trick."

James reached for the eagle again. "I see Mercy and three cargo laden Phoenix team members about to link up with Jerrick just south of Three Forks River."

"That's impossible." said Adam after checking the mental map in his head. "With the cargo slowing them down, they could never have gotten that far."

James frowned. "Are you sure?"

Emma was listening. "James it's that whole broomstick performance thing again. Isn't that why you're getting Starblades for everyone?"

James swore softly. "I have got to remember that. I keep estimating what they can do based on what I could do." He thought for a minute. "Ok, if that's not her, then she must be trying to sneak by with the cargo, while we tangle with the main element of her forces."

Adam agreed, and then grinned. "Why don't we take care of both of them? James, you and Rose stay here, and use Rose's sight to find Mercy, while we go take on Jerrick, with illusions of you two."

That was quickly arranged, and Adam, Emma, Lisa and Hangeld took off with the two illusions. James and Rose meshed, and started looking for Mercy with Rose's Sight, and a Muggle heat sensor. Rose's Sight won that contest, and the invisible twins were soon looking at Mercy and the last two Phoenix team members. They had gone invisible and were slowly sneaking down a gully, less than a mile from the destination.

As the Evans watched them with the heat sensor, James asked, "Which one is Mercy?"

Rose looked at them with that inner sight and was soon answering. "She's the one on the left."

"We'll take her out." James said quietly, as he considered the trio. "She's too good, and if she gets away again, she might actually get the cargo there since they are so close."

James and Rose meshed again, and using that and Rose's Sight, they drifted in front of, and slightly above the three sneakers. When they were ready, Rose started the countdown. "Remember she's on the right from this angle. Six feet high, and passing the TRP in three, two, one, now."

James and Rose fired, filling the air around their TRP with bullets. Mercy was hit at least twice, and she trembled, on the verge of attacking with curses and hexes through the red haze her vision had become. She fought the urge down and landed quietly.

Without Mercy's guidance, the other two were easy, and the twins took a second to use 'Portkeys' to release all three of them, before heading for the feel of Chimera in the back of their heads.

"Adam, we've stopped Mercy, and are inbound your location." Rose reported as the twins pulled away from the three cargo carriers.

Adam had been harassing and sniping at Jerrick's team, and had lost Emma when she got a little too close, and Jerrick's team had been able to catch her in a crossfire of wax and magic. Jerrick had lost four in the same period though, and was certain that something was up. He considered the careful game Adam was playing and the lack of aggression from the Evans, and acting on a hunch, he called Mercy. Her lack of response told him all he needed to know, and suddenly, the rules were different.

Jerrick no longer needed to worry about completing a mission, only about getting his people out alive, and that made this a whole new kind of game. He had to do something though, before James and Rose got here. Against Adam or James, he could hold his own barely. Against both of them, backed with Rose's Sight, he had no chance, and Jerrick knew it. He was passing orders down the ring when his ring pulsed with an incoming call.

"Jerrick here."

To his surprise, it was James. "I have a challenge for you. You and I are a good match in tactics, right?"

Jerrick agreed, and James continued. "Ok, here's the challenge. You see that patch of woods off to your left? You and I will land on opposite sides, and enter the woods on foot. Whoever comes out, gets the win."

Jerrick studied the woods while he thought about it. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," James assured him. "I think I can take you one on one, and I'm willing to bet on it, rather than risk losing anymore of my people." James laughed suddenly. "Rose says to tell you it's another of my damn fool Calculated risks."

James was counting on them being evenly matched. Jerrick was more patient, and if he found a good position in the woods, James would have to come to him, and as any military person can tell you, in an ambush the first person to shoot usually wins. On the other hand, James was intimately familiar with woods like this, having grown up in them, just a few miles away, whereas Jerrick was from Diagon Alley, or London.

Jerrick agreed to the match, provided James didn't use his Shaman skills or the Chimera link. James had been expecting those conditions, and agreed readily. He was grinning as he made one more call to Jerrick. "Just to show you how nice I am, I won't use the twinbond or the Soulbond to relay information either, even though you only said the link."

Jerrick snickered as he answered James. "I knew you were going to say that. You're too nice for your own good."

James blinked, and looked around at Chimera who were careful to keep their smiles hidden, even though James could feel their amusement with the link. It was Rose that answered the unspoken question. "He means that you believe in fair play, and will not cheat, even if you're left an opening to."

James shrugged. "Is that all? I thought maybe my reputation was slipping, and I'd have to pound another fool this year."

Lisa smiled wryly. "I don't think you have to worry about that. Even some of the younger Manticores, who know you believe you beat four or five Slytherins nearly to death with your bare hands."

James grinned at them as he took off for his side off the woods. "Ten years from now, it'll be all of the house at this rate."

Overhead, Tiffany was passing the situation on to Alexander, and the other Wolfpack and Manticore people with them.

"One of these days, James's calculated risks are going to bite him in the ass." Said Alexander from the chair used to carry the Wolfpack trainers that were Squibs or Muggles.

Tiffany had a sudden mental image of a strange looking six-legged beast with large fangs biting James on the butt. Suppressing the giggles this picture caused, she sent the bizarre image to the rest of Chimera. Laughter broke out among them, as the 'Calculated risk' beast gnawed at James's rear.

Manticore and Wolfpack were landing to await the outcome of this meeting. James and Jerrick were in place, and James shielded the two links lightly. "Are you ready?" he asked Jerrick.

At Jerrick's affirmative answer, James replied, "Then let's do it," and the two of them disappeared into the woods.

Tiffany was the only one that knew what was going on in the woods, and she only knew James's side. "James ran as soon as he got inside the trees. He's trying to get further ahead than Jerrick would believe." She reported to the crowd gathering around her. "He's stopped now, and is casting invisibility and silence spells on himself, and he's sneaking now."

She was silent for a minute, and then reported, "He's found a place that gives him good visibility, and he's settled down to listen for a minute."

Jerrick's plan was simple; Find a place that had cover, settle down and wait. James was far more impatient than Jerrick, and eventually, he'd come to Jerrick, and Jerrick could ambush him.

Jerrick was looking for that ambush site as he advanced carefully, scanning the area thoroughly before moving into it. He found a deadfall that allowed for cover on three sides, and eased into it, trying not to dislodge or disturb anything. He wasn't sure how good James was at tracking, and he did not want to leave a large sign pointing to his hiding place.

Jerrick found his sniper hole, and settled in to wait.

Manticore was waiting for Tiffany to say something, and suddenly she began verbalizing James's thoughts. "Jerrick's no fool. He'll try to find a covered position and settle in to outwait me, which he can do. I have to try and find a way to negate his ambush." James thought about and discarded a dozen plans quickly. Then a thought struck him, and he considered it carefully. He grinned at the idea, and set into motion.

Jerrick was carefully scanning the woods, patiently waiting for the slightly hyperactive James to come to him, when he heard something. He waited, easing the safety off to avoid the metallic click it gave off.

Suddenly, James came strolling out of the woods, hands in his pockets and his weapon slung over his back. He was singing a song, some sort of Muggle thing about country roads taking him home. Jerrick sighted in, and then paused, eyes narrowed in concentration. This was not like James at all.

He started looking around, past the strolling figure, and that's when he saw the quietly creeping figure, moving from one piece of cover to the next, with long pauses as it scanned the woods.

Jerrick grinned as he carefully shifted his rifle to cover the figure. The strolling figure was at the halfway point now, and Jerrick smirked as he realized it was endlessly repeating one section of the song.

He stopped though, as he sighted in on the sneaking figure. With James's reflexes, he was only going to get one shot, and it had better hit. Jerrick knew James was the better shot, so he every intention of not being shot at by James.

He waited for that natural pause in his breathing, when the body is at it's stillest, and gently squeezed the trigger. His shot rang out, and three things followed so closely on his shot that he never was sure which of them started first.

The figure he shot at blew up in a blinding flare, causing him to see spots in his vision.

James saw the muzzle flash, and reacted as well as practice and tightly strung nerves could make him. His hands came up, and his thumb was cocking the .45 pistol even as his hands met, and he tracked the flash. He found his target, and he triggered all seven rounds as fast as he could re-acquire the target.

Jerrick saw the movement out of the corner of his eye, but between the spots and looking the wrong way, he didn't have a chance. He tried to bring his rifle around to the singer, but he felt the string of three of James's pellets before he had a target.

Jerrick lay there, letting his vision clear, and putting James's thinking together. He looked at the grinning James and spoke in a conversational tone. "You were counting on me thinking you were too paranoid to expose yourself like that, weren't you?"

James finished reloading his pistol and agreed. "Yes, I was. That, and I kept repeating the chorus so you would think it was an illusion."

Jerrick stood up as his vision cleared, and slung his weapon so he could draw his wand. "You know this only worked because we know each other well."

James agreed instantly. "I would never try this on anyone I didn't know was as least as Noid like as I am." He stuck his hand out to Jerrick. "Maybe next year, you'll take me."

Jerrick grinned as he shook James's hand. "Next year, I'll use a grenade, and take both of the figures down."

James stared at him for a second as they summoned their broomsticks. He frowned. "I never even thought about that," he confessed, "and I'm glad you didn't either."

The AAR was short, as Phoenix had done almost everything right. As Alexander told them, "Against any other team, you would be home sipping hot chocolate by now. Against Rose's Sight, Adam's skills and the liberal use of spying by James using the Totem magic, you might as well have invited Chimera to help you plan the mission."

He looked out over the crowd. "Once the mission started, only Dragon made any serious errors."

Debra Valentine winced. "I should have taken more people."

Alexander agreed with her. "Had you followed doctrine, that you have a three to one advantage in any fight, Chimera would not have been able to wipe you out like that. Before that though, I have noticed one flaw in the training. Those of you without Muggle backgrounds keep forgetting the Muggle things. Miss Valentine, had you scanned the illusions with the heat sensor, you would have known that they were not humans, because illusions don't give off body heat."

Alexander finished the AAR with a short lecture. "Magic is one way of doing things, and Muggles have other ways to do almost everything you can do. By carefully combining the two, you can double your effectiveness, that increases your chances of coming home, and more importantly, it increases your people's chances of coming home."

Manticore spent the rest of the day cleaning their gear and storing it for next year. After everyone was done and the first year Manticores rejoined them, they all Portkeyed to the east coast Wizard city of Yorktown in North Carolina. From there, they Portkeyed back to Hogsmeade for the family weekend.

Manticore's tension level was rising, because this year, the week would not be all fun and games. This year, the families would be told about Manticore's true purpose, and not even Rose could tell where that would lead.