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ball came at her, and she was unable to dodge it. So she conjured her own second ball in the path of the
Queen's. The two collided in air and dropped to the ground as Xylina threw hers at the Queen. The
Queen stepped behind a post, and the ball missed. But Adria looked wary; she saw how readily Xylina
was matching her, and she didn't want to try something that would hurt her when the response came.
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Xylina was, in effect, teaching her manners.
This was proceeding into early stalemate. Xylina didn't trust that. She knew she could not afford to stand
around while the Queen figured out something more deadly. But she wanted to force the Queen to use
up her power of conjuration. The very best thing that she could do would be to make Adria so angry that
she would stop thinking and merely react.
And the way to do that would be to attack Adria with a weapon that Adria was not expecting, and by her
very nature, would not ever expect.
She must make Adria look ridiculous. While the Queen was still trying to change her plans to include
Xylina's use of the domes as a shield, Xylina concentrated and conjured something of her own above the
Queen's head. Directly above, and so near that Adria would not react by creating anything to shield
herself from what was about to drop over her. For the Queen had left Xylina an opening, inadvertently,
by remaining under the propped-up block of stone.
And since this was one of the simpler things Xylina could have conjured, it appeared instantly. On top
of the block. Then Xylina dissolved the block, for it was hers. Before Adria even knew that Xylina was
launching an attack, she had been buried waist deep in a very large, and very fragrant, pile of manure
that lost its support just above her head and fell on her.
And to add insult to injury, Xylina topped it off with a brief rain of overripe vegetables.
Of course the Queen reflexively conjured a small shielding tower, so that the material did not land on
her head. Such fighting reflexes made it difficult to score directly with barbs or acid, which was why
Xylina hadn't tried them. But the stuff did pile up around her, and enough of it slopped in around her
body to achieve good effect.
There was shocked and startled silence. And then, from the sidelines where the slaves of the army
watched-and smelled-came the unmistakable sound of laughter. No one had expected such a joke in such
a serious contest, which made it twice as funny.
Just one man laughed, and slightly hysterical at first- but that one was joined by another, and another,
until the whole army was laughing, and the voices of the Mazonite officers trying to restore order were
drowned in the sound.
Adria's face turned red, then white, then red again; this time an apoplectic-looking purple-red that
betokened exactly what Xylina had hoped for. Complete loss of self-control and concentration. Xylina
had gambled that the Queen was fatigued by her conjurations and the tension of the occasion, and prone
to overreaction, especially to the ridiculous and insulting. Stressed-out, she felt the laughter of her own
troops like a physical attack.
Adria's next attack showed just how far she had fallen from that self-control; she began manifesting and
throwing metal lances, one after the other. If the domes had not been in the way these could have been
deadly, but now mostly clattered harmlessly off the adamant. This was basic, unsophisticated
conjuration, worthy of a girl's first arena demonstration-as had been the case with Xylina. It was almost
beneath the notice of an experienced Mazonite.
Xylina's reply was a deluge of water that washed away the manure, and left Adria's legs dripping wet.
She looked almost as ridiculous as before. The men roared again with helpless laughter, which was
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redoubled when Xylina dropped an enormous sponge and recognizable bar of soap in front of her.
Mazonia had never seen combat like this!
But Xylina's purpose was not humorous at all. Her life was on the line, and she knew how dangerous the
Queen remained. Adria had attacked once from above and once directly; she would probably come up
next from below. Xylina could use that if she did.
Xylina was prepared when lances of rock thrust up from the sand; she had already created a table-like
shield just beneath her feet, and the thrust of the rock spires carried her up into the air so that she could
jump from the table to the top of the domes. Before Adria had a chance to react to so obvious a target,
Xylina turned the water about her to ice, making the Queen slip and fall when she flinched back, then
sent shards of ice lancing upwards in mimicry of Adria's rock-spires. Now Ware's insistence that she
practice with temperature conjuration was paying off; the Queen had not been prepared for this. Indeed,
Adria probably didn't yet realize exactly what was happening.
Adria dodged out of the way, slipping ridiculously and causing the men to laugh until tears ran down
their faces. She was really losing it-if this weren't a ruse. Then when Xylina continued to create the
razor-sharp ice-spires, the Queen angrily countered with a great pile of cotton batting to protect her from
them. This would both shield her from their points and soak up the water as they melted. She was
evidently nonplused, realizing that Xylina's power was greater than anticipated; she had not expected to
be forced into a defensive mode.
"Spin it!" someone called, laughing.
"No," Faro called. "Burn it!"
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