Ptolemy's Gate

sir."
    "Good. Kitty—you should wait outside."
    "I should, but I won't. I've got the Amulet, remember?"
    Nathaniel knew better than to argue. He turned toward the entrance to the palace."Absolute silence when we're in. I'll give you a minute to get into positions."
    He held open the door. One by one, with wide eyes and pale, strained faces, the company of magicians trooped past and disappeared up the path. Several were accompanied by their imps, who wore identical. expressions of unease. Last to go through was Kitty. She paused for a moment on the step.
    "Well done," she whispered, gesturing back toward the empty park. "You and Bartimaeus. I should have said."
    Nathaniel grinned at her. Impatience tugged within him. The Staff sang. "It's almost over," he said softly. "Go on. After you."
    The door shut quietly behind them.

    Bartimaeus

    There are times when even a near omnipotent djinni knows to keep his mouth shut, and this was one of them. I wouldn't have got anywhere.
    Trouble was, neither of them was in a mood to listen to my doubts. For one thing they smelled success too strongly: him with the Staff held casually in his hand; her with the Amulet warm against her breast. Such trinkets breed confidence. And besides, they'd done too much already to imagine any stumbles now.
    But the main problem was the way they played off each other. Simply put, their mutual presence spurred each other on. Trapped as I was inside Nathaniel, I could certainly see how the girl inspired him.[1] Perhaps I can't vouch for Kitty so much, but in my vast experience, strong characters of their sort tend to gravitate together. Pride has a part to play in it, and other emotions too. Neither wishes to fail; each redoubles their efforts to impress. Things get done—but not always the right things, or not always the things expected.[2] And there's not much you can do to stop it.

[1] Too right I could. It was as if she'd triggered an internal one-man band, all Klaxons, bells, and pennywhistles, with enthusiastic cymbals strapped between his knees. The noise was deafening.

[2] That's how it was with Nefertiti and Akhenaton, of course. One moment it was lingering looks and assignations by the crocodile enclosure; next it was tearing up the state religion and moving Egypt's capital 60 miles into the desert. One thing just led to another.

It has to be said, however, that in the present instance there really wasn't any viable alternative to Nathaniel's plan. Nouda was far too powerful for the (rather lackluster) remnants of the government to destroy. So the Staff was the only option. But Faquarl's phrase rang uneasily in my mind: He would welcome your attack and feed off it. And call me pessimistic, but that struck me as a mite ominous.[3]

[3] Faquarl wasn't a sly old equivocator like Tchue; he prided himself on blunt speaking. Mind you, he did have a weakness for boasting. If you believed all his stories, you'd have thought him responsible for most of the worlds major landmarks as well as being adviser and confidant to all the notable magicians. This, as I once remarked to Solomon, was a quite ridiculous claim.

But it was too late to worry about that now. The Staff had flattened cities. With luck, it would stand us in good stead.
    Kitty and her ragtag company went one way through the palms; Nathaniel and I went the other. We ignored the stairs this time, kept to ground level. Away to our right we heard roars and screams. So that was all right: Nouda hadn't gone anywhere.
    What's the plan? My thought flitted through Nathaniel's mind.
    We need to draw Nouda off, get him away from the commoners before we attack. How can we do that?
    I recommend goading. Goading usually works.
    I'll leave that up to you.
    The other spirits need to be dealt with too, I thought. Before or after?
    Before. Or they'll kill the commoners.
    You control the Staff. I'll keep us moving. I warn you, we're going to have to be pretty mobile for this.
    He made a dismissive gesture. I can cope with a few leaps and bounds.
    Ready, then?
    The others will be in position. Yes, let's g—Oooooh—
    I hadn't tried flying up to now, since it took a lot of energy, but this was the big one, this was where everything counted. And Faquarl had seemed to manage it well enough. So without further ado, I lifted us off the path, up beside the palms. For a nasty moment I thought the boy was going to drop the Staff. For an even nastier moment I thought he was going to be sick. But he held on