"Those weren't catapult-stones," remarked the Air mage closest to them. "Stones aren't that light."

The Fire initiate with him added, "I don't know if we can put a shield so high -"

"Lower it, then!" cried Briar, pointing to the ships. "Here come some more!"

"Don't let those things strike the wall!" barked Skyfire.

By then the snap of the catapults' release had reached the defenders' ears. All three sets of mages, seeing these balls were aimed at the wall, called on their magic again. Their metal and stone devices began to glow. Tris and Briar could see washes of silvery light rising ten feet higher than their heads as well as dropping out of sight, to cover the stone beneath them.

"The wall won't hold?" Tris asked in a tiny voice. She was trembling all over, vibrating in Briar's grip.

"We don't know," whispered Niko.

The air slammed around their heads, causing nosebleeds. The mages lurched, but kept their feet without letting go of the metal they used to guide their power. Dirt and rock sprayed into the air. Most stayed on the other side of the barrier, but enough came over it to give everyone and everything a thorough dusting.

"They blew two holes in the ground," a blue-robed dedicate called when there was quiet again. "Big ones."

"You children, off the wall, now," ordered Skyfire. "Tris, think about what I said to you. The rest of you, spot-shields only - block each of them as they come in!"

"Go on," Niko told them. "I'll see you in a while."

"Come on," Briar whispered in Tris's ear. He got an arm around her waist, to steady her. Tris's shakes were much worse. "Another one of those and you'll faint for certain."

Nodding weakly, she let him help her down the stairs.

"We still have to get that food for Daja and Frostpine and your bird," he remarked.

"I know," Tris said. "I haven't forgotten."

"And I'm a bit gnawish, myself," he added. The further she got from the top of the wall, the stronger she seemed to be. Still, he hung on to her until they were on the ground.

"You're always gnawish," she retorted, sitting on the bottom-most step.

Little Bear raced over to them, wagging his tail and yapping. The guard who had kept him and their baskets followed, taking a water-bottle from her belt. "Exciting up there, is it?" she enquired. Uncorking her bottle, she wiped the mouth on her wrist, and offered it to Tris.

The girl took it with a muttered "Thank-you" and gulped thirstily. "Too exciting for me," she said, offering the bottle to its owner. The dedicate motioned for her to pass it to Briar instead, and Tris obeyed.

"What's going on up there?" asked another warrior, a novice. "All that banging made my curls go straight." Since he was shaved bald, even Tris could tell this was a joke.

"They've got some odd new weapon," Briar told them. He shook the bottle, and looked at its owner. "If you don't mind waiting, I'll re-fill this for you at the Hub."

"No need," the woman said, taking it from him. "We've our own pump at the guard-house. New weapon, is it?" She spat on the ground. "Had to be something, to get those dogs thinking they could try us again." To Little Bear she added, "No offence to four-legged dogs."

"You aren't scared?" Tris asked, wiping her face again with Niko's handkerchief. She could see dirt and rocks all around them; some of the blasts had been felt down here. The Gate-tunnel would have amplified the noise, too.

Their guardian shrugged. "New toys or no, they'll have to step pretty to dazzle old Skyfire."

Briar nodded. "He was never caught napping that I heard of. Come on, Coppercurls," he urged Tris. "It's almost midday. Bet Gorse has a chicken or some pasties with my name on 'em." He gathered up the baskets and whistled to Little Bear.

"Don't fret, youngster," the novice advised Tris when she rose, shakily, to follow. "They'll need a much bigger cracker to open up this nut."

Some of the other guards laughed, including the woman who had so much confidence in Dedicate Skyfire. Others, Tris noticed, looked as uneasy as she felt.

You'd think differently, if I hadn't stopped those first two bang-things from dropping in here, she thought, trotting to catch up with Briar. And you may end up thinking differently anyway, if more get past the mages on the wall.

They entered the Hub kitchens through the outside doors, not those that opened on to the central stair. Even before they entered, they were startled by the amount of noise that poured out of the building. Little Bear sat, refusing to go into such a madhouse. Plugging an ear with her free hand, Tris took a basket from Briar, and followed him inside.

They were engulfed by steam and heat. Shurri's Forge, deep in the earth, couldn't be any hotter, Tris thought. "Is it always like this?" she yelled.

Briar jumped out of the way of a novice staggering under a full tray of bread-loaves. As he passed, the novice suggested that Briar's mother had done something very unlikely with a snail.

"And your dam with a wharf rat!" shouted Briar cheerfully. To Tris he said, "No, never!"

Someone grabbed him by both shoulders. "Thieving little urchins outside," ordered a dedicate in flour-streaked blue. "And if -"

Briar grabbed one of his hands, bending the dedicate's smallest finger back on itself. He grinned savagely, white teeth flashing against his golden skin, as he exerted pressure. The dedicate howled.