Page 131 of Shardless

“If you were still alive?” Taly asked incredulously. “So you’re dead then? I don’t understand. How can you be here if you’re dead?”

Breena glanced at Taly from the corner of her eye. “When the Sanctorum came to Vale, we had very little warning. When the fires started, I didn’t have enough aether left to completely bind your magic, so I gave you my anima. My body died, butmy soul was woven into the enchantments that allowed you to stay hidden. When you broke through the last of the spells suppressing your magic back at the relay, you released me. Or rather, what’s left of me.”

Taly’s chest felt uncomfortably tight. Her mother had died for her—sacrificed herself for a child that hadn’t even remembered her name.

Before Taly could even begin to respond, Breena growled, and her magic flared around them. “Stay down, Vaughn!”

Looking behind them, Taly saw Vaughn dodge the blast of rapidly expanding aether. His body was streaked with blood, but his wounds had already healed. He dodged again, rolling off to the side. There was an arrogant smile on his face that made Taly’s stomach turn.

“Come now, Breena!” he called, a low chuckle shaking his shoulders. “It’s been such a long time since we sparred. I think I’m owed a rematch!”

He hadn’t even finished the sentence before he charged. He moved too fast for Taly’s eyes to follow, his trek across the wide expanse that separated them nothing but a blur. She tensed, but her mother seemed unperturbed. A few moments later, she realized why.

A crack of static followed by a yelp of pain and Vaughn was suddenly stumbling backward. He had run into a wall of electricity. Streaks of blue lightning rippled up and over their heads, creeping across an invisible barrier that shot up into the night sky.

“By the way,” Breena said, her voice cocky as she met Vaughn’s enraged, silent stare, “I reactivated the palace’s defense systems.”

Vaughn said nothing as he stepped cautiouslyalong the barrier, matching their pace. The crystal shard was still clutched tightly in one hand and snaking tendrils of shadow magic coiled between his fingers as he raked his other hand along the barrier.

After a few steps, he seemed to grow tired of this game. With a savage roar, he abruptly slammed the shard into the barrier. Taly felt a tremor as the invisible wall of energy shuddered.

A chilling smile distorted his features as he raised his makeshift mace once more and began attacking the wall in earnest. Growls and snarls punctuated each strike, and when the crystal in his hands cracked, he began beating against the shield with his bare hands. Burns and cuts marred his fists, but the flesh was mending itself too fast to allow even the barest trickle of blood.

The gates of the palace were just up ahead now, but Vaughn was already starting to break through the wall, the barrier flashing more feebly with each strike. “A little help here!” Breena yelled into the night sky as she increased their pace.

As if on cue, a flickering blue orb drifted down from above. Its soft glow felt warm on Taly’s face as it danced in front of her, as though inspecting her features. “F-fairy fire?” Taly stuttered. Shards, she had been right! All those years ago, she really had seen fairy fire outside her window! If she ever saw Skye again, she was going to make him eat his words. “Fairy fire is real?”

“Yes!” the orb chimed, its voice delicate, almost bell-like. “We here now! We help!”

More blue orbs began to materialize in the air around them as Breena continued to half-drag Taly towards the palace. Their forms were hazy and indistinct, little more than translucentshimmers of mist that zipped through the air as they chased each other in a game that didn’t seem to have any rules. Their laughter sounded like wind chimes, and a tinkling cheer rang out when Breena held up a hand to release more violet energy that she waved toward Vaughn. Bright flares of shadow magic rippled in her wake as a series of concussive blasts sounded from behind them. Each detonation was followed by an enraged howl from the shadow mage, but it was just a distraction—a ploy to buy time. Because even though the explosions slowed down his assault on the barrier, he was dodging Breena’s attacks easily now.

Breena swatted at a wisp that flew too close. “Blasted pests. Make yourselves useful!” she commanded forcefully. “Cover our escape! Attack him! For Shards’ sake, do what you stayed here to do! Take your revenge!”

“Aye!” they all chimed in unison. “We help! Wekill…”

The group of wisps scattered, their shimmering forms dissipating into mist as they sunk into the ground. Metal clanged against metal, and Taly tripped as the half-buried scrap at her feet began to tremble. Pieces of ancient, long-discarded armor ripped from the ground in a shower of dirt, shuddering as the threads of blue energy tugged at them, reassembling the rusted shells.

The metal suits looked like great hulking beasts—far bulkier than the sleeker, streamlined models that Skye had shown her in the rare glamograph he had bothered to bring back from his trips to the mainland. The joints and crystal settings whirred as the wisps somehow revived therusted wiring, and fragments of bone dropped to the ground as the metal soldiers shook themselves off and pulled themselves together. Staring at the towering, haphazard, multicolored amalgamations of suits, Taly couldn’t help but think that 200 years ago, when they were still new and whole and polished, they would have been dazzling.

The fragmented suits of armor were striated with streaks of blue energy as the wisps attempted to mimic the living, their movements jerky and uncoordinated. They had managed to restore a couple dozen suits, and as they took giant lumbering steps towards the shadow mage who was now almost through the barrier, he finally backed away, the slightest glimmer of fear flaring to life in those yellow eyes.

The wall yielded to the reanimated soldiers, its electrified tendrils slipping past the corroded metal surfaces like water. There was a sense of recognition there—Taly could feel it, even if she couldn’t quite understand it.

The revived Mechanica surrounded Vaughn, and the cannons built into their mismatched greaves began to hum. Rows of air, water, and fire crystals winked and glittered in the dim light as the startup sequences completed.

A pause, barely a breath of silence, and then…

Explosions lit up the night sky as bursts of magical energy rocketed through the air. Each blast sent up a plume of rock and smoke where it collided with the ground, but Vaughn was too fast to get caught in the salvo. He zigzagged across the field, easily dodging each discharge and tearing apart the rusted soldiers with his bare hands. Hewas bleeding now, the skin taking slightly longer to mend itself as he redirected his aether, but Taly could already see that the diversion wouldn’t last long. His blows were too accurate, too fierce, and he’d already managed to take out two of the suits. The dislodged wisps buzzed around him, but he paid them no mind.

“Here we are,” Breena finally announced as they came to a stop in front of the main gates, dozens of the blue fairies still dancing around them. The wrought-iron structure looked sturdy despite the delicate filigreed designs woven throughout, and a heavy padlock hung from a thick, coiled chain. Grasping at the lock with her free hand, Taly’s mother didn’t even flinch when a sharp crack of defensive magic lashed out at her.

“It tickles a bit,” she said in response to Taly’s wide-eyed stare. “But defensive wards don’t work very well on those with no physical body.” She gave the lock a sharp tug, and the links of the heavy chain snapped and warped like they were made of clay.

“It’s time for you to go with the fairies. They can take you to where you need to be.” Breena wiped at a stray tear as she placed both hands on Taly’s shoulders, waiting for her to find her footing before she completely let go.

“What? No!” Taly protested. “First of all, I’m not going anywhere with a bunch of homicidal spirits. And second, I’m not leaving you.”

Another crackle of energy split open the starlit sky, and...Shit!?What to do, what to do?! She could already see that Vaughn had nearly wiped out the group of animated Mechanica suits.

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