Page 88 of Shardless

“We’re going to have to work fast then,” Taly said, holding a hand up to her ear. “I’m only going to have a few minutes of focused fire with this thing.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make it count,” came Skye’s curt reply. “Ora, are the earth mages in position?”

“Yes, sire,” an unfamiliar female voice replied in Taly’s ear.

Taly started turning the crank, rotating the gun around as she took aim at the monster.

“Wait!” Kit kicked at the platform to get herattention. “Who’s going to fire this thing?”

Taly glanced at him, her nose crinkling in irritation. “I am. You think I went to the trouble of repairing this piece of junk just to let someone else do the fun part?”

“But, you’re human! You’ll break—"

Taly shushed him harshly. “Aether batteries should be seen and not heard.”

“But—”

“Don’t worry,” Taly snapped. “I’m tougher than I look.”

Skye’s team began to manifest their aether, once more attempting to draw the attention of the beast as they sprinted towards the compound, a trail of mud and rock and magic flying into the air behind them. The creature thrashed angrily, its multitude of heads turning from side-to-side in confusion as the scent of aether changed course. Releasing an enraged howl, it dropped to the ground, propelling itself forward on a legion of stolen, decaying limbs.

“Earth mages! At my signal!” Skye screamed over the comm, his breaths coming in heavy gasps. “Now!”

Even from the top of the tower, Taly could feel the ground start to tremble, a low rumble echoing through the air as the pavement below cracked and splintered. Moments later, a mass of vines erupted from beneath the surface of the square. Their leafy tendrils tangled together, lashing and coiling around the beast’s hulking body. Some of its arms and legs were ripped away when the rapidly thickening stems found purchase, sending sprays of blackened blood and gore flying into the air. But others held tight, and soon, the creature fell to the ground, wrapped in a spiraling vice ofearth magic.

It struggled, screaming furiously as it writhed and thrashed. Some of the vines had already begun to snap, sending sharp whip-like cracks ringing out over the din of battle. Managing to free some of its limbs, the monster started to claw at the ground, slowly edging its way forward and leaving a trail of oozing tar-like fluid streaked across the cracked stone.

“Mages, ready your fire,” came Skye’s voice over the comm. A tingle swept across Taly’s skin as the mages on the wall began casting. From where she stood, she could see great whorls of fire forming in the air, and a low rumble drifted on the wind as the water mages created shards of ice that glistened in the waning sunlight.

Turning her attention back to the field, Taly started the warm-up sequence on the gun. A cloud of water magic, hazy and faint at first but rapidly growing in intensity, accumulated around the barrel as the water crystals engaged, transforming the massive amounts of aether Kit was feeding into the circuits below into water aether.

Skye’s voice was once again in her ear. “Cannons—ready? Aim!”

Taly stared down the sight, bracing herself. Flash cannons had never been optimized for human use, so this thing was going to have a pretty good kick.

With a keening wail, the creature bucked, and more vines snapped and withered.

“Fire!”

The gun shuddered and gave a low whine as the cloud of water aether shivered and condensed. Taly’s heart leapt into her throat. For a moment, she thought it wasn’t going to work. But then, thegun gave a sharp kick, and a ray of molten, blue energy shot out of the barrel, slicing through the air. The icy beam cut into the beast’s hulking form, sending up a cloud of smoke as its flesh froze and shattered. Taly groaned under the weight of the gun, but somehow, she managed to keep it steady. She smiled when she saw a hole open in the beast’s side, the edges clean and precise.

“It’s working!” Eula cried.

“Mages,” Skye snapped. “Aim for the hole. On my mark!”

The creature paused in its struggle, its body falling to the ground as the icy ray of water magic pierced its chest.

“Now!” came Skye’s clipped command.

A hailstorm of fire and ice rained down from the sky. Though Taly could no longer see the creature behind the glow of magic, she kept her aim steady. Her arms ached, and her hands went numb, but she held on, throwing her weight against the gun to keep from losing her footing.

“We’ve got sparks,” Kit shouted from below, poking his head over the platform.

Taly’s eyes flicked to the console gauges when the beam of energy started to dim. “Give me more power!” She heard Kit mutter a curse, but moments later the aether output stabilized.

A plume of smoke rose from the square below, and blazing streaks of magic continued to rain down from above like shooting stars.

“We’ve got fire!” Kit screamed, panic in his voice. “There’s fire now! You said that was bad!”

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