Chapter 28 – The Science of War

Aeva sprinted for the Crown.

“Wait!” Cat cried, hand extended, but it was too late. The wildkin rushed into the darkness, swallowed by deep shadow.

It was too convenient. Cat had never seen a more obvious trap. She aimed her rifle into the dark, but there was nothing to fire at.

Aeva reached the circle of light and went to pick up the Crown. Two shots cracked like thunder, briefly lighting up the huge room, and Aeva fell with a scream, clutching her side.

Cat fired in the direction of the muzzle flashes, but her bullets struck only the opposite wall.

Heavy footsteps shook the floor. A massive, metal shape came into the light, at least three meters tall. Aeva barely rolled out of the way as the thing brought its foot down, cracking the floor and sending the Crown tumbling off the table. It bounced away into the darkness.

It’s a suit, Cat realized. A metal suit with a man seated inside, only part of his face showing through a domed visor. The suit was heavily armored, thick slabs of metal covering vital sections. One arm ended in a cannon with a barrel as thick as a wrist, while the other had a bulky fist.

A power rig, used in warfare or for the handling of heavy materials. This one was clearly heavily modified.

“Welcome, Bluebirds,” said the old man seated inside the rig. “I admit, I’m a little offended. I thought you’d send more than two of your ranks to assassinate me. Oh well, I hope your friends are enjoying what the rest of the facility has to offer. It is my life’s work.”

He pointed his grisly rifle at Aeva’s head. She was unable to stand, a hole blown through her midsection.

“Drida!” Cat shouted. She pulled at Aeva’s clothes, dragging her out of the line of fire. Drakemyth unloaded two molten slugs into the ground. The recoil caused his rig to shudder as rubble flew in all directions.

When he saw that he had missed, he backed into the shadows once more.

Cat was able to roughly track the archon using the sound of his heavy, echoing footsteps, but it was impossible to know his exact location. She used another spell to throw Aeva to the side, out of the light, so that Drakemyth would have a difficult time finishing her off. As soon as she was out of sight, however, a spotlight lit up in the ceiling which followed Aeva’s movement.

“Don’t think you can use this place to your advantage,” Drakemyth said. “This is my domain. You will pay the price for invading it.”

Cat threw up a shield in the direction of the voice. A fraction of a second later, a glowing slug tore clean through it and ricocheted to the side, narrowly missing her head.

She scrambled out of the way, entering the chamber itself. As soon as she did, a spotlight lit up over her head. She was keenly aware of her vulnerability as she kept moving and strained to track the archon by sound alone.

Cat slowed down enough to bait a shot. She kept track of the muzzle flash as she threw herself out of the way of the bullet.

“Hryna!” she shouted and made a gun with her hand. A pencil-thick beam of superheated plasma shot out of her fingers, tearing through the darkness.

It connected with Drakemyth and lit up his metal frame for just a moment. Her stomach dropped. It should have put at least a dent in his armor, but the man didn’t react at all.

As the light faded, the only thing that remained was a glowing set of runes carved in a spiral pattern on the palm of the power rig’s hand, one major rune in its center.

A Svido rune.

He had countered her spell before it even reached him.

“Do you realize, now, the futility of your actions?” Drakemyth called. “I anticipated your arrival. Do not for a moment believe that you were clever. Developing countermeasures for your paltry skill sets was child’s play.”

Cat grasped her rifle in both hands and fired several rounds at the minister. The bullets bounced off his armored rig to no effect.

“Fuck it all!” she cried and threw the rifle aside. Clearly, it would be of no use.

She kept running, throwing cheap spells vaguely in Drakemyth’s direction. Not enough to hurt him, but hopefully enough to keep his attention on her and off Aeva.

Okay, think, Cat thought. How do I beat this guy?

What would Linton do?

She wracked her brain for an answer.

Slow down, was the response. She could almost hear Linton saying it. He’s got you off guard. Work the situation to your advantage.

There was nothing she could do for Aeva. Frost had the med-patches. She could try to make some light, but anything strong enough to cover a decent chunk of the chamber would cost too much anima. She had already spent a good third of it, and she only had a small nim potion tucked into one of her socks to replenish her stores.

In lieu of that, she settled on another course of action.

Cat was an amateur at reading auras, but it would have to do. She kept moving, dodging Drakemyth’s fire, her body on autopilot. She focused on her locus of strength within, letting it seek out the energy around her.

It was difficult to parse. Too much ambient noise. Threads of latent anima pulling this way and that like a hundred spools of yarn tossed around the room. She pushed past the noise, caught movement. A smear of coalesced energy moving to her left. An aura.

That’s it!

She had Drakemyth’s position.

But he can counter anything I throw his way. What do I do?

That enchantment is bound to pull an obscene amount of power. Counterspells are some of the priciest there are. I could try bombarding him with spells and hope he runs out of anima before me.

A fool’s gamble. There was no telling how much anima he had tucked away in that power rig, but it was clearly a lot, if he had the audacity to strap a counter enchantment to it.

I’ve got to catch him off balance, then. That’s the only way.

His aura changed, a big enough shift for Cat to pick up. She sensed danger and threw herself wide with a Knuph spell.

She was caught in a wide pillar of undulating greenish energy being sucked towards Drakemyth’s metal limb. Her stomach flipped as a sensation like chugging old milk overcame her. Anima rapidly fled through every pore in her body, pulled into the vortex.

Cat fell down on one knee, teeth gritted.

Damn it! He’s draining my anima somehow. Which rune is that? She couldn’t think of it in the feverish heat of combat, and cursed herself for being so dull.

She attempted to cast a Knuph spell to push herself out of the draining beam, but her anima was sucked away as quickly as she could gather it and the spell fizzled.

Cat kicked and wormed to get away. She didn’t get far. Her strength was waning.

A loud ding echoed across the chamber. She looked back and found that a light had lit up on the far wall, revealing a pair of elevator doors.

The doors came open. Hunter and Frost stepped into the chamber, blinking at the bright light of the spotlight above.

Another spotlight came on, revealing Drakemyth in full. His right hand had folded into a parabola etched with runes, from which the draining spell was emitted.

“Ah, there you are,” he said. “How good of you both to join us. I was just finishing up, but I suppose I could spare a little time for you, too.”

The man inside the power rig smiled. Hunter pushed Frost one way and jumped the other as Drakemyth unloaded three rounds, blowing the inside of the elevator into a smoldering wreckage. The construct rose back up and jogged towards Drakemyth, sword in his fist.

“Wait, Hunter!” Cat shouted as she finally crawled clear of the draining beam. “He’s only letting you see him to rile you up! He’s planning something!”

Hunter ignored her and set off into a sprint straight at the archon, a spotlight following his every movement.

“Should have listened to your friend,” Drakemyth said, smile widening.

A great metal disk, several meters in diameter, lowered itself from the high ceiling on a heavy metal chain. Hunter made to dodge out of the way, but as soon as the disk got close to him, he flew up and his entire body adhered to the flat surface. It crashed into the ground with a groan of metal, Hunter trapped beneath.

A magnet.

“Not as refined as some of the other countermeasures I cooked up, I’ll grant,” Drakemyth said. “But you must admit that it has a kind of fun factor to it.”

“Frost, heal Aeva, now,” Cat hissed, pointing at the downed wildkin. “I’ll take care of Hunter.”

Frost set to his task immediately.

Cat got back on her feet, panting from all the anima she’d lost, and ran towards the giant magnet. Drakemyth made to shoot, but his rifle clicked empty. His hand folded back to its normal shape, and he began to reload with a muttered curse.

Cat reached Hunter as the magnet began to retract, already out of her reach. She could make it up there using Knuph, but decided not to push herself any further as she was already dangerously low on anima. The last thing she needed was to pass out from anima fatigue.

Hunter’s torso had buckled from the impact. She wasn’t confident he’d survive another drop.

She bent down and retrieved the small vial from her sock. She flicked off the stopper with her thumb and downed the vile liquid. It burned like static on the way down. Seconds later, her anima network received a smidge of new energy.

Drakemyth was still fiddling with his weapon, only one eye on the fight.

The magnet reached the ceiling, Hunter plastered to its surface, with a loud thunk.

“Get me the fuck down from here!” Hunter called, struggling in vain.

“You want to come down?” Drakemyth asked. “Easily arranged.”

The magnet hurtled at the ground in a freefall. With the limited anima she had left, there was nothing in Cat’s arsenal that could stop it safely. She was forced to jump out of the way and watch the thing fall, waiting for Hunter to be crushed.

A dazzling streak of flame shot past her. All of a sudden, Aeva was in between the magnet and the floor, hoisting up the rumbler-sized chunk of metal with her bare hands. She screamed with the effort. Blood still dribbled from the half-healed hole in her stomach, the med-patch hanging by one corner.

Aeva unleashed a blast of energy that shot upward out of her body, coalescing into molten shards that sliced straight through the magnet and cut it to pieces. Hunter fell free, landing on all fours, as chunks of metal rained around them.

The wildkin was left panting. She stumbled, her eyelids flickering.

Cat raised a shield to protect the two of them while they recovered. A pair of slugs tore through it, so she created another—a multi-layered hardlight ward that dug deep into her already dwindling anima stores.

“Well, well,” Drakemyth said. “A better performance than I’d expected. Perhaps this will prove a valuable distraction after all.” The spotlight over his head shut off, plunging him into darkness.

Cat huddled behind her shield. She covered her ears to block out some of the noise.

Shit, shit, shit. This isn’t working. He knows how to beat all of us. He knows our weaknesses.

There’s nothing I can do. I’m not a leader. No one will even listen to me.

Heavy rounds bounced off the shield, shattering the first layer and putting hairline cracks in the next.

Linton would get us out of this mess.

But he’s not here.

We’re doomed without him.

I’m not smart enough. Not calm enough. Not confident enough.

“Boss, what’s the plan?” Frost cried, sliding in behind the shield.

His shrill voice yanked her out of her reverie. She looked up at the other Bluebirds. They all looked back expectantly.

“I…”

More shots hit the shield, the second layer cracking and falling away.

Cat closed her eyes and allowed herself to breathe.

Okay, Cat. Focus. Right now, you’re all they’ve got. Make this right. Pull gold out of your ass, like he does.

Cat opened her eyes. “Drakemyth has countermeasures for each of us,” she said. “Now, all of you have been running in like complete idiots, ignoring my orders, and look where that got us. It’s time for you to put your heads together and help me. You especially, you quicksilver turd. Got that?”

“This is my hunt,” Hunter growled.

“I really don’t give a shit.” The third layer shattered. She strengthened the two that remained with a word of power. It put her dangerously low on anima, but she needed time. “This guy is strong enough to take us all down individually, one after another. The only way for us to beat Drakemyth is to overwhelm him all at once. Now are you on board, or are you going to let this end with your revenge spoiled and all of us dead?”

“I’m on board,” Frost said.

Hunter sighed. “Fine. What’s the plan?”

Cat managed a shaky grin. “Haven’t gotten to that part yet. Frost, identify some weak points for me. Drakemyth’s operating a power rig, combat model, armed with a counterspell enchantment and an anima drainer.”

“A Kala enchantment, then. That armor is going to be a nightmare to get through. Aeva might be able to pierce it with that freakish strength of hers, although…” He paused. “I think there’s a better way of taking him out.”

Another layer broke, leaving only a thin sheet of hardlight between them and certain death. Heavy footsteps thudded in the dark, accompanied by a whir of machinery, coming closer. Cat tapped into her last reserves to fortify the ward, knitting up some of the fractures along its surface. Her overtaxed body was starting to tingle, fingers and toes numbing.

“I’m all ears,” she said, teeth gritted.

“This thing’ll be a power guzzler,” Frost said. “Several types of anima, the whole shebang. Now, there’s probably a power source mounted on his back. If I get to it, I can wreak havoc.”

“Good.”

The muzzle flashes were getting closer. Drakemyth would be on them soon, if she didn’t run out of anima first.

“What about you, Aeva?” she asked. “You got anything?”

“I will commune with Gisa,” Aeva said. “I believe I can overpower him if I have an opening.”

“Sweet. You can tire him out. Hunter, you go in for the finish.”

Hunter nodded.

“I’ll do the setup,” Cat continued. “Drakemyth can counter any spell I fire at him, but not one that resolves at a distance. Frost, be ready on my mark.”

“Sure, boss,” Frost said, pulling out his wand.

Cat’s last shield broke, and she heard Drakemyth drop a magazine to reload.

“Scatter!” she shouted.

The Bluebirds scattered.