Aidan emerged from Hydrius Tower just as Marrak swooped past the terrace. The line of battlemages fired their shocksticks, but their barrage only sparked against his barrier and the wind nearly billowed him over.

“Sir!” An alchemist knelt at his side but he waved him away.

“Go!” He clutched the heavy bundle of wire against his body, “We got this.”

The alchemist ran off towards the workshop doors as Aidan and his guards heaved the line of wire onto the terrace.

“Where are they?” Aidan scanned the dark sky, but only saw Marrak’s shadow as it ignited the watchtowers one after another. “Damn it.” His eyes searched the canopy for any glint of bronze, but the rumble of wheels forced them back to the terrace as the blue-steel canon was hauled out of the workshop.

“Mount it here!” Aidan called, tugging the wire towards the terrace edge.

As the alchemists lodged the wires into place, Aidan dumped the pouch full of mana stones into the rotating chamber. His gaze then turned skyward and locked onto the needle jutting from the tower’s peak. “Come on,” he urged the churning clouds.

They rumbled a warning and his lips curled back.

“That’s right. Come on, now!”

His arm hairs bristled as light pulsed downward and struck the needle. The wires whined and sparks spat back at Aidan. But the chamber turned, and the stones clacked and crackled around inside. Faster and faster it spun, until it hummed from the mana building up within the iron chamber at the barrel’s base.

“It’s working!” One alchemist cried, eliciting cheers from the others, and distracting them from the shadow that rounded on them.

“Aim! Now!” he commanded, and the narrow barrel swiveled towards Marrak. “Aim straight at his mouth!”

Marrak loomed closer and Aidan held his breath.

Then, light crept up Marrak’ s throat and his jaws parted.

“Now!”

The trigger clicked and a beam of light erupted from the barrel. It hit dead center and a flash filled the sky, sending a shockwave through the rain.

But as Aidan blinked back his sight, a red blur swooped overhead in a flurry of wingbeats.

“Damn it.” Aidan cursed as Marrak’s barrier dissipated with the smoke. “We’ll have to try something else.”

He threw the chamber latch open, singing his fingers, but his alchemists only stood stiff and watched as Marrak banked back around.

“We have nothing else, sir,” one whimpered. “That was our one shot.”

Aidan snarled and scanned the horizon one more time. But this time his gaze landed on the glowing tip of a shockstick, “No it wasn’t.”

Scooping up the staff, he ripped the morakii from its perch and jammed it into the chamber.

“No!” cried the alchemist, grabbing Aidan’s hands. “That’s too much! It’ll–”

“Then leave!” Aidan stared them all down. “All of you. Go! Now!”

He slammed the latch shut and swerved the barrel around, locking his aim at Marrak’s head—at the five stars shining in the gloom.

Aidan’s skin buzzed as the morakii raged inside the spinning chamber. Its metal creaked and cried, and a misty halo hovered in the vibrating air. The alchemists ran. The mages ran. But all eyes lingered on the motionless prince, including Marrak.

The red wall came again, growing larger and larger with each wingbeat. But Aidan held steady. If this truly was his last shot, he damn well wasn’t going to miss.

“Steady.”

The metal siding of the tower gleamed red.

“Steady.”

Then the rain sizzled.

“Now.”

The blast from the chamber blew half of the barrel clean off as the beam bore straight through the barrier.

Aidan flew back, tumbling across the terrace. His vision clouded and his ears rang, but Marrak’s pained roar couldn’t be clearer. A clear roar that grew louder as Marrak fell atop the terrace, careening into the tower’s side.

Aidan scurried and rolled away as the terrace floor collapsed into the floor below, and dislodged stones fell from their tower. His body chilled as the tower leaned ever so slightly. But when the quaking stopped, it still remained standing. Below it, Marrak’s body lay steaming, but still. Blood pooled on the stone by his massive head, and Aidan rose on shaky legs.

“Is it…finally over?” he asked himself, staring at Marrak’s fallen form.

Cheering erupted from the far side of the terrace as mages and alchemists came out from hiding, and a weight seemed to lift from Aidan’s chest. A reprieve that was, unfortunately, short-lived as a low rumble shook the air and stone around them. Aidan thought it thunder at first, until Marrak’s head lolled over and three stars blinked down at him from the gashing wound.