by Jamie Davis
Her mother looked nothing like the bent and crippled woman she used to be. She looked years younger, more vibrant than Winnie could remember ever seeing her.
Elaine pulled her into an almost violent embrace. “You can’t go wandering off like that again. A lot of people risked their lives to rescue you.”
“It’s not a rescue, Mom,” Winnie said, gently breaking away from the hug. “It’s an attack on Kane. We all had to end up here at some point. Maybe now is better. Where have you been? I thought you’d be here with Maria.”
“Your mother’s been leading elites from the front lines,” Maria said. “She had quite a few tricks ready for Kane’s forces. We would’ve never made it this far without her.”
Now Winnie saw the scorch marks on her mother’s clothing, soot on her hair and face. “Mom, you need a mender.”
“And so do you. Have you seen yourself? You’re bleeding through your shirt in several places, for heaven’s sake.”
“I’ll be fine. We can all clean up later,” Winnie said.
Something deafening rumbled around them, like an 18-wheeler’s air horn blended with a pounding bass drum.
The horn stopped the city. Fighting on the comm windows halted as both sides turned and looked toward downtown.
Winnie tried to call out above the noise but couldn’t even hear her own voice.
She grabbed a tablet from the closest tech and sketched a single word on the screen:
Kane!
Maria nodded and turned her gaze towards the sound.
Their opponent had finally awakened and his attack was coming.
The horn blast, or whatever it was, screamed three times before everything went silent.
Then Winnie saw them. “Chimeras! He’s called back the chimeras!”
Chimeras—bat-wings spread wide and tentacles reaching outward—soared upward from the chasm, flying toward Dusters to the east.
Dragons roared in defiance at the sight of their ancient enemies.
Winnie could feel her control slipping.
She reached up to draw Excalibur free.
Winnie called the dragons back, splitting them into groups of five to swoop low and circle her troops. “Maria! Tell everyone to support the dragons. Engage the chimeras from a distance. Use magic and weapons. If we cover them and they cover us, we can win this. The chimeras can’t fight both groups at once.”
Maria nodded and went to pass on her orders.
Winnie returned to battle.
A swarm of five dragons turned as one to attack a trio of chimeras.
Before they met, magical fire and bullets erupted from below as a team of Dusters and chanter elites fired into the passing chimeras.
One fell from the sky, its wings pierced with pancake-sized holes.
The other two were wounded, wheeling to escape via a different route, just as the dragons started their first pass.
Dragon fire plumed from all five mouths, raking the fleeing chimeras.
Another round of ground fire rose to meet them.
It was too much; the chimeras crashed to the ground.
Winnie looked around using her own eyes and her shared connection with the dragons. Similar fights were happening all along the line.
It’s working.
She concentrated, keeping the dragons in formation, supporting the troops below, holding off the horde of chimeras still pouring from the chasm.
Danny was walking woodenly toward her, holding a strange bulky pistol in each hand. But by the time Winnie noticed him, and realized that the vacant expression wasn’t his own, it was too late.
He walked up next to Winnie, raised the flare pistols overhead, and fired them into the air.
The shots were thunder.
Winnie dropped Excalibur and covered her ears.
And lost control of the dragons.
The flares bloomed overhead, one green and the other red, marking Winnie’s position.
Four chimeras split from the nearest group of ten, attacking a nearby swarm of dragons while the final six flew straight at Winnie.
“Take those things out!” Maria called. “Give them everything we’ve got.”
Gunfire rose to meet the attacking chimeras.
Bolts of energy chased the bullets.
Winnie was still dazed, staring at Danny. “Why?”
Kane’s voice from Danny’s lips:
“Because I can. I’ve kept control over the boy since I first infiltrated his mind. I sensed his arrival in the capital. Control was easy. And now he’s pinpointed your location. It’s only a matter of time until we finish this once and for all.”
“No!” Winnie shoved Danny to the ground and beat his face with her fists.
Kane’s laughter brayed from Danny’s mouth.
Winnie paid no attention to the incoming chimeras, but everyone worked to keep her alive. Two of the chimeras were cut down, but the final three flew in unimpeded and landed in the park.
Tentacles reached out in every direction, pulling screaming troopers and chanters toward their snapping jaws.
Maria fired both pistols at an advancing chimera, but was knocked effortlessly aside by a sweeping tentacle.
Garraldi fired a white-hot bolt of energy into the three-foot-thick tentacle, severing it and causing it to drop the unconscious Maria to the ground.
Bullock and Frannie were shielding a group comm techs with a flaming barrier that singed the tentacles of a chimera trying to reach around it.
The attacks forced them back, away from Winnie.
But she was defenseless anyway, dazed by Danny’s betrayal.
She never saw the last chimeras coming.
CHAPTER 38
Victor watched in horror as Winnie crumpled to her knees, staring at Danny sprawled on the ground, laughing in Kane’s twisted, cackling voice.
“Winnie!” Victor shouted. “You have to get up!”
Excalibur lay a few feet away from Winnie in the grass.
The chimeras drew closer, their tentacles reaching out toward Winnie to snatch her up and drop her into their razor-filled mouths.
Victor ran forward and scooped up the sword.
He stood over Winnie, her protector, pouring his limited understanding of how the magic worked into his hands as he held the blade before him.
“Winnie, you have to run!” Victor called over his shoulder. “I’ll hold them off.”
The huge beasts closed in.
Victor growled, fueled by his rage.
The blade shimmered. Then it glowed.
His arm hair curled from the heat. He had to squeeze the burning hilt to stop himself from dropping it.
The first tentacle reached past him towards Winnie.
Victor swung the blade, severing the end of the tentacle. It dropped then flopped on the ground. He spun around and repeated the strike twice more on the other side, leaving another pair of severed limbs twitching on the grassy lawn.
The chimera roared in pain and rage, forgetting Winnie for Victor.
He swung the blade wildly side to side, batting at the chimera’s attacks. Heat from the blade caused the fleshy tentacles to sizzle and fry with every fresh blow. Sometimes he cut chunks of the muscular limbs, other times he caused blistering burns with the flat of the blade as he parried a blow.
Each new strike invited a terrible racket of rage-filled pain from the first chimera. The second had worked around to one side, in search of a surefire attack.
Victor’s arms were tiring and his hands were blistered.
He wasn’t Winnie.
He kept calling for her to stand up. To run or fight. To do something.
A tentacle snaked past his guard, wrapped his ankle, and yanked him to the ground.
Excalibur flew from his hands and landed blade-first on the grass, sizzling as it slid into the earth a few feet from Winnie.
The chimera lifted Victor into the air, its pain-filled roar finally turning to triumph as it pulled the man closer to its mouth.
&
nbsp; But Victor wasn’t finished.
Once close enough to the creature’s bloated body, Victor pressed his hands against the chimera’s flesh and channeled all of his power from the Fae into it.
The chimera’s eyes widened and if it roared in pain before, now it screamed in anguish. The tentacles holding Victor’s feet tried to fling him away but the man’s hands remained in place as if glued to the chimera’s side.
Flesh blackened, red streaked, and spreading outward from the hands.
Wherever the streaks spread, a horrible blackening followed until the whole bloated body was covered in crimson streaks and flinty flesh. The chimera quivered with a sighing cry. And then it was still.
Victor fell to the ground.
He struggled to his feet. “Winnie, get up. You have to keep fighting. You have to push back.” He turned, drawing on the last of his power, and charged the last chimera, bellowing in anger and defiance.
He dodged the tentacles, running forward and pressing his now-glowing hands against the chimera’s side.
He poured his full life force into the magic flowing out from his hands.
Victor sank to his knees in exhaustion, still drawing every last drop of his reserves, thrusting forward with his every molecule until he had nothing left to give.
The chimera roared and thrashed, pulling away from the attack.
Victor pressed forward, willing the chimera to stay in place while he poured all of his energy into it, dispelling the Fell magic that kept the creature alive.
He.
Was.
Almost.
There.
One last push. One final push and I can finish this creature off. Then I’ll have fulfilled the Lady’s charge to protect her.
Victor looked up, howling at the skies, throwing his life into killing this creature, knowing he’d never see Morgan again, knowing he’d never hold his child, knowing he’d never see his friends and family win the day.
He sagged from his knees to his side, his arms still pressed firmly against the chimera’s flesh, its bulk blackening under his assault.
The Chimera roared one last time, then quivered and lay still, its body charred.
Victor allowed himself a final smile as everything went black.
He could hear the Lady’s voice.
“Well done, son of Lancelot. Well done.”
CHAPTER 39
Winnie heard shouting over Danny’s eerie laughter.
She shook her head, trying to free her mind.
But that was impossible.
She stared at Danny, Kane’s voice transfixing her, holding her frozen.
There was roaring and noise all around her, but Winnie remained immobile.
She was distracted by something flying past her field of view, then quivering in the turf. Something important.
It called to her.
Using every ounce of willpower, Winnie wrenched her eyes from Danny’s maniacal, malicious grin and saw the sword impaled point-first in the ground.
This was important. Something she was supposed to do.
She reached out, brushed her fingers against the hilt.
It all came rushing: Excalibur and the dragons; the fight against Kane; the chimeras; Victor.
She gripped the hilt and wrenched the sword free.
Danny’s laughter grew louder, more maniacal.
Winnie raised the sword overhead, staring down at the cackling intruder.
Reversing her grip, she brought the pommel down hard on the back of his head, silencing him as he slipped into unconsciousness.
She spun around and then she saw it. Victor’s crumpled body in front of two massive chimeras. She shook off the grief before it dragged her back down to the ground and scanned the scene.
Off to one side, Maria was rising to her knees. Farther to the right, Garraldi, Frannie, and Bullock were finishing off the final chimera with blasts of magic flowing from their outstretched hands, aided by Tris and several techs running up to help finish it off.
Dragons and chimeras were battling above. Neat formations and organized attacks had devolved into individual airborne melees that favored the chimeras’ larger numbers.
Winnie raised the sword and claimed control, directing the dragons back into formation, telling them to fight together rather than in lone combat like they wanted.
Slowly, the tide turned in their favor. Again, one chimera after another fell to the ground. Now she knew what they had to do.
“Maria,” Winnie called out. “We need to advance forward and drive them back into the chasm. Then I think we can close whatever portal they’re using to come here.”
Maria nodded and called to her comm techs.
Winnie looked up again, raised Excalibur and told the dragons to push the chimeras toward whatever hell they came from.
The dragons trumpeted their victory cry as one, surging forward with renewed vigor, driving the enormous, bloated creatures of the Fell into retreat.
Ground fire advanced with the dragons, shoving Kane’s forces toward the chasm. Distant cheers grew slightly louder as the Dusters advanced.
They were almost—
A shriek of agonized grief dragged Winnie’s eyes back to the ground.
Morgan ran across the scarred turf and fell beside Victor’s body, pulling his head to her chest and rocking back and forth, keening as her tears rained onto his battered body.
Winnie wanted to run to Morgan, comfort her sister, tell her how Victor had risked everything to save her.
But there wasn’t any time. Kane had to be stopped. Now.
There could count the dead and mourn the loss later, after the war was won.
“Everyone, follow me,” Winnie called out, charming her voice to be heard for blocks around. “We’re pushing the rest of the way to Kane. This ends now.”
Distant cheers erupted around her.
Bullock, Garraldi, Maria, Frannie and Tris crossed the park to join her. Elaine, Parnell, and several other chanter elites were running to her side.
Winnie nodded to them all, then started forward.
Elaine put a hand on her arm, stopping her daughter. “What about Danny and Morgan? We can’t leave them here alone.”
“Leave Tris, the techs, and a squad to guard Danny and watch over Morgan. They’ll be safe here. But the Fell is pulling back its forces to defend Kane and the chasm. A minute from now might be too late.”
“I’ll stay with them, too,” Elaine said. “You go. Be careful.”
“Seelie, you stay here and help my mom.”
The fairy nodded and flew over to Elaine.
Maria pointed to a group of Dusters responding to Winnie’s rallying call. Their sergeant nodded then dispersed his squad to watch over the area.
Winnie raised Excalibur and called four dragons down to the park.
She climbed on the back of the first dragon to land, then pointed to the others. Garraldi and Maria clambered up on another, Bullock a third, with Parnell and Frannie claiming the fourth.
“Push the beasts back into the chasm and keep them there,” Winnie commanded the troops. She pointed forward with her sword. “We’re going to finish this!”
With a massive leap into the air and a downward sweep of its wings, the lead dragon soared into the sky. The others flew close behind, all of them flying toward the massive building where Kane would draw his final breath.
CHAPTER 40
They met no resistance on the short flight across the battleground below. Looking down, Winnie could see the beasts in full flight, running for their lives away from the onslaught of dragons and Dusters behind them.
Dragon fire lanced the mass of fleeing creatures. Masses of burning bodies clogged the downtown streets wherever she looked.
Her dragon roared a victory cry. Winnie could sense its desire to join its brethren. “Soon. Just take me and my friends to that building ahead, and then you can join the fun.”
The dragon trumpeted, soaring toward the towering structure b
efore them.
Gunfire swarmed their approach.
Winnie wrapped herself in a magical cocoon and fired several blasts at the sandbagged positions around the building’s entrance.
A group of Red Legs were thrown by an explosion from Winnie’s spell.
The dragons and chanters added their own fire and spells to the attack, clearing the way in several passes until all resistance was annihilated.
The dragons landed and discharged their riders. Winnie thanked them, then released the beasts to join the attack.
She turned to the group. “Remember, Kane is mine.”
The others nodded and followed Winnie through the front doors to the wide entry hall of the Department of Magical Containment.
Bullets sparked off the concrete floor—Red Legs firing from the balconies.
Winnie grunted as a slug slammed into her magical shield. “Stop them!” She cried out, pointing at the balcony with Excalibur.
But the others were already returning fire.
Maria was picking off Red Legs, one after another, a pistol per hand. Garraldi stood at her side, holding a magical shield for them both while he fired his own pistol at the enemy.
Bullock charged toward a group of Red Legs on the stairs in front of them and let loose a blast of air, knocking all of the guards from their feet.
And then he was on them, pummeling the soldiers’ unconsciousness.
Frannie and Parnell stood back to back in the entry hall, turning slowly in place and loosing blasts of magical fireballs into the balconies.
So many Red Legs were screaming.
Winnie closed her eyes and called to Excalibur.
She begged the sword to help her find Kane.
His energy tugged at her from below, somewhere far beneath where she was standing now.
Winnie headed for a bank of elevators across the lobby—stairs were surely nearby—and blasted a pair of Red Leg who dared to try to stop her on the way.
More appeared, but Garraldi and Maria cleared the way until the three of them were standing by the stairwell door.
“Kane’s hiding somewhere below the building. I’m going to find him and finish this. Hold off his forces here.”
“We’ve got this, boss,” Garraldi said. “Be careful.”