Their leader, the Anat, lost his concentration. The lightstorm he’d been gathering spun away from his hands; the sealed sub-red crystals he’d been gently wafting upward lest he break them simply escaped.
Kip quickly dropped one hand from the mirror array to suck in a bit of sub-red.
Only then, disengaged from the array, did he hear the clash of arms nearby, the grunts of men fighting, the thud of fists on flesh.
The frame whipped him around in an instant, and he saw that the Lightguards were trying to reclaim the roof. They must have made an unexpected push, because a dozen of them had made it onto the roof.
A Lightguard dove off to one side, where his musket had fallen. All of Kip’s men were already engaged, either fighting or trying to block the door once again. The Lightguard scrambled to his feet, right at the edge of the tower, and lifted the musket toward Kip.
Big Leo’s chain crashed upward, knocking the musket toward the sky as it discharged, and then wrapping up around the Lightguard’s body and head, smashing his arms against his chest.
“Ignore us!” Big Leo shouted as he hauled the man effortlessly into his own waiting elbow with the sound of cracking bones. “Help them!”
And so Kip did.
As fast as his attention shifted, so, too, did Kip’s position. The frame snapped around and pointed him back to the sub-red light-storm.
It hadn’t gotten away yet.
Kip snatched it up and flung the mass of delicate crystals down toward the sea and the armada, not daring to throw it toward the red bane, lest the god there redirect it as easily as Kip had.
Then he caught sight of the Anat himself, hands skyward, confused. Kip hadn’t even crossed wills with him, merely picked up the storm after he’d let it go from his nerveless fingers.
But now, seeing Anat so exposed, Kip brought the mirrors to bear.
Concentrated light stabbed through the god, and he burst into flames.
He staggered about in the flames in agony and his mouth opened. He must surely be shrieking, but Kip heard no sound through the array.
One down. Five to go, and then the Wight King himself.
The next ones were going to be harder. They were going to be aware of him coming now, and of what he could do. The Wight King himself was currently too far away, out on his dragon-ship, for the tower to make a burning beam, or Kip would have gone after him right away. But Kip exulted nonetheless.
For the first time, he dared to think he might make it through this, after all.
He could do this. He was made for this.
Next!
Chapter 124
“This can’t be happening!” Ben-hadad cried from beside the musket-ball-riddled door. “I lost my knee on this stupid roof last time. I am not—”
He spun in and leveled his crossbow directly at the face of a roaring Lightguard charging the door. He was back to the doorframe’s shelter before Big Leo even heard the twang or the thunk of crossbow bolt hitting face.
The door shook from the force of the Lightguard’s falling body.
At the beginning, they’d tried not to use lethal force. They didn’t want war—not even with the Lightguards. Not today.
But protecting Breaker was more important. After several of the Lightguards had spilled onto the roof and one attempted to shoot Breaker, all bets were off.
They were doing this damn thing again. But this time, they knew how to flee. They just couldn’t.
Musket balls rattled into the door once more. Twelve muskets, right now. Either eleven or twelve had fired, and with their reload speed—
He shouted through the door, “You poor bastards. Fighting us? You’re just gonna die! I mean, look at this! Even without us having luxin we outclass you by leagues. You cretins are even terrible shots! My grandmother can shoot better than this.” Ben poked his head in front of the hole he’d just shot through to stare at them spitefully. “You don’t shoot for the door, you morons; you shoot for the holes in the door. You know, so you could maybe hit someone?”
He jerked his head away half a heartbeat before the hole splintered once, twice, and again. Other shots thudded into the door.
Ferkudi looked askance at him from the other side of the door-frame. “I think you win it again, Ben.”
“What’s that?” Ben-hadad asked, drawing his sea-demon-bone crossbow easily. With will, he tightened the string until one dial for each string showed the appropriate tension. He fitted bolts into each channel. Toward the door, he yelled, “That’s better! At this rate, you’ll be through this door by Sun Day next year. Nicely done!” He poked his head briefly in front of the hole again.
It splintered instantly.
“Someone’s onto me,” Ben-hadad said appreciatively. He rubbed at a streak of blood a flying splinter had left on his forehead. “Wait, what were you saying, Ferk? What do I win?”
“Stupidest Smart Guy in the Mighty. Are you joking with this? What are you trying to prove, Ben?”
“C’mon, Ferk. It’s all part of my cunning plan.”
“Cunning plan? To get your head shot off?”
“Nah. The hole wasn’t big enough. Didn’t want to risk my life to widen it myself. Besides, if they keep shooting at the door, we’re not going to have anything to defend here.”
“Hole? What?”
“Cover on three?”
Ferkudi nodded, lifting up his blunderbuss. “Two,” he said.
Ben-hadad pulled a fist-sized grenado from a pouch, all swirling with red and yellow luxin. He pulled the string to allow the two ingredients to mix.
On one, Ferkudi poked the bell-shaped muzzle of the blunderbuss against one of the holes he’d shot through before. Everyone on the other side took cover as his shot rang out, spraying hot metal into the hallway and their faces.
A moment later, Ben-hadad’s large grenado sailed through. He instantly dropped to the ground, not because he was injured but to look through a hole that had been shot low in the door.
There was a shattering as of glass, then a whoosh of fire, then screams. The discharge of a musket.
“Damn, I’m good,” Ben-hadad said. He stood up—easily, due to Finer’s braces, which he wore on each knee now, though not without pain—and poked his crossbow up the hole. Each string twanged in turn. He rested his back against the doorframe once more and looked over at Ferkudi with a waggle of his eyebrows. “Mmm?” Ben-hadad prompted.
“Let me guess. Two headshots?” Ferkudi said.
“Ooh! Can I play?” Winsen shouted from behind them.
“No!” Commander Big Leo boomed from his position by Breaker.
“How many is that now?” Ben-hadad asked as they both reloaded their weapons.
“I dunno,” Ferkudi said.
“What do you mean you don’t know? I’ve been calling them—” Ben-hadad asked.
“No reputable witnesses,” Ferkudi said.
“Are you—”
But then they both cut off at a sudden distortion in the air. It passed through both of them as if an enormous wave had passed, bending all reality. For a moment, it was as if they’d been color-blind for all their lives and were suddenly seeing—seeing not just the world but into realms beyond the world.
And then the shock wave passed like a ripple in the pond of time, heading rapidly west.