No matter how perfect a plan. No matter how well it is executed. Even if every contingency is considered, no plan will ever survive misinterpretation by your allies.
— Xristor Namfun
The sun baked down on Kanéko, and she wondered how long she could keep up the frantic pace. For over a half hour, she struggled to retrofit the boiler, give orders, and run from Damagar when he drew close. She wiped the sweat from her brow and looked to where Damagar was currently pinned down by Garèo, her mother, and Maris.
The fields surrounding the keep were ruined. Large gouges of land were torn up from where Ojinkomàsu accelerated. Both Damagar and her father used earth magic and large sinkholes had formed from the use of stone in their attacks. The home that she had grown up in had been almost completely destroyed. She didn't have time to mourn it though, not with the battle going on. Much of the earth smoldered from Maris's fire blasts. Kanéko felt a surge of jealousy that her friends and family could manifest such powerful magic, but then she remembered that she had an important role in the fight.
She braced herself with one foot on the spear-like timber and the other on the copper edge of the boiler. She hefted a pair of iron bars stolen from Jinmel's forge, and then struck the two together with all her might. The vibration ran through her arms and she almost lost both bars. After hitting them together twice more, she dropped one into the boiler. It disappeared from sight with a splash and a clang. Kanéko tossed the second into a pile of tools at the base of the copper tank. The action, she remembered, was used in sympathetic magic. She only hoped Maris would be able to use it.
The tank itself was hidden from sight. Her father's magic had brought solid stone from below the tower and melted it over the entire surface, creating a shell two yards thick. Kanéko stepped out on the smooth surface and slid down. Her cloth-wrapped feet smacked on the stone.
“Kané,” her father spoke with an exhausted voice as he walked over the remains of the wall of the keep, “I finished creating the tunnels under those trenches your vomen made. And I filled it with all our oil. You had better be right because you just used up our winter heat for the next five years. After this, we may have to move to Rock River.”
“Is it weak enough to collapse if Damagar lands on them?”
“Yes, but I don't understand—” his voice cut off when Kanéko glared at him. He closed his mouth with a snap, “No more questions. Fine,” he grumbled, “what's next?”
Kanéko pointed up to the timber, slowing as she saw a flicker of pain crossing his face.
“Papa?”
“That creature is in my head again. I can feel him,” he groaned and clutched his head, “like claws in my eyes.”
“Just a little longer.”
“Why?” he moaned, but Kanéko heard a different timbre to his voice, Damagar was using her father to ask questions. The creature had done it twice before, both times with Maris, but Kanéko refused to answer any question asked of her. Inwardly, she winced and felt Damagar's mind pounding on her shields, trying to crack the designs that filled her thoughts.
She thought about her plan quickly. “Because I need fifteen more minutes before it's ready to kill Damagar. Just focus on this thing and not what we're doing out there.”
He looked angry, upset that she wouldn't tell him anything more. His jaw tightened into a line. His voice lost the sound of Damagar's possession. “What next?”
She pointed up to the timber. “I need you to seal the opening there.”
His brow creased deeply when he looked up. “Another pointless task?”
“Papa…” she started.
“Fine, how tight?”
“Very, but don't dig into the metal or the wood.”
He rolled his eyes but walked over to the stone shell and then up it as if it was flat ground. Kanéko watched him, unsure how much to tell him. She let out a hiss of annoyance at herself and stared out over the field at the other remaining parts of her plan; Damagar figured out how to neutralize most of her other designs in a surprisingly short time.
As the behemoth tore apart her plans, Ruben had created a circular trench in a rough circle. Maris scorched everything inside the ring before her father used his magic to hollow out a pit, a hundred feet deep and filled with supernaturally sharp rocks, stones, and crystals. She didn't know how much oil he brought up, but she hoped it would be enough for Damagar to consider it a threat.
Hooves beat the ground and she spun around. Ojinkomàsu came galloping into the courtyard, radiating heat and flames. Her mother's dark form leaped off the horse before Garèo reared him to a stop.
Kanéko gasped and held out her hand but her mother swept her up, hugging her tightly. Her mother's body smell of ash, blood, and sweat. As she hugged her mother back, she forgot about the fight and the pain in this one moment of happiness.
“I knew you would come out on the bloody top,” whispered her mother, squeezing her tightly.
She saw Garèo try to get off Ojinkomàsu, but the horse stepped sideways to keep Garèo on his back. She smiled at his frustrated look.
Mioráshi tightened her grip. “I'm so proud of you, my beautiful daughter.”
Tears burned in Kanéko eyes. She held her mother tightly and tried not to think about her exhaustion or pain.
Mioráshi broke the hug after a moment to kiss her on the cheek. “Your dalpre tells me that you have something in mind. We only have seventeen minutes before I run out of sunlight.”
“What happens then?”
“No more arrows, so if you are going to kill him, do it soon.”
Kanéko's mind spun, integrating the new information. “Mama, do you have any powerful attacks with the hóri?”
Mioráshi growled. “Many, but that sand-damned, dickless creature keeps anticipating me. I'm stuck with these pathetic arrows that only pierce the hide, but they are fast enough he can't dodge. Garèo has the same problem, the craven shit-eating, sand-choked kin-killer. Ojinkomàsu and Waryōni needs space and time to charge and that bloated corpse of a rotted toad refuses to stop long enough to die.”
An idea hit Kanéko and she adjusted her plans. “If I could get him to hold still, could you hit him harder?”
“If you give me… say ten seconds for a shot, he won't live to see nightfall. But, I can't get—”
Kanéko interrupted her mother. “I'll stop him. I'm going to hurt him bad, and then we need to hit him with everything we got.”
Mioráshi kissed her again. “I'll be waiting, Great Kosobyo Kanéko. We'll kill the shit-fucking bastard. The minature boy told me the signals. You use it and I'll erase that moon-fucked creature off the ground the sun shits on.”
She stared in shock. She didn't expect to hear the words of respect and honor ever coming from her mother's lips.
Her mother spun on her heels and ran back to Ojinkomàsu. With a jump, she leaped onto the horse, then burst into motion. In a blink, they were gone in a flash of heat and light.
“I heard swearing. Your mother?” Ronamar's voice drifted down.
Kanéko looked up where he stood at the mouth of the boiler. Liquefied marble dripped from the opening, hardening into solid rock. She didn't know what to say, so she just nodded.
“What's next?” came the rumbling voice.
“Can you put crystal on the tip? Like an arrowhead?”
“Yeah—”
“Oh, and that timber,” she pointed to another ceiling joist, “attach it to the top like a cross.”
“Let me guess, put a crystal edge on it?” came a frustrated growl.
She almost blurted out something when he guessed her next step. She cleared her throat and waved as casually as she could, “Sure, why not? Make it look threatening.”
Kanéko stopped and stared at her plans. She looked up at the setting sun, and then down to the battlefield.
Ojinkomàsu already joined Maris, circling around Damagar as the obsidian frog fired a wave of sharp rocks after Tagon's black wolf.
Kanéko winced when it almost caught them. She took a deep breath and whistled three short blasts and one long. It was the “come” sound that Maris told her about.
The dalpre responded immediately, peeling away from the fight and shooting back. Wind tore up the ground behind her.
Kanéko braced herself for the blast of air that struck her face when Maris landed.
“Kan!”
“Maris! I need you now. First, recharge my gun.” She pointed to Sinmak's gun resting on the tools.
The dalpre bounced over to the weapon. She had recharged the gun once before during a frantic, whispered lesson. Now, she held it above her head and screwed her face into concentration. Wind drew toward her, shimmering the air like waves of heat. It sucked down the muzzle of the gun, a whistling noise filling the air, as the needle on the gauge slowly rose up. The whistling grew higher pitched and Maris growled as the last third of the gun resisted the increased pressure. She finished with a gasp.
Kanéko noticed Maris's new outfit, another dress, was already ruined with fire and blood. She favored her left arm but the brown eyes that focused on Kanéko remained clear.
“I can hurt later,” whispered Maris, “and I'm getting tired, Kan. Really tired. Are we almost done?”
“Yes, just a few more minutes.”
She nodded, her tail snapping back and forth. The motion sent flecks of sweat and blood in all directions.
Kanéko gestured for her to follow and took her to the tools. Picking up the iron bar, she held it out for Maris.
The dalpre took the bar, staggering under the weight and looked up with confusion at Kanéko.
Kanéko wrapped Maris's hands around it. “Right now, I need you to concentrate on this bar.”
“Why?”
“Because you need to know it. Really know it. Look at the scratches and the dings, feel its weight…” An exhausted joke bubbled up. “Know how it tastes.”
Maris's ears perked up. “This is magic? Licking metal?”
“It will be.”
With a smile, the dalpre sat heavily on the ground and focused on the bar.
Kanéko patted her on the head.
Maris looked up and beamed happily, her tail thumping against the ground.
Kanéko returned to the boiler and inspected her father's work. In a few short moments, he had pulled up quartz from the ground below. It flowed like water up the side of the shell and formed into a long, sharp blade along the timber.
“I used most of this stuff to form spikes in the pit.”
“All right, Papa, just a little more.”
Ronamar held his hand out and the last of the quartz formed a long point at the tip of the timber. The end sparkled in the sunlight. He sighed and slid down. He looked exhausted and stumbled when he hit the ground.
Kanéko rushed up to grab him and felt his weight crushing her. She dragged her father next to Maris.
Maris's ears shook as Ronamar walked closer. At the same time, Kanéko heard her father's labored breath and worried. The air between her father and Maris crackled and the dust trembled in an unseen breeze. It was feedback between two powerful mages, but subtle and threatening at the same time.
Her father dropped to the ground. He sat up and stared at Maris with a look of wonderment and confusion. He raised his eyes to Kanéko when his daughter leaned over him. “She's a dog. Why is she so powerful?”
“I need you to teach her sympathetic magic.”
Maris's head snapped up. “What?”
“There is another iron bar, just like that one, somewhere safe. I need you to heat it up and add as much air and fire around it as you can. She has the power, I know it.”
“Where is it?”
“It doesn't matter. Just use the bar.”
Maris whimpered. “I don't know how.”
Kanéko spoke to her father. “Papa?”
Ronamar shook his head. “I can't teach a dalpre magic. Not in the middle of a battle. She can't possibly—”
Kanéko snatched the iron bar from Maris's hands. Swinging it around, she shoved it into her father's chest. He grabbed it, surprised. She leaned over and spoke in a hard, angry voice. “Papa, she is smarter than she looks, and you are dumber than you speak. Now, by the Divine Couple, shut up and just do what you are told. I need her,” she pointed to Maris, “to heat this up as fast as she can.”
Realization dawned on his face. She saw him glance over to the pit in the fields, obviously thinking that the other bar was in the pit. She made no effort to correct him, but his eyes were the one place she needed to be to trick Damagar into getting in line for the boiler's shot.
It was time.
“I-I have to go,” she said in a broken voice. Standing up, she grabbed Sinmak's gun from the pile of tools. The heavy weapon reminded her how tired she felt. Wiping the sweat and grease from her face, she looked over at her father and friend.
Ronamar whispered into Maris's ears. Power curled around both of them. Magenta motes swirled around them as their energies conflicted with each other. Her father grimaced as the energies arced along his skin. With sweat dripping down his pale face, he continued to speak in her ear.
Damagar fought with everyone at the far end of the fields. Blood coursed off his obsidian hide, but he still lashed out with endless magic. His body glowed with healing magic as he formed stone claws to grab at both Tagon and Ruben who rode Jason.
Ruben jumped from Jason just as Ojinkomàsu flashed by. By the time Kanéko's eyes focused on the burning form of the horse, the vomen was already crawling up Garèo's arm.
A groaning sound echoed from inside the boiler, dragging Kanéko's thoughts back to her plans. She held the pneumatic gun with both hands and took a deep breath. One step, and then a next, and then finally she sprinted for the pit. She could feel Damagar's attention focusing on her. The creature finally saw her as a threat.
It would only be seconds.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she focused on running. The sunbaked ground tore at her feet. She strained to hear Damagar as she ran as fast as she could.
The world grew dark, and Kanéko felt wind rushing toward her. With a gasp, she lunged to the ground and rolled as Damagar slammed a foot into the ground, barely missing her. Her world shook and buckled from the impact and she felt his mind focusing on her. Gasping, she scrambled away from the pool of darkness, holding onto the gun with all her might.
Damagar's thoughts slammed into her, clawing at her shields.
She staggered and continued to crawl toward the edge of the darkness.
Suddenly, a second mind joined the first, two inhuman personalities tearing at her mind. She felt her mental shields cracking under their efforts. Its assault increased, adding more minds and personalities into cracking her. She felt the force squeezing her skull and tearing into her. It hurt, hurt more than she could imagine. A sharp pain blossomed in her nose, and she wiped it to find blood on her palm.
Just a few more seconds.
Damagar broke into her mind with one powerful surge of mental force. Her shields shattered under its blow, and she felt alien thoughts pour into her skull. A powerful personality—Recall—tore through her memories. She remembered her trip with terrifying clarity, every pain and agony being forced back on her. Damagar forced her to experience everything in the heartbeat it took to read her thoughts.
Kanéko sobbed, feeling her muscles spasm as she struggled to retain the very idea of herself. She tried to bring up the shields, to think about anything else, but Damagar commanded her mind absolutely. It shredded through emotions and thoughts. When it reached the core of her being, she felt dread fill her as it used her own intelligence to understand her plans.
“Get away from my daughter!” roared Ronamar. Two fists came down on the ground right in front of her. The earth rose up into one massive spear and slammed into Damagar's gut.
Her father grabbed her from the ground and ran for the light. Damagar's roar deafened her, and she couldn't orient herself as her father sprinted out from underneath the behemoth.
«You must be destroyed!» came the powerful thought and Ronamar fell to the ground clutching his head.
Kanéko rolled across the ragged ground and came to her feet.
Before her, her father bellowed out in pain when one of Damagar's claws pinned him. The weight of the creature bore down on her father and the rocks cracked from the pressure.
Blood dribbling out from her ears and nose. She swung her gun around and fired it twice into Damagar's throat. The two large bullets punched through his hide and the creature roared. When Damagar didn't lift his claws, Kanéko aimed for the creature's ankle and fired again.
The bullet slammed into the joint and bones cracked.
Damagar staggered back with another roar. Black blood splashed across her face.
Kanéko didn't wait for a second chance. She grabbed her father and pulled with all her might. Ronamar scrambled to his feet and they ran from Damagar. He tried to guide her away from the pit, but she slipped from his arms and sprinted toward the trench.
Damagar's claws slashed down, narrowly missing Kanéko. She dove to the side. Spears of rocks burst out of the ground right in front of her. She accelerated and ran up the newly unearthed stones. Spotting another rising a few feet away, she jumped off one to land on the other. It was remarkably easy when the heat of battle fueled her actions.
She hit the ground running, knowing that Damagar would catch her but hoping to get a few more precious seconds for Maris to finish heating the tank.
Damagar's form sailed over and landed heavily on the ground less than a chain from the edge of the pit. A crack formed in the surface, spreading out in all directions.
Kanéko slid to a halt. Gasping for breath, she tried to avoid looking up into Damagar's crimson eyes. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't help when her eyes caught Damagar's.
«Your mind is difficult to read, but not impossible. You are only human.»
Recall and Observation projected as one, and she felt another half dozen concentrating on the rest of the battle. She couldn't form a shield against its intrusions. Damagar delved its mental claws into her mind, and she let out a sob as it pulled the final parts of the plan from her memories.
Kanéko cried out as Damagar took a small hop backwards to get out of the line of fire of the boiler. She saw all her plans, her hopes, shattering as Damagar took another step away.
Damagar's thoughts pounded into her. «The Broken Thought is alive. We told you to kill him. You failed.» He replayed the threat he gave before—it came with the same clarity that the powerful telepathic could force into her mind. «And now we must destroy all of you.»
Kanéko tried to prevent him from getting inside her head. She lashed out with her emotions, but Damagar didn't even flinch. Barely able to control her body, she crawled away from it, trying to escape. “I can't kill him. He's my friend.”
Damagar opened its mouth. It leaned forward, its tongue snapping out. It punched Kanéko in the chest and splattered her with sticky fluid. Before she could even twitch, the tongue yanked her forward and she fell. It dragged her closer.
She screamed and grabbed for the ground with one hand. Her fingers dug into the earth trying to prevent it from dragging her, but it continued to haul her closer. She focused on keeping a grip on her gun, she didn't want to be unarmed.
Something slammed into Damagar's tongue and she was driven face-first on the ground. The wet muscle slurped as it wrapped around her. Groaning, she tried to free her hand, but it kept her limbs pinned to her body. She managed to roll on her back and free one hand from the muscular tongue.
Ruben held Damagar's limb with both hands. Images of Lopidir and Stubbornness overlaid his edges, blurring his body with a blue haze. His glowing eyes were blinding as Ruben held Damagar to the ground.
Strong hands grabbed Kanéko and pried her loose. Her father grunted as he tore the fleshy limb from Kanéko. She looked up to see her father, the side of his face bloody and bruised. She looked around to orient herself to find the firing line for the boiler. “Papa! Ruben! Pull him this way.”
“No,” Ronamar grunted, “I have to get you free.”
“Papa, get him in line!”
“What line!?” bellowed her father.
“Between the tower and the pit. Now!”
Ronamar didn't appear to understand, but when Ruben started to pull, the bartim followed. He chanted as he yanked, casting a spell as he pulled. The pressure around them increased as Ronamar's magic fought against Ruben and Damagar. Arcs of bright energies and dust crackled between the three powerful beings. Black scorches formed as the magenta arched along every surface.
Behind Damagar, the ground boiled up and swelled up into a crest that rose over the behemoth. The slope shoved it closer to the firing line.
Damagar planted its feet to jump.
Animated claws burst out of the ground and clutched at Damagar. The stone hardened as it pulled Damagar down.
The giant creature pulled one paw free but as soon as it set it down, more stone reached up to pin it.
Ronamar gasped. “I can't… do this… for long.”
The images around Ruben swelled in size and power. Lopidir became a transparent blue giant, reaching up to grab Damagar's jaw and yanking it forward.
Kanéko jammed the gun into the holster and grabbed the sticky tongue. She pulled with all her strength. She dug her feet into the ground and screaming with every inch it took to pull the behemoth. Her strength was insignificant compared to her father's power and Ruben's might, but she knew that even the smallest effort might get Damagar in the right position. In the distance, she could hear the high-pitched whistle of a cracked boiler and it fueled her desperation.
The behemoth lashed out with magic, forcing the earth to rise up. A sharp point rose underneath her, and she pushed away as it speared between her feet. It slashed at her hands and feet. Getting an idea, she leaned into it.
When the sharp stones cut into her side, she screamed. She twisted until the edge cut into Damagar's tongue. Blood splattered her face as the stone cut almost through the tongue.
A blast of pain radiated from Damagar. Its spears of stone crumbled into dust.
Ronamar and Ruben took advantage of his pain to drag him another foot closer.
Kanéko looked toward the boiler and saw a wave of fire and sun coming at her. Her mother stood on the back of Ojinkomàsu, the bow pulled back as far as it would go. Energy roared around her, forming into a spectral shape of a serpent coiled around Ojinkomàsu.
The sun horse glowed with brilliant flames, surrounded by a herd of translucent gray horses spread out chains in both directions. She didn't know where the other horses came from, but they were ghostly and wavering in a light. They rode as a single herd, as though a single mind controlled them. It looked like a wave of liquid fire and sunlight burning up her father's fields.
“Not yet, not yet,” whimpered Kanéko. She spun around and called out to her father and Ruben. “Harder!”
“We are!” bellowed Ronamar.
They pulled Damagar another foot.
Kanéko continued to struggle. The high-pitched whine of the boiler grew to a piercing scream and she knew she had no more time. “Now!” she screamed and pulled with all her might.
Damagar stumbled forward. It planted its claws into the ground and stopped itself.
Kanéko saw that he was a few feet away from the line, but despite her efforts, the behemoth refused to move.
A deafening bang shot through the air. Kanéko sobbed as the crystal-tipped spear launched out in a blur of wood and crystal. She turned her head, trying to follow it as it shot above her head.
When it hit Damagar in his chest, right below his jaw, she gaped with surprise. The timber, moving too fast to focus on, punched into the behemoth and lodged itself inside its throat. She traced a line from the timber to the boiler and realized she made a mistake in aiming it. It was only a lucky chance they were in the right place.
Damagar staggered to the side and fell back. Geyser of black blood poured out from the its wound. Its immense form bounced on the ground and rolled away from the oil-filled pit. Wisps of yellow-green energy rose up as it resumed healing itself.
“Sands! Damn the sands!” She screamed, tears in her eyes. The exhaustion sapped the strength in her limbs. The failure, her failure to execute the plan, devastated her. She failed them. Her mother, her father, her friends. All because she had no powers.
A crimson eye focused on her and the powerful mind tore into her mind, it was a distinct mental voice, the one called Strategy. «You have become a liability.»
As Damagar rolled over, his tongue shot out and wrapped around her chest, squeezing until she screamed out from the pain. She felt ribs cracking from the pressure. Damagar surged forward, yanking her off the ground and throwing her up. In her mind, she knew what he planned: to bring her down on the other side and crush her into oblivion.
Frantic and dizzy from being thrown up, Kanéko grabbed the gun in the holster. The tongue pinned it to her body, but she forced the tip of the muzzle toward the sticky limb. She yanked the trigger. The shot punched through the thick tongue. She fired again, but the gun hissed loudly, and the shot slid uselessly out.
With the wind whipping past her, she felt her body being brought up and over Damagar. She looked down to see one crimson eye following her arc. She lost the grip on the now useless gun and tried not to think about her imminent death.
Light shot across her vision as Mioráshi's arrows followed after Damagar. A dozen arrows pierced its tongue in a line right up to the spot where Kanéko cut Damagar's tongue. Then a large bolt slammed into it and severed Damagar's tongue with a wet ripping noise. Kanéko's body jerked as she was thrown into the air, the tip of Damagar's tongue trailing behind her and nothing anchoring her to the ground.
The world blurred underneath her as she flew high across the fields. Spinning around, she was consumed by the terrifying realization she had no control over her body. She would hit the ground with fatal speed, and there was nothing she could do. She sobbed and prayed that Damagar would be defeated. She closed her eyes and held her breath against the wind that whipped past her.
The impact cracked bone and she felt her neck straining from the blow. The wind continued to howl around her, and she felt a flash of pain consuming her body. But, she was alive. She couldn't breathe without pain, but she was breathing.
Cracking open one eye, she looked into the eyes of an inferno. Maris held her tightly, arms wrapped around Kanéko's chest as a fireball surround their bodies. The flames seared Kanéko's lungs until she choked.
Then there was no flame. Maris's eyes rolled into the back of her head and they started to plummet to the ground.
Kanéko screamed. “Maris! Wake up!”
They hit the ground in a deafening explosion. Kanéko felt the air rush up underneath them, cushioning them before the impact with the hard earth. She landed on her arm and the snapping bone shot a wave of agony through her body. When she looked down, two sheared ends stuck out of her skin. Blood gathered in her wound and dripped down her brown skin.
She sobbed, alive but in agony. She looked at the bright blue sky and gave a prayer to Kosòbyo and the Divine Couple.
Maris groaned and sat up. “I lost my power again.”
Kanéko tried to push herself up but grinding bones stopped her instantly. She looked down at the compound fracture of her arm and let out another sob of fear. “I failed. I couldn't do it.”
The dalpre scrambled to her feet, bruised by her impact. Her outfit was in tatters, barely covering her body as she panted heavily. “Are you all right?”
Kanéko whimpered and shook her head. She held out her hand for Maris. As Maris pulled her to her feet, Kanéko cried out.
Maris peered over, and then gasped. “Your arm! You're hurt!”
Kanéko blinked back the tears and staggered forward. They were just inside the woods outside of the lands, a full mile away from the ruins of the keep. She leaned her shoulder on the tree and looked out at the battle. Her family and friends still attacked Damagar but now it was a losing fight.
“No,” whispered Kanéko, “not yet. Think, damn it.”
She gasped as she remembered some of the contingency plans they came up with. She pulled them up and scavenged something new out of it. She turned to Maris. “Mar, do you have anything left?”
Maris, her face pale and dripping with sweat, looked at her. She nodded and pulled on a determined face. “You are my alpha and my friend; I will always have enough.”
“Can you get close to Damagar?”
Maris's ears and tail drooped. “Yes, but he keeps blocking me. I think he can read my mind.”
Kanéko thought for a moment. “I have a new plan. I need you to fly out as far as you can, as long as you can get back in… fifteen seconds or so. When you see a signal, I need you to fly back as fast as you can and burn Damagar from the inside.”
Maris panted as she looked out at Damagar. “How, Kan? He doesn't have any holes.”
Kanéko sobbed from the pain shooting up her leg. She couldn't wipe the tears. Instead, she rested her cheek on the ragged wood of the tree trunk. “I'm working on it. But if you can't do this, I'll come up with something else.”
Maris looked at her, a whimper in her throat. Then, she took a deep breath. “You are my pack leader. If I have to die to do what's right, and then I will.”
Kanéko smiled. “Don't die on me, but you… you might burn out if you do this. Lose your magic, maybe forever. It…” She couldn't explain the repercussions of over-using magic in such a short period of time.
The wind rose up around Maris, pushing back at Kanéko. “It isn't worth it if I can't defend the pack.”
Tears fogging her goggles, Kanéko braced herself for Maris's takeoff. “One last thing, when you get up, send a flare, a burst of light up?” At Maris's nod, Kanéko continued. “Two signals. The first is one short, two long, one short. That will ask Mama to use her strongest attack and the others to pin down Damagar to give her time. The second is two long, two short. That's the sign for Garèo to charge.”
Wind whipping around her, Maris said, “I need room to go faster. I need to get further out.”
“Accelerate?”
“Yes,” the tail began to wag back and forth. “Don't worry, Kan. You are smart, and I like you. And we will win.”
Maris shot into the air, blasting Kanéko with wind and dust. Pebbles bounced off Kanéko's goggles.
She looked up at Maris, hovering in the air, wind sputtering. She spun around twice, and then launched huge gouts of flame out over the fire. They were the same signals that Kanéko had asked for. Before the last burst of fire faded from the air, Maris flew away from the fight.
In the battle, everything changed. Mioráshi stopped firing her arrows as Ojinkomàsu raced for the edge of the fields. Tagon turned his wolf on his heels and sprinted for the opposite direction. Ronamar and Ruben charged for Damagar.
Ruben's body glowed brightly as his eyes ignited into azure flames, visible even from a mile away. The world around him shimmered and cracked. She had only seen the psionic storm in Damagar's memories, but the sight of rents tearing through reality sent a shiver of fear along her spine. Psychic winds, terribly silent and untouched by the physical world, pulled at Damagar.
The titan roared. Ghostly figures rose up to the surface of his skin, clawing at Damagar's physical form as if it could keep them from Ruben's singularity. Damagar's eyes flared red with power and the ground underneath Ruben boiled.
Ronamar rushed in and jumped forward. He brought his fists down on the ground and the earth beneath Damagar and Ruben liquefied. Ruben sank down to his knees, but Damagar's weight sucked the creature into the earth to its chest.
Crimson eyes flashed and the earth solidified. Damagar bellowed as he yanked his feet free of the rock, but Ronamar was already finishing a second spell. Blades, each one a chain in length, burst out of the ground and speared into Damagar.
The creature lashed out at him, but his claws passed too close to Ruben. A ghostly form, some feathered creature, was sucked out of Damagar and fell into Ruben's storm with a silent scream.
A golden flicker caught Kanéko's attention. She looked at Ojinkomàsu who raced around the outer rim of the battlefield. The brightness came from Mioráshi's bow, which left behind a golden stream. The stream blossomed and expanded, forming a snake's tail. As the spirit horse accelerated, the snake continued to grow and expand. Power crackled in the air and the world grew dark as sunlight gathered into the glowing snake.
The sun faded to a pale light as Mioráshi summoned the power. Shadow crossed over the lands as Ojinkomàsu finished circling the league around the keep in less than a minute. As they reached the end of their circuit, where the sunlight snake's tail rattled above them, they curved in and started to charge toward Damagar.
A head formed behind Ojinkomàsu; a massive feathered snake's head gaping open with fangs dripping with sparkling poison. Kanéko gasped with recognition. It was Kosòbyo, her mother's clan spirit. The bow string snapped and Kosòbyo shot forward like an arrow. He punched into Damagar's side, right where the timber cross cut into him. The shape of Kosòbyo's head bulged out from the obsidian skin, the fangs clearly visible as they tried to rip out of the obsidian toad.
Damagar staggered to the side, hopping to avoid falling over. Miles of the spirit snake disappeared into his body. It shoved out from the inside as cracks of sunlight burst through Damagar's tearing skin. But, it wasn't until the last of Kosòbyo's tail disappeared into Damagar's body that the snake burst out in a shower of sunlight.
In the pale light of the sun, Ojinkomàsu flared into life. The herd surrounding him charged forward, leading Ojinkomàsu as they raced toward Damagar. In the front, a gray horse led the charge. The ground rumbled with a hundred hooves as the horses punched into Damagar through the opening left by Kosòbyo. A fraction of a second later, they came out the other side, tearing an equally large hole into the behemoth. Ojinkomàsu, coming up the rear, was as bright as the summer sun as he blew through Damagar and left behind only a smoking crater.
Damagar, wounds gaping on both sides of his body, roared out in pain. His body glowed with a crimson light as flickers of yellow-green energy welled up inside him.
Kanéko prayed that Maris would see the sign. But, unsure, she blew three short whistles and then a long one. She waited a heartbeat and did it again. And again, trying to summon the dalpre with the desperate hope that it would be enough.
Ruben and Ronamar still fought at the feet of Damagar, tearing at his mind and soul. Ronamar fought with his massive blade, but then he stopped in mid-strike to clutch his head.
The wind shifted rapidly, pushing her toward Damagar and the fight. It buffeted her body. Her broken bones scraped against each other and more blood poured down her arm. She clutched to the tree and braced herself, still whistling for Maris.
Wind formed on the opposite side of Damagar. It blew through him, toward Kanéko. Flecks of blood, dust, and rocks shot through his body. She hoped Maris knew what she was doing, otherwise, she was blowing air in the wrong direction.
The air ignited into flames. Heat and fire blossomed across the sky, turning the faded light of the sun into an inferno that burned away the clouds. The trees above her were incinerated by the blast as a living sun appeared in the center of Damagar. Afterimages of the star streaked across the sky above Kanéko. The wind blowing toward Kanéko were canceled by Maris's forward movement and Kanéko realize that Maris used the winds to slow down.
The air cracked into a rumbling boom. It punched Kanéko in the chest and pinned her to the tree. Around her, the limbs tore from trees and flew into the fields. Kanéko let out a scream as her broken arm ground into itself and her chest grew wet with blood.
Inside Damagar, Maris turned the air molten, sucking in wind as she burned with white-hot heat.
Despite being half-dazed in pain, Kanéko couldn't help but think that Maris was duplicating the effects of Jinmel's smithy. She realized she was losing focus to concentrate on the mechanics. With a groan, she brought her attention back to the battle.
Ruben stood in front of Damagar, his psychic winds tearing at Damagar as the behemoth's insides were ravaged by fire and wind.
Damagar's body bulged before a pillar of flame burst out of his back. It rocketed high into the air, a chain across and miles high. The sun disappeared in the glare of the flame's brilliance.
The creature exploded.
Kanéko saw the final shock wave coming, but she couldn't move in time. She clenched herself, ready for one more agony.
A shadow blocked her vision. She gasped and fell back as her father punched the ground to yank a pillar of earth from the stone. Throwing apart his hands, it blossomed into a protective shell. It was the same spell he cast to protect her from the exploding stable, all those days ago.
Ronamar turned a half step and brought the shell down around them as the inferno crashed into his shield. The air burned in her lungs before darkness surrounded them in suffocating protection.
He wrapped his arm around her, holding her tight. “Good job,” he whispered into her ear.
In the darkness, she felt Damagar die, the last agonizing scream of the titan crashing into her ruined mental shields and burning into her dreams forever.