Thomas Reid - The Fractured Sky

The construct rushed toward them from one side of the building, its hooves striking sparks on the stone as it charged. Aliisza heard the same clattering sound of steel on stone from the opposite direction. She turned that way and spied a second construct galloping to confront them. It spun a pair of spiked chains overhead that extended from its forearms, just above its hands.

Another deva settled to the ground at the base of the broad steps. Aliisza remembered him as the one who had held Kaanyr prisoner back in the House of the Triad. He stood there with his mace ready, blocking their way.

They were surrounded.

The scene confused Kaanyr.

Micus and Garin, the angel who had been his jailor, exited the Palace of Myriad Amazements along with the two strange mechanical centaurs. Why are they coming back out? he wondered. Where are Aliisza and the others?

Although he had managed to coerce himself into aiding his companions merely by thinking of the ramifications of abandoning them, he had hesitated at the steps of the palace. He had no means of sneaking back into the building without being noticed. Knowing he could do little that way, he hid himself among some vendor carts on the near side of the plaza. Waiting and watching was a better use of his skills than madly throwing himself in harm's way.

The cambion was still hiding and contemplating alternatives when Micus and his cohorts reemerged. Although he had anticipated that they might come out with prisoners in tow, he had not expected them to reappear empty-handed.

At least for the moment, Kaanyr thought as he watched the pursuers spread out around the entrance. Micus flew to the roof of the porch, while the two strange mechanical creatures moved to either flank. Garin took up a position at the base of the ramp.

An ambush.

Well, two can play at that game, Kaanyr decided.

He did not wait long. Some sort of horn began to blare from within the building, and three robed and hooded figures appeared and hurried toward the steps.

It was only when Micus reacted that Kaanyr realized the figures were his companions.

Everything happened at once. Micus swooped toward them, shouting. The two constructs rushed forward, closing in from either side. Only Garin remained in place, standing guard at the bottom of the ramp, keeping the fugitives bottled up.

And that was whom Kaanyr struck first.

Stepping out of the shadows between the nearest carts, the cambion slipped behind the angel with his sword in hand. The blade crackled with a bluish black energy, pulsing in anticipation. Kaanyr drew it back and was on the verge of driving it between the deva's wings when a woman nearby screamed.

The angel spun around just as Kaanyr thrust the sword at him. The blade ripped into Garin's wing, slicing a huge hole in it. The crackling energy dancing along the sword burst out from the wound, spreading like a sickly disease.

Garin's eyes went wide with the pain. "You!" he growled, staggering back from Kaanyr. "Damn you, you son of a rutter!"

"Such unbecoming language for one so enlightened as yourself," Kaanyr said with a mocking smile. He stepped forward, taking the fight to the deva. He brought his sword up for another strike. Garin whipped his mace into place and parried the blow. Blood streamed from the angel's wing as they circled.

"You don't like my language?" Garin asked. "Well how about something a little more holy?"

He opened his mouth to speak again, but Kaanyr had been expecting the tactic. Before Garin could utter the holy word, the cambion flipped a wand into view and commanded it to discharge its magic.

A blazing white bolt of lightning sprang from the tip of the wand and connected with the angel. The electrical energy crackled and swarmed over its target. Kaanyr knew the deva shrugged off some of the power of the wand, but the attack was enough to wound him. Garin went rigid for an instant, then fell to the paving stones with a raw scream.

"I'm sorry," Kaanyr said to Garin in a mocking tone as he raised his sword, "but I didn't quite hear what you were trying to say!" Kaanyr thrust the sword at the angel. He drove it deep into the deva's gut and jerked it free again.

Garin gasped and lurched from the blow. Bluish black energy swarmed across his body in a spiderweb effect. His eyes went wide and rolled up in his head. He shuddered once and lay still.

Kaanyr gave the angel a mocking salute with his blade and sprinted past, heading to his companions to aid them in their own fight.

As Kaanyr closed with Aliisza and the others, he saw Kael battling one of the constructs, while Aliisza faced off with the second one. Tauran and Micus stood toe to toe, appearing to argue more than actually battle. Micus's back was to Kaanyr, so he took the opportunity to close in unseen.

The cambion brought his new sword up, ready to plunge it into Micus's back, as he crossed the distance to his target. As he neared striking range, though, Tauran shook his head.

"No, Vhok!" the angel ordered. "Do not kill him!"

Upon hearing the command, Kaanyr snarled, but he lowered his weapon. His momentum carried him forward nonetheless. Micus, aware by then that the cambion was there, turned to confront the new threat. Kaanyr lowered his shoulder and plowed into the angel, driving him across the porch and into a column. Though Micus wasn't caught completely by surprise, the force of the cambion's attack slammed him hard. Micus's head impacted with the stone and stunned him.

It wasn't quite what he had in mind, but Kaanyr felt a sense of satisfaction watching the angel go down. He drew his foot back to kick the angel, but Tauran grabbed him.

"Go help Aliisza!" Tauran said. "Hurry!"

Grumbling at being forced to acquiesce to every order the angel gave him, Kaanyr spun away from his intended target and sought the alu out.

Aliisza still battled the strange mechanical centaur. The construct had the upper hand in the fight. Twin chains extending from its forearms were wrapped around the half-fiend, pinning her wings and arms to her sides. The thing reeled her in, drawing her closer. She frantically tried to shrug off the restraints.

Kaanyr sprang to the alu's side and leveled his wand at the construct. He spoke the command and fired a bolt of lightning at the thing. The blinding flash popped between the wand and the creature, leaving afterimages in the cambion's field of vision. When his sight returned a moment later, Kaanyr could see the construct sprawled upon the ground and Aliisza free of the entwining chains.

"Go!" the cambion shouted, gesturing to the night sky overhead. "Get out of here!"

Aliisza shook her head. "Kael and Tauran still need help!"

"I'll stay. Just fly!"

But the alu wouldn't heed him, and his attention was drawn back to the construct, which had regained its feet. Kaanyr knew the dweomer on his blade would have little impact on the creature, but he hoped its preternatural sharpness would still cut through the thing's armor.

"Together," Aliisza said, swishing her own blade through the air. "Flank him." She moved away from the cambion, trying to swing around to the far side of the mechanical centaur. The creature saw the alu's intentions and tried to back away, but Kaanyr grinned in anticipation and leaped into the fray.

Working together, the two half-fiends pressed the attack, wearing the thing down with well-timed feints and parries. Eventually, they scored some serious wounds. It remained in the fight, though, refusing to yield or flee.

Kaanyr drove in with a series of cuts at the constructs upper torso. The rapid attack served to distract the thing enough for Aliisza to slip inside its defenses and run her blade deep into its chest. With a single, gurgling sigh, it sank down to the ground and went still. Strange fluids and wisps of smoke poured from the various openings in its skin.