Steven Montano: Crown of Ash

“We are so screwed,” he said.

“Not yet,” Ronan said. His shemagh was o ff, but Ronan still wore a cloth wrap around his lower face. Even then, Kane could tell he was smiling evilly.

They ran. They could n’t waste any more time. T he giants behind them weren’t very fast but they covered a lot of ground with their long stride s, and they weren’t bothered by the marsh.

Burke shouted orders, and Turner pulled out a sending stone. Dark shapes appeared in the ochre sky, gargoyle shock troops out of Black Scar. Another mortar blast from one of the land tanks slammed into the mud a few hundred feet away.

Kane saw something shift to the north. He couldn’t be sure what it was, but he knew that it was big.

The u ndead giants closed to within five hundred yards. The line of Troj was maybe three-hundred yards away, directly ahead of them and between the m and the ruins. Between the team, Burke’s men and the Grey Clan, there were maybe twenty fighters on the ground.

“This is n’ t enough…” Kane said. His skin was cold, and panic welled in his chest. Whispers slithered through the back of his mind.

Hell no. Stay away.

“We have to go around them, ” Ronan sai d. “If we try to break through th at Troj line they’ll tear us to pieces.”

A war horn sounded through the blood-haze air like a hollow song. Several giants stepped forward and hefted the great iron spheres into the air. Flames trailed the balls and made them look like steel comets. They burst open near the downed Grey Clan vessel. V iolent explosions rocked the ground. Heat and deafening booms swept over the marsh, and Kane smelled burning gas.

“Shit!”

“Go!” Burke shouted. “We’ll hold them!”

A Grey Clan airship pulled their attention sky ward. One of the clunky grey vessels roared by and left thick plumes of black and blue smoke in i ts wake. Bomb bay doors slid open, and metal tubes plummeted to the ground. Kane watch ed the bombs descen d against the orange-black sky. H e realized they were about to land right on top of the Troj.

“Duck!” Turner shouted. Everyone went to their knees or fell prone in the mud.

A cid flames rippled across the ground. Burning cloud s rolled over the scaly humanoids. Guttural screams came from within the roiling f ire as burning b odies writhed and twisted and fell.

I hope they got the Scarecrows too, Kane thought as he helped Jade to her feet.

“Now go!” Burke shouted.

Kane hesitated, and looked at the Revenger. The man just shook his head.

“Weird shit,” Kane said.

“No doubt, ” Burke replied.

They readied their weapons, and ran.

T he dead giants behind them charged through the flames and ran even while immolated, m assive meat candles that surged towards the craft. The downed ship was caught in a cage of fire.

Kane pushed ahead. He tasted hex currents in the air as Jade sent her spirit forward to push mud and water out of their path, leaving a narrow trench of sodden clay.

Blasts sounded everywhere. Kane’s head rattled from t he growl of heavy vehicles and the fall of artillery fire. Mortar shells screamed down and into the giants. Gargoyle s flew over the wall of flames, oblivious to the four mercenaries on the ground as they dove at the Ebon Cities zombies.

Burke and the others held their ground with small arms fire and magic. Gargoyles snatched Grey Clan and hauled them into the air. Some of the reptilians plummeted painfully to the distant ground, while others grappled their aggressors and hacked into them with blades and claw- hammers.

The group worked its way around the wall of dying flames. Troj writhed and moaned inside the crackling barrier.

Kane saw Scarecrows through the smoke and fire. He fired at them, and Ronan and Maur joined suit. The Scarecrow ’ s armor was thick, but concentrated and repeated strikes brought them down.

The band of mercenaries drew to within a short distance of Voth Ra’morg. It looked like they’d be able to slip in through some cracks in the northwestern wall, on the opposite side of the city from the Black Scars ground forces.

Scarecrows and Revengers advanced on the front-line of zombie giants. Kane look ed back and saw the Grey Clan ship being destroyed. Shells pounded the ground. Ships tore apart in the sky. Debris and shredded bodies fell like rain.

T he y dodged around the flames and jumped into a shallow trench in the shadow of the city.

Bullets pounded the ground around them. Blood rang through Kane’s ears. Adrenaline flooded his body. He fired, reloaded, fired again. Every time he look ed up there seemed to be more Scarecrows. G angly black bodies advanced on the trench. Kane fired at grinning skeletal faces with e yes like white holes.

He tossed a grenade, and Jade ’s spirit rain ed down shards of blade d ice. Undead bodies sputtered and collapse d, but more stepped forward to replace them.

Something erupted out of the grou nd. C annon fire w as drowned out by a guttural and monstrous roar. S ickening slurps echoed into the sky. Kane smelled rot and earthen waste, something like bile and dirty rain.

A massive worm exploded into view. Glistening black and yellow, the creature was the size of a tank. An enormous circle of buzz saw teeth squeezed Scarecrows in half as its body rose and twisted. It had no eyes, but seemed to sense prey just the same. Gooey white blood exploded from its body as shells struck its carapace, but the attacks only seemed to enrage the beast further. It rose high into the air, a quivering black tower of placid skin, then fell and smashed a trio of Scarecrows beneath it s massive bulk.

“Now’s our chance!” Kane shouted. “Run!”

Jade ’s spirit ploughed the road. Mud and water flew from their path. Shells struck down near by, and Kane heard shouts from the other side of the ruins. Voth Ra’morg loomed over them as they made their way up the hill.

A black clawed hand came out of nowhere and grabbed Kane by the shoulder. He was lifted from the ground and hung suspended by nail-like talons. Pain flashed across his body.

The Scarecrow was covered in mud and filth, and its armor had been blasted apart. Thin bones pushed through the oil and leather skin. T he eight-foot tall brute held Kane up and extended its claws to slash open his stomach.

Ronan leapt between them. His katana deflected the Scarecrow’s claws, and in a blur he hacked the creature’s leg off at the knee. Grey sinew tore and the Scarecrow collapsed, dropping Kane to the g round and knock ing the wind out of him. Maur and Jade blast ed the Scarecrow to pieces with a barrage of bullets and cold fire.

Kane cried in pain even as Jade’s spirit tried to heal him. It had trouble, like his body didn’t want to heal, but after a moment Kane’s r ent skin stitched itself back together. The searing pain faded.

“ Hell of a day, ” Ronan said.

Kane looked at each of them.

“ Let’s finish this,” he said. “ We h ave to find Dani.” He reloaded and turned towards the city. “We have to find Cross.”

Because Cross and Dani and you guys — Ronan, Maur… even you, Jade — are the closest thing to a family I’m ever going to have. I lost Ekko. I don’t want to lose anyone else. Not while I’m alive to do something about it.

Vampire warships sailed low in the sky and pummeled Black Scar tanks and Scarecrows with incendiary missiles. C louds of burning steam rolled across the ground. The air was smelted and thick.

Only one Grey Clan vessel remained. I t floated low in the air and list ed to port thanks to a damaged turbine. Gargoyles clung to the outside of the ship and tore at the hull with razor claws.

The Ebon Cities arm y advanced. The Black Scars tank pummeled ranks of undead giants, war wights and kaithoren with hexed ballistic shot and razor bolts. Greasy corpses exploded in bursts of flaming skin. More Scarecrows and Revengers and Talons poured out of the tank ’ s cargo holds, a horde of dark armored bodies.