An arm outside the crevice let me apply more of my strength to the problem. If my core hadn’t been damaged, I could’ve cycled jinsei, pushed the sacred energy into my channels, and dragged myself out easily. As it was, I had to rely on my natural strength. I shoved once, twice, then again, and finally scraped my way free of the crack. My robes were in disarray, the shirt beneath them torn, and blood trickled from a pair of ugly scrapes across my lower back and chest.
“Glad you could make it,” Hagar said. “This way.”
She led Niddhogg and me along a narrow ledge. The wind tugged at us, threatening to rip us off our perches and send us plummeting to the stone bowl beneath us. The ledge grew steadily wider over the next twenty yards, until it met a broad, crumbling parapet with a low wall that faced the training grounds below. We all crouched down and peered over the edge of the stone and finally saw our foes in action.
The practice arena they battled in was impossibly old. The stone statues that ringed it had long lost any sense of definition or detail as they’d grown weathered over the millennia. Their long, sinuous shapes told me they’d once been dragons, but now they could’ve been the knotty roots of enormous trees, or stylized waves crashing on a beach. Inside the ring formed by the statues, the sloped walls of the arena flattened out into a stone floor of massive granite tiles. The square stones had held their shape better than the statues, though their edges were worn and crumbling. They’d once formed an intricate mosaic, but now it was impossible to make out anything but subtle shadings and patterns hidden by layers of dust and gravel.
The dragons moved across the arena in a loose line. They each held a different fusion blade, and I noted that Trulissinangoth wielded an impressive curved blade nearly as long as she was tall. Despite the weapon’s ponderous size, she wielded it with ease. The way she twirled it around and tossed it from one hand to another made it seem light and nimble.
“They’re strong,” Niddhogg whispered. “Even these younglings could lift a few hundred pounds without breaking a sweat. Don’t be fooled by those big weapons. They’re fast and can switch from defense to offense in the blink of an eye.”
“That’s comforting,” Hagar said with a smirk. “How are we supposed to deal with that?”
Niddhogg was silent as we watched the dragons close in on an arc of humanoid constructs. The artificial soldiers were human-sized and bore sturdy rectangular shields and long, straight swords. Individually, the constructs wouldn’t be much of a match for any one of the dragons. This group, though, thirty in all, seemed like a serious threat to even five of the younglings. The dragons must have reached the same conclusion, because they grouped up into a loose formation that allowed them to protect one another’s flanks while still giving them room to attack with their oversized weapons. They approached the constructs without hesitation. Though they clearly believed they’d win this fight, they didn’t take any unnecessary risks. They halted just outside their opponents’ reach and braced themselves for the attack.
The constructs were just as organized as the dragons. They paired up along the arc of their formation and moved to encircle the Shambala team. They were also careful to stay out of the dragons’ reach and kept their shields raised high to protect their bodies and the lower halves of their faces. Their mechanical steps clanked across the stone and echoed through the arena. Their superior numbers allowed them to nearly surround the dragons, who rearranged their formation into a defensive circle.
Trulissinangoth shouted a single syllable command, and her team brandished their weapons. The threads of jinsei that surrounded the team at her command were visible even from this distance. The sacred energy bolstered the team’s members and bound them together. It was an impressive feat, and I had no idea how they’d done it. Their cores weren’t tied together, exactly, but they were loosely connected. It wasn’t long before I saw the reason behind the technique.
The constructs charged without warning. Silver light flashed from their joints as they surged forward, and sacred energy crackled across their bodies. They moved with inhuman speed, and a shock wave of dust rose behind them. The constructs whipped their shields across their bodies in a backhanded strike that knocked the dragons’ weapons out of line, then lunged forward in a synchronized thrust. Their sharp tips streaked toward the dragons with lightning speed.
It was hard for me to imagine how the dragons would survive this carefully orchestrated attack. Their weapons were out of defensive position. As fast as they were, the constructs’ blades formed a thicket of deadly points that left the dragons nowhere to dodge. Despite the fact that it would make my life a lot easier if the entire Shambala team was murdered by their sparring constructs, I held my breath in dread anticipation.
The dragons moved as one within the noose of blades that closed around them. While each dragon’s weapon was out of position to defend him or herself, they were close enough they could defend their partners. The dragons’ fusion blades spun like turbines. In the blink of an eye, the Shambala team was surrounded by a barrier of whirling sacred energy. Sparks flew where those jinsei weapons slammed into the steel blades of the constructs. A rattling series of high-pitched cracks accompanied the sparks, and suddenly the arena’s stone floor was littered with shattered blades.
“They disarmed them all,” Hagar whispered.
“They’re stronger than I thought,” Niddhogg said. “You’ll want to stay out of their reach.”
“Thanks for the advice,” I muttered. I’d brought the little dragon here to find some flaw in my opponents, not celebrate how strong they were. “Any idea how we can take them out?”
“I’ll keep watching.” Niddhogg
