The machine was trying to sit up, but it kept banging the flat of Ebon’s blade against its left knee, ruining its balance. I heard electric motors whining as it strained against the obstruction, saw Ebon flex slightly, and hoped the golem wouldn’t be able to break the blade. Then, seemingly out of nothing, it slumped to the ground, and I wondered if it was all over.
But a second later, it let out a deafening screech and blew up a cloud of dirt. Instead of trying to right itself by getting a foot under its body, it had activated rockets on its back and was lifting itself to a standing position, hinging on its feet.
The maneuver also gave me a clue as to the true nature of my enemy. For a split second, I caught sight of a single eyeball peering at me from inside the machine—it wasn’t an autonomous machine. This was battle armor. So I didn’t have to completely destroy it.
“Reaver,” I yelled, “Kill the pilot inside it!”
She nodded, and though I wasn’t sure if Beatrix knew what a mech was, she nodded as well. The two women exchanged an unspoken message with their eyes and charged at the same time. Reaver went high, leaping into the air like a jaguar about to pounce on her prey, while Beatrix came in low, glowing warhammer cocked back for a strike.
Reaver hit first and knocked the mech a little off balance. Beatrix struck the machine solidly in its knee, which bent at the joint, momentarily capturing her hammer before she yanked it loose. The machine didn’t go down, though. Instead, it stomped the ground where Beatrix had been. Then, it quickly spun, followed her slide across the dirt, and stomped again. Beatrix batted the strike away but still had to kick herself into a roll to avoid being crushed.
Meanwhile, Reaver was crawling across the mech’s body, apparently looking for a way in. If she could find one, she’d likely grab the guard and twist its head off. She hissed with pain and dropped from the machine. It had activated a rocket near the back of its head, and Reaver was scrambling away, one arm guarding the smoking remains of her leather shirt.
I planned on tackling the mech, but when it turned to try to stomp on the downed Reaver, it also brought Ebon’s protruding blade across my path. Instead, I slid face-first between its legs and kicked one hard as I slid by. The leg looked like it might come off, but instead, it swung high enough for the mech to kick itself in its little arm.
A faint high-pitched sound came from somewhere inside the machine. It wasn’t mechanical, so it had to be the guard. Their legs probably went in the mech’s legs. I guessed he hadn’t spent a lot of time stretching before the fight—it must’ve hurt. I almost felt bad for the thing.
The leg returned to the ground with a heavy, metallic thud, and both of the mech’s hands grabbed its crotch, a direct interpretation of what it was doing inside its suit. Beatrix laughed, snorted, then laughed again. Reaver joined her. I kept my cool and looked for a way to free Ebon.
The mech swung its left arm out at me, missing me by a few inches as I pounded its tough armor with my fists. I had to duck when it turned, sending Ebon shoulder-high over my head.
A shower of red lightning bolts accompanied by an ear-shattering gong announced that Beatrix was working on it from its other side. A loud clang followed by the mech’s stagger said it had taken a blow from Reaver.
I hit it again and saw Ebon shift but had to duck as it turned again, reaching for something with its left hand. A moment later, Reaver grunted, and I knew she’d been caught. I also knew that although I could likely pry the thing’s fingers open and free my companion, it would put both of us in even more danger. I had to end the fight, and I had to do it now.
I decided I’d been cautious enough. As the mech turned again, I didn’t duck under Ebon’s razor-sharp blade. Instead, I flattened my hands, clapped them together, and caught the blade between them. I did feel it nick my skin, but I ignored the pain and yanked hard, pulling Ebon free of the mech’s armor.
Then, I spun the blade back toward the machine and, still holding it in my hands, drove it through the hole I’d already made. There were sparks, a puff of black, acidic smoke, and—the mech froze.
Reaver grunted again, but by the time I’d looked, she’d already freed herself and hopped to the ground, gasping for breath.
Beatrix came out from the other side of the machine with a grim look in her eyes. The left side of her face had been struck and was beginning to swell, but otherwise, she looked unharmed. With a roar, she swung her warhammer, connected with the mech’s chest, and sent it skidding several feet, before our enemy fell over with a dull clang.
Reaver and Beatrix attended to each other’s wounds while I ran to the mech, drew Ebon free, and looked for the cockpit. I found the seam and the window. So long as the pilot was alive and his mech was operational, it was still a threat. The pilot and I stared at each other for a moment before I jammed my sword into the seam and through his shoulder.
The guard—the rushada, as the priestess had called him—tried to bite me through the thick cockpit glass. He was bleeding but not much. His mouth began to unroll from the center of his face, revealing a nest of pointy fangs that never seemed
