“I’m guessing the spikes and statues can’t be removed,” Verci said. “But there’s the spike missing.”
“Which is where I fit in,” Minox said. He focused his intentions on his hand and placed it in the niche for the spike, urging it to flow into the space.
Unlike last time, where Senek had taken control over him and his magic, this time Minox was in full command of his faculties as his hand, and to an extent he, became part of the machine. He could feel the magic and other energies flowing and shifting throughout the device, whirlpools of the spikes threatening to pull him in. The statues like floodgates, letting the magic surge out to the changing beasts.
“What do you need?” Verci asked as he took out a tool to pry at one of the metal panels.
“I need to draw it all in,” Minox said. He took a deep breath and tried to pull the magical energy into his hand, into himself. But he couldn’t manage it; it was like pushing against the current. The magic wanted to go through and out, and he wasn’t strong enough to overcome it.
“What’s wrong?” Verci asked.
“The flow is too strong. I can’t get it to come to me.”
“Flow, like water?”
“An apt description.”
Verci looked over the machine, tracing lines with his fingers.
“So we reverse it,” he said. “You said it’s going out through the statues?”
“Yes.”
Verci pulled a pair of heavy leather gloves out of his pack. “Then get ready. I’m about to do something stupid.”
“Mister Rynax—”
Verci had the gloves on, standing in front of the first statue. “Don’t worry. Stupid’s my specialty.”
He grabbed it and quickly spun it around to face inward. Minox immediately felt a shift in the flow of the magic. Verci winced and shook out his hands.
“Are you injured?”
“No, but it didn’t tickle,” Verci said. “Let’s keep on it, you keep pulling.”
Verci got to work, wasting no time getting the eight small statues turned around. With each one, Minox was able to draw the power away, draw magic out of each monster that was being fed.
“Holy saints, it’s working!” Verci shouted. Minox saw that the beasts were changing: teeth pulling back into their mouths, skin descaling, claws shrinking.
Then there was a massive shift in the flow of energy, from the platform. Minox looked up and saw that Veranix was on the platform, trying to pull down the dragon with his rope. Minox had no idea how the young man was able to handle all the magical energies pouring and swirling up there.
“Keep it going!” Veranix shouted. “We need to reverse it all!”
Even with the statues turned around, it wasn’t enough to pull all the magical energy back into his hand. At most, he could hold it at a standstill.
“It’s not enough!” Minox shouted. “I welcome further ideas.”
“Right,” Verci said. “I think . . . oh, yes, that’s it.”
“What?”
Verci pried open one of the panels to reveal the gear work in the machine and peered inside, then looked up at the rings.
“All right,” Verci said. “Remember in the Parliament where you stopped the whole machine for a few minutes? We need to do that again.”
“If I could, I already would have,” Minox said.
“I don’t mean completely, just for a minute. Just the rings. We get them stopped for a bit, then I can get in there and flip out the control shafts.”
“Which will do what?”
“Reverse the direction the rings are spinning.”
“I can’t do that and pull back the magic,” Minox said.
Verci called up. “Thorn?”
“I’m a little busy!” Veranix shouted. He was holding his cloak over his face to shield himself from the bursts of fire Crenaxin was shooting on him.
“What do you need?” Asti called from the gap.
“The rings stopped.”
“That’s imposs—”
Asti was interrupted by a horrifying wrenching noise, as the rings suddenly jammed in place. Minox felt a sense of immense relief, as the magical energies began to pool and grow inside him. He glanced over to the gap.
Dayne Heldrin had wedged his shield between two of the spinning rings and was holding it still.
“Hurry!” he shouted.
Dayne couldn’t hold the rings in place long. They strained against him, forcing themselves against the shield that he struggled to hold in place.
Verci Rynax crawled into the bowels of the machine. Up on top, Veranix was pulling on his rope, which surged with pulses of green and red energy.
“You lose that and Verci gets torn to shreds,” Asti said.
“I’m aware,” Dayne said.
Crenaxin squawked and screamed as Veranix kept reeling him in to the platform. “Save me, children! Save me from these heretics!”
The words made Dayne’s knees buckle, and for a moment he almost slipped, the rings moving only half an inch before he reaffirmed his hold on them. The zealots and constables, who had all been subdued and bound, strained and struggled as if the command had reinvigorated their desire. Some of them tried to break their own arms or legs to get out. Satrine worked to keep them in their places.
But that wasn’t the problem. There were a handful of the transformed beasts across the square that rose up and galloped toward the machine. From the look of them, they had all been nearly mortally injured, but Crenaxin’s powerful command had been enough to get them back up.
Asti stood in front of Dayne, knives out. “Keep at it. Not one of these bastards is going to touch you.”
The beasts leaped at Dayne, but Asti moved fast and hard, not only striking with savage skill, but taking the blows that would have gone to Dayne. Letting himself take the punishment.
Suddenly there was a shift, and the rings pressed at him from the other direction. It was all he could do to still hold them in place, as the change nearly knocked him off his feet.
But Verci had done it.
“Get out of
