Satrine dashed through the beasts, Asti, and Dayne to get under the rings, and in a flash her hands were in the panel. She yanked Verci out by the legs. As soon as they were clear, Dayne dropped down flat.
The rings spun with wild abandon in the other direction.
The last beast standing hurled itself at Asti, who ducked and let it crash into the rings, where it was torn apart in an instant.
“Tragic,” Dayne said as Asti pulled him out of the way of the spinning rings.
“I won’t cry over it,” Asti said. “Now?”
Veranix struggled to get Crenaxin onto the platform as the whole machine began to emit a pale white glow, and a high-pitched whine grew louder.
“We have to help him,” Dayne said.
Asti held up one of his knives. “Aim for the wings.”
Dayne understood. He hurled his shield hard at Crenaxin, knocking it in the wing. Crenaxin screamed in pain, though that was more likely from Asti’s knife in its eye.
“You said the wings.”
“I told you the wing.”
But the distraction had thrown Crenaxin off balance in his attempt to fly away, and Veranix was able to pull him onto the platform.
“Now!” he shouted.
The white glow and the whine intensified, and around the machine the eight beasts collapsed to the ground, now eight naked, normal humans.
Up top, the dragon was melting away back into human form, while Veranix wrapped him further in the rope, holding him down.
Minox screamed and collapsed, his hand falling out of the niche in the machine. Despite that, the rings spun faster than ever, the glow so bright it hurt Dayne’s eyes. He could barely see Veranix on the top of the platform, holding down the nearly human Crenaxin.
“Get out of there!” Dayne shouted.
“I need to hold him to it!” Veranix yelled over the whine, which was nearly deafening.
Verci and Satrine dragged Minox’s limp form over to the gap, pushing him out to Dayne and Asti. They crawled out next, as the orbiting rings wobbled and shuddered. Verci ran over and embraced his brother, while Satrine helped Minox to his feet.
The glow became impossibly bright, brighter than the sun, as the rings flew loose from their housing.
Dayne held up his shield standing in front of the constables and Rynaxes.
Then a flash of light, a crack of thunder.
Then nothing.
Dayne lowered his shield.
Where the machine had been, there was just rubble and scraps of metal.
“The Thorn?” Asti asked, still holding a tight grip on his brother. “Crenaxin?”
There was no sign of either one.
Chapter 25
JERINNE STARTLED AWAKE.
Her hand instinctively went to her side. She should be lying in a pool of blood, but there was almost none on the floor. And no pain from the wound. She looked down—her tunic was shredded, caked with blood, but when she lifted it up: no wound. Barely a scar.
How was that even possible?
She got to her feet, noticing a strange amount of sunlight streaming down on her. The bell was gone from the bell tower, as was half the roof. What the blazes had happened? It was oddly quiet outside.
She opened the door to the narthex. It was strewn with bodies of the beasts. Eight or nine of them.
The cloistress.
Jerinne drew her sword and ventured out the shattered church door. The cloistress was on the ground, holding Jerinne’s shield on her arm, the bald man’s mace—the head now shattered-- in the other hand. She was just lying there, like she was sleeping peacefully.
The square was a smoking ruin, with a pile of rubble in the middle where that machine had been. The bodies of zealots and creatures littered the square, along with the church bell, sitting overturned on the cobblestone. Over near the rubble, she saw Dayne untying a group of constables, while Minox and Satrine were talking to other ones. To the side, the Rynax brothers—they were brothers, right?—were conferring quietly, looking like they wanted to stay out of the way of the constables.
Lockwagons arrived, and Jerinne watched as zealots were ironed and wagonned. An older man in uniform pulled Minox Welling into an embrace, and then did the same for Dayne, and then gave Satrine an awkward shake of his hand.
The fight was definitely over, and she had missed most of it.
“Dayne!” Jerinne called out.
Dayne looked up, and charged over to the church. The Rynax brothers started to walk over—more like limp—while Satrine and Minox took a bit more time finalizing things with the constables.
“Jerinne!” Dayne said as he bounded up the steps. “I . . . I was so worried that you were—well—”
“I think I almost was,” Jerinne said. “I think she—she saved me somehow.” She looked down at the cloistress.
“Why does she have your shield?” Dayne asked.
“I was hurt, and she . . . she wasn’t making any sense, but she touched me and locked me in the bell tower. And now there isn’t a mark on me.”
Dayne knelt down and scooped the girl up. Jerinne took her shield back, while the mace felt to the ground.
Asti and Verci came up, both of them taking note of the mace as they approached. “The people in the church?” Asti asked.
“Safe, I think,” Jerinne said. “The monsters never got past the narthex.”
“Good work, girl,” Asti said. Jerinne didn’t have the energy to correct him.
“I can’t take the credit,” she said as they went in. “It was all her. Somehow.”
Asti and Verci surveyed the carnage in the narthex. Verci went and righted the statue of Saint Bridget, while Asti knelt down by the body of the bald man.
“Oh, Jared,” he said, touching the man’s face. “I hope you find some peace, my friend.”
“He helped save everyone else,” Jerinne said quickly.
“Old fool,” Asti said, wiping at his eyes. “He deserved better.”
Verci went to the door to the nave and gave it a few knocks. “It’s all clear out here. It’s over.”
A voice called from the other side. “How do we know?”
Asti stepped up. “Is Kimber in there?”
After some murmuring on the other side, a
