Simon pointed back into the house. “Malcolm, sweep the premises for more of these insects. We must protect the others. And we don’t want them to find Ferghus because we don’t know if they can communicate. The rest of you come with me.”
The Scotsman took off down the corridor toward the library while Simon led the way out with Kate and Nick, scrambling around mounds of brick and plaster past the shattered front wall of the once-magnificent home. The huge machine crawled toward the eastern corner, paying no attention to the humans. It stretched its long arm upward and smashed its fingers through windows. Penny knelt fifty yards away across the churned lawn with her blunderbuss ready. Simon waved her to the right, signaling her to the far side of the machine.
He motioned Nick away from the house. “Stand by to strike with fire. We’re going for the brain, and hopefully we’ll short it out. Kate, I want you to do what you can to immobilize the legs.” Simon suddenly clutched at his tattooed breast and cried out with pain. He bent over at the waist though there was no enemy around him.
“Simon!” Kate reached for him.
“Something’s wrong,” Simon hissed through clenched teeth, trying to catch his breath before the next wave of pain washed over him. “My skin … it’s burning.”
Kate took Simon’s arm, but the instant her bare hand touched him, flashes of color sparked in her vision and her own rune seared with pain. The world around her flared with emerald aether. Simon arched backward. Bright green lines cut a path across his torso and arms. The tattoos were rewriting themselves. He let out a sharp cry. Beneath her hands, Simon’s muscles strained. Amazement and terror ripped through her. He was draped in emerald flame, the outline of a god. His features were no longer flesh and bone. He was living aether. It poured into him like a flood. His eyes flashed open and aether boiled out.
He slumped over, gasping for breath. Together they collapsed to their knees. Only Kate’s hold kept him from falling flat on the ground. He slowly straightened, his lips parted in wonder and relief. Aether swirled around them like the flames of an inferno. There was no heat, but she felt it nonetheless. The world glowed. It was beautiful.
Simon stood, slipping away from her and the world abruptly reverted to its usual state so fast it made her dizzy. She put a hand down in the dirt to steady herself. Simon looked normal too, but she knew he wasn’t. He would never be.
“I’m all right.” He smiled calmly down at her as he removed the iron gauntlets and tossed them aside. He raised a hand to Penny and pointed at the machine, which was busy ripping heavy stones off the eastern corner of Hartley Hall. “Aim for the head!”
Nick took a step toward him in alarm, but Simon sent him at the mechanized beast with a nod. With a whispered word on his lips, a green line swiftly traced a tattoo high on his shoulder. Simon ran at the mecha. Just as he reached it, a small vial flew past him, shot out of Kate’s crossbow, and a sizeable chunk of amber swallowed the machine’s back legs, holding it firm. Grabbing one of its free legs, Simon lifted it easily off the ground. Gears whined and hot steam blew furiously as the machine tried to adjust. Simon bent the steel leg in half, then he grasped another beside it.
The machine seemed to recognize its predicament. The long segmented arm released the side of the house and swung at Simon. The blow would have crushed him, but he dove to the side and the red fingers gouged a long furrow in the ground.
Nick sent a steady stream of fire at the machine’s bulbous head, hopefully blinding it as well as doing damage. Penny’s blunderbuss roared yet again. The canister sailed overhead and slammed into the center of Nick’s fireball. The explosion that resulted pounded them all. When the smoke cleared, there was a new dent in the metallic surface.
The machine slammed its fist down again at Simon but he grabbed hold. The mecha tried to retract its arm, but Simon roared, the muscles of his back rolling like marble. With the grinding sound of twisting metal, he ripped the arm off the machine. It reared back, off balance. Penny fired another shell directly at the indentation she already made. The blast forced the machine to stumble. Nick flung two fireballs at the round eye. It erupted in a shower of sparks and ash.
“Keep it up!” Simon shouted. The central eye pivoted with difficulty to face him. Multiple piston-driven legs stabbed furiously at him, but he dodged the pounding attacks. Then he leapt straight up. “Now!”