Simon grabbed the metal fingers in a grip to rival the hunter’s. His other hand struck at Walker’s unprotected head, tearing at the inhuman eyes. The hunter howled and flung his head back, but his grip only loosened slightly. Sparks flared in Simon’s vision as more and more oxygen was denied him.
Kate appeared and inserted Simon’s glowing sword into Walker’s side. It slipped through the metal easily. She spun with a ragged cry, dragging the blade out Walker’s back, hoping to rip through his spine. The big man reeled backward and kicked out at Kate, forcing her to leap away.
Simon slammed his palm into the elbow of the arm that held him, inward and down, forcing him closer. He crashed his forehead into the hunter’s face. Blood spurted as Walker’s lips and nose split. He roared. The hold lessoned and Simon sucked in a lungful of air. He took Walker’s arm and twisted it around, forcing the steel ball and joint at the shoulder to creak with unexpected strain. A whine built up as the gears tried to compensate.
Walker’s eyes widened, realizing Simon was much more than human. The hunter released his hold because his arm was partially torn from its socket. Simon leaned back, yanking Walker off balance. Slowly rotating into a spin like a hammer thrower, he pulled the stumbling hunter along. The mechanical man couldn’t keep up, hopping and finally lifting off the ground. Simon let go and hurled the huge man away. Stones and ice broke away as the mechanized man slid along the terrace. The metal body collided with several columns, which cracked at their bases and toppled in a ground-shaking crash.
Steel hands pressed against the ground and Walker gained his feet, rotating his shoulder and loosening the laboring pistons and joints. To Simon’s stunned surprise, Walker’s machinery shifted and moved like a living thing as the dangling arm was pulled back into its socket. The metal was repairing itself.
Kate fired two vials at once and they crashed against Walker’s chest in a cloud of green smoke. Acid began to eat away at the steel, but as fast as it was destroyed, new sections ratcheted into its place.
Simon grabbed one of the broken columns. It was thick and pitted and cold under his hands. His fingers dug deep into the cracks. Then he swung it at Walker who put out his arms to catch it. The force of the blow struck the hunter square in the chest and sent him airborne. He flew off the terrace, crashed once on the steps with an explosion of stone, bounced, and rolled uncontrollably through the dirt over the lip of a temple tank where he landed with a high plume of water.
Simon was already in motion, racing for the cistern. He would have preferred Nick’s assistance, but there was no time. If Nick was even still alive. Shoving the image of his friend’s bleeding body from his mind, Simon vaulted down the steps and slid onto his knees in front of the temple tank. Its expanse would call for ample quantities of aether and Simon beckoned all he could.
Walker was already striding along the bottom of the cistern beneath ten feet of water. Simon scrabbled in his pocket and found the stump of chalk he usually carried. He scribed a simple rune on one corner of the tank. Walker looked up through the churning water and actually grinned at Simon.
Freezing water was one of the first spells any scribe practiced. Simon had barely placed his hand on the rune and spoke a word when ice began to crystallize faster than nature allowed. The fracturing crystals groaned and creaked as a thin layer of ice spread across the surface of the tank. Walker still moved unencumbered at the bottom, but the ice was reproducing wildly thanks to the aether urging it on. The crystals extended deeper, growing larger as they went. Simon watched as Walker’s movements became slower and slower in the thickening water. The hunter abruptly stopped in midstep, trapped in the embrace of the ice.
Breathing heavily, Simon shoved himself to his feet and ran back up to the terrace. Ishwar still worked over Nick’s motionless body. The pool of blood around them was wide. Ishwar rocked up and down. He dug two fingers into Nick’s mouth and grasped the jaw of the dying man. A rush of aether burst from Ishwar and traveled into Nick.
Nick gagged and tried to sit up. He pushed the strange fingers from his mouth. He glanced around in confusion. Simon gasped out in relief and turned grateful eyes on Ishwar. The old man nodded wearily.
“The Stone …” he urged.
“We’re ready to go.” Simon helped Nick to his feet.
The group slowly returned to the entry hall where they approached the new portal swirling above the floor. Then the sound of shattering ice came from outside.
Kate took a heavy breath. “Jesus. He doesn’t stop, does he?”
With more pounding steps, Walker soon appeared at the edge of the veranda. His eyes were fierce. Rivulets of blood and slush poured off him. Any damage had been repaired as if it had never been. He stomped across the terrace and kicked one of the columns, smashing the stone pillar into pieces. Huge chunks of stone flew into the entry hall, tumbling past Simon and his group.