Hyran frowned and focused his gaze on the stone, raising it to eye level where it hovered and shuddered as he attempted to add the spin.
“Just one hard shove at a single point,” Lizanne advised. “Like flipping a coin. Momentum will do the rest.” The stone lost its shudder then abruptly began spinning so fast it blurred. “Focus on the target.” Lizanne nodded at the oak. “Remember, the quicker you do this the better. Product is always finite.”
The stone vanished and Lizanne initially thought Hyran had exerted enough force to crush it, but then saw a plume of powdered bark and wood blossoming on the centre of the oak’s trunk. “Faster than a bullet,” she told him, gratified by the mingled surprise and satisfaction on his face. “Send a swarm of them into the closed ranks of an advancing regiment and the results can be impressive.”
“I’ll try a load at once,” Hyran said. He raised the vial to his lips then frowned in annoyance when she reached out to tug it from his grasp.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m afraid this is your last lesson. We can’t afford to expend any more product. Not if we’re to have any chance against the Blood Cadre.”
“You’re sure they’ll turn up then?” He tried to hide it but Lizanne could see his fear. At least he has enough wit to be afraid, she thought.
“I regret to say I’m quite certain of it.”
Her gaze was drawn to a commotion in the camp, soldiers clustering around Arberus and the Electress as buglers blew an inexpert rallying signal. Near by Lizanne could see Korian and a cluster of mounted Brotherhood scouts, the steaming breath of their horses indicating a recent arrival after a hard ride.
“And perhaps sooner than expected,” she added. “I do believe we are about to have some Imperial company.”
CHAPTER 38
Clay
The White’s cry faded after a few seconds, leaving the four of them standing back-to-back in primed and silent vigilance. The surrounding gloom seemed suddenly impenetrable, compelling Clay to enhance his vision with a swallow of Green.
“You see it?” Loriabeth whispered as he scanned the landscape, finding only yet more rocks each one of which possessed an uncanny ability to resemble a crouching drake.
“No,” he whispered back, “but it’s out there for sure.”
“Too much to hope you might be mistaken, I suppose?” Sigoral enquired in a tense mutter.
“It’s not a sound I’m ever likely to forget, Lieutenant.”
“Felt close,” Loriabeth said, the butt of her repeating rifle braced hard against her shoulder. “Musta’ seen us.”
“It saw us,” Clay assured her, his gaze flicking from one rock to another. Although Green enabled his eyes to pierce the dark to a high degree, there were still shadows of sufficient depth to conceal a full-grown White. The sense of being observed was strong and he could imagine the beast lurking in a rocky nook as it gazed upon the strange two-legged intruders into its domain. What’s it waiting for? he asked himself. He knew this beast would be smart, a drake that understood much of what it saw, and perhaps what it heard. If it’s waiting it has a reason.
A faint breeze chilled his scalp and he jerked his gaze upward, eyes roving the blank sky until he saw it, a broad-winged silhouette thirty yards above, moving in a slow circle. Clay gauged its size as a little larger than the fully grown male Reds he had seen in the Badlands. He raised his carbine and trained the optical sight on the silhouette. The range was well within reach of this weapon, but he had severe doubts the carbine’s ammunition could pierce the hide of a White. Also, even with Green in his veins the chances of making a head-shot against a moving target were minimal.
“I’ll follow your aim,” Loriabeth said, raising her repeating rifle. “Aim for the wings. Once it’s down I can make the kill-shot.”
“If we miss it’ll be on us in seconds,” he replied. “Ain’t a good idea to provoke one of these things.”
“Since when did they need any provocation?”
A loud clack snapped his gaze to Kriz, finding her standing with the bulky form of her bomb-thrower raised high and her face set in a fiercely determined grimace.
“Don’t!” he shouted, reaching out to push the weapon aside just as it gave a loud cough and a bright plume erupted from the muzzle. The projectile gave a faint whistle as it arced into the air before exploding in a blaze of white fire that banished the gloom in an instant. The flare dangled from a small canopy of some kind, casting forth a blazing light that painted tilting shadows over the surrounding rocks as it swung about. The White screeched in response to the sudden illumination, revealed in full as it angled its wings and swept towards them. Clay was struck by how thin it seemed in comparison to the full-grown cousin he had confronted beneath the mountain. This one had a neck that seemed more bone than flesh, its wings thin and ragged as was its hide. He stood in frozen surprise as it flew closer, his eyes picking out the mottled patchwork on its scales, before Loriabeth and Sigoral opened fire in unison.
The White twisted as bullets rent the air around it, swooping low then high in an effort to avoid the stinging rain of metal. Sparks flew from the rocks as they chased it across the half-lit landscape, the staccato rattle of their guns soon joined by the percussive boom of Kriz’s bomb-thrower. The White jerked left and right as the bombs exploded around it, Clay seeing one come close enough to blast a hole in its wing. It landed as his companions emptied their weapons and the gun-fire died.
They began to reload with feverish energy, Clay keeping his gaze locked on the White as it crawled towards them across the rocks, covering the distance in a skittering blur, mouth gaping as it summoned its fire. He fumbled for his vials, gulping down Black and stepping forward just as the flames started to blossom. He had intended to hold the beast in place but the urgency of the moment made him clumsy. Instead of freezing the White the unleashed wave of force blasted it to one side. The gout of flame streaming from its jaws went wide, though not before leaving a patch of flame on the sleeve of Clay’s duster. He ignored it and tried again, reaching out with his invisible hand to grab the White so Loriabeth could put a bullet through its brain. Once again it evaded him, leaping to the side as the Black cracked rocks to powder.