“I can try to work my own spells on these creatures to make them visible, or I can give you directions,” Sen told me, “but not both.” For a moment, she looked as if she might reach out to grab me urgently. Clearly, the battle had broken through some of her detachment. She waved a hand over the body of the fallen hunter beside me, magically revealing him and the beast beneath him. Their colors, dark and covered in blood, made the battle feel realer. I looked but found no gem blasters or other long-range weapons on them.
I weighed my options. We needed to make the hunters visible, but if Sen stopped giving me directions, I would get killed. There had to be a way to have both. I touched the necklace around my throat. It might exhaust me to use it, but it would be worth it if our team were able to see the hunters.
“I’ll figure something out,” I told her, gripping my knife.
Bravi snarled several yards away from me. She had an angry new cut over her eyebrow, but luckily the sword had missed her actual eye.
“We need pairs,” she shouted to our group. “Fight back to back. Makers and wildlings, grab a vampire. The hunters are sending their mounts from one side while they attack from the other.” Her cord came back into her crossbow with a satisfying click.
“I have bad news,” Sen said and stared at the forest’s edge. “I see that there are more… I believe we’re surrounded.” Frustration and adrenaline filled me. We’d held our own so far, but facing another wave might overwhelm us completely.
“Fantastic.” I spat blood onto the ground. I’d bitten the hell out of my cheek during that last tussle. I scanned the trees where the hunters hid. “Sen, I’d like you to keep giving me directions. Don’t bother with your spells. I’ve got an idea.” If I could reveal the hunters before they attacked, then our job promised to be easier. I raised my gaze to the treetops, finding them bright with yellow pollen. That was my best bet.
“Sen. How much will a gust of wind cost me?” I asked urgently, tapping my necklace.
She blinked. “I’m not sure what the constraints of your human body are in this plane’s conditions.”
“Will I pass out?” I was far from our strongest fighter, but maybe I could bring an advantage to the battle. She shook her head. “Great. I’m going to kick up the pollen before the next wave arrives. Let’s coat these guys in something visible.”
In the distance, a redbill cried out. Gem blasts filled the air back on the other side of the battle. My heart thumped hard inside my chest. I narrowed my eyes, readying myself.
“A dozen more,” Sen warned me. “Bigger and angrier than the last.”
I concentrated, just as I had in the Higher Plane. At first, a tiny electric shock surged through my neck. I flinched, but nothing followed except a strange rush of cool air. My skin prickled with goosebumps. It’s working! All that training had paid off. A wave of exhaustion passed through me as the wind whipped up around us. It was an unnatural sensation, the pressure of the moving air heavy on my skin. I waved my hand in the air, summoning the wind toward me with a smooth movement. It was easier to attach the intention of my magic with a movement. I hoped my hand would guide the breeze well.
Bravi stopped in her tracks. Her eyes had been on me as I maneuvered a gentle gust of wind into the oncoming hunters. I couldn’t fight the victorious grin that splayed across my face when my wind caught the disturbed pollen and it rose up as a giant, bright yellow cloud. It coated our oncoming enemies perfectly.
I gripped two knives in my hands, preparing myself for the onslaught. Our teammates rushed around to touch their vampire gauntlets to the fallen hunters to quickly absorb energy. Gauntlets glowed with power. Now that we could see them, the energy could be readily used. A maker fired as he charged forward with a vampire. The vampire, a female with a shaved head, caught the hunter easily with her grappling hook and yanked him off the spider.
Metal clashed against metal. Cannon blasts thundered in the background. I rushed forward to meet a hunter head-on, using the dust-covered head of his anachrin as a springboard onto the creature’s back. It wailed painfully and trembled, jerking us violently to the left. The hunter and I tumbled off the beast. I managed to smack my bracer against his sword and then sank a knife into his neck.
Meanwhile, Sen calmly walked across the field, since I no longer needed her directions. She worked her magic, unmasking all the fallen hunters with a calm air. Bravi shot her an incredulous look but shrugged and kept on smashing her fist into the face of a hunter.
One of the mechanical jaspeths was down, but the other flitted toward me. I spotted Levonia, the wounded maker, sitting nearby on the wall. Her face had paled considerably. She’d been struck worse than we’d thought.
“Can you take her to safety?” I called to the wildling. “Get her to the medics and come right back.” He nodded and helped the large maker onto the back of his machine. They dashed over the wall. I turned to see another oncoming hunter, who’d lost his mount somewhere. I braced for an attack, but a gauntlet blast slammed into his side, causing him to stumble. Dorian cast me a wicked grin, exhilarated despite his bruises and cuts. He lifted his gauntlet to show me he’d grabbed one somewhere along the way.
I surveyed the field. Eight hunters and nine mounts remained. One hunter surveyed us from afar, close to the tree line. Her pollen-covered braid fluttered in the breeze. Were there more? She looked as if she were waiting for something.
I squinted, but then Bravi clicked something in her ear. It was the same action I made to use Bureau comms. They must have fashioned their own devices, taking inspiration from Bureau technology.
“Reshi, I need more makers,” Bravi said. “Can you spare a few?”
Reshi’s voice responded, loud enough for me to hear. “You sent me back one injured. I’ll trade two, but come back and help us at the entrance as soon as you can.”
Eight hunters to go. I huffed. The fighting had already taken a toll on my body. I’d managed to take down a few hunters and make the others visible, but my breath came oddly strained. Sen continued uncloaking the bodies.
A hunter came for me, but Dorian at my side made the work easier. We fell into a dance. Our steps seemed to predict each other’s gestures. He went right; I went left. My movements caused my muscles to sing with pain, but I pushed past it.
I dodged behind Dorian as he released another blast and waited for the perfect moment as the hunter attempted to attack. Again, I went for the legs. This time, I used another gust of wind to send the spider mount off balance. My power both exhausted and enthralled me. Dorian ended the other hunter with two more blasts.
Two makers arrived with fully charged gauntlets, helping Bravi’s forces take down the rest of the hunters. No more came out of the forest, I noted with relief. When the final hunter fell, her tell-tale braid landing limply in the dirt, we heaved sighs of relief.
“The entrance,” Bravi muttered as she caught her breath. Her sliced eye looked puffy and furious, but she could still see. She pressed the device in her ear. “Reshi, we’re headed back.”
“Hurry.” Reshi’s urgency made us break into a run. “They’ve just brought four more shrieking decays, and those awful tachni mounts. We need to clip some wings.” Her voice cut off as a cannon fired, no doubt from her own defense system.