shut again.
“What a waste of blood! We came to talk to the baron, only to find your men waiting in ambush!” she shouted, scanning the woods around her.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Caine shouted from cover.
“Liar!”
Caine dashed across the thicket, from one tree to another. As he did, he lined Lily up with both Spellstorms and snapped off a pair of shots. Deadeye shots each, he focused his magic to make them count. The muzzle flash of his Spellstorms gleamed with rune-halo, and their shots spit forth to strike her square in the face.
She didn’t flinch.
The nimbus of light around her dimmed, but deflected the shots away. Her eyes flashed as though charged by the attack and she gestured to Caine’s tree with her weapon. Like a locomotive, her towering Mule warjack, Argiv, began to speed forward. A churning, earthshaking charge, Caine leapt out from his tree and ran headlong to meet it. The two raced toward one another. At the last second, Caine leapt up, his foot catching the head of the beast like a stepping stone. Into the air he vaulted, a wide arc. His guns trained, they spat once more at Lily.
From out of the thicket, Ace answered Argiv’s missed charge. A single shot blasted from his Longarm, and the mighty Mule’s head and the hull behind it erupted in scything metal shards. The beast stumbled, but did not fall. For her part, Lily reacted to the loss of her beast’s cortex with a shrill cry.
“If you’re so innocent, lay down your weapons! We can end this now!” Caine said from the cover of a new tree.
Whump Whump Whump!
Three shots whistled down. Caine was a heart beat too late this time. The shells detonated overheard in a spectacular airburst, and he reeled with the concussive force and overpressure. His armor’s power-field dimmed, and he staggered back, firing blind as he went. Crouching by a stump, he tried to shake off the fireworks still bursting in his eyes. She saw her opening. Claws retracted, she stepped forward while reloading with practiced movements. She marched on him now, fearless. She was soon mere yards away.
“I think we’re well past that, Captain.” Her voice trembled with building rage. “My family has never had cause to trust your flag, and you’ve reminded me of that today. More to the point, I’ve lost assets and time! I’m not leaving until that welching baron pays us what he owes, adjusted for this fiasco! Are you satisfied to know he is our client? At what cost do you have your answer?
Headless Argiv stumbled on still, before tripping into the swamp. His fire doused, he stirred no more. Hedo, however, was far from done. The second Mule stamped in after the reclusive Ace. Ace fired again as Hedo came on, blasting the Mule’s mace into shards a second before it was brought down over his head. Yet Hedo was undeterred. He dropped the shattered weapon, and lunged at Ace in a lopsided melee. With contempt, Hedo reached forward with a great iron fist, and picked Ace up by the Longarm. Ace flailed at the larger warjack with its axe, but Hedo shrugged the blows off and began to drag the lighter ‘jack from the thicket. The Longarm was soon bent in half in the futile tug of war. With a great heave, Hedo tossed the smaller machine out into the clearing. Ace landed badly, rolling head over heels. Mighty Hedo strode after its fallen foe, its own cannon blasting Ace’s mangled Longarm to bits. He trampled over Ace, without breaking stride. The Mule’s attention shifted to Caine.
Wincing at the loss of Ace’s ordnance, Caine staggered to his feet. His head was clearing from Lily’s barrage, and she stared after her beast as it came to flank him. She’s focused her all on that Mule, he thought. Ducking back from his stump, he made for a deadfall and leveled a fusillade of shots in her direction. Her shield seemed less formidable this time and dimmed with the attack, but didn’t break.
“By Morrow, she’s a hard nut to crack!” Caine growled, still moving, and headed for his next point of cover. The Mule Hedo had not lost him.
Hedo came after him in a rush, and was gaining fast. At the last second, Caine spun in place, to meet the beast, and drew every ounce of his focus into a single surge. A thunder-strike of incandescent force erupted from him, and lashed into the charging