Her target was not the dragon’s body, but below it, into the downbeat of its wings. The weakest point, with the least capacity for shielding or absorption. Diaphanous sails shredded into fragments of light, and the punch continued onward to strike the Spire, one more blow against the mountain. The dragon’s swift arc spun out of control, and it zagged suddenly left, dropping into trees to the south.
Madeleine sagged, hooking her arm around the statue’s in order to keep upright, while all around her there was an immediate scramble after their target.
"Stick with your partners!" Noi yelled. "Don’t rush in – regroup on the road." She paused to grab Madeleine’s shoulder. "Follow when you can." Then she was gone.
Alone in the pre-dawn twilight, Madeleine staggered back to Tyler’s bench and flopped down, nearly overturning it in the process. The sudden decrease of the great roil of power within left her feeling chilled and vulnerable. Her hands were shaking.
The Spire continued to scream, shredding nerves exposed by cold, but she made herself ignore it, to take deep, even breaths until she felt that she could walk without falling. She didn’t feel ready to fight, but she could get closer to her friends, in reach so she could act when spots stopped swimming before her eyes.
Although she could now see almost clearly, it took care and effort to cross the uneven ground to the road, and she sat down in the gutter for a little while, searching anxiously down the road for signs of her friends. She couldn’t even make out the light of the dragon, and with the noise the Spire was making she was struggling to hear anything of use. Even the small medical team had vanished.
Standing, she checked back to the base of the Spire, and saw that on the far side of the park there was already fighting. Just a handful of people so far, but more streaming from one of the hotels, racing down Elizabeth Street. Gritting her teeth, she started trotting in the opposite direction, down College Street, searching the trees ahead for signs of battle. A dragon shouldn’t be so hard to spot.
Passing the far end of the Cathedral, she glanced to her left across the paved forecourt and over the eastern suburbs. The first gleam of gold had touched the horizon. How long could the Spire Squad keep pounding the mountain? Were they feeling as drained as she? Haron hadn’t been sure how long it would take, or how quickly the Spire would recover if they failed to bring it down.
Turning, Madeleine met the eyes of a familiar, strawberry blonde boy skirting the edge of the trees.
She drew breath – to shout, or take some action – but he was too quick for her, force punching immediately. Her automatic shield kept her whole, but the blow was so strong she was blasted off her feet, too stunned to bring up a second shield as a cushion as she tumbled down a short, flat flight of stairs leading to the main forecourt.
Caught in that moment between being injured and knowing exactly what hurt, Madeleine levered herself to knees and one elbow, but another force punch hit her square in the back and she went down. Her shield was strong enough to keep the punch itself from breaking her to pieces, but not to prevent bruising impact with granite pavers. A third punch hit her, and the stone around her cracked.
"STOP IT!"
Emily’s voice. Horrified, Madeleine jerked her head up, just in time to see Emily launch herself physically at the Core’s stolen boy. Girl and alien overlord went down in a tangle of legs.
No time for recovery. Emily was a strong Blue, but the Core was stronger. Madeleine hurled herself to her feet, staggered, and sat down abruptly. Above her, she could just see Emily, punching at the Core beneath her, only to be blasted upward, more than ten metres into the air. The girl twisted like a cat, and came bouncing down, almost succeeding in slamming into the Core. He punched her again, and this time she tumbled out of Madeleine’s sight, across the street.
There was so little Madeleine could do. She didn’t have the strength to force punch or even attack the Core physically. Her only advantage was the power of her spirit punch, and that she didn’t dare to do because there were no leech Blues nearby. Pushing the Core out of Gavin wouldn’t kill it, and there was all too great a chance that, in her weakened state, it would simply possess her instead.
Whatever came after, the first thing was standing up. Madeleine rose carefully this time, discovering on the way that her left arm hurt when she put any weight on it. Five granite steps, broad and low. Then a short stagger out to the footpath, to find Emily still holding her own, if only just.
Putting what was left of her strength into her voice, Madeleine shouted.
"Shouldn’t you be more worried about the Spire?" She walked unsteadily forward as the Core turned sharply toward her. "While you’re wasting your time trying to squash us, we’re winning this war."
The last thing Madeleine wanted was the Core to go attack the Spire Squad. She needed to unbalance and distract him, long enough to get closer.
"I think you’ve given him a black eye, Millie," she added. "But I expect Gavin will forgive you. Look after him." Another few steps.
The Core glanced toward the Spire, still standing, still screaming, but was not so easily diverted. His arm started to lift, and Madeleine dived forward, not trying to reach him, just closing the distance so that she didn’t need to stretch herself beyond endurance.
She slammed into the footpath, hollow, a doll. Empty, as if only a scrap of her self remained. But light had bloomed. Madeleine rolled painfully onto her back and stared up at the deeply Blue Core as it moved toward her.
Hands, rough and hasty, grabbed her by the armpits and pulled her backward. Fisher. Blackly frowning, hair wild.
"I’m sure you have some perfectly reasonable explanation for not waiting for the leeches," he said, panting as he reversed them both rapidly away, "but right now it’s escaping me."
"Delaying manoeuvre." Madeleine hadn’t heard him running up. "I figured I’m such a temptation to the Core, it couldn’t resist." She was hurting, dizzy, but feeling more herself purely because of the huge swell of emotion any contact with Fisher brought her. "Possessing someone who can hardly stand up would have to be a tactical error."
Fisher let out a startled laugh, and shook his head. "Dangerous logic."
A heavy round bin served as a useful prop, with Fisher positioning himself in front of her, a lone figure almost as tired as she. But already there were pounding feet behind them, and a cry of "Once more unto the breach, dear friends!" to herald a sudden crowd, a city’s defenders arrayed before her.
The Core, far from stupid, immediately flitted in the other direction, and a Moth’s speed may well have led to an escape, but for a grim figure which rose into its path.
"No cutting out on your death scene," Gavin said, perhaps trying to achieve a lightly chiding tone, but with such a harsh undernote of anger that he sounded totally unlike himself as he hit out with a shield.
Knocked backward, the Core failed to evade reaching hands – Nash, Tyler, Claire and Quan – all of them crowding forward. The Core lasted only a few moments longer than Noi’s Moth, and then it was nothing, a collapsing jellyfish.
"May you rot."
Gavin stepped forward, and for a moment seemed about to spit, but shook his head instead and turned his back. And then they were all looking around at each other, eyes large.
"You finished the dragon–?" Madeleine asked.
Pan turned, checking. "Nah, it’s still galumphing up the road behind us, but the Core was the primary target. Time to snicker-snack, ev–"
The Spire stopped screaming.
Madeleine found enough energy to slew around with the rest, to stare across Hyde Park at a familiar skyline, where Sydney Tower was the tallest building, and no midnight spear stabbed the dawn.