Asha and the other four Mages all produced their long knives from beneath their robes.
“Are you joking?” Mari asked in a shocked voice.
“Mages do not joke,” Alain reminded her. “They will use their concealment spells to get close to the monster. A well-delivered blow to the back of the knee joint can hamstring even a dragon.”
“It is not easily done,” Asha added, her face an emotionless mask. “But it is a worthy test of a Mage’s ability to focus, to concentrate on a spell while also aiming to strike the dragon and evade its blows.”
Mechanic Dav stared at her. “Please be careful.”
Asha said nothing, but one corner of her mouth twitched in a tiny Mage smile as she reached out one hand to touch his cheek.
Mari turned to Alain, but before she could say anything another dragon scream sounded close by, this time accompanied by shouts and yells. “Over there!” Mari cried, directing Alli to one side. “You stay on this side near me,” she told Alain. “But move back a little so you’ll be able to spot a good shot at the dragon and make it happen. Everybody else, disperse along these three sides of the courtyard so we’ll have that thing surrounded when it enters.”
Everyone was still moving into position when three cavalry bolted through the courtyard from the direction the dragon was coming, the soldiers making frantic and unsuccessful attempts to regain control of their terrified mounts.
The shouts were rapidly growing louder. Alain saw common soldiers racing into the courtyard as well, some running all out like the panicked horses and others supporting injured comrades. Some of the soldiers still carried crossbows, but many had lost theirs in the retreat.
Behind them came a larger group of soldiers still under the control of their officers, who were yelling commands as the soldiers fell back fast. The rear rank formed a line just inside the courtyard, the soldiers aiming and firing their crossbows as their comrades staggered back.
Mari waved her Mechanic weapon over her head, her shout carrying over the commands of the officers and the thudding sound of steps from something very large that was very close. “Get behind us! We’re going to stop that thing!”
The formation of soldiers paused in disbelief, then a quick-thinking officer began crying out commands to send them to the sides of the courtyard. “Fall back!” he called to the lone rank at the entrance to the courtyard, who were reloading their crossbows.
The rearguard loosed a final volley, then broke and ran for all they were worth.
Alain heard the dragon’s scream again at the same moment he caught sight of it. It towered high enough for its head to rise above the surrounding buildings, wicked rows of teeth as long as a person’s arm catching the light of the rising sun. Long claws gleamed on the end of its forearms. Crossbow bolts bounced off of the dragon’s scales with dull thuds as the monster bent to slash at the fleeing soldiers.
One small group of soldiers was flung in different directions as the dragon’s blow swept through them. Moving with amazing speed for something so large, the dragon entered the courtyard, one massive, clawed hind -leg raised to squash a wounded soldier who was lying stunned on the paving.
“Fire!” Mari shouted to the other Mechanics. The booms of the Mechanic weapons echoed from the buildings around the courtyard, startling the dragon so that it fell back one step. Bullets sparked from the dragon’s head as the Mechanics tried to hit its eyes, flying off with high-pitched keening sounds instead of bouncing away as the crossbow bolts had.
All of the Mages except Alain disappeared as they used concealment spells, under cover of which they would be moving in to attack the dragon as well.
Standing slightly back, Alain felt like an observer to the fight rather than a participant. It frustrated him because he wanted to be among those in front, but he understood the wisdom of Mari placing him far enough back to be able to act immediately if a good target presented itself.
But as the dragon shook off the first volley of Mechanic rifle fire and refocused on the fallen soldier, Alain was too far back to stop her as Mari suddenly ran forward.
She was firing her weapon as fast as possible, but something appeared to stick on it. Mari wrestled with the rifle for a moment, then hurled it away, drawing her pistol. Standing over the fallen soldier as the dragon bent to strike, Mari unleashed a stream of bullets that caused the dragon to flinch up and back.
“Somebody help me here!” Mari cried as she reloaded her pistol.
Mage Dav appeared next to her, dropping his concealment spell to grab the soldier by one arm and pull him quickly back to where some of the soldier’s comrades were forming ranks behind the Mechanics. Mechanic Alli dashed out to help get the man to the small relative safety that existed behind the screen of the other soldiers.
Alain knew he should not waste strength on an attack that could not seriously harm the dragon, but it had recovered from the shock of Mari’s attack and was now fixing on her. He imagined the heat above his hand, using the power available in this spot along with his own strength to feed the illusion. Not waiting for the illusion to build to the maximum he could manage, Alain imagined the heat no longer above his hand but next to the dragon’s head.
The dragon screamed again, the sound deafening so close and confined in the courtyard. It sidestepped, its huge tail sweeping around to strike at Mari, who was running backwards. Alain’s distraction, on top of that caused by the Mechanic bullets continuing to strike the creature, slowed the beast enough that the tail barely missed striking Mari. She was able to make it back among the others so that she no longer stood out as a target for the dragon.
“I am angry at you!” Alain yelled over the cacophony of combat.
“Save it for later!” Mari shouted back. “Get that thing!”
“I cannot see a place to strike!” The dragon twisted and lunged, making abortive strikes that kept breaking off as hits from other directions caused it to forget its original target.
The common soldiers had formed up behind the very thin screen of Mechanics, those carrying pikes which looked ridiculously small against the dragon planting their weapons to protect the remaining crossbow wielders, who were shooting out bolts as fast as they could. But every crossbow bolt glanced harmlessly off the dragon’s scales.
On the other side of the courtyard Alain could see Mechanic Alli, carrying one of the bundles she called explosives, also frustrated by her inability to use it. “It won’t hold still!” Alli cried to Mari.
The booming of the Mechanic weapons had slowed, Calu, Dav, and Mari taking time to aim each shot. But the creature’s darting head presented a poor target, and none of the bullets succeeded in hitting an eye. So far no real damage had been done.
“I’ve only got so many bullets, Mari!” Calu called.
“Only fire often enough to keep the dragon from fixing on one target!” Mari yelled back, firing her pistol a moment later.
The dragon twisted, its head lunging toward Mari, who scrambled to one side as both Calu and Dav fired. Both shots hit the dragon’s head. The creature halted its lunge, shook its head, then looked around for some other enemy to fix on.
The ring of metal on scales sounded in the interval between the crashes of the Mechanic weapons. The dragon jerked its leg forward, then back. Mage Asha appeared suddenly, her long knife flying from her hand, stumbling to one side as the dragon’s leg brushed her with bruising force. Seeking its latest attacker, the dragon pivoted, its tail slamming into Asha hard enough to hurl her across the courtyard.