Mechanic Dav gave a cry of mingled rage and distress as she rolled to a stop, rushing to stand next to Asha and fire his weapon again and again. The dragon screamed its own challenge in reply, taking a step toward him as bullets sparked off its muzzle.
“Over here!” Mari yelled, running toward the dragon and firing rapidly again.
“My rifle’s jammed!” Calu shouted, working frantically at the inert weapon.
The dragon jerked its head back to focus on Mari. Alain saw the light of recognition fill its eyes and knew the creature had finally realized that Mari was the one it had been sent to destroy.
The dragon would not be diverted from its target again.
He had only moments left to stop it.
As the dragon pivoted to face Mari, Alain saw the flash of one of its inner thighs, the scales thin enough there for the difference to be clear. He knew he did not have time to create a fire spell and place it on that part of the dragon before the beast moved again and left him unable to see the spot. He did not have time. It was impossible.
Mari was about to die.
He never knew how it happened, how he achieved something that could not be done. The fire appeared above his hand and was exploding next to the most vulnerable part of the dragon in a single instant. The scales on the dragon’s inner thigh blackened and melted from the intense heat.
The dragon’s scream was louder than ever, this time wracked with pain. The beast’s right leg crumpled under it and the dragon began falling toward Mari, who was racing back toward Alain.
The dragon hit the pavement with enough force to make the ground jump under the feet of everyone facing it.
Alain, barely able to stand after the sudden expenditure of so much of his strength, felt himself falling.
Mechanic Alli was running forward, one arm drawn back. As the dragon opened its mouth to snap at Mari’s retreating figure, Alli hurled her burden into it.
Alain fell to his knees, trying desperately not to collapse entirely.
Alli had skidded into a sliding turn that brought her just clear of the monster’s jaws. She ran all out toward Calu. “Everybody get down!” she shouted loudly enough to carry over the choking scream of the dragon.
Mari leaped and hit Alain, knocking him to the pavement and covering his body with her own. He had a confused image of the common soldiers obediently dropping to the ground, the other Mages appearing and going flat as they saw Mari doing so, and Mechanic Dav falling to protect Mage Asha.
No more weapons were firing. The dragon had broken off its last scream. For a long moment, the only sound was the scrabbling of the dragon’s claws on the pavement as it struggled to rise.
Alain heard it make an odd gagging sound, as if something were stuck in its throat.
Something exploded with a sound that dwarfed that of the Mechanic weapons, the noise reverberating from the buildings around the courtyard. Alain felt a hail of small objects pelt him, the ones that hit his skin striking hard enough to sting.
And then silence made all the more profound by the vast noise that had preceded it.
Despite Mari being on top of him, Alain managed to twist his head enough to see the dragon.
The monster’s body lay in the courtyard, twitching.
Nothing was left of the dragon above its shoulders.
Mari staggered to her feet, helping Alain up, then wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. “Thank the stars you’re all right. Alain, when Alli says get down, you get down.”
“I will remember,” Alain said.
She looked up at him, frowned, and reached to touch something on his cheek that felt wet. “What is—” Mari’s eyes widened and she combed the fingers of one hand through her hair. “What is in my hair?”
“It is pieces of the dragon’s head,” Alain said. Once he had seen that the dragon’s head was gone, the answer had seemed obvious. He did not mention that similar pieces speckled her face and clothes.
“I’ve got little pieces of dragon brain in my hair?” Mari asked, horrified.
“Yeah,” Mechanic Alli said, running her fingers through her own hair and gazing distastefully at the results as she got to her feet. “Little pieces of dragon brain, little pieces of dragon skull, little pieces of dragon snot—”
“Euwwww!” Mari cried. “Could you have used a little less explosive!?!”
“I didn’t know how much I’d need to blow off a dragon’s head! Excuse me for ensuring that thing won’t get up again!”
“The pieces will dissolve in several days as the power that created them dissipates,” Alain offered.
“Several days?” Mari asked. “No. I am washing my hair as soon as possible. We’re just lucky no one was hurt—” She broke off, turned, and ran over to where Asha lay with Mechanic Dav kneeling beside her. “Asha. How is she, Dav?”
“I don’t know,” Mechanic Dav said, frantic with worry.
“The healers,” Alain said, pointing to where Cas and Pol had entered the courtyard. He found it hard to look at Asha as she lay there, as if he could feel the pain of her injuries just as he once had felt a blow to Mari’s head.
Cas examined Asha carefully. “She’s very tough, which helped. Her muscles were able to absorb some of the force of the blow. It feels like a couple of broken ribs. I’m not sure whether her arm is broken or not. She’s going to have some serious bruises on this side of her body.”
“What does that mean?” Mechanic Dav demanded. “Is Asha going to be all right?”
“I think so,” Cas said. “We should get her to one of Edinton’s hospitals so specialists can look her over, though.”
Alain looked at Mage Dav. “Is this acceptable to you?”
“It is,” Mage Dav said. “My niece believes in the wisdom of Lady Mari.”
Mari shook her head wearily at Mage Dav, then turned to the common soldiers who were watching. “We need a stretcher and someone to carry it.”
“We have healers on the way,” an officer replied. “We have many injured.”
“I’m sorry,” Mari said.
Alain heard the regret in her voice, and knew without asking that Mari was blaming herself for the dragon having been unleashed.
“Sorry?” the officer said. “Lady, you killed the monster. You and yours stood between us and the death it carried. I have never heard of such a thing.”
“The only reason Corporal Rik is still alive is because you stood over him,” another soldier said. “We saw it. The dragon lunging and you not giving way until Rik was safe. Lady, we have heard rumors. I have long ceased believing in myths and legends, but now I see one before me and I know the stories are true.”
As if an order had been given, the soldiers all knelt before Mari.
Alain saw her dismay as she looked upon them.
“Not the kneeling!” Mari said. “What is with the kneeling thing? Stand up, all of you! I don’t care how you… do homage to your own rulers, but no one should be kneeling to me. Ever.”
The soldiers climbed to their feet, looking sheepish. “We do not kneel to our city councilors,” the officer explained. “Or any official of the Confederation. It is a rule among us that even the least deserves the same dignity as the greatest.”
“That’s a very good rule,” Mari said.
“It came down from Jules herself,” the officer said. “Small wonder the daughter of her daughters feels the same. We thought perhaps— We were wrong.”
Cries of welcome marked the arrival of a large group of new soldiers carrying stretchers and several healers who hastened to assist Cas and Pol.
Mari slumped against one wall, her eyes distant, as Asha was carefully placed on a stretcher by soldiers who seemed terrified to be touching a Mage. Standing next to them, Mechanic Dav looked helpless and afraid.