Dreadgod (Cradle Book 11) (79)

Didn’t need to be a Sage to figure that one out.

Yerin appeared over Redmoon in a flash of light and plunged her black sword down onto his chest.

He reached a hand up and grabbed it.

Pink eyes blazed. Even weakened as he was, even wounded, he was still a full Herald. An old one. “Phoenix!” Redmoon cried.

Yerin didn’t need Red Faith’s advice to know she shouldn’t let him do any more.

With her foot, she hooked the hunger spear and kicked it into him again.

This time, it pierced all the way into his chest. His madra flowed from his body and into her, slamming into Yerin as hard as it had hit Little Blue…but she didn’t back up. She stomped the butt of the spear, shoving it deeper. Yerin accepted his power, guiding the flood, letting it swell her core and her channels.

The Blood Sage pushed her away as his twin was starting to look like a thousand-year corpse. “Mine,” he said viciously. Then he grabbed the spear with both hands and pushed it even deeper inside.

Yerin wobbled across the deck. She didn’t mind; if she’d taken any more power from the Herald, she wouldn’t be able to balance it out with sword madra.

And she had someone else to worry about.

Little Blue was twisting in pain, but she gave off a much heavier power than ever before. She looked more solid, shone brighter, and even swelled larger at times. But she was still purple, the red light clashing with blue inside her.

Yerin fell to her knees and pushed out her will, helping to the blood madra inside the spirit.

“Hold it steady,” Yerin said softly. “I’ve got a grip on you.”

Little Blue cycled her madra with an inner focus that reminded Yerin of Lindon’s Heart of Twin Stars. Slowly, with Yerin’s help, the red inside Little Blue separated out. Yerin had to pull blood madra out and let it fizz to red essence that drifted upward.

That was the portion Little Blue couldn’t handle. Most of it, she digested. Her madra cleansed it, and Lindon’s technique made it a part of her.

Little Blue’s struggle grew easier with every second…as her power grew.

Redmoon had, essentially, been a spirit so advanced that he had grown his own human body. A portion of his power was the best Blue could hope for, and Yerin felt a depth to the Riverseed’s soul that she’d never felt before.

It was hard to rate that strength, exactly. Yerin had felt something similar when she was raising her Blood Shadow. Little Blue had become more real. Denser. More substantial.

Flashes of blue light sparked in the depths of her body, but they slowly came less often. Little Blue collapsed onto her back, and her chest rose and fell as she caught her breath.

“You stable, Blue?”

The Riverseed caught her breath a moment longer. Then she gave a vigorous chime and pushed both fists into the air.

Victory.





14





By the time the sky over Moongrave began to turn gold, the defenders were ready.

Lindon had been fascinated to see the script-circles worked into the foundation of the city, so that all the citizens could contribute to the defense. The combat-capable Golds gathered in buildings designed for the purpose, channeling their madra into great script networks that fueled weapons.

Ancient launcher constructs with the stability of stone rose all over the walls, and Lindon felt a measure of power and authority gathering in them that would rival a strike from Malice.

All the Golds in the city couldn’t fuel a single activation of one of those weapons, but they could help bolster the boundary field that lit the ground violet for miles. While that field was active, the structures in the city were stabilized and reinforced.

If not for that field, even a nearby clash between Heralds might destroy Moongrave.

Aura of all aspects was bent to the city’s defense, and Lindon had been delighted to see the boundary field tested. An Archlord had hurled fifty trees at the city walls at once, but all of them had been automatically intercepted by Ruler constructs and turned aside.

That script must have taken incredible knowledge and resources to build, not to mention the constructs involved, and Mercy had told him it wasn’t the only layer of defense.

There were massive scripts beneath the walls to defend against each of the Dreadgods specifically, but it was too expensive to keep them all powered at once. The Wandering Titan couldn’t attack their minds, for instance, so why power mental protections? It would only drain their defenses faster.

When Lindon had been on the tour of the tunnels running underneath the wall, where the great scripts were carved, he had been disappointed to learn he wouldn’t see the other Dreadgod scripts in action. The one was impressive enough, but this was a rare chance.

Now, he still enjoyed the sight from his vantage point over the city. As desperate as Moongrave was, their defenses were Lindon’s imagination come to life.

The sixteen huge launcher constructs around the city walls resembled vulture skulls the size of cloudships, each blazing with violet light. The defensive boundary field gave the light a purple haze, fighting the gold from the sky, and made the air buzz against his senses.

[Their dedication to the darker colors sings to the depths of my soul.]

“Are you finished?” Lindon asked.

Dross purred like a kitten. [I have simulated our death and destruction in every reasonable permutation. Not only did I find it thrilling, but I also have a functional idea of how to avoid any scenario in which the Titan can place us.]