Page 72 of Elven Crown

The laser swung wildly from side to side, now settled on a swiveling mount in the back of the truck. It lit up the docks with a crackling blaze of deeper green light, destroying everything it touched.

The laughing buffoon didn’t seem to notice his own fellow griybreki getting caught in the crossfire. He just kept swinging the weapon madly back and forth, spraying green laser everywhere in a poor attempt to blast down the gray wolf leaping from creature to creature and drawing steadily closer.

Maxwell was fast, yes. His wolf was even faster. If it hadn’t been for that damn laser stream and its violently unpredictable path, he would have reached his target much sooner. Instead, having to dodge and avoid being obliterated slowed him down too much.

Rebecca fired off more battle magic at a group of griybreki chasing after Maxwell’s wolf, but she couldn’t get any closer to the back of the trailer.

And they’d beensoclose to calling this mission a success.

Maxwell’s wolf darted around the docks, avoiding the laser blasts and sending the much smaller griybreki flying in all directions, screaming from their injuries.Ifthey survived.

Then a dark flash erupted from somewhere behind Rebecca.

The kind of dark flash she instantly recognized.

Before she finished spinning around toward it, she was already looking for the source.

The dark light that wasn’t light at all but its opposite created its own shadows along the docks, washing everything in a dancing veil of disorienting shapes that shouldn’t have been able to move on their own. Under normal circumstances, they couldn’t.

But this was Rowan Blackmoon’s magic, and he had mastered it long ago.

Rebecca didn’t expect to find him so high off the ground, but it made sense. He ran across the tops of the shipping containers, sailing over the gaps between them in one graceful leap after another. This way, he circumvented both the griybreki forces on the ground and the green spray of laser fire.

Even the stray shots going wild seemed too easy for the Blackmoon Elf to avoid. He dodged them effortlessly without losing so much as a second in his swift advance on the rear of the open transport trailer.

When he’d almost reached the truck, the giant griybreki wielding the weapon noticed Rowan’s approach. With a snarl, the creature heaved back on the laser gun to angle it up at the tops of the shipping containers.

Rebecca watched the next blasting stream of obliterating green light spew from the end of the laser gun and arc right up toward Rowan. For a split second, she couldn’t keep the horror from overwhelming her while the rest of the world moved in slow motion.

It looked like this was about to be the end of Rowan Blackmoon.

It might have been, but Rebecca had forgotten just how skilled he really was.

Before the laser ever came close to reaching him, Rowan leapt off the edge of the final shipping container, flipped over the deadly green beam of magical energy, and sailed forward to land on the ground inches from the mouth of the open trailer.

Before the griybreki could pull the laser back down again, Rowan jumped into the trailer and disappeared from view.

There wasn’t even time to shout after him or attempt going to his aid. Rebecca merely stared at the end of the vehicle.

The horrifying whine of the laser gun inside sputtered and finally brought the entire machine to a standstill. No more hum of augmented magitek, no more green glow from inside the trailer. Just a crackling hiss, a clatter of mechanical components grinding to a halt as if forced to disengage, and an incredibly heavy thump of an enormous body hitting the trailer floor.

Another twitching mechanical whirr and a shower of sparks erupted from the mouth of the trailer, joined by a thick gray smoke and more violent hissing.

With the big griybreki and his laser gun out of the way, Rebecca’s team made short work of their remaining enemy forces. Only a few more stray shots echoed across the docks, their numbers petering out when the last of Eduardo’s convoy dropped.

Someone shouted across the docks, chasing after the grotesque slapping of bare webbed feet growing steadily fainter. Rebecca could only assume it was the sound of a griybreki or two escaping the same fate as the rest of their convoy.

That might become a problem for Shade in the future, when Eduardo found out what had happened. But for now, one or two escaped creatures running back to safety posed little threat.

At least the laser had stopped, and as far as she could tell, Rebecca’s team were all in good health.

When she still hadn’t seen any sign of Rowan, she darted around the trailer to get a better look inside. She reached it just as Rowan jerked on the handle of his dagger to pull the blade from the side of the giant griybreki’s neck.

A thick spray of blood burst from the wound. The griybreki let out a gurgling hiss, then the big, dumb oaf toppled to the trailer floor with another echoing thud that rocked the trailer on its wheels.

Then everything else fell still.

Rebecca noticed the rest of her team had joined her to confirm the laser gun’s operator had been taken out. She glanced at each of them, all of whom stared at Rowan with matching expressions of shock, awe, and an understandable amount of weariness after what he’d just accomplished.

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