Page 94 of The Sunlit Man

“Get back onto Zeal’s ship,” Zellion shouted, pointing. “Defend it! Don’t let any of the Charred linger long enough to plant more bombs. If they do, toss the bombs overboard.”

She nodded as he waved for Rebeke to steer them that direction. Elegy jumped across to that deck, and Zellion pointed forward—to where Charred were dropping off of an enemy ship to the deck of the third of the four gunships.

Rebeke pushed them forward, and he leaped, using the momentum to carry him through the rushing air to land on the ship. A Charred here was charging something against her cinderheart—one of the bombs. It seemed they needed to be primed, which gave him a few moments to break through the others and stab her through the neck.

His weapon wasn’t Invested, though. Just a common spear. Shockingly shesurvivedthat hit, forcing him to slap her hand and kick the bomb over the side. The explosion rocked the ship as he sparred with three other Charred. At least the one he’d stabbed seemed to have trouble fighting. She could barely keep to her feet.

Thinking of that, he focused on the feet and legs of the Charred. He got in a few stabs, then grabbed the railing and motioned in a circle. The pilot, a woman he didn’t know well, got the idea and rolled the ship—sending a bunch of wounded Charred screaming into the mud below while Zellion hung on.

A quick glance told him that Elegy was holding her own on the deck of Zeal’s gunship. Aux was extremely effective against enemies who were used to being able to rush in and dominate the fight, unconcerned about whether they might take a hit or two. A weapon that cut through metal and severed souls was an excellent way to punish the overly aggressive.

Elegy finished off the Charred who tried to stop her, then kicked two bombs over the side—they didn’t detonate, but instead fell mutely to the mud.

Unfortunately that only protected two of the gunships. One was down. Elegy was on one deck. He was on the third. And the last…

He felt the shock wave as a blast went off nearby. He spun and found the final gunship—piloted by Jeffrey Jeffrey—struggling to stay in the air. It had a gaping hole in one side, where—in the strange way of the cinderhearts of this place—the steel itself continued to smolder. Judging by the way the ship was floundering, it was as good as down—especially as he saw three more Charred affixing bombs to various portions of the deck.

So that was two gunships down. And…

No. Not down yet. That shipwasdead. But people were still alive on board.

This time, he didn’t need prompting from Auxiliary. He didn’t think further; he ran to the edge of his ship and leaped. A moment of rushing wind followed, then he hit the deck of the fourth gunship hard—as it had been approaching too quickly—losing his spear in the roll. He was thrown to the side as the ship rocked.

With a cry, he summoned Auxiliary as a grappling hook and sank it into the deck, holding himself in place. Hopefully Elegy would be able to survive for a short time unarmed.

Wind roaring around him, ship trembling, he surged to his feet and—ignoring the Charred who were charging their bombs—bounded for the cab of the ship. Inside, he could see only Jeffrey Jeffrey, trying frantically to control the ship.

Zellion summoned Auxiliary as a full-sized Shardblade, as long as a man was tall, then used it tosliceoff the top of the ship’s cablike he was opening a can of food. He saw no sign of the copilot; perhaps they’d been thrown free. Zellion pulled himself up over the lip and reached down, grabbing a confused Jeffrey Jeffrey by the coat. Auxiliary sliced the man’s restraining belt free, then Zellion grabbed him with both hands and heaved him out.

He looked back as the Charred leaped free of the ship, falling to the mud below, as other ships were too far to reach. Zellion eyed the blinking bombs, then summoned Auxiliary once more. As a shield. On top of one of the bombs.

Zellion jumped onto it as the bomb detonated.

He and Jeffrey Jeffrey were thrown into the air. Zellion caught sight of a flash of color and metal in the chaos, and swung. When everything settled, he hung by one arm from a set of claw hooks he’d formed from Auxiliary, which he’d rammed into the hull of theDawnchaser. He held Jeffrey Jeffrey by one arm beneath him, dangling above a drop of some twenty or thirty feet.

Looks like he’s got a few broken ribs, the knight observes. Severe whiplash. Some nasty bruises waiting to form all along his right side, maybe a concussion.

But he was alive. Zellion hauled him up and tossed him onto the deck of theDawnchaser. Zellion followed, stumbling up onto the deck. On a nearby ship, Elegy was facing several Charred on her own. He shouted to her, then formed Auxiliary into the shape of a metal ball, easy to throw. He hurled it to her, and she caught it. Aux formed into a machete in her hand.

Zellion turned back to Jeffrey Jeffrey, dazed on the deck. The bearded man looked up, eyes wide, trembling. “Why…” he said. “Why is the light breaking around you?”

Zellion glanced to the side. More fragments hung in the airaround him in an arch. Three others glowed on his arms, remnants of a different kind of spren. All were reflections of light in the air, making it seem distorted. Maybe…ten of them? Almost like old times. The remnants of two orders, and the oaths he’d left behind.

Nomad smiled and gestured for Jeffrey Jeffrey to make his way into the cab of theDawnchaser, which the man did, limping. Zellion prepared himself for the next fight, raising his fists, ready to go hand to hand.

But the enemy forces were falling back for some reason.

There, the knight says. Look, faithful squire. Ships have landed ahead of us.

The Cinder King’s entourage. They’d circled a spot on the ground, and had sharpshooters on the decks with rifles pointed skyward. Zellion nodded through the windshield to Rebeke, who took their ship out of the formation and flew it down to do a quick scan. Blasts of rifle fire took bits off the railing and made dents in the hull, but didn’t penetrate the thicker armor of Elegy’s vessel.

Rebeke surveyed the spot, then met his eyes through the glass. She nodded once, firmly. The ship’s prospector scanners had identified a large power source below—as he’d hoped, the Cinder King had led them straight to the Refuge.

It was time to see what was inside.

Elegy got the sensethat the battle, in its current form, was finished. The enemy ships were pulling back, and theDawnchaserhad finished its low-level sweep and determined they were in the right location. Now it seemed like a standoff between the Beaconites in the air and the Cinder King’s forces below.

She felt…fear. Not the blinding, sudden, debilitating fear of hands around your neck. The creeping, pernicious, omnipresent dread that things were slipping out of your control.

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