007 Those Who Watch the Sky - 07
07 – Children Cursed by the Sky 4
“Elliot, I’ll take the front.”
“I don’t think that’s a good
idea Link. We don’t know how efficient Squawk’s spell was and the last thing
you need is for your leg to give out fighting a machine sentry.”
“Even on a bum leg I’m still
more agile than you are so if it is hostile I’m the better choice for getting
its attention.”
“Will you two lovebirds stop
arguing and just deal with it already.”
“But Squawk–”
“You heard him Elliot so here
goes!”
Taking advantage of Elliot
growing distracted by Squawk, who was shaking Link’s scabbard as he chased
after the two of them through the burning woods, Link accelerated ahead deeper
into the forest. Noticing his folly, Elliot pulled his left hand free of his
scabbard just long enough to run it down his face as he sighed. With his exasperation
expressed he veered out from behind Link to cut a different path through the
woods to flank whatever it was that awaited the three of them ahead.
What awaited Link, Elliot, and Squawk
was indeed none other than what they called a machine sentry. Standing near two
meters tall the skeletal, mechanical approximation of a human being stood with its
mouth wide open revealing an orange gem. The gem was giving off a harsh glow
that was growing more intense by the second. Then, without warning the light
was discharged as a searing beam of light that cut through trees like a hot
knife through butter igniting the felled vegetation. Watching the beam so
easily cut through the sturdy trees made Link swallow nervously but she did not
withdraw from her course. Her movement did not go unnoticed by the machine
sentry however and the robot turned its glowing orange eyes on her.
– Organic
target identified. Engaging combat protocols. –
“Eep?”
Link made a meek sound as the machine sentry raised an arm
and aimed it at her. An instant later a bolt of light struck Link in the
stomach and stopped her dead in her tracks.
“LINK!”
With eyes widening in terror Elliot changed direction to get
to Link but she suddenly started moving again and took cover behind a tree
clutching at her stomach and gasping for breath. Elliot was not sure if she was
injured or not and did not know what course of action to take next. The machine
sentry lacked any such indecisiveness and announced its next course of action.
– Verifying target’s shielding efficiency…
Engaging main cannon… –
“Link! Get out of there! NOW!”
“Well at least we know it’s hostile!”
Though Link laughed as she spoke she took Elliot’s warning
to heart and bolted out from where she had taken cover making sure to keep her
eyes on the machine sentry. Her dedication to her opponent awarded her with a
clear view of the orange gem hidden in its mouth returning to view and taking
on the same harsh glow as before. An instant later the beam fired with the robot
turning its head in a sweeping motion to direct the beam along Link’s path. Barely having the time to act Link hurled her
body into the air and twisted in a tight spin. Her twisting allowed her to
alter her course and as she landed she was facing the sentry directly and
bolted forward to face it.
– Target mobility classification: High…
Preparing to intercept… Laying down suppression fire… –
Lifting both arms and leveling them at Link the machine
sentry revealed the small orange gems that lined the back of its hands. Not
wanting to get caught in its line of fire Link change direction and cut behind
a burning tree. The tree proved invaluable cover as the machine sentry opened
fire and laid down a hail of bolts of light. As good of cover as the tree
provided, engulfed in flames as it was it lacked the integrity to withstand
much more of the assault it shielded Link from.
“Enough!”
Distracted by its focus on Link the machine sentry failed
to defend itself from Elliot who appeared from its flank and brought his sword
down hard against its arms. Unfortunately for Elliot he quickly discovered that,
as he had suggested some time back, he could not cut through the machine sentry’s
metal body with his sword and bounced back exposing himself to a counterattack.
Fortunately for him it just turned out to be a backhand, though the blow caught
him square in the face and hurled him across the small clearing the machine sentry
had made for itself. Taking the time to attack Elliot however resulted in it
ceasing its fire and Link charged out from behind her cover to try her hand at
striking it.
“Keep your hands off of my friends you pile of scrap!”
It did not take the machine sentry long to open fire at
Link from the arm it still had loosely pointed in her direction but she had
been expecting it and dropped to slide between the sentry’s legs. As she slid
by she tried striking at its legs but had as much luck as Elliot, though her
slide took her outside of any immediate danger and she flipped back to her feet
once she was clear. At such close range however the machine sentry could not
counter attack with its mouth beam or hand mounted artillery. It did have the advantage
of reach however and a direct blow would be devastating. Still, Link persisted
in her wild dance about her metal foe putting her sword to desperate work in
search of a weak point her sword could leverage.
“Link…”
Supporting himself with his sword Elliot struggled to get
to his feet, his vision blurred and fresh blood ran down the side of his head.
He failed to gain his balance however and stumbled only to be caught by Squawk.
“It seems you were right Elliot, and what a shame it is. I
guess it shouldn’t surprise me though.”
“Squawk… Do you think you can manage another healing spell?
Link won’t be able to beat that thing on her own…”
“Unless your intention is to run away it’d be a waste to
try seeing how useless you two are against that thing.”
“Then what do suggest Squawk? We can’t defend ourselves
from it if we run now.”
“Well my protection spell might be able to help us put some
distance between us. It did seem to keep Link mostly unharmed when she took a
direct shot.”
“If that’s our best bet then please Squawk, patch me up
even just temporarily so we can run.”
“I’m not making any guarantees Elliot. Even I got lucky to
get away from the last one. If you two hadn’t crushed it by sheer luck it
probably would have cooked me alive.”
“Squawk, that’s it!”
“What now?!”
“If we can just crush it it’ll be over. I may not be able
to cut through it with my sword, but these burning trees I just might be able
to.”
“I think that blow to your head has done more harm than I
thought. But whatever, I’ll try to at least get you on your feet again…”
Engaged in a lethal dance of death with the machine sentry,
Link was not privy to Elliot’s plan and was trying to come up with one of her
own as she struck with sword and kick both.
[This isn’t working at all. It doesn’t have any weaknesses
that I can take advantage of. My sword can’t cut steel and kicking this thing
is less effective than kicking a cliff. Makes me wish Cliff or mother were
here. I bet either of them have techniques that can cut through something like
this. That, or maybe if I could cast magic I could do something. I doubt that
Squawk has anything up his sleeve either– wait a second, what was that that he
was saying about too much Nectar than a vessel could handle causing it to
explode? That would work, but can I even get Squawk to try it?]
With a plan in mind Link tried to balance keeping one step
ahead of the machine sentry and pinpointing where Squawk was. It was a trying endeavor
and she could feel exhaustion settling into her bones. Gritting her teeth she
put in the extra effort needed and managed to spot Squawk tending to Elliot,
the sight of which both killed her plans and left her finding renewed strength
in growing rage.
“You damn machine! Father didn’t maintenance you so you
could hurt the people of Cross. You’re supposed to be protecting us!”
With an angry scream Link brought her sword hard against
the metal body of the machine sentry and bounced off just as violently. She was
too angry to be stunned however and easily tumbled acrobatically out of the way
of the counter attack aimed at her.
[If only I could open my Ambrosial Gate then I could do
something about it. But I don’t know what mine feels likes or even how to open
it. I only know what the artificial one of the Plant feels like and– ]
A wide-eyed look of sudden realization came onto Link’s
face and she looked at the attacking machine sentry anew.
[Of course, that would have to be how it works. An autonomous
machine like this would have to be being fed Nectar from the plant because it’s
way too small to hold an Artificial Gate Generator to power it. Then that means
I should be able to recognize it and if I can draw Nectar from it if it feels
anything like Sqauwk’s spells…]
“Alright you heap of scrap, you’re mine now!”
A massive smile spread across Link’s face and she suddenly
bolted past the machine sentry and out of range of its hand mounted artillery.
The machine sentry simply found this an invitation to fire its main cannon and
its mouth opened revealing the orange gem hidden within.
– Target retreating… Engaging Main
Cannon… –
“That’s right, show me what you’re made of you piece of
scrap.”
“Link! NO!”
Hearing the declaration from the machine sentry, Elliot
stepped away from Squawk as the nāti’s spell took effect and watched in
helpless horror as Link did not even try to throw off the robot’s aim. Then
with a flash the beam fired.
“That idiot!”
Squawk shouted in disbelief that Link would be so careless
but she was being even more reckless than he imagined. A split second before the
beam fired she spun around mid-step to face the sentry with a broad smile on
her face. Had things went as she planned the beam would just graze her and hopefully
Squawk’s protection spell would mitigate most of the damage. Things did not go
as planned though as a white shadow rushed out of the burning woods behind her
and took her clear out of harm’s way.
“Li~nk! ~♪I don’t know what you’re thinking, but whatever it is I don’t
know if standing in the way of that is a good thing ~♪”
“Eh?!”
Link tried to get a look at what had grabbed her and spoken
in so cheerful a voice as though to be singing but was suddenly dropped in front
of Elliot and Squawk. Scrambling to her feet she easily ignored the stunned
looks on her companions’ faces and tried to spot the white shadow again. She
did not have to look any further than the machine sentry that was trying to kill
the lot of them to find the white shadow again but it was the black clawed bird
talon large enough to crush a man’s head that fully caught her eye. Emerging
from the white shadow the terrifying claw descended from above the machine
sentry and did not grab it, but instead tore straight threw it, rending metal
and the rubber and plastic internal components both. As the talon reached the ground
and the white shadow landed and shrunk in size tremendously, the machine sentry
fell in two and crashed, sparking, harmlessly to the ground.
Copyright © 2019 Joshua D Tarwater
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