Taboo Online

Rhea drew a painful breath and checked the others. Dorian remained conscious, though the anchor around his chest was doing most of the work. Kellan sat against the control frame with one hand clamped over his thigh, while Iris had gone pale despite all three lifelines continuing to glow.

Kellan let his head rest against the damaged frame. "I’m calling that a success."

A silver gate had risen on the far side of the chamber, revealing a steep route toward Lethariel’s extraction terraces. Rhea studied it for only a moment before turning back toward the prisoners they had left behind.

"Call it whatever you want after we get the prisoners."

"The gate is open."

"And the Sanctuary is still counting down."

Iris was already moving toward the previous chamber. "Then stop talking and move."

Dorian pulled the black hook from his belt and used it to help himself stand. Rhea called the remaining shield panels to her, but only four rose from the floor, and two of them were badly cracked.

"We go back together," she said.

Far above the Forge, the fifth cutting blade stopped in the middle of the Heartroot.

The machinery’s scream faded into a dying grind. Black brands flickered along the enormous cutting arm, and the teeth slowed until golden mana dripped between them instead of spraying across the terrace.

Luke stared over the railing. The machine had already carved a deep wound into the fifth anchor, and a few more minutes might have been enough to finish what the fourth relay had started.

Now every light across the platform had gone dark.

Translucent windows opened before him and Lauren.

[Hostile Warden Seal removed.]

[Emergency reinforcements have restored partial control of the Warden’s Forge.]

[The fifth extraction relay has lost primary power.]

"They did it," Luke said.

Aelira gripped the railing beside him. The grief in her face remained, but she immediately turned toward the surviving rootkeepers.

"Bind the fifth anchor! Move every living path away from the cut!"

The elves struck their hands against the terrace. Roots rose around the wounded anchor and twisted over the machinery, while others stretched into the dark western district and searched for defenders stranded when the fourth root died.

Lauren pressed both palms against the overlook. Green light spread beneath her skin and entered the Heartroot, allowing her to follow the new paths as they formed.

"The machine is still connected to backup lines," she said. "The power is gone, but the brands haven’t released the blade."

"How long before they restore it?" Aelira asked.

"I don’t know."

Luke pushed himself away from the railing, and his body immediately reminded him how little he had left. Mana depletion had taken the warmth from his muscles, while his injured shoulder burned beneath the blood-soaked sleeve. Even the spear felt heavier than it had when he first entered Powerforge.

Lauren caught his uninjured arm. "Where are you going?"

"Fifth platform."

"With what mana?"

"None."

Lauren stared at him. "That was not the reassuring answer."

"I still have the spear."

"You can hardly lift it."

Luke tried raising the weapon and hated how much effort it took.

Aelira looked at him. "If your plan ends with you falling into the blade, save us the trouble and sit down."

"That wasn’t the plan."

"Then you have improved since the relay."

A violent crack interrupted them as a living bridge collapsed in the darkened western district. Several elves caught the roots along the edge, but two defenders struck the lower terrace and disappeared beneath pale branches.

Luke moved before anyone gave an order. He crossed the overlook, ignored the pain tearing through his shoulder, and reached the fallen bridge with three surviving defenders.

One elf lay beside the wreckage with blood covering the side of his face. Another remained trapped beneath a thick section of dead root.

Luke set down his spear and crouched beside the trapped defender.

"Can you feel your legs?"

The elf stared at him without answering.

Luke placed his right hand against the fallen root. Its dead surface felt cold and dry beneath his palm, nothing like the warm, living bark elsewhere in Lethariel.

"Help me lift this."

One defender glanced at his injured shoulder. "Your arm."

"Take the other side."

They found positions around the broken root. Luke gripped it with his right hand and braced the rough wood against his good shoulder.

"Now."

The root rose several inches. Pain spread through Luke’s back, and his knees began to shake without Reinforce supporting them, but the elves lifted beside him while a third defender dragged the trapped man clear.

"Clear!"

They let the dead root fall.

Luke staggered away and nearly collapsed against the terrace. Lauren reached him seconds later and kept one hand around his waist until he regained his balance.

"You said you still had the spear," she murmured.

"The root was closer."

The injured elf groaned. One leg bent at an angle it should not have, and black residue spread from a cut near his hip.

Two Thornmenders hurried toward them, although one was already supporting an injured rootkeeper. The second dropped beside the trapped defender and opened a pouch filled with living thorns.

"You," she said to Luke. "Hold his shoulders."

Luke knelt without arguing. The elf tried to rise when the Thornmender cut away the damaged white-wood armor, so Luke pressed him carefully against the terrace while keeping his wounded shoulder out of the struggle.

"This will hurt," the healer warned.

The elf clenched his teeth.

She selected a long green thorn and pushed it into the flesh beside the wound. The defender cried out and tried to twist away, but Luke tightened his hold while green mana spread from the thorn beneath the elf’s skin.

He had seen Thornmenders work before, though never this close. The light did not spread evenly. It followed the healthy muscle first and formed a narrow green path around the wound, but when it reached the black residue, the magic stopped.

The Thornmender adjusted the thorn’s angle until its tip entered the corrupted tissue and darkened. Black fluid traveled up the living shaft while clean green light flowed downward around it, allowing the same thorn to draw out corruption and carry restorative mana into the opening it created.

Luke watched the healer’s hand. "How do you know where to turn it?"