Taboo Online

Across the northern bridge, three corrupted elves rushed toward them with hooked branches growing from their hands. Two human operators followed and fired branded rifles through the gaps between the creatures.

Dorian planted his feet inside the bronze circle. The first bullet slowed as it crossed the light, giving him time to knock it aside with the black hook. The second struck his chest plate and made the golden bands around his ribs flash, but Iris’s anchor held him upright.

One of the corrupted elves leaped across the front edge of the circle. Dorian caught it with the hook and dragged it down hard enough to crack the white-wood armor along its back.

The bronze glow followed the fracture until it reached the brand controlling the elf’s body.

The creature screamed as Dorian twisted the hook and shattered the black mark. It collapsed inside the circle, still breathing but no longer trying to attack him.

The next two reached him together. Rhea sent a panel across the bridge at shoulder height, striking the first creature and driving it into the railing while Dorian blocked the second with the shaft of the hook.

The blue panel curved back across the bridge and rejoined Rhea’s damaged formation just as the human operators opened fire. She stacked all four shields in front of her, catching two bullets in the barrier. A third round struck the widest crack and extended it with a sharp snap.

"Keep the next anchor free," Rhea said.

Iris looked toward the damaged shield. "You’re bleeding through two plates."

"I need you ready for someone who goes down."

"If you go down, the shield goes with you."

The Thornmender beside the rescued defender raised one blood-covered hand.

"Not yet."

Green light had reached the damage beneath the elf’s ribs and begun pulsing without the anchor’s help. The Thornmender kept two fingers pressed against his chest and waited through three steady heartbeats before giving Iris a firm nod.

"Now."

Only then did Iris begin withdrawing the anchor. The golden bands loosened gradually, but the defender continued breathing beneath the Thornmender’s magic.

Before Rhea could object, Iris sent the freed anchor across the terrace and opened it beside her. Golden threads wrapped around Rhea’s ribs and upper arm, tightening beneath the damaged white armor.

Rhea drew a deeper breath. "I told you to keep it free."

"I heard you. You still need it."

The branded cables brightened as the emergency generator released another pulse. Fresh power entered the cutting arm, forcing the fifth blade deeper into the existing wound and making the entire terrace lurch beneath them.

A rootkeeper lost his footing near the machinery. Luke caught the elf by the arm before he slid beneath the platform and shoved him toward the inner terrace.

"Get clear. I need the ledge."

The elf stared at the blood soaking Luke’s shoulder. "You cannot climb beneath that machine like this."

"Then make sure I only have to do it once."

The rootkeeper hesitated before retreating, and Luke climbed down onto the maintenance ledge.

The narrow shelf ran beneath the inner side of the platform, while the ruined western district dropped away beyond its outer edge. Heat rolled from the machinery in heavy waves. Golden mana dripped through the seams overhead and burned smoking holes into the pale roots below.

Luke’s spear pulled harder against his injured shoulder with every step. Without Reinforce, the weapon threatened to drag him off balance whenever the ledge shifted, so he shortened his grip and used the shaft to steady himself.

Beneath the center of the blade, the locking frame had been bent around its manual release. Only a narrow gap remained between the bar and the housing, barely wide enough for Luke to push the spear through and begin working it deeper.

Above him, Kellan reached the first control line. The anchor around his thigh flashed when he shifted too much weight onto the injured leg, forcing him to stop before moving closer.

"I need the chains away from the second housing," he called.

Rhea detached one panel and sent it across the platform. The blue surface stopped in front of a hanging cluster of branded chains and held them away from Kellan without touching either control line.

Two narrow currents of lightning formed between his fingers.

"Keep the charge above your waist," Iris warned. "If it runs through the injured leg, I lose the muscle."

Kellan adjusted his stance. "Anchor tight?"

"It already is. The rest is yours."

He nodded and returned his attention to the cables.

Beside Aelira, Lauren kept one hand pressed against the Heartroot and searched the next several seconds through Oracle’s Glimpse. Dorian fought at the bridge while Luke braced his spear beneath the blade and Kellan steadied himself near the railing.

The timing changed whenever an operator fired, the platform shifted, or Kellan’s injured leg threatened to give way. The pressure behind Lauren’s blindfold deepened as she discarded one ruined outcome after another.

After several failed possibilities, one sequence remained stable long enough for her to follow.

"The left line takes the pulse first," she told Kellan. "The second housing follows less than a second later."

"Call it when you see it."

"I will. Wait for my signal and don’t move early."

Kellan’s hands remained steady. "I won’t."

Aelira pressed both hands against the terrace. Living roots gathered beneath the branded third line, ready to strike the instant Luke opened the locking frame.

"Luke," Lauren called. "Push the spear farther."

The shaft scraped against the bent metal.

"It’s stuck."

"In three seconds, the frame shifts toward you."

Luke watched the machinery instead of asking how she knew.

The blade rotated and lifted one of its support arms. As the mechanism shifted, the locking frame jerked toward the ledge and widened the gap by less than an inch.

Luke drove the spear deeper. The wound in his shoulder tore farther beneath the bandage and sent pain down his arm, but he kept both hands on the weapon until the shaft slid beneath the release bar.

"I’m in."

The bar pressed hard against the spear, but Luke held the shaft steady and waited for Lauren’s command.