Dreaming in the Dark

21

Ange charged her Hyp-Lazer and fired. It was incredibly bright, cutting a spectacular line dead center to the Butcher's chest. It struck, and did some minor damage to his breastplate. The response was almost lazy, he drew his sword and slashed the continuous beam. It died. Ange banged the cutting tool with her hand, but it was dead, the power cell burned out.

"Stupid!" She said. Hitting it again before throwing it away.

"Do you still have the beacons?" Dez asked.

"Yes!" Jo immediately dug them out of her pack.

As the Butcher approached, Dez mag walked a dozen feet from the wall of the castle. She then opened the radiation blanket to block the Butcher's view of them.

"Plant them at my feet," she said. "Then I'll cover them with the blanket. When he comes near, we let them blow."

Jo had three mines, and she used them all. They emitted a beacon so they wouldn't be crossed accidentally, being used for the mining of asteroids and the like, but under the blanket they would be invisible.

"Is that good?" She asked.

"Of course, Jo," Dez stepped forward, engaging the blankets own mag corners as she did so. It came down almost flat, and they returned to the others at the wall.

The Butcher was making a direct line for them, his path would cross the mines. He seemed assured of his own invulnerability, but they didn't have to kill him to be saved. They needed to knock him off the ship.

"Come on." Ange said. "Come on." In the last moments before he reached the trap the Butcher stopped. He raised his unsword, as if to salute them, and began to walk around. He was much too close for a new plan.

The girls froze. They could run forever across Eternity, but there was no where for them to go.

"It was an honor to come so close." Lucifer said, and spurred a growling Edgar forward. They reached the blanket in a blink, and slipped underneath it. The Butcher took a step, and they were out again. The herald clutched a mine as large as he was, and Edgar had another in his teeth. They went for the Butcher.

"No." Jo said, as if she could will it be another way.

The unsword severed the young fox, and as both halves disintegrated, his mine was carried into space. Lucifer, propelled by inertia, smacked into the Butcher's knee, and in that same moment activated the mine.

They were much too close. The blast half blinded them, and the force of it tore Ange free of the deck. Her sisters caught her and pulled her back down, and the boots resynched. When their vision cleared, the Butcher was still there. He'd lost his leg, and much of that hip, but his boot was still attached firmly to the ship. His upper body appeared to be floating, like some nightmare steel balloon, and his sword arm was gone up to the elbow. There was no sign of his weapon.

"Give me the knife." Ange said.

"Stay away from him." Jo said. "He's beaten, Ange."

"I have to know." Ange forced her way into Jo's pouch and came up with the knife. They struggled briefly.

"Know what?" Jo said. "What is there to know?" There were tears floating in her helmet. "Edgar and the Herald saved us. What else is there to know?"

"I want to see his face." Ange broke from her sister and mag-shuffled over to the Butcher. He didn't respond to her approach, and she already had the nano-blade out and ready in case he had. She grabbed him by the breastplate and stabbed at his visor. She hacked until a section came loose and she could look inside. Then she screamed.