Blood of the Tallan (The Petralist Book 7) by Frank Morin

Author:Frank Morin [Morin, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781946910219
Publisher: Whipsaw Press
Published: 2021-08-12T16:00:00+00:00

41

The Second Skin

Hamish loved the unrivaled freedom of flight, and exulted in the chance to pit himself against the queen’s summoned nightmares. He still felt guilty that he’d flown away from Merkland, leaving Verena and the others to face the first swarm. Too many people had died, and the entire city would have been overrun if they hadn’t returned.

This time he would not retreat.

The cool air rushed past his helmet, calm and perfect for aggressive maneuvers. Behind and below him, scores of defensive mechanicals were already launching waves of destruction at the onrushing monsters. Flights of small attack flyers were spreading out above the Battalions in defensive formations, ready for close combat. Those flyers were untested against aerial monsters, and Hamish positioned himself closer to the threat than the others. He was eager to test their mettle with his Second Skin.

His regular battle suit was fantastic, but lacked the brute strength needed to go toe to toe with summoned monsters. The Second Skin was his answer to that need, and as the dark swarm of nightmares winged toward him, sporting deadly fangs and claws, he was glad he’d designed it.

It looked like a steel spider with a long, narrow body with a Hamish-sized recess in the bottom that he strapped into. The eight slightly curved limbs were made from reinforced steel struts from Juggernaut spheres. A spare Juggernaut engine in the Second Skin main body provided plenty of power to pivot the legs, allowing him to open them wide, or close them individually to whatever angle he needed.

At the moment, those legs were set half-closed like a protective cage around him. Also nestled under the main body with Hamish were twelve slender diorite missiles and as many mechanicals as he could cram in there, including two speedslings. It was a tight fit, but promised to pack an amazing punch.

“All flights, prepare to engage,” Hamish said through the common speakstone channel. His stone connected to a bank of speakstones in Battalion One that linked back to all the others, allowing all the flights to communicate together.

The swarm was a dark mass, half a mile out, coming fast. Even though Hamish had a lot of experience fighting crazy Petralists, he was impressed. Some of the monsters looked fairly traditional, like pedras or giant hawks, but some made him shiver with dread.

One undulated through the sky like a giant serpent, held aloft by wings far too tiny to move such a vast bulk. Its dozen short limbs were capped in vicious claws, and fire was curling around its teeth. Others galloped through the sky like flying horses but without wings. How they did that he could not imagine.

Others were just weird, more like leathery blobs with a whole bunch of little, grasping hands, or huge mouths that made up most of their body. He wouldn’t underestimate those, not after that weird beast attacked Shona. Those leathery hides would hopefully get shredded by speedslings easier, but he shuddered to think of one of those monsters sealing its huge, suction jaws over his face and filling him with incinerating fire.

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