But another thing also happened: the metal casket Tyentso touched vibrated and then slammed into the nearest metal scorpion, making its operators curse in surprise. A split second later, Morios jerked downward, as the hundreds of caskets Tyentso had linked to hers slammed into his body. The rhino caskets then stuck to his body as though glued in place. When the targeteers returned their spotlights to their normal position—pointed at the ground—the caskets obediently tried to follow orders and slam into the earth as well, taking Morios with them.

“I’ll ground the bastard, you—” Tyentso cut off as both women saw Tyentso’s sharp silhouette highlighted against the ground, so black it was as if something had set a piece of the sun behind her.

Or was targeting the emperor with a scorpion’s aiming light.

“Behind you!” Janel yelled.

Tyentso threw a portal down under Janel’s feet even as a green glass casket slammed into Tyentso and broke, flooding the area around the emperor with acid.

Janel fell through the portal and landed farther up the hillside, giving her a perfect view of the emperor’s protective shield flickering out and dying. The dragon had been busy trying to resist the pull of all those giant magnets, but when he saw the shield fail, he must have seen his chance. He breathed out again, nearly horizontal with the scorpions. And this time, his deadly rain of blades found their mark as they slammed into equipment and men with equal vigor. Unlaunched caskets stored on the scorpions’ backs exploded, setting off a chain reaction. Impossibly bright aiming crystals fell to the ground, pointed in every direction.

Morios screamed as different parts of his body were pulled in a hundred different directions, but with the magnets no longer working in concert, no single direction exerted enough force to control him.

“Run!” Janel was screaming, heading toward the dragon. “Everyone run!” She bent down to help Senera stand on her feet, but the witch seemed undamaged except for grass stains.

Morios landed on top of the Quuros war camp.

He raked a wing along the shore while bending down to scoop up a giant volume of earth, men, and equipment into his mouth. As far back as she was, Janel still found herself leaping out of the way to avoid being split in half by a wing feather shaped like a giant sword two feet wide.

Tyentso stood, acid spilling off her as though she were made of glass. She threw a spell at the dragon, but whatever it was, it seemed to have little effect except to draw his attention. Then Janel realized the emperor had done something to those few caskets that had landed on Morios’s neck, pulling the dragon’s head toward the ground.

The dragon’s head would never be closer to the ground than it was at that moment.

It might well be her only chance.

“Senera! Help me reach him!”