Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 479
Tamsin crouched panting on the smooth white flank of
the desal. "What’ll we do?" she said as he put his hand on her
shoulder and drew her up.
"If this doesn’t work then I don’t know." He enfolded
her in his arms and watched as the morphs loped toward them.
Suddenly the footsteps of the morphs began sprouting
smoke. The morphs stopped walking and one hopped from
foot to foot. Very distinctly, Jordan heard the other issue some
command in an inhuman tongue. The first sprinted forward,
then stopped, confused, and tried to sidestep away. Jordan saw
a tongue of flame lick up its calf.
"Come on." He raced back to the lean-to. They bent to
bundle up their meagre supplies, watching the morphs all the
while. The first morph, who had not moved, seemed unhurt. It
continued to speak in the Wind tongue, and the earth around its
feet was no longer smoking.
The second morph’s legs were on fire. As they watched
it staggered, fell to its knees in a black cloud. Its hands caught
fire when they touched the earth. It scrabbled in the smoke for
a few seconds, then fell and began to roll, turning into a fireball
as it did.
"Where are the horses?" shouted Tamsin.
"I don’t know. Ka! Where are they?"
"There are no horses nearby," said the little Wind.
"Come on." Jordan ran around the long slope of the
desal. Maybe the horses were on the other side.
"Look at the sky!"
He looked up, and staggered. The sky was a tangle of
brilliant lines that were longer towards the horizon,
foreshortened directly overhead. A mauve aurora pulsed there.
Tamsin sprinted ahead, wailing. Jordan put his head
down and followed.