Shanahan felt good not carrying anyone else up the hex wall. The others had held him back when he could have moved so much faster without them. He bounded upwards faster than he had carried Wyndham down.

His fingertips grazed the wall as he pulled himself up from handhold to handhold. How long did he have before the dragons flew? He might already be too late.

Grandview could hold the monsters back. He had all the powers of his weapons. He could probably use all of them at the same time. The monster lizards would be in for a surprise when they met him.

Shanahan hoped the other factions knew enough to take care of themselves when things went down. He didn't feel like protecting the Shapers, but the Wu Chi had turned into allies. He wasn't willing to throw them off the bridge if he didn't feel the need.

He heard a muted roar. At least one of the monsters was cutting through the wall opposite him. He was at a big disadvantage if it cut through and saw him. He couldn't climb and accurately shoot at the same time.

Could he jump across the gap if he needed to do that? Could he catch the monster before it freed itself and came after him? How bulletproof was it?

He imagined that he could put out an eye if he got lucky. That didn't mean much considering the rest of things. He needed to take it out with one solid shot instead of wasting magazines on the leather hide.

A hole appeared in the wall of the other hex. A yellow lizard head appeared in the new opening. It roared when it saw Shanahan climbing opposite. This was a morsel it could eat on the way to filling its belly.

Shanahan didn't bother with the rifle. He needed both hands to keep climbing. He had two grenades left after everything he had been through on this trip. One of them might be enough to take care of business.

He wanted height to deal with the thing as it tried to squeeze through the tiny opening. It needed a lot more space to get out and try to deal with him.

One hand dug into the rock of the mesa. The other pulled the grenade off the restraint he used to secure it to the equipment web he had bought with the rest of the equipment. He used his teeth to pull the ring, holding the safety spoon in place with his thumb.

“Hey!,” shouted Shanahan. “Open wide!”

The dragon obliged, drawing in air to release the acid it used to liquefy its prey. Shanahan threw the grenade across the gap. It was awkward, but the Fist turned the metal canister into a tumbling bullet. It went into the dragon's mouth before it exploded.

The marine started climbing as the dragon tried to keep its insides from exploding out in the open. Flame escaped its eyes and he knew it had lost the struggle. The corpse burned in the wall.

Shanahan didn't envy anyone who got stuck trying to do something with the carcass after it was done cooking. He wondered if the planet had scavengers who would get their fill before the people on top of the hex reached that far.

He supposed Grandview could do something after the battle was done. One pull and the thing would come apart to fall down to the base of the mesas.

Roars told him that other dragons were pulling themselves free. He hoped there would be people up there that needed saving by the time he got up there. He needed to stay on the Wu Chi's good side if a showdown with the Shapers came up.

He wondered how many of the armored pains were ready for the fourteen dragons who still wanted to eat them.

Wyndham had warned them of the threat. Everyone knew what the monsters' weak point was. The only thing he could do was try to minimize the losses on his side.

Shanahan reached the top of the mesa, smoke blowing out of his nose. He pushed to his feet. Two of the dragons were dead. Something had cut their heads off. Grandview faced a third with one of the energy swords floating beside him. His shield blocked acid trying to pour down on him.

A paper wall blocked two more dragons. The beasts sprayed acid on the structure to tear it down. Flights of paper birds harassed them, but couldn't dig through their hides.

The Shapers had grown a bunker of stone. Lightning erupted from slits in the walls. That forced the dragons trying to get in off of them for a few moments. Eventually the yellow monsters would just blast enough acid down on the miniature fort to break it apart.

Eight dragons, thought Shanahan. Where were the other seven?

He decided he needed to do something to change the odds. He decided that the Wu Chi needed his help more than the others. So he needed to attract the attention of their dragons and draw them off.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Shanahan pulled his rifle forward on its sling. He regretted not being able to get a grenade launcher to use with the weapon. He needed the extra push now that he was about to do something stupid.

He rushed forward, leaping at the last moment. One arm wound back as he flew through the air. It came forward as he started toward the ground. He hit the closest dragon in the nearer back hip. He thought he felt bone snap as he automatically landed on his feet and ready to move in any direction.

The dragon twisted to bite at him. He emptied a magazine of bullets into its face first. The projectiles stung on impact, chipping away scales and letting out blood. That was enough to force its head back from the damage.

The marine dropped the rifle and leapt into the air. Both of his feet swung up so he would land on the dragon and be able to kick out. The impact sent his victim into its brother, tangling their serpentine bodies as they rolled from their attacker.

He had bought some time. The masters had to do something to capitalize on it. He had to help the Shapers if he could.

The two Shaper dragons saw him charging. They weren't about to have some tiny morsel make fools of them. Twin breaths of death should be enough to stop this menace before he could do anything to them.

The streams of acid missed as the weapon jumped over them. The beasts recoiled as the human kept charging them. He had something in his hand. They thought it was a weapon and didn't want it to do whatever he planned. The closest one opened its mouth to take care of business. The can went down its gullet and the human veered away.

The neck of the dragon came apart in a gout of flame. The body flopped around as it died, but the head stared at the ground where it had fallen after the grenade had gone off.

The remaining dragon tracked the running Shanahan. Acid cut a channel in the top of the hex as it tried to kill him.

The Shapers grouped up as the bunker opened next to the dragon. Various weapons built out of stone cut into the dragon before it could swing around to kill the faction members. The armored powers fell back inside another bunker as the dragon flailed around from the successful attack on its heart.

Grandview dispatched his third dragon with a wave of his hand. His floating blade of red sliced down and off came the head. He stroked his mustache as he turned to see who needed him to deal with their problems.

It looked like only one dragon remained on the battlefield. He saw Shanahan and knew what had happened to the dead dragons around them. He nodded at his ally as he walked over to where the last whole dragon was trying to pull itself from its wounded brother.

The master weapon raised his hand. He brought it down twice. That dealt with both dragons one after the other. He frowned at the mess around him.

“Seera?,” Grandview called to the other weapon on the field.

“Seven more,” called back the marine. He picked up his weapon and reloaded it with the pellets it used.

Grandview sent his version of the Eye out. Seven more dragons was seven dragons he was not prepared to let fly around his hex, or the hexes of his allies.

He spotted them rushing away from the Wu Chi hex. They seemed to think there were easier pickings on the hexes on the other side of his. He supposed they were right, but he had to warn the factions of the troubles that was coming.

He doubted his presence would be welcome. On the other hand, he had given his word that he would not engage in causing problems without warning them ahead of time.

This warning would be enough in his opinion to satisfy his obligations, so he didn't have to fight the dragons if he didn't want. Killing them would be up to the factions themselves.

He knew that he would be technically splitting hairs, but he didn't see that as his problem either.

“I have to warn the other factions,” Grandview called. “Get rid of these bodies before they start smelling the hex up.”

He opened a Door and stepped out of existence before anyone could stop him.

The faction members gathered together to survey the carnage around them. More than a few were nonplussed by how they were supposed to get rid of the giant carcasses.

“Trust Grandview to run off when there is work to do,” said the Master Carver.

“There are seven unaccounted for,” said Shanahan. He slung the rifle. “We found fifteen birthing sacs in the hex. I killed one coming out of the wall of the Weapon hex. Grandview killed two here, then a third. I helped with the other four. Seven left roaming around.”

“Where is Mistress Wyndham?,” asked Bao.

“I told her to go back and get bigger weapons if she could,” said Shanahan. “I gave her my equipment bag so I am almost out of ammunition, and specialized tricks of the trade. We didn't see any of the frogs. We think they were the first things getting eaten.”

“How do you know this?,” said the Master Carver. He frowned at the destroyed area.

“We found a door down the hex,” said Shanahan. “It led to where the dragons were being grown. They were gone, no guards, no bodies.”

“What do you think caused all of these dragons to be let loose?,” asked Bao.

Shanahan shrugged. He didn't know anything about grown monsters from vines. He wondered if there was a faction who could do what he had seen.

That was something to hand to Grandview to see if the weapon could do something with it. A threat to his home would spur him into finding out the source and doing something about it, even if it was hiring a couple of adventurers he didn't like to put a stop to things.

It wouldn't be the first time Shanahan had done something for someone he didn't like.