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bait?”
    “If you’re up for it,” Aluna said.
    He grinned. “Anything is better than actually fighting!”
    “Don’t forget to use your shield,” Calli said. She pulled a retractable spear from Vachir’s saddlebag and expanded it to its full two meters.
    Hoku bolted out from behind the rhinebra and yelled, “You Gizmos want a fight? Come and get one!”
    Aluna saw him twist his wrist to turn on the force shield. A shimmering wall appeared just in time to deflect one of the Upgrader’s daggers. His bravado wavered slightly, but he recovered. “Nice shield, right? You’ll have to kill me to get it!”
    “That’s enough,” Aluna said. “Get back here!”
    She maneuvered Vachir to the side, frustrated that they had to stay hidden behind the rhinebra. She could see the three Upgraders charging at Hoku: a large, dark woman wearing scaled armor over most of her body; a lighter-skinned man with an animal’s muzzle jutting out of his face; and a person completely hidden in bulky robes, but wielding huge swords in each hand.
    “Faster!” Aluna called to Hoku. She released Spirit and Spite, her newly repaired talon weapons, from their hidden spot in her sleeves and started to swing them. In a flash, the two thin chains were whirring in deadly circles at her sides. Vachir danced beneath her, a storm barely contained.
    “If it goes badly, you fly Hoku away,” she said to Calli.
    Calli gripped her spear tighter and did a few slow figure eights. The girl had been practicing regularly, but still wasn’t ready for this kind of fight. Aluna preferred to handle the enemy herself and use Calli as backup.
    Hoku ran between them and there was no more time for thinking, no more time for wondering if they should have done something else.
    Aluna sent her right talon at the large woman’s eyes and sent her left for the woman’s arm, hoping to either blind her, immobilize her weapon hand, or both. The woman yelped and dodged, batting the talon out of the air with her armored limb.
    Vachir spun and kicked, landing two powerful hooves in the woman’s chest. She went sprawling backward with a grunt — and hopefully some broken ribs.
    “Like a thunderbolt,” Aluna said. Vachir shook her head proudly and spun to face their next victim.
    The battle became a blur. The attacker with swords managed to land a cut across her forehead. She blinked the warm blood out of her eyes and managed to wrap a talon around his throat. When his hood fell back, she almost dropped her weapon in surprise. The Human underneath had been burned so badly that she couldn’t even make out his features. All she saw were two bright-orange eyes glaring out from a ravaged landscape of angry flesh.
    One of the burned man’s swords burst into flames while the other crackled into blue ice. He plunged them both at Vachir’s flank, thinking she’d be frozen in place by her rider’s shock. But Vachir had a mind of her own and danced easily out of the way.
    Aluna yanked the talon she’d wrapped around his neck and he fell face-first to the ground with a strangled cry. Vachir reared, ready to bring her hooves down on the back of his head or his spine.
    “No!” Aluna shouted. “Just an arm. Or a leg.”
    Vachir screamed her frustration but shifted her body and landed on the man’s shoulder. The ground muffled his cries.
    After the third attacker fell, knocked unconscious by a vicious hit from the butt end of Calli’s spear, Hoku ran off to fetch more of them. Aluna scanned the battle and saw Dash helping Mags and Squirrel, saw Odd fighting three opponents and still holding his own. Zeelo seemed to be cursing more than fighting, but her old bones and incredible skill were keeping her up and alive.
    “Last two!” Hoku called, racing toward them with his shield activated.
    “Bring ’em in,” she answered.
    Aluna could hear her heart beating through her body, could see the glow of her breathing necklace as it pulsed at her neck. Sweat dripped down her