by TR Cameron
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Goryo moved through the dwarf’s portal first, stepping out of its path and turning a complete circle to ensure no nasty surprises were present. He waved at the others, and Gabriel Sloane and Grentham came through alongside a pair of wizards with raised wands. Goryo took a step forward and gave a slight bow toward the trio of costumed figures that awaited him. “I see you’ve chosen to accept my invitation.”
The one with the sword and the dragon’s face, standing farthest to his right, nodded. “Show us your hostages, and we’ll talk.”
He muttered, “Do it,” to the radio inside his armor’s helmet that connected him to Sloane and the dwarf. The former called, “Bring them,” and the wizards marched the captives through the portal. Their hands were bound behind them, and each had tape over their mouth. Hoods would have been his preferred option, but then they wouldn’t have been recognizable. When all were present, and the rift was gone, Goryo said, “A simple trade. You for them. Agreed?”
The woman turned to look at her companions before nodding again. “Agreed.”
Sloane barked, “Change of plan. Kill them.” Goryo twisted and drew his pistol in a single motion, putting anti-magic bullets into the foreheads of both wizards, who had only begun to move. He kept the weapon trained on the dwarf and said coldly, “No changing the deal. Once given, a promise is binding. If you want to find them and kill them later, that’s your prerogative. Today, we will honor our word.”
Sloane stared daggers at him through the eyeholes in his mask. “Word of this lack of obedience will get around.”
He shrugged. “The ones who are worthy of my business will understand. Stand down.” Sloane grumbled and moved away, the dwarf following him. Goryo turned to the costumed people. “Lay down your arms and come forward.”
Ruby considered the request one final time and discovered she still agreed with Tyrsh and Shalia. Sacrificing myself accomplishes nothing. Sometimes, you have to blow things up. She laughed inwardly. Especially if it’s a door. Hope you’re thinking good thoughts about me right now, Keshalla. She replied, “I don’t think we will.” That was the signal for their helpers, and a portal instantly replaced the ground beneath the captives’ feet. They were gone in the blink of an eye, and the hole closed before anyone could pursue.
The armored man across from them laughed. “Well played. I had no doubt this would occur—that we would once again share a battlefield. Given the outcome the first time we met, I’m eager for a rematch.”
Ruby grinned, appreciating his style even if he was an evil bastard. “Then bring it on, scumbag.” She circled to her left, Idryll stayed in position, and Morrigan moved to the right. They each had their assigned responsibilities, and hers was exclusively to deal with the man who had hurt Margrave. She sized him up as she closed, searching for any areas of vulnerability. A frown appeared as she thought back to their prior meeting and realized there was a significant difference.
She triggered the comm. “His armor is different this time. Left arm is covered only to the elbow. Might be an opportunity, might be a trap. Keep an eye on it.” He raced at her while drawing his sword with a ringing chime. She matched him, knowing the magic-resistant armor would dissolve any power she threw at it and not wanting to use any of her toys until she thought they’d make a difference. Can’t waste any advantage here. His blade slashed down at her head, and she brought hers up in a block that deflected it to her right. She drew and stabbed her dagger in a single move, but it scraped off his armor without penetrating. Damn, it’s as solid as I remembered.
They clashed three more times, his weapon gouging a seam in her protective vest and hers almost catching that bare arm before his subtle shift moved it out of the way. Plans ran through her mind as they fought, her body taking care of the blocking and striking while she worked on identifying a useful strategy. She’d lost track of time in the haze of battle but trusted Morrigan was moving into position to do her part. She noted in passing that he had an extra bandolier across his chest in addition to the strap that secured the scabbard on his back. Several canisters and what looked like darts filled it. Wonder if Margrave had those knockout darts made, and the bastard stole them. He didn’t mention it, though, so probably not.
They crossed swords another trio of times. She managed a slice across the top of his knuckles, the welling blood a little reward. He suddenly turned and dashed away several steps, making a strange twisting motion with his body. When he spun to face her, his left hand gripped the shotgun that he must’ve attached to the back of the bandolier. She dove aside as he pulled the trigger, not willing to trust her magical defenses against this man, not after he’d drilled her full of anti-magic rounds the first time they’d fought.
Morrigan moved to her right, keeping one eye on Ruby’s battle and the other on the dwarf and the person he was apparently protecting. She presumed it was a dwarf, anyway, based on his height. Might be a troll, but doesn’t move like one, at least not the one I’ve met. Less bouncing, more stomping. He cast a shimmering wall to separate her from him and his boss, and she gave him a nod. Stay right there buddy. I’ll get to you afterward.
She reached back and selected an arrow by touch, coming out with a gas arrow. Maybe if I’m lucky, Ruby’s opponent’s armor won’t block this. She drew and waited for the perfect moment, knowing Ruby would eventually move him into position for her to strike. Her sister dove out of the way as a loud blast went off, and Morrigan let go of the string without thinking. The projectile shot true, slamming into his shoulder and detonating to spread a gas cloud all over him.
She watched, hoping he would fall, and reached back for another arrow. She chose explosive, one of the technology-based arrows the agents had provided. He dropped the shotgun, which hung from a strap, and grabbed something on his chest. The arrow sped toward him in the same moment he threw a canister at her. She sent a blast of force at it to deflect it out of line and called up a shield to protect herself from the now-more-distant detonation. Too bad I didn’t have enough time to marshal some energy and throw it back in his face.
Her arrow hit the concrete at his feet and blasted him backward, his magic armor not proof against a very material-world concussion. She chuckled, then the grenade detonated. Her entire side erupted in flame as shrapnel ripped into it, passing heedlessly through her protection without even slowing. Only the distance she’d knocked it away saved her from being shredded. She collapsed to the ground, clawing at her healing potion and trying to maintain a hastily summoned shield to separate her from any attempt by the dwarf or his friend to take advantage of the situation.
Idryll's first instinct was to help Morrigan or at least charge the dwarf and the human to keep them away from her fallen partner. No, I have to trust her to take care of herself. Her assignment was to wait for the instant the armored man was fully distracted, then get close and do her thing. The armor had turned her claws aside before, but mass was mass and strength was strength. It didn’t matter to her if his bones broke inside the armor or she ripped them out through his flesh, as long as they were out of commission.
Their foe being prone from the arrow’s detonation fit the criteria. She charged forward with a roar that always sounded strange coming from her two-legged form and leapt into the air, intending to come down on his legs, hoping the explosion had done some damage to his magical protection. She twisted violently aside as he whipped something at her, a dart that turned into a bolt of flame as it traveled toward her.
It slashed across her face, burning into the flesh of her cheek, and by the time she landed, she was in her four-footed tiger form, having lost only a second in the transition and adjustment. He scrambled backward, going for another one of the darts, but she jumped over him, digging her front claws into the join of his shoulders and neck and flipping him over with the intent of ripping his skull from his body. She yelled in pain as the armor’s magic tore into her, her very nature anathema to it, but his head came off.
She t
umbled, giddy with success until she realized her hands only held his helmet. The man himself was back on his feet with a grenade in each hand. He threw one at Ruby and another at her, then grabbed the gun dangling from the strap at his side.
Grentham had wanted to take advantage of the archer’s fall, but the boss had refused his request. Getting really tired of this bastard telling me what to do. He forced calm into his voice. “Do you have any orders, then?”
Sloane’s smile was apparent in his tone. “No, wait. The best surprise is about to arrive. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but the Paranormal Defense Agency, for all their good intentions, doesn’t have particularly strong security. Does it, Scimitar?”
A new voice, female and computer-modulated, joined the channel. “Nothing that I couldn’t break with five minutes of effort. Are the drones a go?”
Sloane laughed. “Oh yes. The drones are a go.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Morrigan forced herself to her feet as the healing potion she’d consumed did its work, filling her side with even more agony as it pushed the shrapnel out. She muttered curses against the pain as she retrieved her bow, single-mindedly looking for the man who’d hurt her. She spotted him across the Strip, his helmet off and an angry look on his face.
It required no thought to draw and fire a razor arrow aimed squarely at his head. She expelled additional curses as the projectile missed, his move to reengage with Ruby taking him out of line. Then a loud buzzing from above caught her attention as a trio of drones bore in on her, spitting bullets. She called up a force shield anchored to her left arm and crouched behind it, praying the drones carried ordinary rounds. At the rate they were coming, it would’ve cost a mint to arm them, if not.
Their barrage deflected from the shield, the impacts feeding back into Morrigan's arm as the faintest echo of the pain she’d experienced. The drones split, one continuing forward and two moving to encircle her. She broke into a run, heading toward the dwarf and the man he was protecting, figuring that would at least shield her from one angle if they felt the need to act in defense against the PDA. She tripped and rolled, then drew and came up shooting, launching an explosive arrow at the nearest drone. It struck true, blasting off two of the thing’s fans, and the aircraft spiraled out of control in the direction of the casinos. Hope someone is watching out for property damage.
She lurched back into motion as bullets traced a line toward her, courtesy of another of the drones making a strafing run. She called, “Drones suck. Mine don’t have anti-magic rounds, but they have a lot of the regular kind.”
Kayleigh’s voice entered the conversation and urged, “Keep moving. Help is on the way.” Morrigan followed the advice, taking a circuitous route toward the nearest enemies to avoid spooking them. Sorry, Ruby. You’re on your own for a while.
Ruby caught pellets from the shotgun in her leg, and when she rolled back to her feet, her movement included a significant limp. Spotting the inbound grenade, she reached out with a burst of force magic, knocking it as far away from the combat areas as she could. She’d seen the one he’d hurled at Morrigan and wanted no part of it.
It required willpower to quash her desire to check on her sister and move toward Goryo instead. He matched her motion as he raised the shotgun to point it at her, but then three drones swooped in at her, bullets leading. Reflex took over, and she blasted force magic into the ground to lift her high into the air. She discharged electricity at the nearest on her way up, causing it to pause and hover, and a crazy, stupid idea occurred to her.
She twisted her body to adjust her trajectory and landed on top of it. It was about the size of a large chair but not designed to hold her weight. The fans gave a struggling whir, then flamed out, and she used another blast of force magic at the ground to propel her in a shallow arc toward the next closest drone. It flew to meet her as if eager for the battle, and she summoned a force shield on her arm to intercept the barrage of bullets it sent her way, adjusting the angle in flight as the drone tipped slightly upward, seeking her head.
Whatever other defenses it had, proximity alarms weren’t among them. She got close enough to slash her sword down through it, and the magically keen blade bisected the device. It fell a few feet ahead of her, and hers plummeted toward the ground. She landed on another blast of force magic, cushioning the impact, then snatched one of the electrical grenades from her belt and hurled it at the last of the trio. Force magic corrected its trajectory, and seconds later the drone was down. I’m getting good at this. Unfortunately.
The sequence had given her opponent time to close, and she frantically grabbed the concealment grenade, throwing it and moving right before he fired the gun. Pellets slammed into the back of her Kevlar vest, feeling like a hundred sharp punches. None made it through to her flesh though, and she said a quiet thank you as she slipped under a veil and circled toward her target.
After hurtling away from the grenade he’d thrown at her, Idryll had stalked her quarry from behind, taking advantage of his intense focus on Ruby. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the other woman, making it easy to creep in with him unaware of her presence. She needed to make the attack good, this time ripping his head off for sure before any more nasty tricks came into play. She accelerated and jumped.
Something must’ve given her away, perhaps her claws on the concrete because he twisted toward her and thrust out his left arm. Perfect, I’ll bite it off. Instead, tentacles shot from it, long, slender limbs composed of shadow magic. They grabbed her in midair and slammed her to the ground, leaving her as stunned as if she’d fallen from ten times that height. Then, worse, they began to constrict.
Morrigan was about a dozen feet away from the pair when the dwarf spotted her and called up another force shield. She was surprised he wasn’t mixing it up, but clearly his sole objective was to run interference for the other man. Which makes that guy a high-value target. She considered the angles and fired an arrow in a tall arc, hoping to land the knockout gas at their feet by shooting it over the barrier.
As it turned out, the dwarf was too cagey for that because her projectile bounced off an invisible section of the protective surface over their heads. His masked head nodded, and she returned the gesture. Don’t worry. I’ll come up with a plan to deal with you. For now, how about this? She pulled her screamer, the arrow version of a concussion grenade, and shot it at the armored figure with the tentacles coming out of his arm. Wait, tentacles? What the hell?
Idryll spotted the projectile on its approach and waited a beat until it was close. Right before it struck, she shifted into her house cat form, leaving her belt and mask behind as she scampered away from the tentacles, which collapsed around the spot she’d vacated. She was sure they were reaching for her, was already dodging out of the way, but when the arrow hit, it exploded with sound and noise sufficient to make her head ring. Her most devout hope was that it did worse to its intended target.
She gave up on trying to stalk the man and instead ran toward Ruby, who had appeared suddenly after the arrow’s activation, staggering backward from its effects. It only took a few steps before she was back in her large four-legged form, and only a few more before she arrived. Her partner grinned as Idryll padded up next to her. “Welcome to the party. Watch out for him throwing things. He has some stuff that sucks.”
The tiger nodded, which was an amusing sight in itself. Ruby called, “Hey, chucklehead. How about we go back to the swords and quit this dancing around?”
He lowered the shotgun and threw it aside. Drawing his sword, he gripped it in two hands, a different fighting style than he’d used before. He flowed smoothly toward her, and Idryll moved left while she moved right, ready to put her steel against his. She struck at his head, and he blocked it with his blade. She went low, and he stopped it with a booted foot. She growled, “That damn armor sucks, and his head is too easy a target to defend. Morrigan, can you shoot him?”
Her sister replied, “Afraid not. I’m dodging another set o
f drones over here.”
Kayleigh interjected, “We’ll take care of you in a second. That tip you gave earlier about the trailers finally percolated through our systems to something useful. We have a pair of threes: three eighteen-wheelers from a delivery service parked by three casinos. Deacon was able to hack into the company and discover they were stolen.”
Ruby’s blood ran cold. “Explosives, you think?”
The tech replied, “It’s what I’d do. Don’t worry, though. We’re parking signal jammer drones on top of all three. Unless they have some amazing skills, magic, and technology, they’re not going to get through our blocking. Trust me on this. We’ve tried to break it every way we know how.”
So that’s the twist, Ruby thought. Try to kill the casino owners, try to kill us, and if things go wrong, blow up the casinos. Pretty nasty. “I’m sure they’ve already evacuated the customers, but we need to make sure they get staff out. Demetrius, call the casino master number I gave you and tell them to initiate a Priority Diamond action. Everyone will know what you mean, and helping to pass the word is part of the protocol.”
Her boyfriend replied, “On it.” She heard the worry in his voice and realized suddenly that some of it might be about her. Can’t be fun sitting back and listening to all this nonsense, I suppose. Maybe I need to pony up and take him on a date instead of the other way around.
Idryll's feint at their shared target focused her mind on the moment, and she ran toward him. She sheathed her sword, deciding it was time to try something different given her spectacular lack of success thus far. She summoned shields on both arms and flexed the left hand with the metal knuckles attached. He dodged away from the tiger, providing an opening for her to get close.