Page 41 of Only Rogue Actions
I didn’t know if I had the physical strength to punch the stake through the lava-weakened spots in his armor, so I went low.With the help of my telekinesis, I used the chunk of wood like a short makeshift spear and drove the sharp, triangular point into the side of his right knee, which wasn’t covered by an armored plate.I shoved the stake in as deep as I could, then yanked it out.
Roderick howled with pain.His right leg buckled, and he staggered away.
I chased after him and stabbed my makeshift spear into another exposed spot, the meaty area between the top of his left thigh and his hip.He howled with pain again, but he still didn’t go down.I yanked the stake out, tightened my grip on the rough wood, and then drew it back like a shock baton and cracked it across his jaw.
Once again, I added my telekinesis to the blow, and I finally knocked Roderick down onto his back, which had been my goal all along.Just like that, I had the advantage.
Armor was great—if you were on your feet.
But the instant you went down, all that heavy protective armor became a serious liability.Instead of a tall, strong, imposing warrior, Roderick now looked like a giant red tortoise resting on its shell, and his arms and legs thrashed and flailed as he struggled to roll over onto his side.
I stepped up and kicked him in the face.Roderick’s nose broke with a deeply satisfying crunch, and he blubbered as a fresh wave of blood, tears, and snot gushed down his burned face.
He swung his hammer out in a wild arc, trying to knock my feet out from under me, but I hopped over the weapon.I was still clutching the scarecrow stake, so I spun back around, dropped down, and stabbed the point into his right shoulder.
Roderick howled with pain.Blood welled up, and his hammer slipped out of his fingers.I straightened up and grabbed hold of his weapon with my telekinesis.The hammer zipped up through the air, and the gold hilt slapped against my right palm.
Roderick snarled, yanked the stake out of his shoulder, and lashed out with it, but I hopped over it as easily as I had his hammer a moment ago.Roderick dug the stake into the ground like a crutch.He grunted and finally heaved himself onto his hands and knees.
He flung the stake in my direction, then scuttled away from me like a crab streaking across a beach.I followed him, the war hammer still clutched in my hand.The lunarium was now glowing a dark, ominous blue and spitting out needles of ice in a reflection of my psion power, which was as strong as ever, thanks to my cold rage and icy determination.
Roderick crawled across the ground, heading toward a stone bench beneath one of the trees.He reached underneath the bench and yanked a small blaster out of a hiding spot.Then he spun toward me and aimed the weapon at my chest.
“Die, you bastard!”Roderick screamed, and pulled the trigger.
Pew!
Vesper’s seer power kicked in just as it had done earlier in the Magma biodome.Time slowed down, and I noticed one thing after another.The bright orange streak of energy erupting out of the blaster.The crimson blood trickling down Roderick’s face.The sharp tips of his white canines flashing like fangs in his mouth ...
Time snapped back to its normal flow.I stepped up and used the lunarium head of the war hammer to deflect the bolt and send it shooting right back at Roderick.
Bull’s-eye.
The bolt hit Roderick’s armor in a spot close to his heart that had been scorched and softened by the lava, and the deadly blast of electricity punched right through the weakened polyplastic and tossed him back against the stone bench.
Roderick screamed.He tried to raise the blaster to fire again, but I kicked the weapon out of his hand.Roderick watched the blaster tumble end over end and sink into a pile of scarlet leaves.
His head slowly lifted.Weary resignation creased his burned face, and he looked up at me with dull eyes.Blood oozed out of the deep wound in his chest.The coppery tang mixed with the ozone stench of the bolt and created an unmistakable scent I had smelled countless times before.
The stench of impending death.
I loomed over him, the war hammer still clutched in my hand.“What did you say to me before?Ah, yes, now I remember.The grand finale is your favorite part.When the prey finally realizes they’re caught in your trap and there is no escape.”I nodded, and he flinched at the motion.“Finally, something we can agree on.”
A humorless smile lifted Roderick’s lips.“Looks like you are the better warrior after all, Kyrion ...”
Roderick’s voice trailed off, and his chest spasmed with a raspy, gurgling cough.He slumped a little more heavily against the bench, then slowly slid off the side and toppled over onto the ground.His eyes widened, then stilled.More blood leaked out of the wound in his chest, but it quickly ebbed, although the autumn leaves continued to swirl through the air.
The great hunter was dead, killed by the merciless monster he’d foolishly lured into his trap.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
VESPER
Itwistedaknobon the control panel.In response, the camera hovering over the forest biodome lowered, giving me a better view through the swirling leaves.
Kyrion towered over Roderick, who was clearly dead.Good riddance.Kyrion exhaled and lowered the Erzton lord’s war hammer to his side, and an answering knot of tension loosened in my own chest.
By this point, I had figured out most of the buttons and switches on the control panel, and I used them to shut down the psionic dampeners and other sensory-deprivation devices, disarm the traps, and open the maze exits.I also gave Jeffrey another vicious kick in the ribs, but he was still out cold, so I grabbed my trident and left the control room.
