Page 14 of Only Rogue Actions
I opened my eyes.The right path lay in front of me, so I took it.
Overhead, the camera moved along with me, while the holocuff on my left wrist continued to show my heart rate and other vital signs.Slow and steady, just like my progress through the maze.
I explored one path after another, trying to move closer to Kyrion.I didn’t spot or trigger any more trip wires or holograms, although a couple of times, I had to backtrack from dead ends.
After a few more twists and turns, the path opened into a large circular biodome that resembled a Tropics rain forest.Rows of verdant green palm trees embedded in real dirt soared up into the air, along with smaller hibiscus trees and shrubs sporting bright magenta-, violet-, and daffodil-colored blossoms.Long black, green, and gray vines swooped from one tree to another, while small black lizards with colorful orange stripes lounged on several large rocks.Even a few frogs croaked somewhere deep in the shrubbery.An energy shield shimmered above, creating a clear bubble over the entire biodome.
I moved back and forth across the threshold.On the path side, the air was dry and chilly, but in the biodome, it was as humid and warm as a real Tropics rain forest.My admiration for Jeffrey and the other technicians rose several notches.Even with solar panels, it would still take an immense amount of energy—and a staggering number of credits—to climate-control the many biodomes in the maze.Asterin had been right about House Battis having money to burn.
The centerpiece of the biodome was an enormous bronze cauldron shaped like a hibiscus blossom.The metal petals stretched out more than six feet, while gas-powered flames in the base of the cauldron danced high into the air.
I squinted at the flames, wondering if they were a hologram, but heat blasted off the cauldron and warmed my cheeks, and curls of smoke wafted through the air and stung my eyes.Definitelynota hologram.The lit cauldron had to be an obstacle, just like the fog disguising the trip wire earlier.
The main path through the biodome split off into two walkways that circled around the cauldron.Foot-high statues shaped like black lizards were nestled in beds of pale orange pebbles along both walkways, and I had to do a double take to make sure the lizards were statues and not real creatures like the smaller ones still lounging on the rocks.
Instead of moving deeper into the biodome, I crouched down and scooped up a couple of pebbles.Then I stood up and tossed one of the orange stones onto the path that wound around the right side of the cauldron.
The pebble skittered across a few of the flagstones before rolling to a stop.I held my breath, but nothing happened.Hmm.Maybe I was wrong about the cauldron being a trap.
I tossed another pebble onto the path that wound around the left side of the cauldron.The pebble skipped along, then spun to a stop on a flagstone.A few orange sparks spewed up into the air, like the pebble had crossed through an energy shield.I frowned.Why would there be a shield that low to the ground—
WHOOSH!
A large jet of fire shot out from a nozzle tucked between two bronze petals in the base of the cauldron.Even though I had been expecting something to happen, I still yelped and jerked back in surprise.
The fire zipped directly across the path and slammed into the hibiscus trees and shrubs on the far side.The flames exploded out and up, cracking the branches and incinerating a wide swath of the bright blossoms.In an instant, singed petals drifted through the air like neon pink, purple, and yellow snowflakes.
My eyes widened in shock, and my heart leaped up into my throat.The flowers’ sweet scent took on a charred aroma, and I had to swallow a sneeze.
First the hologram Scarab, now the booby-trapped path.The obstacles were far more lifelike—and dangerous—than Asterin and Siya had suggested.The jet of fire wouldn’t have killed me, but I still would have been seriously injured—too injured to continue any further.
Ominous butterflies fluttered in my stomach, matching the cascade of charred petals.Did Siya and the other House Collier Hammers use such hazardous obstacles when they trained?Or was this part of the special truebond program Aldrich and Verona had set up for Kyrion and me?But how would dousing me with flames help me learn more about or strengthen my connection to Kyrion?
I glanced up.Maybe it was a quirk of my seer magic, but instead of a silent, neutral observer, the overhead camera now seemed like a sinister, sentient robot patiently waiting to see what I would do next.
Asterin had said that Jeffrey was responsible for the obstacles, which meant the technician had deliberately made that jet of fire hot, wide, and powerful enough to burn and incapacitate me.Was Jeffrey trying to force me to quit?Was that part of his job?Either way, the fire was a vivid, painful example of the awful things that could happen to Kyrion and me in the real world if we didn’t figure out the nuances of our bond.
Those ominous butterflies dropped and congealed into bricks of dread lining my stomach.I didn’t know what was going on, but I needed to get past the fire-spewing cauldron.
I grabbed more orange pebbles and eased along the safe side of the path.The trees crowded up to the edge of the flagstones, and I peered into the shrubbery, searching for more traps.
Click.
A flagstone depressed under my feet, and a low gray vine lashed out and slapped against my right ankle like a whip.I tripped and went down hard on all fours, and pain exploded in my hands and knees.I cursed, but before I could scramble to my feet, the vine lashed out again and coiled around my ankle like a heavy rope anchoring me to the ground.
Not a natural vine but a mechanical one painted to blend in with the rest of the shrubbery.Clever.I reached for the vine, but it tightened like a vise—and then it jerked forward and started dragging me along the ground.
I yelped in surprise and tried to grab one of the flagstones to stop the unwanted movement, but they were all smooth and slick, and I couldn’t get a grip on any of them.Digging my boots into the ground didn’t help much either, since the machinery was a lot stronger than I was.Slowly but surely, the vine pulled me back onto the left path and headed straight toward the metal nozzle of the fire trap.
Worry squeezed my heart, but I forced myself to push it aside.I reached for my seer power and studied everything around me, from the ground to the flagstones to the charred petals still drifting through the air.I needed something to help disable the vine or at least force it to release its grip, or I was about to be extra crispy.
A pale silver glow appeared near the hibiscus trees the fire trap had decimated.I peered in that direction and reached for even more of my magic, and the glow solidified on a fallen branch that had smashed one of the lizard statues along the path.My gaze locked onto the lizard’s tail, which had broken off into a large, long shard with a sharp, daggerlike edge.Just like the rock in my pocket, it wasn’t much of a weapon, but it would have to do.
I quit fighting the vine’s insistent pull.Instead, I lay down on my left hip and curved my left arm out to the side.I waited until the machinery had dragged me as close to the smashed statue as possible, then dug my boots into the ground, surged forward, and stretched my hand out as far as it would go, reaching, reaching, reaching for the lizard’s tail ...
My fingers brushed against the broken stone, but I couldn’t quite grab it.The vine yanked at me like I was a dog on a leash.I resisted its movement as much as possible, but it was a losing battle.Twenty more seconds, and the vine would pull me directly into the fire nozzle trap, so I growled and stretched out a little further ...and a little further still ...
My fingers closed around the stone.The sharp edge nicked my skin, making me hiss, but I ignored the slice of pain and yanked the shard toward me.The instant I had a good grip on the lizard’s tail, I sat up and dug my boots into the ground, fighting the vine’s relentless pull as much as possible.Then I leaned forward, shoved the shard up against the vine, and started sawing away with the sharp edge of the lizard’s tail.
