Page 25 of Only Rogue Actions
A sense of calm settled over me, like I was back in the R&D lab tinkering with a new blaster design.I embraced the feeling and did the same thing I would have done in the lab—I traced my fingers along the wires, seeing where they plugged into the keypad, along with the surrounding circuitry.
Lucky for me, the wires were covered with a cheap plastic coating that I was able to peel away with my fingernails.I quickly exposed several wires, then touched them together.Sparks zinged through the air, along with the crackle of electricity, but I kept testing one combination of wires after another after another ...
Beep!
The light on the keypad turned green, and the door buzzed open.I pumped my fist in the air in triumph again.
Vesper 2, Maze 0.
Pew!Pew!Pew!
Another round of blaster fire erupted in the maze, and an instant later, a sharp spike of pain stabbed into my right forearm.The force of the phantom blow knocked me back against the wall hard enough to rattle my teeth and make me bite my tongue.
Blast it.That hadhurt.
I yanked up my jacket and shirtsleeves, knowing and dreading what I would find.Sure enough, an angry red burn had appeared on my right forearm.My heart pounded in my chest, matching the rapid, painful throb of the wound.
Kyrion had been shot.
When our truebond had first formed, we often mirrored each other’s injuries.If I cut my hand on a dagger, a similar mark would appear on the same spot on Kyrion’s hand, although his wound usually wouldn’t be as deep or painful as the actual cut on my hand.After we had finally accepted our truebond in the Crownpoint throne room several weeks ago, I thought we would stop mirroring each other’s injuries, but I was wrong.
Sometimes if I clipped my shoulder on a doorway or bruised my knee on a table, the same injury would appear on Kyrion’s body, and vice versa if he rammed his elbow into a shelf or landed awkwardly on his hip during sparring.But other times when Kyrion and I injured ourselves, the physical marks would only appear on the injured person’s body, and the other person didn’t experience any psionic echoes of pain.
I’d started keeping track of which injuries appeared, along with their severity, but so far, there was no rhyme, reason, or discernible pattern to how, why, or when our wounds mirrored each other and when they didn’t.The lack of clear action and reaction was another frustrating facet of the ever-evolving puzzle of having a truebond.Just when I thought I had finally figured something out, something else arose that completely upended my perception of my magic, Kyrion’s power, and everything else that came with our connection.
But the severity of this injury told me exactly how much Kyrion was hurting—and how dangerous his enemy was.This wasn’t the mild redness from a blaster set to stun.No, that bolt had been designed to incapacitate Kyrion, at best, and kill him, at worst.Dread pounded through my body.
I’m coming, Kyr!Hang on!
I sent the thought, although yet again, I had no idea if he heard it.The sticky cobweb of Kyrion bristled with even more anger, although that emotion was quickly iced over by a cold, ruthless determination I recognized all too well.
Kyrion Caldaren might be injured, but he was far from defeated, and the rogue Arrow was going to make his enemy pay.An answering determination swept through me, and a sharp grin split my lips.
Me too, Kyr.Me too.
I grabbed my trident and held it out in front of me.Then I stepped through the open door to continue my search for the spider controlling this dangerous web.
CHAPTER TWELVE
KYRION
Ichargedforward,myboots thumping against the flagstones.
Roderick Battis knew the maze like the back of his hand, and my only course of action was to retreat along the paths I had already explored, reach the outer wall, and escape.Once I was free of the psionic dampeners, I should be able to sense exactly where Vesper was and clearly communicate with her.
I sprinted along one path after another, but it didn’t take me long to realize this was one race I was going to lose.Roderick’s armored boots must have had a propulsion system to increase his speed, because his footsteps were quickly growing louder and closer.The Hammer was swiftly running me down, and I wasn’t going to be able to escape the maze before he caught me.Change of plan.I was going to have to make a stand and fight Roderick on his own turf.
Up ahead, another junction appeared.I didn’t have time to stop, look around, and study my options, so I took the right path.I rounded a long, large curve, entered a biodome, and skidded to a halt.
My gaze snapped back and forth.Honeysuckle vines, blue-moon peonies, and other flowers, marble statues, stone fountains, but no energy shield overhead.This was the same garden biodome where Roderick had confronted me a few minutes ago.Fuck.I thought I’d been heading toward the outer edge of the maze, but instead, I’d just run around in a giant circle.
A sharp whistle shrieked out, making me flinch in surprise.The sound intensified with each passing second, like a high-speed train was bearing down on me.On instinct, I lunged to my right.
Crack!
Roderick’s war hammer slammed into one of the House Battis castle statues.The black marble exploded at the hard, jarring impact, and red sparks shot up into the air like fireworks.I lifted my hand and threw up a psionic shield, using my telekinesis to send the sharp shards of stone spinning away from me.
The hammer plowed through the air until it hit one of the honeysuckle-covered walls.The weapon bounced off the metal underneath the greenery and dropped to the ground.Roderick sprinted into the biodome, stopped, and snapped his hand forward.A wave of telekinesis rolled off him, and the hammer lifted off the ground.
