Page 37 of Only Rogue Actions
Despite the pain still pulsing through my ruined left hand and battering against the psionic shield in my mind, I snarled again and sprinted forward.Roderick also sprinted forward, trying to cut me off and force me back into the ring, but I sidestepped him.
Roderick spun toward me and lashed out with his hammer.He landed a solid blow on my left shoulder.Pain erupted in the joint, zinged down my arm, and merged with the agony still pulsing through my charred hand.I staggered to the side and almost plowed into a cauldron of lava before I finally managed to right myself.I threw up another psionic shield in my mind, walling off as much of the pain as possible, and kept going.
I ran toward the edge of the biodome.My gaze snapped left and right.I still needed a weapon, although I didn’t see anything useful in here.
Another bright flare of silver caught my eye, and I was stunned to see Vesper standing in the biodome, regarding the pools of lava with a disgusted expression.
I skidded to a halt.Vesper?
I didn’t really expect her to respond, since we hadn’t been able to communicate clearly since entering the maze, but to my surprise, Vesper turned her head and looked straight at me.Blood covered her dark blue clothes and her hands.More blood speckled her face, and the silver flecks in her dark blue eyes glittered like distant stars.
A fist of fear crushed my heart.Was Vesper dead?Was this some final vision of her?
The flecks in her eyes grew larger and larger, as though two pools of shimmering liquid silver had been set into her face.The velvety ribbon of Vesper thrummed and vibrated with psion power, and a crackling sensation swept over my skin, like I was about to get a violent static shock.
I’m here, Kyr.
At the sound of her voice in my mind, my connection to Vesper snapped back into place, despite the psionic dampeners in the maze.The cold, tight fist of fear squeezing my chest vanished, and the ribbon of her quickly spooled back into its usual shape and size and curled snugly around my heart.
For a moment, I wondered how I was hearing and seeing Vesper, but then the answer came to me.She was tapping into her seer magic and astrally projecting herself into the maze just as she had once done in Zane’s library.Clever, clever seer.
Vesper’s gaze flicked past me and landed on Roderick, who was swinging his hammer back and forth and slowly approaching me again.I’m going to help you kill him.
How?He’s wearing armor, and the biodome is rigged with booby traps he can control through the holoscreen on his forearm.
Her eyes narrowed, and her lips puckered in thought.I’m still figuring that out.Do me a favor, and stay away from the wall and the lava, okay?
Another bubble of lava popped in a cauldron beside my left elbow.I shuddered.Not a problem.
Vesper glanced around the biodome.Her eyes narrowed, and her brow furrowed as she analyzed and cataloged one thing after another.I’d seen that same look on her face whenever she was building a makeshift weapon on board theDream World.My inner monster rumbled with satisfaction and pride.Vesper’s thinking face was one of my favorite expressions.
Roderick stopped, frowned, and looked at the spot where Vesper was standing.“What are you staring at with that stupid smile on your face?”
As difficult as it was, I pulled my gaze away from Vesper and focused on him again.“Your death.”
Roderick snorted.“The heat has already addled your mind.Or perhaps the nasty blaster burn on your hand is making it hard for you to think clearly.The only person who’s dying is you, Kyrion.”
I didn’t bother responding.Vesper Quill was better at figuring out how things worked than anyone else in the entire galaxy, and she would come up with a way for me to defeat Roderick.
The bastard was already dead.He just didn’t know it yet.
Roderick’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.“It’s your truebond, isn’t it?You’re talking to your precious Vesper.Somehow she escaped the maze and moved far enough away from the psionic dampeners to communicate with you.Well, she won’t get far.My people have strict orders not to let anyone leave the facility.”A cruel grin twisted his lips.“Not alive, anyway.”
I killed the four Hammers guarding the control room, Vesper’s voice sounded in my mind, and her image wavered like a ghost coming into and out of focus.Siya and Asterin are clearing the rest of the facility right now.
I focused on Roderick again.“You should have done more research on Vesper.Then you would have known not to underestimate her.The people you left behind in the control room are dead, and I’m willing to bet Siya and Asterin are calling in reinforcements from House Collier even as we speak.”
For the first time, a bit of uncertainty creased Roderick’s face, but it quickly vanished, swallowed by his enormous ego.“You’re bluffing.Vesper might have gotten lucky and slipped out of the maze, but there’s no way she could have infiltrated the control room without getting captured.”
I jerked my chin at the holoscreen on his left forearm.“Go ahead.Check for yourself.”
Roderick wet his lips, then lifted the holoscreen.“Jeffrey, what’s your status?”
Silence.
“Jeffrey, what’s your status?”Roderick repeated, his voice even sharper than before.“Report.Now.”
The holoscreen flared with light, and Roderick exhaled with relief.
