by TR Cameron
She punched at him, sure that it would be a knockout, but he leapt into the air so her blow slammed into his armor instead. A finger broke, and she howled, more in annoyance than actual pain. Still, he was off his feet, if only for an instant, and that was something she could work with. She threw herself into him, leading with her shoulder and knocking him off-balance. Idryll raced in from the side and smashed into him, taking him to the ground. A shadow shield wrapped around him before he hit, preventing the tiger from getting in to do more damage, and he stood under its protection.
Ruby decided she had endured more than enough of the smug look on his face, and if she was going to have broken bones, he deserved to receive some pain, too. She reached down with her right hand and snagged a throwing knife from her boot. She threw it as hard as she could, and it stabbed into the bare flesh of his left arm. He howled, an unreasonable amount of anger flowing from him, and she suddenly saw the whole picture in perfect clarity. “Holy hell. He has an artifact inside him.”
Demetrius snapped, “What?” Morrigan replied, “That explains the tentacles,” and Kayleigh growled, “Damn, be careful. Those things suck.”
Ruby didn’t need to be told twice, but she had no decent options. As he dropped the shield, she closed in again. If I can hit him with a good left hook, it’s nighty-night for scumbag.
Morrigan stopped moving as the hooded man the dwarf was defending pulled a device from his pocket and held it up for her to see. It looked like a small flashlight with a big red button on the top that flashed alarmingly. She said, “I hope you’ve got those trucks locked down. He’s holding a detonator of some kind in his hand.”
Kayleigh’s urgent voice asked, “Is it a dead man’s switch?”
“What?”
The tech let out an exasperated sigh. “Is he currently pressing it? If he is, it probably goes off when he lets go. If he’s not, it’s pushing the button that does it.”
“Okay, no, not pushing it.”
“Good. The last jammer will be in place in fourteen seconds. No sudden movements.”
She snorted inwardly. “Right, sure.” She looked at Ruby and Goryo, who were close together, and realized she had no chance to hit him without hitting her sister, too. Still, maybe she had a way to even the odds a little. As she pulled out the sonic distortion arrow and fitted it to the string, she warned, “Incoming, Ruby. Try not to fall.” Then, before she allowed herself to reconsider, the arrow sprang from the bow and raced toward its target.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ruby collapsed under the sonic shock of Morrigan's arrow, which had hit the ground between her and Goryo. She struggled to get back to her feet faster than her opponent when suddenly the attack on her inner ear vanished. He looked satisfied about something as he popped up and pulled his sword from its sheath. He swung at her, a wicked horizontal chop from the left, and she reached for force magic to coat her arm to block.
It wasn’t there. Her mind had enough time to panic and send her tumbling out of the way before the blade chopped her in two, but she took a slash along her left arm that burned like acid. Figuring that if her shield didn’t work, his probably wouldn’t either, she yanked out her pistol and pulled the trigger convulsively, emptying the magazine in a flurry of shots. He crouched, covered his head with his arms, and let the armor absorb the impacts. Then he was up and rushing toward her again, and all she could do was charge at him with a scream, hoping she could get one hand or the other close enough to his unprotected face to end the fight.
As Kayleigh announced, “Drones are down. You can take him out,” something changed with the dwarf and his boss. The shield fell, the dwarf pointed his weapon at her, and a grenade shot out of the tube under the barrel. Morrigan used force power to send the projectile back at him. His instinctive reaction was to do the same, and it flew off to explode where it couldn’t hurt anyone. She pulled an arrow and launched it, and he batted it out of the air with magic. She tried it again, and he repeated the defense.
He dropped the rifle and pulled a pistol, allowing him to cast with one hand and attack with the other. She bolted, cursing the lack of cover in the area as she ran a weaving path, waiting for the inevitable moment that a bullet caught her. When it happened, it was in the form of a triple punch in the back that sent her sprawling, but the rounds didn’t get through the armored vest.
Morrigan jumped up with a growl and dispatched a wash of fire at him, but he called up a shield to deflect it. She had no doubt she could take him in a different situation, where she could focus exclusively on him, but her eyes kept drifting to the man with the detonator and the one mixing it up with Ruby and Idryll. She ran to her right, doing her best to make the dwarf move so he’d be back-to-back with his boss. Then she sent in a gas arrow intended as a distraction. It hit the ground between them, and while the dwarf used his magic to push the vapors away, she loosed her last razor arrow at his face.
Ruby swung at Goryo, and he blocked her arm with his armored forearm, then slashed at her head with his sword. She ducked under it, guiding his wrist up and away, then reflexively punched his exposed ribs. She pulled the blow as soon as she remembered he was wearing armor and she wasn’t, but when the knuckles struck they snapped with a loud shock. The noise startled him, and that gave her the instant of vulnerability she needed.
Idryll had moved around behind him, and Ruby jumped and delivered a two-footed kick to his chest. She flew backward to sprawl on the ground, but so did he, right over the top of the tiger that had read her move and driven herself at the back of his legs. He landed hard, and Idryll twisted, leapt into the air, and descended on him with all her weight, the loud crack indicating the blow had compromised his chest armor.
Ruby dashed to his side and encased his left lower arm in a force shield on the way, ready to chop the limb off with her sword if her magic failed again. It confined the tentacles that tried to lash out and gut the tiger. He’d lost his weapon during the fall, and his free hand grabbed a grenade on his bandolier. Idryll dove off and captured his hand in her fangs, yanking his arm to the side hard enough to make the chest crack a little more. Ruby fired lightning into the damaged portion, and he stiffened and shook. She finally put him out with the punch to the face she’d been trying to land, discharging the remaining stun power and overloading his nervous system.
She fell to her knees, panting from the blood loss caused by her wounded arm, and popped open her other healing potion. “For the love of all that’s holy, please make sure this bastard doesn’t get back up, even if you have to tear his arm off to do it.”
Idryll's grin was visible even with Goryo's forearm trapped between her fangs.
The arrow whizzed across, and only a last-second dodge kept the dwarf from being impaled. While the bolt missed him, it didn’t miss the other person she was aiming at and slammed deep into the back of the man he was supposed to protect. He ripped off his mask, seeming to gasp for air as he turned reflexively to see where the grievous injury had come from, and she recognized him immediately: Gabriel Sloane. Of course. He convulsively jammed down the detonator button. Morrigan cringed, but there was no result. She shifted her attention to the dwarf, but he was already running toward the casinos. “Appropriate.” She shook her head and called, “See you next time, coward.”
She knelt beside Sloane as he slumped to the ground, his breathing shallow and irregular. Her arrow hadn’t come out the front, so she supported his shoulder with one hand to keep him from falling backward onto it. Ruby covered the six feet from the other fallen man to kneel on his other side and said, “How’s it look?”
Morrigan replied, “He’ll live, I think. As long as we get some ambulances in here, stat.”
Demetrius asked, “Is it safe to do so?”
Ruby said, “Yeah, go ahead.” She looked down at the man and sighed. “Quite the audacious plan, blowing up the casinos. You don’t like to lose, do you?”
Something between a cough and a laugh came out of his mouth as he shook h
is head. “No, I do not. All you bastards had to do was let me build one casino here. Was that seriously too much to ask?”
Morrigan snorted. “They did their research on you, Mr. Sloane. Once you had a foothold, you would have made moves to take over the whole place. You’re not historically kind to your business partners.”
He nodded. “Maybe this time it wouldn’t have been like that. I really wanted this. Wanted to go fully legit.” He laugh-coughed again. “Well, as legit as a casino can be.”
Ruby shook her head. “Well, you’ll have a lot of time to imagine what it would have been like in prison, I guess.”
Sloane’s gaze shifted past her, and he shook his head, seeming sad but somehow still defiant. “No. I think I’d rather go out with a bang.”
Morrigan caught the motion from the edge of her eye. She was reaching for an arrow in an instant, the most lethal of the bunch, the one she called the spinner. It was a tech arrow, designed so it traveled faster by spinning as it flew. She knew that to loose it meant death for the target in most cases, which was why she hadn’t felt the need to use it before. She released it at the same moment Ruby dove at the man she’d downed, the man with one arm trapped in Idryll's mouth.
The other arm, though, the one with the artifact on it, was in motion toward them. The tentacles shot out of it, crossing the distance between them in no more than a second, and she screamed a futile warning to Ruby. It arrived too late, but it didn’t matter. Goryo hadn’t aimed the attack at her. His shadow magic assault speared through Sloane’s throat, clearly severing all sorts of important things to judge by the way he immediately twitched and sputtered.
Her arrow took the man who had hurt Margrave in the face, ending him for good. She turned to Sloane, as did Ruby from her prone position near Goryo. He made one last convulsive jerk, then his eyes defocused. A series of loud sounds that could only be explosions came from the left side of the Strip, and Morrigan jerked her head toward the noise in time to see the Mist casino shudder, creak, and begin to collapse in upon itself.
She watched in horror as it cascaded down like a house of cards, damaging the Darkest Night casino next to it and shooting a column of dust up into the air. She had no words, couldn’t put together any coherent thoughts in the aftermath of such wholesale destruction. In moments where emotion overcame her, she almost always did the same thing and turned to her sister for comfort.
Ruby couldn’t offer it, though. Her body was locked like a plank, rigid and vibrating as if it would shake itself apart. Morrigan's mind babbled with terror at the sight of the octopus-shaped bracelet that was digging its way into the flesh of her sister’s left forearm.
Chapter Thirty
Ruby found herself in darkness with no idea how she’d arrived there. The space felt enormous and abandoned. Am I dead? What happened?
A low chuckle sounded from nearby, and she turned to see Mirra Kaeni stride forward, dressed as she’d seen her last, in shining chain armor with ebon plates over the top, both setting off the snowy white hair and pale skin to good effect. “No, you’re not dead. You are simply inside your mind.”
“You can read my mind here? Is that part of being the Mist Elves’ ruler, or what?”
“No, that’s a feature of your will. You are shouting out your thoughts. I cannot help but hear them. To the question of the ruler, the mystics are quite right. I accomplished a great deal during my time, but it was more often through coercion rather than agreement.” She stepped closer, opening her arms wide. “Power, you see, is a baseline requirement. Once you have it, people are far more willing to agree to do what you request of them. Then, one can choose to be magnanimous in their dealings with others. It makes great, great works possible, the kind that benefits everyone and transforms societies.”
Ruby sensed pressure on her senses. She’d experienced it before and had generated it once. “Nope, I think we’ll stay in this setting, thanks. You know, what you describe sounds a lot like manipulation. Like how you’re trying to manipulate me right now.”
The other woman’s tone changed, sounding far more unlike Ruby’s memory of her as she spoke with a syrupy sweetness tinted with wheedling. “I had to test you. Make sure you were worthy, which you clearly are. You and I can be equal partners. Together, we will build our power in your world. Together, we will make amazing things happen, fantastic things that will benefit all the people.”
Ruby shook her head. “I know you’re not Kaeni. Get out of my head and show yourself.”
A flash of light filled the space, doubtless a memory pulled from her battle with the mad Mist Elf, and an Atlantean stood before her. He was tall, dark, and haughty, with arrogance radiating from him. His black hair was bound in thick locks that fell over his shoulders and hung down nearly to his waist. He wore blue and green armor that appeared to be composed of individual scales, each perfect and shining, seeming to ripple as he breathed. He held a trident in his right hand, almost as tall as he was, and a weighted net in his left. “Very well.”
Ruby rolled her eyes. “Wow. How stereotypical. Should I call you Aquaman and be done with it?”
He snarled, “We are the source of the stereotypes. When pitiful humans from long ago worshiped Poseidon and Neptune, they were truly paying homage to us. As was, and is, right and proper.”
Ruby crossed her arms and shook her head. “Yeah, whatever. Delusions of grandeur, I say.”
He demanded, “I say you will follow my orders and submit yourself to me, or I will fill your world with pain.”
She couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Buddy, I never do what anyone says. That’s kind of like my main thing.”
“Perhaps a taste of that pain shall prove informative.”
He pointed the trident at her and sent a blast of electricity cascading from it. She waved her hand, and it vanished, transforming into a shower of sparkles. “Please. If we’re in my head, nothing’s going to be decided by magic. Did you not learn even that little thing about me?”
He broke into an unexpected smile, and she realized he could be handsome if he weren’t so malevolent. Kind of like the devil in stories, I guess. My personal Asmodeus. “Very well, then. Let’s see what you’re made of.”
He rushed forward to battle her, and she dashed ahead to meet him. She expected him to throw the net, but he didn’t, and her respect for his tactics shifted up a notch. Better to wait until I’m not expecting it, obviously. She kept her hands at the ready, and when he stabbed out the trident, it was a simple matter to dip slightly and bring her hand around in a circle to block the shaft, pushing the tips away from her.
She slammed a quick sidekick into his ribs, but he seemed unmoved by her martial display. He spun backward, leading with his elbow, and she dropped to the ground to strike at his knee. He twisted at the right instant, and her foot caught the back of the joint rather than the front or side. What might have cost a lesser opponent their balance only sent him into a cartwheeling disengagement. She rose, and he waited for her to find her feet. His tone suggested grudging respect. “You fight well. Perhaps we could be partners in truth. I’ll admit my earlier offer was indeed manipulation. Now I see that you are worthy.”
Energy flowed through her, and she realized the fighting hadn’t drained her at all. In fact, she felt better than she had for some time. This is pure. This is me, no one else. Man versus man. Well, okay, woman versus imaginary mythical prince of hell, but close enough. She charged ahead without responding, and he tried the net. She cut to the side and rolled, almost avoiding it altogether. It snagged her foot, but she extricated herself before the weights could wrap all the way around and slow her.
He twirled the trident through a series of spins, its heaviness negligible in his hands, and surprised her by going for a smash with the finial on the end opposite the spikes. She leaned away to avoid it, and he lunged forward to compensate, extending it enough to catch her a painful blow on the cheek. Blood seeped into her mouth from her nose, and she laughed. She hadn’t fought a ba
ttle so pure in forever, probably since the days of training with Keshalla before coming back to Magic City.
She scowled at the notion that returning to her hometown had soiled her somehow, then realized he was trying to play with her brain again. For all the talk of a truce, which I would never accept anyway, if this bastard wins, I’ll be his puppet. That won’t be good for anyone, but most especially not good for those I love.
She strode forward with purpose, intent on ending the fight. He recognized the change in her attitude and shifted to a defensive posture, blocking her attempts to punch and kick him while snapping out his blows only when he could be sure of not overstepping. She feigned a wound, hoping he’d buy into it, but he smiled and continued. Dammit, this could go on forever. I’m guessing I won’t keep feeling strong for as long as he will since this is his domain, even if I have some influence on it. She disengaged and tried to force the surrounding area into a different shape, recalling the mountaintop with its clean, cold purity, but failed to accomplish it.
Okay, I might be in trouble. As if the thought had summoned them, Shalia and Tyrsh appeared a short distance away. Her foe started at the sight of them and moved into position to defend against all three. Shalia stood with her arms crossed, shaking her head at the Atlantean. “Pathetic. Of all the potential venues you could try, this is your choice?” She gestured at the surrounding space. “No wonder your people lost their homeland.”
Tyrsh added, “And seriously, a trident? I know it’s historical and all, but it’s so impractical. You know what’s much better? A sword.”
Her sword suddenly filled her grip, and she grinned. “Now, let’s see what you’re made of.”
