CHAPTER SIXTEEN #3
My grip on her power steadied, and the world dimmed, like I had dialed back the color saturation on a hologram. My intense headache eased, and I exhaled with relief.
Still holding on to Vesper’s seer magic, I reached out with my telempathy, once again focusing on Roderick’s emotions, and I finally spotted the Erzton lord crouching behind a tree.
I couldn’t tell if he was planning to ambush me or hoping I would move on to another section of the maze so he could avoid me completely.
It didn’t matter either way. He wasn’t leaving here alive.
Roderick might be panicking, but he still had a weapon, and I didn’t, so I tightened my grip on Vesper’s power and scanned the rest of the biodome. A bright silver flare appeared, drawing my gaze to the short, thick stake that was propping up the scarecrow. That would do quite nicely.
I studied Roderick a moment longer, as well as everything around him. Then I released Vesper’s seer magic, along with my own telempathy, and spoke to her again.
I’m going to flush him out in the open. You make sure he can’t escape the biodome.
You got it, Vesper replied.
I squared my shoulders and stepped through the energy shield. The maze itself was cool, but the air inside the Temperate biodome was cooler still, mimicking a crisp fall day. It would have been a pleasant place to train, but it was going to make an even better graveyard.
“Roderick . . .” I called out in the same annoying singsong tone he had used earlier. “Oh, Roderick . . . Where are you . . .”
My telempathy let me sense the exact moment the coward flinched.
I moved deeper into the biodome, my boots sending up sprays of leaves, twigs, and dirt.
I followed a path that curved away from Roderick and headed toward the scarecrow display, although I kept peering at him out of the corners of my eyes.
I stopped at the end of the path, like I was thinking about leaving the biodome and moving on to the next section.
The second I turned my back, he moved.
I whirled around. Instead of racing forward to attack me, Roderick was sprinting in the opposite direction, trying to escape the biodome and plunge back into the maze.
Whoosh!
A jet of water spewed out of a nozzle hidden in a tree trunk and slammed into Roderick’s side. He grunted, but he kept going, still heading toward the exit.
Bzzt!
The energy shield that covered the biodome shimmered and started crackling with electricity. Roderick skidded to a halt right before he crossed the threshold. Pity. It would have been amusing to watch him slam into the shield and be zapped like a bug in his armored shell.
Roderick growled and slammed his hammer into the shield. More electricity crackled, and a shower of orange sparks fell over him, but the air kept shimmering, indicating the shield was still firmly in place.
“Vesper has control of the maze, remember?” I called out. “You can’t escape me now.”
Roderick growled again, then whirled around to face me. “You think you’re such a great warrior,” he hissed. “But I still have a suit of armor and a weapon, and you don’t, Kyrion.”
I crooked my right index finger at him in a clear challenge.
Roderick hesitated and glanced over his shoulder, as though he was thinking about whirling around and trying to force his way through the energy shield.
That would have been the smart thing to do, despite the dangerous electrical charge that would shock and burn him to within an inch of his life, if not kill him outright.
Roderick looked at me. He hissed again, a bit of spittle flying out of his mouth like he was a rabid animal. Then he raised his hammer and charged at me.
This time, without the threat of bubbling lava all around, I was able to move freely. I easily sidestepped his blow, then used my telekinesis to wrench the stake I’d noticed earlier out of the ground. The scarecrow dropped away, and the stake zipped through the air and settled into my right hand.
A few splinters dug into my palm, but I ignored the discomfort and curled my fingers around the wood. The stake was a bit unwieldy, especially since I could only use it with my uninjured right hand, but it was heavy and substantial enough to do some damage.
Roderick spun around, reversed direction, and swung his hammer out in a vicious arc, trying to cave in my head with one deadly strike. I twisted to the side, avoiding the blow. He snarled and lifted his weapon again.
The instant Roderick raised the hammer over his head, I darted forward.
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.