Page 118 of Only Cold Depths
Icouldn’tgivetheTechwave cannon to Esmina, Pollux, and Nerezza, but I couldn’tnotgive it to them either, not if I wanted to save Kyrion. So with Wendell’s help, I’d done the next best thing: I’d booby-trapped it.
I’d coded the cannon to my DNA so only I could fire it. Anyone else who pulled the trigger would get no response and activate the explosives Wendell and I had packed into the solar magazine. Pollux had pulled the trigger far more times than I’d expected, causing the explosives to heat up faster than I’d intended, but the end result was still the same.
Vesper 1, mercenaries 0.
I hadn’t wanted to blow Kyrion or myself up with our enemies, so the explosion wasn’t nearly as large as I would have liked, but the shock wave still threw me forward five feet. I slammed into the wall beside Kyrion and bounced off, landing on my hands and knees. The rough stone scraped my palms, but that was a minor sting compared with the intense ringing that filled my ears as though I was standing in front of a drummer who was beating his instrument for all it was worth.
“Vesper? Vesper!”
Dimly, I became aware of Kyrion shouting, although his voice sounded muffled and far away.
“Vesper? Vesper!”
Kyrion’s voice sounded again, a little louder and clearer. I shook the rest of the ringing out of my ears and scrambled back up onto my feet.
The exploding cannon had created a large crater in the cavern floor, and smoke was still boiling up into the air. The mercs who’d been the closest to the blast were dead, their mangled bodies lying in burned, crumpled heaps, while the injured men were screaming, shouting, and trying to crawl away from the epicenter. I didn’t see Esmina, Pollux, and Nerezza.
My balance was off, but I staggered over to Kyrion. The spiderweb cracks had finally spread over to his left side, and he snarled and jerked his arm forward. The plasticuff around his left wrist snapped. He reached up and yanked on the cuff around his neck, but he couldn’t pull it free of the stone, and I couldn’t cut the plastic without cutting him.
I grabbed my stormsword off my belt and hammered away at the wall beside his neck. “Hang on!”
I swung the weapon with all my might, but I just wasn’t strong enough to chip away the stone as fast and as much as I needed to. Shouts and yells sprang up behind me, and I knew that I only had seconds to free Kyrion before the mercs targeted us again—
Kyrion’s eyes widened. “Vesper! Behind you!”
I whirled around. A mercenary was stumbling in my direction, his blaster aimed at my chest. I stepped in front of Kyrion and snapped up my stormsword, even though I knew I would be too slow to deflect the bolt back at the mercenary—
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Blaster fire punched into the merc’s back, and he screamed and toppled to the ground. I tensed and lifted my sword higher, looking for the source of the shot.
Across the cavern, Zane lifted his blaster to his forehead, saluting me with it. Then he lowered the blaster, and his eyes narrowed in concentration as he aimed the weapon in our direction.
Duck!Zane’s voice sounded in my mind.
I scrambled out of the way.
Pew!
Zane’s bolt punched into the rock right beside Kyrion’s neck.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Zane shot the rock next to Kyrion’s right hand, then both of his ankles, as though he was a sharpshooter showing off his skills for a cheering crowd. Kyrion let out a loud, fierce roar and surged forward, tearing his neck and right hand out of the cracked stone and loosened plasticuffs. Kyrion roared again, and a wave of telekinesis surged off him, smashing the bricks across his chest and legs flinging them away.
I yanked Kyrion’s stormsword off my belt and tossed it over to him, then sprinted in his direction. Kyrion easily caught the blade and raced toward me.
We met in the middle. Kyrion grabbed me around the waist and yanked me toward him. I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him. The second my lips touched his, the bond roared back to life in my mind, stronger than ever, and the sticky cobweb of him pulsed with energy, emotion, and awareness.
The kiss lasted only an instant, but it jolted and jumpstarted everything inside me, as though I was a machine that had just gotten a brand-new solar battery. I drew back and stared into Kyrion’s eyes, which were blazing like dark blue stars. He grinned at me, then spun away, his stormsword glowing with the same fierce light as his eyes. I grinned and spun the other way, lashing out with my own weapon.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Pew! Pew! Pew!
More mercenaries scrambled to their feet, and blaster fire zipped through the cavern. So many people were firing so many weapons it was hard to tell who was targeting whom.
Through the swarm of bodies, I spotted Pollux swinging his two hammers and crushing the arms, legs, and skulls of any mercs who were stupid enough to engage him. Esmina was a few feet away, moving back and forth as though she was dancing through the mercs. Every time an enemy shot at the seer, she whirled away at exactly the right moment so that the bolt punched into the chest of another merc instead of wounding her.
