Page 120 of Hexbound
There was no time to be nice about this anymore.
Verity snagged a tree root in one of her hops and then reappeared directly behind the sorcerer infiltrating the wards. She slammed the tree root across the back of his head, but it met some sort of resistance and she got the hell out of there the second she realized, just as a net of woven sorcery threads was flung toward her.
Landing in a tree, she peered down, breathing hard. She had no other weapons, and it was clear that they were watching each other's backs, with wards in place, and spells for the unwary.
"Bishop!"She threw the thought out into the world, hoping that he'd pick up on it somehow. She wasn't remotely telepathic but he'd trained himself to be so, and if there was still that link between them...."We need you!"
The ward was halfway up. Sweat darkened Drake's face now, and he cast an uneasy glance at it.
No time to lose.
Well. She had a few tricks up her sleeves.
The black robes started hammering Drake's ward with battle globes, as if they knew they'd been discovered. Lucien turned to face the threat, his own wards expanding out to slip beneath the skin of Drake's. Blood trickled from his nose and he stared blankly, face straining with effort as he tried to hold.
And Verity focused on the nearest black robe, watching as he drew back his hand to throw the red globe forming in his fingertips. Needed to time this exactly right....
She stepped outside of time and reappeared, grabbing his sleeve and dragging him back with her. When they landed, the battle globe flew from his fingertips,
Verity swayed, the weight of taking him with her weighing heavily on her strained resources. Another sorcerer turned to look at her, and drew back his arm....
She punched behind him and reappeared with him directly in front of another of the black robes. They both unleashed dangerous magic, knocking each other off their feet, but she was gone again, collapsing with her back to a distant tree.
"Stop!" one of them screamed, and the barrage on the wards disappeared.
She didn't have it in her to make another leap, but they didn't know that.
A tickling sensation brushed against her mind. This time she recognized it and opened herself up to it the way Bishop had taught her.
"Verity!"Bishop bellowed.
"Right here,"she grumbled back, pressing her fingertips to her temples."You don't have to yell."
"What the hell is going on?"
"Ambush."She felt something alien shift through her skin."What are youdoing?"
"Looking out through your eyes."
"Oh."She let him.
"Do you trust me?"he asked.
"Of course I do."
A hesitation came."I'm going to strengthen the bond between us, so that I can act as a conduit for you. It will give you my strength momentarily, somewhat like an Anchor and Shield bond."
"A what?"
"No time,"he shot back."Without runes, it's only temporary but it will help. Can you handle my strength?"
"I can handleanythingyou can give me."
Another hesitation."Was that an innuendo?"
Verity smiled, and knew he felt it.
"Agatha's a bad influence,"he muttered, then pushed something toward her."Here. Accept the link."
