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The dragons peeled away at the drawbridge, the foremost ones taking wing to perch on the towers, breathing fire that blasted the magical missiles from existence. They couldn’t step on the drawbridge, I realized—or I pulled the information from Rogue’s brain—without breaking it. The downside of a mundane bridge. We would be on our own to cross.
Can’t plan for everything.
“Is she inside?”
“No—sending her minions. If she entered, she’d be a guest. If we can get across the bridge and through the doors, we’re safe.”
“Sign me up.”
“Fast or slow?” Rogue inquired, eyes glittering with battle fury as he eyed the expanse.
Slow would let us fight along the way, but extended our exposure.
I enlarged Darling Hercules into Goliath again, giving him lightweight and encompassing battle armor to keep the spiders off, and he preened as I tightened my grip on Rogue’s hand. He manifested the platinum sword in the other.
“Fast.” Before I finished uttering the word, we took off running down the drawbridge, booted feet pounding, Goliath leading the way. Rogue’s stride outstretched mine, of course, but he couldn’t carry me this time, using his sword and magic together to keep the creatures off us. I concentrated on keeping up and poofing any creatures that tried to attack Goliath.
Having the time of his life, he swatted the spiders and Cylons alike off the drawbridge with his great paws, clearing the path.Mice! Mice! Mice!He chanted the manic creed in my mind. I skidded on a patch of ice and Rogue yanked me up, bolstering me until I found my pace again. Locks of my hair came undone, tumbling from the artful array, and a yank on my trailing ribbons, quickly released, told me something had nearly gotten me from behind.
We poured on the speed. Never had a bride and groom pelted back up the aisle as we did.
With my newly acquired way of knowing Rogue’s thoughts as they occurred, I understood that passing the gate would be the trick, then bringing up the drawbridge. He had to stop the spin long enough for us to enter, which would allow the spiders inside as well. Goliath, at my direction, spun to defend us and Rogue, to my shock, handed me his sword. Nearly as long as I was tall, the thing almost knocked me over, but then a spider came over the side of the bridge and, with skills never taught me, I swung the sword at it, slicing it cleanly in two.
A starburst bomb went off over my head, raining down more tiny spiders. I created a parasol to hold them off as Rogue worked what appeared to be a magical lock. “Where is she getting all this power?” I yelled over the roar of the spinning gate.
“You know.”
I did know. All those fae trapped and cocooned in her lair, feeding her. We’d put a stop to that. Even Rogue agreed. Or couldn’t disagree, with my sense of compassion bleeding through him. The gate abruptly silenced, Rogue snaked a long arm around my waist and yanked me through.
Goliath resisted my urging to come inside and spun around to continue to defend the drawbridge. He showed me the image of Titania trying to blast him with power back in her palace, to no effect. His immunity to her gave him a great advantage, so I didn’t argue.
My gut wrenched as Rogue spun the castle like a roulette wheel. I lost my grip on the sword and would have fallen if he hadn’t held me upright. I wished the spiders away from us both, but not before they took some nasty bites from my skin. Rogue gripped me hard, energy zinging between us—adrenaline rush for me, wild magic for him. Or maybe the same for both of us. Like to like.
With something close to desperate hunger, he dug his fingers into my hair. Cupping my skull in his hand, he lifted me flush against him, his mouth covering mine in an echoing kiss. Feeling his need like my own, I wrapped my hands around the braid at the nape of his neck, crushing the little lilies. Briefly, he tore his lips away and laughed.
“Did you see what we did?”
He laughed again and resumed kissing me before I could answer. Though the question needed no reply. We’d managed to win that battle—without trickery, might against might. And without great damage.
Outside, however, the attacks continued to thunder. Perhaps damage had yet to be assessed.
“We’d better go find everyone,” I said, though Rogue had already retrieved the sword, taken me by the hand and started down the hall before I finished the sentence. This would get old.
“The effect should fade, except for when we’re actively using the bond,” Rogue answered out loud, the thought behind it echoing in my head like a bad cell phone connection.
“I thought no one had done this before.”
“They haven’t—I’m extrapolating from empirical data.”
I began to know how Dr. Frankenstein felt—except that in this case the monster had gone and made a scientist.
“Very funny,” Rogue commented.
“I thought so.”
We turned down yet another hallway, this one ribbed like the inside of a centipede in a most unsettling way, from which we burst into the hall filled with flowers and candles. We should keep it that way forever, so I could find the stairs to our rooms.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Rogue.” General Falcon, yellow eyes glaring like flashlights, strode up, his face set in even harsher lines than usual. “You’ve gone and made traitors of us all.”
