“Isn’t that dandy,” Tess said.
“Let’s get some more altitude, Beast. I want to see them before we’re too close.”
He growled an acknowledgement and began to pump his wings harder. We climbed toward a few high clouds that moved toward the east as though they were in a hurry to catch up with the storm that had passed.
In a minute, we were above a thousand feet and staring down at a troubling scene. It was two of the Cyclopes again.
“Damn it, what are Titans doing on Earth and what’s their damn grievance with me.”
It was a rhetorical question and I really didn’t expect either of the ladies to comment, but Tess spoke up, “Maybe it’s your winning personality, Boss.”
I frowned at her and sent her an image of her bent over my knee through our meshing.
She laughed out loud.
“What’s she laughing about?” Cris asked.
“Inside joke,” I said. “I’ll tell you later.”
“Well, what can we do about Titans?” Tess asked.
“I’m thinking,” I responded.
“Well, think faster. It looks like they’re getting set to throw something else.”
She was right. They must have decided they couldn’t reach us with those relatively slow moving boulders and were picking up smaller rocks. Ones no bigger than a car.
“Beast, take us higher. Give me a little time to think while you’re avoiding their missiles.”
Beast grunted an acknowledgement and we rose higher.
A few seconds later, the first of the smaller missiles rose past us, moving much faster than we were rising, but Beast still had plenty of time to get out of its way. A glow emanated from the boulder. A glow of magic. They were getting more serious in their assault.
“If they decide they can’t hurt us, do you think they’ll leave?” Cris asked.
“Good question, but if they leave, they’ll be back.”
“You can hurt a Titan?”
“Maybe,” I said without much promise in my tone.
I fished in my jacket pocket and came out with five of the ball bearings I keep for my sling. Focusing, I activated my levitation tat and the five quarter sized steel balls floated above my palm. I pushed at them and they began to soar above us, spreading out in a circle as they did. I raised my left hand in the Cub Scout salute and focused on the tattoo that formed there. Mystical energies flowed from the two ley lines to impact the bearings. In seconds, they glowed, in a minute they would be super-heated plasma. Next, I triggered my wind tat to drive the glowing balls higher. I wanted them in the air as long as possible for my next trick.
“Beast, take us down slowly and move us to the west. Keep a constant distance from the Titans so that their shots take time to reach us.”
He complied without comment.
“Why west?” Tess asked.
“The sun is in the east.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” she said.
“I don’t get it,” Cris said.
“You haven’t seen me use meteors. Trust me, you’ll enjoy this.”
“I still don’t–”
“Just sit back and enjoy the moment,” I said. I reached down and gave her right thigh a soft squeeze.
“Okay,” Cris said as she squeezed tighter against me.
One minute later, we were back below a thousand feet and descending at a good clip. I dropped the Cub Scout salute and changed the direction of my wind. Now the meteors were beginning to drop.
We continued to descend and move westward. The Titans threw at least a dozen more boulders at us, but Beast and Maia dodged them with ease.
Another thirty seconds passed before I noticed the sky in the east getting brighter, my meteors were on target and currently as bright as the morning sun.
“Okay, Beast, let’s start toward them. I want to be within a quarter mile when the fireworks start.”
“Couldn’t we just wait here?” he growled. “Those boulders will get tough to dodge if we get too close.”
“I think they’re going to have something else on their minds in a few more seconds,” I said.
We flew east. One more boulder flew past us, uncomfortably close, before the Titans noticed that they had too many shadows.
They faced east and activated a shield that shimmered with reflected light.
My meteors reached them simultaneously. Well, within a second of each other. Controlling five was more than I’d ever tried before.
The explosions were breath taking. Energy crackled against their shield and it held through three of the ground shaking impacts, but the fourth destroyed their shield and the fifth landed between them in a cataclysmic explosion that vaporized ground snow, threw an enormous quantity of earth into the sky, and knocked trees down for a hundred feet in every direction. The shock waves reached us seconds later. Even though we were shielded, our forward progress became rearward as we flew back the way we’d come.
“Oh, my God,” I heard Cris whisper when I could hear again.
“I forgot to ask you if you like fireworks. Impressed?” I asked.
“Merciful goddess, Rafe. I had no idea you could do something like that.”
“It’s one of my showier tricks, but it’s a real crowd pleaser,” I said with a grin.
“Bragging again, Boss?” Tess called.
“Hey, it’s not bragging if it’s true,” I rejoined.
“Shouldn’t you wait and see if you killed them before you start boasting?” Beast growled.
“Yeah, not that I needed you to remind me,” I said.
“That’s not been my experience,” Beast said.
I rolled my eyes. “Just take us in close so we can do a damage assessment,” I ordered.
Actually, I was in good humor for a change. We’d found that Rowle hadn’t been the one trying to kill us and we had probably taken out two of the beings that were. With a respite from being attacked I could finish restoring
