With a discharge of energy that sounded as loud as a grenade going off, the glowing piece of metal struck the Cyclops in the right knee, just as his weight was coming down on that leg.
A surprised look came upon his face as the leg collapsed beneath him. He tried to remain erect, but I could see he wasn’t going to make it. Slowly at first and then as fast as a felled tree, he dropped toward us.
“Crap!”
I felt the snap of energy as Tess completed the portal spell. I turned and swept both women into my arms.
“Activate your shield inside mine,” I ordered as I ran. A wind began to blow toward the portal and I could feel the compression of air at our back as the Titan fell.
There came a tremendous impact on my shield, driving us forward and through the portal.
We popped out on the driveway in front of Joe’s cabin. I stumbled in the gravel and dropped to my knees, pulling the women down with me.
“Oof,” Cris said.
I released my hold on them and stood up. Turning around I could see the top of the cyclops’s head through the portal.
“Close the portal,” I said to Tess.
She stood beside me and removed the energy that held the portal. With another snap of power, it vanished and the breeze ceased. I saw Bruno fly down and light on her shoulder. It must have gone airborne when we popped through the portal.
I put a hand out and helped Cris to her feet.
“Having fun, yet?” I asked as I began buttoning her blouse. While the low mountains of northern Georgia had been cool, it was closer to freezing at over seven thousand feet in Colorado.
She shivered a little bit and then shook her head. “Hell, I think I see why you said it was too dangerous for me to ride with you. Is your life always like this?”
“No, usually I can go weeks without having to fight someone,” I said lightly.
“Weeks?”
Tess zipped up her jacket and then bent to pick up the saddlebags. We’d lost the new bags and new clothing that both women had just purchased. “It’s been pretty calm since the big battle in November. At least it was before Rafe lost his tats. Do you think the word has gotten out that you’ve been weakened?”
I pursed my lips and gave Tess’s question some thought. Then I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Surely this isn’t coordinated, but then again, it is odd that we can’t seem to escape since I tripped that booby-trap. Maybe you have a point. ”
“What about Beast and Maia? Can they find you?” Cris asked.
I sighed deeply. “They shouldn’t have been so far away that they couldn’t have gotten back to us before we opened the portal, but Beast can always find me. He is a familiar. He wouldn’t be much good if he couldn’t find his Wanderer.”
“Are you certain about that, Rafe?” Tess asked.
“He’s always come home before.”
“When have you ever gone through a portal without him?”
“A few times, over the years, when he’d been visiting his home. When he’s gone, my Harley is mundane, but I don’t sit still. I’ve traveled thousands of miles and he always comes back.”
Tess nodded. “Okay, if you’re sure. I didn’t memorize that location before we left, so I couldn’t open a portal back there if I had to. I guess we could portal back to Eglin and then get a ride back to northern Georgia.”
I tried to sound serious and not let my amusement show. “They’ll be back sometime today. Beast can open portals as well as you can and if they can’t find us anywhere else, I’m sure he will try here. Besides, Beast can actually track through a portal. When he finds us gone, he’ll notice the recent portal and follow us here.”
I notice Cris was staring over my shoulder. I turned and didn’t see anything but the lights of the city. On Interstate-25, a couple thousand feet below us and a couple of miles to the north, cars and trucks gleamed as they hurried on their way.
“Admiring the view?” I asked.
“Yes, it is beautiful,” Cris responded.
“Wait until you see it in the daytime,” Tess said. “Come on, let’s get Cris inside before she freezes.”
Arm in arm, we crunched across the gravel toward the porch steps.
Our footsteps echoed in the quiet of the night as we climbed the steps to the porch. I verified that my ward was intact and opened the door. I let the ladies precede and Tess clicked on the lights as she crossed the threshold.
Bruno flew off her shoulder and settled atop one of the lamps that had lit.
“Nice,” Cris said.
“Not as nice as that cabin we just let get destroyed, but it’ll do. I’ll get a fire going,” I said, moving to the stone fireplace.
“Let me do that,” Cris said.
“We’re not going back to bed?” Tess asked. She tossed the saddlebags over a chair, unslung her crossbow, and hung it on a hook beside the door.
“What time is it anyway?” Cris asked.
Tess pulled her phone from a jacket pocket. She glanced at the display and said, “A little after four.”
“Ugh,” Cris said.
“That’s six your time,” I said. “We got enough sleep, but feel free to go back to bed if you want to. I have to get started on my
