“It should be safe,” Roxanne said. “I placed the nullifying runes myself. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? The circles won’t kill you. You may suffer excruciating agony and wish death many times over, but they won’t kill you.”
“Well if that’s not incentive, I don’t know what is.”
“Go see him,” she said quietly. “He needs to see someone besides me. Just don’t irk the security team. They are a bit skittish these days.”
“Can’t see why,” I said as Peaches bumped my knee and nearly shoved me into the nearby wall. “Oh, I don’t want to trouble you, but does the kitchen have some extra sausage for my bottomless hellhound?”
Roxanne gestured and materialized a large sausage for Peaches. She stepped close and fed it to him, then bent over and whispered something I couldn’t make out in his ear before walking away.
“Come see me after your visit with Tristan. I have information you need.”
She walked off and headed to her office. I understood her concern, but she wasn’t going to keep Monty in Haven for long with these methods, no matter how powerful she was.
I was pretty certain Monty was stronger than Roxanne. He was also a wise mage who knew better than to piss her off in her hospital by trying to escape. It’s not like she couldn’t locate him if she wanted to. Staying put was the smart play here, but it wouldn’t last.
I rubbed my hellhound’s head and started heading in the other direction, towards Monty’s cell—I mean, room.
<What did she tell you?>
<She said she was making me a sausage because I didn’t rip off the big man’s arm. Then she said something about how I’m much more photogenerous than you are and that the lobby is filled with cameras. She knows what I did. What did I do?>
<The word is photogenic. You redecorated her lobby single-houndedly. That’s what you did.>
<Is that good?>
I looked down the corridor Roxanne had taken to her office. Like I said—impressive and scary.
<Not usually. C’mon, let’s go see Monty.>
FOUR
In order to get to Monty’s room, we had to cross a gauntlet of some of the scariest sorcerers I had ever seen.
Even before the squad of sorcerers, I noticed the nullifying runes etched into the floor and walls, slowly pulsing from deep reds to bright blues. Roxanne wasn’t kidding when she said she had counter-measures in place. This area was beyond secure. The runes gave off so much energy that the security detail on the floor felt like window dressing.
They weren’t.
The security team stood some distance from Monty’s door. I figured the runes would affect them too, which was why they were remaining just this side of the runed area, outside of the null zone.
It reminded me of the set up in the Randy Rump. As a neutral location, casting was strongly discouraged inside its walls. This was reinforced by the nullifying runes strategically placed around the property, both inside and out.
Much to Jimmy’s distress, it hadn’t stopped the regular destruction of the place, but the last batch of runes that had been inscribed at the Rump had been scary strong. If anyone managed to cast through them, nullifying runes were the least of anyone’s concerns.
I visually scanned the security team quickly and processed the information they provided. At first glance, there were four sorcerers with serious energy signatures. Any one of them would’ve been a handful. All four of them together as a team sent the message loud and clear: Attack this level and die a quick and painful death.
Roxanne wasn’t fooling around.
At first, I thought the message was for someone who had realized they no longer wished to live and figured that the best way to end it all was to stroll up to this level, looking for Monty. It took me a few seconds, and then I realized this was Roxanne’s way of sending Monty a not-so-subtle message.
You will be discharged when I think you’re good and ready, not one second before.
It would have been touching, if it weren’t a bit scary.
I knew Roxanne cared deeply for Monty, I just hadn’t realized she cared four-insanely-strong-sorcerers deep. It was a nice gesture, I guess, for magic users. Ultimately, it was futile. I could sense the undercurrent of power that was Monty’s energy signature, beneath the nullifying runes. If I wasn’t a mage and could sense him, I was certain the security team knew they were outclassed. Monty’s signature replied to Roxanne’s not-so-subtle message.
I’m staying here because I choose to, not because I have to.
His energy signature dwarfed the power of the four sorcerers combined. If he really wanted to, Monty could stroll out of here, and all they could do, was hold the door for him as he left. His power had increased from certain badass to scary kickass.
Even though this security detail wasn’t in the same league as Monty, they still looked plenty intimidating. They weren’t slouches—they just weren’t strong enough to deal with a determined Monty.
It reminded me of the glimpse of power Dex had shown me recently. It was on a scale of: You should give up now, lay down, and die. And that was without Nemain, that scary mace-axe of his. I now had an idea of what the Morrigan saw in him and why he had never joined the Ten.
Dex and the Morrigan were both more than slightly unhinged, and were made for each other.
I realized that Dex wielded so much power that his very presence was a threat. I shook myself out of my thoughts, refocused on the security team and approached slowly, keeping my hands in sight. I didn’t want a repeat of the destruction tango that had happened downstairs.
Somehow, I knew I would walk away with more than just a few bumps and bruises, if it came to that. Peaches would have to go lethal, which meant they would react in kind. In the end, it would spiral into a messy and bloody
