The Darkening (Guardians of Ascension 6.50)

He launched at Merl before he had time to think or before he could respond to Vela calling out, “Don’t, Samuel. He’s a friend!” He caught bare arms, because somewhere in Samuel flying at Merl, the Third ascender had lost his robe and dropped into a fighting stance.

Samuel grappled with him, wrestling him to the ground, then letting his fists fly.

Merl folded out of his hold, levitated.

Samuel’s dark power recognized his foe and responded with similar levitation and folding, until once more he made contact.

But Merl had more power and the next thing Samuel knew, he lay face down on the carpet, a knee in his back, and one arm pulled back and upright to the breaking point.

“You done throwing a fit?”

“Don’t talk to my woman that way. ” The words sounded slurred since they were half-spoken into a thick carpet.

“Fine. ”

“Fine. ” Merl let him go. Samuel rose to his feet, breathing hard, sweating, mad. He glared at Merl. “Just leave Vela alone.

She’s mine. ” Merl opened his mouth to speak then closed it. “Hold the phone. Are we talking that breh-hedden shit here? I mean I heard rumors that Thorne had been laid waste.

It’s the breh-hedden, isn’t it?” But Samuel stepped into him and got about an inch away from his nose “Breh- hedden or not, stay the fuck away from my woman. We clear?” Merl narrowed his eyes and though he said nothing, he stared back, nostrils flaring.

But suddenly the air above them was full of light, then little pin-pricks of fiery pain hit his bare shoulders, arms and back.

He waved his hands, as Merl did, batting away the annoying bites of fire.

“What the hell is that? Another trick Merl?”

“I didn’t do that. ”

“Are you two Neanderthals finished?” The sound of Vela’s voice, as well as the cessation of sparks falling all around him, caused Samuel to turn and stare at her. “What was that?” She turned a palm up and a small firework appeared, which she then launched toward the ceiling. When it floated down, it winked out in a succession of small bursts of flames.

“Why did you do that?” Samuel asked.

“Because you’re both being ridiculous, especially you!”

“Why, me?” He jerked his thumb toward Merl.

“This asshole was disrespecting you. ”

“And you were treating him like a moron. Knock it off. ” Her criticism rankled.

Merl pulled at the sides of his bottoms. “I have little holes in my pjs. ” Vela rolled her eyes but walked toward the entry wall. “Sorry, Merl, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about your pajamas. ” She planted a hand on the wall, her blond hair falling almost to her waist.

He decided he loved her hair. “I need to know about this. What it is, how we got through, and what those explosions were.

You said something earlier about wreckers. ”

“Yeah, Merl,” Samuel said, without affection, “Tell us about the wreckers. ” Merl held out his hand and a lit cigarette appeared between his fingers.

He took a puff, once more squinting slightly, glaring. The bastard.

After he’d released a puff of smoke in Samuel’s direction, he said, “Look, I don’t know who either of you are, but clearly you’ve got a lot of power between you. Which one of you saw the gate?” Vela turned slightly toward the wall.

“I did. We’d reached the end of the tunnel and I saw a glowing archway here, in this location. Samuel couldn’t see it, but he used his sword to break through. ” He narrowed his eyes at Samuel.

“Only a powerful warrior can use his sword to make a breach in a gate. ” Then back to Vela. “But it’s the rare ascender who can locate gates like mine. ” Vela turned toward him. “So then you had enough power to find this gate in the first place?” Merl took another drag, another sip.

He glanced at her. “Hell, no. I paid a fortune, a life’s fortune, to have the gate made then erased from all the grid documents. ” His eyes grew cloudy.