Part 50 (2/2)
”She saved this young lad's life. And hopefully left the queen enough strength to save her own, as well.” Baleweg turned his attention to Archer. ”She also connected with you and through her connection I found you. Had it not been for her, all would have been lost.”
Archer tried to a.s.similate everything Baleweg was saying, but his head was
humming. ”Healing. You said she was healing? Is she hurt? Emrys-!””Will be coming, have no doubt. What Talia did took an enormous toll on her.” He looked Archer straight in the eye. ”Taking on the queen's pain almost killed her. Reaching out to you again after that all but finished the job.”
”How dare you allow her to-””You dove through time to save the queen and thwart Emrys with no thought to how giving your life might affect her. So don't sit in judgment of her because she did the same for you.”
Niall was sobbing now. ”We must do something! Oh, Gat, please hold on.” He
turned to them. ”Please help us.”
”I have traveled twice,” Baleweg said. ”And it has taken far more out of me than I thought it would. Emrys must have thrown up barriers to me somehow. I'm-I'm not sure I can sustain another window.”
”Then why the h.e.l.l did you come here!” Niall shrieked, no longer the stately future king, but a man wracked with terror over the very real possibility of seeing his family die in front of him.
A triangle opened then on the other side of the bars, and Emrys strode through, looking for all the world as if he'd been out strolling in the park. Archer's mouth dropped open. Emrys, sans his earlier disguise, looked like a much younger version of Baleweg. Darker of hair and thicker of build, as Baleweg likely had been in earlier days, but the facial structure, combined with their eerie blue eyes were exactly the same.
”Yes, Old One,” he sneered, ”why in h.e.l.l did you make the trip? Surely you didn't think to thwart my little game.” He laughed and it made Archer's skin crawl. ”But oh, I was hoping you'd try.”
Archer flung himself against the bars. ”Where have you been!”
With barely more than a tiny flick of his finger he sent Archer flying back across the cell, almost landing on the dying body of the queen. ”I don't answer to you.” He laughed loudly. ”I don't answer to anyone. Grand scheme life has handed me, hmm?”
Baleweg made no move toward him. ”Life could have handed you a great deal more. And your contribution to it could have been limitless.” Emrys's smug grin slipped a bit. It was a tiny moment, but a telling one all the same. ”Ah, yes, you and your silly obsession with expanding one's mind. What is the point in that, I ask you, if you can't use it to entertain yourself? Why ever have this cursed talent if not for that?” His voice had risen and there was a distinct pulse ticking in his temple.
”It was a gift-”Emrys all but flung himself at them. ”Gift!” he shrieked. ”Gift?” He laughed maniacally. ”A gift he calls it. Well, it was a gift I never asked for!” His face was so purple with rage that Archer instinctively flinched.
Baleweg, on the other hand, seemed to grow calmer, even stronger, the more Emrys lost his composure. It was as if he were feeding off it. Archer swung his gaze back to Emrys, wondering if he understood what Baleweg was about, or even knew of this particular talent.
”A gift isn't to be asked for, but to be accepted gracefully,” Baleweg said
calmly. ”But then, grace was never one of your attributes.”
If Emrys had gone purple before, he all but went black in the face now as he choked on his own laughter.
”What would you know of attributes, dear genetic donator? You spew your supposed wisdom and life lessons and yet you had no compunction in selling your DNA to the highest bidder to create me! So let's not sling arrows, shall we?”
Baleweg continued to prod him, his skin slowly regaining color. ”No one chooses the manner of his own creation, but you did have a choice once created. You chose to squander rather than utilize.”
”By utilize I suppose you mean burying yourself in your work, all for the sake
of... what? You found your amus.e.m.e.nts... I found mine.”When Emrys paced away once again, Baleweg shot a quick look to Archer and mouthed, ”Ready them!”
It took a moment for Archer to understand what he was asking. But as he
continued to bait Emrys, Baleweg s.h.i.+fted himself so that he created a human s.h.i.+eld to the trio behind him. And to the tiny triangle that was beginning to open just behind them.
Archer carefully kept his gaze away from the three of them and on Emrys, ready to do whatever necessary to keep Emrys's attention on Baleweg or himself and off Niall, Catriona, and the baby. But just then the baby let out a particularly spectacular howl and brought Emrys's focus swinging about at exactly the moment that Baleweg had opened the triangle wide enough for them to escape.
”Now, now, now!” Archer shouted, diving for them and shoving Niall through the triangle even as he tried to scoop the queen's lifeless body into his arms.
”No.”
Archer turned just in time to see Emrys walk through the cell bars as easily as he had walked through the s.h.i.+eld.
”Go!” Baleweg demanded.
Archer threw himself into the triangle even as it began to waver and fade. But surely if he left now, Baleweg didn't stand a chance against Emrys. Torn, Archer stepped through the portal with the queen. Then Niall was there, along with a half-dozen uniformed personnel in what looked like a hospital room.
The baby had been handed to one of the white coats and Niall was taking Catriona's unconscious body from Archer's arms.
”Go back,” he said. ”Help him.” He grabbed Archer's arm as he turned.
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