James Axler – Gemini Rising

“Not if we jump exactly here,” Ryan retorted, patting the railing.

“Nine o’clock!” Jak warned loudly, shooting upward.

Twisting at the waist, Ryan tracked sec men climbing along the roof of the castle through the crosshair scope of the Steyr. The longblaster spoke, and a screaming man flew off a gable. Ryan fired again, and a second rolled off the slanted roof to bounce off another gargoyle and plummet downward. The fellow missed the moat by a yard and hit the ground with a grisly thud.

The rest of the blue shirts on the roof scurried over the peak for cover.

“Why here?” Dean asked, pressing loose rounds into an exhausted clip. The boy was down to his last few bullets.

“There’s a deep hole down there. My brothers and I used to jump off this balcony, and we always made it okay.”

“You sure?”

“Been a while,” Ryan admitted, dropping a fresh clip into the breech of the Steyr, “but I’m sure.”

A hail of bullets peppered the parapet, clipping a fang off the sideways gargoyle, and J.B. felt a tug at his fedora. “Lead the way!”

Slinging the longblaster across his shoulders, Ryan climbed onto the railing, took a breath and jumped. The blue shirts paused in their attack, confused by the bizarre suicide, and the other companions took advantage of the lull to follow Ryan over the railing, staying as close to him as they possibly could.

Their fall through the sky was brief, the fortress flashing by as the moat expanded below. The chilly air buffeted their clothes and a tingling feeling filled their stomachs, then they hit the icy water. The companions plummeted straight down into the stygian depths. Each man braced himself for the killing impact against the rocks on the bottom, muscles tightening in preparation for the pain. But their descent gradually slowed, and soon the companions began to float upward.

Following the bubbles, they broke the surface, gasping for breath. The shore was only a few yards away, and they swam to it easily. The stone blocks edging the moat were slippery with algae, but Ryan directed the others to a set of worn steps cut into the foundation. The men dragged themselves out of the freezing water to fall on the dewy grass.

“Dark night,” J.B. said, gulping in air. “We did it!”

Voices cried out from the balcony, and shots flashed in the shadows overhead. Ryan felt a hot buzz go by his face, and he rolled away fast.

“The trees!” he cried, and started off at a run.

A large splash came from the moat.

“They’re still following us!” Dean yelled, turning to fire.

“Not for long!” J.B. shouted, and lobbed a block of something silvery at the fortress. It hit and sank, then the surface of the moat bulged and a roar of steam erupted from the bubbling moat. The swimming sec man shrieked as the water actually began to boil, the cooking flesh sagging away from his bare bones. The horrible cries thankfully ceased as he sank beneath the roiling chop.

“Thermite,” Doc said, his long hair plastered to his scalp, clothes dripping. “I did not think you had any left.”

“Sure,” J.B. granted, retrieving his glasses from an inner pocket. “Just couldn’t use it in the fortress because of the close confines. But it’s safe out here.”

“How long?” Jak demanded, wiping off his face.

“Ten minutes, mebbe more.”

Another man dived off the parapet, landing far away from the boiling waters. He went under and stayed there.

“Underwater spikes,” Ryan explained. “I don’t think any more will be following us along this route. And it will take them forever to circle around the ville, even in a wag.”

The ground spurted at their feet from the impact of numerous bullets, and the companions raced across the smooth field into the safety of the trees, the thick canopy of branches closing off any view of the brightening sky.

“What now, my dear Ryan?” Doc asked, wiping off the blade of his sword on a soaked sleeve. The LeMat at his hip was dribbling black powder and wadding through the bottom of the holster, the blaster useless until it could be thoroughly cleaned and dried.