I grin and call them both, “Baz, meet Asael and Betty.”
He stares at me for a moment and then shakes his head slightly, “You know what, I think I’m already learning that I shouldn’t be surprised when Neith surprises me.”
Coen chuckles, “Now, you’re getting it.”
I roll my eyes and put Asael behind me. I still love that he comes with scabbards, it's really handy.
“As much as I hate to suggest this, I think you might need to take the ward down, Ransom, so that we can see what it is that Winston wants us to find,” Griff suggests. “I know that you can do the see-through thing, but something tells me that we’re supposed to be in it. If that makes sense.”
Ransom nods, “Unfortunately, it does.”
“Hang on,” Doc says, and he disappears. It doesn’t take long until he’s back and handing out jackets to everyone, including Baz.
“Sorry, Ransom, Doc is now tied with you for first place,” I tease, earning a mock shocked look from him.
“Thanks, man,” Van says as he pulls on his jacket. He looks at Ransom, “Alright, let’s do this, I guess.”
Ransom nods, and then the barrier that was protecting us from the elements disappears.
I groan, “Oh, I’m going to kick his ass.”
“I’ll help,” Raiden mutters.
My eyes take a moment to adjust to the darkness, since Ransom had the inside of the ward lit so that we could see a bit better, and then I stare. I love the moors. It’s wild, untamed, and vast.
Honestly, it’s one of my favorite places.
When it’s absolutely hammering it down with rain, and the wind is trying to take my face off, I enjoy it slightly less.
Winston appears to have dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, there is nothing for as far as the eye can see, not even a road. At least not one that I can see through my squinting eyes.
Suddenly, the sky lights up with lightning again, briefly illuminating the vast landscape.
“I think I saw something over there,” Baz says, as he points to the left of us and up the hill.
Van nods, “Alright, let’s go and see what we can find. I know I don’t need to ask, but for my own peace of mind, are you all armed?”
The guys all grin and nod, and Baz does the same.
“How?” Ransom asks, “You were in a cell.”
Baz just grins, “Ah, now that would be telling.”
I chuckle as the guys smirk. Yeah, he fits in rather well with us.
We all stay alert as we fight the elements, heading in the direction where Baz thought he saw something. We climb up a steep hill, making sure we don’t trip over any of the rocks sticking up and trying to avoid getting tangled up and ending up in a gorse bush.
Gorse is super pretty when it flowers, but spikey. I would not recommend falling into it, that shit hurts.
By the time we get to the top of the hill, my thighs are burning, and I’m cursing Winston even more than I already was. I bet he put us down here instead of next to whatever it is that we need to find because I said he was cute when he was mad.
He’s a little vindictive.
“What am I looking at?” I ask when we get to the top, the rain thankfully becoming more of a drizzle and less of a pounding torrent.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Raiden replies, and then his eyes widen. “It’s an ancient summoning circle. At least I think it is. The huge pillars around the edge helped to harness the elements, and then they would summon things. The things that they summoned would appear in the middle of the circle, trapped.”
“Things?” Griff asks, his eyebrows raised curiously.
