"We don't have long," Alex said as he looked out to the Military Police cruiser floating near the city.

A lightning strike had just taken down Halogi, sending the fiery giant crashing to the water below. The barrier was down, and things were about to get more dangerous. That was why Alex had stopped to talk to Harut. He needed a guarantee.

"Then why are you still here?" Harut demanded. "Go before Miss Malone can escape!"

"I'm here because of that ship," Alex said. "I'm here because my crew is hurt, and I don't want to leave them alone while the Empyrean comes in to clean up this mess."

"I understand." Harut exhaled before looking over the fallen knights. "I can put them in the keep, under my protection. If Halogi has fallen, and with Artur captured, the authority over Grim Aegis falls to me. Any officer of the Military Police will have to cede to me."

Alex raised an eyebrow, but didn't interrupt. He didn't peg Harut as power hungry. Catching Artur would have been easier with his co-operation, and Miss Malone getting hold of the prince had required Alex and his crew to bring him into Grim Aegis. If Harut wanted to seize power and was using Miss Malone to do it, there was no need to insert himself into danger by storming the keep either. Alex pushed down the doubts that bubbled up inside him.

"On the honor of the knights, no harm will come to them."

"Then we're going." Alex nodded. "Where's the gate?"

"On the far side of the castle," Harut said. "Out in the water near a set of docks. You have to take a boat out to it."

Alex grimaced. They still had at least fifty meters to the keep. Going through the keep would take time—more time than they had. Even assuming that Miss Malone hadn't made a run for the gate the moment the barrier fell, too much time had passed. What he needed was a way around the keep, up and over. However, his magnetism couldn't get him over that with Bolton, let alone the other two. He needed something else.

He looked out at the three people joining him. They stood across from him, uninjured from their own fights to enter the keep. His grew was on the ground, but the two Military Police captains didn't seem to have a scratch on him. It gave Alex a sour taste in his mouth, but he couldn't change what was.

Grayson was as fast as Alex was, but neither of them could simply 'step' their way through the entire castle. Bolton would slow them down, even if his gun was a key to finishing the fight fast. That left Drake, who could transform into a dragon.

Alex's eyes widened. The answer was obvious. A grin cracked across his face.

"Get them inside as soon as you can," Alex said, jogging towards the waiting men. "We'll get Artur back."

"Please," Harut's voice followed him. "He's all I have left."

Alex made a beeline straight to Captain Drake. If he were right, Drake was the solution to the problem. When Alex figured something you, could see a viable path, almost nothing could stop him.

"Your 'Thorn Queen' surprised me," Drake grumbled as he leaned back against a wall. "I didn't think anyone could survive that technique."

Bzzt. Thunk.

Alex threw the punch, metal knuckles forming around his hand without thinking. Without missing a step, he lunged forward with his fist, aiming for Drake's long, triangular jaw. Drake had caught it with one clawed hand, holding Alex steady at arm's length.

"You were trying to kill her."

"I was ending the fight efficiently."

Alex blinked as he consciously caught up with his actions. He hadn't even planned to do that. Erin had survived, and even told him that Drake's fireball had won the fight. He knew Drake was telling the truth, but that hadn't stopped his hand.

Tweet.

"Calm it down, you two." Grayson approached, hands in his pockets. "We still have our orders."

"When we better get moving." Bolton followed Grayson, cigarette resting in his mouth, unlit. "If I were her, I'd have run already."

"Distance is the problem." Alex pulled his fist out of Drake's grip. "There's too much ground to cover on foot."

"What about you?" Bolton looked him up and down. "We downright flew earlier."

"Barely."

He was avoiding looking at Drake, mostly because he was still cooling down from the punch. His hand flexed open and closed as he looked down at it. It was like he had been another person for a moment. He didn't consciously decide to throw the punch, yet; it had happened, his curse flaring up and all. He still hadn't dropped out of his second level, wouldn't, until everything was finished.

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"We better start running then." Grayson turned away. "What a pain."

"Wait." Drake raised a hand. "I know what you're going to say."

"That you can turn into a dragon," Alex said.

"I can." A plume of smoke trailed out from Drake's maw. "But it's more complicated than that."

"Turning into a dragon is more complicated than turning into a dragon?"

"You can say that I'm of two minds on it." Drake shrugged. "However, if you're sure we need the time, then I should be able to control myself and minimize any damage."

"I think it would be the most efficient way," Alex said. "Simple as that."

Drake paused, one eye going wide as his head turned to the side. A little more smoke spilled out of his mouth, and Alex grinned. Although he had thrown the punch earlier, he couldn't hate the Captain. Just being a dragon in disguise made him too interesting. Besides, Erin had gotten a new pink shade for a while out of the deal.

"Fine." Drake snorted, standing up from the wall. "You'll all need to jump on my back before it grows too large, and do your best to hold on. I won't come back for you if I drop you."

Crack. Squelch.

With that, his body expanded, two wings popping out of his back and spreading wide around him.

Slosh.

Water splashed as the boat shook. Miss Malone pushed harder with her long spindly back legs on the opposite side to keep the boat from toppling over. The prince continued to struggle, suspended in the air above her and held by two of her free legs.

"If we capsize, I'll make sure you drown before I save myself," Miss Malone hissed.

That stopped him from struggling, if only for the moment. Miss Malone kept kicking her legs into the water in rapid motion, sending the boat toward the far shore. Behind her, where the docks, and while there had been many varieties of ships, the one she was in was the only one she could figure out how to move. She was too important to steer her own ships after all, and none of the engines started up after she hit them.

Ahead of her, rising from the lake was a massive stone structure, gray and almost as long as the horizon itself. It easily stood as tall as a three-story building, and long stone steps led up from the shore to the top of the structure. Miss Malone already knew what was at the top of that structure.

A massive chasm leading into darkness. It was a giant square carved out of the lake, with what used to be an island below it. Runes covered the long edges, and when activated, they opened the gate to the Core, or if one was motivated enough, to almost any place the user desired.

That was the secret of the four key islands. They led to the Core, not directly, but through manipulations of the Surreal and the Real. It was not too dissimilar to the keys that allowed travel to the Underground, though that utilized the Outside, and needed to be put in place long in advance.

"Another failure."

Not enough time had passed to forge a key to Grim Aegis. If only the plan hadn't fallen apart. If only she had been able to maintain control. If only every one of her Fingers hadn't failed her. Then she would still have everything precisely how she wanted it.

Sccrt.

The boat pushed sand and rock aside as she pushed it up the shore with her long black legs. She stood on them, her human legs dangling as she stepped out of the boat and out onto the sand. With Artur held above, she had six in total to manipulate, and she was tired of walking.

She didn't even take the stairs. Her legs allowed her to climb almost any surface. Tiny hairs in the dark black carapace pierced through anything they touched, giving her a grip that not even the strongest man could compete with. Her vision shook a little as she started up the side of the massive wall, heading for the top with an unhindered gait..

Roar.

The surrounding stone shook as she reached the top. The rumbling was no natural sound. It was a sound she had never heard in her life, in fact. However, it recalled to her of stories told in the dark, as children fell asleep. It reminded her of stories her mother used to tell her before her life changed.

Miss Malone turned.

In the distance, coming over the keep, a massive red-scaled dragon spread its wings wide. It took her a moment to process it. Her mind couldn't process what she was seeing. It was like a picture out of a storybook, too large to be real, and too present not to be.

"No."

Click. Click. Click.

She ran. Her spider legs clicked across the stone as she rushed for the console near the center of the massive structure. She needed to activate the gate before it got any closer. Her heart raced as she spindled over to the console, lowering Artur closer so that she could operate the controls.

It was a simple design, one born from the interaction between curse and device, and not dissimilar from the runed room that formed the apex of defense for the entirety of Grim Aegis. A single large hand lay embossed on the stone console, and by placing the right hand on it, the path out of Grim Aegis would be opened.

She lowered Artur to the console and risked a look back at the massive dragon.

Glowing light gathered around its maw, growing brighter and brighter by the second. Miss Malone closed her eyes and opened her gate wider. She had only moments to force the prince to do her will. Like a thousand skittering legs, power rushed through her as she closed her eyes and delved into the prince's mind.

Darkness, spotted with orbs of lights appeared in her vision. She didn't have time to use the finesse she was used to. A long clawed hand reached out and grasped hold of the orbs, closing around them and drawing them into her arms. She melded the prince's memories into her and drew his mind to the one thing she desired him to do.

"Raise the shield."

Bzzt.

It was a gamble, but she doubted she could get through the portal before the dragon fired. While he was no longer in the room that amplified his curse, Miss Malone hoped the shield would be strong enough to deflect the massive beam coming toward her.

Ck-ksh.

She opened her eyes for a moment to be shadowed by dazzling light. Around her, blue light showered in a thousand sparks. The brightness burned in her eye, but she smiled as the shield held. She reached out for the prince's hand and forced it onto the slab, even as he held the shield ready.

Thwap.

The portal opened, blue and green light rippling across the chasm and turning it into a lake. She carried the prince into it, jumping inside and closing her eyes. She had done it. She had escaped. On the island beyond the portal, she could recover, and prepare to answer to Lord Baccia.

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