DISCLAIMER! Frost, Rick and Season are MINE MINE MINE! Excalibur belongs to Marvel, and everyone else was made up so that I could use them. :)

Witches, Warlocks and Soulswords ch 3

The first thing Kitty was aware of was a headache. That, at least, told her she was still alive. Then she felt cold along her back. Good, she still had one. Backs were handy things. She mentally reprimanded herself for being so impudent, which told her that she also had a mind left. Those were handy sometimes too. She sighed (good! A mouth!). There was no way she was going to be able to be serious. All right, she thought to herself, Where do I live? Muir Isle. My name? Kitty Pryde. Job? SAVING THE WORLD!!! She giggled. Oh, how nice. Vocal cords. She enjoyed those. They were nice to have when you wanted to throw a temper tantrum.

“Kitty? Luv? You awake?” A voice. She had ears too. She liked ears. You could use the prettiest earrings when you had ears.

“I feel so giddy.” Her eyelids fluttered and she opened them to see blue eyes staring anxiously into hers.

“Yeah, you took a pretty good blow. That’s a side-effect.” The man bent down and helped her into a sitting position, then brought a glass of water to her mouth. “Better?” he asked once she’d swallowed.

She nodded. “Where am I?”

“You’re in my office. Remember? You were taking a tour when that mutant zapped you.”

Kitty frowned. “A tour?”

“Yes, darling. A tour.”

Her scowl deepened. She didn’t remember--oh, wait. Yes, she did now. She’d wanted to see where her fiancé worked. He’d brought her, but then been called up to handle an emergency. He’d left her with another man who continued the tour--but then that nasty mutant had attacked them and tried to kill her. She smiled up at--at--What was his name? David. His name was David. She smiled up at David. “How did I get here?”

“I saw just as he attacked you. Luckily I was with one of the guards and he had a gun.” David smiled sheepishly. “Wish I could say I’d rescued you, but really it’s not true.”

Kitty wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him. “Hey, you were there, right? Close enough.”

David smiled. “Right. Close enough.”

***

“Is everyone accounted for?” Kurt asked, rubbing his temples. So far Pete’s family was odd and quite difficult to track down.

“Aye, ever’one,” Rahne said, itching.

Kurt looked out the window, watching birds play over the water. “Did he get any letters lately? Anything like that?”

They all exchanged looks. “A’ll check his letters,” Rahne said, standing.

“I’ll go over his phone calls,” Brian said.

“I’ll check his e-mail,” Kurt volunteered. He bent and kissed Amanda’s head. “And you, dear, get some sleep.”

She sighed. No such luck. Bad headache. The pulls were getting worse.

***

Pete stopped, flattening himself into a doorway. He was getting too old for this. A troop of guards walked by, not even bothering to look where he was. They were too busy talking.

Slowly he stepped out and looked around, then darted down the hall and through the automatic door the men had just come through. It closed silently behind him. He stepped up to the next door, eyeing the keypad. He didn’t remember this being here. He bent down to one knee, looking at the thing. Strangely clean. He stood back up, tapping at the same spot on the door that he remembered. Sure enough, that unlocked the mechanism and the door swung open. The pad was just a decoy--anyone who touched it would probably be fried. Suddenly his thoughts turned to Kitty, and he prayed that she was okay. What was he thinking letting her go off like that?!

A man straight ahead started to raise the alarm, but Pete shot hot knives at him and he shut up. “Good boy,” Wisdom snarled, taking the gun. The young man’s eyes widened and he nodded. A long burn scar across his face was already starting to blister.

“Now lissen close, cuz I don’t feel like repeatin’ meself. You’re far too young to die. So you should leave Black Air now--walk out the door--because if you try to stop me you will die. If you don’t try to stop me Black Air’ll kill ya. Clear?”

The boy nodded, then eased past Pete and ran. He hated this job anyway.

Pete sighed with relief and picked up the gun; it was always better to be armed. Slowly he started down the rows of mostly empty cells, keeping alert for any odd sounds. He rounded another corner and stopped dead, watching with fascination as a large sword hovered mid-air.

“Rick?” he finally managed to get out, coming closer--but giving the glowing weapon a wide berth. There really was no reason to get killed, here.

Pete shot hot knives into the lock, bursting it, and walked in. Rick was hanging still, unchanged. Long black hair fell in his face, tangled and soaked with sweat. Quietly Pete bent and shot the shackles holding Rick’s gargoyle-like feet, then stood and did the same to the boy’s hands. Rick groaned and fell to the floor, not even trying to catch himself.

“C’mon, kid. We gotta get goin’. Find me girl and get out a’ here,” Pete said, grabbing an arm and pulling.

Finally, after what seemed a long time, Rick lurched up to his feet, stumbling until he fell back against the wall again. He stopped, breathing hard, talon-like hands gripping the stone and creating dents in the wall. After taking a few deep breaths he pushed away, stumbling as he tried to stand on the balls of his feet--the only part of his foot that could touch the ground. He breathed deeply, feeling Pete’s arm wrap around his waist for balance.

“We’ll do fine. Wrap yer arm around me shoulders--that’s it. Now walk.” The two of them stumbled out the door--Pete’s small frame trying valiantly to hold up the seven foot tall, muscled body of the younger boy. As they past the sword Rick reached out, touching it briefly. It followed them, floating along behind as if pulled by an invisible thread. Still it pulsed, weaving in and out of view.

“D’ju call my mom?” Rick said, his voice barely audible.

“Nah, thought she was the reason I was ‘ere,” Pete grunted, trying to straighten as Rick stumbled.

“Oh. No.”

Pete rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the tip, I hadn’t noticed,” Wisdom said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Rick grinned weakly.

“Mom’s . . . hiding,” the boy said between steps.

“Great. No way to contact her then?”

Rick shook his head, then stumbled since he’d knocked himself off-balance. Wisdom grunted with the effort of keeping them both standing, and glared at Rick.

“Now where would you be taking my prisoner?” came a voice in front of them. Pete started swearing under his breath.

“I can’t get anything I want if you have him,” the director, armed with thirty-something guards, said.

“’Ey, David. Don’t supposed you’d let me an’ the boy go?”

“With my soul sword, no gods and no sorceress? Think again.”

Pete sighed. “Sure just make me do this the hard way.”

David smiled, turned and pulled out a--remote control? He pointed it at one wall, pushed a button and watched as a picture came up.

Pete gawked at the sight of Kitty in David’s office, sleeping peacefully on the couch.

“This time, I’m not underestimating you.”

*******

Lemma know whatcha think! A writer needs feedback to continue living . . . sort of like a vampire. >:D

J.B.McD.

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