Morgan looked down in dismay. She said, "Rats."
Her smoldering eyes turned to Gwen, and without saying another word, she gestured and a blast of eldritch energy blew from her hand. Gwen leaped out of the way, sure-footed in her black tennis sneakers. She felt the air sizzle around her, and looked around. Where the energy bolt had missed her, several large pillows and a good chunk of the floor were gone.
Her heart pounding like a trip-hammer, Gwen moved quickly in Merlin's direction, praying that somehow the trapped magician would be able to aid her. She reached the crystal column and clung to it like a life preserver, looking defiantly at Morgan.
"You think he can help you?" said Morgan disdainfully. "Don't kid yourself, my queenlette.
But let's fine tune the spell, just for you, to make sure I don't accidentally release the little bastard."
She pointed and a single beam of lambent energy shot forth. Gwen threw her back against the crystal column, and the energy beam passed within a hair's breadth of her breasts.
"You can't win!" crowed Morgan.
"Get stuffed!" Gwen screamed back. She circled behind Merlin's prison, keeping the crystal column between the two of them. She felt terrible about putting Merlin in the middle of all this, yet what choice did she have? But she couldn't keep it up all day___
Her hand trailed over the small bulge in her hip pocket, and she remembered what the demon had said. It was worth a try, because she sure as hell couldn't keep dodging all night.
Morgan advanced on her slowly. "Come out, little queen. I promise you it will be painless...."
"Everyone is so concerned about my welfare," muttered Gwen.
Compact firmly in hand, Gwen suddenly leaped out from behind Merlin. Morgan shouted her triumph and let fly a bolt of energy.
Gwen flipped open the compact and held it between her and Morgan. The pencil-thin beam of light hit the mirror and bounced off. Gwen had hoped that it would bounce back and hit Morgan herself. Instead the beam shot off to the left and struck the crystal column in which Merlin was trapped.
"No!" screamed Morgan, but it was too late. Like a laser cracking a diamond, the spell of disintegration pierced the crystal. A weblike pattern of lines appeared on the crystal surface, and Merlin's small body began to glow with power. Again Morgan cried "No!" but that was a split second before the crystal shattered into a million shards. Gwen shielded her eyes, but miraculously, or perhaps magically, not so much as a single piece cut her. Morgan, on the other hand, was unable to fend off what seemed like thousands of angry hornets ripping at her. She went down, pieces of crystal embedded in her dress and skin.
Merlin stood there. His eyes were smoldering with anger and power. His fists were clenched and glowing. "Morgan," he said in a dangerous voice, "you've kept bound forces with which you should not have tampered."
"You little fiend!" Morgan cried. "That's the second time you've done that. First you nearly get me cut to ribbons with my own television set, and now this. Well no more, I tell you. No more!"
Her body glowed. "You're in my place now, Merlin! You cannot win!"
"Gwen! Behind me!" ordered Merlin. Gwen barely had time to comply before Morgan's mystical attack was launched.
"And in a sudden reversal," the newscaster was saying, "returns from the upper Manhattan voting districts have tilted the balloting more toward Arthur Penn...."
Arthur, up in his suite, could swear that he heard a roar of approval go up from the gathering room downstairs. He smiled as the newscaster said, "Once again this race has become so close that it has become impossible to call."
"Gentlemen," said Percy, "it looks like we're going to be putting in a long night."
Merlin had erected his mystical defenses barely in time. A sphere of pure energy surrounded Merlin and Gwen as Morgan's powerful spells bounced off the shields. Pillows imploded into nothingness. Walls began to melt into puddles. And Morgan's wrath grew.
Merlin, his face frozen in concentration, worked on maintaining the shields that were preserving their lives. Gwen crawled to him and demanded, "Now what?"
"You're asking me?" said Merlin desperately. "You're the one who came to the rescue. I assumed you'd figured a way out."
"I did," said Gwen. "You're it."
"Wonderful," replied Merlin.
Energy cascaded around them, dancing in little sparks. "I can't hold her back much longer,"
grated Merlin. "I'm too weak. I've been cooped up for too long."
"Then what are we going to do?"
"Will you stop asking me that?"
"All right," said Gwen angrily. "All right!" She started to stand. "Cover me."
Merlin looked at her, aghast. "What do you think this is, Gunfight at the OK Corrall What do you mean, cover you?"
"I'm going to get her."
"You're insane! There are forces being unleashed here you know nothing about."
"Good," said Gwen. "If I knew about them, I'd probably be more terrified than I am right now.
See you next lifetime, Merlin."
"Gwen-"
Gwen DeVere leaped out from behind the protection of Merlin's shields. She rolled across the smoldering carpet as Morgan, blind with fury, directed her attack at Gwen's quick-moving form. Gwen, heart pounding with excitement, mind racing thanks to the uppers, moved with a speed that defied description. And Morgan, caught up in her anger, used her power wildly, recklessly. She did not take time to aim, or plan, or think. She was reacting on the most primal level-utter rage. Gwen broke right, broke left, leaped forward, then pivoted and dodged again to the right. Explosions of primal force bracketed her. A chunk of floor tilted wildly under her and she jumped off it, rolling that much closer to Morgan.
A sudden instinct warned her, and she ducked to one side as a huge piece of plaster from the ceiling fell and shattered right where she'd been.
Morgan was grinning wildly. "You're going to die, Guinevere, you slut!" she shrieked. "My brother's whore! There'll be less than nothing left of you when I'm through."
Still two yards away, Gwen grated, "All talking, bitch queen, but no action. Hiding behind your spells and your pretty lights! When it comes down to the crunch, you just don't have what it takes."
"You . . . you ..." Raw energy flew between Morgan's palms and arced outward at Gwen. She leaped in the one direction Morgan had not anticipated-straight at her. Gwen came in low in a flying tackle, her arms wrapped around Morgan's legs, and the two of them went down in a tumble of arms and legs.
Merlin shouted from across the room, "Gwen! Don't look in her eyes! Not at such close quarters!" And Gwen, hearing his words, shut her eyes tightly, even as she and Morgan rolled, struggling hand to hand.
Then Gwen was on*her back, Morgan straddling her. There was a triumphant gleam in Morgan's eyes that Gwen didn't see. "I don't need my magic to finish you, little queen." She brought her hand down, open, slapping it across Gwen's cheek. "That's just the beginning of paying you back for what you've done to me."
The pain raced through Gwen's face even as she brought her legs up from behind and wrapped her knees around Morgan's neck. The sorceress gagged, gasping for air, as Gwen turned and slammed her down on the ground. The impact stunned Morgan momentarily, and also caused Gwen to involuntarily open her eyes. Her gaze fell on the skull-headed knife with which she had missed her mark earlier. It was just out of her reach.
Quick as lightning she released her hold on Morgan and hurled herself at the knife. Her desperate fingers curled around the hilt, and before Morgan could regain her senses, Gwen had thrown herself across Morgan's prostrate form.
She held the knife over Morgan's rapidly rising breasts.
"Finish her!" shouted Merlin.
Morgan, petrified, made no move. Her gaze shifted from the knife to Gwen, but Gwen was careful not to look at her directly. Her entire concentration was on the point of the knife, poised directly over her fallen foe's heart. Gwen's hand trembled. She bit her lip.