Legacies

by Bebe Lightsmith

  “Another little nymph to challenge us?” One of them said to another.

  “This is no nymph.” A tall figure stepped forward. He looked like a leader and had the emblem like the one on the medallion Ryker’s father was wearing stitched on the right side of his robe.

  “Is it she?” A woman’s voice asked.

  “This is the one.” The leader nodded. I didn’t care about all that, not at that time anyway. I just wanted to get Ryker out of there. He wasn’t moving.

  “I told you the knight would bring her to us.” A shorter one said, with the stitching of the emblem on his robe. They were the only two to have the extra detail.

  They were after me. I didn’t care.

  “What are you doing to him?” I demanded.

  “If you come quietly, we will let him live.” The taller leader offered. I knew the protocol, never sacrifice yourself, and never leave a man behind.

  I stepped forward, going to Ryker. He was laying in the middle of the drawn magic circle. This one was a design I had never seen before, so I was sure to capture it in my memory, like saving a photo. Kneeling down, I shook Ryker’s shoulder. He groaned. I didn’t see any visible injuries.

  “Who are you?” I then asked, standing over Ryker protectively. I could deduce that this was a cult of some kind. In my analyzation class with Agent Rogers, he had taught us of the many cults that were around the world. Though we knew of the major ones, smaller ones popped up and disappeared all the time. They were always after one thing or another, most of them peaceful, but some were violent.

  “We are the Followers of Uasal.” The shorter leader said. “And he wants you, my Lady.” I captured everything in my mind, like a video.

  “What did you do to him?” I pointed at Ryker. I wasn’t sure if they knew who he was, so I didn’t want to give them too much.

  “No worries, my Lady, we did not harm him.” The taller one assured me. “We are just following the teachings of Uasal.”

  “What does that mean?” I demanded.

  “That’s enough questions.” The shorter one stepped forward and grabbed my arm. He had the symbol tattooed on the inside of his wrist. I wasn’t as strong as Ryker, but I knew Krav Maga.

  Grabbing his arm with my other hand, I broke his wrist and then turned to round-about kick towards the other leader. I hit him in the chest, and he went flying back. The others rushed towards me, and I managed to fight a few of them off. That is until I felt it, the power. It felt dark, like the worst thoughts my mind had ever made up were all bombarding me at once. True fear was something I had never encountered before. My heart pounded as I fought my body from fleeing. I couldn’t leave Ryker. I stood over him, daring the taller leader to come forward. The shorter one was still gasping over his broken wrist. I had never felt magic like that before.

  The huge, metal garage door exploded into a million pieces. Instead of the fragments shooting into the room, they stopped in midair, and then some force sucked them outside. Owen stood in front of us, the Staff of Merlin magically restored to its full size and glowing bright blue. The other four were behind him, Melody standing the farthest back. I had never felt the force of Owen’s full and serious power, it filled the storage unit like a dense fog. His eyes shifted to me for just a second, but I understood.

  He raised his staff, and I fell to the ground, covering Ryker’s body with mine the best I could. He groaned a bit as I lay over him. Slowly his eyes opened. An explosion sounded above us, making my ears ring, and my vision blur. I hugged him to me tighter, shielding his face from the blast.

  “That’s very cute, cub of Emrys.” One of the leaders shouted. Then he raised his hand, and the air shifted. I gasped for breath, as the oxygen seemed to disappear from around me.

  “Ivy!” Owen called. I glanced up to see him throw another of my pocket mirrors on the ground near me. We needed to get away. Whatever these people were, they were powerful, much too powerful for us.

  Owen thrust his staff again, launching controlled blue lightning over me and zapping all the lower members in the room. The two leaders stood firm as the others collapsed. I took that moment to rush forward, keeping the lower half of my body over Ryker. I reached my hand over the bits of broken mirror and said the incantation. I didn’t even give a location, just somewhere safe. The portal opened, and my hair blew back from the force of it.

  I couldn’t pull Ryker on my own, but he was awake. Reaching out his arm, I helped pull him over to the portal. Blue magic flew overhead as thousands of tiny star-like orbs hovered over the room and then exploded the force of them were deafening. The ground began to crack under me as one of the leaders was starting to use his power. Now, with Ryker near the portal, I looked up at Owen.

  He was in the midst of battle, his black hair flying back from his face, his ethereal blue eyes glowing, his staff in his outstretched hand. At that moment, he really did look like what I imagined of Merlin. He was fierce and terrifying and in complete control. When he saw me looking at him, he told the others to run for the portal. They did, no hesitation. One by one, they jumped in, but I waited for Owen. Even with Ryker hurt, I knew he would never forgive me, and I would never forgive myself, if we left him.

  I felt the power surge as Owen took a deep breath, centering his body, as he shouted an incantation. He sounded otherworldly, like a god or monster from another dimension. His voice took on a deep guttural tone as the magic grew brighter and brighter inside of him. I knew this was the big one, with that he was going to run towards us, and we’d all fall into the portal. Blood dripped on Ryker’s forehead, and I realized my nose was bleeding. It was a side-effect of the power I was exerting keeping the portal open.

  With the final words, Owen slammed his staff down on the ground. A great wave of magical blue energy erupted from the staff and swept into the storage building. Owen was suddenly next to me, pulling Ryker in and we jumped just as the power exploded above us.

  We landed in the grass. The sun shone brightly above us in the light blue cloudless sky. Butterflies and birds flittered across my vision as they flew to their destinations. Sitting up, I found that we were in a small clearing in the woods, a small log cabin was off to the left.

  “Where are we?” Owen sighed as he sat up, rubbing his head.

  “I did it, Owen.” I couldn’t believe it. “We’re in dream world.” The others crowded around us, unsure of what to do.

  “In dream world?” Owen gasped. It took him a moment to stand, as he had just used a tremendous amount of power, but he looked around in awe as he did.

  Ryker groaned, and I looked down at him. He rubbed his head.

  “What happened?” I demanded.

  “Why did you not call for backup, Mr. Protocol?” Owen demanded. I could feel the anger coming off of both of us, but it was under the mask of worry and total and complete fear.

  “I thought I could sneak in and do some surveillance.” Ryker groaned, letting out a few coughs, and then sitting up.

  “One of them, man, had this power.” Ryker started to explain.

  “Mind control,” I said. “I could feel it just before you came.” I had almost lost my mind that night, literally.

  “Yuh, guess we know who made the medallion,” Ryker grunted as he stood to his feet. Knights had accelerated healing. Short of decapitation or a blow to the heart, they could heal from just about anything, and quickly.

  “Any idea how to get home?” Owen asked me. I shook my head. There were no mirrors here as I had never had the chance to take one from the real world into this one.

  “I can’t believe you did that, Ryker!” Melody was suddenly in front of us. She was still all bruised up but wore one of Owen’s shirts. “They almost killed me!”

  “But they didn’t,” Ryker replied coldly. I wondered what happened there.

  To the right, the bright light of a portal opened. My grams stepped through, followed by Agent Rogers. Oh, thank the gods. I felt all my stress deflate as my Grams came closer. We started to gr
eet her, but the look on her face shut us up. Her eyes were glowing with anger as she marched directly towards Ryker and smacked him across the face.

  “Ryker Pendragon, do you know how irresponsible you were?” She practically shrieked. I had never seen my grams so enraged.

  “You were watching us?” I demanded.

  “Of course, I was watching you. You’d think I would let my only granddaughter go off on a dangerous quest without at least monitoring the situation?” Morgana snapped. She then turned back to Ryker. “You had no right to go off on your own with only a little nymph to aid you.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Ryker muttered, looking very much like a little boy who had been scolded. He lowered his head; his shoulders slumped.

  “You scared me to death.” She said and then pulled him into a hug. Over the months, they had grown close, the two of them.

  “And you,” She then turned her gaze on Owen. He met her eye-to-eye, standing tall. “Very well done.” She smiled and patted his shoulder. He gave her a little grin back. “That druid magic is coming along nicely.”

  “And super powerful.” Agent Rogers muttered. She then turned to me.

  “You did good, sweetling. You did everything exactly right.”

  “Grams, the cult.” I started. She pressed her fingers over my lips.

  “Later, sweetling.” She whispered.

  She then turned and looked at the other team. Her eyes shifted over each one of them until she stopped at Agatha.

  “Legacy of Nimueh, Lady of the Lake, stretch your hand up above your head and grab the air.” I had no idea what she was talking about. Agatha looked just as confused as she raised her arm over her hand, stretching her hand up.

  A bolt of blue lightning struck her hand. It took a moment for my eyes to focus from the bright light and for the smoke to clear. But standing in the center of my dream world, Agatha held a mighty sword over her head. Agatha lowered her hand, her eyes wide as she stared at the sword. It was large, over five feet long, with a massive blade. The hilt was golden in color, with a dragonhead for the pommel. Jewels of ruby, emerald, and sapphire embedded into the quillions. The blade itself was tinted red, with druid symbols engraved over its length.

  “That’s my sword,” Ryker said, as if in a trance. He stepped forward and reached out his hand.

  “Not here,” Morgana said, taking the sword. She opened a portal with just a wave of her hand. I had to admit, I was mildly jealous that she could use dimensional magic so easily, without mirrors or any other artifact to help conduct her power.

  We stepped through the portal and arrived in the small courtyard between our dorm buildings.

  “Team Lake, you are dismissed,” Morgana said.

  “What?” Melody demanded. “That is all you needed us for? Was for Agatha to get the sword?”

  “Precisely.” Morgana nodded.

  Agent Rogers herded them away, talking about getting them flights home and all that. Morgana turned to Ryker, then, and offered him the sword that rested on her outstretched hands.

  “Ryker Pendragon, I offer you the sword titled Excalibur. It is a weapon created to identify the one true King of Knights. If the sword chooses you, thus you will officially gain the title.” Morgana said in an authoritative but mystical tone.

  Ryker’s hand shook as he grabbed the handle.

  I felt it before I saw it. The massive build-up of power. Owen and I exchanged a glance. The blade started to glow red, the magic building up inside of it. Morgana smiled.

  “I knew you would be able to wield it because you were able to punch the dybbuk.” She started. Ryker gave her a questioning glance. “You have magic inside of you, Ryker Pendragon, which is why you can use the sword, just like Arthur.” The magic pulsed through the air, the night birds and crickets growing quiet.

  “What does it do?” Ryker asked. Morgana held out her hand, and Ryker passed it over to her. The magic dissipated, and a cool breeze blew through.

  “That is for you to find out.” She said and then without warning or hesitation, she stabbed it into a large decorative stone. We gasped as we watched the sword slice through the rock like butter.

  “Why!” Ryker gasped, grabbing the hilt and giving it a yank. The stone held tight.

  “You will be able to pull the sword from the stone when you are ready to wield Excalibur, not a moment sooner.” She explained. A look of utter disappointment flooded Ryker’s face.

  “But.” He started.

  “No, this is no ordinary sword. This weapon is powerful, and you need to be strong enough to control it.” Morgana instructed. As he whined, Morgana drew closer to Owen and me.

  “You both did well today.” She complimented us again.

  “Grams, about the cult.” I started. She raised her hand to silence me.

  “It’s classified, Ivy Rose, don’t you worry about them now. All three of you are fine, and that is all that matters.” She declared. I wanted to argue with her, but I knew that it would be a waste of time. Once she made up her mind, there was no talking her out of it. She pointed her stern gaze at us, her mouth turned down in seriousness.

  “Promise me, right now, that you three will always stick together. We need no more repeats of tonight.” Morgana started. “You were lucky this time, but it could have ended in utter disaster.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” We both mumbled.

  “What were you thinking letting him go off alone?” She demanded. Owen and I shared a glance.

  “It won’t happen again,” I promised. It was my fault. I had let my emotions get the better of me. My feelings for Ryker had fogged my decision making. She was right, we should have never agreed to be separated.

  “Alright, I see you’ve both learned your lesson.” Her eyes flickered between Owen and me. Ryker was turned, looking at us, but with his hand still on the sword. I could see him over her shoulder. He gave a short nod of understanding. He agreed too.

  She started to walk down the long path between the dorms. Then she stopped and turned, her eyes shimmering in the low light.

  “Oh, and Owen.” She started. Holding out her hand, a swirl of green magic produced a large leather-bound tomb. The pages were frayed and discolored.

  “Read this, won’t you sweetling?” She asked and handed it to him. Owen took the book and nodded, giving her a look of confusion.

  “I’ll see you back at home, all three of you.” She said, and then walked away.

  The three of us stood there for a long moment in silence.

  “I’m sorry.” Ryker was the first to speak. “I should have called for you guys.”

  “We’re sorry too,” I muttered.

  “We both had the feeling we shouldn’t have left you and ignored it.” Owen agreed.

  We stood together in the dark courtyard of our school. The clouds opened up overhead, allowing a single stream of moonlight to pass through and shine down on the Excalibur. Owen held the book in his hand. Looking at the two of them, the two boys I cared about most in the world, a flood of emotion bombarded me. It was probably the release of adrenaline, but tears started to form in my eyes. I reached out to both of them and pulled them into a joined hug. They both hugged me back as I really started to weep.

  “We’re sorry, Ivy,” Ryker muttered. “Please don’t cry.”

  “The Team first. Always.” I said in a weak breaking voice, pulling away so I could look them in the eyes.

  “Always.” Owen nodded. Ryker was silent for a moment, as we exchanged a long look. We both knew what that meant. Though it was difficult, we both needed to get our own worlds in order before we could be together. Everything was so new and extreme and dangerous, it was more important for us to be a team than for us to be in a relationship.

  “For now.” Ryker nodded. I nodded too. My emotions started to subside, and I wiped my face with my hands.

  “What do you think this is?” Owen asked, opening the book to the first page.

  “The Extraordinary Tales of Camelot.” He read, then
made a face. “By” He paused then and looked up at us. “By Morgana Le Fay.”

  End.

  Table of Contents

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  A Long Time Ago, In The Year 2009…

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  Chapter One:

  Ivy:

  Chapter Two:

  Owen:

  Chapter Three:

  Ryker:

  Chapter Four:

  Ivy:

  Chapter Five:

  Owen:

  Twelve Weeks Later:

  Chapter Six:

  Ryker:

  One week later:

  Chapter Seven:

  Owen:

  Chapter Eight:

  Ivy: