Myths and Gargoyles

by Jamie Hawke

  Morganna was up again, tackling me. We both held tight, but I got in a good headbutt and she loosened her grip. Then I had it, pulling it free from the light. The moment the sword was in my hands I felt a surge of power much like leveling up, and then the hills and fairies vanished in a burst of blue light.

  I was back in the convention hall, holding that sword high as Morganna fell back. She crawled away from me, cursing and spitting, eyeing me with complete and utter hatred.

  Pan was up again though, lunging, a short blade in hand that I knocked back with a good parry. He came at me again and I slashed him across the shoulder, warning him to stay back.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, still holding the many stories of Peter Pan too closely to my chest, apparently. This isn’t that character, I reminded myself, so that when he next came at me, another dagger pulled out and ready, steel flashing, I had no choice if I wanted to live—I sidestepped and brought the sword up in a thrust.

  The feeling of my blade sinking into his flesh was sickening. The expression on his face was heart-breaking. He looked at me like I’d betrayed him, as though he’d given me a choice in the matter, but then… he smiled, looking down at my sword in his chest.

  With a laugh, he pulled himself closer, the blade sinking deeper. “You’ve won a battle,” he said, “but it’s cost you the war.”

  Not wanting any more of this, I kicked him off the sword and watched as he fell limp, his Ichor floating into me.

  I couldn’t believe I’d just killed Peter Pan. It didn’t feel right. Actually, there was something very wrong about it, I realized as the purple mists swirled around his body, taking him. Then his body was rising into the air above us and Morganna was laughing with joy.

  “What’s happening?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off of this sight but hoping my team was nearby.

  “The final sacrifice,” Elisa said, running over and standing at my side.

  “I…” My voice caught, horrified.

  “We stopped her from killing more,” Red said, approaching too, staring up in awe. “Only to finish the ritual.”

  “Meaning what, exactly?” I asked.

  “My guess,” Elisa said, indicating the form that was now spinning in all the magic, “is we’ve just revived a Lost Soul.”

  “Arthur, to be exact,” Morganna said. The form was morphing, expanding, hair becoming a lighter brown, almost blond, features changing too, to take on higher cheekbones, more muscle in the shoulders and arms.

  This thing could be Arthur, sure, but what really threw me for a loop was when he stopped spinning, opened his red eyes, and stared down at me. When he opened his mouth to speak, long vampire fangs showed. Arthur hadn’t only gone dark in his time, he’d apparently become a vampire. They’d left out that little detail.

  Before he could get a word out or any of us could move to take him down, Morganna was up and running. She leaped, grabbing hold of Arthur mid-jump, and the two vanished into an explosion of purple fog that followed them, leaving the immediate area free of all signs of them.

  I stood there, sword in my hand, staring at the spot they should have been, utterly bewildered.

  “We have to get out of here,” Red said, glancing around. Most of the regular conference-goers were cleared out, but now agents were moving in, cautiously, ready to strike. If we didn’t move now, we wouldn’t stand a chance.

  24

  Darting through the closest exit, we saw that the agents inside weren’t the only ones. Out here, while Normies ran amok with some gathering in groups to try to see what was going on, agents and Legends and Myths all fought, while several of Mowgli’s team worked to maintain a veil that would cause the Normies to see it as some sort of riot or large brawl without any of the supernatural elements.

  To their credit, the agents weren’t attacking these Myths, and if anything, were helping them.

  “Protector,” Mowgli shouted, seeing me and sprinting over with Bagheera at his side, having transformed into a large panther of a man—huge, muscular body covered in black fur, face of a panther along with claws and all. “You’ve recovered Excalibur!”

  “And released King Arthur,” I shouted, looking around for where they needed us.

  Two trolls charged over, and Bagheera dealt with the first while Mowgli and I dealt with the next.

  “Get out of here,” Mowgli said.

  “I can fight!”

  “Elisa, help me get him to the mansion,” Mowgli said, seeing that I wasn’t about to go easily. “We need the Protector safe, and we need to ensure he’s connected with Excalibur so that he’s ready to use it when the time comes.”

  “I’ll cover your path,” Bagheera roared, moving to intercept a witch who’d come at us.

  My heart wanted to stay and fight, but my gut knew the look Elisa was giving me and that doing as Mowgli said was the right choice. Being out in the open was too big a risk, at least until I knew how to use this sword and its magic.

  Elisa held out a hand and I took it, running at her side. Red and Pucky charged slightly ahead of us on each side, ready to intercept anyone who might try stopping us. We ducked back into the building, making for an exit on the other side where Mowgli had a car waiting.

  As soon as we burst through the rear set of doors though, we heard a drone overhead. As we ran up to our vehicle, two more black cars screeched up next to us.

  The agent I’d met earlier, Agent Torrind, emerged from one. We all turned, ready for more fighting.

  “I’m not here to fight,” Torrind said, holding up a hand.

  “What then?” Mowgli growled, stepping out ahead of us.

  The agent looked at me and then Excalibur, before removing his sunglasses. His eyes were dark blue, like the ocean depths, and they seemed to swirl at the sight. “It’s true then. Excalibur is in his hands, and Arthur…”

  “King Arthur has been restored,” Mowgli said, nodding. “And we’re going to stop him.”

  “That’s all I wanted to hear,” Torrind said, moving to get back into his car.

  “You’re not going to try and stop us?” Elisa asked. “Or at least capture us?”

  Torrind looked at her, shook his head, and put his sunglasses back on before returning to his car. They drove away.

  “He doesn’t have to,” Mowgli said, turning back to us and gesturing us into the car we were going for. “With King Arthur out there, it’s better to have us try and do the dirty work. I imagine what we’ve just been part of is an unofficial truce—they pull back until this is over, then the game’s back on.”

  I followed Pucky in, and just as we were about to close the door, another person I recognized came running over—Sharon.

  Red was at the door first, dagger drawn, but Sharon stopped short, hands up.

  “I don’t want any trouble,” she said. “Pan’s gone, meaning so is his influence over me. Please, I want to beat the darkness, I want to… I want to go Myth.”

  Mowgli put a hand on Red’s forearm, and nodded. She was hesitant, but finally moved away from the door so that Sharon could enter.

  “If you turn on us,” Red started, “if this is a trick—”

  “It’s not,” Sharon interjected. “But I need help. I can’t beat it alone.”

  Elisa leaned toward her and said, “We’ll do what we can,” as Pucky closed the door and the car took off.

  Sharon nodded her thanks, gave me a look that was full of sorrow and guilt, and then sank back on the seat, legs folded up with her knees to her chest, and closed her eyes. After a moment, Elisa put an arm around her, comforting the woman.

  As we drove, first there was silence, all of us thinking about what had just happened. I was very confused over how this transition to being a Myth would go, but also interested. I didn’t expect her to join the team, exactly, but there was something about her that intrigued me, and seeing Elisa’s arm around her made me feel there was a strange connection here. Maybe a past that I didn’t know about.

  On the w
ay back, Mowgli told us to get some rest, to get back to training, and that the intel teams would be doing their best to scour the world and find any sign of Morganna and Arthur’s resurgence.

  “Nobody wanted to tell me he was a vampire before?” I asked, still pretty miffed about that little detail.

  “It’s how he went dark,” Red explained. “He turned on Merlin, betrayed him… It’s a complicated story.”

  “One I’d like to hear sometime,” I said, running my hand through my hair. “Shit, everything I thought I knew about this world—well, the fairy tale world—is bullshit.”

  “Sorry to burst your bubble,” Elisa said. “But often, nothing’s what you expect it to be. At least, not everything.”

  She gave me a comforting smile, reminding me that she had a point—not everything. With them, at least, I knew what to expect now. Action. Insanity. A fucking amazing experience in the bedroom. And judging by the way Pucky leaned into me, not caring in the least that Mowgli was giving her a disapproving stare, I was going to be reminded of all that soon.

  Holding Excalibur in front of me, I had a thought. “King Arthur… this was his sword.”

  “Of course,” Sharon said, perking up and looking like she knew exactly where I was going with this.

  Red frowned. “The point?”

  “Won’t he come for it?” I asked. “Maybe we don’t need to go looking for him.”

  “Not when we can easily get him to come looking for it,” Sharon said.

  “It’s we, all of a sudden?” Red asked, looking very skeptical.

  “Who better to teach her?” Mowgli said, then turned back to Sharon and me. “Good thinking, both of you. Very good.”

  I beamed, but then realized something else. “Magical items… this is one of them, right? And they only show their magic for people of the right class?” At Red’s nod, I went on, “Okay, I’m a warrior. Why’s it not doing anything special for me?”

  Red, Pucky, and Mowgli all looked around, unsure.

  “You don’t know?” Elisa leaned forward, taking my stone and placing it in the hilt. Now the screen rose up from it as before, but it had a new information screen. The main point that stood out to me was the word “Tempest.”

  “Well I’ll be,” Pucky said, her eyebrows raised. “Arthur was a Tempest.”

  “Part of why so many couldn’t get the sword out of the stone all those years ago,” Elisa explained. “They were all warrior classes—at least, those who weren’t Normies.”

  “Shit,” I said. “So am I.”

  “Right, but you have an Ichor point from killing Pan,” Pucky pointed out. “You can use it to switch classes, just the one time. But if you do, you’re stuck, so be certa—”

  “I’m certain,” I cut her off. “If it means I get to wield Excalibur, of course I am.”

  “And if Arthur comes for it?” Mowgli asked.

  “Well, won’t I have a better chance of fighting him off if I can properly wield the blade and its magic?”

  Mowgli nodded in capitulation.

  “Let’s do it then,” Pucky said, pulling up the correct screen from the stone, then nodding for me to be the one who selected my new class.

  I reached out and hit “Tempest,” then watched as the screen showed the shift. There was a slight change in stats as it increased my mana, and then the sword glowed blue. Barely-visible runes showed in the light, and I stared in awe as I felt its power course through me.

  “You’re connected to the blade, now,” Pucky said. “And it to you. Even if Arthur came for it, as far as the blade is concerned, it belongs to you now.”

  “Badass,” I replied, holding it in front of me and watching the blue light stream off of it, surrounding us.

  The mansion was a welcome sight. While Sharon was shown to a room to rest and guards posted in case she caused any trouble, the rest of us went back to the flower room with the pool. If there was one thing we were certain of, it was that we all needed to unwind. It had been a crazy couple of days, the last couple of hours the craziest of all.

  Without even asking, Elisa approached the pool and pulled off her top, then shimmied out of her skirt, leaving her in only her panties. She turned to see me with Red and Pucky staring in surprise, and smiled.

  “The water feels great,” she said as if that explained it all, and then lowered herself into it. It wasn’t even deep enough to fully cover her, but she sat in it so that it went up to her hips, then leaned back, breasts out there for all of us to see. The waning sun shone down from above, an orange hue giving her the look of a piece of art on display.

  Pucky glanced over, shrugged, and went next, her tight little body making the perfect addition to this exhibit. As soon as she was next to Elisa the latter turned, kneeling and taking one of Pucky’s breasts in her hand. She licked it, lingering with her tongue pressed to it and flicking it as she looked at me.

  “Any day, you two,” she said.

  Red scrunched her nose, looking at me uncertainly, but said, “Undress me.”

  I bit my lip, feeling the excitement rise in my chest like taking a breath of air with too much oxygen. Taking her cloak off first revealed her black skirt and top. She looked up at me as if challenging me to go further, as if she doubted I would. Maybe the me at the beginning of LegendFest would’ve backed down, but I was a changed man now.

  My hands found the bottom of her top and brushed against her skin, glancing over to see that Elisa was going to town on that nipple, one hand caressing the other breast while Pucky watched us intently, apparently loving it. I pulled the edge of Red’s top up, enjoying the push of her breasts against my hands and then the way she almost got stuck in her top. I held the top there for a moment, her arms over her head since they were still in it, then let go and moved down. I undid her bra and let her breasts fall out as the bra dropped, then kissed along the inside of those perfect curves. She pulled her top off by herself as my tongue made it to the edge of her nipples. They were darker than I’d expected but sexy as hell and standing erect, waiting for my tongue.

  She caught her breath as she held my head to her breasts, then grabbed my hair and pulled me back sharply. “You cheated, making me take my top off by myself.”

  “You didn’t have to take it off yet,” I replied, then moved down her body, letting my hands get to know her waist and hips, then that ass I’d been craving to get in my hands since we met.

  I took her skirt now, pulling it down so that I could see the curve of her pussy through her black panties—with red lace, I noted—and came back up, kissing her through the panties, and then took them with my teeth, pulling them down with a bit of help from her.

  Pucky let out a soft moan from behind and I turned to see Elisa’s hand caressing her down there. A chill went through my body.

  Red took my chin and said, “My turn,” then guided me up and started undressing me. When she got to my pants, she repeated the same movement I had, removing my pants first and then kissing me through my boxers. She stood, putting a finger into the rim of my boxers and pulled me after her, glancing back briefly and down, catching a glimpse of my cock now exposed somehow by the gap she’d created by pulling me. Lowering herself into the pool, she reclined in the water, pussy ready for me. I started to lower myself, but she waved a finger and motioned me over.

  I was confused, but stepped over to her. She pulled my boxers off and lowered herself so that I was kneeling over her. She put her hands on my hips and guided me to where she could lie down completely while I angled my cock to her mouth. Pucky took the hint, scooting over now so that I could eat her out like this. Then Elisa came over and started kissing my back, running her hand down it and then gently inserted a finger into my ass. With Red sucking my cock, my mouth buried in Pucky’s beautiful pussy, and that strange feeling of pain and pleasure Elisa was giving me, I was about to cum right there, so had to put a stop to it.

  Moving now, I looked at Red, and she took my cock one more time, gave it a gentle kiss, and said, “No
t today. Not… not all the way yet.”

  “I’m ready,” Elisa said, looking at Pucky for confirmation. Pucky grinned, apparently looking forward to this, and moved aside, sitting next to Red.

  “We’ll enjoy the show,” Pucky said, already letting her hand find herself, fingers spread along her pussy lips, then moving up to her clit as Elisa took the doggy position and reached down to guide me in.

  Looking down at her ass, the curve of her back, I slid in and arched my back at the feeling of her pussy getting tight, then loosening as she got more into it. Soon I was going at it, pounding away, and reached over to feel her small breasts swaying with the motion. Pucky and Red were both touching themselves, loving the show, and hell, why not. This was fun.

  Soon Elisa pulled me down so that I was going at her from the side and behind, giving the ladies a full view of my cock going in and out of her. I had her ass in my hand, loving every second of this.

  A mouth caught me by surprise and I looked to see Pucky down there, tongue sticking out and catching my balls on the way down, then her hand caught my ass and she did the finger thing, laughing as apparently they found it interesting that I enjoyed that. I never would’ve thought I would, but with these beautiful ladies, there wasn’t an inch of myself I didn’t want them touching and caressing. Then her tongue was there instead and I had to move slow, in and out as that moist, almost ticklish sensation took over. I wondered if I should be disgusted but figured, hey, we were in the water—I was at least mostly clean.

  My hands were moving across Elisa’s body, caressing her breasts, then reaching back and finding Pucky’s breast, and there was no way I wasn’t going to cum, so I pulled out, instead burying my face in Elisa’s pussy until I felt her squirming and clenching and then shouting out.

  Red joined in, though quieter and still kind of self-conscious, it seemed. Pucky moved her head between my legs from beneath as we’d started but in Elisa’s position, saying, “Cum all over me, do it,” and was licking and stroking, and then Elisa moved away from me. I was left bent over in the pool, Elisa going back to eat out Pucky while Pucky continued until that lately-familiar sensation took hold and my abs cramped, my balls filling with bliss and then cum exploded—shooting Pucky first on the left cheek, then across her neck and collarbone, then one more time, hitting her in the forehead and dripping down onto the side of her nose.