On any other night, I would have thought the iridescent light was beautiful, but when Elijah and I wanted to sneak in the side entrance, it made for terrible cover.
“The sun may as well be out,” I muttered as we lingered amongst the ancient stone blocks on the hillside.
“Can’t help nature,” was Elijah’s not-at-all-helpful reply.
Ahead, I could see the entrance to the Natural’s base camp just beyond the outer wall. It lay in shadow, the lack of movement alarming.
“Can you sense anything?” I asked, squinting at the horizon where Camelot was even darker.
“Nothing.”
“The barrier is gone,” I murmured. “There’s—”
“Nothing,” he quipped. “Just like I said.”
Deciding there was nothing we could do by watching further, I ducked out from behind the stone block and made my way towards the camp. We’d find answers there.
It was ironic that I was back after sneaking in and out more times than I could count. Not to mention my grand escape. If I came across a Natural, I’d have to play my cards right or I’d end right back where I had started.
As it turned out, I didn’t need to worry. Base camp was dark.
The generators powering the lights and equipment in the infirmary and laboratory tents were silent. Without power, the whole place had fallen into shadows, but that wasn’t the only thing out of place. The deeper Elijah and I ventured, the clearer it became that no one was here.
The mess tent had become a ghost town, the stovetops cold and the bain-marie had cooled to icicles. Weirdest of all were the still-full pots on the ovens and the plates of half eaten food on the tables. The barracks and common areas had fared little better. Even the bonfire had simmered to barely-there coals.
It was as if everyone had dropped what they were doing and walked out. There weren’t even any tracks, not that I could find any amongst the churned up, muddy ground.
We stood in the centre of camp at a complete loss. How did one hundred Naturals disappear without a trace?
“There’s no one here,” I said, my heartbeat speeding up. “They’re all gone.” I glanced at Elijah. “The Naturals would never abandon Camelot. Not even under assault.”
“Don’t look at me,” he said. “They’re your people.” Well, that was debatable.
“If the Dark has them, then they’ll be in Camelot.” I pointed up to the shadowy parapets of the castle. “Base camp is useless when what they want is up there.”
I moved through the sea of canvas, making a beeline for Thompson’s command tent.
“Where are you going?” Elijah asked, trotting after me. “The city’s the other way.”
“I need to find something first.”
I pushed past the flap and looked around the mess of trunks, papers, and racks of miscellaneous weaponry. Thompson really wasn’t one for organisation.
Elijah snorted. “Looks like the place was ransacked.”
“I don’t think so. It always looks like this.”
I began to open and close crates, picking up a cold iron dagger to slip into my boot.
He curled his lip and began to poke around the papers on the central table. “How do you people survive?”
I ignored him and picked up a belt, strapping it around my waist. It had pockets and loops for just about everything a Natural warrior would need. All I was missing was my arondight blade.
I glanced at Elijah, but he seemed more interested in the maps and intel stuck to Thompson’s whiteboard.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He looked over his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Like any respectable military man would post top-secret patrol routes where anyone could see them.” He tapped his finger on the map of the patrol routes and rolled his eyes.
I snorted and continued to search the crates. Until recently, breaking through the Light around the tent hadn’t been a problem. Besides, it wasn’t like anyone—other than me—could just walk in here and know all our secrets.
Our. Why was it so hard to let go?
I pushed my thoughts aside and kept searching the crates. Time was short and my sword had to be here somewhere. Thompson would want to keep it close so I didn’t steal it back.
Ducking under the table he used as a makeshift desk, I found a small black box with an aura of Light around it. Ignoring the magical lock, I clicked open the snaps, my power nullifying the security measures. My transition from warrior to thief was becoming second-nature quicker than I’d expected.
Inside, I saw a glint of metal. My sword.
“Yes.” I picked up the hilt and held it close.
“I don’t know why you want that thing anymore,” Elijah said, standing next to me.
“Old habits die hard.” I stood and slipped the hilt into my new belt. “Consider it an insurance policy.”
Leaving the camp behind, we crossed the wall and ventured into the lower city of Camelot.
We walked through the crumbling streets, moving from building to building with silent footsteps. I placed my hand next to a rune carved into a stone wall—the Druidic rune for the willow tree—and said a silent prayer. So far, nothing had stopped us.
“I’ve never been here before,” Elijah said. “It’s a one-star for me.”
“One-star?” I scoffed.
“It’s in dire need of renovation.”
I shook my head and scanned the thoroughfare before us. It was empty, just like the rest of the city and the camp had been.
“Where are all the demons?” I whispered. If this was the Dark taking back Camelot, they were doing a terrible job.
“There aren’t many demons left,” Elijah told me. “Without a link to the One, all the lower creatures have rotted away. They were the bulk of the horde, you know.”
“So, they don’t have the numbers for a full scale attack?”
“No. Not unless the scattered come together as one. Without a leader, they’ll never have the power they did before the rift closed.”
That made our job a little easier, then. I scanned the street and moved towards the main entrance of the inner castle.
Stepping underneath the grand arch at the top of the thoroughfare, I gasped when I saw what lay beyond.
Naturals were scattered around the square, digging. Some had shovels, others had picks, and some were using their bare hands to move stone and earth. Though the broken gates, I could see more inside the inner bailey doing the same.
I told them to keep digging, but this wasn’t what I had in mind.
“What the hell?” Elijah murmured. “This is new.”
Sensing no Darkness, I stepped out from under the arch, but no one stopped their work to look at me—they all seemed laser-focused on finding something.
“They’re tearing up the place. Aiden’s going to be pissed.” I cursed and moved across the square, the priceless mosaic ripped up by the dazed Naturals.
“Their eyes are black.” I turned to find Elijah squatting in front of a male Natural, his hand wrapped around the man’s shovel to stop him from digging. “This one is your friend, isn’t he?”
I darted forwards and gasped. “Trent?”
I shook him, but he stared right though me. The moment I let him go, he snatched the shovel from Elijah and kept digging.
“He’s zombified,” Elijah said. “You won’t get any sense out of them. Their eyes are all bugged out.”
“What are they doing?” I waved my hand in front of Trent’s eyes, but the movement didn’t illicit any response.
“Digging.”
I glared at Elijah. “Duh.”
“I assume whatever the Balan wants, it’s buried around here someplace.” He walked around a hole another Natural—Maisy—was digging. “He has no chance taking on this many Naturals, so what better way to neutralise the threat than to turn it into a workforce?”
“Then where’s Wilder?” I demanded.
“Imprisoned or dead. Take your pick.”
I shoved him
, my anger getting the better of me. “You’re a real arsehole when your demon comes out, you know that?”
He held up his hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger, Madeleine.”
I sighed and grasped Maisy’s arm. Pulling her towards me, I placed both palms on her head and circled my thumbs on her temples. She stared at me with big, black eyes, but didn’t stop me.
Reaching for my power, I attempted to connect with her Light. A murky haze lingered inside her mind and I hissed as a jolt of electricity zapped my hands. It’d felt like a slimy film with booby-tapped barbs hidden within the haze.
Letting her go, I cursed. Whatever Darkness held her was beyond my ability to break.
If I knew how this shite worked, then maybe I could free them, but I was clueless. A day in possession of a new soul wasn’t exactly enough time to find out my limits.
“It isn’t working,” I said, turning to Elijah. “I can’t break through.”
He peered at Maisy, who blinked then returned to her hole. “What did you see?”
“Her mind is full of this awful ashy fog.” I shuddered as an echo slunk through my mind.
“I was afraid of that.”
“Then how do we break the hypnosis?”
“The Balan is controlling them,” he replied. “If we can sever his ritual, then they’ll be freed.”
“His ritual? Like the sigil he used to get into my mind?”
“Something like that.”
I grimaced as I recalled the blood-filled carvings. Why did demons have to be so gross? “Where would we find it?”
“Knowing what he’s like, I’d suggest looking outside Camelot.”
I hesitated as I looked at the Naturals. I couldn’t just leave them here.
“I know what you’re thinking, Madeleine,” Elijah said, his voice loud in the close quarters of the ruined city. “There’s nothing you can do for them. Not until that Balan is six feet under.”
He was right, though I didn’t let on. He’d never let me live it down.
“High ground,” I said. “That’s where he’ll be.”
“A vantage point that gives an unobstructed view of Camelot.”
Unobstructed, eh? I had a fair idea where a lookout point like that might be. Trent and I had stood there during our first patrol—the same night the Dark captured me—and we’d argued about the impending doom I felt and his annoyance at my sour attitude. It seemed so long ago, but I knew that’s where we’d find the Balan.
“C’mon,” I said, “I know where he is.”
“See? I knew you’d come along in leaps and bounds when you put your mind to it.”
Now that we knew the city was free of demonic invaders, I sprinted through alleys and lanes, vaulting over fallen statues and crumbling walls. Reaching the outer wall, I leapt into the air, using a burst of Light to propel me to the parapet.
Elijah landed next to me and let out a low whistle. “We need to do that more often.”
“I’m just glad I haven’t lost my edge.” I looked out across the Clee Hills and pointed to the rise where Trent and I had stood the night this all began. “There.”
Elijah peered over the wall, scoping out the ground below. “Ladies first.”
“Coward.” I grinned and jumped over the parapet, landing at the bottom on a cushion of Light.
Elijah hit the ground a little heavier but made it in one piece.
“Show off,” he said.
“Keep your voice down,” I hissed. “Sound carries out here.”
We worked our way up the hill together, concealing ourselves as best we could from the bright moonlight. Large stretches of open ground made it difficult, but we climbed the rise without being seen.
It wasn’t long before I felt something Dark ahead of us. Whether it was my newfound abilities making me sensitive, I didn’t know, but I was thankful for the early warning system.
I dragged Elijah behind a boulder, lingering out of sight of the demons above.
“Bingo,” he said. “Told you so.”
I peeked around the edge of the rock. The Balan stood at the top of the rise, flanked by two inky black shadows, bare chested with his arms outstretched. In the crystal moonlight, I could see the blood dripping down his torso, red smeared in a circular pattern over his rotting flesh.
“Is that…” I began, hoping it wasn’t what I thought it was.
“A sigil,” Elijah confirmed. “Carved into his chest.”
I shook my head. “That’s seriously messed up.”
“It’s also a huge problem. That’s the ritual we need to stop.”
The sigil was linked to the Balan, which meant the only way to sever the bond was to kill him.
“I’ll say,” I drawled.
“I guess you have to take your new abilities out for a test drive.”
I shook my head. “We need Wilder.”
“The king hasn’t come down from his castle,” he drawled. “I’m not relying on Excalibur’s arrogance to save us, Madeleine.”
“Something’s wrong with him because he wouldn’t leave Camelot exposed like this.”
“We don’t have time to go searching for the guy,” Elijah snapped. “If that Balan finds what he’s looking for, we’re screwed.”
“I don’t know how to use my power. What if I choke?”
“You don’t have a choice.” He held my shoulders. “Madeleine, you’re the only one who can get close without falling under the influence of his ritual. It’s you or no one.”
Some pep talk. I know I’d craved the fight back in London, but now that the stakes were at critical mass I wasn’t sure I had the right kind of dreams. Scarlett Ravenwood—Arondight—was my hero and she’d faced far worse. She’d had faith that I’d become a talented Natural, even after I’d mutated. If she could only see me now.
I looked towards the Balan and his twisted ritual. I could do this.
“Well, then,” I said to Elijah, “you’d better say here. You’re bound to the guy and I don’t want you getting in the way.”
“You mean you don’t want me turning into a zombie.”
I smirked and readied my arondight blade. “Something like that.”
If this was the first stop on the trail to becoming a better person, then I was about to leap headfirst into the deep end.
I took a deep breath and stepped from behind the boulder.
I didn’t want to be late for my date with destiny.
19
I climbed the hillside, my gaze fixed on the three demons atop the rise.
The Balan lowered his arms as he sensed my approach, though the flow of Darkness raining over Camelot didn’t cease. So much for a stealthy sneak attack.
“Madeleine Greenbriar,” he said, turning his black eyes towards me, “I was hoping you’d come.”
“I’m getting sick and tired of you sticking your rotted nose where it doesn’t belong,” I drawled, stopping a few paces away. The sigil hacked into his flesh was even more gruesome than it appeared from far away. “It’s time to take out the garbage.”
“Is that any way to thank me?” he asked, the stench of blood and rot thick in the air. “I gave you the powers that allowed you to save the life of that snivelling fool, Elijah.”
“Demons lie.” I laughed and shook my head. “It’s in your nature.”
“So is death.”
The Balan lifted his hand and the two demons flanking him slunk towards me. I struck, my blade exploded into life, the silver sparks twisting with red flame as cold iron sliced through demonic flesh.
The creatures burst into flame, their final deaths consuming their flesh. Heat radiated on either side of me as I focused my gaze onto the Balan.
I was no longer afraid of what I’d become. It fuelled me in a way I’d never felt before and standing before death itself wouldn’t stop me from getting what I wanted.
“Are you still using that pathetic toy?” The Balan narrowed his eyes. “Madeleine.”
“You keep saying my name like
it has power over me, but it just comes off as creepy.” I pointed my sword at him. “I’m not like you and I never will be.”
“You are exactly like me,” he snarled. “Naturals may not have a true name, but the demon we made you from does.”
“Liar. I don’t have a true name.”
“Are you sure?”
“Let them go,” I hissed through my teeth.
“Not until I get what I want and even then, it will be too late for the Naturals. Camelot belongs to the Dark.”
“What do you want with Camelot?” I demanded. “Tell me.”
“You’ll see.” He took a step towards me, congealed blood oozing from the sigil carved into his chest. “We will take this world without our master. We will rise again.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it.”
I feigned left, then struck right. My sword sliced through the air, falling towards the Balan’s ribs.
He ducked and lunged behind me, his bulk moving too fast for me to counter, then slammed his foot down onto the back of my leg.
A scream tore from my lips as jagged bone erupted from my shin. I buckled, falling to the ground in agony.
The Balan stood over me, his eyes black. Glancing at the blood pooling underneath me, he licked his lips, his barbed tongue darting out like a perverted lizard tasting the air.
“Pathetic,” he said, lowering himself over me. “You don’t even understand the gift the Dark has given you.”
I grimaced as I tried to wriggle away from the rotting creature, but his hands slammed down beside my head, caging me within his grasp.
“We would have been unstoppable,” he rasped, curling a clammy hand around my throat. “You would have been my queen.”
“Gross,” I choked out. “You reek of rotting flesh. Haven’t you heard of deodorant? It’s common courtesy.”
The Balan snarled and tightened his grip. “You accepted your fate. Now embrace it.”
White-hot barbs dug into my mind and I screamed as the demon began to drill into my head. Without the focused power of his sigil, the invasion was agonising.
“You can’t control me,” I cried, fighting the power that was clawing inside me.
“You would fight for them?” His rotting breath stank as the creature bared its rows of razor-sharp teeth. “They tortured you for years, blaming you for their own shortcomings. They will execute you. The Dark will embrace you, Madeleine. Come with me and I will show you just how powerful you really are. I would never hold you back. With me, you can be free.”
Demon Bound: The Camelot Archive - Book One Page 15
