by Steve McHugh
Galahad and several of his soldiers helped wounded men hobble up the stairs before they were taken further into the palace. We stood looking down at the thirty of so guards who remained, most of whom were exhausted.
“And Leonardo?” Galahad asked. “What’s he up to?”
“He’s blowing up large chunks of your city in its defense. And he’s doing an admirable job of it too.”
The loud horn rang out across the city once again, the noise almost deafening. It had been about two hours since the first blast and after so long since the last one, I was beginning to think it had finished.
“What the hell is that?” I asked.
“The prison has been broken,” Galahad said, remaining remarkably calm. “Simon is free.”
The doors to the palace were no barrier to the dozens of men who entered, brandishing weapons and using alchemy to knock back soldiers, killing more than one.
“If I don’t live through this,” Galahad told me, his guard turning back into a sword. “Tell Caitlin I’m sorry, I didn’t.…”
“Oh shut up, you big girl,” I said with a smile. “We’ve faced worse odds.”
Galahad returned the smile as even more men piled into the palace, making the odds against the remaining soldiers loyal to Galahad at least five to one.
“You think you can break into my home?” Galahad said as he methodically walked down the stairs, his sword’s point dragging along and making a noise that no one ignored. “You think that I am some weak baby that you can just push over. I am your king.”
“Not my king, you’re not,” one of the men, I called him The Stupid One, said.
Galahad’s smile was not one of joy. It held a lot of anger in it. “Nathan, would you kindly show these men the door?”
I jumped up onto the balcony edge and crouched down as everyone below me watched with a mixture of interest and worry. “My name is Hellequin,” I said, and for some that worry became fear. I noticed a few exchange glances as they backed away slightly. “Apparently none of you had the presence of mind to knock before you came in. That’s pretty bad manners. Why don’t you leave and try again?”
I gathered as much air magic as I dared and leapt off the balcony. I hit the floor and released every single bit of magic I had in the direction of those who would dare threaten my friend. The magic kept coming flowing out of me as twenty of the men were picked up and thrown back dozens of feet, taking the door and part of the palace wall with them. They landed by the steps, many of them falling further and bouncing down them at high speed. For those who remained in front of the palace, I gathered the air around them and pulled it toward me, cutting off any oxygen.
“For those of you who live, remember what happened today. And pray I never find you again.” And then I gave them their air back in the form of a hurricane. Bodies sailed over the edge, slamming into the buildings below with sickening force.
I managed to turn off the magic quicker than earlier, before anything else was destroyed. But the temptation to keep using it, to show Shadow Falls what I could do, was growing.
When the opposing force was decimated, there was nothing but silence left outside, but the battle inside the palace raged on once more.
“Nate,” Galahad said from behind me after a few minutes. “I’ve not seen anything like that since Merlin.”
“This place, it’s…it’s not good for me,” I whispered. “Too much temptation to use magic to fix everything.”
“Well you certainly left an impression.”
“I need to get to the prison, I need to stop Simon.”
“You’re too late,” Karl Steiner said. He was in werebeast form, his fur matted with blood, as he exited the castle and dropped the body of one of the guards to his side. “I know all the secret little entrances and exits,” Karl said.
I flung fire at him, but one of his men rushed up and raised a huge piece of granite, blocking it. The next thing I knew I was sailing through the air as the ground beneath me shot up and caught me under the chin. My head spun and I checked my jaw to see if it was broken, but luckily I was okay.
“You’re not needed here, Hellequin,” Karl said. “It appears that the man can’t live up to the legend.”
I picked myself up and took a step forward, but Galahad blocked me. He had eyes only for Karl. “Go, Nate,” he said. “I’ll deal with this little problem.”
“You sure?” I asked glancing over at Karl and the half a dozen warriors he had with him. They weren’t to be taken lightly, despite Galahad’s fighting skills.
“Nate, go stop Simon. Karl and I are going to have a nice long chat about the virtues of not pissing me off.”
“Enjoy.”
Galahad cracked his knuckles and smiled, this time it was a smile of joy. “I plan on it.”
CHAPTER 37
The prison was in flames by the time I reached it well over an hour after the initial horn alarm. A massive hole sat in one side of the building, although there was no rubble. The brick itself had just been moved aside. Several bodies, some in guard uniform, but many more in prison clothing, lay on the ground. A dozen or so soldiers sat around, clearly wounded and exhausted. They’d had a hell of a day.
“What happened?” I asked the nearest guard, a huge man who was cradling his broken arm against his chest.
“You were here before, one of them who arrived with the king?”
I nodded.
“The prison broke out,” he said. “All of them at once. Someone had put runes all around the building; once they were activated every single prisoner suddenly had their alchemy back. Most weren’t concerned about using it against us. And then some of the guards started fighting us too.”
“You know who set the runes?”
He shrugged and immediately winced. “I’m going to guess it was someone who knows runes, but what the fuck do I know?”
“Does having a broken arm make you more sarcastic?”
“Look, we all barely escaped with our lives, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m not keen on answering questions where the answers will just piss me off.”
“And Simon?”
“Bastard did a runner. I saw him head off toward the mountains, but we were a bit too busy to try and stop him. Most of the prison staff were ordered to the city to fight these damn invaders. There was only a small handful who remained.”
“What happened to the guards who turned against you?”
“They died or they ran,” he took a deep breath. “Some did both. The prisoners didn’t really care if their keepers had suddenly switched sides. To them, we’re all the bad guy.”
“Thanks for the info,” I said and walked away.
“Hey, how’s it going in the city?”
“Crazy, but Galahad’s forces appear to be winning.”
The big man smiled. “Good, bastards coming here to take our homes from us. Take our king from us. That man has done great things for this city, ungrateful little pricks decide they don’t like how he works. Fuck every last one of the self-entitled little assholes.”
I couldn’t help but like the guy. “You guys going to be okay out here?”
“Yeah, I imagine so. Why, what else can we do?”
“You know Leonardo?”
“Everyone knows him, he’s either a genius or a crazy bastard, depending on your point of view.”
“Get yourselves to his place, there are a lot of families with children there. They could use more hands to help keep everyone safe.”
The big man stood. “Right, lads, you heard.…” He paused. “Sorry, what’s your name?”
“Hellequin,” I said.
He paused and a few of the other men stared at me. “Seriously? Fucking hell, I thought you’d be taller. Right, lads, let’s go help that crazy bastard.”
They all walked past me as the enchanter, Martin, th
e one I’d met on my last visit staggered out of the tower and fell to the ground. “Help,” he called out.
“You guys get going,” I said. “I need to figure out a way to catch Simon.”
“He’s about an three hours ahead of you,” the big man said. “And he was running.”
I thanked him and looked back at Martin. “You helped him escape.” It wasn’t a question. Despite his blood-soaked clothes, there was little doubt he’d been in on it.
I moved aside his robe and noticed the deep stab wound on his side. “Put your hands here,” I said moving them. “Press firmly and don’t move.” I went into the tower and grabbed a shirt, ripped it apart and used it to help stop the blood flow.
“They threatened my family,” he said softly as I used another shirt as a makeshift bandage. “I had no choice.”
“You put the lives of many in jeopardy today, other people’s families died because of your decision.”
He hung his head. “How can I help fix it?”
“Did you get him messages?”
He nodded. “They were given to me by a prison guard and I relayed them to Simon.” he pointed behind me. “That guard there, I don’t even know his name.”
“What did they say?”
“They were just telling him about the people with tattoos, about guardians. I told you back then about the guardians and their tattoos. I helped how I could. ”
“Yeah, thanks for that. It’s probably the reason I haven’t left you here to die.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t say that, don’t try to be polite and nice. You could have gone to Galahad. He would have helped. How long has this been going on?”
“About two years, ever since I started working here. Before then, the messages had been sporadic. He’d had no one for nine years.”
“Well that explains why Patricia didn’t commit any crimes for such a long time. She didn’t have her orders. Although why wasn’t Karl or Charles giving her the orders?”
“Simon had them meet about a year ago, I had to send a message telling Patricia who Karl was. Simon was concerned that introducing Karl would mean he’d be left out of the plan.”
“Simon thought Karl was trying to take over his position while he was in jail.”
Martin nodded. “And then Karl offered him the chance to kill Charles Whitehorn in exchange for his fealty, instead.”
“How did Simon take that?”
“He was pleased. We used to talk once a week, while I checked the runes in his prison. The rune that lets you hear him would need to be replaced every few days, so we had an hour to talk without anyone else around. The guards were all scared of him.”
“Even with your family captured, you still chatted like buddies?”
Martin shook his head. “He would make sure I got pictures. They live in your realm. I tell them I’m away on business and then come work here. I trade what I make here for dollars and send it back to them. No one knows they even exist, but Karl had someone follow them. I got updates every few weeks, pictures of them at home, school. One time, when I’d displeased Simon for some reason, I received a picture of them all asleep in bed.”
I believed his story. There was too much real emotion in his voice to think he lied. I assumed Patricia and her friends were the ones to take the pictures, just another reason why I was glad they were destroyed. “Do you think you can make it to the city?”
Martin tried to move, but yelled out in pain and returned to lying on the ground. “Probably not,” he said.
“I can’t use magic to heal you, not without Blood magic. And even if I could use it, in this realm I’d more than likely tear you in half.”
“I can just wait here.”
“Yeah, not going to happen. You were working with Simon, by choice or not, Galahad is going to want to talk to you.”
“I’ll accept my punishment, I will not try to run.”
“Yeah, it’s more what happens if any of his friends come back. You’re not exactly in the position to defend yourself.”
There was a roar that traveled up the nearby pathway toward Martin and me. At first I thought it was another attack of unknown origin, but soon after the cause of the noise came into view and I realized it was a motorbike. Or at least an approximation of one. Ridden by a very nervous-looking Leonardo. He pulled the brake too late and skidded to a stop beside me.
“Nate, I wanted to come help with the effort to stop the prisoners’ escape, but apparently I’m too late to stop them or Simon. The guards I bumped into told me he’d escaped. So, I bring you your transport,” Leonardo said as he put on the bike’s kickstand and got off.
“I thought this thing had a tendency to blow up,” I said, unimpressed.
“Don’t use your magic on it, and it should be fine. It’s a little skittish on the brakes—I just fitted them. Even so, it should get you after Simon quicker than running.”
I took the handlebars and swung my leg over the bike, only to find it surprisingly comfortable. “Martin was working for Simon against his will, he’s injured and needs someone to keep an eye on him until help arrives.”
“Antonio is on his way, he refused to use the bike after all.”
“He’s wiser than either of us then,” I said and pulled at the throttle slightly, lifting the kickstand and spinning the bike in place. “Martin, one last thing. If you’re lying to me and you try to escape or you hurt anyone, I’m going to find you and I’m going to make that stab wound look like a splinter. We clear?”
All the color went out of Martin’s face, which told me he wasn’t lying, but he nodded anyway and I roared off on the bike to track a fugitive.
As it turned out the bike rode like a dream. Leonardo, as per usual, had built a supremely smart device. It was responsive, fast, and at no point did I feel out of control or concerned for my well-being, even on roads that hadn’t ever seen a bike before, let alone been paved for smooth riding. There were only two problems.
As I pushed it faster and faster, the crystals powering it clearly warmed up from use, and after about ten minutes I could have fried an egg on what counted for an engine. The second problem was more concerning. There was no speedometer. I had no idea how fast I was actually moving, other than very quick. The scenery flew by at pace, and unfortunately it’s very hard to figure out exactly how fast you’re going without a gauge to tell you. To combat this slight oversight, I pulled the brakes harder and more often than I would have probably done normally, and the smell of what I hoped was Leonardo’s attempt at brake pads soon filled my nose.
Fortunately I didn’t have far to go. When I’d seen Charles and Karl through the realm gate, I knew that they were in the mountains. However, I also knew that the gate was near an old rundown hut, one that had previously belonged to Leonardo when an old king had given him the ultimatum of either creating weapons for him, or leaving the city. He’d chosen the latter and had built a nice hut for himself up just outside the mouth of the mountains. In fact he built it in the one place that the mountain range didn’t cast a long shadow every day. Even though I’d been there on several occasions and had never caught a glimpse of a second gate, I was certain I knew where I was heading.
As I got closer and closer to the mountain range, I saw a large number of men in the distance. All of them wore bright yellow prison uniforms, which told me I was, indeed, heading the right way. Leonardo’s old hut was maybe three or four hundred yards south from where the congregation was taking place, on a small hill. Several of the men were dropping items onto the ground, and from the way the sun bounced off them, I guessed they were crystals.
I stopped the bike by the hut and sat back, immediately moving as the engine burned my leg slightly. I used the kickstand and climbed off. Leonardo would never forgive me if I damaged his bike, and quite frankly, I didn’t want to ride a bomb into a confrontation. The walk was
done without anyone coming out to meet me. I had no concern of guns and the like, Karl would never want to be the king who had to use guns to win. That would show him as weak in many eyes.
I stopped about fifty yards outside of where the prisoners had dropped the crystals and tried to figure out what they’d done. The ground was littered with rocks of all shapes and sizes, which hid them from view. I took a few more steps and paused.
“One chance to leave,” I shouted. “Go back to jail, or your homes or wherever you came from, but if you stay here, you will feel my wrath. I promise you, it won’t be good.”
Simon walked out of a tent and stood at the opposite side of the ditch. “This realm gate was hidden in a cave inside the mountain for over a thousand years. There’s not a damn thing you can do that will make us give it to you or anyone you know. It’s ours, and soon this whole damn realm will be ours.”
“Does this man speak for all of you?” I asked. Eighteen men, all of them large and most of them in their prison fatigues, stood behind Simon. None of them moved or tried to give up. I was pretty certain the others would have killed any one of them who’d tried.
“Hellequin, I think you have your answer,” Simon told me with smug satisfaction.
I nodded and began walking forward once again. I’d made another twenty feet and noticed the crystals on the ground, when one of the men used a match to light a rag in a bottle and then threw it on the ground.
Several of the prisoners held crystals and then threw them toward me. They exploded as they touched the rocks, causing the crystals that had been dropped there to do the same. The world in front of me changed to shades of purple and red and orange. The heat was so intense that I had to put my hand up to shield myself as I stepped back a few feet. I may be able to wield fire, but fire can hurt me just as much as an earth magic user can be hurt by a falling boulder.
A semi-circle of flames, twenty-five foot long and twenty-foot wide separated me from the prisoners, Simon, and the realm gate. Leonardo’s words came back to me, that when the crystals burned, they used up all the magic in the atmosphere, meaning my magic was normal, or as normal as it could be in Shadow Falls. I really hoped he was right about that as I created a shield of air around me. I waited for it to explode outward, but it never did. It stayed exactly where I wanted it, like a second skin directly over me.
