by Steve McHugh
“He’ll talk to the harbor master for us,” I explained. “I might not be well thought of in Avalon; the island or the organization. They may refuse to take me, or tell me I have to wait until they clear it with Avalon themselves. Neither of which are good. I’m hoping Lir can smooth things over.”
“And how is he going to do that?”
“My natural fucking charm,” Lir stated and placed the tray containing a jug of water with slices of lemon in it, and three glasses. He poured the water in the glasses, passing one each to Ellie and me, before he took his own and almost flopped back into a beanbag, which appeared to groan under the strain.
“So, will you do it?” I asked.
“Why didn’t you go see my boy and ask him?”
Lir’s son, Manannán mac Lir, or Mac for short, had taken over the calming of the seas between the mainland and Avalon several hundred years previously. He was easier to talk to, less combative, and didn’t smell of drugs.
“I’d have owed him a favor. And I don’t want to owe Mac a favor.”
“Because you don’t trust him,” Lir said.
“Not this again. Look, he was friends with Mordred. So was I. He never got on with Arthur, and, yes, after Arthur was attacked there was suspicion his way. But that was thirteen hundred years ago. We’re not friends simply because after what happened to Arthur, Mordred’s friends scattered.”
“Because of the witch hunt,” Lir said, his voice low with tinges of menace.
“It wasn’t a damn witch hunt,” I snapped. “In fact I was the one who stood up for Mac when people like Kay were clamoring for his head as some sort of traitor. You want to know why we’re not friends anymore? Because he believed that Mordred could be saved and I didn’t. And now Mordred is dead, and when I see Mac that’s going to bring up some very awkward questions. Questions I really don’t have time to discuss. I came to you because it’s quicker and time is of the essence here.”
Lir drank his water. “I’ve always thought you honest. Why didn’t you tell me all this years ago?”
“Did Mac?”
Lir shook his head.
“It wasn’t my tale to tell. Mac wanted nothing to do with Avalon for centuries after Mordred’s attack on Arthur. He’s only been back doing the job for a few hundred years; whatever his reasons for leaving or returning are his to tell.”
“He set out for Avalon a few months ago,” Lir said, almost absentmindedly. “He’s been in Camelot since then. He’s helping someone there, didn’t say what or who. He’s not exactly the open type.”
I smiled. “No, he’s not.”
Lir finished his drink and put his glass back on the tray. “Drink up,” he said to Ellie, who’d remained quiet throughout the exchange. “Why are you with him? Why don’t you go on ahead? No one’s going to stop you taking the crossing.”
“I agreed to keep him company and watch his back. He tends to get in trouble when people aren’t around to watch him.”
Lir laughed, a great big laugh that came from his stomach. “Do you remember that time Mac and Mordred stole a sword from the local blacksmith?”
I laughed as the memory came forward in my mind. “They were idiots.” I turned to Ellie. “I’d just passed some sword training, I can’t even remember it, but they were going to get me the finest sword their minds could find. They stole a ceremonial sword, which was about as much use in battle as a tree branch. The thing would have killed its owner quicker than anyone on the pointy end.”
“What happened?” Ellie asked.
“Merlin found out. Discovered that Galahad had helped too, and punished all three of them to work in the blacksmith’s for a month. At the end of it, the blacksmith had thrown away more than he’d made, but he presented each of them with a small dagger. The three of them were allowed to work after hours and they made me a sword. It was a knife really, but well made considering their total lack of talent. We were all ten or eleven.”
“Mordred was a good boy.”
“And an evil man,” I reminded him.
“I know, I know. I just wonder what happened to him. What made him so twisted and malevolent? I don’t think Mac ever got over his betrayal.”
The mood had turned somber in an instant, so I finished my water and placed my glass next to Lir’s.
“I’ll help you,” he said. “Give me an hour or so and then come to the harbor. Don’t drive that car, you can leave it here. I can’t guarantee it’d still be there if you left it at the harbor. Nathaniel Garrett, the man who walked out on working with Merlin. The man who attacked Merlin for that matter.”
“Do you know why I did it?”
Lir shook his head. “Merlin’s an asshole. He’s deserved being thumped more than once. Just surprised it was you. I’ll tell you something for free though: Merlin doesn’t let his guard down twice. If you see him, I doubt you’re going to get a warm reception.”
“If I see him, you’ll be able to hear the argument from here.”
CHAPTER 11
We gave Lir an hour before setting off across the expansive fields toward the nearby cliffs, which overlooked the often rough waters of the Celtic Sea—the part of the sea where the Irish Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet.
A fence had been built around part of the cliff, littered with lots of signs showing the area to be dangerous. A large metal gate, with dozens of steps just beyond—all of which were built into the side of the cliff—led down to the bay below.
“We have to go down there?” Ellie asked, peering over the cliff edge at the stairs. “That handrail doesn’t look very sturdy.”
“It’s fine. Alchemists remake them every few years. It’s perfectly safe.” I pushed open the gate and began taking the steps down to the soft sand a hundred feet below. I’m not a big fan of heights, and being able to see the earth through the metal, lattice-like steps made me uncomfortable.
“See, it’s not just me who doesn’t like them,” Ellie called from behind me.
I picked a point on the cliff wall in front of me and dared not look down. “Less talking, more walking.”
Ellie laughed for a moment and then we both continued our descent in silence. I almost jumped the last half dozen steps, but managed to contain myself enough that I stepped onto the sand with a slight sigh.
“They need a lift,” Ellie said, pointing to the stairs. “Or a slide. Anything but those.”
“They’re meant to be a deterrent, I assume. Like the fence and gate. I thought you’d been to Avalon before.”
“I went from Wales. They don’t make you scale a cliff face.”
We were silent for a few seconds until Ellie shivered slightly. “So, where to now? This is just an empty bit of beach.”
I looked around, and to anyone unaware of where they were, she was right. The beach consisted of a nice bit of sandbank, some large rocks and a few even larger ones. The sea beat a rhythm against the two cliffs that enclosed the bay, the acoustics making it sound much louder than it might otherwise.
I walked over to one of the large rocks—one that looked like slightly awkward stairs—and climbed up onto the almost flat top. “You coming?” I asked Ellie, who obviously wanted to ask me what I was talking about, but instead just followed without complaint.
“Now what?” Ellie asked.
I pushed my hand to the cliff face beside me and it went right through the pale rock.
“What the hell?” Ellie exclaimed.
“It’s an illusion,” I said, grabbing an unseen handle and pulling it up with an audible crunch. I removed my hand from the illusion and took a few steps to my right before doing the same thing with a second unseen handle.
“That’s some powerful magic,” Ellie almost shouted over the sound of the hidden door sliding open.
“Ta da,” I said with a smile.
“How does it work?” she asked as we stepped through the illusion and arrived in a brightly lit corridor.
“I honestly don’t know. Runes maybe, or some sort of illusion magic.
It’s not something that’s ever come up before.”
We followed the corridor down, the sounds of our shoes echoing off the metal floor until they were replaced with the voices of people talking somewhere in the distance. The voices got louder and louder until we exited the corridor into a massive cavern that sat inside the cliff itself.
The cliff had been hollowed out centuries previously to create a small harbor capable of holding three ships, all of which were lit up by the powerful lights that sat high above us. The closest ship was a Sunseeker yacht, although I wasn’t familiar enough with either the make or model of any yachts. As we took the steps down to the harbor itself, the second yacht—another Sunseeker of identical model—and the third, some sort of speedboat, were easier to see as they bobbed gently in the dark water.
The two men we’d heard talking stopped as Ellie and I approached them. Both of them were thin, although one had a bushy beard while his companion was clean-shaven. They didn’t give off any indication that they were unhappy to see us, but by the same token they didn’t rush over to greet us.
“You’re that Nathan fellow?” the clean-shaven of the pair asked, although he made it more of a statement of fact that anything else.
I nodded. “You know where Lir is?”
“I’m here,” he bellowed as he left a small nearby office. “I’ve arranged for a boat to take you both.”
“Thanks,” I said and shook his hand.
“Yes, thank you,” Ellie said. “That’s really helpful.”
“Not a problem. You’re going in the one on the far end.”
I followed Lir’s point toward the predator speedboat. “Nice.”
“Actually, it’s because they want you gone as quickly as possible. There’s some concern that if you manage to piss people off, some of that is going to splash on the people who took you across. The less time they have to spend with you, the more they can deny they had any idea who you were.”
“Sounds fair,” I agreed. “Thanks for all this.”
“I don’t care what you say, you and Mac are still friends. Any friend of my boy’s is a friend to me. Be safe.” He glanced at Ellie. “Both of you.”
Then he turned and walked away, disappearing in the corridor that led to the hidden entrance.
A middle-aged woman left the office and walked over to me. “You must be Nathan; we leave in ten minutes. Get on board and get below deck. I’ll get the crew ready. I hope you haven’t forgotten anything.”
“Too late if I have,” I said.
“Yes, yes it is,” she agreed and walked off a few steps before pausing. “And it’s a conjurer who made that entrance.”
Ellie looked surprised. “How did you—?”
“It’s bugged,” the lady explained. “Just in case we get some unsavory types we need to prepare for.”
“Do you mean me?” I asked, a little anger creeping into my voice.
“Actually, no. I think, as per usual, Lir has exaggerated just how well known what you did to Merlin is. You’ll have some issues with his inner circle, but the majority of people there won’t even know who you are, let alone care enough to find out. I wouldn’t hang around though. Merlin’s inner circle are a pretty fanatical group.”
“They always were,” I agreed.
“Yeah, well, I also heard that Hellequin has a price on his head,” she said with a knowing glance. “You might want to warn that fellow if you see him.”
“You mean the Reav—?” I started to ask.
“You don’t need to tell me who they are. I don’t want to know. I’m just giving you a friendly warning from one person to another.” Having obviously finished what she set out to say, she walked off.
The island of Avalon was about thirty nautical miles off the coast. We set out, the front of the cliff opening to allow the ship to pass into the choppy open waters beyond. After a few seconds though, the water calmed considerably and we set off at speed.
The whole journey took over an hour, but it allowed me to grab some sleep and I woke up just as the boat pulled into the island of Avalon’s port.
Avalon wasn’t a very big island, you could probably walk from one end to the other in a few hours, and the only things on it were the port, a few large buildings, and a perimeter of trees. It’s not on any maps, nor anywhere near flight paths or shipping lanes.
The boat slowed to a crawl and then stopped altogether as someone above shouted that we had arrived. Ellie and I left the cabin and thanked the ship’s crew, although all of them appeared to want to depart as quickly as possible.
We got off the boat and walked the considerable length of the harbor, the roar of the boat behind us as it pulled back out into the open sea.
“How long has it been since you were last here?” Ellie asked as we approached the guard station that allowed visitors onto the island itself.
“Over a century,” I said. “I guess I’m about to find out what’s changed.”
The guard station, and the dozen heavily armed guards who manned it, were accompanied by an anti-aircraft gun and a large tank.
“What the hell do you need a tank for?” I asked the first guard who wanted to know my name. His armor was jet black with a large red symbol on both arms depicting a stone with a sword in it. They were Avalon elite guards. Used only for working within Avalon itself. A nametag on his chest said “Hendricks.”
“Name, sir?” Hendricks repeated.
“Nathan Garrett.”
Hendricks tapped a few things on his electronic tablet and then paused for a second before looking up. “You taking the piss?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Nathan Garrett is my name.”
“Are you armed, sir?”
I shook my head. “No, not armed. Not planning to do anything that needs being armed.”
Ellie was taken away by a second guard into a nearby hut; a small woman with a round face and a nose that had been broken badly at some point and never properly reset.
“Your name has been flagged, sir,” Hendricks said to me, bringing my attention back to him.
“Flagged for what reason?”
“Because we’ve been asked to notify our supervisor when you arrive on the island, before you’re allowed to go through the realm gate to Camelot.”
“How long will that take?”
“That depends, sir, could be a few minutes or hours.”
“Am I to be under surveillance?”
Hendricks shook his head. “Not at all, there are no restrictions on you visiting or leaving either the realm or the city of Camelot. But before your initial visit, you must wait for our supervisor.”
“Why?”
“Can’t say, sir.”
“Can’t, or won’t?”
“Both.”
I admired him for his honesty if nothing else. “Fair enough, where do I go to wait?”
“You can stay in one of the guest houses up by the hill; myself and some other guards will escort you there.”
“You gonna tell me why you need a tank?” I asked. It was obvious that arguing how much I needed to be allowed into Avalon would change exactly zero things about how quickly their supervisor appeared. In fact being a smart ass might make them take more time.
“Precautionary measure,” he assured me. “Not everything can be stopped with our abilities, or bullets. Sometimes you need to make a bigger statement.”
“And a tank does that?”
“It’s one of half a dozen on the island. All packed with the latest in ordinance. All are just there to ensure that people know we’re not to be taken lightly.”
“It’s very imposing.” I agreed.
Hendricks glanced behind me at the massive vehicle, its green paint job allowing it a measure of camouflage amongst the trees. “Sir Kay is always thinking of the safety of Camelot and its people.”
“I’m sure he is,” I said, trying not to put any sarcasm into the words. Kay was an asshole, but he was also a powerful one. Pissing off those who worked for him was un
likely to end well for me.
“Wait just a moment, please,” Hendricks said and then walked off past the checkpoint barrier and into a building behind it.
I took the time to look around. There were two guard towers farther down the tree line, both with snipers in them. I waved to one and he waved back, which was nice. Apart from them, I counted another eight guards, half of whom carried what appeared to be Heckler and Koch MP5’s, and the other half held swords, or axes. A fence ran from either side of the barrier all the way to the end of the harbor. It was chain link and about ten feet tall. A notice on it warned that it could be electrified. Kay had clearly been busy. The last time I’d been on Avalon the guards had been much fewer in number this far from the realm gate. I hated to think just how much extra security he’d placed up there. Maybe there was an entire army waiting, or Apache helicopters. I wouldn’t put it past him to have a submarine patrolling the waters, either. I had the sudden urge to glance around the ocean to see if I could tell if one was there.
Ellie returned from out of the hut and smiled. “They say we have to wait for someone. Well, I don’t have to, I can go right in, but I said I’d wait with you.”
“Thanks, but you really don’t have to. They’re worried about me for some reason.”
“Actually, I don’t think they are. Someone clearly wants to talk to you; I think they’re just keeping you here so they can. The guard I spoke to didn’t even seem to know anything about you. I’m usually pretty good at spotting liars, I can smell the sweat. Nothing told me she was lying though. They are worried about something though. I got the impression that something has happened. They’re a little on edge.”
