by Steve McHugh
I nodded.
“He could teach us a lot about alchemy.”
“He could, but you’ve imprisoned him, and he tends to take things like that personally.”
“It’s not like we’re doing this out of spite.”
I stopped and turned back to the guards, three of whom dropped their hands to their swords. “Oh, grow up. I’m not going to hurt you. And yes, this is personal. This is because Harrison is a complete fucking idiot who thinks with his biceps and wants to get one over on me.”
“He is doing what he thinks is best for Shadow Falls,” the guard replied. “And you haven’t been here the last few months. Things happened.”
“Those murders again?”
The guard looked away, clearly annoyed that he’d said anything. “Like I said, I’ve been ordered to remain quiet about it.”
I tried to push down my frustrations, but part of them still bubbled over. “He’s doing what he thinks is best for him. He’s doing what he thinks is best to show everyone that he’s in charge. Where is Galahad? What’s he doing? Will he even be informed that we’re here?”
“I don’t know. That’s not my job. My job is to protect my kingdom, and Harrison is my commander, so I do as he tells me.”
I was about to argue but thought better of it. “Just show me to my cell.”
It didn’t take long before we’d reached the end of the hallway, where the guard knocked on part of the wall, which moved aside like a door and not solid rock. “We’ve got Nate Garrett,” the guard said. “Harrison says he should be put with his friends. He’ll need to be interrogated sooner rather than later. He seems to have important news he has to get to the king.”
“Do I tell you how to do your job?” the thin, bald prison guard said. “No, no I don’t. I’ll decide when he gets interrogated, and Harrison has already asked that he be part of it.”
“Of course he fucking did,” I snapped.
The prison guard raised a small wooden club in my direction. “Did I ask you to speak?”
“You know that once Galahad knows I’m here, I’m going to get out,” I said.
He thought about it for a second, and I could almost see the calculations in his head as he tried to figure out just how much trouble he would be in once I got out.
“You really want to piss me off more than I already am?” I asked, pointing him in what was hopefully the right direction.
“You behave, we won’t have a problem,” the guard said, lowering his club and shrugging as if he was in no way doing that because of what I’d said.
I turned to the guard who had spoken to me on the way to the prison. “Thank you for not being an asshole.”
“I understand your anger at this situation, but we have to make sure you’re not here to undermine or hurt us. I’m sure it’ll be resolved soon.”
“Hopefully before Avalon turns up with an army,” I said, and walked through the hole in the wall, which closed behind me.
“You follow me,” the prison guard said. “You behave, we won’t have a problem.”
“You said that already. I’m not here to cause issues. I’m here to talk to your king. As I have said more times than I care to remember.”
The prison guard said nothing else as he and four others escorted me through the prison. Occasionally we’d come to a place in a wall where there was no way of going further, and one of the guards would use their alchemy to create a door for us. Eventually we reached what appeared to be a cellblock, where most of the cells appeared to be sealed with rock, with only a small, cat-flap-sized hole in each one. Each hole had several metal bars on it, making escape impossible for anyone over three inches wide.
After descending a set of stairs and moving through yet another wall, I found myself in a large room with four cells along the far wall. These cells had no rock covering the entrances and consisted of only the metal bars. The cells were large, easily the same size the lift had been, and most appeared to have a barred window.
Lucifer and Zamek were in one cell. Another held Sky and Selene. I was led toward the cell between them and told to go inside. One of the guards placed a hand on the bars, and they almost melted into the floor. I stepped inside, and the bars were quickly replaced.
“Behave,” the prison guard said.
I ignored him and looked around at my new room. There was a bunk bed against one wall, with two comfortable-looking mattresses. A small desk and chair sat against the opposite wall, with paper and several pens on it. I assumed they weren’t too worried about people using the pens to try and assault the guards. There was a toilet and sink next to the table. I walked over to the window and looked out over the city of Solomon far below.
“Nice view if nothing else,” Zamek said from the cell beside me.
“So, we can hear one another,” I said. “That’s useful.”
“Can’t use my alchemy, though,” Zamek said. “There are runes on the cell. I think they’re written into the very rock of the prison. It’s not an ideal venue for an impressive and bold breakout.”
“There’s nowhere to break out to,” Sky said. “We’re quite literally on top of a mountain. It’s freezing outside, but nice and warm in here even though there are open holes in the side of the cell. That’s some fairly serious rune work.”
“Thank you,” a voice said from the far end of the room outside the cells. “It took a lot of going back and forth to get it to work.”
“Leonardo,” I said as he walked into view. “It’s been a while.”
Leonardo had the appearance of a man who was in his mid- to late forties. He had a neatly trimmed white beard, which matched his hairstyle. “Nathaniel, it’s good to see you. Not so good to see you in jail. We’d best be doing something about that.”
“Yeah, how?” I asked.
“I’m just waiting for Antonio, and then we’ll arrange everything.”
“You’re going to break us out of jail?” Lucifer asked. “Won’t that make you an enemy of the state?”
“Probably, but there are more important things at play here.”
“Leonardo, we’re ready!” Antonio shouted as he entered the room through a newly formed hole in the wall.
“Hello, Antonio. What’s going on?” I asked.
Antonio was taller than me by several inches, and barrel chested. He was bald and usually wore a smile no matter how stressful the situation. He was the perfect antidote to Leonardo, who, for all of his intelligence, had a tendency to fixate on one thing at the expense of all others. “Nate. Essentially we know what’s happening, and you need to see something.”
“What?” I asked.
“A prison,” Leonardo said.
“We’re in prison,” Selene pointed out.
“An older prison,” Leonardo clarified. “Much older.”
“And what does that have to do with anything?” I asked. Sometimes getting answers from Leonardo was hard work. It was difficult being the smartest man everywhere he went, and he tended to think everyone had the same level of knowledge that he did, which often made for confusing conversations.
“Ah, I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Essentially Galahad wasn’t available, so when I heard that your friends had been captured, it was only a matter of time before I knew you’d be along. Then it was simply a matter of slowly using our alchemy to tunnel up and around the prison to get here, avoiding patrols and anything unpleasant. After all, I designed the place.”
“So, who arranged all of this?” I asked.
“Caitlin,” Antonio said. “Galahad’s daughter.”
“I know who she is,” I said. “I brought her here. I introduced her to Galahad. I still don’t understand why you’re breaking us out. Why hasn’t Caitlin gone to Galahad to get him to let us out?”
“No time. Galahad is off to the north, dealing with some unpleasantness.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll explain later. But right now we need to go.”
Leonardo and Antonio placed thei
r hands on the floor in front of our cells, and the bars melted, freeing us. They walked over to the far side of the room and touched the wall, creating a door to step into where purple light glowed beyond.
“Originally, I was just going to get you out of the prison. We have a problem, which Caitlin and I think you can help with. But seeing as he’s with you, I think it would be best if you saw something.”
“By ‘he’ you mean me?” Lucifer asked.
Leonardo nodded. “There’s something inside the mountain I think you need to see.”
“Yes, a prison. You already said,” I told him.
Leonardo paused. “Yes, but it’s not just the prison. There’s something else.”
“What?” Sky asked.
“Runes,” Leonardo said. “Elven runes.”
Now that I hadn’t been expecting.
CHAPTER 20
Mordred
Siberia, Russia
The helicopter ride from Moscow to the middle of nowhere fifty miles southeast of Tiksi was about as unpleasant a journey as Mordred had ever taken. Not just because of the wind, and the snow, not just because of the freezing cold that seeped into the helicopter despite the heater being on, but because of the low mood that everyone felt. They’d discovered where Elaine was being held, or at least where she’d been taken to, but their time in Moscow had taken a heavy toll.
Morgan hadn’t spoken to Mordred since they’d left the city, and he knew the signs that said she wanted to be left alone. If they’d been anywhere else, she’d probably have vanished for a few days, but instead she’d retreated inside her own mind. Mordred knew the effect using her mind magic to make people more compliant—or break their minds in more extreme cases—had on her. The fact that she couldn’t use that magic without exceptional concentration didn’t make it any easier. She had to purposely stop what she was doing and force herself into the psyche of another living being. Cruelty was not something she found easy. It was the thing that over the centuries he’d found most endearing about her. No matter what barbaric acts Mordred carried out, she never lowered herself to his level. She was better than him. And he admired and loved her for it.
“Landing in sixty seconds,” the disembodied voice of their pilot said into their headsets.
Mordred gave a thumbs-up and tried to smile, but he didn’t much feel like being all that celebratory, and it came out as more of a grimace, which made Diana laugh.
“Glad someone still has a sense of humor,” Mordred said. “I think I left mine in Moscow.”
“You haven’t even made a Mario joke, or hummed that cursed tune,” Remy said. “I’m beginning to wonder if you’re feeling okay. I forgot to ask: How was your nightclub fight?”
“You know, you build these things up in your head and they’re never quite as good in practice as they are in theory.”
“Like threesomes,” Diana said, making several of the group look at her. “I lived through ancient Rome. Yeah, there was the occasional orgy. It’s not a big deal.”
“The more I learn about you, the prouder I am of you,” Remy said.
“Are you okay?” Fiona asked Mordred.
Mordred figured she was still worried that he was going to snap at any moment and try to butcher everyone. He doubted there was a lot he could do to change her mind about that. Didn’t mean he wouldn’t continue to try. For some reason changing people’s perceptions of him from what he used to be to what he was now sat as an important thing to do in his mind. He wanted . . . no, needed people to understand that he had changed.
“I am fine, Fiona,” Mordred told her. “I do not plan on any homicidal rages at the moment.”
“You should make sure we know in advance,” Nabu said. “I like to plan ahead.”
“Was that a joke?” Mordred asked.
“Holy shit, Nabu made a joke,” Remy said.
“Actually I really do like to plan ahead,” Nabu said. “It’s sort of my thing.”
“Are you still joking?” Remy asked, clearly confused about the conversation. “I really don’t know with you.”
“I am one of life’s little mysteries,” Nabu said with a warm smile.
The helicopter touched down a few seconds later, and everyone waited for the engine to be turned off before getting out. Everyone in the group had several weapons and a backpack with supplies, all given to them by Polina, along with a gentle suggestion not to return to Moscow anytime in the near future.
Mordred opened his dark backpack and removed an energy bar, taking a bite as he pulled his fur-lined hat further over his ears.
“Well, this is desolate,” he said, looking across the frozen landscape. The large open plain where they’d landed was covered in several inches of snow and was close to a forest. Mountains could be seen in the distance.
“How far to the abandoned village?” Nabu asked.
“A mile or so,” Diana said. “I contacted my friend. She’ll be there.”
“Feel like telling us a little bit more about her?” Fiona asked.
“Her name is Chao Wei.”
“She’s Chinese?” Remy asked.
Diana nodded. “Yes, she settled here about a century ago. She isn’t exactly full of social graces. She kind of likes her own company, and that’s why she lives in the middle of nowhere.”
“So, what is she?” Morgan asked.
“She’s a huli jing.”
Mordred was glad that based on the expressions on everyone’s face, no one else seemed to know what that meant, either. “What’s a huli jing?” he asked when it became evident that no one else was going to.
“Nine-tailed fox,” Nabu said. “A being that can turn themselves from human to fox. They can sense anything around them for dozens of miles. Any change, anything out of the ordinary. They can make people forget things, or poison them, and generally they’re just about screwing around with someone as much as possible. They’re a rare, and dangerous, species.”
“That sums Wei up pretty well,” Diana said.
“How is it everyone you know is dangerous?” Remy asked.
“I’m just lucky,” Diana said with a smile. “We’d better get moving.”
The group made their way toward the nearby forest, where the snow was less abundant.
“Anyone worried about tigers?” Remy asked.
“I am now,” Morgan said, looking around.
Diana sniffed the air. “There are no tigers within the vicinity. Trust me, you can smell them coming.”
“Well, you can,” Mordred said.
Remy sniffed the ground. “Bears, though.”
“Let’s get to the village,” Diana said. “Bears consider werebears a threat. If we’re in bear territory, it could see my presence out here as a challenge. We could do without the waste of time.”
The rest of the trek was done in silence, and an hour later they walked over the crest of a hill and looked down on a village built close to a series of cliffs that led further up into the mountains behind it.
“That would be some good climbing,” Nabu said. “That cliff face there must be a hundred feet high.”
“There’s a path that leads around it,” Diana said, pointing to a barely perceivable pathway that led from the village up around the cliff.
“So, where’s your friend going to meet us?”
“She’s already here,” Diana said. “About thirty feet to the left, closing in.”
Remy sniffed the air. “I smell fox.”
“I’ll go meet her,” Diana said, and walked off, leaving the rest of the group alone at the edge of the forest.
“You see that?” Nabu asked. He removed some binoculars from his backpack and looked through them before pointing to a large building at the side of the village. “What does that look like to you?”
“A prison,” Morgan said almost immediately after being given the binoculars. “A small prison, but a prison nonetheless. The windows are barred. The door has some big locks on the exterior.”
She passed the bino
culars to Fiona, who took a look and passed them on to Mordred. “That’s a very old building,” she said.
“The structure is,” Mordred said. “But the locks and bars look new. They’ve also painted over an old Soviet Union sickle and hammer. Did the humans use this place?” He took a moment to look around the rest of the village he could see. It was mostly just small huts, dozens of them, and a few larger buildings that looked considerably sturdier, and warmer. Presumably they were for the guards.
“They had prisoners mine up in the mountain,” Diana said as she returned with Wei, who looked less than thrilled about being in the middle of Siberia in the winter.
She wore a white winter coat, and gray trousers that made Mordred think of something he’d once seen an artic explorer wear. She removed a dark-gray hat, and chestnut-brown hair fell over her shoulders.
“I’m Wei,” she said.
“Thanks for coming,” Fiona said.
“Don’t thank me just yet. I’m not exactly an Avalon supporter.”
“That’s okay. Neither am I at the moment,” Remy said, making Wei smile. “Between them and the humans, they keep trying to see who can fuck up the most.”
“How’s that working?” Wei asked.
“Too early to tell.”
Fiona gave Remy a glare. “My husband and friends are down there somewhere.”
Wei nodded. “Yes, I heard. Do you know what there is?”
“An old gulag being repurposed by people who’d like to kill a large number of very innocent people,” Nabu said.
“There’s a mine in the mountains,” Wei explained. “Humans were used as prisoners here at one point a long time ago. Actually at several points. I don’t know what they were looking for, but I had a friend from back in the day tell me and he didn’t know, either. And he worked with Avalon during Soviet control. Whatever it is they’re doing in there, they kept it secret.”
“Who’s they?” Remy asked.
“Avalon.”
“So, not mining as such,” Morgan said.
“If the mine was being used to produce something, it was something that never left this area,” Wei explained. “It was something that even high-ranking members of the Soviet-era government had no idea about. This was a place where Avalon used to send its prisoners. It was disused for decades, but a few years ago it started up again. I tried to get into the mountain to see what they were doing, but there were too many guards at the time.”
