by Steve McHugh
Diana sniffed the air. “One person inside. We could kick it in, but I have no idea just what might be written on the other side.”
“Time for me to work, I assume,” Nabu said. He crouched down in front of the lock and placed his hands around it. He removed a small pouch from his pocket and opened it up, revealing several lockpicks. “It’s a new hobby.”
“It’s something unexpected,” Diana added.
“The windows on this building are blacked out,” Fiona said. “It’s like the prison down below.”
A few seconds later Nabu stood and pushed the door open. “Now, that is unexpected.”
He stepped into the building, followed quickly by everyone else. Mordred couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Mara Range inside. She was chained to the floor by one ankle. The thick metal chain was just long enough for her to get around the small building, which to Mordred’s mind was basically just a slightly bigger caravan.
“You’re the one who made the tablets that got us stuck in the dwarven realm,” Diana said, picking up part of the chain and immediately reacting as if it had stung her, dropping it to the floor. “Shit, there’s silver in the chain.”
“You’re Chloe’s mum,” Fiona said. “The witch. How’s siding with Hera and her people working out for you?”
“How does it look?” Mara snapped.
Nabu picked up one of several metal bracelets that sat on a nearby workbench, turning it over in his hands. “These are miniature realm gates, like the stone tablets. How did you do this?”
Mara looked away.
“Seriously?” Diana asked. “Now you’re going to be a dick about it?”
“I can’t imagine you like being chained up,” Wei said. “I can’t imagine this was how you thought it would work.”
“Of course not,” she snapped.
Wei crouched beside Mara and placed a hand on her arm. The witch visibly relaxed, and a few seconds later she looked close to falling asleep.
“Why don’t you tell us all about it?” Wei suggested.
“Nice trick,” Mordred said.
“It’s not something I can do often,” Wei said. “Or for long, so save the gratitude and ask questions.”
“How do you make these?” Nabu asked.
“You can make them out of anything,” Mara said sleepily. “But they only last one time each. It has to be made of stone for it to be permanent.”
“Why are you chained up?” Diana asked.
“I demanded things from that bitch Abaddon. She said I was lucky to be alive. So they chained me in here. Looks like I need to learn to be nicer to people.”
“Can’t fault their logic there,” Mordred said.
Nabu picked up the dozen bracelets there and dropped them into a nearby bag.
“Where are my husband and Elaine?” Fiona asked, her voice cracking a little.
“Elaine is inside the mountain. Alan, too. They found him about an hour ago. He was not looking his best when they dragged him past. As a water summoner with no water to summon from, he must feel quite impotent.”
Fiona threw a punch at Mara’s head, but Diana grabbed her wrist before it connected. “Not helping,” she said, and Fiona turned and left the cabin.
“Where do those bracelets take you?” Nabu asked.
Mara mumbled something.
“Shit,” Wei said, and removed her hand from Mara’s leg. “I needed to stop. She’s slipping too far into sleep. If I keep this up, you’ll get nothing but one comatose witch.”
“Still think Hera is the good guy?” Diana asked as Mara blinked, clearly angry. “You murdered your ex-husband and almost got your daughter killed. All because you wanted to crawl up Hera’s ass. Now your daughter, Chloe, hates you. Do you remember that? Do you even care?”
“My daughter is a disappointment,” Mara said, her voice beginning to sound more like her usual self. “She sided with you over her own family. I might have ended up in a less-than-ideal situation here, but once Demeter and Hera find out what those animals did to me, they’ll release me.”
“Can we take her with us?” Fiona called from the front door.
Nabu picked up the chain. “No. It would take too long to cut through the chain, and that much power would draw attention.”
“We could cut her leg off,” Mordred suggested.
“We’re not cutting limbs off,” Diana said.
“Just a thought. One quick cut, the leg is gone and she’s a little easier to carry.”
“Mordred, no dismemberment.”
Mara’s color was an unhealthy shade of green.
“Not the whole leg, just the bottom half,” Mordred continued before smiling at Mara and drawing a pistol, aiming it at her head.
“You won’t kill me,” Mara snarled. “My daughter would hate you if you killed me. And she’s more important to you than I am.”
“That is true,” Mordred said.
“But she’ll get over it,” Diana pointed out.
Mara moved aside her shirt, revealing the glyphs at the top of her shoulder. “You seen these before?”
“They’re the same ones used on the magical bomb people,” Mordred said.
“I leave this cabin, I go boom. My heart rate stops, I go boom. Either way, I take out myself, you, and anyone else in a few dozen feet. You want to make that much noise?”
“You’re not a sorcerer,” Nabu said. “How can they use that glyph on you?”
“I access the magic by using my own life force. They modified the glyph to work on me. It won’t be as spectacular as when the sorcerers do it, but it’ll be enough.”
“Mordred, we need to go,” Fiona called out. “We have trouble.”
Diana punched Mara in the face, knocking her out, as everyone else piled out of the cabin and walked straight into a fight with several blood elves.
Mordred avoided the swipe of one blood-elf sword and used his own sword of ice to cleave his attacker in half before moving to a second blood elf. He threw three fist-sized balls of water at the blood elf, and as each one touched the elf, he froze them into thousands of tiny ice shards, killing the blood elf instantly.
The battle was quick, and brutal, and ended with the eight blood elves dead. Mordred froze the edges of Mara’s cabin with thick ice, hoping it was enough in addition to the chains, to keep her there until everyone had escaped. He’d have liked to have gone back in and killed her, but he knew that she had been right about Chloe. He’d met Mara’s daughter, Chloe, several times and had been there when Chloe’s father had been murdered by blood elves. He liked Chloe. They’d fought side by side, and in some ways her presence forced Nate and him to come to terms that would later be a new friendship. He recalled the way she looked as she cradled her dying father. Mordred would have liked nothing more than to kill Mara once and for all, but magical bomb or not, he couldn’t do that to Chloe.
The group ran to the mouth of a nearby cave and stopped.
“Runes,” Nabu said, pointing just inside the mouth of the cave.
Mordred took a step into the cave and expected his magic to vanish, but it remained. “That’s weird,” he said as he stared at the bright-red runes.
“I can’t smell you,” Wei said. “Can’t sense you in any way.”
“Me, neither,” Remy said as he joined the group. “I got bored, and once we saw you fight those blood elves, I figured it was best if we were all together. Turns out, Morgan and Mac are really stubborn.”
“Yes, it’s come up before,” Mordred said. “Morgan, you can barely walk. Is this really the best idea you could come up with?”
“Yes, now shut up and help me stay upright. Mac is wobbling.”
Nabu took Morgan’s arm and dropped it around his neck. “I’ll stay with you. We’ll go find a cabin where it’s warm. Mac, are you with us?”
Mac nodded. “Mordred, I don’t know what’s in there, but they went to a lot of effort to keep it secret.”
“Everyone either is dead or ran away. I’m not sure that c
onstitutes an effort.”
“That’s what worries me.”
Mordred walked further into the cave, with Fiona, Remy, Diana, and Wei close behind him. “Can you smell anything?” he called back.
“No, nothing,” Wei said.
“It’s like my senses don’t work in here,” Diana said. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”
“I’m really glad I have a gun,” Remy said, tapping the Sig slung across his back. “I’d prefer a tank, but beggars can’t be choosers and all that.”
Dim lights had been placed along each wall, and every few dozen feet were wooden boards partially buried in the ground, allowing people to descend the steep slopes that led further down into the mountain. They walked for a few minutes before they came to a junction.
“Remy, Wei, you want to take left?” Mordred asked. “Fiona, Diana, and I will take right. If you find something, don’t engage. Just come back and get us. Make sure you use the walkie-talkie and let the others know.”
They split off, and it took only a short time before Mordred found a metal door built into the wall. He tried the door and found it locked, but there was a key hanging from a hook a few feet away. He took the large key and tested it in the lock, which clicked open. Mordred pushed the door open with a squeak, revealing Elaine on a bed with Alan on a wooden chair next to her.
“Alan,” Fiona said, and ran to her husband, who kissed her.
“Is this real?” he asked.
“Yeah, we’re here to rescue you,” Mordred said, feeling his magic cut out on him again. “Well, I am. These two were just hanging around being lazy.”
Elaine forced a smile. She looked tired and had some dried blood on her forehead but other than that appeared to be physically okay. Even so, Mordred had to check. “How are you?”
“It’s been a long few days,” Elaine said. “I think. I don’t know anymore. They did things to my brain. Did things to my memory. I assume everything in Avalon has gone to shit.”
“I think we’re a few stages past shit,” Remy said from the doorway.
“The prophecy, Mordred—it’s a lie,” Elaine said. “It’s not real. It’s a trick put there by . . .” Elaine dropped to her knees, clutching her head as she screamed in agony.
Mordred dropped beside her as Remy hurried off, presumably to get help. “Elaine, Elaine.”
“I’m okay,” she said, sounding weary. “They did something to my memories. I can’t remember why I was looking into things. I can’t remember who took my memories.”
“When I arrived, she could barely remember me,” Alan said from across the room. “Her memories are returning, but I don’t know who took them.”
“We’ll find out,” Mordred promised.
“Right now we have new issues,” Remy said, reappearing at the door.
“What issues?”
“The dead appear to be rising from the grave and walking up the hill outside. Nabu, Mac, and Morgan just moved into the cave as quickly as possible.”
“Abaddon,” Elaine confirmed, getting back to her feet. “I haven’t seen her in a few days. I was hoping she’d left for good. We’ll have to go further into the mountain. There’s a way out there.”
Wei stood outside the cell with Morgan, Mac, and Nabu. “It’s a big old army of dead people,” Morgan said. “They look about as well as I feel.”
“Mordred,” came a female voice that filled the tunnel. “We installed a PA system inside the mountain. I know you can hear me. You have until the count of ten to leave the mountain before we come find you. You didn’t really think you got to Elaine because you were that good, did you? You’ve managed to trap yourselves. Either you come out, or I assure you the alternative will be less than pleasant.”
Nabu removed the bracelets from the bag he carried. “We can use these to escape.”
“We don’t know where they go,” Fiona pointed out.
“Tartarus,” Alan said. “They attacked it. They killed Rhea and Cronus. Ares told me, bragged about it as he beat on me. He was proud that Abaddon had removed Rhea’s head.”
Everyone was stunned into silence for several seconds. “How strong do you need to be to be able to kill both of them?” Remy asked.
“I’d really like to be elsewhere,” Wei said.
“Tartarus is better than staying under a mountain fighting a godlike necromancer and her minions of the undead,” Diana said.
“The moon would be better than that,” Remy pointed out.
Mordred looked over at Alan, who was leaning on Fiona. “You okay?” he asked.
Alan nodded. “Just been a rough few days. Feels like my body has finally given up trying to work properly.”
“Just lean on me,” Fiona told him. “I’ll get you out of here.” She kissed him on the forehead, and Mordred looked away, not wishing to intrude on a tender moment.
“How do these bracelets work?” Mac asked.
“We really should have gotten that information from Mara,” Diana pointed out.
“I’ve seen them used,” Elaine said. “You put them on your wrist and tap them.”
Mac placed one on his wrist, tapped it, and glanced around the group. “I’m not saying it’s broken, but it’s not exactly impressive, is it?”
“We need to go further into the mountain,” Elaine said. “There are no runes down there. That’s where they use the bracelets.”
“How do you know this?” Mordred asked.
“Do you think I’ve just been waiting for them to come get me? I’ve escaped six times since they’ve had me here. I’ve killed four guards. The Hole has been destroyed; the prisoners escaped. They’ve been working for Abaddon and her people.”
“Yeah, we met them,” Remy said. “Some of them have a tendency to blow up.”
“We met some on the way here,” Morgan said. “They were working in the village below.”
“They’re a bit dead,” Wei said. “I’m Wei, by the way. No one seemed to want to introduce me. Understandable considering the impending death and doom coming our way.”
“This is Wei,” Remy said. “She’s full of sunshine and joy.”
Wei laughed. “Touché.”
The group was moving seconds later, slowly at first, then faster after Diana picked up Morgan, sprinting flat out through the tunnels, going deeper and deeper into the mountain. After several minutes of following Elaine and ignoring the majority of small tunnels that had been carved ant-nest-like into the mountain, they came to a cavern with writing all over the walls. It glowed slightly purple.
“What is this?” Morgan asked.
“I don’t know,” Elaine said. “I found it on my first escape. It’s where Merlin caught me.”
“Merlin is here?” Mordred asked.
Elaine nodded.
Mordred walked over to the metal structure in the center of the cavern. It had the appearance of a large dais that could have easily fitted a hundred people. More of the strange writing was on it, although it was colorless.
“What is this place?” Nabu asked as he joined Mordred. “I’ve never seen anything like this. My power doesn’t work. I can’t see what all of this is. It’s quite infuriating.”
“Welcome to the rest of the world,” Elaine said. “We need to leave.”
Everyone was given a bracelet.
“Let’s go, people,” Mordred said. “I’ll go last, just in case you need cover.”
People started vanishing one after the other until only Elaine, Diana, and Mordred remained. “I knew you weren’t going to go until we all did,” Diana said.
“I’ll be right there. I just wanted to make sure I could collapse that tunnel. The fewer people being able to use this place, the better.”
“Don’t screw around, Mordred,” Diana said, and touched her bracelet, disappearing.
“Mordred,” Elaine said, pointing toward the entrance to the cavern that the group had taken. There stood a man with short white hair, and a short beard of the same color. Another man stood behind h
im, wearing gleaming golden armor.
“Gawain,” Elaine said. “Merlin.”
Merlin placed a hand on Gawain’s armored arm, stopping the knight as his hand reached for the broadsword that hung at his hip. “Leave us,” he said.
“Die painfully, little brother,” Gawain said to Mordred.
“Eat shit,” Mordred said cheerfully.
Gawain nodded to Merlin, turned, and walked out of sight.
“Elaine,” Merlin said. “You can’t run from me.”
Elaine placed her hand over her bracelet and vanished.
Merlin screamed in rage and flung a block of earth at the place Elaine had been. He turned to Mordred. “It has been a very long time, Mordred. I assume you’re going to run, too.”
“I thought I’d kill you and save us a lot of trouble for later.”
Merlin laughed. “You always did have a high opinion of yourself.”
“And you always had a very low one of me.”
“You should have stayed hidden away. You should have never involved yourself.”
“Yes, well, that’s the problem with people trying to kill you: you kind of have to be involved. But then you know all about people trying to kill me, don’t you. So, did you have a hand in creating the prophecy where I kill Nate? I’m just wondering who I need to hunt down.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“So, are you My Liege, or just another asshole following him?”
Merlin laughed. “What do you think?”
“I think you were once a good man, and I’d hoped that there was still some of that left inside of you,” Mordred said with a touch of sadness. “I’d hoped that if I’d managed to come back from the darkness, that you’d be able to as well. Guess I was wrong. Why are you doing this? Why are you going against Avalon?”
“I am Avalon,” Merlin snapped, spitting.
“No one is so important that they can’t be replaced. You taught me that as a child. You taught me that Avalon was only as good as those working for its benefit. So what’s your plan here? Get people to fear you, get the humans to go to war for you? Did you have a hand in what Baldr and his people did to me? Did you know?”
