I try to turn my head around to get a look at the knight, but all I can see is the banshee’s grey cowl as she kneels beside me.
“You should have stayed away,” Jennifer says, sounding cold.
She’s right. He’s going to get killed, and I’m not going to be able to do a thing to protect him.
“I was looking for you,” Lance says. I hear footsteps, then Lance’s bloodied face comes into view above me.
“I’m OK,” I say. “Still alive, but…”
My eyes flicker to where I can hear Carman and Mordred.
“How dare you speak to me thus?” the witch asks, ice in her voice.
“We had a deal, you and I,” Mordred says. “To share the spoils of this world between us. No third party involved.”
“I don’t care what you thought, vermin,” Carman says. “Sit. On. That. Throne.”
“She…can’t…leave,” I whisper.
Lance nods. “On it.”
“The purpose of this whole exercise was not to free some one-eyed old man who wants to see the whole world burn,” Mordred insists. “What’s the point of becoming a ruler if there’s nothing left to rule over?”
I almost smile at the sound of my words coming out of his mouth.
“You stink of fear,” Carman says, the shadows in the room shifting, ready to strike. “If you are going to defy me, you should at least try to be convincing. But we both know the truth, do we not? You are already mine.”
“Lance, don’t!” Jennifer yells.
Darkness blooms, blotting out the daylight. Sparks blaze in the obscurity as Mordred tries to deflect Carman’s attack, power lashing out in sizzling bolts.
Carman laughs. “You are thrice the fool for thinking you, of all people, can defeat me.”
I close my eyes, urging my body to heal itself faster. My toes and legs are tingling, sensation returning to them. I can almost move my hands.
There’s a sharp clap, and Mordred lets out a surprised grunt.
“Don’t hurt him!” I croak out.
“Shut it, dimwit,” Nibs says, as he and the banshee grab me by the arms and legs. “Do you want to die now?”
“But Mordred,” I say, finally getting a good look at what’s happening in the room.
“His power comes from the very place she currently rules,” Nibs whispers, struggling under my weight. “He never stood a chance.”
I watch in horror as Mordred rises in the air, ink-black tentacles coiled around his body, dark stains quickly spreading across his torso, obscuring his tattoos.
◆◆◆
“We need to clear a path, quickly!” Arthur shouts over the sounds of raging battle and the screeching of the three fighting dragons.
Knights mounted on massive horses sweep across the fields, spearing demons in their passage, while Watchers march through the openings they leave behind to slay the survivors, power crackling from their fingers in efficient bursts.
But it’s not enough. The school is still so far, like a black pimple on the horizon, the fields in between dark with demons and draugar.
“Can’t do anything without first getting rid of that beast,” Gauvain says. He’s fighting off a dozen draugar, but his footsteps are faltering, his thrusts and spars slower.
“Timberrrrrr!”
Gareth lands in the middle of the fray, swinging his left arm down. The war hammer’s head cracks the nearest draugar’s head open with the sound of thunder, the blow’s impact ripping through the others with the force of a tempest.
“Thanks for that,” Keva says, grimacing as Hadrian pulls her to her feet.
Grinning, Gareth hefts his war hammer arm back up onto his shoulder. “You are always pleasured,” he says with a wink.
“Where were you?” Gauvain asks his cousin without bothering to correct him.
“Made a stop over,” Gareth says, whirling on another pack of Fomori.
But before the first one can reach him, Gale’s there, moving lightly among the Dark Sidhe, his golden spear a bright trail of light as he takes them down.
Keva gasps. “You’re back!”
Gale bows slightly, barely out of breath. “Bri’s ready to close the wards at your signal, and Morgan’s keeping Carman otherwise occupied, as planned.”
“Mordred should be with her,” Arthur says, his voice tight. “He left a while back.”
“So she should be OK, right?” Keva asks.
Gale takes a side step so Gareth can punch a demon in the face. “I suppose, or Carman would have made a show by now. But you need to take that sword to her, Art.”
With a grunt, Keva pushes Hadrian aside as a demon hurtles their way, long wooden horns pointed forward. The world spins, as Arthur swings Excalibur around. There’s a sharp whistle, a bright flash, then the demon’s head falls rolling to the ground.
Fire erupts overhead, cutting off dozens of tiny screams. The air shimmers from the heat, and I look up as Lugh and Oberon drop from the sky, hands raised to divert the flames.
“Arthur!” Lugh shouts, muscles bulging under the onslaught. “Go find Morgan, we’ll handle things here.”
“Stay safe!” Hadrian shouts as Arthur sprints away to come join me inside the KORT room, unaware that he’s heading straight for disaster.
◆◆◆
“I said sit down, Mordred.”
Mordred’s screams bounce off the barren walls, a terrible wail that sets my teeth on edge.
“No need for tears,” Nibs says, spitting. “It ain’t like your brother did ya any favors.”
He and the banshee have managed to drag me as far away from Carman as possible, and propped me up against the wall. Although I still can’t move much more than my pinky, I can at least keep an eye on everything: Jennifer, facing down Lance, and Mordred, writhing against the Siege Perilous, pinned there by Carman’s power.
“Please,” I whisper, willing my words to carry to whichever part of Avalon Danu’s holing herself up in, “save him. As you’ve done with me… Save your son before it’s too late.”
But the familiar warmth doesn’t come, the air reeking instead of rotten eggs as the Gates to Hell condense, slowly opening again.
“Save him,” I beg Nibs.
But the clurichaun is plastered to the wall next to me, eyes wide in fright. There’s a blur of movement at the windows, and I barely have a chance to see Urim and Thummim’s silent snarls before the two Dark Sidhe hurl themselves inside.
Thummim dives under the widening Gates, springs to his feet on the other side, scythe in hand, and swings down. The long, curved blade easily severs Carman’s bindings, and Mordred slumps onto the Siege Perilous, free.
“Time I taught these two monkeys of yours a lesson in obedience,” Carman snarls, the temperature in the room turning arctic cold.
“This definitely ain’t good,” Nibs says beside me.
My breath fogs in the air as ice spreads across the floor, trapping all it touches in its deadly fingers. With a growl, Thummim hacks at the ice that has spread up his legs. But the scythe isn’t meant for close-range use, and the ice keeps rising higher.
Urim jumps to Thummim’s aid, long-chained flail whistling sharply as he aims for Carman. But at the moment, the witch brings her hand up, and the bladed lash misses her head to embed itself in a wall of ice. Lance uses the opportunity to lunge at her from her other side, sword flashing in a low arc aimed at her legs. Then Jennifer’s moving inside his reach, and knocks him aside with the lightest of touches, sending him crashing to the floor.
“I told you to stay away,” Jennifer says, not an ounce of guilt or sadness in her luminescent blue eyes. “But you never listen, do you? Just like all the other men in my life who think I’m just a pretty thing to be ordered about.”
“I think that’s our cue to leave,” Nibs says, grabbing my jacket, and motioning for the banshee to help lift me up.
“No, help him instead,” I say, pointing at my brother with my chin.
I watch Mordred slide off the Si
ege Perilous and the Gates become a hazy blur again. He’s too weak to walk on his own, but the two Dark Sidhe are too busy fighting Carman to help him. I catch Urim as he jumps high, twisting in the air to let his flail rip through the ice wall, breaking it into a thousand flying shards.
“Ya tried, princess, and ya failed,” Nibs says urgently. “Again. How many more of us must die before ya see this ain’t workin’?”
“Go if you want,” I say. “But I’ve got to finish this.”
I can’t let them fight her alone, nor can I let Arthur get here when it would mean his death.
I slap my hands down onto the cold flagstones, sending a burst of energy outward, letting my anger take the lead. Anger at how Carman’s twisted my brother’s mind. Anger at how she’s used me to hurt my friends, over and over again.
The ice covering the floor cracks, raising hot steam as my power courses through it. Jennifer yelps as the wave strikes her first, but she’s not my target, and I let my power surge forward, gritting my teeth as it meets Carman’s invisible barrier.
“Yer gonna get us all killed,” Nibs says grimly.
His tiny fist is still clutching my jacket, but he’s no longer trying to run away.
Thummim’s managed to free himself, and joins Urim in the fray. But no matter how hard they fight, they can’t seem to keep Carman back as she slowly advances upon Mordred.
I concentrate on a single point in the barrier, letting my power hit it over and over again. At last, her defenses give, and my power pours into the invisible wall’s tiny puncture. There’s a series of sharp cracks, as of dry wood snapping, then Carman’s dress catches fire, filling the room with the pungent smell of burning feathers.
Carman whirls around, seething. I smile as the veins in her beautiful face turn black, the stain spilling into her eyes until even the whites are the color of the deepest night.
“Good, got your attention,” I say. “Now step away from my brother.”
◆◆◆
“Over here, knight!” Papillon shouts, zooming around the thick press of demons.
The world tilts as Arthur jumps over the bodies of two fallen knights. The flying mouse motions for him to hurry, pointing at the school’s battered door a hundred feet away.
Too soon. I haven’t secured the area yet.
A draugar swipes clumsily at Arthur. He ducks beneath the large hand, sliding Excalibur smoothly in the dead man’s abdomen before cleaving him in half.
“Hurry!” Papillon tells Arthur, fluttering nervously above.
“Go to Bri,” Arthur says, breathing hard. “Tell her to close the wards.
“But I’m supposed to stay with—”
“GO!” Arthur yells, waving the tiny Fey creature away.
I see Papillon hesitate for a moment, before the winged mouse zooms away to deliver the message. Arthur runs another demon through, kicking a third in the legs with his steel-toed boots. But more keep coming, stepping over their fallen comrades in their eagerness to kill Arthur.
My heart thunders in my ears. Why did he come all the way here alone? The cousins should have accompanied him, or Hadrian, or even that Daniel. No matter how good he is, he can’t fight against so many people on his own.
But I know why. Arthur, ever the selfless knight, has left them all behind to give them a better chance at defeating Carman’s dragon.
Black ichor splatters across my vision as Arthur fells another demon. But his movements are choppier. He’s getting tired, dropping his guard. Another draugar rushes at him, mouth red with gore. Arthur twists away from it, stumbling on a dead body.
“Arthur!” I mentally shout.
He’s dropped Excalibur somewhere in the mud. All I can see now is the darkening sky as demons swarm over it. Panic tightens my chest. Where is he?
“Arthur!” I shout again.
A blinding flash answers my silent cry, followed by surprised howls. Something falls to the ground beside me with a wet slop. Followed by another. My vision returns, and I suck in a surprised breath.
Fish by the thousands are falling like manna from the sky-lake. Carman’s demons back away, grunting in confusion at this strange new threat, and Arthur uses that distraction to fish Excalibur out of the mud, then slink away to the school, his road no longer blocked.
◆◆◆
No.
I grunt as I force my attention back into my own body.
Stay away.
I blink owlishly at the gaping door. Carman catches my look, and turns as a shape darkens the threshold.
“Morgan!” Arthur shouts, worried gaze finding mine unerringly.
Then Carman’s black coils whip around his neck and snatch him inside.
Chapter 39
I launch myself blindly across the room with but one thought in mind: To save Arthur. Eyes never leaving my face, Carman tightens her hold on Arthur a little more, and I freeze midway at the sound of his strangled gasp.
“Don’t you dare,” I growl, power dancing over my skin in angry red sparks.
“Or what?” Carman asks. “You can barely stand yourself.”
I swallow hard. Arthur’s hanging upside down in the air, legs trapped by one of Carman’s thick, putrescent tentacles. With a sickening grin, she cups his face in a mimicry of affection.
“I think we’d both like to hear what you have to say,” Carman says. She catches my horrified look as I watch dark stains bloom on Arthur’s golden cheek, and laughs. “Oh, Morgan. If I’d known you’d be this compliant with this pet at my side, I would have fetched him earlier.”
I bite hard on my lip, tasting blood. Focus, you idiot. You can’t fall into her petty ploy. I quickly scan the room, looking for a way out of this mess. Jennifer’s standing to the side, keeping the banshee and Nibs in check. Lance is slowly picking himself up, his head bloody from a nasty gash over his left eye. And both Urim and Thummim are hovering close to Mordred, watching helplessly as my brother thrashes in the Siege Perilous.
A soft light flickers by the windows, pulsing in rhythm with my breathing, and hope flutters in my chest.
Excalibur.
“I’m surprised you feel you need anything to leverage against me,” I say at last.
For the barest of moments, I lock eyes with the two Dark Sidhe over Carman’s shoulder. It is enough for them to get the message.
“Mordred was right, you are acting less…secure,” I continue. “Are you sure you don’t want to go back into Hell and stay there? Might be a tad safer for you.”
Carman’s lips curl.
Then Urim springs upon her from behind, bladed flail hissing through the air. With the barest of shifts, Carman counters the attack, but I’m already moving, sprinting for the windows. Excalibur flashes in anticipation. Then, as my cold fingers close around the sword’s grip, Urim’s hair-raising shriek cuts across the room.
I whirl around, and bile rises to my throat at the sight of Urim on his knees, weapon abandoned at his side. Blood drips down his hair, scarlet on white, Carman’s hand lodged deep inside his skull. Then, with a sickening squelch, she pulls her hand back out, an onyx gem the size of her fist clutched in her long fingers.
“Give that back!” Thummim shouts.
In that one moment it took me to grab Excalibur, he’s managed to free Mordred. But that moment’s cost us Urim’s life.
Carman’s smile grows wider, until her jaw unhinges completely, lips extending beyond what any normal human could do, to gobble up Urim’s ogham in one piece. Catching my look of horror, Carman tosses her hair back, then slowly licks off the dark blood dripping down her chin.
“You shouldn’t judge, considering you’ve partaken of a similar feast yourself,” she says, her face glowing with stolen power.
I repress a shiver, remembering all too well the feeling of elation I felt once my body absorbed Gadreel’s ogham. And the power that came with it. I let out a slow breath.
“It doesn’t matter how many oghams you steal,” I say, “you’re no match for Balor—e
ither as a partner or as an opponent. You’re nothing to him. Just like you were nothing to your parents. And the reason your own people tried to burn you at the stake.”
I barely have the chance to see Carman’s face contort with fury before her power hits me. I wince against the assault, feeling my shields waver. My grip tightens on Excalibur, but there’s nothing I can do to resist the pummeling as utter and total darkness unfurls around me.
I scream, flesh tearing away from me in large strips. My body hits the ceiling or a wall—I can’t tell which is what anymore—then stays pinned to it as the gale continues to rip me to shreds.
My lungs struggle to expand. I feel my mind slip away, thoughts sluggish. My whole body goes numb, heart stuttering.
Then all at once the pressure is gone, and through my hazy mind I realize that I’m falling.
I land heavily in someone’s strong arms. Arthur?
“Breathe,” Lance whispers in my ears.
I try to open my eyes, but everything hurts too much. The sound of crackling thunder bounces around the KORT room. I clutch at Lance’s mailed shirt, shaking. Wood cracks as it’s hit, burnt splinters exploding out. And, above it all, is the blood-curdling scream of a man.
Fear douses my body in cold sweat, and I manage to force my eyes open. I seek my brother out, and find Mordred’s back on the Siege Perilous, blood pouring down his body from a myriad new cuts, Thummim lying stunned at his feet.
A hand pokes out of the reopened Gates, followed by a strangely flat head, before the grotesque creature’s body clatters to the floor, pushed from behind by another monster. They’re worse than any of the demons I’ve encountered. Worse than I could have imagined.
Another tremor passes through me as I realize what’s happening.
“He’s opening them all,” Lance says.
All the Gates. That means he’s going to free Balor, even if the act is killing him.
Veins pop out on Mordred’s forehead and arms as he grips the Siege Perilous, unable to pull himself free.
“Put me down,” I tell Lance.
Morgana Trilogy Complete Series Page 118
