“That’s impossible!” Daley said. “We put Boudica in the box ourselves just minutes ago. We carried her here. I felt the weight.”
There was yelling and arguing, but I was watching Rowan. He was touching the grass and trees with frantic fingers. “Tal.”
“Where is she?” Morgan screamed.
“Tal!” Rowan shouted.
But the bard was focused on the woman he loved. “Morgana, I swear to you, I do not know.”
“Taliesin! Listen to me!” The trees swayed and bowed at the druid’s command. “This is the wrong place!”
Goodfellow stepped into the clearing and understanding sent white shivers across my vision.
The Green Man can make a Path look like whatever he wants.
Goodfellow raised his arms and the trees around us were replaced by stone walls stretching up into darkness. We were in some kind of cave. Lanterns hanging from iron hooks illuminated a crumbling archway and a stone sarcophagus with a man’s figure carved on the lid.
Everything seemed to happen at once, captured in images stacked on top of one another like pages in a book.
Boudica raising her sword, her armor shining gold in the torch light.
Miko flying at her on black wings and being batted aside like a dark butterfly.
Morgan facing the Icenian queen with Excalibur in her hand.
Rowan falling to his knees.
Taliesin reaching for Morgan.
Tynan using his power to throw Taliesin against the cave wall.
Peter cradling Miko to his chest.
Tynan embracing the carved image on the lid of the sarcophagus.
Heart pounding, I forced myself to focus on the two women facing one another. Boudica was muscular and the sword in her hand was deadly, but Morgan was taller, and even in its ruined state, Excalibur was infinitely more dangerous.
Rowan lifted his arms to his wife. “Bo!” he cried. “You came back to me!”
Boudica sauntered over and gave him a vicious backhand that drove him to the ground. When he moaned, she kicked him in the head until he lay still. “Weakling,” she muttered. Rubbing her knuckles, the woman turned to me. “Thank you for releasing me from your mind, or wherever it was you put me. I was aware of myself, but couldn’t feel my body, and it took me a while to figure out what happened. I was getting a little worried my ‘death’ might become permanent. You and the Redcap have a lot in common, but at least he waits till his victims are dead before stealing their souls. Still, it all worked out pretty well. Things were getting ugly between you and Melusine and I was happy I didn’t have to risk my ass over that little bitch.”
I stared at her. “But you were dead. They put you in a coffin.”
Boudica shrugged. “I’ve been working with Morgan for a while, but only to get intel.” I glanced at Taliesin sprawled near the wall and she laughed. “Not for that self-righteous dick.” She smirked at Morgana. “Sorry, Morgana, but you know he is.” When Morgan didn’t respond, Boudica shrugged again and turned back to me. “Your father says hello, by the way.”
I flinched as she pressed her finger against my temple. Eyes glittering, she lifted her sword in warning and I froze. “Cernunnos has special insight into what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours—practically insider knowledge.” She flicked me hard with her finger and laughed when I gasped. “When he realized what you did, he preserved my body until my soul was free. Goodfellow controls what enters a Path and where it goes. Rowan had no idea he’d conveniently prepared my crematorium at the mouth of one. Morgan wanted Excalibur and the boy. She thought Goodfellow was with her, but he belongs to us. When she revealed the destination, he scooted my body ahead of you all. I really do need to thank you. I’ve been trying to find Arthur’s tomb for years without tipping her off. I was almost ready to give up.”
“Why?” Morgan’s voice was so quiet, I could barely hear her.
Boudica whirled around. “How can you, of all people, even ask that? I was a queen! I ruled before Arthur sucked at his mother’s teat. Why should I bend my knee to an upstart king or the rogue bard who spurned him? Cernunnos promised me my kingdom and look where we are—in Arthur’s tomb with Excalibur ripe and ready for the picking.” She glanced over her shoulder. “So, thanks again, Rhi. I’m actually quite sorry I sent the Dobhar-chú after you, but the little witch insisted and your father wanted to see what you would do.”
Red rage smeared across my sight, but I forced myself to smile. “So what did dear old Dad ask in return then, Bo? To prance around in a French maid’s costume and bring him his slippers?” It was a random shot, but when she scowled, I knew I’d hit the bull’s-eye.
Morgan’s laughter echoed off the stone walls. “Really, Boudica? You would endure my brother’s cold hands and the certainty of death when he tires of you for a petty kingdom?”
Boudica swung her sword lazily as she walked towards Arthur’s stone coffin. I recognized the action from when I’d watched her training—she was getting ready to attack. “Oh Morgan, it’s almost sweet how naïve you are. Cernunnos didn’t offer me a spit of land in the middle of the sea. He’s giving me the entire world. The only price is Arthur’s head.”
Lightning ricocheted through the cave and struck the woman, throwing her across the floor. Daley emerged from the shadows holding the Taranis wheel.
Boudica wiped a trickle of blood from her mouth as she stood. Her armor wasn’t even singed. “That was a mistake, godling.”
Daley shrugged. “I may not want Morgan to wake Arthur, but I’m not going to let you murder him in his sleep.”
“Hit her again!” I screamed.
Movement caught my eye. Morgan had joined Tynan and they stood together looking at Arthur’s effigy.
Boudica sneered at Daley. “I’ll deal with you later, boy.” She approached Morgan cautiously with her sword raised.
I ran to Daley. “Why did you stop?”
He lifted the wheel. “It needs to recharge and I’m too far underground to harness any of the elements. It doesn’t matter though. That’s sidhe armor she’s wearing. Its magic protects her.”
Boudica pointed her sword at Morgan. “Witch, I have a message from your brother.” When she opened her mouth wide, a voice from another world came out of it. The effect was obscene.
“Dear sister, you stand on the edge of the knife. Forsake the earth king and all will be forgiven. Advance, and there will be no mercy, no peace. I will hound you through the eras of your immortality until you go mad and beg for death. I will not warn you again.”
The voice scraped away at the barrier between my mind and pain. Morgan didn’t even look up as she whispered something and gestured at Boudica. The woman was flung across the cavern like a doll and disappeared into the darkness behind us.
I looked back at the tableau of mother and son, finally reunited. For the first time since I met him, Tynan seemed peaceful and happy. “My son,” Morgan whispered, tears streaming down her face as she pulled him close and kissed him on the cheek.
Tynan jerked strangely. He looked down at his mother and opened his mouth, but no sound came out. As Morgan pulled away, I saw the jagged length of Excalibur jutting out from under his ribs.
When Tynan fell, I did too. I thought I heard Daley yell, but it was cut off abruptly. Crawling on all fours to where Tynan lay pumping out blood and life, I screamed for help, but everyone was frozen.
“What have you done?”
Morgan stared at me as if I should understand. “I could not risk them interfering. They will be fine. They are only caught momentarily out of time.” The pupils of her eyes were dilated and the irises were almost colorless.
“Not them! Tynan! Your son!”
“You mean Mordred,” she corrected absently as she bent down and drew Excalibur out of his body like a knife out of butter. Bright blood was on the metal and she used it to draw on the chest of the effigy. “Four circles for the four elements: air, fire, water, earth. When I draw the fifth at the center, I
will bind them with the all-encompassing illumination that commands them.” She focused on me again and frowned. “You can’t think that any of this is what I wanted. If I had met Taliesin first, so many things would have been different. I was a creature finally freed and Arthur was my salvation. I swore unbreakable oaths to him and was caged again, but I was happy to live in a cage forged by Arthur. I made my bargain freely and never guessed I would live to regret it.” She looked at the bard where he lay crumpled on the ground. “Will you tell Taliesin? Will you tell him I regret it?” she asked plaintively.
I wasn’t interested in Morgan’s pain. I pressed my hands to Tynan’s wound to stop the blood, but it flowed fast between my fingers.
Morgan sighed. “Let him rest. My son’s death was ordained from the moment he raised Excalibur against his father. The son shed the blood of the father, and the father must be raised by the blood of the son. This was the missing spell I have been searching for all these years. I told you once that blood magic is the most powerful magic of all—even my brother is bound by it. Though I was compelled to search, I hoped Excalibur was lost and my son, wherever he was, would be safe.”
Her voice hardened. “Viviane’s scheming has brought us here.” She turned away. “Leave him be. My son is mad. It is better that he pass this way.”
She was right—Tynan was damaged—but he was also a boy who had wanted to kiss me and had told me the meaning of my name. Closing my eyes, I searched for the bright green of my bond with Peter. We belonged to each other in a way that was more powerful than blood. I took my hands off Tynan’s wound and concentrated. When I opened my eyes, a fine net of peridot green covered the blood on my palms.
With his blood on my skin, I could see Tynan’s colors, wild and chaotic, and drifting away. I was running out of time. Panicking, I placed my hands on his chest. As my spell sank into his body, I imagined the power of this bond encircling his soul. If he belonged to me—if his blood belonged to me—it couldn’t be used to wake Arthur. I could deny the power of blood magic.
But I was too late. Morgan drew the last circle before I could bind Tynan and claim him as mine. Throwing Excalibur away as if she couldn’t bear to touch it anymore, she cried out:
“I see in the rocky peaks far away, the place of death;
A rough mountain with a misty summit.
Come down from it and launch your ships on the Fomorian ocean,
Thou son of Uther Pendragon!”
The sword had skittered towards me across the ground. Before I could reach it for it, there was a booming sound and chunks of stone flew through the air—the sarcophagus had shattered. I was thrown backwards, small fragments nicking my arms, but something soft broke my fall.
It was Rowan. Or at least, his body. His head had been severed in one clean cut.
As I scuttled back in white horror, I heard soft laughter coming from the gloom beyond the torch light. “Now I am truly my mother’s daughter, the last of the sidhe.”
While the druid was caught out of time by Morgan’s spell, Boudica must have been out of range and had escaped it to complete her betrayal. I could sense her aura. There was still gold in her, but it was now completely overshadowed by darkness. I took a step towards it, but then it winked out. Cursing Goodfellow under my breath, I knew she was gone
There was a cry and I turned to discover that time was moving again. Peter was helping Miko up. Daley had been hit by some of the debris and was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, but otherwise looked all right. Taliesin stirred and I knew he wasn’t dead.
Morgan le Fay stood at the side of a man in the middle of the rubble. Tall and muscular, his black hair and neat beard framed a handsome face and eyes gleaming with warmth and intelligence.
Looking upon Arthur in the flesh for the first time, I knew Taliesin was wrong—the Earth King was the savior of the world, not the enslaver. When he laughed with joy and embraced Morgan, joy filled me too. I wanted to bow to him, my once and future king, and beg him to accept me as his. I put out my hands towards him and was surprised to see they were covered in blood. Tynan’s blood. Arthur’s son lay forgotten on the ground and my heart was my own again.
A sense of dark teal like the shadows on the forest floor caught my attention; Goodfellow was still nearby. I was relieved. Even though he’d betrayed us and had helped Boudica escape, we were going to need him.
Closing my eyes, I searched for the auras of my friends using their strongest colors to find them. Taliesin was bronze like a trumpet. Miko was bright pink, but inky black branched through it like veins. I could easily find Peter through our peridot-green bond. Daley was the deep blue-grey of stormy seas, the platinum of rain clouds, and the red-orange of lightning. Cutting through them was a pale, pure gold.
Excalibur.
CHAPTER FORTY
The sword called to me, but it lay on the ground not far from Arthur and I didn’t dare draw his attention to it. The Earth King released Morgan and looked around in surprise. “How long have I slept, my love? And where are we? This is not the chamber at Camelot.”
Morgan’s eyes darted away. “No, my lord.”
Frowning, he peered into the gloom. “Who are these fallen? Is that Taliesin?” I froze as his gaze passed over me, but if he saw me, he dismissed me as no threat. I began to creep towards the sword.
“No, Arthur.”
Arthur’s face was tender, but his voice was steel. “Why are you lying to me, Morgana?”
“I . . .,” she faltered, “I don’t want you to hurt him.”
With a laugh, Arthur pulled her close again. “For one so fierce, you have a tender heart. I would never harm Taliesin. He was a brother to me once and may still see reason and join us. But why is he here? What are we doing in this cave?” Arthur noticed Rowan’s body and his smile slipped away. “And is that not Taliesin’s pet druid? What happened in this place?”
“What do you remember?”
His face darkened. “I remember my son attacking me with my own sword.” I froze in case the mention of Excalibur reminded Morgan that it was still there, just out of reach.
“Let us go,” she said as she laid her head on his chest. “There is so much I need to explain and this place holds only sorrow.”
But Morgan had not forgotten the way into my mind.
“Take it! Quickly! I cannot fight the oaths I have made for long. In a moment, I will be forced to tell Arthur who you are and that Excalibur is here. Understand that I am bound and could not even choose my own son over him. You are my brother’s child and heir to his power. Only you have the hope of standing against them both. Remake Excalibur and free me, free us all. If you don’t, both our worlds will be consumed in the flames of war.”
If I could hear her, then she could hear me. “I will kill you for what you did to Tynan.”
“My son is not dead yet. Look.”
She was right. Tynan’s aura was a swarm of multi-colored sparks dancing towards the same darkness Melusine had been tethered to, but he was still alive.
I had to do something fast. Calling up every shred of the power of the spell Viviane had hidden me with, I screamed the familiar words. “Listen to me! We cannot be seen! Hide in the shadows and be still and silent!”
“What mischief is this? Where did they go?” Arthur roared.
The spell had worked. We were invisible to him.
Pushing Morgan away, he began to pace the room like a lion in a cage. As he passed within a few feet of Excalibur, I knew I couldn’t guarantee Viviane’s spell would hold at close range.
I lunged for the sword. “Everyone! To me!”
Daley was the first to understand. He slung Tynan over his shoulder. Taliesin had regained consciousness and Peter helped him to his feet. Miko was shaky on her feet but moving. I ran for the back of the cave where the Green Man was hiding in the shadows and the others followed. Glancing back, I was shocked to see Arthur following. He might not be able to see us, but somehow he could sense us. Morgan watched and did no
thing.
“Goodfellow, get us out of here!”
There was a feeling of pressure—as if my ears had popped—and then I stumbled and fell. Rolling onto my back, my hands still clasped around Excalibur, I looked up at grey branches which hid the sky. We were on another Path. Depending on the Green Man was a gamble, but we were safe.
Goodfellow leaned down and offered me his hand, but I ignored it. “Why?” I demanded as I stood.
He dropped his hand. “I swore my own oaths to Arthur. I thought he would save the forest from the destruction of Man, but he only wanted control over the Paths. Still, as long as he lives, my oaths hold. When Morgan told me to take you to Arthur’s tomb, I couldn’t deny her, but I swear I didn’t know what she intended to do. I gave you Excalibur in good faith, as Viviane asked me to. I didn’t know the boy was the lock and Excalibur the key to raising the Earth King.”
Ice washed over me as I realized I was the one who had offered to exchange Tynan for Excalibur. I was the one who had set events in motion.
I freed Arthur.
“If you belong to Arthur, why did you help Boudica double-cross us both?”
Goodfellow’s eyes were no longer green, but grey with tears. “With Arthur sleeping, I thought I could gain the Lord of the Grey Land’s favor. I hoped he would have the power to free me from my oaths.” The Green Man straightened his shoulders and regained some of his strength. “I care nothing for the petty conflicts of men and magicians. I seek only to be free.”
I looked at the others. All of them except Peter were bruised and bloodied. Daley kneeled on the ground with Tynan in his arms.
“Just get us home.”
“One moment, Robin Goodfellow.”
White shivers pulsed through me, but I turned to face Arthur. I’d forgotten he could travel the Paths.
The Earth King strode towards us, but gasped when he saw Tynan. “My son?”
“That’s close enough,” Daley warned and I heard thunder somewhere far away; we must be near an exit off the Path.
Sword of Elements Series Boxed Set 2: Bound In Blue, Caught In Crimson & To Make A Witch Page 22
