“Now what?” Bel was impatient. He couldn’t sense the powerful magic swirling around us.
The pull of electricity dancing over the Wheel’s surface and the answering lightning outside were distractions, but I managed to drag my concentration back to the Grail. Like Excalibur, it had a kind of life, but wasn’t exactly alive. Still, I formed my thoughts as if addressing a sentient being.
Give me all your power.
A picture of what to do formed in my mind. Still grasping Bel’s hand, I leaned down and put my lips to the rim. Using my free hand to tip the Grail towards me, I drank—not it’s life-giving water—
I drank its fire.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CLARET
“Viviane, you must help me! If he finds out about her, we’ll lose everything!”
I don’t want to wake up, but mommy’s voice is loud, and my face is too warm from falling asleep near the fireplace. I open my eyes, but all I can see are the flames.
“I am not sure what you expect me to do, my queen. I have already given Excalibur to Arthur, which is far more than I should have done given that it is a talisman of earth magic.” The voice is strange and unfamiliar.
Eyes half-closed, I crawl over to mommy even though I’ve just learned how to walk. She pulls me into her lap and I lay my head against her chest, but her heart is beating fast. It keeps me awake. When she laughs, I think she’s laughing at me and I start to cry, but then she makes the soothing sounds into my ear that tell me she’s near and that she loves me.
She lifts her face from my hair. “Oh Viviane, you need to know the truth!”
“What truth, Guinevere?”
“The truth about him and about what you are—about what we all are. If Merlin finds my daughter, he’ll finally be able to destroy everything!”
I can tell that mommy is scared, but the words are too strange for me to understand why. I fall back to sleep, warm against her breast.
So warm, so warm. Her heart becomes a flaming sun and I fall into it forever and forever . . .
“Remember our deal, Rhiannon.”
My eyes flew open. Soaked in all the colors of fire, I was drowning in a burning lake of damnation.
“Make it stop!” someone screamed with my voice.
Bel was yelling, “Give it to me, you stupid girl! You weren’t made for fire!”
Daley stood over us holding the Wheel of Taranis like an angry god prepared to strike. The Wheel’s electricity was fire from the sky; it was both attracted and repelled by the earthly fire in me. Daley’s power was to stand in judgement. Staring up at him, still screaming, I knew that soon his judgement would fall on me, obliterating me from existence. I was defective, wrong. I would lose control and destroy us all. Daley wouldn’t want to do it, but his power wouldn’t allow him to turn away from his duty.
In his eyes, I saw his own surprise as his hand lifted to strike.
And then I saw my way out—the tiny connection made possible by the blood I’d shared with Bel. Desperate to escape destruction, I sent the Grail’s power through it to him.
I was blessedly cold and empty and strong arms were holding me upright—Peter’s. I must have knocked the Grail away after I drank its fire because it had rolled across the floor to Daley’s feet. Still holding the Wheel of Taranis, he was staring down into its depths as if it were the abyss of Hell. Despite what I saw, he hadn’t been standing over me at all. Maybe what I saw was a vision of his judgement, a judgement still to come. Daley took a shuddering breath and the Wheel was only a silver charm on a chain around his neck again.
Bel was standing, transferring fire through his fingers like a magician’s coin. He didn’t look that different until I closed my eyes.
Then he was a new sun.
Arthur stepped forward with Excalibur raised. “You got what you wanted. Take the spell off Morgan.”
Peter helped me up. “Like you said, a deal’s a deal, Bel.” My voice was as hoarse as if I’d been screaming for hours.
Bel laughed as flames shot from his hand to hit the ceiling and then fell to the ground in star-shaped sparks. “Yes, I was too weak before to stop the spell once it started. Unfortunately, I’m far too powerful now for the delicacy required. I’m afraid I would quite bollocks it up.” Before anyone could stop him, he flicked his fingers at Morgan le Fay.
The woman was caught up into the air, back arching unnaturally until there was a sickening sound of something cracking. For a moment, her skin was the color of an ember deep in the fire, then the light went out and she fell to the ground, smoke curling out of her open mouth and empty eye sockets.
We stared at her in horror.
With a strangled cry of grief and rage, Arthur swung at Bel with Excalibur, but the man created a wall of flame which obscured his movements long enough for him to escape. When the flames died down, he was already on the terrace. As we watched, he leaped off the ledge. I ran outside. The sides of the building descended down into the darkness as if into an endless abyss, but a ball of flame containing Bel slid down them.
Not knowing what to do, I went back inside. Arthur was holding Morgan in his arms, rocking back and forth and keening—a sound of utter desolation. Tynan had fallen to his knees, tears streaming down his face for the mother who’d stabbed him through the heart.
I looked at the others for help. Morgause was wandering around the room shaking her hands as if the sound of Arthur’s grief was hurting her. Chloe tried to calm her, but the Seer recoiled from her touch. Miko was sobbing softly and Titania had her arms around the girl’s shoulders. Daley was staring into the Grail as if he was looking for answers in the drops of life-giving water left at the bottom.
“She’s gone,” Peter said. I thought he meant Morgan until I realized Isabelle was missing.
I shook my head. “Never mind her.”
I’m filing Isabelle under the least of my worries.
I tugged on Arthur’s arm, forcing him to give me his attention. “Bel’s gone. We need to stop him.”
Ignoring me, Arthur murmured something into Morgan’s snowy hair, and then lifted her off the floor to lay her back down on the divan. I tried not to watch. From the odd angle of her body, I could see that the last spasm had broken her back. I was grateful when Tynan leaned over and gently closed her lids over the empty eye sockets.
There was a shimmer in the air and Thomas Redcap appeared in the middle of the room. “I come at the call of the death of a Great One.” He was staring at Morgan le Fay as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Hope ignited in Arthur’s face. “Don’t let her go. Don’t let her go.”
“Of course not, my lord.” With his cap back on, I couldn’t see the expression on Thomas Redcap’s face. I turned away so I also wouldn’t see him tear the skin off Morgan’s arm and eat it as he had with Viviane. It was a redcap’s way, but I didn’t have to like it.
“Do you have her?” Arthur asked eagerly.
When I looked, Redcap was backing away from the body, but he seemed uncertain. “Enough that she will never be forgotten among our people.”
The king’s face darkened. “Just enough isn’t good enough. I know the history of your kind. I know what they did. And I know what you can do. I don’t want fragments! I want all of her!”
Redcap looked at the Earth King in shock. “You don’t understand. That’s not what you want. If I go too far down that road, I might not be able to stop myself. The pressure of so complete a soul could drive me mad. You don’t know what you’re asking of me!”
Arthur lifted Excalibur and placed the tip at Redcap’s throat. “I know exactly what I’m asking. Do what you were made for or die here beside her.”
“Arthur, stop!” I cried, but the blade swung towards me before I could move.
“Don’t think Excalibur will keep me from killing you if you get in my way, Rhiannon. It may be yours, for now, but the scars on your wrist are proof that it’s quite willing to let you die.”
Redcap
had edged towards the door, but Tynan grabbed him roughly and pulled him back to Morgan’s side. I had no doubt Redcap was Tynan’s equal in strength, but he was staring at Morgan as if mesmerized.
He’s been battling the cravings of his kind for hundreds of years and now Arthur’s handed him a bloody buffet.
“Thomas! You don’t have to do this!” I think it was my unexpected use of his first name that made him look at me, but when his gaze returned hungrily to Morgan’s body, I knew he’d lost the war.
The next few minutes were some of the most terrible of my life. The others huddled in corners or hid their faces. I heard the sound of retching more than once. Eventually, even Arthur looked away, though he continued to aim Excalibur at Redcap. It was unnecessary. Once Redcap passed a certain point, he had no way of returning. What began as the delicate shearing of skin eventually became the stripping of flesh and the gouging of viscera. Only Morgause watched with me, eyes wide with fascination and longing. She looked as if she wished she could shed her skin too.
I bore witness—witness to when a man who loved me, and who I might have been able to love back, became a slathering, ravening beast. Bathed and gorged in Morgan le Fay’s blood, cap bright with it, the creature looked at me with red eyes. Then the air shimmered and it disappeared.
Titania found a throw on one of the couches and placed it over the remains. The white wool was immediately stained red through and through.
When Arthur offered me Excalibur, I took it with shaking hands. “I know what you’re thinking. I know you believe I’ve done something terrible to the redcap, and you may be right, but this is war. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. I will find a way to bring Morgan back, but I need to contain her soul until then. Think of how Viviane was returned to us.”
If you call a half-life tethered to a lake and her new undead daughter a victorious return.
When I didn’t respond, he sighed and nodded to Titania. “You two, take to the air and find Bel, but don’t engage until we join you. We’ll come as fast as we can.” The two fairies agreed. Eager to leave the carnage, they ran out onto the terrace and leaped from the side in a flurry of red and black wings
Looking at Daley who was still staring into the Grail as if mesmerized, Arthur frowned but turned away without issuing any orders to the young man. Daley was Taliesin’s; Arthur didn’t seem to have any real interest in him.
Unsure of who I belonged to, I slid Excalibur into its sheath and tried to walk, but my legs nearly collapsed underneath me. Someone grabbed my arm and I was surprised to discover it was Chloe. She smelled faintly of recent vomit, but her gaze was direct. “Sorry, I guess that ring held Bel less time than I thought it would. I’ll stay with Morgause while you go after him. We’ll . . . clean up here. Arthur will need what’s left of Morgan if he hopes to find some way to resurrect her. After that, I’m with you. I’m your Message, remember? Don’t leave me behind.”
Nodding, I pulled away. Arthur strode to the door and the rest of us followed, but Loki appeared, blocking the way. “Sorry, my lord, but the security protocols have been triggered.”
Morgause’s tinkling laughter sounded insane. “Bel’s always been such a naughty man. I knew I shouldn’t have let him coax the password out of me. I don’t suppose he left it unchanged, did he?”
Loki bowed mockingly. “No, my lady. Isabelle gave me my instructions as she left.”
Morgause pouted. “What instructions?”
The Trickster’s eyes twinkled with malice. “Why, to not open the door until you’ve all died of hunger and thirst, of course.” He laughed at the look on our faces. “No, just until she and Bel are far enough away.”
The Seer shooed him away with her hands. “Nonsense, open the door, Loki.”
“Not yet, my lady.”
Arthur strode straight through the shade which wavered and then reformed. The Earth King twisted the doorknob, but even though his muscles bulged with the effort, the door wouldn’t open.
Loki grinned. “Reinforced steel similar to the type they use in safe rooms, my lord. Morgause had the architect turn this whole condo into a possible safe zone.”
The Seer had wandered back to the wall of windows. “Well of course I did, silly. Not everyone likes their truth, even when they ask for it.”
“He’s getting away!” Arthur growled.
Tynan’s eyes widened as he thought of something. “Father! I know you were asleep for a long time, but you’re still the Pendragon!”
Arthur didn’t seem to understand, but then an expression of joy transformed his features. Running out onto the terrace, he lifted his arms and shouted, “Dewi, I call thee!”
Peter and I caught up with Tynan as he followed Arthur outside. I grabbed his arm to make him look at me. “What’s he doing?”
Tynan was grinning like a boy. “Father once had a vision of a great bear being conquered by a red dragon. He thought it meant he was destined to defeat his enemies, so he had the image of a dragon sewn on all his standards. But it wasn’t just a vision. When he was surrounded by an army of Saxons and facing certain death, the dragon appeared and saved him. That was the beginning of his understanding that he was the Earth King.”
I stared at him. “Are you trying to tell me a dragon is going to show up at any moment? A real one?”
Tynan nodded as he watched the sky. “It’s an embodiment of the fire of the earth. It obeys the Earth King.”
I didn’t remind him that two of the earth talismans had already abandoned Arthur.
A spark in the air hurtled towards us. As it grew larger, I knew that the thing the ghost of Melusine had turned into was like a child’s toy compared to the creature descending upon us. Flames streamed from its nostrils with every breath, lighting up the sky. The dragon was the size of something from a monster movie poised to destroy New York City, but it flew gracefully above the buildings. Burgundy-colored scales covered it, but where the fire reflected off them, they sprang to vivid, crimson life.
As it landed on the edge of the terrace, its wings beat the air into powerful gusts and we were knocked to the ground. I could feel Peter’s wild joy where he crouched beside me, but I didn’t share it. Almost against my will, I looked up.
Straight into the slitted pupil of a giant eye.
I’d been afraid so many times in the past few months that I’d become an expert in discerning the subtle shadings hidden within the white of terror, but what I experienced now was pure nothingness. Just when I thought I would lose my mind, the warmth of the dragon’s power filled me. It was the color of a fire that warms a home in the middle of the winter, not burns it down.
Rise, little Earth Queen.
And there it was in the voice in my mind, the answer to everything. Those who had orchestrated the political alliance between Arthur and Guinevere must have known they were both heirs to the earth’s power. Merlin must have known it when he chose to add her to his breeding program.
But Arthur didn’t.
Don’t let him know.
The scaled head turned to regard Arthur who was watching us with a different kind of terror on his face—a terror that even this had abandoned him.
He is still my son and the eldest of your kind. I will defer to his authority, but I am yours to command, Earth Queen, for you have held the fire within you.
I can’t take this from him too.
As you wish.
The Red Dragon—for I could tell from its thoughts that this was the name it gave itself—edged along the glass balustrade of the terrace nimbly. Given its size, I would have thought the glass would have shattered, but the creature appeared to be lighter than air, like a hot air balloon. By the way its body kept floating upwards, its claws were gripping more to keep itself from drifting away.
Arthur and the dragon shared a silent communication. Whatever was said between them, Arthur relaxed. Placing his hand on the dragon’s side the way you would with a horse, he said simply, “We will ride.”
Tynan and Peter
both approached the dragon with awe on their faces, but I realized suddenly that Daley was still inside. I ran back into the apartment where Chloe was kneeling by Morgause. The Seer was crouched on the floor and staring through the glass at the dragon as if paralyzed.
Chloe looked up. “I’ll stay with her until Loki lets me leave, but then I have to go with you to deliver your message. The magic won’t let me rest until I do.”
“Meet me at Track 61. Do you know where that is? I’ll join you as soon as I can.” No matter what happened next, I had to find Guinevere. Arthur would seek his revenge, but I had other priorities.
Then why are you following Bel at all, Rhi? Is it because you can’t let the fire go?
Chloe nodded. “I came in on Track 61 when I was given into Morgause’s service. Bel didn’t like using Paths when Morgause sent us on missions, but I can get to it again.”
“What about the Seer?”
My question drew Morgause’s attention away from the dragon and she stirred. “You must think me a poor prophetess to not predict Bel’s betrayal.” She lurched forward suddenly onto all fours. “But I did! There are dolls nesting in dolls here, plans overlaid with plans. I see them all. You sometimes have to go all the way to the bottom to find the path which leads up.”
Whatever you say, crazy lady.
But she wasn’t done. “You’ll understand well enough before the end. You carry a geas and will either live or die in fulfilling it, and the rest of us with you. Have mercy on us, Child of Blood, Eater of Bones and Life! Have pity on us, Destroyer of Worlds, and Scouring Wind! Choose rightly and blood will run like a river! Choose wrongly and it will pour out like the sea!” But she completed the prophesy slightly differently. “You cannot say that you have not been warned by me, but my plea will come to you through one who is mine.” I knew the change was deliberate, but not its significance. I would get no further answer from the woman. Sitting back on her heels, Morgause was scratching at the skin on her arms as if insects were burrowing under her skin.
Sword of Elements Series Boxed Set 2: Bound In Blue, Caught In Crimson & To Make A Witch Page 43
