by Candace Sams
“Again, I say…if he doesn’t agree, he knows I won’t report back that Americans shouldn’t be here, Mac. He knows it! I won’t endanger the mission that way.”
“Make him believe otherwise, Frankie! Use that anger I just saw. Remember what he’s done to you and Trey, what he’s likely done to hundreds of immortals who’ve come into his influence. He can’t use Morgan LeFey’s existence as an excuse to manipulate people. I don’t think that she-spider is half as powerful with her scrying efforts as Merlin says she is. He has simply bluffed us all into believing otherwise. Turn the table on him.”
Trey whistled. “That’s playing with fire, Mac. He’s going to know that you came up with all this. Piss that old conjurer off enough, and he’ll make you pay for it.”
Mac grinned. “I don’t give a damn. I’m sick and tired of his meddling into other people’s lives. We’re supposed to trust him, but he doesn’t seem to trust us.” He adamantly shook his head. “He’s deliberately done this to both of you. He wanted to put Frankie in a position of making sure Americans come to the battle. He wouldn’t trust her word alone, or Washington’s promise. Now that she knows that her brother will be in the battle, as a UK citizen and immortal, she’ll feel emotionally compelled to do whatever it takes to save your life, Trey. He knows you won’t go back on your fealty to the British crown, and that you’ll be here to the bitter end. But no one ever promised the old coot that the Americans would be his to command.”
Frankie walked a short distance away and rummaged in a rucksack she’d brought with her. From its depth, she pulled out a bottle of whiskey with her free hand. Her right hand still firmly gripped her sword.
“Shall we toast to this endeavor?” she asked.
“Toast or not. I could sure as hell use a drink!” Trey affirmed.
Frankie pulled the top off the whiskey bottle and held it high. “Here’s to finding my brother, killing my father, and pulling the whiskers off a conjuring wizard!” She then took a long swig and passed the bottle to the left.
“I’ll drink to that!” Mac asserted.
Chapter 10
For the next five days, Mac saw Frankie and Trey interact in ways that made him feel things he’d never experienced. The warmth of a reunited family now sharing memories, as well as histories, was truly inspirational. He found himself wishing he’d had a sibling or several, but then he barely remembered the small Welsh village from which he’d originated. He couldn’t recall his father’s face or his mother’s voice. Too much time had passed, and he’d spent a great deal of the centuries trying to move forward, not looking back.
Still, it was a privilege to watch the siblings interact. He stood back each evening and watched what years of forced absence had done to the pair. All because Merlin had plans that outweighed anything else. Rounds of renewed anger poured from Frankie and Trey. With heightened senses all immortals possessed, he felt every bit of rage and tenderness the pair experienced. It was all wonderful and horrible.
The cause of all this angst made himself conspicuously absent. That came to a halt, one morning after coming back to the castle to shower and change.
A handwritten note had been pegged, in a sinister fashion, to the outside of his bedroom door. Instructions on the sheet of parchment demanded that he make an appearance, on a hill to the north of the castle — a hill known to contain one of few existing noncombatant areas in that part of the UK.
In such megalithic, noncombatant sites — known to immortals as protective circles — massive stones had been erected in round patterns. Like Stonehenge, this similar construction had been done by unknown sources, eons ago. In these rare and special stone circles, neither Merlin, any other Ethereal or immortal, could wield magic, or a weapon. In fact, if he dared raise his sword in such a place, sacred powers, the source of which was still unknown, would slam him into the ground until he released his armament. It was for this reason that such places had been used as negotiation sites for warring tribes. As it had been for all time, the protective forces of Mother Nature still worked in these places. No battle or hint of vengeful behavior could be conducted in any protective circle. Nature would not condone it.
He only knew of the existence of protective circles because Merlin had told him about them. The one Merlin wanted to use as a meeting spot tonight just happened to exist on Bloodnight land. He’d heard it said that, when Morgan LeFey hunted and killed Arthur’s knights during the last battle for control of England, a few survivors on Arthur’s side had made it to the protective circle. They’d fled there to peaceably surrender. Unable to enter the circle with raised swords, Morgan’s knights simply waited out the last of Arthur’s followers until they’d starved and died within the circle itself.
For a few minutes, he considered not meeting Merlin at all. Frankie had delivered her ultimatums, and the wizard probably wanted to negotiate a different tactic; one that would not leave Frankie in control of the American contingent. If that was the case, it was her to whom Merlin should speak. Still, he was curious to see why the old sage had chosen such an ancient place of unknown, and omnipotent power as a protective circle. There was no need to discuss anything in such a place unless one of the attendees might harbor anger or resentment enough to attack.
Curiosity got the better of him. Knowing he couldn’t use it, Mac still picked up his sword and headed for the site, assuming Merlin would be already there.
The walk to the site was long. He took his time. When he arrived, he was a bit taken aback to see Merlin present, but dressed in long, white Druidic robes that made the older fellow look like an extra in a fantasy film. Then again, everything about the wizard was fantastical.
He strode forward with his sword in his right hand only to have Merlin issue an unnecessary warning.
“You know better than to bring a sword into the perimeter of this place, Macsen Rhys.”
“I have no intention of walking inside the circle with it. But you’ll grant me wisdom enough not to traverse these hills without it. Especially after rogues showed up here so conveniently!”
Mac carefully leaned his sword on a tree stump outside the circle.
“Did you really think I’d attack you, Mac?”
“I don’t know what you’d do these days. I assume you wanted to mull over something you’re angry about, or you wouldn’t want to meet here…where you can’t use your magic and I can’t lift my weapon.” He walked into the circle and sat on a low flat stone. “Talk, Merlin! I know Frankie has attached a very harsh set of requirements before bringing in the Americans. That’s got to piss you off!” he confirmed with a broad smile.
“Yes. She has. And I know that her asking for such control, when she’d have not done so previously, is your doing, Mac.”
“I’m proud to say I had a hand in it,” he admitted. “But she and Trey have issues with you, sorcerer! You surely didn’t think you could meddle in people’s lives like you have and not suffer consequences. If one of them is that Frankie no longer trusts you, that’s on you. Not me.”
“I’ve told you all before. Everything I do is to keep Morgan from scrying our efforts, and from knowing who precisely will be at the last battle…so she can’t murder my best warriors before the battle even begins. If she can thwart my magic, she will.”
“All of that is a lie. You wanted to control them. There is no excuse for having kept a brother and a sister apart for over a hundred years, old fool! The pair of them will never forgive you. Frankie knows you only let her discover Trey now because you want to make sure she’s sufficiently, emotionally motivated to hand over every single American asset she believes would help Trey survive…whatever battle you order him into. You’ve no conscience about anything, and certainly no heart when it comes to family!”
“Need I remind you that I, too, have a sister?”
“But nobody hid her from you.” Mac shook his head. “That was a low blow, Merlin!”
“I need to have control of all those who will be involved, Mac! Your interf
erence in my plans could very well provide the very energy Morgan needs to scry all my carefully hidden secrets.”
“I doubt that. You’re still hiding things. I can feel it.’’ He shrugged and stood. “You need to talk to Frankie. I can’t help you.”
“It was you who talked her into taking a position of power she’s not ready to assume. You need to speak to her, and undo what you’ve done.”
“I couldn’t have done anything if not for your sinister behavior! If she won’t speak to you now, I can’t help you, Merlin! I’m off to my hilltop. Frankie and Trey will be headed there by now. I prefer their company to yours.”
“You’ve become quite the little family, haven’t you?” Merlin sarcastically questioned. “You have no idea how manipulating the forces of energy can cause rifts; rifts in time and space that can be gleaned by a sorceress as strong as Morgan. She could be on her way to Cumbria even as we speak. And if she arrives before all the omens are right, she could win the battle. Don’t you see what’s at stake?” he loudly argued. “Only my magical spells and conjuring can protect us. Goddess above! Because of you, she might have even used her evil powers to discover that Garrett Bloodnight is the descendant of the man she hated more than Arthur.”
“Well, she’s not here yet. And I believe Frankie has made a wonderful pot roast for supper tonight. In fact, she has taken it upon herself to make sure we all have three square meals a day, with plenty of hot coffee for our vigils in the hills. She’s looking after us. That’s the kind of sweet heart she has. Sadly, she didn’t leave you anything in the fridge. She says she’s not cooking one more crumb for you! Apparently, her good nature only goes so far. Can’t say I blame ‘er.”
Mac got up to leave the circle, but Merlin quickly blocked his way.
“I could do a lot of things to regain control of this situation, Mac. Some of them quite extreme. But I’d rather have cooperation from those I once considered friends!”
“Friends? Is this how you treat friends?” Mac snorted. “You’ve alienated everyone around you. If you can’t get anyone to listen to you now, that’s your problem.”
“Her Majesty will think otherwise when I tell her about your interference and your turning an ally against me —”
“How many damned times…never mind, Merlin. You go run to the queen if you must. When she finds out that you kept siblings apart for over a century, just so you could set up a scenario where one of them will do anything to save the other one’s life —”
“That’s not what this is about, and you damned well know it Macsen Rhys.”
Mac dragged his hands through his hair and sighed heavily. “All right. Fill me in. Tell me all about it, wizard!”
“You’ve instigated anger in both Frankie and Trey when they might have been encouraged to find great happiness in their reunion. They would have forgiven me easily enough if you hadn’t bolstered their anger. You’re a cynical, lonely man with few friends and little hope of finding any. You’ve created a situation where Frankie and her brother now look to you for guidance instead of me.”
Mac blinked several times and tilted his head. “Are you listening to what’s coming out of your mouth? You did this! You! Frankie and Trey are furious with how you’ve kept secrets and denied them time they could have shared. You had no right doing such a thing, Merlin! The only thing making this life worth living is the love of family and friends. That you chose to keep siblings separated so you could use them on two different continents…and after all they’ve been through… it’s almost evil.”
Merlin blinked hard and stepped backward, as if he’d been struck.
“That’s right. It’s evil. Anyone who’d resort to such tactics is just as bad as Morgan LeFey.” Mac moved closer to him. “When was it okay to lie to people? When did the ends justify the means, Merlin?”
“Stop it! I warn you, Mac —”
“Don’t you threaten me, you son-of-a-bitch! Like you said, I’m lonely and cynical. There’s nothing you can do to me that time hasn’t already done. I have nothing you can use against me.”
Mac stepped around Merlin and would have left the circle but Merlin stood in his path once again.
“I can create a spell to turn her love for you into disdain and hatred.”
“What? What the hell are you…have you gone crazy?”
“She’s in love with you. But, unless you find some way to convince her to bring the Americans here, and put them back in my complete control, I’ll cast a spell that will change her affections for you into pure hatred.”
Mac carefully looked the other man over. A strange sensation entered his heart, but it had nothing to do with the ridiculous threat just made. Something was very wrong.
For the many years he’d known Merlin, the man had never acted like this. Nor had his eyes glowed the telltale green all Ethereals used just prior to wielding great power. He was in very grave danger and had to reassess his words carefully. The protective circle was only protective if he was in it. And he’d have to leave it sooner or later. Merlin had only a few steps to take before he’d be out of that circle entirely.
Right now, every syllable coming out of the wizard’s mouth — even the inflection of his voice, his gestures, and the glazed look in his eyes — denoted insanity.
Mac hadn’t lived so long without learning to flow with a situation. He took a deep breath, backed up, and held out his hands in a supplicating gesture. Then, he spoke slowly and with as much remorse as he could muster. He put every bit of feeling into his words, using other circumstances about which he really was remorseful, to infuse into his senses; the same senses Merlin must glean.
He dropped his head and forced out all the sadness and joylessness of his long existence. Merlin must believe every syllable of his next statement. Merlin must believe in the senses he was trying so very hard to project. “I-I’m sorry, Merlin. Please, forgive me. I’m not thinking clearly these days. You’ve always been the one keeping us all safe. You did it all through the war years. I…I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Sometimes, I just have all this anger bottled up inside, and I don’t know how to let it out. You know me…I’ve always been better with a sword in the woods, than words in an argument. I’m no statesman. I never will be. It’s just that I felt so sorry for Frankie and Trey. They’re angry, and I was angry on their behalf. But I see now that, that was all wrong. After all, they have an eternity to get to know one another. What’s a century?” He pasted on what he prayed was his best, lost expression.
Merlin’s countenance changed from one of anger to one of suspicion. Then, as Mac kept pushing the remorseful feelings forward, Merlin’s face softened considerably.
“It’s all right, Mac. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Just go and talk to Frankie, get her to change her mind about who is in control. It’s me. It will always be me. Just tell her.”
“Of course. P-Please don’t report me to Her Majesty, Merlin. I-I promise, I’ll regroup and get my attitude straightened out.” He took his voice to the level of a whisper. “The agency is all I have. If this life is taken away, what will I be?” He shrugged. “I…I think I spend too much time alone in these hills. I’ll check my attitude. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“You should get some sleep. I think you overdo it. Even an immortal needs rest now and then. You never take time for yourself.” Merlin patted his shoulder. “Go on, now.”
Mac feigned a sob. “Thank you, Merlin. I’m so sorry. Really…sorry.”
“That’s a good lad. Go on and find Frankie. Have a nice meal and get her straightened out.”
“I will. I will,” he whispered as he slowly strode out of the circle toward his sword.
Once he had the weapon in his hand, he forced himself to walk slowly away until he was at the bottom of the hill.
Centuries of knowing how much power Merlin controlled had taught him to put every ounce of contrition into his words. He’d tried to feel it deep in his heart and soul, so that the sensations would reach
the other man’s senses. Apparently, the wizard bought it. But only because Merlin wanted to. Deep down, the sage still wanted to believe he had a friend.
With haste born of fear, Mac broke into a dead run, and headed toward the hill where he knew Frankie and her brother were waiting for him.
Thankfully, he’d had the foresight to call Garrett Bloodnight earlier. The owner of the property should be on his way back to the castle even now.
With a battle looming sometime soon, it might take all of them to fight the one brewing right now — with a wizard who had quite obviously gone quite mad.
* * *
Mac made his way toward the siblings. Frankie was putting food out on their makeshift, rock table and laughing about something her brother said. Their jovial mood was quickly quelled when they sensed his presence as well as his fearful state of mind.
This one of the worst parts about being immortal. They could read each other’s feelings as masters of empathic perception. If one immortal felt bad, they all felt that same emotion to some extent.
“What’s wrong?” Frankie asked as she and Trey simultaneously stepped toward him.
“Sit down. Eat as we normally do. Keep your voices low, though I don’t know that subterfuge will do us any good. I think we’ve still got some time, but not much. Merlin will likely follow me. Neither of you is prepared to convince him the way I just did. It took centuries of skill to pull it off.”
Frankie frowned. “What the hell? Mac…I knew he was angry when I told him I was taking command of the Americans, but that was his own fault. What’s he done to get you so worked up?”
“He’s gone bloody well crazy, that’s what he’s done,” Mac advised. “He left a note telling me to meet him at the protective circle to the north of the castle. Do you know the place I’m talking about?”
Trey nodded. “I’ve been there before.”
“I know what a protective circle is, but I didn’t know that one was so close to Bloodnight land,” Frankie admitted.
