by L. H. Nicole
Her heart broke for the blonde, and Aliana made another silent promise to try to repair the damage she had done, before the powerful Sorceress turned against her family. She had a lot of promises to follow up on, but she was determined to see them done!
They rode for hours, only sparse conversation starting here and there as they headed toward the last place the dark force had been seen. Leyon and Owaine had mapped out the previous attacks, realizing that the threat was indeed headed straight toward Camelot. Aliana wondered if Viviane and Mordrid could be the ones controlling it, or even to have created it. Mordrid wanted total domination over the seven realms, and having a weapon as powerful as the Spear of Hel would certainly give him the strength he needed before and after the alignment.
“But what happened to it? We’ve never heard of it before now? Merlin would have mentioned it, wouldn’t he?” She stroked her guardian’s wings now that he didn’t have to hide and rode wrapped around her shoulders.
“I would suspect so, yes. It could be that the spear is never fully recovered and still remains hidden, perhaps even still in the ruins of Camelot in the Isle. There is no way to know for sure as of yet.”
Aliana sighed, drawing the attention of Falorn. “What is wrong, highness?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. And please, Falorn, call me Aliana. I am really not royalty, even if I do have the queen’s blood in me. I’m just a girl.”
“Your modesty does you credit, my Lady Aliana,” he replied, his long hair shifting in the wind. “But you are royalty to our people. Trust us to protect you and share your burdens.”
“Why is this spear so powerful?” she asked him instead.
“No one knows the truth of its creation, but each of the five pieces bears a jewel of great power. When the staff is whole, the gems reach their full potential, making it the destroyer of the un-destroyable.”
Aliana needed to get her hands on that weapon. If Mordrid got it, or Raven or Viviane, they could destroy Excalibur and the only way to kill Mordrid once and for all!
A hopeful thought entered her mind, spurred on by Dagg’s silent agreement. “Can this spear be destroyed?”
Falorn frowned. “I do not know. I suppose anything is possible, but it would take power greater than any I have ever seen to do so.”
Aliana sat back in her saddle wondering if her magic would be strong enough.
They rode for a while longer before Arthur pulled his mount to a stop and held up his hand. They all searched the trees on either side of the path they were taking through the forest. Aliana opened her senses and connected her sight to Dagg’s as he jumped from her shoulder and hovered a few feet in the air above her.
The sharpened colors and scenery was beautiful, but it was marred by a creeping darkness that felt terrifyingly familiar.
A grunting pig-like sound caught her ear as it traveled across the air around them. “Goblins!” Aliana cried out, recognizing the sound from her first few hours in Avalon so long ago.
Bolts flew from behind the trees aimed straight for their party. Aliana ducked forward as one whizzed past her head. “Seriously! Again with the damn bolts nearly hitting my head!” She huffed and sat back up as D’varin drew his long curved sword in a flash and deflected the next three arrows that came at her.
“Stay behind us, princess!” he ordered as the knights were all defending themselves with their shields.
“Maybe you all should stay behind me!” she muttered, raising her hand to grab the air element’s magic. It came to her instantly, whipping out around their party like a hurricane. The deadly bolts were deflected and sent shooting back into the woods at the ones who sent them.
Grunting piggy cries were heard as she released the magic wind. Everyone stared at her in amazement, Merlin grinning like a mad man.
But the moment was short lived as grunts and angry battle cries rang around them.
“Dismount!” Arthur ordered as he drew Excalibur from its sheath. He gripped his shield and flung his leg over his saddle, quickly getting to the ground.
Everyone followed, the knights and Fae dismounting gracefully, arming themselves just as the hideously terrifying Goblins flooded out from the trees.
They were gruesome, pig-like creatures with blotchy brown-toffee-colored skin, pig noses, squinty black eyes and mouths full of blue, dripping sharp teeth. She hadn’t seen these monsters in Avalon, a fact she was grateful for. They looked mean enough to scare even the bravest person with their bald heads and nasty snarls. If she’d seen them in Avalon…she would have turned tail and run. Just like she wished they could now.
Aliana shivered, but steeled herself and finally released the veil covering the true strength of her magic. Her ruby glove became visible again on the top of her right hand. She summoned her magic bow, ready to help fight. It felt good to have the magic weapon in her hand again.
The bulky Goblins charged them with squealing battle cries that hurt Aliana’s ears. Dagg shot through the air, his purple Dragon fire incinerating the Goblin closest to them.
“My lady, stay with us!” Falorn ordered sharply as he, Echary and D’varin fought back the rushing beasts. She looked past them to the knights. Her gut lurched as Arthur and Galahad were fighting back to back with Gawain and Lancelot only feet from them. They were cutting down Goblin after Goblin, their swords slicing through bulky arms, legs and neck, all the while only taking a few hits themselves. Their scent was like bad body odor mixed with burning spice and mold.
A glint in the trees caught her eyes. She focused with her Dragon eyes and saw five Goblins aiming at Arthur and three of her knights. Anger and worry lanced her.
Instinct and training took over. Not thinking of anything but her friend’s safety Aliana aimed her bow and drew her back, the sparkling pink arrow forming. She let it fly, twisting her ruby hand as the burst multiplied and sank into each grubby Goblin. They squealed as they fell from the trees, hitting the ground in dead heaps.
She didn’t wait to see the knights’ reaction, using her vision to see if there were any more hiding Goblins. She found them, aiming at the rest of the knights fighting on her other side. She nocked her magic arrows and killed them before they could hurt her friends. Dagg continued to circle her position, helping Falorn and his warriors destroy the Goblins around them.
The sounds of the battle were loud and brutal, but the knights and Fae warriors were making quick, blue splattered, bloody work of the attacking creatures. Her racing adrenaline kept her nerves steady and focus sharp. She searched around for Morgana but couldn’t find the blond sorceress through all the dwindling fighting. Her gut twisted indignantly. The witch may have just betrayed them.
The darkness crept closer to them from the hidden recesses of the trees as the number of attacking Goblins was down to less than ten. Gray electricity crackled through the clouds of dark gray magic.
Oh no! Aliana froze, realizing what this meant for them.
The last of the Goblins fell dead in chopped off heaps at the knights’ feet. They looked around the trees, their warrior senses probably telling them they were not out of danger yet. And they were right.
Shadowy figures lurked in the approaching darkness.
“Everyone, fall back!” Arthur ordered.
They all formed up around Aliana, their horses long having run off in the chaos of fighting. Aliana disconnected her vision from Dagg’s, and opened her senses to feel the strength of the magic around them. It was not nearly as strong as she was used to, but there was a different element to it she had yet to feel from this dark magic.
Everyone shifted back and forth, ready to attack whatever came out of the darkness.
27
Lacy has snuck off three times now. I’m worried. I’ve started tracking her like a coyote watches a rabbit, but somehow my Blue Eyes keeps finding a way past me. Every time I confront her about it, she avoids answering by distracting me in the way only she and her kisses can. This last time I got her to admit that she has been meetin
g with Puck. It boils my blood that she doesn’t trust me enough to bring me with her. I could help her if she would let me! The only slight comfort I’m finding is that her magic has become stronger. Leo’s Freya and Delphina have been great teachers for her alongside that trickster.
~Percy
ALIANA’S HEART GALLOPED in her throat as she tried to brace herself.
Evil laughter echoed around them.
Four shadows made their way forward in the gray mist, one on each side of the group, surrounding them. A taller Goblin, decked out with ragged pants and one piece of shoulder armor stepped into view near Leyon and the knights on her left side. He carried a blade that was curved like a slithering snake in one hand, and a large mace that dragged on the ground next to him in his other. It must have weighed a ton, but the monster hefted it on his shoulder like it was Styrofoam.
Viviane was the next to appear. She was decked out in rich black silk that draped across her body like a sexy Grecian dress accented with round gold pieces at the shoulder and under her ample breasts like a belt. Her raven hair stretched down to her waist, her hands hanging at her side crackling with a red magic so deep it was like burnt blood. She smirked at them arrogantly.
Morgana appeared next, behind them, her head held high as she stared down Merlin with a mix of contempt and sorrow.
“Morgana, what are you doing?” The Druid’s usually confident voice full of pain, his strong face etched with devastating betrayal.
“I am joining the winning side, my love. You can too.” Morgana didn’t look as assured as she sounded, to Aliana.
“Never!” he spat out. “Why would you do this to us? To our king and our family?”
She snarled. “Because Arthur is not the rightful King of Camelot!” She turned her hate-filled eyes on Aliana. “And because this foreign interloper would see our kingdom ruled over by this weakling.” The air crackled with her magic and fury. “Aliana is nothing more than that Fae Queen’s puppet.” She pointed a finger at Galahad and then Arthur. “You two would give her anything she wants. You drool over her like a pair of puppies instead of making Camelot the great power it should be!”
“Who is this rightful ruler you speak of, Morgana?” Arthur hissed, his molten gold eyes staring down the traitor.
“Why that would be me, Arthur.” A familiar, high-pitched voice came from in front of them. Out of the dark magic stepped Raven, his clothes as regal as any Arthur would ever wear. He had a big sword strapped across his back as he looked down at all of them like a lord on high. He wasn’t the shy, small boy Aliana had grown so used to seeing. He was taller now, his shoulder’s squared with confidence and surety in his right to claim such power.
That sure as heck was not who I was expecting! “Raven? Why?” Aliana demanded, her clammy hands gripping her bow tighter. How did he escape Camelot’s dungeons?
“You don’t see it do you?” His cold calculating gaze studied her as the others tightened formation around her. “I would have thought you, with all your great magic, would have seen it before now.”
Dagg growled fiercely as he circled above her, his eyes alight with magic.
“Seen what?” Leyon hissed, looking ready to pounce.
“That there is more to me than meets the eye.” The air around him shimmered as his appearance changed. He appeared even taller, about Arthur’s height, his body gaining a little more muscle as his night black hair grew to touch his shoulders. The change was over in less than a second and Aliana wanted to hit herself for being so blind.
“Mordrid!” she screamed, half terrified, half pissed off. No wonder he escaped; it would have been child’s play for him!
The dark wizard’s head tilted to the side a fraction as his black eyes bore into her. “And how do you know my true name, dear Aliana?” Her name rolled off his tongue like a caress.
She shivered, gripped her magic bow tighter, fighting to keep her hand and breathing steady. “Surprise, jackass,” she growled. “I know a lot more about you than you think.”
“And yet you failed to see through my clever disguise for so long,” he taunted.
“Enough of this!” Arthur thundered, drawing the dark wizard’s attention. “I am the rightful King of Camelot. You have no claim on my throne!”
Mordrid laughed his shrill, slightly-crazed laughter. “You are as ignorant as you are arrogant, Arthur! Camelot was never to be ruled by the likes of you.”
“The hell you say!” the king spat, raising Excalibur higher.
Viviane laughed, making the hairs on the back of Aliana’s neck stand on end. “Really, Arthur, you are so unenlightened about your own kingdom.”
“Shut up!” Lancelot spat at the dark woman.
“You should have paid more attention to your mother’s stories, cousin,” Morgana sneered. “Maybe then you would have realized.”
“Realized what?” Galahad seethed.
Morgana popped out her hip, her fist resting on it. “That the creation story of Camelot so many think a myth is true, and that blasted Golden Dragon stole Camelot from its rightful ruler, the great Onyx Dragon!”
Aliana’s eyes widened as she made the connection. “You are crazy! That Onyx Dragon died ages ago! Why fight now?”
Mordrid’s smirk widened. “His body may have long turned to bone and dust but his fathomless power remains and I am his only direct descendant. Camelot is mine to rule by right! Until Arthur’s birth, his mother was the only living descendant of that pretender.” His creepy gray black magic started to infest the clearing. “But her magic is not what it was, and her protection is failing!”
“I have always known the truth about Camelot’s creation!” Arthur fired back. “And I know the Golden Dragon defeated the Onyx Dragon and banished him from Camelot!”
“Enough, Arthur!” Viviane commanded. “Hand over your crown with some dignity and we will grant you all quick deaths.”
“Never!” they all cried, even Falorn and his men.
“Then die!” a forgotten Goblin grunted as he charged them, more of his army filing out from the trees.
Fear burst in her blood. There were too many monsters charging them! She had to do something. “Camelot will never be yours, Mordrid!” Aliana cried and pushed open her magical senses. She grabbed all the magic from the earth and energy elements and mixed it with her own ruby magic as she punched her hand into the ground.
Electric charged vines erupted out of the earth, shooting through the enemy before they could even reach her knights. They trapped and squeezed all the Goblins they could grab, leaving the rest to die at the hands of the Arthur and his men. The pig-like creatures squealed and thrashed but she pushed more of her ruby magic through the vines. The putrid scent of their rotting guts mixed with the smell of charring flesh made her want to throw up. She released the magic when the last of her captives stopped struggling.
Aliana gasped for breath as a chill ran down her spine. She snapped her head around to see a bolt of blue magic charging straight for her. Quicker than she could react, Dagg appeared in front of her, unleashing a stream of Dragon fire so strong the air sizzled around them and the icy magic shattered.
“Thanks!” she said to Dagg, getting back to her feet, looking around at the battle raging on all sides of her. Mordrid and Viviane watched from their perches as Arthur, Galahad, and Gawain slaughtered the minion Goblins around them. Merlin tried to fight his way past the small army to get to Morgana. Leyon, Percival, Owaine and Lancelot were thrusting and slashing their swords, facing off against the nasty Goblin leader. All her knights were bleeding from cuts and gashes, but they fought like they didn’t feel the pain, and she hoped they didn’t. Falorn and his men struggled against the few Goblins that tried to break the fighting circle all the warriors had formed around her.
Grim determination filled her mind. She needed to stop this, before someone got killed. She leveled her bow at the two in front of her. She drew back, released her magic arrows, and fired them. She whipped around and finished of
f the last two just as one was about to stab Echary with its rusted sword.
The young Fae looked over his shoulder, sending a quick smile in thanks. She returned it before he stepped to the side to avoid the barreling club of the Goblin before him. Another cold chill went through her, her eyes darting past Echary toward Morgana just as she threw another spear of blue icy magic straight at her. Aliana raised her bow to counter it, sweat dripping down her temple. The blast was flying through the air so fast she wasn’t sure she’d deflect it in time. Echary severed the head of the Goblin he had been fighting as Aliana summoned her bubble shield and aimed. She released her pink magic just in time, the two energies exploding in the air as they collided violently.
Another darker power surged from her side. She looked too late as Viviane sent her own burnt-blood-colored blast at her. Echary stepped in front of Aliana just before the blast reached her. It pierced his heart with a bang that rang in Aliana’s ears like a gun shot.
“Echary!” Aliana cried out, catching the pale Fae as he fell backward. His skin turned a deeper shade of blue, his lips darkening to a deep purple. “Echary, stay with us!” she ordered frantically as she sank to the earth under his weight. Her entire body trembled in outraged anger and despair.
Dagg returned to her shoulder, his watchful eyes and presence helping to protect her.
The others glanced at them, the worry and fear doubling on their faces. But so did their rage. Falorn and D’varin roared in denial and charged the remaining few Goblins to try to get at the woman who had hurt their friends.
“Pri-Princess—are…are y-you hurt?” Echary asked, his eyes unfocused as he tried to move around.
“I’m fine, you idiot!” she whispered, trying to fight back her tears. “Why did you do that? I would have been all right!”
