by T. S. Ryder
"Isn't your only concern." Stane patted her shoulder and looked at Vaughn. "The Ladies of the Lake have returned."
"I figured, from the wyvern," Vaughn said dryly. "So they're going to try to kill the Greys, then?"
"I doubt it. That would lead to significant political blowback. The Greys are very well-liked. They want Arthur to return and wage war, not start it before they have a chance to open Albian's gates."
"How can you know?" Avalon asked, shivering madly. "They've been nothing but a myth for thousands of years, how do you know they haven't changed?"
Stane frowned. "There is no point in panicking. A calm, assertive mind and strength of will are what is needed here. I know that the Ladies of the Lake aren't after a pre-Arthur war," he paused, waiting for Avalon to crack a smile.
When she didn't, he continued. "The keys to Albian can't just be stolen from your family. There has to be significant political backing from powerful witching families in order for the keys to be transferred to them."
"Then why have they tried to kill me?"
"One acting alone, perhaps, or maybe they wanted to force the transfer of the keys to them by killing the last heir of Morgan le Fay. Whatever the reason, they're going a different route now. Your… worthiness to hold the keys of Albian has been officially challenged."
Avalon's eyes widened. "Meaning what?"
"Meaning you are going to have to fight a duel with your challenger."
Vaughn's arms tightened around her and a look of fiery determination came to his eyes. "How can they do that?"
"They have a girl that was descended from Morgan's son, rather than his daughter. They claim that gives them a right to hold the keys."
"Inheritance is meant to be passed from mother to daughter, not mother to son!" Anger was beginning to burn away Avalon's fear and she clenched her hands, shaking. "How dare they try to steal my birthright? They have no right—"
"They claim you aren't strong enough to defend the keys," Stane interrupted. "And you have to prove them wrong."
Avalon lifted her chin. "Where? When?"
"At the place of the final battle between Arthur and Mordred. In four days."
***
The battle of Camlann took place on a wide, flat plain. Mountains rose in the distance and everything was green and lush with early summer. While low-lying scrub brush grew around the field, it was magically kept clean of weeds and rodents.
Every year, on the anniversary of the battle–or as close to the anniversary as was possible, since exact dates had been lost to time–there were solemn reenactments on Camlann.
Avalon remembered attending them every year, her mother playing the part of Morgan le Fay, finding her brother King Arthur on the field, mortally wounded. She would cast a preservation spell over him to freeze him in time and stop him from dying before taking him to the Isle of Apples, where the goddesses of old would heal him and ready him for his return.
Avalon followed Vaughn out of the all-terrain hummer that they had been driven to Camlann in. There were already many people in attendance. Avalon recognized several powerful witching families, along with some non-magic royals and a scattering of politicians, both magical and not. A group of white-haired women waited for them on the other side of the field.
"Use your strengths," Vaughn whispered. "Use what you can do, don't worry about what you can't."
Elaine started across the field boldly. Stane stuck to her elbow and Avalon looked back once at her father, whose mouth was downturned and eyes worried before she followed her mother. Vaughn stayed close to her side, a string of muttered curses streaming from his lips. It almost made Avalon smile.
They stopped in the middle of the field.
"Bring forward the challenger!" Elaine shouted.
The white-haired women parted and a tall, dark-haired and pale-skinned woman strode towards them, a smug expression fixed on her face, accompanied by a young man. Avalon's jaw dropped.
"That's Helen and George," she whispered to Vaughn.
"He's a wyvern. Look at the way he carries himself." Vaughn snarled. "I knew I shouldn't trust him. But I didn't see he was a dragon!"
"Wyverns aren't dragons," Stane whispered. "Not true dragons, anyway. Now be quiet."
Vaughn scowled but nodded. Avalon's heart pounded in her chest and though she longed to shield herself in Vaughn's arms, she stood straight and tall with her shoulders back and chin level, like her mother. Elaine eyed Helen and George with disdain.
"It's not too late to take back your challenge, girl," Elaine said.
Helen bristled. "Your daughter is weak and unworthy to hold the keys entrusted to our lineage."
"Your lineage is through the male line, not the female. It is our right to hold the keys, not yours."
"I am a descendant of Morgan le Fay." Helen shrugged. "I am not here to debate my worth. I am here to prove it. So unless your daughter is too coward to face me, let's get this party started."
Chapter Ten
Avalon never knew there were formal rules to such duels, but there were. No killing. No physical contact between the duellists. No attacks on spectators. If either of them stepped from the magic ring that circled them, passed out or admitted defeat, then their opponent won.
Helen smiled as she and Avalon circled each other. A dome of blue light crackled all around them, blocking out the sounds from the gathered crowd and making their faces blurred and distorted.
"This really isn't personal, you know," Helen said in a friendly tone. "I actually really like you. But you're too weak to hold the keys of Albian. And quite frankly your family just doesn't know what to do with them."
Be passionate, but calm. Use your strengths.
Avalon took in a deep breath. She was angry. Angry that her birthright was being challenged, angry that instead of having a great semester getting to know people and making friends, Helen had tried to poison her and which in turn, made Vaughn overprotective.
She was also afraid that she wasn't strong enough. She had shared many classes with Helen and the other witch was good at everything she tried.
"Think of it this way," Helen continued, lowering her voice. "Once you aren't responsible for the keys anymore, you and your dragon can have sex day and night without being afraid anybody is coming after you."
Before Avalon could respond, Helen shot her hand out, flicking her wrist. Avalon summoned a magical barrier. Helen's spell made her stumble back and gasp for breath, but her shield dissipated the brunt of it.
Helen grinned at her and did the same spell again. This was one stronger and Avalon fell flat on her back, wheezing and coughing. The blue crackle of the fighting ring sizzled just above her head. She flung a spell back at her opponent, buying time to scramble to her feet and rush away from the dome. When Helen sent another spell at her, she dropped to her knees and closed her eyes, focusing on her own shield.
Calm, she thought. Anger. Tuck it away. Fear. Tuck it away. Vaughn. He's not in danger. Tuck him away.
She breathed out, listening to a rapid tapping all around her. When she opened her eyes she was shielding in brilliant golden light. A swarm of green buzzing bees launching themselves against it.
Helen's face twisted, manipulating her hands like a puppet master, but even when the shape of a giant bear in black rose from the ground and crashed against the shield, Avalon stood firm.
"We all have different strengths," Avalon said, more to herself than to Helen. A surge of triumph ran through her as Helen screamed in anger.
Avalon spread her fingers wide, capturing all the loose dirt and rocks that were around her. Helen's eyes widened as Avalon lifted the debris and shot it at her. Hands flashed and a shield formed between her and the debris–but even as the rocks and twigs froze in mid-air, Avalon was letting them go and grabbing hold of something else.
Helen shrieked as her feet left the ground. She wove the shield tighter around herself, but Avalon felt no break in her concretion. The shield was only good against fire m
agic or physical attack.
Levitation was of the earth, not fire.
Avalon hurled Helen from the ring before the other witch could figure out what was happening.
The blue dome broke as Helen went through it. Avalon grinned, laughing in triumph. She'd won! She had won and she hadn't even needed to use offensive magic.
Vaughn was right! She just needed to use her own strengths and forget about what she couldn't do. Just be confident in what she could do!
Helen scrambled to her feet, her face twisting in fury. "She cheated! Physical attacks were not allowed!"
"Physical contact between us wasn't allowed," Avalon shot back. "Face it, Helen, you just weren't as good as you thought."
The white-haired women behind Helen shook their heads and muttered to each other, glaring at Helen. She glanced over her shoulder at them, then clenched her fists and whirled back to Avalon.
"This isn't over!"
"Unless you plan to keep trying to kill me, it is!"
Helen's face paled. There was a collective silence. Every eye seemed to be on Helen, but even as she began a nervous laughter, George strode from the sidelines.
"It'll be over if you die now!"
He sprang at her, white wings sprouting from his back, clothes shredding as he doubled, then tripled, in size. The wyvern screamed at her, a poisonous sting shooting from the back of his throat. Avalon threw up her hands, ripping a chunk of dirt from the ground and hurling it into the stinger's path.
A Red Dragon barreled into the wyvern, fire billowing from its mouth. Vaughn.
Avalon opened her mouth to call his name but a pair of arms wrapped around her, dragging her away. She struggled instinctively until she saw it was Stane. He pulled her out of harm's way and began herding her and her mother back towards the hummer where her father waited.
"No!" Avalon twisted away. "Vaughn!"
When she turned back she saw George on his back, kicking and screaming at Vaughn. The Red Dragon's jaws clenched around the wyvern's neck. A snap rang across the field. Helen screamed and the wyvern jerked, trembled and grew still.
"George!" A swirl of fire surrounded Helen and she screamed again.
The white-haired women stepped forward and lifted their hands as one. Helen dropped, eyes rolling into the back of her head. Avalon thought she was dead, but her chest still moved.
"Avalon," Elaine muttered, tugging on her arm. "Come on."
Avalon shook her mother off and faced the Ladies of the Lake. Her fists trembled.
"Is this what you want?" she screamed at them. "For people to die? For your own children to be killed before your eyes? It's not bad enough that you try to kill me by sending that wyvern after me, but now—"
"If the wyvern attacked it was at Helen's bidding, not ours," one of the women interrupted. "You have proven yourself worthier than she to hold the keys of Albian. We withdraw our petition against the House Grey."
Several of them were still staring at Helen in disgust. Vaughn glided over the battlefield to where Avalon was. He brushed his muzzle against her hair and she pressed a hand to his cheek, gratitude welling in her heart. Patches of scales were missing and he bled at a few places, but he was otherwise unharmed.
"You were right," Stane muttered to his nephew. "The assassination attempts were one impatient girl. Look at the others. She ruined their plans to reveal themselves at a more opportune time. I'll bet they cut all contact with her."
Avalon gazed at Helen's crumpled body and couldn't help but feel pity for her. "She's paid a high price for her actions. Her brother is dead."
"And she is going to jail. You can be certain of that." Elaine's glare was fierce. "Vaughn, take Avalon away. I'll deal with this mess."
***
The flight home had been bad, but soon Avalon was laying in her own bed, tucked in beside Vaughn's warm body. His cuts and scrapes were all bandaged up, and when Avalon had suddenly begun shaking he'd put her to bed and climbed in after her, holding her while she sobbed.
She wasn't even sure why she was crying–thinking about how George and Helen, people she knew, wanted to kill her was bad enough, but she also could not get Helen's anguished scream when George died, out of her mind.
Eventually, she stilled and Vaughn kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"If I had protected you like I should have, none of this would have happened."
Avalon pressed her fingers to his lips. "You did protect me. I'm alive. That's your job."
"But if you had someone more experienced—"
This time, she cut him off with a kiss. "I don't want someone more experienced. I want you. I want to be with your forever. I love you."
Vaughn's eyes widened a little, then he kissed her back, fevered and passionate.
"I love you, too." A grin spread across his face, a smug twinkle in his eyes. "So… does this mean you're my girlfriend?"
"Of course!" She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him in as close as she could. "Of course, of course."
Chapter Eleven
In the end, Helen was imprisoned for life. She confessed to the attempted assassinations of Avalon in exchange for a plea deal. Had she been found guilty without the deal, her memories and magic would have been erased.
The Ladies of the Lake disappeared back to wherever they had come from. Stane and Elaine were reasonably certain that they would not cause any more trouble for a long, long time, now that Helen had blown things for them politically.
Avalon and Vaughn returned to Ma-Vic and all the teachers were shocked at the leaps and bounds in Avalon's control of her magic. Vaughn was very smug about it, constantly reminding her that he had told her all along she just needed more confidence in herself.
They shared a room and a bed now and to Avalon's relief, her parents approved. Although they weren't so keen on the two of them sharing a bed when they returned home for visits.
The months flew by and before Avalon knew it, it was Samhain Eve. As children got dressed up as characters from TV and ran around demanding candy, she was back in the UK, staying at her family's ancient castle, staring at the dress she had chosen to wear for the ceremony.
It was a stunning blue velvet, inspired by the medieval style with an empire waist, a heavily beaded and embroidered skirt, and a corset lace-up back. She looked stunning in it, but now she was finding it difficult to breathe, and wondered if she should have gone for the less constricting black dress her mother had favored.
I'm going to be sick.
Maybe she shouldn’t have skipped lunch. She'd been too nervous to eat, but maybe this queasiness wouldn’t be so bad if she had something in her stomach. Or maybe she'd just empty it.
She jumped when the door opened, but it was only Vaughn. She breathed out a sigh of relief. "How much longer?"
"An hour. You're beautiful," he added.
"Thanks. My looks aren't what I'm worried about, though." Avalon turned to the mirror and brushed her fingers through her hair, straightening a few stray strands.
"What are you worried about?"
"I've known since I was five years old that this would happen someday. I used to imagine what it would be like. But now that it's actually going to happen…"
"Reality is different than imagination."
"Twenty just seems far too young. I haven't even lived my life yet. I don't have the experience and wisdom I need to take on all this responsibility. Like, I know I hold the keys and all that, but what happens if Arthur wants to come back and I don't realize it? What if I do realize it and I forget the spell to activate the keys? What if I die and the keys are lost forever?"
Vaughn laughed, which did not help her mood and kissed her, which did. "You're not going to die. Trust me, I won't let that happen. Ever. You and I are going to have a long, happy life together. No arguments," he added as she opened her mouth. "I say we're going to be happy and that's that."
Avalon couldn't help but smile.
"Now," he continued. "Why d
on't you get dressed and come socialize while we wait for the ceremony? I think your mom is as nervous as you are."
She nodded and kissed him once more before he left. When he was gone the flutter of nerves churned her stomach again, but it wasn't so bad this time.
Soon she would be the guardian of the keys to Albian. After that, she would go to Oxford University and brush up on her history of the world. She would start attending formal conferences and diplomatic parties in a more official capacity than she had before.
All that would work itself out. She knew it would. Vaughn would be with her, protecting her and comforting her, while her mother would help her navigate the political field.
"I am a Lady Grey and I come from a noble heritage," Avalon whispered to herself, straightening her shoulders and raising her chin. "I will not be cowed by my own fears. What will come will come and I will be ready for it all."
***
The attending press went crazy as soon as she entered the ballroom. Avalon smiled and waved, but when they asked how she was feeling, all she'd tell them was that she was confident and excited for her future. She spent only ten minutes with them before her mother came and rescued her, pulling her to meet the guests.
The next hour seemed to pass in a blur. Before she knew it, Avalon and her mother were being led down a garden path, lined with late-blooming geraniums, to a small pond. This was where the ceremony had always taken place from generation to generation.
Avalon's father squeezed her hand as they got to the pond. Clear blue water was edged by cattails and the full moon hung low in the sky. It was a good sign, the full moon landing on the Samhain Eve when she would receive her birthright. Frogs croaked and crickets chirped.
Stane and Vaughn helped Elaine and Avalon into a small rowboat and gently pushed them adrift in the pond. Elaine leaned over, brushing the water with her fingertips. A thick mist rose, shrouding them. Soon the shore could not be seen and the sounds of whispering died away.
The boat stopped with a gentle thump and Avalon gasped. They had landed on an island. It seemed like just a tiny patch of land, but on the ground were a set of intricate golden gates. Rubies and sapphires winked at her and the whole gate seemed to glow.
