by Steve McHugh
“You can create a brand new elven gate?” Layla asked. “Like the one you created in Norumbega?”
Tarron nodded. “It will take time, but yes. I only need to know a destination address, and I know the one here for the elven realm gate in Shadow Falls, so I can link them. So long as there isn’t already a gate in Nidavellir. Can’t have two elven gates in the same realm. Except Earth. I have disconnected the gate that goes from Norumbega to Shadow Falls, so the Shadow Falls elven gate is available to reconnect somewhere else. So, to reiterate, we use that gate to all come here. While I’m arranging a realm gate in Nidavellir, Zamek will use the dwarven gate we arrived through to come back here. He’ll then change the destination of the gate to take him to Tartarus. He goes to Tartarus and, once there, he changes that gate to go to Helheim and links the dwarven gate in Helheim with the one here. Once we’re back here we follow him through the realm gate to Helheim. Simple.”
“We have wildly different views on the world simple,” Remy said.
“All dwarven realm gates are two-way streets,” Zamek said. “You change the destination of one, and it changes the destination of the one linked to it. Technically, following Tarron’s idea means that Tartarus would no longer be accessible via the Wolf’s Head compound realm gate. So, right now the temple realm gate goes to and from Helheim, but once I change it to take us to Nidavellir, the realm gate on the Helheim side will cease to go anywhere until its destination is changed.”
“So, someone could just change it back to here and undo your work?” Irkalla asked.
“Yes,” Zamek said. “So, no one should do that.”
“I gave orders to change nothing on the Helheim end,” Hel said.
Mordred thought for several seconds to try to get his head around what Tarron had said. “I . . . think that works,” he said eventually. “Are you sure you can create a new realm gate?”
Tarron nodded. “A hundred percent, yes. It means Zamek can change the realms as needed on his end, and I can on mine. If there’s an elven gate in Helheim, we could just use that one instead and all go straight there. Basically, I made your bracelet plan completely redundant, Mordred. Apologies.”
Mordred caught Tommy trying not to laugh. “I liked my plan,” Mordred said almost wistfully. “It was a good plan.”
“His is better,” Hel said.
“Yes, it is,” Mordred agreed. “We still need to go to Wolf’s Head though. If Avalon gets into Tartarus before we can change that realm gate, then we’re going to have problems. And if Abaddon is after the tree, then we need to move fast.”
“Everyone get your teams ready and prepare to ship out within the hour,” Olivia said, and the meeting broke up.
Mordred stood and watched everyone file out of the room, until only Layla was left sitting at the table. “You have something to say?” Mordred asked.
“I want to thank you for keeping an eye on me,” Layla said.
“You were heading into a dark place,” Mordred told her. “Discounting the time I was no longer in control of my own mind, I’ve been where you are. I’ve looked over that precipice and seen nothing wrong with the darkness below. Someone had to drag me back from it. A lot of someones, actually. Everyone needs a hand sometimes.”
Layla got up from the table and walked over to give Mordred a hug. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how Galahad was the best of you all from your days at Camelot.”
“He was,” Mordred said.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.”
“But you should know something, Mordred. You’re the best of us.”
Mordred smiled and tried to say thank you, but the tears flowed instead and he found himself unable to speak. They continued to hold each other, neither of them saying another word.
7
LAYLA CASSIDY
After the meeting had ended and Layla had left Mordred, she’d felt considerably better about everything. Both of them had needed to talk to people, although Layla had no idea that saying something nice to Mordred would have that effect on him. She supposed he hadn’t been told a lot of nice things over the years. But Layla had needed the release too, to cry without questions, without anyone trying to ask her if everything was okay. Just two people who had gone through vast quantities of shit comforting each other. Layla had gone to get ready for her mission. She put on some black leather, rune-scribed armor, and picked out two silver daggers that she hung from her hips. It was always useful to have options when it came to the unknown fight that lay ahead.
When she was ready, Layla went to see her father. Caleb Cassidy was someone whom Layla had tried to put out of her mind for the better part of her teenage and early adult years. He’d been a crappy father and, as it turned out, a monstrous person. His murder toll was in three figures, and he wasn’t shy about wanting to add to it. He deemed criminals to be people who had forsaken their right to live. In Caleb’s mind, it was up to him to dish out the punishment that they deserved.
Caleb had been placed in a cell beneath the palace. The cells had remained mostly intact and were designed to keep even sorcerers from escaping. Runes had been carved into the brick of the dungeon, and six guards rotating on shifts remained outside Caleb’s cell. There was never one guard alone, and no one went into his cell without backup.
No one except for Layla. Caleb was evil, Layla was pretty certain of that, but he’d never shown any aggression toward his own daughter. He told her that he would escape one day and resume his mission, but he never made any move to actually do so. He would happily remain in his cell until he could escape without harming the people he claimed he wanted to protect.
The dungeon was much smaller than Layla had imagined, especially considering the number of people who had lived in Shadow Falls before the attack had effectively turned it into a ghost town.
Layla walked up to the cell door, saying hello to the two large men who guarded it. One was playing some sort of card game on a small table, and the other was reading a book. The card player waved in Layla’s direction without looking up, his concentration on something in front of him. The reader looked up from his book, then went right back to it.
Layla removed the keys from a hook on the opposite wall from the cell and opened the door.
Caleb Cassidy was just under six feet tall, bald, with a short blond beard and deep-green eyes. He was broad-shouldered, and being incarcerated had given him the time to increase his already considerable muscle mass. He looked more like a bouncer than someone who had once been a decorated FBI agent.
The cell had a bed, toilet, sink, small table, and a chair. Caleb sat at the table, playing with a set of cards.
Layla watched for a second as her father turned toward her. “Hello, Layla,” he said with a warm smile.
“Dad, are you playing poker by yourself?”
Caleb looked down at the four hands of cards that sat around the table. “I got bored of blackjack, and there’s only so much solitaire a man can play without wanting to throw the cards away. Can I assume that you’re here to take me somewhere more interesting?”
“We’re going to Nidavellir.”
“I heard that Hades and Persephone had been captured. Genuinely sad about that. They were both kind to me during my stay. Hades often came to talk to me while we were in Greenland. I enjoyed speaking to him. He was a pragmatic man.”
Layla actually believed Caleb was sincere about Hades and Persephone. “Not was, is.”
Caleb nodded as if coming to terms with agreeing. “Yes, is, my apologies. I assume you’ll be using my power to track your friends.”
“Yes. That’s the plan.”
Caleb got to his feet. “Excellent. I haven’t had much exercise in the last few days—it’ll be nice to get outside.”
“A word of warning,” Layla said. “No one is in the mood for your games. Sky is coming with us, so if you start to play around, I’ll be okay with her launching you off the highest mountain we
can find.”
Caleb held Layla’s gaze for several seconds. “I think I can cope with that.”
Layla led her father out of the dungeon and up to the palace above, where Chloe and Sky were waiting for them, both dressed like Layla. Chloe had a sword in a scabbard across her back, and Sky carried a huge claymore on hers, which Layla assumed had once belonged to her mom.
“I’m sorry about your parents,” Caleb said. “Anything I can do to help, I will.”
Sky smiled, although her eyes remained cold and unforgiving. “Yes, you will.” She turned to Layla. “Shall we?”
“Do I get armor?” Caleb asked.
“No,” Chloe told him. “Should make sure that you don’t try running off into the wilderness at the first sign of trouble.”
Caleb’s smile was broad and full of nothing but happiness, but Layla knew that behind his outward appearance, he was angry at being undervalued.
Layla nodded toward the palace exit, and the four left and took a tram over to the realm gate temple where they were met by Tarron and Dralas. Dralas carried a massive hammer that was easily the size of Layla, while Tarron had opted for a sword and small dagger.
“This is your father?” Tarron asked.
“And what are you meant to be?” Caleb asked.
“You should be more respectful of Tarron,” Dralas said, his tone containing a warning.
Caleb looked over at the giant. “Sure thing.”
“Everyone is ready for us,” Chloe said. “Also, if you could all behave for about five minutes, that would be great.”
They walked up to the temple where they found Zamek inside next to the realm gate. They didn’t notice that a group of people had entered, and Layla cleared her voice to get their attention.
Zamek turned to the group first. “Ah, you’re here. You should know that where we’re going used to be the main base for the blood elves. While it appears that a large number of them have gone, I doubt this will be smooth sailing.”
“So, how does this work?” Layla asked. “With the realm gates changing destination, I mean?”
“Mordred gave me a list of ancient dwarven runes that apparently Nate had been working on putting together before . . .” Zamek looked down at the ground for a second. “Anyway, it’s a revolutionary discovery. We don’t need guardians for realm gate activation. We just needed to know how to manipulate the ancient runes that are part of every realm gate. Unfortunately, I can’t permanently change them. They will reset to their original gate destination within a few days. Hopefully, that means we’ll be able to use the gate we went through to get back here, so long as I can alter the runes on the other end. It could utterly change the way we travel between realms.”
“Cool,” Layla said, sounding much less excited than Zamek.
“Before you leave, I have a gift for Caleb,” Leonardo said, brandishing what looked like a sorcerer’s band.
“I already have one of those,” Caleb almost snapped.
“Not like this you don’t,” Leonardo said with no hint that he cared how Caleb spoke to him, although Antonio visibly bristled at Caleb’s tone.
“What does it do?” Sky asked, clearly in a hurry to be going.
“Short words would be useful at this point,” Chloe said. “Please.”
Leonardo smiled in her direction and nodded once. “I find sorcerer’s bands to be . . . limiting. Yes, I know that’s their point, but when someone has a power such as Caleb here, it might be useful for them to activate it without having access to other aspects of their power, such as a naturally increased speed and strength. Essentially, it means he can use his ability to find people without the risk of him changing into his drenik form.”
“How long have you been testing it?” Caleb asked.
“About twenty minutes,” Leonardo said. “Give or take.”
Caleb turned to Layla. “You want me to wear untested technology that this person created twenty minutes ago?”
“You could always be forced to eat it, if that helps,” Sky said, leaving no room for confusion that she most definitely meant that as an alternative.
Layla removed the key for Caleb’s sorcerer’s band from her pocket and unlocked it, passing both the band and key to Antonio. Leonardo gave the new band—which looked a lot like the old one—to Layla, who placed it on her father’s wrist. When the lock clicked shut, the band glowed a deep blue for several seconds, before settling on its normal petrol color.
“Well, he hasn’t burst into flames,” Chloe said.
Leonardo shrugged. “I did wonder if it would explode, but apparently not.”
Caleb glowered at Leonardo, who remained utterly disinterested in his expressions.
“He’s joking,” Antonio said, taking a step toward Caleb. “But you should stop looking at him like he’s prey.”
Caleb looked Antonio up and down and laughed, making the other man bristle with anger.
Sky placed a hand on Caleb’s shoulder and squeezed slightly, causing him to drop to his knees. “I want you to understand something, Caleb,” Sky said, her tone calm. “If you piss me off at any point, I’m going to kill you. No games, no playing, no second chance. I like Layla, and you can be helpful, and those are the only reasons why you’re not currently rotting in an unmarked grave. Am I clear?”
Caleb nodded, and Sky released her grip. “Get the gate activated, Zamek,” she said. “We need to leave.”
Zamek didn’t argue, and a few moments later the gate was up and ready, the view through the gate showing the inside of a large room somewhere in the citadel of Nidavellir.
The team started to move through the realm gate with Caleb going between Sky and Zamek.
“Take care,” Leonardo said to Layla. “Be quick.”
“But mostly take care,” Antonio said with a slight shake of his head.
“I will,” Layla told them. “Keep safe. All of you.”
“We’ll do our best,” Leonardo assured her. “Just get back to us.”
Layla stepped through the realm gate, which stopped working the moment she found herself in a large room with the rest of the team. The walls were made of dark-red brick that put Layla in mind of blood. The floor was covered in gray stone, and there was nothing else in the room except for a single metal door at the far end that looked as though it hadn’t been used in a long time.
Sky removed the claymore from her back and gave it to Caleb. “This belonged to my mom. Can you use it to see where she is?”
Caleb closed his eyes as his power ignited. “She’s in the citadel. She’s a few floors below us, in a cell. She’s alone.” Caleb passed the claymore back to Sky. “I can track her without it now.”
“We’ll head down to find Persephone and try to figure out how we can get out of there without bringing however many blood elves are still here down on our heads.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Chloe said.
Layla touched the door to the room and it dissolved into a puddle of metal before moving aside so that no one had to walk through it to get out.
Layla’s team crept down the stairs that were directly outside until they reached a few floors below and, with Layla taking the lead, they headed down a dark corridor to where Caleb said Persephone was located.
“Hey, Layla,” Chloe shouted as they were halfway down the corridor.
Layla looked back at her, slightly surprised that Chloe would be shouting during a mission of stealth.
“You need to see this,” Chloe told her.
“I really hope there’s no one around who can hear us.”
Chloe turned and walked off to join the others standing beside a ten-foot high gap in the wall. It appeared as if part of the brick had been torn apart. She peered through the hole and surveyed the camps that littered the open area outside the citadel. There was no one there.
Layla stepped through the opening in the wall and looked up at the citadel that towered hundreds of feet above her. The roof of the mountain twinkled with tiny gems, which made
it seem as though the sky was there instead of miles of rock.
“Where is everyone?” Layla asked.
“It’s deserted,” Tarron said. “Devoid of anything resembling a living being.”
“I know that many of their kind have gone to Helheim, but I didn’t expect the blood elves to just abandon this citadel,” Zamek said. “So many of my kind died to defend this, and then when they lost it, so many died trying to retake it. For the blood elves to just run off and leave it . . .”
Layla walked over to the nearest camp. The smell of blood and death hung in the air. The camp consisted of six tents in a circle around a long-since extinguished fire. A colossal bridge had once run from the main entrance of the citadel to the top of a nearby cliff. A few hundred feet long and twice as high, it had been an impressive structure, but was now in pieces. She remembered Kase telling her that on their last trip here, she’d been abducted by the blood elves and taken to the citadel. To get her back the rescuers had destroyed the bridge, and a large part of the citadel. Layla could still see the damage from where she stood.
Layla found herself stopping by a large pit. It was ten feet deep and thirty feet wide, with wooden boards planed all around it, topped with some sort of barbed wire. Dried blood drenched every inch of the pit.
“Fighting pits,” Zamek said as he caught up with Layla and stood beside her. “The elves use them for keeping their people in line.”
“My people have fallen so far,” Tarron said, kneeling next to the pit and staring down into the horror that had once resided there.
“How many elves would you think lived here?” Layla asked.
“Thousands,” Zamek said. “Tens of thousands.”
“It was like Mordor,” Chloe said. “But without the orcs and big eye.”
Sky and Persephone exited the citadel together, followed closely by Caleb and Dralas. Persephone was leaning heavily on her daughter. A sorcerer’s band sat on her wrist, and her face was puffy and swollen where she’d been hit.
