CHAPTER 30
Mordred
Realm of Shadow Falls
After escaping Siberia, Mordred arrived in another cavern and saw the rest of the group looking at him as his brain rattled around. “That was not good,” he said, trying to get used to the idea of his father being My Liege. “Merlin. It’s always been Merlin. It’s always been my father.”
“Your dad is Merlin?” Remy asked. “No offense, but he’s a shitty parent.”
“Can’t disagree with that,” Mordred said.
“So, we finally know who the evil bastard behind all of this is?” Morgan said. “About time.”
“Where’s Elaine?”
Fiona pointed to the corner of the cavern where Elaine sat on the floor, looking up at the ceiling.
“What happened?” Mordred asked.
“She tried to remember something,” Mac said.
“There was a lot of screaming,” Wei said. “A lot. I don’t know what they did to her, but her memory is fucked.”
Mordred walked over to Elaine and crouched beside her.
“I can’t remember why they took me,” Elaine said. “Or who took me. Or what I was going to tell you when I saw you. I just remember pain. And Abaddon. I really don’t like her.”
“Join the club,” Remy said as he walked over to them.
“This doesn’t look like Tartarus,” Mordred said as he looked around at the glowing writing on the cavern walls. “Did we land inside another mountain? And where’s Nabu?”
“I’m here,” Nabu said from the mouth of a nearby tunnel. “This isn’t Tartarus, and you need to come with me.”
Morgan helped Elaine to her feet. “You okay?” she asked Mordred.
“I’m not sure,” Mordred said. He’d considered lying and saying he was fine, but faking it had never been one of his strong points. “There’s been a lot to take in.”
“I get the feeling we’re not done yet.”
They hurried to catch up with Nabu and the others and found themselves climbing some steps that led out of a hole in the ground behind a large stone sarcophagus.
“These are ruins,” Diana said.
“They’re old,” Remy said, running a hand across a second sarcophagus.
“Yeah, ruins tend to be that way,” Wei said with a smile as Remy raised a middle finger in her direction.
“I can smell smoke,” Diana said, sniffing the air. “Burning flesh, wood, and a few other things. Where are we?”
“Shadow Falls,” Nabu said as they reached the entrance to the ruins and walked into the forest. “I’ve been here before. The palace is a few miles to the south.”
“Where’s the smoke coming from?” Elaine asked. “That doesn’t bode well.”
“Few things do at the moment,” Alan said. “I guess we should go look.”
“You up to it?” Fiona asked him.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Me, too,” Mac replied. “No one asked, but I’m good.”
“We’ll lean on one another,” Morgan told him. “Everyone forgets that we were hurt.”
“I’m thinking of raising the issue with HR back in Avalon,” Mac told her.
“Avalon has an HR?” Remy asked. “I thought Elaine just kicked people when they annoyed her.”
“It’s close enough,” Mac said.
“Are you done?” Nabu asked. “We should go.”
Everyone stopped and watched him walk into the forest. “He is not dealing with this all that well,” Mac said.
“He’s not used to having so much happen in such a short time. His powers can’t keep up with processing all the new information,” Diana said. “Makes him grouchy.”
The uninjured members of the group reached the outskirts of the forest after an hour’s run. Diana had sprinted ahead, but Wei and Remy had easily caught up with her. Mordred and Nabu had joined them soon after, and they all paused at the sight of dozens of dead blood elves littering the field at the rear of the palace.
“What the hell happened here?” Wei asked Mordred.
“A battle,” Remy said. “The ground is scorched. The bodies are a little on the crispy side. And some are in more pieces than I really want to count. Oh, and the trees over there are still smoking but don’t appear to be aflame.”
“Lightning,” Diana said, pointing to several patches on the ground. “Nate did this.”
Morgan and Nabu turned toward her. “You sure?” Morgan asked.
Diana nodded. “There’s evidence of fire and lightning, and some of these elves are partially buried in the ground, as if something dragged them into the soil but only enough to cut them in half. Shadow magic did that. I’ve seen its use before. I’ve seen the aftermath of sorcerers cutting loose.”
“I’ve never seen magic do this sort of devastation,” Remy said. “There are a hundred bodies here. At least. Nate killed a hundred blood elves by himself?”
“Magic is stronger in Shadow Falls,” Nabu said. “Unpredictable and wild. But I have to admit to being impressed.”
“Something made him angry,” Mordred said. “Nate isn’t the kind of person to use his magic with this little regard for his surroundings. And he did that.” Mordred pointed to the hole where a large part of the palace used to be. Pieces of the wall littered the field and steps leading up to where it had once been.
“My God,” Elaine said as she reached the battlefield.
“That’s appropriate, as it seems that Nate is a god here,” Remy said. “The vengeful kind, too.”
“He slaughtered these blood elves,” Elaine said.
“This is why you don’t piss off a sorcerer,” Alan said.
“This is why people are scared of them,” Fiona replied. “Especially here. And especially Nate.”
Mordred walked away from the conversation, ascended the steps to the rear of the palace, and walked through the destroyed wall. He saw Galahad immediately and sprinted over to him, dropping to his knees and trying to find a pulse.
“Galahad!” Mordred shouted. “Galahad.” He channeled his light magic and placed his hands against Galahad’s chest. Yellow glyphs lit up over Mordred’s arms, turning almost golden as he poured more and more magical power into the light magic he used to try and revive Galahad.
He didn’t know how long he tried to revive his friend, but no matter how much magic he used, Galahad remained motionless. Eventually he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Mordred, he’s gone,” Morgan said, crouching beside him, gently pushing his hands off Galahad.
“No, I just need to use more magic,” Mordred said. “He’s not gone. He can’t be. I never got to say I was sorry. I never got to tell him he was a good king. I never . . . I just need to try harder.”
Mordred placed his hands back on Galahad’s chest and continued to use his light magic, the power spilling out all around him, barely contained inside the building.
Remy walked around to the opposite side of Galahad’s body and placed one of his hands onto Mordred’s. “He’s gone.”
Mordred stopped his magic and shook his head.
“He’s gone, Mordred,” Remy said again. “I’m sorry, but no magic is going to bring him back.”
“He was my friend,” Mordred said. “I can’t lose friends. I spent so long trying to hurt them that I need to make that up to them. I need him to know how sorry I was.”
“He knew,” Diana said softly.
“I saw Galahad about six months ago,” Mac said. “We spoke about you. He said he was proud that you’d turned everything around. That you’d fought the programming that was done to you.”
Tears fell from Mordred’s eyes, spilling onto Galahad’s cold body. “When we grew up together, he was always the best of us. We always tried to one-up him, but we never could. Especially with weapons. It was like he was one with them. It was a thing of beauty. Whoever did this will pay.”
“I think Helios did this,” Remy said.
“Then I will find and kill him,” Mordred replied.
“Nate beat you to it,” Elaine told him. “He died hard. We found his body outside. It’s not in one piece.”
“Good.” Mordred wiped his face. “Galahad and I fought alongside one another. We had one another’s backs, but I wasn’t here this time. For a thousand years we were enemies, but he was one of the first people I thought of when I regained my mind. I’d tried to kill him, but he was too good. I don’t know how Helios managed it, but I’m sure there was deception involved.” He leaned over and kissed Galahad on the forehead. “Goodbye, my friend.”
“You need to take a minute?” Morgan asked Mordred as he got to his feet.
Mordred shook his head. “Point me at something to hurt.”
A huge man appeared in the doorway, his body covered in splatted blood, one arm hanging loosely while the other held a spear. He saw Galahad’s body and dropped to his knees.
“Harrison,” Elaine said as the man cried out in pain and anguish for his king.
“Harrison,” Morgan tried. “We know it’s upsetting, but we need you to point us in the right direction. Where’s Nate? Where are the rest of the people he was with?”
“Fighting,” Harrison said. He exhaled and got to his feet. “You are Morgan and Mordred, yes?”
Both nodded.
“Galahad spoke fondly of you. Nate is missing, but his people continue to search for him in the city.”
“What do you mean, missing?” Mordred asked.
“We can’t find him,” Harrison said, occasionally looking at the body of his king before looking away. “I came to the palace to see if he’d gone toward the ruins. Blood elves had come from there.”
“There’s nothing out there but a lot of dead blood elves,” Elaine said. “So we know that Nate made it this far. What happened after that?”
Harrison shrugged. “We captured some blood elves; you can try asking them. They don’t even speak any language I’ve ever heard of, so we’re not getting anywhere fast.”
The group followed Harrison through the palace as he explained the blood-elf attack on the realm. “Do you need healing?” Mordred asked him as they reached the front of the building.
“I’ll be fine,” Harrison said.
Mordred sped up and stepped in front of Harrison. “Arm. Don’t argue.”
“Your magic will cause problems,” Harrison said.
“My light magic will be used to heal. If it gets out of control, I’ll only be healing people I don’t mean to.”
Harrison reluctantly nodded, and Mordred healed his arm. Once he was done, Mordred had to concentrate to stop the magic from flowing out of him. “I remember why this place isn’t good for me.”
“It’s not good for any of us at the moment,” Harrison said.
They stepped out of the palace, and the scene of destruction that lay before him took Mordred’s breath. A large part of the city closest to the palace had suffered the most fire damage. Several guards battled blazes threatening to consume more buildings.
“So, the fighting is over?” Morgan asked.
“Thousands of blood elves attacked us, and then they vanished. We found bracelets scattered around the city. Just blank copper bracelets, like the ones Zamek said he found in Tartarus. They’re up at the mountain preparing an evacuation.”
“Evacuation?” Elaine asked.
“We’re getting the people of Solomon out of here and to Tartarus. Arthur arrived in the Earth realm, and King Galahad went to see him, but they were attacked. Arthur was kidnapped by this Hellequin. King Galahad felt that Avalon would blame us and send a war party. We’re not sure how long we have, but we need to get people out of this realm.”
“Merlin was behind this attack,” Remy said. “He’s the My Liege character everyone’s been hearing about.”
“Sounds about right,” Harrison said. “Figures he’d be the evil bastard behind this.”
“So, what happens now?” Fiona asked. “Arthur is missing, and they’re going to start a war with Shadow Falls before Merlin takes full control. I worked for them; I believed in them.”
“You were fired by them, too,” Remy pointed out.
“First of all, I’d keep quiet about your Avalon connections,” Harrison said. “People will find out about Merlin soon enough, and I figure everyone in Avalon is going to be painted with the same brush.” Harrison nodded to several guards resting on the steps to get back to their jobs. “Secondly, I’m going to help people, and then we’re going to figure it out. Going to Tartarus sounds good. Too easy for people to attack us now.”
“Who’s in charge?” Diana asked. “With Galahad dead, who’s in charge?”
“Caitlin, his daughter, I guess. She’s the only one of the council anyone genuinely listens to on a regular basis, and she’s the only one I wouldn’t pick a fight with. Or maybe him—he arrived about an hour ago.”
A tall man walked toward them, his bloodred shirt and black trousers at odds with the sneakers he wore. “Elaine,” he said, shaking her hand.
“Hades,” Elaine said. “They have Nate.”
Hades nodded. “I know. We need to talk.” He looked at Mordred. “All of you. There’s a lot you don’t know.”
“Agreed. The only thing I really want to know is, will I get to kill everyone responsible for what happened here today?” Mordred asked.
“Unfortunately it’s more complicated than that. Arthur has been taken by this Hellequin character. It’s believed that Merlin is My Liege.”
“We know,” Mordred said.
“We’re thinking of just giving out cards explaining it,” Remy said. “It would save time.”
“In that case, come with me,” Hades said. “We need to find Nate before Merlin gets what he wants.”
“And what does Merlin want?” Elaine asked. “Apart from blood and death.”
“All of the realms bowing before him,” Hades said. “All of humanity cowering in what he believes is its rightful place.”
“Oh, just that,” Remy said.
“Now is not the time for jokes, Remy,” Hades said. “Merlin wants to rule everything. And it appears that he wants Nate and Arthur standing beside him as his right-hand men.”