CHAPTER 9
Mordred
Basingstoke, England
The helicopter lifted off from the roof of Tommy’s building with Morgan, Diana, Fiona, Remy, Nabu, and Mordred aboard. They sat three opposite one another, and no one said anything for several minutes. Mordred knew that everyone was worried about Nate and Irkalla.
It was twenty minutes into the flight when his phone vibrated in his pocket. It was a message from Tommy: Nate and Irkalla are good. Stay safe. Mordred showed it to everyone inside the helicopter’s cabin, and he felt the mood ease almost immediately.
“Does anyone have any idea what we’re meant to find here?” Remy asked. Everyone in the helicopter was wearing a headset that allowed them to communicate. Without one, the sound of the wind would be far too much to hear anything.
“This is where Elaine went just before someone grabbed her,” Fiona said. “That’s pretty much all we know. We went to check the house out but found the place ransacked.”
“So, we’re meant to find something that the people who trashed the house couldn’t find?” Morgan asked.
“Look, we might as well investigate, and if we find nothing, we’ll move on to Moscow,” Fiona said, her voice clearly holding back the frustration and emotion she felt at the lack of information about the disappearance of Elaine and her husband, Alan. “I don’t plan on leaving a single stone unturned until we find them.”
“We’ll find something,” Remy said. “There’s always something to find. You just have to know what you’re looking for.”
“And what are we looking for?” Diana asked.
“Hopefully something really big and obvious with a map and excellent directions.”
Diana laughed. “You ever found something like that before, Remy?”
Remy smiled. “There’s always a first time.”
Mordred looked out of the window as they sped past everything far below. He wondered whether or not this mission was going to lead to something he’d rather not take part in. He wondered whether everyone in the helicopter with him would be okay if things didn’t go well. He pushed the thoughts aside; negative thinking would do little to help in the current circumstances. He felt a hand reach out and take hold of his, squeezing it slightly. He looked back at Morgan, who mouthed Are you okay? Mordred nodded and squeezed her hand to hopefully prove it. After the talk with Nate, he genuinely felt good within himself, although somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered how long that was going to last. There were a lot of people he’d purposefully avoided since regaining full use of his faculties, and he knew that at some point in the future he was going to have to meet up with some of them. It felt to him like an inevitability. He just hoped he could keep everything together when that happened. He didn’t want any of those people to think they could affect him anymore.
He let go of Morgan’s hand and went back to looking out of the window. Eventually there was an announcement in his headset that they were going to begin landing, and he sighed, cracking his knuckles and mentally preparing himself for what was coming. He started to hum the Mario theme tune and got an evil look from Morgan for it, but he ignored it and carried on. He found that humming the tune calmed him, although he’d discovered some time ago that the busier he was, the fewer tangents his mind went on.
There was a slight bump as the helicopter landed, and Fiona pulled open the door, allowing everyone to exit. Mordred walked away from the helicopter and stretched, taking in the scenery. Apart from a large house with a hole where the front door used to be, there was nothing for miles. Mountains sat in the distance, but between him and there were just open plains and a stream. Remote Scotland was as harsh and beautiful a place as anywhere Mordred had ever been, but he found the solitude to be tranquil.
As the helicopter’s engines died down, Fiona brought everyone together. “An LOA team went through here just after Elaine went missing, but seeing how we’re not exactly trusting Avalon at the moment, you should still be careful.”
“When did they leave?” Diana asked.
“A few days ago. This place has sat like this since then.”
“Well then, let’s go search the mansion,” Remy said, and set off toward the building.
Mordred held back and watched the rest of the group enter the massive house. He had no way of knowing when Elaine had the place built, but it looked to be a hundred years old, at least.
“Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two receptions, a dining room, lounge, kitchen, and no garden,” Nabu said from beside Mordred. “And it’s been ransacked. Both by whoever came and looked for Elaine first, and then the LOA.”
“Maybe they’re one and the same.”
“That’s an unfortunate possibility. I believe she was taken from here, although the lack of magical damage suggests otherwise. Maybe she was taken in Moscow and they wanted to ensure she hadn’t left anything here that might lead us to them.”
“You know, Elaine isn’t stupid. She knew about the cabal; she knew that several of its key players are members of Avalon. She knew that Hera was at least partly behind it all, and that Merlin is quite probably helping. Yet she came up here, to the middle of nowhere, with her guards, who are nowhere to be found, for what? A bit of a holiday?”
Nabu thought about it for a few seconds. “It is suspicious, isn’t it?”
Mordred nodded. “There’s no way Elaine would leave Avalon to crack on with everything while she swans off on her holidays.”
“Crack on?” Nabu raised an eyebrow in question.
“It means get on with it.”
“And swans off?”
“Storm off in a huff. Admittedly she’s not the storming-off-in-a-huff kind of person, but I wasn’t being literal.”
“So, you believe she came here for another reason?”
Mordred nodded. “She was meant to come see me in New York. She said she had info on the prophecy about me and Nate. So, why come here two weeks beforehand? Why bother to leave Camelot? Why come all this way to do”—he waved his arms around him—“fuck all? There’s nothing here. That’s the beauty of this part of the world: there’s fuck all bastards to ruin it.”
Remy left the house and walked toward Mordred and Nabu. “You two planning on helping? Because at the moment you’re just standing there like a couple of scarecrows with even less dress sense.”
“That’s not as good as your usual insults,” Mordred said. “I feel kinda bad for you.”
“Less swearing than usual, too,” Nabu said. “Maybe his earlier death has given him much to ponder.”
Remy raised his middle finger. “Ponder this.”
“Have you found anything?” Mordred asked.
“No, because you two are out here with your thumbs up your asses.”
“That was better,” Nabu said.
“Remy, I need your nose,” Mordred said.
“You what?”
“Nose, Remy, nose.”
“I heard you, Mordred. I just don’t know why.”
“Did I not say that bit?” Mordred asked, wondering what he had and hadn’t said aloud.
Remy shook his head. “I find it helps, though.”
“Right, yeah, sure. Anyway, she has a secret stash. She uses it for information, not drugs.”
“Why would we think it was drugs?” Remy asked, and turned a full circle. “There’s nothing here.”
“Kind of why I need your nose.”
“You want me to pick up her scent? Because any tiny parts that are left are mixed with about fifty other scents. You’d be better off asking me to turn back into a human, because that might be easier.”
“Isn’t that impossible for you to do?” Mordred asked.
“Kind of my point there. Your brain gone weird again?”
Mordred shook his head. “About the same as it ever is. But in this instance, no, I don’t need you to track her scent out here.”
Remy remained silent.
“On the way over here, I checked on my phone and there’s a cave system over to the north. People go climbing in it . . . ‘Spelunking,’ that’s the word, right? Anyway, I’m not much of a spelunker, never really saw the point of it. You know? I know that Elaine likes to go climbing. She’s a big fan, always has been. Again, it’s a bit weird. Only reason to climb is to get away from something, in my opinion. Yes, I know I’m rambling, but my point is while she likes to climb, anyone who knows her will also know that. But going underground? Well, that might not be the first thing people think of.”
“Mordred?” Nabu asked in a tone that suggested Mordred was rambling.
“Ah, yes, sorry.”
“You think she’s hidden important information in the cave?” Remy said. “Do you know the kinds of things that hide in caves?”
“Trolls, monsters of various shapes and sizes. It’s going to be a blast. You’d probably better get Diana, though, just in case we need something torn in half.” Mordred watched Remy run off and turned toward Nabu. “Useful skill to have around, tearing people in half. Never know when it’s going to come in handy.”
Nabu stared at Mordred for several seconds. “You okay?”
“My brain is moving very quickly. It happens every now and again when I feel stressed or concerned about something. Doesn’t help that I’m impatient to get going, and my brain doesn’t like it.”
“I thought you were all better. Thought you’d managed to keep your manic side under control.”
Mordred smiled. “That’s a very subjective term. Compared to being a drooling wreck who wants to eat someone’s face, I’m goddamned dandy. Compared to someone who doesn’t sing ‘Mario’ fifty times a day, I might be slightly unhinged. But one man’s unhinged is another man’s sane.”
“That’s one way of looking at it.”
Mordred’s smile vanished. “I’ve spent a long time being damaged. I’m not going to be that anymore. I might be quirky, I might be strange, but I’m me.”
“I never wanted to suggest otherwise.”
“I know. I know you’re just looking out for me. Everyone is always just looking out for me. Sometimes I think they do it because they’re expecting me to revert to my old evil ways.”
“I don’t think that,” Nabu assured him.
“Every day is a battle not to let my past actions crush me. Every day I tell myself that today I’m good, that today will be a good day. And for the last decade or so, I’ve been right.”
Nabu remained silent.
“You’re wondering what happens if one day I’m wrong?”
“The thought did cross my mind,” Nabu admitted.
“Then one of two things will happen. Either I murder those I love, or they kill me before I get the chance. Neither appeals. I tolerate my slight brain farts because to do anything else might drive me even more insane than how I was before Nate shot me.”
“Every day is a battle for many of us, my friend,” Nabu said, resting his hand on Mordred’s shoulder. “You are not alone in this, I promise.”
Mordred turned to Nabu and smiled. “I know. And that helps me think I can do better. Can make amends for those I wronged.”
“Is that why you’re here?”
Mordred turned to watch as the rest of the group left the house. “No. I’m here to find a way to stop me from having to kill Nate. I’m here because Elaine is missing and she’s pretty much the only member of my family who gives a shit about me. And I’m here because I want to find the people behind all of this and crush them into paste. They’re killing innocent people, Nabu. And that shit won’t stand.”
“Remy says you have an extremely stupid idea,” Morgan said. “I cleaned up his words a little.” She paused. “A lot, actually. Damn, that fox-man can swear like a sailor.”
“Thank you,” Remy said.
“You want to go spelunking?” Fiona asked.
“Do people just like saying that word?” Mordred asked. “Spelunking. It is quite fun, I guess.”
“Mordred,” Fiona snapped.
Diana rested a hand on her shoulder. “Easy, my friend. He’s not the enemy.”
Fiona shrugged off the hand and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”
Mordred shrugged, as if it were no big thing, although he wondered just how tightly wound Fiona was, and whether she might snap if she wasn’t careful. “Not specifically, no. I came here a few years ago to talk to Elaine, and she told me about a cave system. She made a really big deal about telling me of this system. Pointed me in the right direction and everything. I promise you, she hasn’t hidden anything in that house. Anything anyone found was of no real importance.”
“And if you’re wrong?” Fiona asked.
“We waste an hour and know I was wrong. I’ll even let you sing a song about how wrong I was.” He paused and held Fiona’s gaze. “I’m not, though.”
“A hidden cache of some kind?” Diana asked.
“Yes,” Mordred said. “It’s in those caves over there. I’ve never been down there myself, and I don’t really know exactly where she would have hidden anything, but we won’t find anything here.”
The group set off across the plains, making good time as the morning sun warmed the cold just enough to make it bearable. They reached the cave entrance, and Mordred peered inside, expecting to see something of interest, but it was far too dark, and far too deep.
“There’s a thirty-foot drop,” Remy said. “I can smell the insects inside. Lots of them. Also, something else. A scent. Two scents. The first is Elaine, no doubt about it, but the second is—”
“Perfume,” Diana finished, and took a sniff of a nearby rock. “I think Elaine dabbed perfume on these stones. It masks her scent, but more importantly it gives us something to track.”
“What if the people who came here searching knew about this?” Fiona asked.
“No other scents,” Remy confirmed.
“Remy and I will go first,” Diana said. “The rest of you, keep back, and try not to get hurt.”
“Have I ever told you how much I love your motivational speeches?” Remy asked. “They inspire such confidence.”
“I can throw you down the hole, if you’d prefer.”
Remy winked and darted into the darkness beyond, vanishing from sight within seconds. Diana followed soon after, leaving the rest at the mouth of the cave peering in.
“You see anything?” Morgan shouted.
“I can see all,” Nabu said, and stepped into the cave.
Morgan and Mordred shared a look of surprise. “What is he?” Morgan asked.
“An och,” Mordred said. “To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what he can and can’t do. He doesn’t talk much about himself.”
“Are you all coming down here?” Diana shouted from somewhere inside the cave.
Mordred walked into the cave with Morgan and Fiona beside him and used his air magic to gently lower all three of them to the ground, then immediately wished he’d brought a torch.
The light from Morgan’s phone illuminated a massive cavern. Several things moved on the walls, and Mordred was sure he didn’t want to get too close to them. There weren’t a lot of animals in the UK that would kill you, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t give a bite, and Mordred knew for a fact that some of those bites hurt like hell.
“So, any idea where she went?” Fiona asked.
“The perfume is still fairly strong in here,” Diana said, sniffing the air. “It’s maybe a week old.”
“How long does the scent last?” Morgan asked.
“Two weeks and it’s gone,” Diana said. “Before then it depends on the air, moisture, other scents. But down here, there are insects, bat shit, and the perfume. It’s easy to pick out the one I want. Elaine’s scent is here, too, but it’s too faint to be really useful.”
“I found something,” Remy said from the darkness. Fiona removed her phone and turned it toward his voice, the phone’s torch moving over Remy. “Yeah, blind me, that’s a good idea.”
Fiona moved the light slightly but didn’t apologize. “Better?” she asked, her tone hard.
“Sorry,” Remy said to Fiona, seemingly remembering why she was there. “But you guys need to see this.”
“So, you do notice when you piss people off?” Mordred asked as he followed Remy through a large crack in the cavern and down what appeared to be steps.
“Elaine made this,” Remy said. “Or had someone else with earth magic do it. These steps aren’t a natural formation. And neither is this.”
Remy was pointing toward a small stone hut at the far end of another large cavern. There was no door or windows on the small stone building, but it was obvious what it had been created to be: a place to hide, or hide something important.
Water trickled down the walls, and stalactites had formed throughout the cavern, bisecting the entire place. Some of the stalactites were so long that anyone over six feet high would have to duck down to get under them, making it difficult to get to the hut on the other side.
“I think they had some help, too,” Morgan said as she joined them.
Fiona walked over to the stalactites and was about to touch one when she stopped herself. “They’re sharp—I can tell even from a distance. These aren’t made by nature.”
“So, how do we get past them?” Diana asked.
“I’ll go,” Remy said, and dropped to all fours, darting under the stalactites and into the hut.
Remy emerged several seconds later—although to Mordred it felt much longer—with a small metal box in his mouth. He made the trip back over to the group and dropped the box on the ground.
“Any chance that Elaine booby-trapped this?” Morgan asked.
Everyone stared at the small gray box. It was six inches long, and five wide, with a small handle on top. It was three inches deep, so whatever was inside wasn’t large, but a booby trap didn’t need to take up much space.
“Let’s take it outside and open it,” Diana asked.
There was a crunching sound, and Morgan flashed her phone’s light toward it and discovered Remy chewing on something.
“Food,” Remy said. “I’m part fox, remember? Foxes eat pretty much anything you give them, and bugs are a good source of protein.” He bent down and picked up a dark beetle, popping it in his mouth.
“I need to leave now,” Morgan said, and took the lead as the group left the cavern.
It didn’t take long to get everyone up out of the cave, with Morgan using her earth magic to create a set of stairs that allowed the group to just climb out with ease.
“Why didn’t you do that in the first place?” Fiona snapped when back outside.
“I didn’t know what was below,” Morgan said. “Can’t start moving things around when I can’t see what I’m moving.”
“You could have moved those stalactites, though,” Remy pointed out.
“You didn’t give me a chance to do anything.” Morgan turned to Fiona. “Look, I get that you miss your husband. That you’re worried. But if you’re going to keep snapping at people, you can go back to Tommy and wait.”
Fiona took a step forward. “You’re welcome to try and make me.”
“I can’t believe I’m the one saying this,” Remy started. “But grow the fuck up, both of you. Fiona, you’re pissing off everyone with your attitude. I know you’re scared, but we are trying to help, and you’re being a—”
“Bitch,” Morgan finished.
“And you’re not helping,” Mordred said. “Fiona, if you can’t deal with this, you really should go back home.”
“I can’t,” Fiona almost whispered. “I can’t just sit there and do nothing. I’m sorry for snapping.”
Diana picked up the box, turning it over in her hands. “I don’t see anything dangerous.” She grew one nail until it was long enough to pry the lid off the box. There was a moment of concern followed by curiosity when the box didn’t explode or start spewing noxious gas.
“We’re not dead, right?” Remy asked. “I feel okay.”
“All of those bugs probably saved you,” Morgan said.
“So, what’s in the box?” Mordred asked.
“There’s a USB stick, a folded piece of paper, and a second piece of paper with a map on it. I think it was printed off.” Diana removed the contents, dropping the box on the dirt. She passed the folded paper to Morgan, the map to Nabu, and held the flash drive in her hands, turning it over as if looking for something special about it.
“Is there a computer on the helicopter?” Morgan asked.
“Let’s go find out.”
“What does the paper say?” Mordred asked as Morgan read it.
“I love you, little nephew,” Morgan told him.
“So we know this is Elaine’s,” Mordred said. “She called me that on occasion. She thought it was funny.”
Mordred took the note and carefully folded it up before placing it in his pocket. “So, what about this map?”
Nabu passed it to him. “I have no idea what it is.”
Mordred recognized it instantly. “It’s a satellite image of a small town that doesn’t exist.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t exist?” Morgan asked. “There are houses, and there’s a car—it’s red. There’s a black X on part of it, though. I don’t get that bit. Are we meant to go there?”
“The town doesn’t officially exist,” Mordred clarified. “It’s on no official maps and has no official name. It’s to the east of St. Petersburg, north of Sviritsa. It’s called the Hamlet. Not named after Shakespeare, before anyone asks.”
“It’s Avalon-run?” Diana asked.
Mordred nodded. “That X is where a hundred years ago I tore off a man’s arm, killed his best friend, and burned his home to the ground. When the ashes were cold, I salted the earth. I mean that literally.”
“So, we need to go to this small village?” Fiona asked.
Mordred shook his head. “No. When I last spoke to her, she mentioned that the man I almost killed now lives in Moscow. I thought it weird at the time. I wondered what possible connection he could have to the prophecy, but she told me to leave it alone until she confirmed things. Looks like he’s where we need to go.”
“And Moscow is where my husband went missing,” Fiona said.
“Yeah, looks like we’re going to get even colder,” Mordred said with a sigh. “And this might get a lot messier.”