Sword of Darkness (24 page)

“I miss you.”

She swore she could feel his pain as well as her own.

“I miss you as well and I think of you constantly.”

Seren moved toward his sword, which she kept on the wall beside her bed. She didn’t know why, but she had yet to tell him that Brea had given it to her. In truth, she liked to keep it close by. It made her feel somehow closer to him.

She stroked the cool metal, wishing it were Kerrigan she touched.

“How is your tapestry coming?”

“Very well,” she said, her voice breaking. “But I—”

“Shh…I must go now. God keep you, my lady.”

A tear slid down her cheek as she felt him pulling away from her again. As always his absence tore through her. She hated to feel this emptiness. Hated to miss him so very much.

Perhaps Kerrigan and Blaise were right. The kindest thing would be to marry one of the others, but she couldn’t quite make herself do it. She didn’t want another man.

She wanted only one.

Sighing, she moved away from the sword to leave her room so that she could wander through the hallways outside. The castle was enormous, filled with all sorts of marvels and delights.

None of them pleased her.

She was restless. Most of all, she was lonely even though she was seldom ever alone here.

Sighing, she paused in the gallery room where paintings of kings, knights, Merlins, and battles lined the room from floor to ceiling. There was
one in particular that always seemed to draw her attention. It was the painting of her ancestor Emrys.

The painting itself was over ten feet tall and five feet wide. It hung in the center of the wall that was across from the conservatory where all manner of flowers bloomed amid the greenery.

The figure of Emrys was as commanding as it was eerie. He was a lot younger than she would have thought given the stories she’d heard of him. He didn’t appear any older than his early thirties, even though his long hair was as white as Blaise’s.

Standing near the edge of a dark cliff at night, he was dressed in a black robe and held a staff that had been fashioned to look like a snake, the eyes of which were encrusted with dark rubies that made them a sinister red. A deep glow radiated from them.

His eyes, like hers, were green and seemed to stare out from the painting as if he could see her. She reached to touch the heavy brush strokes that stood out from the canvas like waves from the ocean. The paint was as cold as her heart, but even so she felt an inner connection to the scene.

“He’s lying to you, you know.”

She turned at the sound of a deep, gravelly voice behind her to find a tall, handsome man standing in the doorway that led to the hall. He appeared around the age of two score, and yet he was as lean and well muscled as a man half his age.

His wavy, dark brown hair brushed his shoulders, framing a face that was sharp and refined
even with several days’ worth of whiskers covering his cheeks. He was dressed as an archer in a dark green leather jerkin and breeches. His longbow was draped around him and leaned in the opposite direction from his quiver of arrows.

He had a sword strapped to his right hip as he leaned nonchalantly against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Even from her distance, she could see a small lady’s ring he wore about his neck on a thin gold chain.

Even though he was dressed as a peasant, there was something regal about him. Indeed, he was rife with an air of power and wisdom.

She lowered her hand from the painting. “I beg your pardon, sir? Were you speaking to me?”

He nodded. “My name is Faran, my lady.”

“Are you one of the Lords of Avalon?”

“Nay,” he said with a small twist to his mouth. “I’m not worthy to be included in their esteemed company. I’m merely a friend to the Merlin and to you.”

“To me, sir? But I don’t know you.”

He gave her a gentle smile. “Sometimes the best friends to have are the ones you don’t know about. They are the ones who help you without asking for anything in return.”

What an odd man.

He pushed himself away from the wall to move closer to her. “I have to admit, Kerrigan has surprised me. I would never have thought him capable of such a sacrifice.”

“What sacrifice?”

Faran paused before her. His hazel eyes were troubled as he stroked the whiskers on his chin. “To ensure your safety, he has enslaved himself to Morgen. He’s so worried about you that he thinks Morgen won’t kill him. Poor bastard. He’s deluding himself as much as he’s deluding you.”

Terror gripped her at his words. Was he serious? “Kerrigan told me that he’s safe. Morgen hasn’t found him.”

“And he’s a self-professed liar, Seren. He would tell you anything to keep you happy here in Avalon.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Then that’s a pity. Because I know Morgen, and knowing her, I can guarantee you that his time is very limited. She has no more use for him now that Caliburn is safe inside the walls of this castle. Once she grows bored with torturing Kerrigan, she will kill him.”

Seren’s head whirled at his prediction. “Kerrigan.”

“He won’t tell you the truth, Seren.”

“Kerrigan!”

He didn’t answer.

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked Faran, her voice shaking from the weight of her fear that he was right and her anger at herself for allowing Kerrigan to deceive her.

“Because I’ve seen too many good men fall to Morgen. Not that Kerrigan is particularly good, but I would hate to see him die after he’d sacrificed so much to keep you here. Surely a man who
is capable of this kind of nobility has something worth redeeming inside him.”

“Aye,” she breathed. But even as she said that, she still wasn’t so sure that this wasn’t a trap. For all she knew, Faran could be working for Morgen. He’d said that he knew her. It would stand to reason.

Leaving him in the gallery, she headed for the refectory. There were several knights there, but no sight of Blaise.

Seren closed her eyes and used her newfound magic to focus on the mandrake. He was outside in the garden, kissing one of the maids who worked in the hall. She knew she should leave him alone, but the demon in her refused.

Instead, it manifested itself beside the embracing couple, who had no idea she’d just appeared next to them. Seren rudely cleared her throat.

Frowning, Blaise pulled back. The woman he was holding blushed profusely.

“Can I help you?” Blaise asked in an irritated tone.

“Aye. Let go your maid and come with me.”

He arched a brow at her words. “You know, there for a moment, you sounded so much like Kerrigan that it actually gave me a chill.”

“And if you don’t do as I say, I’m going to give you a lot more than that.”

He released the woman immediately. The maid scurried off toward the castle as quickly as she could. “What has gotten into you?”

“Anger. Fear,” Seren snapped. “Take your pick. I’ve been told that Kerrigan is at Camelot and that
he is suffering because of me. I need to know if it’s true. When you left him, what exactly did he say to you?”

Blaise shrugged. “He told me that he intended to battle onward.”

“How so?”

“He didn’t say. I told him that he would be stuck in your time period and—”

“What?” she asked, growing cold at those words. She could feel the blood draining from her face.

“I told him he’d be stuck in your time period without the medallion to amplify his powers.”

Seren took his arm in her hand as her fear mounted. Inside, she was praying that Blaise was mistaken. “Are you sure about that? He’s been telling me that he was traveling all through time and all over the world.”

Blaise scowled at her. “Telling you how?”

“In my thoughts. I can hear him. At least some of the time.”

Blaise’s frown increased. “He talks to you?”

“Aye.” Seren tightened her grip on his arm. “Are you sure he would be marooned?”

“Without the medallion, aye. At least for the most part. He would have the ability to jump once or twice in a month or so, but not frequently.”

Seren actually cursed as she realized the Faran had been telling her the truth. Kerrigan was in danger.

“Damn you, Kerrigan,” she said under her breath. “I’m not a child to be told bedtime stories while you do something so imbecilic.”

The demon in her snapped and told her to leave him in the hole he’d dug for himself.

But lucky for him, there was enough of the woman who loved him inside her that she couldn’t do that.

She grabbed Blaise’s hand and hauled him back toward the castle.

“What are you doing, Seren?”

“We’re going to see Merlin about a rescue.”

Kerrigan lay on his pallet made of sharp rocks, staring
up at the black ceiling. His entire body ached and burned as if it were on fire. Morgen had been beating him for days now. He could no longer even recall a time when his body hadn’t hurt. And he would give anything to have one day without Morgen’s relentless humiliation and torture.

But through the misery came an image of a tender face. Closing his eyes, he conjured the memory of Seren in his arms. The softness of her hand against his flesh. The smell of her hair…

Even now it was soothing.

“Kerrigan.”

Even though it hurt, he smiled at the sound of her voice. “Aye, Lady Mouse?”

Suddenly, he felt the presence of someone beside him. He opened his eyes, expecting it to be Morgen. Instead he saw the plain, yet beautiful face of his little mouse. Happiness burned through him with such force that it brought tears to his eyes.

His bloodied and bruised hand trembling, he reached to touch the velvet softness of her cheek.

But there was no warmth there. It was cold, and in that moment he knew.

“Morgen,” he snarled, dropping his hand away.

She laughed evilly at him. “You didn’t really think that your whore would come for you, did you?”

“She’s not a whore.” But even as he moved against Morgen, she threw him back to the floor. She put her foot to his throat and pressed the whole of her weight against it.

Kerrigan gasped as his throat closed, choking off all the air from his lungs. He tried to push her foot away, but she kept it there, biting into his throat even more.

“You pathetic oaf. I can’t believe I ever took something as worthless as you into my bed. I thought you had more strength than this. But no matter.” She stepped back. “Maddor,” she called, summoning the mandrake leader to her.

Kerrigan coughed as he drew ragged, wheezing breaths through his bruised esophagus.

Maddor appeared instantly. With long dark hair and equally dark eyes, he was dressed in a black tunic and breeches. “Aye, my queen?”

“Drag this wretch to the hall. I have something fun planned for him.”

Maddor inclined his head to Morgen before he reached for Kerrigan and pulled him up from the floor by his hair.

Kerrigan shoved the mandrake back, only to have him backhand him so hard that the blow
loosened several teeth. Spitting his blood out on the floor, he glared at the beast.

Maddor seized him again and this time managed to subdue him. Kerrigan snarled as he was unceremoniously dragged from Morgen’s chambers into the crowded hall where Morgen’s court was busy with yet another orgy.

As he was kicked to the floor, Morgen appeared in the center of the hall, where a light shone on her, highlighting her red gown and fair skin. She stood with her hands on her hips and a nasty smirk on her deceptively angelic face.

“Good Adoni, mandrakes, and knights of my table,” she called, gaining the notice of the revelers who stopped their hedonism to give their queen their undivided attention. “’Tis time to crown the next king of Camelot. Tell me, who among you has the courage to battle Kerrigan now?”

Kerrigan sucked his breath in sharply as virtually every male there stepped forward. The taste of defeat choked him. There was no way in his current condition that he could win a sword fight with even a maid, never mind a man full-grown.

Morgen laughed at her soldiers. “Good. For once there are many takers.” She looked at Kerrigan and smiled. “The king will soon be dead. Long live the new one.”

Merlin’s heart ached in sympathy as she faced Seren in her hall. She looked past the young woman to see Blaise, whose face showed his own sadness that there was nothing to be done for Kerrigan. “I can’t go after him, Seren.”

“Why not?”

“Because I am the Penmerlin. If I voluntarily enter Camelot, Morgen will have the power to destroy the entire world. It’s the same reason why your child cannot be born there, and why once your child is born, we must make certain that she never ventures to Camelot.”

Instead of deterring her, that only seemed to strengthen Seren’s resolve. “Then give me some of your knights. We can—”

“Can do what?” Merlin asked in an exasperated tone. “Storm the castle? Fight a thousand knights, demons, dragons, minions, and gargoyles? Morgen would kill all of them and take you prisoner until the baby is born, and then she’ll kill you, too.”

“We could all sneak into—”

“Nay, you can’t,” Merlin said, her voice filled with sympathy. “If any more than four magical beings travel through the portal together, it’ll alert her instantly to your presence. And she will be able to draw her army straight to you to fight. Why do you think Kerrigan took you into the future to begin with? He knew that Morgen would be limited to how many could open the portal at a time and step through it to fight. Not to mention, the future negates the dragons and gargoyles, who tend to set off military alarms.”

Seren raked her hands through her hair. Her frustration reached out to Merlin, but there really was nothing she could do to help either of them.

Her eyes burned as she met Merlin’s gaze. “Then what would you have me do?”

If Merlin had her way, she would save Kerrigan. However, that wasn’t an option. “Do as Kerrigan wanted. Stay here, marry one of our knights, and raise your child.”

Seren’s eyes flashed bloodred. But it lasted only a heartbeat before they returned to green.

Before her eyes, Seren seemed to calm down and come to terms with her decision. “Fine then. If that’s they way it’s to be…”

“It is,” Merlin said sternly.

She watched as Seren turned her back and left with Blaise in tow, but even as the woman walked from the hall, Merlin knew that Seren hadn’t given up.

“She’s going to try and rescue him alone.”

Merlin glanced over to Elaine, who was standing just inside the back doorway in the shadows. Elaine’s red hair was pulled back into a severe braid. True to form, she wore the armor of a knight, but instead of carrying a sword, Elaine carried a small bow.

“I know.”

Elaine stepped forward into the room. “Are you not going to stop her?”

“I can’t stop her,” Merlin said as she walked over to the table where she’d left her cup of wine after Seren had barged into the room. “She has the power of two Merlins and the resolve of a woman who wants only to protect what she loves.”

Elaine scowled. “If Morgen captures her—”

“Nothing in life comes without risk.”

Elaine’s eyes snapped with inner fire. “This is
more than a risk. She gambles with the entire fate of us all.”

“Relax, Elaine. She might very well succeed. After all, Seren has already done the impossible. She’s done what even I couldn’t do.”

“And that is?”

Merlin smiled at the older woman. “She’s returned Caliburn to us. More than that, she’s turned Kerrigan away from the blackness that has consumed him for all these centuries.”

Elaine sneered. “It was his choice that he serve Morgen.”

Merlin swirled the wine in her golden cup. What Elaine didn’t know was that she could see the future in the dark liquid. She saw it plainly. “Yes and no. I made a mistake when I sent you and Galahad to him after he found the sword and activated it. I was young then. Too young perhaps to understand that I chose poorly.”

She looked up to meet Elaine’s angry glare. “Given the way his choices were presented to him, I can’t really fault Kerrigan for his decision. I would have chosen Morgen myself.”

Elaine huffed at that. “You’re making excuses for him.”

“Perhaps. But if you’re so concerned that I’m making a mistake now, then go with her.”

Elaine narrowed her eyes as she took the cup from Merlin’s hand and returned it to the table. “I will. But I’m only going for one reason.”

“And that is?”

“If Morgen goes to capture her, I’m going to kill Seren myself.”

While Blaise stood behind her with a disapproving scowl, Seren could feel the feral demon within as it clawed and demanded freedom. For once she didn’t try to restrain it. She would need it if she were to succeed in this.

Dressed in the red tunic she’d made for Kerrigan, which was covered by a black jerkin and black leather breeches, she pulled Caliburn from the wall and strapped the sword to her hips.

“Garafyn!” she called, summoning the gargoyle to her side. “If you can hear me, then I would ask you for a favor on Kerrigan’s behalf.”

“He won’t come,” Blaise said. “We’ll have to steal your medallion back from Merlin to summon him.”

She snarled at him. “We wouldn’t have to steal it back if
someone
”—she gave him a pointed look—“hadn’t given it over to her.” She moved away from him. “Garafyn!”

She was just about to believe Blaise when the air around her stirred.

Two seconds later, Garafyn and Anir appeared before her.

“What is your damage?” Garafyn asked irritably. “Did it not occur to you that we might be occupied? You know, it is possible for even masonry to have some fun from time to time. God forbid.”

Seren frowned at his odd clothing. He wore some type of red and black form-fitting material, the likes of which she’d never seen before. Cocking her head, she reached to touch the shiny cloth. “What is that?”

Anir answered. “
Star Trek
costume. We’ve finally found our niche—twentieth-century science fiction conventions. We not only blend, but we keep winning the costume competitions. Talk about getting booty…and I mean that in more ways than one.”

Seren gave him an arch look. Was that even English he spoke? Unwilling to waste time asking about it, Seren chose to ignore it.

“Why did you call us?” Garafyn asked.

“I need you. Kerrigan is in trouble and I need to return to Camelot to—”

“Whoa!” they said in unison.

Garafyn shook his head. “You can forget it. I’m not ever returning there again. Ever…ever…ever.”

“Please,” she begged. “Kerrigan needs you.
I
need you.”

Garafyn narrowed his eyes. “And I don’t care.”

“Aye, you do.”

Seren turned at the new voice to see Elaine nearing them. She’d met the woman only a time or two, but she knew from experience that Elaine was standoffish. She had an intensity that was sometimes hard for the men to take. She also expected only the best from people and tended to be a bit unforgiving.

“Greetings, Garafyn,” Elaine said in a cool tone as she joined their small group. She looked him up and down. “My how you’ve changed.”

Garafyn curled his lip. “Don’t start on me, Elaine. A lot more than my appearance has
changed. I no longer feel any kinship with you or the others.”

“Really?” Her voice was thick with sarcasm. “I would never have guessed it, given how all of you turned on us.”

Garafyn rolled his eyes as he sneered at her. “Yeah,
we
turned on
you
…” He narrowed his gaze menacingly. “Use your head, woman…and I use that term loosely. Who’s the friggin’ gargoyle here and who isn’t? Don’t you think that if we turned on you, Morgen would have rewarded us with something more than this damned curse?”

Elaine’s expression didn’t change. “Given that it’s Morgen…No.”

Anir scratched his head with one claw. “She has a point there.”

“Shut up, Anir,” Garafyn snapped.

“Sorry, but she does.”

“And I don’t care,” Seren said between clenched teeth as she added her own glare to theirs. “Right now, the only thing that matters to me is the fact that Kerrigan is suffering because he helped us. Now, who is decent and caring enough to help me rescue him?”

Garafyn let out a snide laugh. “For the record, that’s not particularly motivating to those of us who pride themselves on being indecent and indifferent. Just FYI.”

Seren clenched her fists and made a sound of disgust. “I don’t understand half of what you said, but I don’t care. Give me your key to open a portal to Camelot and I’ll go alone.”

“I don’t—”

“Give me the key,” she said, letting her demon show.

“Wow,” Garafyn said at the sound of her demonic voice. “That’s pretty damned scary. Good tone, and the red irises are a particularly nice effect.”

He held the medallion out to her.

Before she could take it, Blaise did.

Seren growled at him.

Blaise stared her down. “Don’t give that Kerrigan look to me, young lady. You don’t know your way around Camelot. I do, and I’m not about to let you go alone.”

“I’m with you,” Elaine said, much to her surprise. Elaine didn’t strike her as the type of woman to do something so foolish.

But in truth, Seren was glad not to be going alone.

They all looked at the gargoyles.

“Only four can go without warning Morgen,” Elaine reminded them.

Garafyn let out an agitated breath. “I might as well be the idiot. This kind of noble stupidity is what got me cursed to begin with. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Morgen will actually kill me this time.”

“I would argue,” Anir said, “but I’m still young and that really attractive redhead at the
Star Trek
party was making eyes at me.” He clapped Garafyn on the back. “I’ve too much to live for. Good luck.”

“I really hate gargoyles,” Garafyn growled. He turned toward Seren. “All right, princess. Let’s go die.”

“Let’s not,” Elaine said. “But if we do get into trouble, I say we sacrifice the gargoyle.”

Seren thought Garafyn might have made a face at her, but with a gargoyle one was never sure if it was a face or just his natural countenance.

Blaise held his hand out. The medallion was wrapped around it. Seren covered his hand with hers, then Elaine and finally Garafyn, who still looked as if he didn’t really want to do this.

They faded from Avalon, then appeared in a small, empty room in Camelot.

Elaine grimaced at the black and gray color scheme of the spartan place. There were no chairs or bed. It looked like an empty storage room.

“First time back?” Garafyn asked Elaine.

She nodded. “Can’t say I like what Morgen’s done to the place.”

“Can’t say I like what Morgen did with my face, either…”