With My Last Breath, Book Three (19 page)

I nodded as he kissed my lips, his mouth soft and gentle. I felt a tear streak down my cheek and he wiped it away.

‚Do not cry,' he whispered, leaning his forehead against mine. ‚We will be victorious and all will be well.' I nodded, sniffling as he took a finger and wiped my tears.

‚I love you, wife.'

‚And I love you,' I replied.

Turning, we once again faced our army as we prepared to ride into battle.

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Chapter Twenty One

The palace grounds were quiet and dark as we approached, our horses’ hooves clacking against the packed dirt road beneath us. Above us, Ortrera and her Amazon warriors circled, their muscled legs guiding their Pegasus’ while they kept their eyes trained on the ground below them. I glanced up and Ortrera shook her head.

Apparently, she saw nothing.

Not a sound, not a movement came from within the compound. The silence was deafening. Even though it was only late afternoon, the dark clouds that swirled around us gave the appearance of the dead of night. The darkened palace loomed in front of us, ominous and stark behind the stone walls.

Ares rode in front, with my mother, Lucan, Hecate and me at his flanks. The legions of undead warriors fell in behind us, while gods and goddesses from the Spiritlands brought up the tail. The beasts from hell were situated throughout. They carried with them their acidic, sulfurous smell.

‚Where is everyone?' I murmured to Lucan. ‚This place seems deserted.'

‚Trust me, it is not,' he replied, looking around cautiously. ‚They only want to appear that way. It’s a brilliant tactic.'

If by brilliant, he meant unsettling, then I agreed. The hair rose on the hackles of my neck as I glanced around us. Shadows drifted around every corner as we moved stealthily toward the compound, the eerie silence roaring in my ears.

And then all hell broke loose.

Alarms sounded, the bugles screeching into the countryside and Arthur’s men were suddenly everywhere. Our horses’ hindquarters ground into the dirt to find traction as we pivoted and spun, trying to keep our backs safe from attack.

‚Stay with me!'Lucan shouted to me, brandishing a gleaming sword as he whirled in his saddle. The broadside of his weapon came into contact with Sir Gareth’s young chest. Gareth’s face, which was normally so boyish and handsome, was twisted into an ugly sneer as he tumbled from his horse and then leaped back to his feet.

‚Worry about yourself!' I called, as I spun Celine in a circle.

Hefting a lance from the rings attached to my saddle, I used goddess strength to hurl it toward Sir Gareth. Flying with such velocity, it easily sliced through the armor protecting his arm and embedded into the earth. The tip buried at least three feet into the ground, effectively pinning the angry knight. He was uninjured, but there was no way he would be getting up any time soon.

‚Well done,' Lucan grinned.

‚Let us try not to injure them,' I suggested. ‚They are not themselves.'

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‚Agreed,' Lucan replied. ‚They have been my brothers for a long while. I do not wish to harm them.'

Ahead of me, I watched my mother pin a young knight and his squire to the wall of the castle with her silvery goddess gaze. Another squire, attempting to grab her from behind was thwarted by my father.

With a deafening roar, Ares grabbed the teenaged boy, squeezing him tightly around the ribs. I heard a loud crack before he tossed the boy limply aside. The boy didn’t move. He wasn’t dead, but broken ribs would keep him immobile and would prevent him from rejoining the battle. It seemed that we were all of the same mind--- to avoid killing these soldiers.

In front of me, Cerebrus sat calmly, while Bedivere and Lamarak charged toward him. Their faces glistened with hate, their armor clattered as they launched themselves at him. Cerebrus reared his head back and breathed a mouthful of horrendous gas toward the knights.

It knocked them over and Bedivere retched into the dirt.

‚By God, that is vile!' he shouted. ‚It smells like death.'

‚He eats death for dinner, my brother,' Lucan replied from behind them.

With that, he drew a short sword, approaching the two knights in the dirt. Both of them lunged to their feet, drawing their weapons to fight. While they parried to and fro, the Cerebrus watched with glistening black eyes, its mane of snakes writhing along its great neck. It caused me to shudder before I turned my attention back to the battle raging around me.

Just as I was deciding where to intercede, the sky around me turned a deep, bloody red. Gasping in surprise, I turned my face to the sun and found that it had turned black. Gray, thunderous clouds rolled through the crimson sky and a hideous wailing filled the land.

I covered my ears with my hands, unable to stand the horrifying shrieks.

‚What is it?' I screamed to Aphrodite. She whirled in a circle and then lunged to the top of the palace wall, crouching as she searched the horizon. But then I saw them myself and my blood turned to ice.

The Fates were descending from the sky, each of them coming upon us as demons.

They flew with massive black wings, the skin stretched taut over pointy bone. Their naked bodies were covered in black scales, their eyes as black as pitch. They possessed tails and fangs and claws and they were without a doubt the most terrifying creatures I had ever seen. They were evil personified.

My mother leapt from the wall to stand with me and we circled, keeping our backs together in order to protect ourselves. As the Fates landed on the ground, they walked on all fours, their curled claws scraping the earth loudly as they moved.

I gulped.

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‚This isn’t good, mother,' I observed.

‚Whatever gave you that idea?' she asked lightly. ‚They are nothing, daughter.

Do not be intimidated.'

I looked around and found that the knights did not appear surprised at anything on this battlefield… not the hounds from hell, not the bronzed fire-breathing horses, not the Fates themselves. The mortal world had certainly changed. They were simply accustomed now to expecting the worst at all times. I shook my head at the misery of that existence.

Lachesis caught my eye and stepped from the middle of her sisters, her black eyes snapping and gleaming as she approached. I swallowed hard and gripped my dagger tightly.

‚What will you do with that, keeper?' she hissed as she drew up in front of me to her full height. In this new demon form, she was seven feet tall. Her fangs glistened in the eerie red light and I felt chills run down the length of my legs.

‚Perhaps I will drive it into your black heart,' I suggested as I turned it over and over in my hands.

My mother stood rigidly against my back, protecting me from any unexpected attack as I faced the middle Moirae sister. Ares was engaged with the other two, his muscles straining as they fought. I blocked it out. My thoughts had to focus on this one sister. This was my fight.

‚Why you?' I asked her seriously. ‚Why has it always been you that tormented me? It has always been you that visited me in so many lives, it has been you that thought of ways to torture me. I am betting it was you who chose to take my child from me and hide her away with Calypso. Why?'

She threw her frightening head back and laughed, but her laugh now sounded like a hissing shriek. My heart stilled at the sound, but I showed no outward sign of fear.

‚Of course it was me!' she exclaimed proudly. ‚It has always been me that understood what a threat you would eventually become. My sisters didn’t believe it,'

she sneered. ‚Even though the prophecy was clear, they couldn’t fathom that the weak girl that we had thrust into mortal form so many times could actually challenge us.'

She appraised me, her onyx gaze glittering. ‚But I knew.'

‚I’m not weak,' I replied. ‚I’ve never been weak.'

‚No,' she answered thoughtfully, her voice frighteningly calm. ‚You haven’t. But you are weaker than me. I dine on little goddesses like you.'

Anger surged within me, fury at everything she had done to me over the millennia combining to fuel my rage.

‚Try it,' I snarled, leaping toward her.'I dare you.'

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She lunged and met me mid-air, her wings closing in to clasp me to her within the diaphanous folds. Her skin was slippery and sticky at once and I struggled against her.

Her fetid breath was moist on my neck, the tip of one fang scratching my skin.

‚I’m going to drink every drop of your blood,' she breathed into my ear. ‚And then I will have your daughter’s for an evening cocktail.'

She shouldn’t have threatened Raquel.

My rage filled my fingertips and exploded, throwing Lachesis off of me. She flew into the palace wall and rolled to the ground, but quickly leaped back to her feet. Out of my periphery, I found that Lucan had joined Ares now and they were engaged with the other two Moirae sisters.

‚Harmonia, are you alright?' Lucan called, not taking his eyes from Atropos. He held Zeus’ sword in his hand, raising it parallel with her face. She hissed at him in response, lifting one clawed hand to scratch at the ground in front of her.

‚I’m fine,' I answered, keeping my gaze locked with Lachesis. She grinned, a horrifying, grotesque sight.

‚Are you?' she asked. ‚I don’t think you are.'

She advanced on me once again, taking slow steps. I didn’t move back, choosing instead to stand my ground. This was going to end here, today. There was no point in retreating.

To my right, Hecate screamed as Kay thrust his sword deep into her shoulder. I gasped as blood gushed from the wound. He stared into her face as she slid from his sword to the ground.

‚What think you now, witch?' he snarled and I gasped again. Kay had always been my favorite because of his kind spirit. There was no trace of kindness in him now.

Any gentleness in his spirit had been sucked away by this strange new world.

Around me, screams and vicious shouts prevailed and as I watched the vicious fighting, I realized that neither side would prevail here. Arthur’s soldiers would fight to the death, the Fates would ensure that.

‚Hecate, can you stand?' I called.

‚Of course,' she muttered, climbing slowly to her feet. Kay’s sword could not kill her, but the wound was clearly painful. Blood drenched the entire left side of her body and her face was ghostly pale.

‚You need to retreat to the Spiritlands,' I called, trying to circle nearer to her, as my mother intercepted to distract Kay. Lachesis followed me, stepping around the fallen soldiers with no regard to their moans.

‚Take the sword with you,' I continued, finally reaching her side. ‚And keep watch. At my signal, plunge it into the sheath next to Zeus’ throne. I think that’s the only way. It’s the only way we’ll fix all of these atrocities. But first, we must defeat the Fates.'

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‚Good luck with that, Keeper,' Lachesis hissed. Ignoring her, I called to my husband.

‚Lucan?'

From a few yards away, Lucan lifted his head and his chocolaty gaze met mine. He had blood smeared on his cheek.

‚Lucan, Hecate needs the sword.'

He nodded curtly and began to fight his way toward us, holding Percivale and Gareth at bay while he moved. His skill was unmistakable and I couldn’t help but admire it, even in the midst of our current danger. I had seen him fight many times, but never while I was at his side. It was a heady thing to behold.

It took him a scant few moments to reach us before he pressed the sword into Hecate’s hand, wrapping her bloody fingers around it. She staggered, leaned into Lucan and then righted herself.

‚Hecate!' I cried.

‚I’m fine,' she reassured me weakly. ‚I’ll wait for your signal.'

And she was gone.

The knights nearest to us looked around nervously.

‚Where did the witch go?' Kay wondered, looking first over his shoulder and then at the horizon.

‚Away from you,' I replied harshly, staring him in the eye. He didn’t flinch. ‚I’m sorry that this has happened to you, Kay. You were once a good man.'

‚Goodness is overrated,' he sneered before lunging toward me once more, his once handsome face turned ugly by hate. Lucan stopped him with a knife to the heart. Kay staggered a few steps and then fell.

‚Lucan!' I cried. ‚Do not kill them!'

He barely glanced at me as he returned to battle once more. ‚Woman, if it is him or you, my choice will always be you.'

He strode back into the fray without a backward glance, intent on covering Ares’

vulnerable flank. Panic began to set in. I somehow innately knew that in order to emerge as victors, we had to defeat the Fates first before restoring the sword. The problem was… how?

I looked around and found fighting everywhere, as far as my eyes could see.

Knights that we were once noble and valiant were now fighting with no honor or code.

And what was even worse, as I felt myself being watched, I slowly turned to find Arthur seated atop a knoll beyond the edge of the fighting. He was safely out of harm’s way, watching his knights fight for him. The old Arthur would never do that. He fought on the front lines, leading his soldiers to battle.

He sat with his royal blue cloak fluttering around him, perfectly outlined by the red sky. His icy blue eyes impaling me from across the field with his stare. He was much Courtney Cole 134

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different from the last time I had seen him. Malice had lined his handsome face and I found I had to look away. I just couldn’t bear to see him in such a way.

My mother’s shrieks of rage drew my attention once more and I raced to her side to help fend off Lachesis. Lachesis had straightened to her full height and was hovering over my mother. Suddenly, they locked arms, my mother’s goddess strength pitted evenly against the evil that fueled Lachesis. My mother’s arms shook with the effort and her silver eyes met mine.

‚Now, Harmonia!'

I remembered the dagger in my hand and closing the distance between us in two bounds, I thrust it into Lachesis’ black heart, burying it to the hilt. Her eyes widened and her breath exhaled in a hiss. Her arms dropped from my mother and she hit the ground hard on her knees. The ground shook from her weight and she toppled, face first into the dirt.