Sword of Darkness

Chapter 9



Seren gave a nervous laugh at Kerrigan's dire prediction."Careful, my lord, there for a moment, you seemed so sincere that I almost believed you."

"He's not jesting, Seren," Blaise said in a bland voice. "He means it."

She felt her mouth open slightly as the full ramification of Kerrigan's words hit her. "You would use your own child to further your own ends?"

Kerrigan moved to stand so close that she had to tilt her head up to meet his fiery gaze. "I will do whatever I have to to remain where I am. I won't go back to what I was. Ever. Not for you and certainly not for the brat you carry. I warned you of such and I meant every word of it."

Apparently so. And yet she couldn't imagine being so callous toward an innocent babe who had no say in his existence. "What did they do to you to make you care nothing for anyone, not even your own child?"

His laugh was bitter and lacking all humor. "You never want an answer to that question, mouse. Your feeble mind is incapable of comprehending it."

She nodded before she stepped away from him. There was an odd calmness to her that she didn't understand. She should be terrified of him, and yet all she felt was pity. Sadness. Anger.

But through those emotions, she also had an epiphany.

There was no way either he or Morgen would kill her now. Not so long as she carried this child.

But unlike them, she refused to use an innocent life for her own gain. Blaise was wrong. The baby knew nothing of evil, and she was going to make sure that it never learned of it.

"I am truly sorry for whatever miserly mother spawned you, Kerrigan. No child should be born to a mother who doesn't love it." She narrowed her eyes on him to let him know exactly how much she meant her next words. "But I am not she, and this child is mine, and feebleminded or not, I will fight to my death for it. Do you understand that?"

He looked less than convinced. "Fight with what? I could break you in twain."

Seren moved to stand by his side. She lifted herself up on her toes to lessen the difference in their height. And she met that cold, eerie gaze without flinching. "Prepare for battle."

Kerrigan would have laughed had she not said those words with such growling sincerity that he actually believed her. "Why would you fight for a child you don't even want?"

"As you told Morgen, you gave it to me, and I protect what is mine. You should have chosen a more pliant vessel to carry your seed, my lord. This one will never stand to see her child harmed in any manner, and I will do whatever I must to see him or her safe. I assure you, you have battled much, but you have never faced a mother bent on protection of her babe. There is no power on this earth or beyond it more powerful, I assure you."

He was completely baffled by her conviction. "I will kill you, Seren."

"You will have to." She stepped away from him and turned to Blaise. "I would ask one favor of you, please."

The mandrake exchanged a puzzled look with him. "And that is?"

"That if I do indeed die before my child is grown that you make sure my baby knows that I gave my life for him. That I would have spared him all pain had God willed it, and that I regretted the fact that I wasn't a warrior to fight, but that I did fight with all I was worth…for him."

Blaise gave a solemn nod. "I will tell him."

"Promise?"

"Aye."

And with those words spoken, she left them alone.

Kerrigan didn't move for several heartbeats as his anger mounted. "That stupid little fool."

Blaise still stared after her even though she was no longer in sight. "She's not so stupid, I think."

"And what do you know of it?"

Blaise's violet eyes showed some inner pain. "Truly nothing. My mother was like yours. Selfish and cold. She cared nothing for me. But what I wouldn't have given to have had a mother like Seren."

A wave of disgust curled Kerrigan's lip. "Bah! You'd be a weak-kneed sop. Our mothers gave us an even greater gift. They made us strong."

Blaise met his gaze with an unexpected fire shining brightly in them. "Cruelty isn't strength, my king."

"Then what is?"

"A woman who is willing to fight to the death two people she knows she can't defeat to protect a child that is defenseless."

"That's not strength. That's stupidity."

One corner of Blaise's mouth quirked up as if something amused him. "And so is holding a castle against your enemies when you know you can't hold it for long. Tell me why you haven't handed Seren over to Morgen?"

Rage shot through him as he fought the urge to reach out and strike Blaise. "You overstep your bounds, servant."

Blaise lowered his head with a subjugation Kerrigan knew he didn't feel. "I do indeed. But I notice you haven't answered my question."

What was there to answer to such a ridiculous inference? "What do you think? I love her? I don't. I have nothing but disdain for one such as she."

And still Blaise's expression mocked him. "Funny. I have nothing but respect for her. I think she's a remarkable creature and I think, deep down, so do you."

Growling, Kerrigan took a step toward the mandrake, who quickly and wisely vanished.

His temper was snapping all around to the point that even the air around him was charged with it. It crackled with power and rage. But the truth was, he didn't know what made him angrier. The fact that Blaise had dared to say it or the fact that it was true.

He did respect her. Deeply. No one had ever fought for him. Not by choice anyway. Blaise and the others served him because they were afraid of him.

But Seren…

She would die to protect a child she didn't even know.His child. And in an odd way, it was almost like protecting him.

"You are a simpleton," he sneered at himself.

Seren could care less for him, and her bravery had nothing to do with the fact that he was the father of this baby. Like as not, she'd gut him if he ever offered her the chance. Just as Blaise and any of the others would.

But against his will, his thoughts drifted to what Blaise had said. The mandrake was right. He would have given anything to have had kindness as a child. Just once in his life to have had someone to even look on him with compassion or care.

"Get out of my sight, worm. You sicken me. I should have drowned you at birth. I don't even know why I bother to feed you now. Begone from me, you sickening dog. I don't even want to look at you."

He flinched at the sound of his mother's voice tormenting him from the past. And it was followed by the look of shock on her face the day he'd finally found the anger and courage to stab her and end her insults once and for all.

He'd felt nothing at that time. Nothing but a relief so profound that it corroborated the priest's words. He was hell-spawned, and to the devil he would eventually return.

So be it. At least he would finally be welcomed someplace.

Seren stood in the open window where she could see the army of dragons and gargoyles who were waiting to drag her back to Camelot.

"You won't win, Morgen," she said in a low tone. "Not if I can help it."

"Would you sell your soul to keep that baby safe?"

She turned her head to find the ghost of Lancelot behind her. "Such a thing isn't possible."

He arched a brow at her. "You don't believe in the devil?"

"Of course I do. But he wouldn't barter my soul for so trivial a matter."

"What if the devil would? Would you ?"

It was a perilous question. How far would she go to keep her child safe? The mere thought of hell terrified her. It, like her future, loomed in front of her with all manner of unknown torments and challenges.

She glanced out the window again to see the army of damned warriors. They might not live in hell itself, but all of them lived in a place of torment, the likes of which she'd never known before. They had no light. No freedom. They knew only Morgen and her cruelty.

It was a place she wanted to avoid and one she definitely didn't want her child to see.

"Nay," she said in a low tone. "I wouldn't trust the devil not to trick me. Safe the child would be in Morgen's hands, but I don't want that for him. I would only barter the devil if I could possess the strength and skills to keep him safe myself."

She saw respect in Lancelot's transparent eyes. "I know one way that would keep you both safe."

"And that is?"

"The sword Caliburn. The one that Kerrigan wields. Whoever holds that sword is immortal. With it and its scabbard, you can never be wounded or bleed. You don't need a warrior's training. All you need is to have it in your possession."

What was it with the sword that all she met wanted to take it from Kerrigan? No wonder the man was so distrustful. But she had no way of knowing if she could wield such a sword or the power it contained. Not without a man's strength. "Are you serious?"

He nodded grimly.

"How can I trust you?"

"Can you not?"

But what if he lied? Dare she even believe one bit of what he said? "If I take his sword, he'll kill me."

"Take his sword and he won't be able to." Lancelot lowered his voice to a tempting and seductive tone. "Imagine, Seren, absolute power. Immortality. No one would ever harm you or the babe. Ever."

Still she wasn't so sure about it, but before she could say anything more, he faded from her.

Irritated, Seren started to call him back until she saw Blaise approaching her from the other end of the hallway.

"What are you doing here, my lady?"

"Thinking."

Blaise laughed deep in his throat. "I usually try to avoid that as much as possible as it most often leads me to mischief or mayhem."

She smiled in spite of herself. The mandrake had a way with words. She actually liked him a great deal.

"So what were you thinking of?" he asked as he neared her.

"Something Morgen said about Kerrigan while we were fleeing Camelot. She told the gargoyles to take his sword. She said that if they took his sword and scabbard that he was naught but a mortal man. Is that true?"

She saw the indecision on his handsome face as he debated on what to answer. "Do you think it is?"

"Aye."

"Then you would be wrong. Kerrigan isn't like other men anymore. Morgen saw to that. But without his sword and scabbard he can be killed."

Seren cocked her head as she considered his confession. "Why would you tell me this?"

Blaise flipped his long braid over his shoulder before he answered. "Because I trust you to do what is right. Kerrigan is a formidable enemy, but he makes a far better ally." Blaise bent low to whisper in her ear. "He is a lost soul, my lady. Everyone gave up on him long ago and cast him aside as worthless. Don't be like all the others."

"And if he kills me?"

"I don't think he will."

How she wished she had his faith. "That's easy enough for you to say since it's not your life hanging in the balance."

He smiled at her. "True. But I have lain in your hands the way to destroy him. What you do with that information is up to you." He started away from her, then paused. Even though he couldn't really see her, his pale eyes were searing with their intensity. "Don't disappoint me, Seren. Kerrigan is the father of your child, and he's risked much to keep you from Morgen."

"And he threatens to kill me with virtually every breath."

"But you're not dead yet."

The "yet" was the key part. But then she had dared Kerrigan to do it and he had tossed away the dagger. It gave her hope that she was reaching him. She could raise her child alone, but it would be much easier if the babe had a father.

"No matter what he blusters, he won't kill you, Seren. Trust me."

Seren sighed as Blaise withdrew from her. Well, at least now she knew Lancelot had been honest with her about the sword. Take it from Kerrigan and he wouldn't be able to harm her.

Neither would Morgen.

But the last time she'd gone near Kerrigan while he slept, he'd stabbed her and had almost killed her.

There had been only one time when he'd removed his sword…

When he bedded her.

It would be a bold move on her part. And if she failed this, his anger would be boundless. She couldn't even blame him. Taking his sword would leave him vulnerable to anyone who came near him.

But it would protect the baby…

Her.

Do it, Seren.

It could very well be her only hope.

Hours went by as Kerrigan contemplated the strength of Morgen's army. He could summon the gargoyles in to the castle one by one and slay them. But to deplete the gargoyles would weaken him greatly and leave the dragons unchecked. Since gargoyles were made primarily of stone, only they could successfully battle one of those beasts. Dragons' breath would incinerate any living creature, but in the case of gargoyles, it only charred them a bit and left no lasting damage once the flames cooled.

It made them perfect dragon fodder, which made them valuable allies.

Perhaps he should try and woo some of them to his side. Definitely something easier said than done since, as a rule, the gargoyles hated him. He hadn't been exactly nice to them in the past. Like the mods and graylings, they were servants to do his bidding.

As for the dragons…

The mandrakes held no more love for Morgen than the gargoyles did, but the problem was that they cared even less for him.

Perhaps Seren was right. Kindness did have its benefits.

Kerrigan scoffed at that. What was he thinking? Fear was a much more potent motivator, and it was definitely the one he preferred.

But it all came back to one question. "How did I get myself into this?"

He and Morgen had always existed under a truce. Now he'd breached it for a bit of fluff that had no use for either of them. Seren's child would be able to command the Round Table and all who had sworn allegiance to it.

More than that, the child would be able to wield his sword, Caliburn. He swallowed at the sobering thought. With the birth of his child, he would become obsolete. It was why he'd always taken care to never impregnate any of Morgen's court, or her. Unlike those not of his bloodline, his child could wield the full power of his sword. With that sword, his child could rise up and slay him. And with Morgen guiding the child, it would only be a matter of time before the fey bitch turned his babe against him.

It was a frightening thought. Like so many before him, he'd laid the foundation of his own destruction. In one moment of thoughtless passion, he'd lost control of himself and sired his heir.

His successor.

He heard the sound of small footsteps approaching. He turned from his window to find Seren entering the room with a large platter of food. She was still dressed as a squire in a brown tunic and hose, with her pale hair plaited down her back.

Frowning, he watched as she placed the platter on a small table not far from him. "What is that?"

She looked down at her fare. "Dandelion salad with cowslip and berries. It was all I could find out in the kitchen gardens. I made a light sauce with the berries and water for the salad. It should be quite tasty." She met his gaze. "I thought you might be hungry."

He was famished, but there was nothing there that could nourish him. "Nay, Seren."

"You haven't eaten anything all day."

"I am quite fine without."

She placed her arms on her hips as she continued to argue with him. "You can't go without food. Blaise said you must keep your strength up or else the shield will fall and the others will attack." She held up a bowl of berries. "Humor me, my lord, and eat a few."

He stared at the small blackberries. They looked so harmless and yet if he ingested them, his stomach would cramp and undignify him before her. "I can't eat those."

"Then what would you like? Perhaps I could make that instead."

He cocked his head as he caught a strange tremor in her voice. It was slight…subtle. Yet it was enough to make him wonder. "What is this really about?"

And then he saw it in her eyes. That darkness that had marked many before her. Aye, she wasn't used to being dishonest, and it showed now in her entire demeanor. She was lying to him. "I know not what you mean."

"You do," he said, drawing near to her. "Tell me."

He expected even more lies from her.

She didn't bother. Stiffening her spine, she met his gaze with the sincere honesty that had marked her from the moment they first met. "I heard that you feed from the blood of children. That you would feed on our child once he was born."

Kerrigan snorted at the absurdity of that. "Nay, little mouse. I find nothing nourishing about the blood of children."

He saw the relief plainly in her green eyes. "Then what would you like to eat?"

Unlike her, it was in his nature to lie. Always. The truth was as foreign to him as was trust. There was no need to be honest with her, and yet the sadistic part of himself wanted her to know the truth of him. Let her understand exactly who and what he was, and then she would give up all her inane dreams that he might protect her or the child.

He smiled coldly at her. "What I like to eat, little mouse, is life."

A deep frown creased her brow. "I don't understand."

"I know." He moved to step around her so that her back was against his front. Pulling his glove off, he laid his hand over her chest, between her breasts. "Haven't you wondered why I'm so cold to the touch?"

"Aye."

Kerrigan leaned forward and inhaled the special scent of her hair. It fired his blood even more than being able to feel the heat of her body. All he had to do was move his hand a tiny degree and he would be caressing her breast…

He pushed that thought aside as her heart hammered its strength against his palm. He could feel the strength of her life force. Feel the electricity he needed to regenerate his powers.

All he had to do was close his eyes and he could draw it off her. Pull it inside himself until he consumed her.

"In order to live," he whispered in her ear, "I drain the life off others." He watched as her nipples hardened under the fabric of her tunic, teasing his desire.

"I still don't understand."

Kerrigan couldn't stop himself from flicking his thumb over one taut peak. She trembled in response, but didn't pull away. He cupped her breast as he pulled her back against him. The hunger of his body was second only to his hunger for her life.

The demon inside him was awake and it wanted her. The only thing that held it back was the man who didn't want her dead. At least not yet.

He forced himself to return his hand to the valley between her breasts, just over her heart. "I'm nourished by the essence of others."

Seren gasped as she felt a sharp pain pierce her heart. She tried to move away from Kerrigan, but he held her in place.

He laid his whiskered cheek to hers, and for the first time his body was warm. "You should feel the rush of it, little mouse. The feel of someone's life force moving through you, invigorating you." He nuzzled her neck, before he moved his hand away from her. "I live off the strength of that human essence. The electricity that runs through a heart. I literally suck it into my body to feed myself."

"And what happens to the person you draw this electricity from?"

"If they're human, they die. If they're Adoni, they can survive it. At least on occasion."

She gaped at his harsh words. "You kill people and steal their souls?"

"Nay, little mouse, the soul holds nothing for me. Give it to your God or your devil. I care not which. As for death…better them than me."

Stunned by his confession, she turned in his arms. But before she could speak, she heard the large rustling of wings. A dark shadow appeared in the window an instant before three gargoyles flew into the room.

Rage and fear mingled inside her. How had they breached his shield?

Kerrigan moved around her to engage them. Seren looked about for some way to help, but there was nothing she could do. As she had said earlier, she wasn't some warrior to fight. But how she wished that wasn't so.

Kerrigan caught one of the gargoyles by the tail and used it to slam it into the wall. The gargoyle shrieked before it jerked its tail free, then dove at him while a second one came at his back. They caught him between them, and pummeled his body with their fists.

The third gargoyle flew at her. Seren gasped before she ducked it and hid herself beneath the nearest table. As the gargoyle came after her, Kerrigan sent some kind of sorcerer's blast from his hand at the gargoyle that splintered it into pieces. Dust from the stone scattered everywhere, making her cough as the stone dust invaded her lungs.

Then Kerrigan spoke in a language she couldn't understand. His words rang out clearly in the hall in a deep cadence that was almost like a song. A heartbeat later, the other two beasts dissolved.

Seren sat beneath the table, covered in dust, as she realized exactly how much power Kerrigan commanded. For the first time, she was scared of him. Scared of this man who claimed to have no compassion.

A man who killed others just so that he could live. It was monstrous.

"You're safe, Seren," he said quietly. "They're gone now."

Her entire body shaking, she crawled out from under the table to see nothing but the powdered remains of the gargoyles.

Kerrigan leaned against the table with his arms supporting his weight. His black hair framing his handsome face, he looked a bit pale and worn. And as she neared him, he pushed himself back and leveled a menacing glare at her.

"How did they get inside the shield?" she asked.

His breathing labored, he raked a hand through his tousled black hair. "When I took the spark from you, it opened a slit in the shield. I can't feed and hold the shield at the same time. Not unless I wish to kill you."

Seren wrapped her arms around herself as a foreign coldness consumed her. "So this is the life you have. You kill in order to live, and you live in fear of those who want to kill you in return."

She couldn't imagine the horror that was his existence. The loneliness. Surely he did live in hell and had done so for countless centuries. "Tell me something, my lord, is this the life that you would give to your child?" She looked up at him and narrowed her gaze. "Truthfully."

She took his hand and led it to her stomach so that she could hold it over her womb. "Is this really the existence you want him to know?"

Kerrigan closed his eyes as the warmth of her washed over him. She feared him now. He could smell it, and yet there was no joy in his having caused it. In fact, it pained him.

He spread his hand out so that he could feel the tiny spark of power that called out to him and to Morgen. In time, that spark would manifest itself into a fetus and then a living, breathing person.

Whoever controlled the child controlled that child's powers.

An unbidden image went through his mind. He saw himself as a callow youth. Bitter and angry, his face still stinging from his mother's latest slap, he'd been lugging water from the well to his mother's hovel.

Three men had been riding by on horseback when his mother, being ever eager for coin, had called out to them to ask if they'd like to spend some time in her bed.

A knight dressed in a brown and gold woolen surcoat had sneered at her and her peasant's homespun rags. At least until his gaze had fallen to Kerrigan.

"How much for an hour with the boy?"

Stunned, Kerrigan had frozen in place. He didn't know what shocked him most: the man's question or the calculating gleam in his mother's light eyes.

Her gaze had gone from him back to the knight. "He's a virgin, my lord. Surely that's worth at least a silver mark."

Horrified to a depth he'd never known, he'd watched as the knight dismounted to pay his mother the silver coin.

Time had seemed suspended as the knight approached him. The summer breeze had swept its blistering heat over his body while the other two men had laughed and made comments on how they should have thought to offer for him first.

"I'll take a turn with him when he's finished. Two bits for the bastard since he'll be virgin no more."

His mother had laughed along with them. "Done."

Terrified, he'd been unable to move.

Until the knight had reached for him.

Kerrigan had swung his bucketful of water over the man, then beat him with it. The other two men came to help, and somewhere in the fighting, Kerrigan had grabbed the knight's dagger. Shaking in indignant outrage, he'd begun stabbing without thought as to the repercussions. He'd been blinded by his fear. Blinded by his anger.

And when everything had settled down again, he'd found himself covered in blood, standing over the bodies of the men. His face had throbbed from their beating. His entire body had ached.

Then in true scavenger form, his mother had come forward to search their purses for more coin.

Kerrigan had gaped at her.

Their deaths hadn't even fazed her as she pocketed any item of value they had. "We'll need to bury these bodies somewhere." She'd glanced to the horses that carried their armor. "Think you we could sell that for more?"

"You were going to sell me to them."

She'd looked at him crossly as she rose to her feet. "What are you squawking over, chicken? I've sold myself for you enough times that it's only right that you pay for me for once." She'd grabbed him by the hair and gave a yank as one corner of her mouth had turned up into a mocking smile. "And now that I know what you're worth, we'll be—"

Her words had ended in a choking gasp.

Kerrigan had felt nothing as he watched her eyes turn glassy. He'd felt her blood running over his hand before she'd staggered back and fallen.

And still all that he'd felt was emptiness. And relief.

Until the fear had set in that someone would learn of what he'd done and kill him for it.

He'd dropped the dagger and run with all his strength. And in that one moment, he'd set his future into motion the same way Seren had the instant she'd reached up and taken his hand.

And now he looked into those large green eyes that held no hatred of him. No scorn.

But they were fearful, and that saddened him.

"You haven't answered my question, Kerrigan," she said softly. "Would you barter your child to this life so that you can have the world? Is it really worth it?"

She lifted his hand and held it between hers. "All people are born with goodness inside them. All. And I know that somewhere deep inside you is still that goodness you were born with. You may never find it for me, but I pray you, my lord, find it for your child. Don't let him learn brutality from your hands. You were tender with me when you created him. I know you can find that same tenderness for him. I know it."

His chest tightened at her words. He'd never loved anything in his life. Nothing. He didn't even think he was capable of such a tender emotion. There was no goodness in him. There never had been. "And if you're wrong?"

"I'm not wrong."

In that moment, he realized the full strength of this woman.

He fought for himself. For his wants and his desires. But Seren…she fought for others.

He laid his hand against the smoothness of her cheek and stared into those eyes that seemed to glow from a fire that ran soul-deep.

"How can you have faith in me after all you have seen? All you know about me?"

Her features softened. "It doesn't make sense, does it? But then the fact that the two of us are locked inside a castle while an entire army waits to kill you and capture me doesn't make sense, either. Why are we here?"

He gave a short laugh. "I know not."

Her eyes turned light and teasing. It was a look that no one had ever had with him before. "And to think I'd really hoped that you had a plan of some sort."

He enjoyed this light bantering. The absence of malice and mistrust. "So did I. It seemed like a good idea when we came here."

The light faded from her eyes as her face turned serious again. "What's to become of us, my lord?"

Kerrigan stroked her brow with his hand as he marveled at the strength of her. At the way she was willing to take them all on for a tiny child that she didn't even know. "That is the question I keep asking myself. I could fight my way through Morgen's army, but I can't protect you while I fight. They'd take you the minute the shield went down. Not to mention that her army is actually mine and I don't really want to diminish my own forces. I might need them later."

"Then we will have no choice except to go back to her."

Kerrigan released a long, tired breath. "It's not quite that simple. Morgen now has a serious reason to want me dead. Sooner or later, she will find the means to do so, and then you'll be on your own."

He saw the spark of fire in her eyes before she spoke. "She won't win this."

"And how do you know?"

"Good always triumphs over evil. 'Tis how every story ends, and this one is no different."

Kerrigan forced himself not to laugh at her naivete. "Need I remind you that evil has already triumphed. Arthur is dead and Camelot is in our hands. This isn't a story, Seren. It's reality, and in reality, there are no guarantees."

Seren refused to believe that. She looked up into those dark eyes that smoldered with power and remembered the feral look of the wolf that had eventually licked her mother's face in gratitude.

Kindness is key, my Seren. That and your courage will save you.

She opened her mouth to argue when all of a sudden, a tremendous jolt went through the castle. One so fierce that even the stone walls groaned.

Kerrigan stumbled into her.

"What is that?"

Kerrigan couldn't answer as another such invisible wave went through the castle. He hissed as he fell to his knees.

Seren took a step toward him. He growled like a snarling beast, then slapped his hand against the floor. His eyes turned back to their red flames as he came to his feet.

She followed after him to see what appeared to be a giant tree in the hands of the gargoyles. They flew with it toward the shield, slamming the tree into the invisible wall like a battering ram against the door.

As they made contact, another ripple went through, forcing Kerrigan to stagger back.

"What is that?" she asked him.

His face pale, he gave a dark, sinister laugh before he answered. "In short, our doom."