I couldn’t think of a comeback that didn’t contain the phrase “fuck you,” so I went with that and got a punch to the face from the blood elf for my troubles.
I was semiconscious as they half carried, half dragged me through the snow before dumping me on the ground.
“Wake up, Nate,” Atlas said, and slapped me across the face.
I blinked. “You again. Can’t you just kill me and be done with it?”
“I think you should kneel.”
“Why, is Zod around here?”
Atlas looked confused. “I don’t know what that is.”
I shook my head. I wasn’t about to explain it to my executioner. Two blood elves forced me into a kneeling position while another passed a shotgun to Atlas. “Any last words?” he asked.
“Not really. I genuinely hope someone flays you. Is that a good last thing to say?”
Atlas looked over at a ridge a few hundred feet behind us.
“You expecting someone?” I asked.
Atlas shrugged.
I stared at him for a second before laughing. I couldn’t help it.
“What’s so damn funny?” he demanded to know.
I shook my head. “You won’t get it.”
The heads of the two elves beside me exploded in a shower of blood and bone, covering me. A second later two more elves went down, both shot in the head. The last blood elf turned its weapons toward the ridge and died a moment later.
“Atlas is fucked,” I said, but remained on my knees. I had no power, so any fight between us would be over within seconds. Best to wait and see who my guardian angel was.
It took a minute for me to see Mordred, Tommy, Diana, and Selene hurry toward us. Mordred and Diana had rifles over their backs, while the other two carried no obvious weapons. Selene ran over to me.
“No,” I snapped a little more forcefully than I meant to.
“What’s wrong?” Selene asked as the others reached us.
“Ares fucked his head up,” Atlas said. “The last month has been hard on him.”
“A month?” I asked. “Fucking hell, a month.”
“We tried to find you,” Mordred said. “But while Merlin has a compound in Toronto, which we raided, he took you to the north of Wisconsin. We’re close to Lake Superior.”
“Do not take my sorcerer’s band off,” I said. “Ares did something to my head. He made me want to kill you all. I can feel it, the hate and need to hurt you just under my skin. It’s not Merlin. Gawain is My Liege. He’s manipulated everyone.”
Selene grabbed Atlas and pushed him up against a tree. “You were meant to keep an eye on him.”
“Wait, you’re working with them?” I asked Atlas. “And the punch was for what reason?”
“I don’t like you—that’s reason enough.” Atlas turned to Selene. “To keep an eye on him, not to get killed trying to rescue him. Gawain doesn’t trust anyone, especially not people who only joined up because he hates the other guy more. That’s not exactly a basis for a budding friendship.”
“So, what does this mean?” Tommy asked. “You hate us?”
“It’s like a voice deep inside of me telling me to hurt you,” I said. “It gets louder the closer you are. I don’t know how to get rid of it. Or rather, I know exactly how to get rid of it; I just don’t know how to tell you.”
“Mind magic?” Diana asked. “We can find someone who knows it.”
“It won’t work,” Atlas said. “It’s ingrained.”
“His brain needs to be completely rebooted,” Mordred said. “Like mine was.”
I nodded.
“Are you suggesting we have to kill him?” Selene asked, releasing Atlas and standing between me and Mordred. “Because I’ll tell you right now how that shit is going to go down.”
“Selene,” I said. “I want to hurt my friends. I want to feel their blood spill over my face. The only reason I haven’t attacked anyone is because the sorcerer’s band is keeping my power in check and at the same time appears to be keeping whatever Ares did to me in check, too. I can’t live this way.”
She turned to me. “We’ll get you help.”
I shook my head. “Mordred has to kill me. Has to. Not just because of this, but because he kills me in the Fates’ prophecy or I murder my friends. I see why now. I see why he has to do it.”
“No,” Mordred said. “The prophecy was fake. Hera forced it into the Fates’ heads.”
I laughed. “So, I’m just going to become a murderous asshole because of reasons other than destiny?”
“I’m not seeing the funny side. So, you’re just going to die?” Tommy asked. “That’s not much of a cure.”
“I won’t die,” I said. “One of the blood elves at the compound said that Gawain didn’t want me dead because Erebus would take control of me. You know this, don’t you, Mordred?”
Mordred nodded. “I wasn’t sure it was the same for you, but that’s what happened to me. You killed me; my nightmare took control and healed me. All the curse marks vanished.”
“Gawain is scared that if I die my nightmare will take control and fight back. Gawain and his allies are too powerful. I barely got a scratch on him. I need those marks gone—it’s the only way I get stronger. It’s the only way I can stop whatever Ares did to my head.”
“This is not a good idea,” Tommy said. “What if you’re wrong?”
“I don’t know, man. I just know this has to happen. I just know that if Mordred doesn’t do it, then I’ll have to live with a constant need to hurt people I care about. I can’t defeat Gawain, I can’t stay with you all, and I won’t live a prisoner in my own mind.”
“Maybe we can force Ares to help,” Diana said.
“Ares is dead,” Atlas said. “Nate killed him. I saw the remains of his body. You don’t want that level of rage aimed at any of you. Gawain wanted to use him to become the new assassin of choice for Avalon. You can’t let that happen.”
“I killed Deimos, too,” I told Selene.
“He was an asshole. I can’t just let you die,” Selene said, her frustration almost boiling over.
“I’m not planning on dying for good,” I told her. “I die. My nightmare takes control before irreversible damage is done, and then I get better.”
“You hope,” Mordred said. “It’s not exactly like we’re doing a scientific study here.”
“No time like the present,” I said with a forced smile.
“You want to do this out here?” Tommy asked.
I nodded. “You’ll need to get Hades here. If my nightmare attacks, you’ll need as many as you can to stop me. No offense to you, but I know you’ll try and take it easy on me, and I know Hades will put me down because it’s the right thing to do.”
“I won’t let you die,” Selene said, crouching in front of me. “I’d rather never see you again than that.”
“Then let Mordred kill me. It’s the only way to remove the junk in my head and unlock that last mark. Isn’t that right, Erebus?”
Erebus appeared on the ground beside me. He nodded. “You figured it out.”
I looked at each of my friends in turn. Time hadn’t frozen, and they all stared at me as I spoke to the nightmare inside my head, but none tried to interrupt. “My death unlocks the last mark,” I said.
“It was never meant to. It was meant to unlock naturally like the others. Hera’s meddling caused you a lot of unnecessary heartache.”
“Will this be the last I see of you?”