“It got worse. Have you heard anything from Avalon news? The head of the SOA, Lucie Moser, has put a fifteen-million-dollar bounty on your head.”
“Yeah, I just heard. Lucie has been taken by the same people who took Elaine. Someone has hijacked her communications. They’re using it to get the SOA to do things like take me into custody. I get the feeling that while Lucie and Olivia were hunting down the Reavers a few years ago, eliminating them from Avalon, this cabal was making sure its own people were in place.”
“That seems about what I would expect from Avalon,” Rebecca said. “But that doesn’t mean you’re going to be welcomed with open arms.”
“You believe me, then?”
“Selene told me about Elaine. Her I believe.”
“What else has Avalon said? I assume you have ways of hearing chatter.”
Rebecca smiled again. It was a lot closer to sharklike than I was comfortable with. “I’m waiting for intel to come through. Until then we have only the official channels. And they’re saying that Hellequin is murdering innocent humans the world over.”
“You know it’s not me.”
“What I know and what I can prove are two different things. If the SOA has gone rogue, the intelligence services would be the first place to start spreading that corruption. Any ideas as to who might be causing these troubles?”
I thought about it for a second. “My guess is Hera has had Lucie removed from play. But as she’s in London, and there’s no way she’d give that up, I imagine it’ll be one of her flunkies who’s behind Lucie’s vanishing. Can I go to Shadow Falls now? I’d really like to stop a war.”
Rebecca motioned for me to follow her. “Sky and Selene said that Avalon has given you forty-eight hours to try and get Galahad to allow Avalon forces into Shadow Falls. He’s never going to allow that.”
“We have less than twelve hours to go,” I said. “I just need to convince Galahad to talk to Arthur outside of Shadow Falls. If I can get them to talk, maybe we can get them to help one another.”
“Arthur has been convinced that Shadow Falls is involved. Hell, a lot of people are probably convinced, especially considering these assholes have been writing the words Shadow Falls in the blood of their enemies. I assume you’ve been keeping an eye on the news. That’s not something the human authorities have been releasing to the public.”
“So, it’s even worse than this Hellequin asshole spouting off about Shadow Falls. They’re actively promoting their alliance.”
“And Arthur is being led down the wrong path. He’s coming here, and he’s going to demand that Galahad come with him to answer for these accusations. And Galahad will refuse.”
“Arthur swore to me that he’d arrive without his people, that he just wants to talk to Galahad and find the truth. I’m hoping Arthur demands nothing.”
“You have faith in your friend. I have faith that Arthur can’t take a whole army through a realm gate. He’d be slaughtered. The most we’ve ever sent through here is about forty people.”
“What about the other gate?” The second realm gate had remained hidden for hundreds of years, known only to a few. Unfortunately one of those few had been a deposed king of Shadow Falls who wanted his crown back and was willing to align himself with a group of psychopaths to do it. A group of psychopaths who were, as it turned out, also aligned with the same group using the phrase “My Liege” a lot.
“The second gate has the entire town of Stratford around it. Arthur would need more than an army to get there.”
“But the gate is larger there. You can take more people in.”
“That’s true, but that is sovereign Shadow Falls. The people there are trained warriors and won’t hesitate to stop anyone from trying to access it without permission.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said as we entered the realm-gate room.
CHAPTER 19
Nate Garrett
The Shadow Falls realm gate was made of similar materials as all the others, but the one in Portland glowed a dim purple. Getting from the bar area to the realm-gate room had consisted of going through several dozen guards and more than a few doors that required retina scans. Arthur might turn up here and demand to see Galahad, but this was Shadow Falls territory and if Arthur wasn’t careful he could find himself in a fight that would last for months, if not longer. The levels below the bar had stockpiles of weapons and supplies to last a long time. And I doubted that Arthur would want to turn a major human city into rubble just to get to Galahad. But clearly there were people within Avalon who would stop at nothing to start this war.
Rebecca was one of half a dozen guardians who worked with the realm gate I was asking to use. Half a dozen almost-immortal warriors who would defend this place to the last, so long as they remained close to the gate. If Arthur tried to force his way through, he’d need to get the guardians to open the gate—which would never happen—or make his own. And that was a lengthy process. Either way, if Avalon did try to take Shadow Falls by force, it wasn’t going to be a quick fight.
One of the guards in the realm-gate room activated the gate. “Harrison isn’t going to be pleased to see you,” Rebecca told me.
“He’s never pleased to see me. The man lives and breathes to be as miserable as possible at all times.” I stepped through the gate into Shadow Falls.
The realm-gate room in Shadow Falls was inside a temple on top of a hill just outside of the massive sprawling city by the name of Solomon. When I was last in the realm, a million people lived there, and from what I’d heard that number had increased over the years. Being a king suited Galahad a lot more than most people I’d met in the same position.
I stood in the realm-gate room as several guards and guardians watched me with a kind of concerned interest. I guessed that my friends had arrived and delivered the bad news. The realm gate shut off, and Harrison strode toward me as if he owned the place, which, because he was the head of Shadow Falls security, wasn’t far off from the truth.
Harrison was huge. Imposingly so. He had the kind of physique that people only achieve after years of injecting themselves with large quantities of steroids. His ginger hair was still long, and tied back in a ponytail. In fact he didn’t appear to have changed in any way since I’d last seen him several years earlier.
“I am not happy to see you,” Harrison said, his voice deep and full of bass.
“Yeah, well the feeling is mutual.”