“I’ve never seen magic do this sort of devastation,” Remy said. “There are a hundred bodies here. At least. Nate killed a hundred blood elves by himself?”
“Magic is stronger in Shadow Falls,” Nabu said. “Unpredictable and wild. But I have to admit to being impressed.”
“Something made him angry,” Mordred said. “Nate isn’t the kind of person to use his magic with this little regard for his surroundings. And he did that.” Mordred pointed to the hole where a large part of the palace used to be. Pieces of the wall littered the field and steps leading up to where it had once been.
“My God,” Elaine said as she reached the battlefield.
“That’s appropriate, as it seems that Nate is a god here,” Remy said. “The vengeful kind, too.”
“He slaughtered these blood elves,” Elaine said.
“This is why you don’t piss off a sorcerer,” Alan said.
“This is why people are scared of them,” Fiona replied. “Especially here. And especially Nate.”
Mordred walked away from the conversation, ascended the steps to the rear of the palace, and walked through the destroyed wall. He saw Galahad immediately and sprinted over to him, dropping to his knees and trying to find a pulse.
“Galahad!” Mordred shouted. “Galahad.” He channeled his light magic and placed his hands against Galahad’s chest. Yellow glyphs lit up over Mordred’s arms, turning almost golden as he poured more and more magical power into the light magic he used to try and revive Galahad.
He didn’t know how long he tried to revive his friend, but no matter how much magic he used, Galahad remained motionless. Eventually he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Mordred, he’s gone,” Morgan said, crouching beside him, gently pushing his hands off Galahad.
“No, I just need to use more magic,” Mordred said. “He’s not gone. He can’t be. I never got to say I was sorry. I never got to tell him he was a good king. I never . . . I just need to try harder.”
Mordred placed his hands back on Galahad’s chest and continued to use his light magic, the power spilling out all around him, barely contained inside the building.
Remy walked around to the opposite side of Galahad’s body and placed one of his hands onto Mordred’s. “He’s gone.”
Mordred stopped his magic and shook his head.
“He’s gone, Mordred,” Remy said again. “I’m sorry, but no magic is going to bring him back.”
“He was my friend,” Mordred said. “I can’t lose friends. I spent so long trying to hurt them that I need to make that up to them. I need him to know how sorry I was.”
“He knew,” Diana said softly.
“I saw Galahad about six months ago,” Mac said. “We spoke about you. He said he was proud that you’d turned everything around. That you’d fought the programming that was done to you.”
Tears fell from Mordred’s eyes, spilling onto Galahad’s cold body. “When we grew up together, he was always the best of us. We always tried to one-up him, but we never could. Especially with weapons. It was like he was one with them. It was a thing of beauty. Whoever did this will pay.”
“I think Helios did this,” Remy said.
“Then I will find and kill him,” Mordred replied.
“Nate beat you to it,” Elaine told him. “He died hard. We found his body outside. It’s not in one piece.”
“Good.” Mordred wiped his face. “Galahad and I fought alongside one another. We had one another’s backs, but I wasn’t here this time. For a thousand years we were enemies, but he was one of the first people I thought of when I regained my mind. I’d tried to kill him, but he was too good. I don’t know how Helios managed it, but I’m sure there was deception involved.” He leaned over and kissed Galahad on the forehead. “Goodbye, my friend.”
“You need to take a minute?” Morgan asked Mordred as he got to his feet.
Mordred shook his head. “Point me at something to hurt.”
A huge man appeared in the doorway, his body covered in splatted blood, one arm hanging loosely while the other held a spear. He saw Galahad’s body and dropped to his knees.
“Harrison,” Elaine said as the man cried out in pain and anguish for his king.
“Harrison,” Morgan tried. “We know it’s upsetting, but we need you to point us in the right direction. Where’s Nate? Where are the rest of the people he was with?”
“Fighting,” Harrison said. He exhaled and got to his feet. “You are Morgan and Mordred, yes?”
Both nodded.
“Galahad spoke fondly of you. Nate is missing, but his people continue to search for him in the city.”
“What do you mean, missing?” Mordred asked.
“We can’t find him,” Harrison said, occasionally looking at the body of his king before looking away. “I came to the palace to see if he’d gone toward the ruins. Blood elves had come from there.”
“There’s nothing out there but a lot of dead blood elves,” Elaine said. “So we know that Nate made it this far. What happened after that?”
Harrison shrugged. “We captured some blood elves; you can try asking them. They don’t even speak any language I’ve ever heard of, so we’re not getting anywhere fast.”
The group followed Harrison through the palace as he explained the blood-elf attack on the realm. “Do you need healing?” Mordred asked him as they reached the front of the building.
“I’ll be fine,” Harrison said.
Mordred sped up and stepped in front of Harrison. “Arm. Don’t argue.”
“Your magic will cause problems,” Harrison said.
“My light magic will be used to heal. If it gets out of control, I’ll only be healing people I don’t mean to.”
Harrison reluctantly nodded, and Mordred healed his arm. Once he was done, Mordred had to concentrate to stop the magic from flowing out of him. “I remember why this place isn’t good for me.”
“It’s not good for any of us at the moment,” Harrison said.
They stepped out of the palace, and the scene of destruction that lay before him took Mordred’s breath. A large part of the city closest to the palace had suffered the most fire damage. Several guards battled blazes threatening to consume more buildings.
“So, the fighting is over?” Morgan asked.
“Thousands of blood elves attacked us, and then they vanished. We found bracelets scattered around the city. Just blank copper bracelets, like the ones Zamek said he found in Tartarus. They’re up at the mountain preparing an evacuation.”
“Evacuation?” Elaine asked.
“We’re getting the people of Solomon out of here and to Tartarus. Arthur arrived in the Earth realm, and King Galahad went to see him, but they were attacked. Arthur was kidnapped by this Hellequin. King Galahad felt that Avalon would blame us and send a war party. We’re not sure how long we have, but we need to get people out of this realm.”
“Merlin was behind this attack,” Remy said. “He’s the My Liege character everyone’s been hearing about.”
“Sounds about right,” Harrison said. “Figures he’d be the evil bastard behind this.”
“So, what happens now?” Fiona asked. “Arthur is missing, and they’re going to start a war with Shadow Falls before Merlin takes full control. I worked for them; I believed in them.”