by Jamie Hawke
It was his voice, but from inside my head.
I struggled, hating the fact that the lake’s surface shimmered above us, darkness all around. Everything in me said this was it, that if I didn’t beat him, I’d drown down here. But it wasn’t about beating him, it was about learning.
With that thought in mind, I focused on what the situation was. What could I learn? For one, this world was a spiritual one, but still very real. Arthur was a spirit, though, and not himself exactly. I wondered… Not struggling now, but focusing on the fact that it was me against a spirit, and suddenly I was free, his arms passing through me like a ghost. And then I was diving for my blade.
But Arthur whisked around me, taking on the form of the water itself and then Nivian was there in her mermaid form, going for the sword as well. I felt the need for air and started to panic as I saw her mischievous smile. In that crazed state my mind jumped to the worst conclusions, sure she was there to help steal back Excalibur for Arthur, and that this had all been a ruse for that one purpose.
My ladies had made it very clear to me that I needed that sword, that it was part of this battle, and so I remembered Arthur’s teaching, about how it was connected to me, and I reached for it, pulling with my mental energy.
In a flash it was flying through the water, blade first and nearly cutting Nivian’s tail. It shot up to me and I reached out, grabbing the hilt and letting it pull me to the surface. I emerged and stood there with the sword raised for a moment before I processed the clapping and cheering from my team, now fully clothed and standing at the lake’s shore.
Arthur and Nivian rose to the surface a moment later, all laughs.
“Boy, you’re a fast learner,” Arthur said as he stood next to me, a hand on my shoulder. Nivian started swimming back to shore, where she stepped out, tail turning into legs.
“I have to be,” I replied. “I was thrown in the deep end. Before with Pucky, and now… literally.”
“That you were.” Motioning back toward shore, he led the way, talking as we went. “I wanted to see what you’re capable of, Jack. And I have to admit that you’ve impressed me. But that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy by any means.”
“Sir—” I started, but he glanced over, about to correct me. “I know, no majesty, no sir? Right. Arthur… Thank you.”
“For?”
“You don’t know me, you’ve been around so long and likely met so many people on both sides of the spectrum of good and evil. But you’re here, with me, helping me to become a better fighter.”
“Not just fighter. Protector. I mean to see that you cultivate your inner core, that you become the greatest version of you that you can be. We’ll have you trained up on the blade with Red, magic with Pucky and myself, fighting the darkness with Sharon, and Elisa’s protection. In many ways, you have the perfect team.” He noticed my frown. “And yet, something’s bothering you.”
“All this, while Ra and the others are wreaking havoc on Earth.”
Arthur smiled, then laughed.
“I don’t see how it’s funny,” I replied, aghast.
“Jack, time doesn’t move the same in our world. Does it ever in these spiritual realms? There are pockets of space we can move through, and while it’s not time travel, it can slow or speed up how much time we want to have passed, based on where we enter.”
“Like portals in the Nether,” I said, nodding. “Yeah, I get it.”
He frowned. “I don’t think it’s the same, but yes, for now we’ll go with that.”
When we reached the shore, the others turned to Arthur anxiously.
“What’s the damage?” Pucky asked.
“He’s useless other than for a good lay, isn’t he?” Red said, but winked my way.
“You’ve found yourselves quite the Protector here,” Arthur replied. “The real test will come when he’s put up against the gods, but until then, Shades will have to do.”
“Shades?” I asked, glancing around, expecting them to come popping out of the shadows.
He nodded. “Not here though. In the mists. Let’s get you some more training in, then head over. We need your strength and stamina, but especially your speed, to level up quite a bit still. Well, best way to do that in here is to grind.”
48
Arthur and Nivian took off not too long after the lake exercise, saying they were going to scout out the mists, look for a good spot for someone at my level—thirteen, and with my current skills. I really wanted to ask him more questions, to spend more time getting to know this amazing figure from history and myths, but knew I’d get my chance later. He was a spirit now, after all, and didn’t exactly have anywhere to go aside from being with us, helping me. While they were gone, I’d gotten actual practice with knives and swords with Red, then spent some time with Elisa discussing her woven shirts and other defenses she knew.
We even had a moment to take a break for a snack, during which Pucky leaned against me and kissed my cheek.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“Because I’m about to kick your ass, and wanted you to know I lo—er, adore you, first.”
I arched an eyebrow. Then kissed her back, but this time on the lips, letting it linger, feeling her warmth. When I pulled back, I held her gaze and said, “The feeling’s mutual. Remember that, when I kick your ass.”
She laughed, standing now. “Come, break’s over.”
“Where’re we going, exactly?” I asked.
Her playful grin and lack of an answer made me very curious, but as we walked she started going on about how we had to take this seriously, how with Ra and the others out there, we were in for some crazy shit. No playing around.
After a few times of her repeating this sentiment, I took her hand and spun her around. “Pucky, I am taking this seriously.”
“It’s just, I don’t know… how…” She bit her lip to stop it from trembling. “Too many were lost last time.” After a moment of silence, she said, “You’ve heard of Vasilisa? I watched her die in my arms, felt her ichor leave her body, watched the enemy absorb her ichor!” Her chest rose and fell, fast. “You have to be stronger.”
“We won’t let that happen again.” I actually hadn’t heard of that name, but this wasn’t the time to tell her so.
She nodded, eyed me timidly, and then said, “We’re here. So… sorry for this.”
“What’re you gonna do?” I glanced around at the trees, the peaceful nature of this place, sunlight flittering through the leaves and birds chirping. It was like being back home, only… better. “Mind control me again? Then what, I have to try and resist?”
Her lip curled and her eyes went green. I’d never seen that happen, and I was about to stumble back, when I caught myself, remembering Arthur’s teaching. She cocked her head and tree roots shot out of the ground, whipping me while some wrapped around my legs and arms. The trees were moving like in a thunderstorm and the whipping kept coming along with rocks and other debris.
If not for my shield upgrades and increased defense and health, I’d not only be pissed, but quite possibly dead as well!
“What the fuck?!” I shouted over the roaring commotion, and tried to pull free. I was getting stronger with my stat upgrades from the prana earned to date, but not enough for this. Pucky was damn powerful, and I wasn’t sure what my options were here. I’d left Excalibur back at the cottage, so cutting my way out wasn’t an option.
Pucky was a Druid class and could do this, so I figured that my being a Tempest could prove useful here, as it had at the lake. Water was everywhere, and that was apparently my specialty, according the tattoos that had formed. Pulling on the water in the sky and clouds, I brought it down on us in a torrential downpour. I tried directing it at Pucky, hoping to get her with a massive tidal wave or something like that, but she stood her ground as more rain did hit her, but nothing like as much as I’d had in mind. Apparently, the powers were limited by realistic forms of the elements. The rain was coming harder than I’d hoped for, actu
ally, but it did accomplish something I hadn’t thought of—it made the roots slippery, so that I could pull free.
A flurry of leaves came at me, but only as a distraction while a tree actually swayed down my way! Here I was all action, running and leaping up onto it, then to the other side and rolling. Another was there, waiting, and slammed me back, knocking the wind out of me.
Pucky muttered one more apology as another tree loomed over me, ready to strike. Fuck, this wasn’t going well. I tried for the water again, even tried pulling Excalibur, but it must’ve been too far away or maybe needed the water connection to work like that. Instead, though, as I dodged and strained myself to pull, I felt a new force. A burning formed on my lower right lat, a sensation I’d experienced before when a fresh tattoo was forming, showing signs of new powers.
Wind. It came strong and hard, like me in our little cottage sexcapades. The blast of wind hit Pucky and knocked her off of her feet, even blowing against the trees to push them away, diverting them enough to give me room to stand and run to a clearing. I stood, bracing myself, ready for whatever came next.
Pucky pushed herself up, hands out, and said, “Enough.” With an impressed nod, she added, “Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.”
I grinned, but was exhausted. Two steps toward Pucky, and I started to collapse. She rushed forward, catching me, caressing my cheek as she said, “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s necessary.” I tried to be strong, pushing myself up. “Let’s do it again.”
“No need,” Arthur said, and we turned to see him and Nivian at the top of the hill, the sunlight shining strong behind them. “We’re ready for the mists.”
“We should say, the mists are ready for him,” Nivian said, and chuckled.
I was starting to wonder if she liked watching me suffer, so stood a little taller, not showing weakness. “Bring it on.”
Sure enough, she looked let down by my reaction. Funny. If she could have seen how exhausted and beaten-up I really felt, she’d have been smiling from ear to ear.
49
Walking through Avalon itself, or at least the place the stories were based on, held a special importance to me. All of my life I’d been the type to dream of grand warriors with their swords, fighting evil. Of the fairy kingdom, and the idea that we could be better than we were, that there was a magical place in the back of our dreams that could shine through any of us if we only let it.
Maybe I’d let the fanciful cartoons get to me a bit too much, especially the old-school one about King Arthur being some football captain taken back through time to lead his team with the help of Merlin. My uncle had passed that one down, spent a few good Saturday mornings watching it with me over shared caramel corn and something he said was a true classic but I never could understand—Jolt cola.
Looking at the real King Arthur, I wasn’t sure what to think of him compared to the version of the tales. This man had been a real king a long time ago, had lived and breathed, had been around at the same time as Merlin. Only, the sorcerer had been some sort of corrupted paladin who cursed the king into becoming a vampire that he could use like a puppet. It was so mind-blowingly insane, it almost seemed real, as reality went. That’s why I had no trouble latching on to these stories. If they’d seemed more grounded, I would have believed them to be lies. But King Arthur himself as a vampire? That’s too crazy for anyone to make up.
“I hope you’re feeling better,” he said, referring to my little training session with Pucky in the woods. His eyes moved to Excalibur, now back on my hip since Nivian had brought it for me, and I couldn’t help but feel it belonged to him.
“Hey, throw me in the Pits of Despair,” I said, hand on the sword’s hilt, “I’ll come out swinging.”
He frowned, looked to Nivian, but she shrugged.
“They aren’t as caught up on the movies as I am,” Pucky whispered, and then added a wink as she said, “Dementors are so cool.”
“Wrong movie,” I mumbled, but low enough that she didn’t hear.
“What?”
I smiled, nodding, and made a mental note that we were definitely going to have a mandatory movie marathon when we made it back to the real world. Or, Earth… as I guess that place had to be real, too. How could I have been there, otherwise?
“This won’t be like last time,” Arthur said.
“Last time?”
He nodded. “When Riak pulled you in, I hear. We’ll be entering their domain, true, but at that point you weren’t fully here. Now that you are, it’s much more dangerous, but also much more exciting.”
“How so?”
“For one, you know that ichor prana you get to level up your stats?” He waited until I grunted in confirmation. “Well, on Earth let’s say you were sipping it through a straw.”
“Sipping prana?”
“Stick with me.” He motioned to the rolling hills, the thick blanket of fog ahead, or maybe that was the mists? “Here, you’ll have the opportunity to do combo-kills. The more of the Shades you take out in a short amount of time, the more linked they are, creating an amplification to the prana earned. No more sucking it through a straw, if you do it right, here you can be thrown into a pool of the stuff.”
“You’re saying, if I do it right, if I take out Shades in this kill-combo way, I get a bonus.” That checked, as the process wasn’t so different from various games I’d played. “But then, why isn’t everyone out here leveling up and maxing out their stats?”
He laughed. “Because, not everyone has Excalibur, for one. And not everyone is a Tempest.”
“What he’s trying to say,” Nivian cut in, “is that you only have a chance because of what you are, and the weapon you’re now latched to. In there, most of us wouldn’t stand a chance. We can take them in our world, even outside of the mists, but in there…”
“Imagine it’s like lightning,” Pucky said, indicating a cloud with her hands. “Now if you’re on Earth, there’s a thunder storm and you’re not so worried. In life, it’s not so bad. Go down a slide, get a static electricity shock. Maybe hear about lightning hitting someone on a rare occasion.” She took her hands and cupped them together. “Now you’re in that lightning cloud, and you’re made out of metal—right? Well, as far as this is concerned, we’re all metal. So are you, but you’re like a lightning rod, made to refocus that energy, to put it to better use.”
“That use being leveling up?” I looked at the blanket of fog ahead, seemingly so peaceful. My heart was thumping as my excitement for the adventure ahead rose. “But wait, I’m going in there alone? Arthur, you’re a Tempest, too.”
“I am, but you’ll need me out here, you’ll need a beacon to guide you home.”
“A beacon? Like a lighthouse for a ship…” I froze, a chill running through me now at that same sight. “You’re telling me I’ll get lost in there, otherwise why would I need a lighthouse?”
“Jack,” Arthur put a hand on my shoulder, “what will happen in there is up to you. But what I can tell you is that it’s rife with Shades, ready for the picking. Pluck those grapes, stomp on them until you have the wine of the gods, and then drink up.”
A look at Pucky and she nodded, confirming that he was attempting another metaphor. There wouldn’t be any actual wine.
“Fight, stick to your instincts, and use your powers when appropriate,” she said. “Do that, and you’ll be fine.”
“And remember,” Nivian said, “you’re a tempest. Use that shit.”
I nodded, honestly still getting used to that part of who I was. My strange tattoos could give me power and help me connect with the elements. Apparently I could do weird things like walk on water, as Arthur had taught me. But how that applied here, I wasn’t sure. Then again, looking at the near wall of mist and reminding myself that this was water in the air, I could see how interesting results could come from using powers. Somehow.
Mist started drifting by, slow moving tendrils of it, at first. Suddenly, with a swoosh of color the mists p
ulled back, swirling, creating an entrance like the cave of fucking wonders. Not so panther like, but there was definitely some sort of animal face look going on. Somewhere between a dragon and a cat.
“Is this thing going to eat me?” I asked, meaning it as a joke, although the words came out sounding very nervous.
“Yes.” Nivian didn’t even try to hide it, just stared at me, deadpan. “You’ll be swallowed up.”
“Fuck. Thanks.”
Pucky cleared her throat. I turned to see what she had to say, but instead of talking she threw her arms around me. “Kick their asses.” She kissed my cheek, then added, “When you get back, I’ll be waiting. And I want to see your skills at work.”
“I—I’m not sure if you’re talking sexually or—”
She hit me, playfully, chuckling as Nivian watched. “No, no, of course not that way.”
“You all just had an orgy,” Nivian said. “Don’t try to pretend you’re not a sex-obsessed pack of horndogs.”
Pucky blushed, glanced away, and shrugged. “Fine, that too. I’ll be looking forward to it all.”
I grinned, then turned to Arthur. “So how do I find you, if—you know. When I’m done.”
“Or about to piss your pants in fright?” He laughed. “As long as you hold Excalibur here, we’re bonded, in a sense. I’m like your spirit guide. Hold up the sword and say, ‘By the power of gra—’” He couldn’t finish, instead laughing heartily. “See, I know pop culture.”
I frowned, really having no idea what he had tried to reference.
“He Man,” Pucky explained, seeing my confusion.
“Oh, before my time,” I replied.
Arthur frowned. “Don’t pretend to be so all-knowing in the future, then. Seriously, though, if you concentrate, the sword will guide you to me.”
“Oh, like the Princess Bride!” I said, holding the sword out, closing my eyes and pretending to stumble around like Inigo Montaya when he was looking for the Man in Black. “Yeah?”