The bar of light was so bright and hot that it tore and scorched the earth, leaving a trail of broken earth in its wake. It struck the Knightmare full on, and it was so wide that it split into two beams that continued on behind him.
I released the power, panting slightly as a dark purple after-image replaced where the bar of light had been—kind of like what happened if you looked too closely at the sun for more than a few seconds and would see a dark orb in your vision for a few moments.
That blast had been hot enough to melt rock into liquid, and it definitely wasn’t any form of natural element, so I was hoping it had at least dazed him.
When the after-image faded from my eyes, I saw the Knightmare still kneeling, his helmet smoking and scorched from my blast.
The crazy motherfucker was laughing.
I cursed under my breath. Other than throwing more objects at him, I wasn’t entirely sure how to put him down for good. I could maintain my distance and keep throwing different flavors of direct power at him in hopes one would actually have an impact, but that would weaken me while he remained relatively unharmed. I needed a game changer. Something big and powerful that wouldn’t bounce off that cursed armor.
The Knightmare slowly lifted his massive sword—in one hand, no less—and pointed it at me. “My turn—”
A white spear struck his sword with a loud clang, knocking it clear from his hand. We both spun to see a hairy, filthy, beast of a warrior standing less than a dozen paces away from the Knightmare. My knees buckled as I recognized my savior.
Talon—looking like he’s survived a couple thousand miles of hard roads. “Yield.” And that was all he said, not even looking at me.
The Knightmare slowly climbed to his feet, squaring his shoulders as if preparing to wrestle. “You climb faster than I gave you credit for, cat.”
He took one step before Talon’s white spear—his Eyeless—suddenly reappeared in his paw. He thumped it into the ground hard enough for me to feel it in my toes. A warning.
“Yield,” he repeated.
The Knightmare took another step, crouching lower as if preparing to lunge in order to close the entire distance in one swift leap.
Talon lifted the gleaming white spear high, and then slammed it into the ground harder than before, causing a concussive blast of snow and grit to ripple outward with an alarming cracking sound. “YIELD!” he hissed.
The Knightmare had leapt impossibly high into the air, though, and was already descending upon Talon with both fists raised high overhead as if attempting to squash Talon like a bug.
I flung out a blast of pure starlight, hoping to at least bat him off course, but the searing beam of power simply ricocheted off him and out into thee open sky beyond the cliff, scorching a hole through a cloud before winking out.
The Knightmare was only inches away when Talon suddenly disappeared. The Knightmare struck the ground with both fists in a resounding crunching sound. I heard a whistling sound from over my shoulder, but the object whipped past me—mere inches from grazing my flesh—before I had time to even flinch. A gleaming sword, crackling with arcs of pale yellow lightning down its length, abruptly tore through the Knightmare’s back and out his chest, stopping only when the sword had stabbed deeply enough for the cross-guard to catch on his back.
This, of course, pinned the Knightmare to the ground like a frog on a dissection table, and the fingers of yellow lightning crackled and burned over the Knightmare’s armor as his shoulders slumped and he let out a final death rattle.
I spun, following the trajectory of the thrown sword, to find Alex standing on top of a thirty foot boulder that was perched on the edge of the cliff. He stood tall with his hands hanging loosely at his sides. His once-white cloak was now dirty and whipping in the wind like he was some kind of angel of death.
Alex Pendragon, the new King Arthur. I remembered when I had found him here as a stolen child in Fae, fleeing from the Wild Hunt.
From that young boy to a grown man who just single-handedly smoked a Knightmare. They grow up so fast.
And that’s when I noticed that the boulder he was standing on was actually halfway from sliding over the edge, and showing no signs of stopping.
Because some idiot wizard had coated most of the ground in ice.
I opened my mouth to shout out a warning when he promptly leapt off the boulder like a freaking ninja, did a double flip, and landed in a one-legged kneel. His fist was buried in the snow to brace his landing, but his other arm was extended out to the side with his hand open like he was a crosswalk guard warning the little helpless wizard—me—to stop and look both ways.
The sword ripped back out of the Knightmare’s body to zip across the clearing—again, flying entirely too close to my shoulder for comfort—and into his open palm. I stared, stunned, as I heard the Knightmare’s body crumple to the ground behind me.
I marveled at the legendary sword in Alex’s hand.
Excalibur.
I’d carried it around for a while, back when it had been disguised as the War Hammer my parents had bequeathed to me. The ultimate joke had been to learn that the hammer had actually been the Sword in the Stone, not just an overly ornate hilt attached to a crude stone mallet.
As far as I knew, it was still missing one piece before it would be complete. It had been broken down in order to hide it from any would-be evil villains until Alex could get his hands on it and rebuild the epic sword.
Talon was suddenly standing beside me, tugging me to my feet. Before I could say a word, the filthy feline had wrapped me up in a tight hug, slapping my back with his furry paws as if he hadn’t seen me in a few decades. I didn’t even care about his filthy beard as I hugged him back tightly.
I was still trying to process how they had managed to climb all the way up my mountain, and how easily they had dispatched the Knightmare. Maybe I needed to get myself a sword. Alex sheathed Excalibur as he stared in the direction of the Knightmare, his face hard.
Talon finally stepped back, smiling at me as he shook me by the shoulders. “It is so good to see you, Wylde,” he said.
I smiled back, feeling the same emotion deep down. We’d grown up together, after all. And now I could remember all the trouble we had gotten into in our youth. “Nate or Wylde. Pick your poison.”
Talon grinned. “You found your way back, too?” he asked excitedly.
I nodded. “About five minutes before this asshole showed up,” I muttered, glancing back at the Knightmare.
Talon nodded, his smile faltering. “He was sent to assassinate you.”
I grunted, wondering if I should feel honored at Mordred’s dedication. “You climbed a mountain. To save me from a Knightmare.”
Talon hesitated before nodding. “Yes and no,” he admitted, shifting from foot-to-foot uneasily. Alex was watching the two of us, but his eyes were distant, lost in thought. Talon turned to look at Alex, as if hoping he would explain.
Alex snapped out of his daze to lock eyes with me. “We followed his trail. Going around the mountain to find a safe path up here wouldn’t have ended well,” Alex said. “For you.”
I studied him pensively, noticing that most of the soft edges—what few he had to begin with—had been sanded away. The man before me was every inch the king, even though he currently looked like a scruffy refugee or survivor of the Apocalypse.
There was just something royal about him.
“I see,” I finally said, gauging his cool reaction. “Well, thank you.” Alex dipped his head a fraction of an inch, taking no pride in his job. It was what it was. Nothing to get excited about.
Grimm suddenly landed directly behind Alex with a heavy thud. He snorted loudly, close enough to shift Alex’s shaggy hair. “You should take a step back, boy,” he warned.
Alex hadn’t reacted to Grimm’s sudden landing directly behind him, but his eyes narrowed at the verbal threat.
He slowly turned around to face the unicorn. “Kings don’t step back, pony-bitch.”
Chapter 4
Grimm snorted out a series of cringeworthy laughs, and I froze in confusion. Talon rolled his eyes.
“Good to see you, punk,” Alex said, sounding happy.
“You too, kid. Nabbed another one, eh?” Grimm growled, jerking his chin at the dead Knightmare.
Alex patted his neck, and finally took a step back. “No other choice,” he said with a weary sigh.
I glanced over by the igloo to see Alice standing in the doorway, watching us anxiously. Grimm must have told her to stay back until he knew it was safe. I discreetly held out my palm, telling her to remain by the igloo. She scowled, folding her arms.
“So, what have you two been up to?” I asked, turning back to Alex, not feeling even remotely jealous of his bromance with my unicorn. Really. I didn’t.
“Tracking the Knightmares and keeping an eye on Camelot,” Alex said, sounding tired. “We think Mordred is finally ready to make his move. My best guess is that he’ll target the Fae Queens, first, but I don’t know which one,” he admitted.
“That’s why he sent this one after you,” Talon added. “To keep you busy or remove you from the equation.”
Alex pursed his lips, and pulled out a small dreamcatcher from his belt. It was woven from wild vines, and it looked familiar. It took me a moment to recall that I had made it for them.
A way to track the remaining Knightmares in Fae.
Twelve stones decorated the perimeter of the ring at equidistant points, but they were all cold and lifeless. Three of the stones were black with a red dot in the center, symbolizing the Knightmares who had died in the line of duty. One right beside us, another back at Stonehenge, and…wait a minute.
I frowned. “You killed another Knightmare?” I asked, pointing at the third black stone. When Alex didn’t answer, I looked up at him.
“No. I did not.”
“Then who did?”
He shrugged, staring at me intensely. “No idea.”
I thought about what that might mean for a few seconds before sighing. “Well, I guess it’s one less to worry about,” I said, turning back to the dreamcatcher.
The remaining white stones symbolized the nine surviving Knightmares. Except they featured a blue dot in the center, which instantly made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up.
Because I hadn’t used any stones with blue dots.
And they should have been glowing, along with a section of the web so that Alex could use the dreamcatcher like a compass to track them down. I turned to Alex and found him nodding in agreement.
“The Knightmares have been disappearing on and off for months, their stones growing dark like a snuffed out candle. That mystery death was the first,” he said, reaching out to tap the third black stone that I’d asked him about, “and he never returned. But the others would always pop back onto the dreamcatcher after a day or so. That is, until a few days ago when nine of them disappeared at once.” He pointed at the dead Knightmare. “He was number ten, the only one left on our dreamcatcher, so we chased him down. Didn’t expect him to climb your mountain.”
I felt a sudden chill down my spine. “The others left Fae,” I breathed.
Alex nodded. “I’m thinking they went to St. Louis. But this won’t work outside of Fae,” he said, indicating the dreamcatcher.
I cursed. “You need a new dreamcatcher to find them.”
Alex shrugged. “That’s your shtick, magic man.”
“Quickly,” I snapped, suddenly feeling restless as I imagined nine Knightmares loose in my city. “Give me something you have from our realm,” I demanded impatiently, deciding to cover all my bases in case the Knightmares weren’t limiting their vacation plans to St. Louis.
Talon pulled out a flask of Macallan from his jacket, and Alex pulled out an old t-shirt. I reached into my satchel, searching for anything helpful. I found a black dragon scale I had taken from my old friend Raego a very long time ago.
I trotted over to the pile of debris I had used to pelt the Knightmare, and quickly found a wiry root from a stubborn tree. I tore it off and tied it into a circle, holding my hand over it and murmuring a word. I felt the knot tighten as the root obeyed my command.
Fae magic was cool like that. It was much like the exchange of favors among Fae people, you just needed to know how to bribe the elements. I asked the root to do me a solid, promising that it would help me kill the Knightmares who were invading its homeland.
I opened my hand to find a perfect circle, and I quickly tore Alex’s shirt into strips, using one to bind the dragon scale to the root. Then I wove a hasty, crude web from one end to the other, eyeing my shoddy work. It wasn’t as pretty as the first one, but it would work. I opened Talon’s flask and poured the entire thing over the dreamcatcher, soaking the cloth as I murmured another word under my breath.
The new dreamcatcher throbbed in my hands and I glanced down to see the dragon scale smoking, indicating that there were definitely Knightmares back home. Then I frowned, counting the glowing orbs decorating the strips of Alex’s t-shirt.
I grunted. “It’s only showing seven of them,” I growled, racking my brain for some answer that made sense of the discrepancy. I glanced back at Alex’s dreamcatcher, hoping to see that two glowing orbs had reappeared to reach our total of nine surviving Knightmares, but it remained dark.
“What does that mean?” Alex demanded.
I scowled. “It means that two of the Knightmares are not in Fae, and not on Earth,” I muttered.
Alex growled furiously.
I took a calming breath. “Easy, Alex. We know where seven of them are. That’s better than what we knew a minute ago,” I said sternly.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “You’re right.”
I glanced over at Alice, thinking furiously. I needed to get back home and make sure everyone was okay. Let them know that I was okay. But I didn’t want to tow Alice around with me. I had a feeling things were going to get very dangerous, very fast. And I knew the Knightmares had no qualms about abducting a child.
I handed Alex the new dreamcatcher. “Head back to St. Louis. See if you can find out what our friends are up to. I’ll meet you there in two hours.”
Alex took it, his eyes drifting towards the dead Knightmare as he hung both of the dreamcatchers on his belt.
“Why two hours?” Talon asked, frowning. “Come with us now.”
I subtly flicked my eyes in Alice’s direction. “I have a few things to take care of, first,” I said, low enough so that she couldn’t possibly overhear me.
Talon nodded, but his tail began twitching, letting me know he wasn’t pleased about my delay.
I turned to see Alex still staring at the Knightmare.
“So…you guys should probably get going,” I said, hoping to hurry them along.
“He deserves a proper burial, at least,” Alex said, sounding disgusted.
I scoffed. “Um. The dude just tried to kill me. I’m perfectly fine with letting Grimm eat him.”
Grimm licked his lips noisily. “Yum.”
Alex shook his head adamantly, clenching his jaws. “He was a Knight of the Round Table! He. Will. Be. Buried!” Alex rasped, clenching his fists at his sides. “Even if I have to do it myself.”
I stared at him, seriously considering the possibility that I might be the only sane person currently standing on my mountain. And if the barefoot wizard standing in ankle-deep snow was the compass of morality and rational thought, we were all in very big trouble.
“You sure didn’t seem too concerned about that first Knight. Remember?” I snapped sarcastically. “The one who killed Gunnar and Talon,” I added, pointing at the feline warrior. Talon curled his lip at the memory. I turned back to Alex. “You impaled h
im on Grimm’s horn, and then you used him to play Wheel of Fortune. That guy.”
“Good times,” Grimm sighed nostalgically.
I nodded my agreement. “Then you cut off his hands and mocked him with them. Am I ringing any bells yet?” I demanded, annoyed by his sudden streak of piety. This bastard Knight had just tried to kill me! “And he was trespassing on my mountain!” I added loudly, throwing up an indignant finger.
Alex slowly turned his head to look at me, and I had to force myself not to take a step back under the intensity of his glare. “I did not know the full story back then,” he finally said in a gravelly voice. “I was acting out of vengeance. I was also unaware that I was a vessel for King Arthur’s spirit. I am no longer the same man.” He glanced down at the Knightmare, and I watched his anger grow deeper—harder, regretful. Then he knelt down beside the body, tugged off the man’s helmet, and carefully set it down on the Knight’s chest. He pointed at the man’s face. “Does this look like a monster to you?” he demanded.
I didn’t think that was a very relevant question, because psychopaths could look just as normal as anyone else, so I assumed it was rhetorical as I studied the Knight. He looked…well, he actually looked relieved, as strange as that may sound. And entirely normal. Bearded and hardened, but not a man I would declare a monster.
“You two just spent days hunting him down, and then you helped me kill him!” I argued. “Is everyone forgetting that?”
Talon looked over at me this time. His bearded, shaggy face was hard and frustrated. That face had seen long bloody days lately, and he definitely hadn’t had time to bathe. His long fur was caked with mud and blood—the moisturizer of a true warrior. “We came to kill the monster he had become—against his will—not the man he should have been,” Talon said. “That is what King Alex mourns. The death of potential. One less Knight he could have saved.”
“It’s not his fault he was turned against everything he stood for,” Alex added, sounding one step away from murder. “He built his entire life around chivalry, honor, and integrity. Mordred stole that from him.”
Knightmare: Nate Temple Series Book 12 Page 3