by Steve McHugh
Mordred shrugged and got to his feet. “Maybe the Fates were wrong, Nate. Either way, I don’t feel like killing you these days. I feel like making things right, you know?”
I did.
“The Fates aren’t always right, and frankly they tell you what they want to tell you half the time.”
“That’s very true.”
“I really hope it doesn’t come to that, Nate. I really would like to see if we could be friends instead.”
I stood and offered him my hand. He shook it without hesitation. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to call you a friend, Nate. I’m sorry for all I wronged you.”
He turned and walked away, humming the Mario theme tune to himself.
“Mordred,” I called after him, and he stopped, looking back at me. “Don’t be a stranger.”
He smiled, it was warm and reminded me of simpler days. “You too, Nate. You too.”
And then he was gone, leaving me to deal with several dozen tons of dead dragon.
CHAPTER 42
Turns out getting rid of a dead dragon was a lot easier than I’d expected. Mostly because it soon became apparent that it wasn’t our problem.
The entire group had gathered together outside the Tate Modern, comparing war wounds and trying to figure out where to go from there, when a helicopter buzzed overhead, landing just beyond the nearby wall.
“Anyone else notice it was a Black Hawk?” Irkalla asked. Like everyone else who’d arrived with Diane, she’d gotten drenched saving lives.
No one said anything.
Licinius was the first person I saw, wearing a clean suit and looking like he’d spent more time getting ready than he had pulling people out of a partially destroyed building. Zamek, covered in dirt, stared at the dragon then walked over to us.
“That’s a dead dragon,” he said.
“We’re thinking of keeping it as an ornament,” Tommy said. “It’ll make the nice beginnings of a flower bed.”
“A shrubbery,” Remy corrected. “Gotta have a shrubbery.”
“You need to talk to Licinius,” Zamek said. “And I don’t think you’re going to be happy with what he has to say.”
“What do you have to say, Licinius?” I called out to him.
The sorcerer walked over to us. He didn’t look thrilled to be here, but then it had been a rough night for everyone. “Hera has taken control of the city.”
“What?” Diane shouted. “She’s in control of the city? She helped murder Brutus!”
Licinius nodded. “I know.”
Hera was the kind of woman who, while beautiful on the outside, was so utterly poisonous and vile on the inside, that it made you think you needed a wash any time you met her. With bleach. Time spent with Hera would be only slightly less preferable than having my limbs sawn off with a rusty bayonet.
“She couldn’t have waited a few days to step in and throw her weight around?” I asked. “At least try to make it look like she cared?”
Licinius removed a piece of paper from his pocket. “The official answer to why she’s involved is: I graciously stepped in to help oversee the transition of power from Brutus, who was a long-time power in the region, and his death will be keenly felt. While his loss is great, we cannot allow this great city to fall to ruin without a hand to steady it.”
“Why are you working for this harpy?” Diane asked Licinius, barely keeping her anger in check.
Licinius took a deep breath, but with no immediate answer, Diane’s anger flared. “You traitorous little shit!” she snarled and started toward Licinius, but I stepped between her and her would-be victim.
“Explain quickly,” I told him.
“Hera, Ares, and several of her . . . friends arrived at the building about an hour ago. It was explained in no uncertain terms that I either work for her as the new king of London, or she would replace Brutus with one of her close friends.”
“You could have had her marched out by her ears,” Diane snapped.
“I made some calls after she arrived, talked to a few friends in Avalon. It took every favor I’ve ever managed to acquire, but I found out that this takeover was signed off by Merlin. It’s not official, and there’s no paper trail, but he’s definitely involved. I was also given a very strong sense that if I didn’t agree to this, everyone in Brutus’s employ would be dead. After some checking, I found out that several of the higher-ups in Brutus’s organization had already made deals with Hera for her to take over. This might be Hera doing it, but it’s Avalon-backed.”
“You’re sure?” I asked.
Licinius nodded. “Merlin’s hands are unofficially in this. I don’t know what game he’s playing, but he’s helping Hera play it. When Brutus allowed Ares to put Mars Warfare in London, Avalon used it to keep an eye on him. I’m hoping that by taking this role, I can do the same with the rest of them.”
“If they find out, they’ll kill you,” Diane told him.
“I know. But the alternative is to allow them to destroy everything Brutus worked for. I can’t allow that. That tablet Siris sent you; I had one just like it, but after you used it and vanished, I decided that I probably didn’t want to use mine. I started looking into them, and then Brutus got killed and Hera turned up. She told me that I was lucky not to have gone with you. It meant she could offer me a job.”
“I couldn’t work there,” Diane told him, her anger all but gone. “I’d do something stupid, like tearing her arms off.”
“Hera has told me to tell you that she’ll give you twenty-four hours to get out of London.” Licinius removed a USB drive from his pocket and passed it to Diane. “This holds Brutus’s entire files on everyone he ever had dealings with in Avalon. Also, your files are on there. I scrubbed them clean afterwards.”
“Twenty-four hours is quite reasonable for Hera,” I pointed out.
“That’s officially. Unofficially, she has jack-booted assholes ready to start roaming the city looking for you in the next hour. You all need to leave—now. Something is happening, and this is the first part. You need to get out of London and not come back. She doesn’t care about legalities: not now. And whatever Merlin or Avalon once offered in terms of protection, I’d say those days are over. They went for you before and screwed it up, and you managed to hurt them. Badly. Next time, it won’t be some stupid plan led by an arrogant Kay. It’ll be Hera herself. And she’ll just go straight to the nuclear option.”
“She’s working for whoever is in control of this group,” I told him. “A group that apparently involves Merlin after all. You need to be careful.”
Licinius turned and walked away.
“Why would Merlin want to help take Brutus down?” Diane asked. “Why would he want to ally himself with people who want to overthrow Avalon?”
I honestly had no idea.
“Brutus has several files on prominent members of Avalon,” she continued, holding up the USB drive. “I have no idea how long his encryption will take to get through, but when I’ve cracked it, I’ll send them over, Nate. Maybe it explains why Merlin is involved.”
I turned to the group. “I just wanted to say thank you. None of us would be here today without us all working together. Get out of London and watch your backs. This isn’t over.”
The group separated, with Remy, Tommy, Diane, and Zamek coming with me back to my hotel room.
“I’m going to talk to Avalon,” Remy said. “I want a transfer.”
“To where?” I asked.
“Your house. You’ve just painted a big target on your head, and they’re going to come for you. You’re going to need protecting.”
I opened my mouth to argue.
“He’s right,” Diane said. “Anyone who was watching all of this knows you and Mordred were able to talk without killing one another, knows you killed Kay, a dragon, and helped the dwarves.”
“About that,” Zamek said. “I’m staying. I know I could go back, but you need me here, and Jinayca would be perpetually angry with me if
I just left you here. Although if we can use the tablet to let her know I’m okay, that would be good. I know we’ll have to figure out how to change the runes so we don’t end up in the citadel again, but I’d be appreciative.”
“I’m sure we can manage that,” Tommy told him.
“We’ll figure out a way,” I promised, “even if we have to send Remy back.”
“That’s right, pick on the little fox guy. It’s not like I’m small and quiet and can turn up in unexpected places with a knife or anything.”
“Have I ever told you how much you worry me?” Diane asked.
“Probably. Everyone else has.”
There was laughter in the air as we walked through London toward the hotel room I’d rented. I hoped my car was still there. Then we all had to leave. London was Hera’s. And at some point whoever she worked for was going to make sure I was the target they put the most effort into. I’d managed, with help, to screw up their plans this time. Next time I might not be so lucky.
I would have to explain Mordred to Olivia—probably several times. And I would certainly have to deal with Elaine and tell her of Merlin’s unofficial endorsement of Hera. Neither were going to be fun chats, but for all the horror and evil I’d witnessed over the last few days, I’d also seen a lot of hope. A lot of goodness.
We hadn’t stopped the cabal, or whatever they wanted to be called, but we had hurt them. I wondered how long it would take before they decided to return the favor.
CHAPTER 43
Six Months Later. Canada.
I’d arrived in the North Shore Mountains after spending the better part of the last few months hunting for those who wanted to plot against me and my friends. I’d coerced Tommy into accompanying me on the trip so that we could track our enemies together.
A lot had changed in six months. Chloe had gone off to try and have some semblance of a normal life. Mara Range had been placed in a deep, dark pit somewhere; I cared little about where. And London had outwardly changed not one bit. There were rumors that Hera was culling those who lived there and disagreed with her, but nothing concrete.
“It’s cold, Nate,” Tommy said from beside me in the Ford pickup we’d hired from a rental place; it was a truck without a working heater. “Even for a werewolf.”
“It’s winter in Canada. It’s meant to be cold,” I said, using my fire magic to warm myself.
“I thought we might have gone to one of those nice non-freezing parts of the country.” He paused for a second. “You’re using magic right now, aren’t you?”
“The very thought!”
Tommy couldn’t look at me because he was driving and needed to concentrate, but I knew he wanted to glare at me.
The tires on the pickup crunched under the fresh snow, and even though the forest and mountains around us were picturesque, I was grateful it had stopped snowing a few days earlier. Despite being on an ordinary highway, the journey was treacherous enough without freshly fallen snow adding to the danger of driving into the mountains.
“How far up this road do we need to go?” Tommy asked.
“There’s a spot to park not far from here. We’ll need to hike the rest of the way. He’s about an hour from Lion’s Bay.”
“He lives in the middle of nowhere is what you’re saying?”
“Pretty much. It took me six months to find Gilgamesh. I’m not going to let him go easily.”
“I don’t think he’s going to let you take him easily, either.”
Tommy had a fair point, but I went back to looking out of the window, hoping that I wouldn’t have to take Gilgamesh by force.
After half an hour, Tommy parked the pickup close to the lake and got out. “Looks beautiful,” he said. “Any wolves in this part?”
I shook my head, and grabbed a small bag from the back of the vehicle. Real wolves and werewolves rarely got along, with the real wolves seeing their were-counterparts as a threat. “Bears, cougars, and coyote are about as dangerous as it gets here, but I doubt we’ll see any of them.”
“What’s in the bag?” Tommy asked.
“Provisions. Some water, fruit bars: that kind of thing. And some beer.”
“Beer?”
“I’m hoping this won’t turn violent, Tommy.”
“Is that why I’m going in a different direction?” he asked, removing a shotgun bag from the pickup and slinging it over his shoulder.
“You’re my plan C.”
“C?” he asked, with a raised eyebrow. “If A is peaceful, and C is a gunshot, what’s B?”
“I kick his ass all over this mountain. I don’t want him dead. Plan C is a dead giant. I’d rather save that for no other choice.”
We set off at a good pace, using a trail that had already been created over the years, until we were an hour away from the lake. We stopped walking, the path leading higher into the forest, and went off the trail into the trees.
“Do you actually know where you’re going?” he mocked.
“No. I figured we’d just walk around for a bit until a bear finds us,” I told him sarcastically. We climbed higher and higher, until the trees broke, turning into bare, and mostly flat, rock.
“This is me.” Tommy glanced off toward his destination. “Best of luck, Nate.”
I watched him walk to the north, across the rock, and drop down at the end. We’d used Google Earth to check the best spot for him, and he was certain that he would have a good line of sight from that location to Gilgamesh’s cabin. I just hoped he wouldn’t be necessary.
I headed west, and it took me another twenty minutes to find the cabin. It had been built in a large clearing, maybe a hundred feet in diameter, with trees surrounding two-thirds of it. I looked through the bare spot, somewhere in that direction among the Rocky Mountains, toward a waiting Tommy with a rifle. Probably looking right at me. He would only have a small window to take a shot, but it was better than nothing.
The cabin looked like it had been there a long time, and I wondered if Gilgamesh had made it himself, or if he had appropriated it. It was a small building, probably only suitable for one, maybe two at a push, and made of dark wood. A small window sat near the front door, which was painted a dark green. There was a fire pit out front in the clearing, and two wooden chairs sat beside it. A stack of wood sat beside the cabin, presumably partly for the fire pit, and if the brick chimney on the roof was any indication, partly for the fireplace inside.
The snow had been cleared away from the whole area, leaving the green grass free from its freezing touch. I removed two bottles of beer from my bag and planted them both in a nearby snowdrift before starting the fire pit and taking a seat in one of the chairs.
I wasn’t worried that Gilgamesh would see me and run; he wasn’t the kind of person to do that. He’d confront me. He might have hidden for the last year, but from what I’d deduced he had come straight here and hadn’t moved around.
It took ten minutes for Gilgamesh to emerge through the trees, holding a deer carcass against one shoulder.
“Nate,” Gilgamesh said, his tone friendly and conversational. He wasn’t surprised to see me.
“Gilgamesh. Nice cabin.”
“Thanks. I didn’t build it, but it’s made for a pleasant home. There’s a town not too far, so I get most of what I need from there. And anything else—” He dropped the deer on the ground. “—I take from the area.”
He shrank down from a ten-foot-high version to his normal size, which was still incredibly tall. His T-shirt and jeans looked baggy on him, and he was barefoot. “I’m going to change. You okay out here?”
I nodded and let Gilgamesh enter the cabin. He emerged a few minutes later in better-fitting clothing, including some boots.
“They don’t make clothes in giant size,” he said. “So I had to make them myself. I’m not good enough to make my own giant shoes, though. And I was traveling light, so could only bring with me what I desperately needed.”
“You want a beer?” I asked, picking a bottle out of
the snowdrift.
“The other one,” he said.
I sighed and removed the other bottle, throwing it over to him.
“It’s not poisoned,” I assured him, and used my air magic to pop the cap on my own beer, before taking a long swig.
He removed the cap with his fingers and took a drink, before looking at the bottle. “Japanese? You couldn’t have just brought cheap stuff?”
“I like it,” I told him. “And most beer is awful, so you get what you’re given.”
He drank some more of the alcohol. “It’s nice.”
“Told you.”
“So, are we just going to be all civilized about this? I tried to kill you and Irkalla last time I saw you.”
“Didn’t work out too well for you, did it?”
“Irkalla was stronger than I’d expected. I only just managed to flee.”
“Well, I figured we could do round two, and batter one another around a bit, or we could have a beer, and talk, and then you come with me.”
Gilgamesh finished his beer and put the bottle down. “I can’t do that last bit, Nate.”
I nodded. “I’d hoped you’d see reason. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Gilgamesh stared at me and laughed. “The last time we fought, just me and you, I beat you. Easily.”
It hadn’t been easily at all, but I let him have his ego-polishing moment.
I placed the bottle of beer on the ground. “It’s been a long six months, Gilgamesh. Siris is still missing, Hera is in control of London, and Merlin allowed it. Nothing feels like it’s going to have a happy ending.”
“You won’t find Siris unless she wants to be found.”
“I found you.”
“I had no intention of leaving this realm.”
“You should have kept running.”
“There’s no one Avalon would send that concerns me. I’m surprised they sent you.”
“They didn’t send me,” I confirmed. “I’m here because I want to find Siris and her people and have them stopped. I want Hera out of London, too. And you can tell me where Siris is, and who she’s working with.”