by Ines Johnson
"What is one from Arthur's harem doing so far from his bed?"
Yeah, that thick air around us in the midst of this standoff? Well, Morgan sucked it all down in a long, loud gasp of pure indignation. Then she rolled her neck and raised her finger like it was an uncocked gun.
"First of all, I am Arthur's nothing. I have never been anywhere near his bed."
"Awww," Erwen cooed, pouting out her lower lip in unsympathetic mockery. "You didn't get chosen, sweetie?"
Morgan dropped her finger. Her feet set into motion ready to pounce on the woman. I got my arms around her in time to hold her back. But damn, cuz was strong. She lifted me off my feet as she lunged for Erwen. If my forearms hadn't been wrapped around hers, Erwen might've had that mocking lower lip split in two.
"Watch it there, Van Ass," said Ruith. "No one here wants to see your brains again."
I'd managed to step in front of Morgan. But now I wondered if she'd have to hold me back next. "You were always such a bitch, Ruith."
"Um," Thalia raised her hand. "I'm really not comfortable with the B-word."
"I hear you've become quite the slut," said Ruith. "Gotten really good at showing that flat ass to all the knights around, and on, that little table of theirs."
I heaved out a gush of air at her foul, offensive accusation. My ass was anything but flat. Before I could voice any dissent to correct Ruith on the perfectly round proportions of my backside, Thalia stepped back up on the soapbox.
"I'm really not comfortable with the S-word either. Ladies, there's so much aggression amongst young women in today's world. We've become masters of passive aggression, indirect putdowns, and snide remarks."
"Of course there's aggression," said Ruith. "It's how we compete as women. We are intellectual where men are physical. For example, if I break your leg, Van Ass, your cells can heal. If I break your spirit, you're fucked."
Seriously, what was it with this chick and breaking bones?
"Look," I said. "We don't want any trouble."
"Speak for yourself," muttered Morgan. Her dark blue gaze was still trained on Erwen.
"Witches are trouble," said Erwen. "You lot are the first incarnation of trouble back to the time of the Garden when you stole from the very Mother who created you, when Eve took from the Tree of Knowledge."
My mouth went slack at her pronouncement. I remembered Erwen being a top student back at school, excelling in the sciences. Back at Camelot, she'd said she was a geophysicist. I wasn't exactly sure what that entailed, but it had the word physicist in it. That had to mean she was smart? But she bought into a mashed up myth of the Biblical first woman eating a magical fruit?
"I saw evidence of your wickedness in your little town," Erwen continued. "You force vegetables to grow in places that are foreign. You indoctrinate the children to defy the laws of nature. And worse, you allow women to be at the beck and call of a group of men. At the very least, you should be ruling the men."
I chanced a look at Morgan. I'd felt her heating beside me as Erwen went off about her vegetables and the children. But there was a marked cooling when Erwen mentioned the gender roles and leadership. It was only a second, but I was certain I saw Morgan raise a contemplative eyebrow at that last suggestion.
"Okay, let's be reasonable," I said. "It's clear you disagree with our lifestyle choices. Even though you're the ones wearing a polyester blend on the top of a windy British hill at night."
A few of the women took a second to look down at their wardrobe choice. Another shuddered, probably wishing she'd worn a shawl or some fur. The scene reminded me of the line of girls scantily-clad, waiting outside the velvet ropes of a club in the dead of winter.
"But I don't see how you're going to get our power from us?" I continued. "I'm thankful that burning and sacrifice are off the table. So, what? Are you going to dazzle us with your stones all night?"
Erwen smiled and I had to hold still instead of itching at the prickle that began up my spine.
"No, sweetie. We're gonna make this a family affair."
"Family?"
"She's talking about Linny-Boy," said Ruith.
"I thought we decided to call him Merly," said Thalia.
"Merlin? He's here?" I asked. "You have to tell us where he is. He's very dangerous."
"He's as harmless as a fly," said Thalia.
As if on cue, Merlin emerged from the inner structure of the Tor. Merlin was Arthur's older brother by a couple of decades in human time. That would translate to just a few years in ley time, making him appear as though he might be in his early thirties.
I'd seen family portraits of Merlin back in Tintagel. He'd been a thin boy and a gaunt young man as the magic had wreaked havoc on his body his entire life. He looked healthy in his wedding portrait alongside Gwin. Nothing about him had screamed magical wizard, more like math wizard without the glasses or pocket protector. But his face had been fresh with a small glint of vibrancy in his gray eyes.
The man who emerged from the crumbling tower didn't look a day under eighty. Being off the ley line for this extended period of time, coupled with the wound inflicted upon him by his wife, had clearly taken its toll.
Merlin walked with a limp, favoring his left side. I know Gwin had pierced him on the right with the Spear of Destiny. In his right hand, he held the Spear, using it as a cane. He leaned heavily on it as he made his way into the circle.
Had the wound still not healed? When it had nicked Nia's fingertip, she'd bled until Gwin healed her. When it pierced the heart of another Immortal, Yod, Merlin's partner in crime, had never recovered.
"He's not going to hurt you," Thalia soothed. "Merly here has found a way to take that cursed magic from you and give it back to the earth, like he did with his magic."
Give it back? Not likely. Merlin had grabby hands when it came to other witches' magic. That's how he got wounded in the first place. He'd come to Sarras where Mary Magadelene's body rested. He'd planned to steal the dead witch's power for himself. Now, all that power was coursing through my veins. And I was about to be presented to him, like a Loren-sized crack vile he could hit. But when my gaze flicked to the weakened wizard, he was paying me no mind. He was focused on Morgan.
Seriously? Did no one realize the awesome power that was raging inside of me? Kinda didn't matter while I stood paralyzed in the middle of this power circle.
"We will bring peace," Thalia was saying to Morgan. "We will take the rule from the knights and we will free all of you witches to feel the power of the earth and not the ley lines. You'll thank us."
I didn't know what the heck was up with all the communist magical folks. Arthur and his knights wanted all witches under their watch. And now these priestesses believed magic should be taken from individuals and redistributed back into the earth so that everyone was equal.
Didn't matter. This cold war was about to end. Once I figured out how to denuke the situation.
Chapter Fourteen
"Go on, Merly," said Erwen. "We need to try before we buy."
Erwen grabbed Morgan's wrists. I saw a golden mist ignite out of the tips of Morgan's fingers. But with the bluestone in such close proximity, her magic shorted out.
Morgan turned her ire to Merlin. "You weak, bloody bastard. You know I inwardly cheered when they said you were dead."
"I've never cared for you either, my dear sister-in-law. You know your mother originally wanted Gwin for Arthur and you for me?"
"I would've smothered you in your sickbed long ago," spat Morgan.
"I have no doubt. Hold her still please."
Ruith came up to help Erwen hold Morgan still. Each priestess took one of Morgan's forearms. With Morgan between them as a sacrifice, they turned and peered at Merlin.
But Merlin didn't advance on Morgan. His eyes crinkled like a predator sensing the faint presence of easy prey. He inhaled, like a dog sniffing a particularly juicy bone. Then his gaze turned to me.
He narrowed his gray eyes on me. For a second, I held stock
still. His eyes were so like his younger brother's that I felt that same bout of anxiety as when Arthur peered down at me. It felt exactly the same, like Merlin was weighing my worth.
"They gave you Lady Mary Magdalene's magic?"
His voice was filled with incredulity. I suppose that, like his brother, he'd found me wanting.
"Who are you?" Merlin demanded, turning entirely away from Morgan and focusing his whole being on me.
"I'm Loren Van…" I looked around at my youthful tormentors. Then I put my shoulders back and tilted my chin high in the moon's spotlight. "I'm Loren Van Alst; Receptor of Lady Mary's magic, Knight of Camelot, and last in the line of Sir Galahad."
The wind rustled the robes of the women standing about. I heard a few blades of grass rustle with the movement of night crawlers. But other than nature, silence greeted my honorific.
"Listen, Merlin, you don't have to do this," I said. I wracked my brain trying to remember Igraine's prophetic words and repeat them. "You were born ill, not evil. You can choose a different path, be the great, wise hero. Just like in the stories."
Merlin opened his mouth and laughed. It wasn't the evil, cackling laugh of a villain. It was the wet, congested hacking of an old, dying man. His gray eyes looked through me, like they were looking into me. Like they were seeing all that untapped power coursing through my veins.
"Forget that one. Let's start with her." Merlin pointed a crooked finger at me with one hand, while he gripped the spear with the other.
"You're making the biggest mistake of your life, Merlin. If you turn your back on your family there's no turning around." I know that directional statement didn't make sense, but my brain wasn't operating at peak performance in this moment of duress. I tried to take a step back, and then I felt a dagger at my back.
"Don't be brave, Van Ass," said Ruith.
Erwen still held onto Morgan. And by held, I mean Erwen pressed Morgan's back to her chest. Ruith tossed Erwen her necklace, which Erwen promptly held up in Morgan's face. Morgan's expression was contorted in agony with the bluestones so close to her person.
Ruith was stoneless, but she had steel on me. She walked me out of the circle with Merlin. Even though the stones were still many and near me, I felt like I could breathe again. Until Merlin began to chant.
I remembered Merlin's chant when he'd tried to take Gwin's power back in Sarras. When he'd done that, Gwin had levitated the Spear of Destiny into her hand and sliced his side, causing him to let her go. I was still crap at levitation. I could barely manage to get the lid off a dinner plate.
I was so screwed.
I'd just gotten my superpowers and now I was gonna lose them before I even knew how to use them. My dreams of being a heroine were being dashed and I hadn't even had a chance to put together a cool outfit.
I noticed that Merlin was nearing the end of the chant. But nothing was happening. He said the last few words and then he frowned, looking down at his hands. The frown wasn't one of surprise. It was one of annoyed disappointment.
"Did it happen?" asked Ruith, still holding the dagger to my back. "Is he finished?"
"I didn't feel anything," said Thalia.
"Maybe he's impotent?" said Erwen.
"You can't say that to a man, Erwen," said Thalia. "Now, he definitely won't be able to get his spell up."
But Erwen was right. Merlin was impotent. Standing near him outside of the stone circle, I didn't feel a slight hum of magic coming from him. So, the spear had taken it all. If he had no magic left, his spell to steal mine wouldn't work.
Ha! Karma was a bitch.
Merlin looked at the spear as though to confirm my thoughts. Before he lowered his hands, I noted a trail of blood at his side. It appeared through the fabric of his long tunic shirt. His wound from the spear hadn't healed.
I felt the knife at my back slack as Ruith took more interest in him than in me. I was outside of the circle. Everyone's attention was momentarily diverted. I might not be able to use my magic well, but I knew how to use my fists.
It was now or never. Time to do something heroic. I just hoped it wouldn't get me and Morgan killed in the process.
I whirled around, trapping Ruith's forearm in the crook of my elbow. It was a martial arts move I'd seen watching Kung Fu movies. No one was more surprised than me that it worked.
Ruith's eyes were wide with shock. I stripped the dagger from her hand and then thrust my elbow back, clocking her in the face.
Unlike Thalia, I did condone violence. I'd taken to sword fighting as a child. I'd been brawling and fighting my way out of hairy situations since I'd been on my own. But that punch I'd just thrown, the one that bloodied Ruith Doyle's nose job, I would never forget that for the rest of my long life.
'Cause my life would be long. I had the upper hand now and Ruith's dagger. I twirled it in my palm, feeling like I was the queen of the hill. Until I saw the spear aimed at Morgan's gut.
"I know my Biblical history," said Erwen. "I know Mary Magdalene was a witch. I know the man she married, Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of Jesus Christ, was also the man who took his body from the cross. Along with the spear used to end his life. You were holding out on us, Merly boy."
Merlin's hunched body stood by the scene. His gray eyes were glassy and his hands were empty. Erwen had the spear. The sharp point of it had already torn a hole in the bodice of Morgan's shirt.
"This is the Spear of Destiny."
Merlin's jaw clenched. Even with his aged face and long scraggly hair, the expression on his face reminded me of Arthur when he argued with Morgan and she made an irrefutable point.
"A god killer," continued Erwen. "A witch slayer."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a couple of the priestesses making their way behind me to close me in their circle. I extended the dagger in my left hand and drew my sword out of my satchel with my right. It unfolded once freed.
"Take another step and I gut her," I said.
I aimed my sword at Ruith who still writhed on the ground from her bloodied nose. I tossed the dagger in the air and caught its handle. I cocked my arm back as though I was preparing to throw. The double threat called the women up short and they fumbled back, the circle a misshapen scatter-pattern.
"You been holding out on us, Van Alst," said Erwen.
"Let her go," I said pointing at Morgan.
"Why don't you come join us instead?"
"Join a bunch of women who want to violate the autonomy of hundreds of witches, literally robbing them of their power? I don't think so."
"You know, my mother was a psychologist," Erwen said. "She studied matriarchal societies like the Musuo and the Naxi in China. These women handled the business decisions of the society, the political works too. The children took the mothers' last names. Property was passed down to daughters. They had walking marriages where the woman would go to a man's house, take his seed, and raise the child. These societies are peaceful. And do you know why?"
I didn't and I didn't care. Well, except for the walking marriage part. That I wanted to investigate when I had a moment to spare. But right now, I only cared about my cousin. I had to figure out a way to get that spear away from her body.
Looking at Morgan's dark eyes, I could tell she was thinking the same thing. In fact, I felt like I knew that little glint in her eyes. It was the same glint I'd gotten right before I'd clocked Ruith in the nose.
"The reason why is-"
But Erwen didn't have a chance to complete her sentence. Morgan wrenched back and elbowed the high priestess in the gut. The problem with that was that she'd gone low where I'd gone high.
As Erwen stumbled back, the dagger sliced at Morgan's forearm. The moment the dagger broke her skin, Morgan sunk to the ground.
Erwen took a deep breath. The anger in her sea green eyes burned as though they were on fire. She regained her balance and double-fisted the spear.
Merlin raised his hand towards Erwen. I wasn't sure if it was an attempt to grab Morgan and hold her
still or to try and stop Erwen. It was a fleeting motion and he retracted his hand no sooner than he'd raised it.
The blade of the spear glinted in the moonlight. Blood rushed down Morgan's forearm and into the blades of grass. All conscious thought stopped as my emotions consumed me.
I felt a fire burning in my gut. With one deep breath, I stoked the embers and I felt something explode. I was on my feet, moving faster than I ever had before. Faster than I knew a human could move.
My arms reached out and wrapped around Morgan's body. I brought her to me, tasting the salt of her sweat, feeling the slickness of her blood. I held her tight, hugging her body into mine in an effort to protect her from those that would harm us.
But no one was around us.
Merlin, Erwen, the other priestesses, they were nowhere in sight. Neither was the Tor. Neither was the ground.
We were airborne. I was levitating. Carrying both my weight and Morgan's with the strength of my powers. Like I said, I didn't do anything by halves.
We sailed down the hilltop on a cushion of air. Morgan breathed hard against my cheek. I had to adjust my grip when my palm met the blood still oozing from her arm. And that's when the weight of what I was doing hit me.
Our actual weight. Not only was I carrying myself through the air, I was carrying another living body. My energy stores were quickly depleting.
We sank lower on the horizon, getting closer to the ground. The bottom of the hill was still a bit away. I looked over my shoulder towards the top of the hill. I saw a flurry of robes rushing down the hill.
The sight of the women heading after us, plus the glint of the spear in Erwen's hand, upped my anxiety. Morgan and I sank closer to the ground. If I stuck my feet out, we'd be running.
But from the looks of her, Morgan couldn't run. I had to get us safely down. And then what? I couldn't carry her. An idea splashed into my mind.
"Morgan? Can Viviane hear underwater?"
"I… I don't know?"
Morgan's eyes were closed. Her breathing was getting shallower. Sweat was streaming down her forehead. And the wound at her arm still leaked like a faucet.