Scorched Shadows (The Hellequin Chronicles Book 7)

by Steve McHugh

  Everyone looked at Mordred.

  “I have no idea,” he said slowly.

  “You helped create the Fates, yes?” Elaine said with a sad sigh.

  Mordred nodded, his expression one of regret. “Centuries ago I helped create a new set of Fates. I didn’t exactly go about it in a nice way.”

  “You had all of them at Mars Warfare when you worked for Ares and Hera, yes?” Elaine asked.

  Mordred nodded again, wishing to be done with the conversation, but he knew he would be reminded of his past atrocities for a long time. He deserved to be reminded. “You’re not exactly going through my greatest hits.”

  “Ares and Deimos tampered with their minds under order from Hera. I found someone who worked at Mars Warfare and had him tell me all about it. They knew you still hated Nate but also knew you hadn’t spent time going after him for a while. They wanted to change that, to make you think that it was either you or him so that you’d hopefully kill each other.”

  “Ares and Deimos altered their visions?” Mordred asked. “That’s not possible.”

  “Turns out it is. Enough blood magic from the sorcerers there, and you can do a lot. Unfortunately for Hera and her allies, they escaped before the work could be completed, but the vision acted like some sort of time delay. That’s why they saw no future without you killing Nate. That never happens. They always see futures with different endings, but all of them ended up with you killing him to save everyone. No matter how badly you were lost, you always wanted to be thought of as the hero. You always thought you were doing the right thing to help the world.”

  “They set me up?” Mordred asked.

  “The Fates aren’t even aware. The visions might have gone by now—I don’t know.”

  Mordred slumped into the nearest chair. “The prophecy was a lie. I spent years trying to stop it, and the whole thing was just bullshit?”

  “Hera, Ares, and Deimos playing games. Hera always hated you and Nate. Always.”

  “Why didn’t they just kill you?” Fiona asked.

  Elaine paused and then screamed once again, dropping to the floor as sweat covered her face. She shook her head. “Can’t . . . I just can’t get through.”

  “You’ll get there,” Morgan said. “Go do what you need to do, Mordred.”

  Mordred and Hades left the room and walked back up into the palace and down into the dungeons. “We thought they would be safest in here,” Hades said as they reached a large wooden cell door. “This is an interrogation room. They’re all inside, with their hands tied behind their backs.”

  “We check every thirty seconds,” one of the eight guards outside said. “And there are four guards in the room. They’re not going anywhere, but some of the guards have tried to kill the blood elves.”

  “How many blood elves in total do we have?” Mordred asked.

  “Five alive. Two tried to cut out their own tongues. They’ve been taken elsewhere to see if we can get anything from them.”

  “You think you can get information from them?” Hades asked. “I tried to pull the spirit from one, but it’s a mess. I could have probably gotten information from it, but I suspect Abaddon had screwed around with it.”

  “Irkalla tried that and got snared.”

  “I never met Abaddon in person, although I did meet some of the other devils. Reportedly, Abaddon was powerful, cruel, and vindictive. Judging from what I’ve heard, I can’t imagine her being someone who works well with others. I wonder how many blood elves she infected with those damn snares.”

  “All of them,” Mordred said. “Would be my guess. She’s doesn’t strike me as a job-half-done kind of person.” He opened the door and stepped into the cell, motioning for the four guards to leave him alone with the three blood-elf prisoners. Each of them had their hands tied behind their backs, to the chairs they were sitting on.

  “This one will never get us to talk,” the blood elf closest to Mordred said in their language.

  “When I am free, I will have my way with his corpse. He looks tasty,” the middle one continued in the blood-elf language.

  “If you’re going to threaten me, you should do it in a language I can’t understand,” Mordred said in perfect blood elvish, enjoying the shock on the faces of the prisoners. “I’ll name you One, Two, and Three. One, you’re the one who says I’ll never get you to talk. I guess we’ll see about that. And Two, you want to defile me. You’ll need to buy me flowers first. I’m not against a good defiling, but I expect to be treated right.”

  “I’m going to eat your face,” Two said.

  “Raw and without condiments, or with a little salt and pepper?” Mordred asked. “I think a face should be marinated for a while. Raw face just sounds a bit bland.”

  The blood elf’s expression showed his confusion.

  “I get that you’re blood elves,” Mordred continued. “I get that you’re used to people being scared of you, that your lives are filled with pain and suffering. That torture simply won’t work on you. So, I’m not going to torture you for answers. I’m going to ask you where Merlin took Nate. And where Arthur is.”

  Two laughed. It was a bitter, nasty sound that made Mordred want to punch him in the face. “You’re going to be nice to us? That’s your plan?”

  “Oh, sorry, no, you misunderstand,” Mordred said. “My point here is this: you either tell me where Nate and Arthur are, or you’ll die. And you’ll die long and slow. No torture for answers, just for pain. I know I said your lives were full of pain and suffering, but I bet I can find a new level you’ve never experienced.”

  Two laughed again. Mordred knocked on the door, and one of the guards opened it. “Can I have a dagger, please?”

  The guard looked at the three prisoners before drawing out a dagger from the sheath on his hip and passing it to Mordred.

  “Thanks, I’ll give it back in a minute.” Mordred closed the door and went back to the prisoners. “Right, let’s try again. Where are Nate and Arthur?”

  Two exchanged a look with the other elves. “None of us will speak. We are servants of My Liege; we will watch his enemies burn.”

  “You’re in charge, yes?” Mordred asked. “A higher rank, or some such.”

  Two nodded, pride evident in his eyes.

  “Excellent.” Mordred walked around the blood elf and used the blade to remove one of his fingers. The blood elf yelled in pain, and Mordred took some of the elven blood and smeared it on his hand. “Want to talk yet?” he asked as he returned to face them.

  “If that is the worst you people have, we have nothing to fear,” Two said.

  “No, this is the worst,” Mordred told him, and tendrils of blood magic shot from his hands, wrapping around Two as the elf screamed in pain. Mordred squeezed the tendrils, doing all he could to ensure that he didn’t lose control of his magic, that it did no harm to the other elves. The tendrils wrapped tighter and tighter, like a constrictor, knocking the elf to the floor as his scream continued to fill the room.

  “You said no torture,” Three said.

  “No, I said no torture to get answers,” Mordred said, concentrating on his magic to remove it from the quivering mass of pain that writhed on the floor. “I don’t care about answers. You have one chance, and then you die. He had his chance, and now he dies. Once you’re all dead, we’ll find Nate and Arthur another way. There is always another way. Now, excuse me, I have a matter to attend to, after which we’ll move on to you two.”

  The other two elves were silent as Mordred dragged Two across the room, slamming him against the wall. “You’ll be more useful dead than alive,” he whispered, and plunged the dagger up into his throat, twisting the blade and pulling it free, then let the blood elf’s corpse fall to the ground.

  He turned to Three. “You’re next. Where are Nate and Arthur?”

  Three took a deep breath and tried to look as stoic in the face of danger as possible.

  “Canada,” One said. “I don’t know the name of it. It’s a compound
near a place called Toronto. Abaddon has been using it as a staging area for attacks.”

  Mordred expected Three to berate One for saying anything, but instead he just looked relieved. “We found a lot of used bracelets around the city from those who had escaped, but you were caught without bracelets—why?”

  “Not everyone was given them. Some of us came through the mountain into the tunnels under the city. We waited down there until the others arrived by using the bracelets. But not everyone who arrived here was given a bracelet to get home. We were meant to stay, cause terror for a long period until My Liege could return with Avalon approval.”

  “Merlin is still going to pretend he needs it?” Mordred asked, more to himself than anything else.

  “My Liege is replacing people with those he trusts,” Three said. “I hate you, I hate all you stand for, but we were left here to die. I love to fight, I live for it, but we’re not fodder.”

  “How many blood elves are there?” Mordred asked. “You can’t have all come from the dwarven realm.”

  One shook his head. “We were trapped under a mountain in Siberia. For a thousand years we lived there, underground, until My Liege came a few years ago. Most pledged their allegiance to him there and then.”

  “You’re different from the dwarven-realm blood elves.”

  “We only fought amongst ourselves,” Three said. “No dwarves or outsiders to lead us one way or another. No one to call an enemy. Until My Liege arrived and showed us one.”

  “So, how many are there?” Mordred repeated.

  “Thousands,” One said. “Eventually we’ll take control of this realm and make it ours once again. That’s what My Liege offered us.”

  “You’ll murder innocents just to get your home back?”

  “Why not?” One asked. “It’s our home.”

  “Not anymore, it isn’t,” Mordred said. “And you both won’t be there to see it become anything else.”

  “You’re going to kill us?” Three asked.

  “Not my call.” Mordred left the cell, returning the blade to its owner. “One dead, two alive and chatty.” He turned to Hades, who stood slightly away from the guards. “Merlin promised them this realm.”

  Hades nodded. “Merlin will have promised many people a lot of things he can’t deliver. Despots always do.”

  Mordred and Hades left the prison and walked out of the palace, where Leonardo, Selene, and Diana greeted them. “Nate and Arthur are in a compound near Toronto,” Mordred said. “They didn’t know more than that, and yes, I believe them. Any idea how we get them out?”

  “We can’t,” Hades said. “Not yet. We have no way of getting in and out, and no way of knowing exactly where he is or how many guard him. We have to wait for word.”

  “And what if that word comes too late to save them?” Selene asked.

  “We’ll find them,” Hades said. “I promise you that. We’ll get them out, but if we rush in Merlin could just kill them or kill anyone else who’s there. A rescue could become a bloodbath.”

  “So, we wait and see?” Diana asked. “Not my favorite thing to do.”

  “Oh, we’re not going to be doing that,” Hades said. “I have a plan. Several of us will need to move to a safe location outside of this realm. I want to be ready to go in a few hours. We’ll need to move fast once we find Nate and Arthur’s exact location.”

  “Even if we know it, what’s going to change?” Diana asked. “He could still be impossible to extract without a large-scale military operation.”

  “My man knows what to do,” Hades said. “We have to have some faith in Nate’s ability to withstand whatever Merlin does, and my man’s ability to get both Nate and Arthur to a safe place without too much trouble. Merlin is eventually going to attack my people. They’re prepared for this, but I’d rather Nate was out before it happens. Merlin’s going after everyone who stood against Hera or any of his other allies over the years. He fired Olivia and moved Lucie to another job, although no one has heard from her in several days. The head of the LOA is said to be Ares.”

  Diana whistled. “That is incredibly bad news in a day filled with shitty news.”

  “Leonardo, can you change where a realm gate goes?” Mordred asked. “Can you change it so that the realm gates we already have go to Tartarus? We can start sending people there straight away.”

  “I’ve suggested that it’s possible, in theory. Never tested that theory, though. People don’t like me playing with the realm gates.”

  “Well, now you get to,” Hades said. “Go check.”

  “So, what happens now?” Mordred asked.

  “I need to leave the realm,” Hades said. “I need to be ready for news about Nate, and I don’t want someone to have to come find me. Anyone who wants to leave with me, come now.”

  “I’m with you,” Selene said. “I can’t leave Nate in Merlin’s hands.”

  “Same here,” Diana said.

  “Me, too,” Mordred replied. “We’ll talk to the others and meet you at the realm gate.”

  Mordred, Diana, Leonardo, and Selene met up with the rest of the group and filled them in on the plan.

  “I’m staying,” Zamek said. “As much as Nate needs help, so do these people. And if anyone can figure out how to change the destination settings on a realm gate, it’s me.”

  “I’ll be staying, too,” Nabu said. “This attack wasn’t designed to kill everyone. There are a million people in this city, and it only attacked the easternmost area. The affluent area close to the palace. This was designed to make people afraid. The people who live here deserve to feel safe, and I’d like to make that happen.”

  “I’m with you guys,” Remy told Selene. “Nate killed me, thus saving me, so I sort of owe him one.”

  “I don’t owe anyone anything,” Wei said. “But everywhere my small fox friend goes, it seems to coincide with lots of killing. I’m quite interested in seeing how this pans out.”

  Remy stared at Wei for several seconds. “I am actually at a loss for words. I guess we could always use more cannon fodder.”

  Wei stared back at Remy before smiling. “I would miss these moments if I left.”

  “I’m really not sure if you’re just trying to wind me up, or you’re a few bricks short of a wall.”

  Wei leaned close to Remy. “Can’t it be both?”

  Diana stifled a laugh as the rest of the group decided where their paths lay. Antonio, Fiona, and Alan decided to stay in Shadow Falls, while Morgan, Mac, and Elaine opted to join Hades and wait for word about Nate.

  “Has anyone seen Lucifer?” Selene asked.

  There was a short conversation about who Lucifer was, and why he was someone they were looking for, but no one seemed to know where he’d gone or what he was doing.

  The group split up, with the half helping Hades making their way to the realm gate, where Caitlin, Harrison, and a tired-looking Lucifer greeted them.

  “Find Nate,” Caitlin said. “We’ll hold the fort here. My father wouldn’t want Nate to become Merlin’s puppet.”

  “We’ll do our damnedest,” Morgan assured her. “You coming with us, Lucifer?”

  Lucifer nodded. “I’ve been helping get people out of the realm gate. Some wanted to go to America rather than wait for Tartarus, which is understandable considering most consider Tartarus a prison realm.”

  “I really hadn’t considered that,” Selene said. “We should have considered it.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Caitlin said. “We’ve been spreading the word that Tartarus isn’t a prison. Once we’re ready to go, this place is going to see a mass evacuation.”

  “You sure you all have to go now?” Remy asked. “Abaddon played her hand by coming here.”

  “She’ll be back,” Harrison said. “Too many people here know the truth about what happened, about the blood elves, about Avalon’s corruption. Merlin will want to silence that. We have a million people to hide. It won’t be easy, but we’ll manage it. Somehow.”

&
nbsp; “We’ll see you soon enough,” Selene said, hugging Caitlin. “We’re going to need to work together to stop Merlin.”

  “I know,” Caitlin said. “And we will.”

  The group went through the realm gate and was greeted by a tired-looking Rebecca Dean. “There’s been no Avalon turning up to try and find Arthur. Maybe Avalon has bigger problems. Either way, Hades is outside. We’ll finish up here, and then who knows what. I guess the dream of Shadow Falls is done.”

  “It doesn’t have to be,” Elaine said. “Maybe it just needs to be changed slightly.”

  “I hope so,” Rebecca said.

  Everyone found Hades outside next to one of six black SUVs while a dozen of his people looked on. “We have a long drive ahead of us,” he told Elaine.

  “I don’t plan on resting until I find Nate,” Selene said, climbing into the back of the nearest car.

  “I plan on getting some sleep until we need to stop,” Mordred said. “It’s going to be in short supply after we get wherever Hades is taking us.” He closed his eyes and, once the vehicle was moving, drifted off. He dreamed of himself as a young man with Galahad, Morgan, and Nate beside him, while the specter of death hovered unsuspected over them.

  CHAPTER 32

  Nate Garrett

  Avalon’s Wisconsin compound

  After being dragged from Shadow Falls into the elven ruins, where a bracelet was placed onto my wrist, I was forced to clasp my other hand over it. I vanished from that realm and ended up on the frozen ground of somewhere else. Someone placed a sorcerer’s band on my wrist, and my magic vanished. Apart from the fact that it was cold and I was in some sort of courtyard, I saw nothing before being dragged away again.

  I blacked out at some point. I have no idea for how long, or what happened during that time, although I thought I heard voices around me. Eventually I opened my eyes. My arms hurt. That was the first thing that came to mind, and I looked up to see that someone had put shackles on my wrists, forcing me to hang from them. A two-foot-long chain connected the two metal shackles. There was no bracelet on either wrist that I could see, although I was still unable to access my magic. I could feel it, just out of reach, but never touch it.