Sword of Elements Series Boxed Set 2: Bound In Blue, Caught In Crimson & To Make A Witch

by Heather Hamilton-Senter

  Arthur stared at me as if I’d gone mad. “Guinevere? An earth witch? And you’re her child?” Apparently the king was above listening to gossip because I’d thought that information had already spread through the magic community grapevine.

  Sighing, Taliesin sat down heavily in his chair. “It is true.”

  Arthur shook his head. “I can hardly believe it.” The expression on his face softened. “You have to understand, Guinevere was just turned twelve when we were married. She was a child to me—a lovely child, but nothing more. It was a political alliance advanced and encouraged by my counsellors. Even Merlin approved once he arranged to meet her before the negotiations were completed.” He fell silent and I guessed he was now questioning Merlin’s true motivation. “We were married in a church. Though I’d converted for the sake of my subjects and had some belief in the new religion, my heart was still tied to the old ways.”

  And to Morgan.

  Arthur nodded as if he could see my thoughts on my face. “I was already married to Morgan by the leader of the druids, and we were bound by magic. Ours was my true marriage. My knights and closest confidants knew and accepted this, but the people only knew and loved Guinevere. I thought she was content with the arrangement.”

  Chalk another one up for male pattern blindness.

  The king smiled sadly. “I would never have begrudged Guinevere any happiness in our arrangement. There was a young man at court I thought had caught her eye. He had a funny, foreign name I can’t quite remember, but when he converted to Christianity and became a monk, I thought it was because she’d finished with him.”

  Great. Mommy’s a ho.

  “But to think that she had a child with Merlin,” he continued, “and that child is you, is almost inconceivable.”

  Taliesin raised his hand. “There is much we still do not know of Guinevere’s involvement in this matter, though I suspect that Rhiannon could enlighten us somewhat. What remains to us now is that while the Grail might save Morgana’s life . . .” His voice caught and I could see his fear that the woman he loved might die. “While the Grail might save her, magic always has a price. And even if we were willing to pay it, we have no idea where the Grail is or what Path leads to it. Goodfellow’s missing Guide took that secret to their grave.”

  That’s not exactly true.

  “That’s not exactly true.” For once, I’d said exactly what I was thinking. “I know a little something about binding spells. Arthur should be able to tell if Morgan will make it through the night or not. Will she?”

  The king’s gaze turned inward, then he blinked and nodded. “She remains near death, but it is still at bay.”

  “Then we still have time. We might as well all sit down and have dinner because there’s a lot I need to tell you.”

  One of Arthur’s powers was his sensitivity to the hearts and minds of his subjects. “You know where the Grail is.” It wasn’t a question. “Where?”

  Everyone was staring at me, making me want to disappear, but I forced myself to smile. “At the Bellagio, of course. Where else would it be?”

  What proceeded was probably one of the strangest Christmas dinners ever. It began with the suggestion of a truce between worldwide forces of magic and ended with Taliesin and Arthur slicing their palms and mingling their blood to seal it. In between, I told them everything. Almost.

  Water, fire, air—bound by the earth that contains them all, our personal earth of blood, flesh, and bone.

  Blood was the most convenient aspect of earth to spill or share. For the first time, I wondered what magic someone could perform with flesh or bone. The morbid thought only partially distracted me from the nagging sense of guilt over what I hadn’t divulged. I’d told them that Cleo was in an alliance with Merlin, but didn’t mention she was also my half-sister. I didn’t mention Redcap’s reference to my starring role in a doomsday prophesy, but Daley had probably already told Taliesin. I also minimized my account of the vision the Mari Lwyd gave me. I did expand on the tale of how Merlin had appeared to me and killed Seolan, and that he was searching for Guinevere, but I didn’t tell them I’d been forced to agree to help. I was keeping that information private in case I needed it to save my own skin. The truth was that I had no real allegiance with anyone at the table except Peter. None of them, none of us, were pure in either action or motive. Who was I to say whether Merlin was the real monster or not?

  Except he threatened to explode your skull from the inside out, Rhi.

  The unexpected bright spot in the evening was when Daley handed out his presents at the end of dinner. Taliesin eagerly ripped open a box of expensive looking chocolate truffles. It humanized him a bit to discover he had a serious sweet tooth. Tynan had gone down to the media room to hook up the gaming equipment Daley had given him and Miko had followed even though she seemed reluctant to leave. Daley had given her an explosion of black tulle that was some sort of a skirt, but it lay forgotten on the chair. She’d spent the night gazing at Titania as if fascinated. I’d assumed that since Miko was half fairy, she was at least used to other fairies, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

  Peter and I had gifts too. Peter’s was a quite deadly-looking gun which I was sure Daley hadn’t picked up on our trip to the mall. My best friend looked beyond thrilled.

  Guns can kill some creatures just as well as a sword or magic can.

  I didn’t know what to make of my own gift. Inside the small box was a silver bracelet with a single charm hanging from it—a charm in the same shape as the one in my vision. I knew it was a common Celtic shape, and he couldn’t realize its significance, but it didn’t feel like a coincidence.

  “It’s beautiful.”

  Daley’s small smiles were more precious for how rare they were. “It’s only fair that I found you something to replace this.” He touched the charm hanging on the long chain around his neck—the Wheel of Taranis in its dormant state. I’d found it among Viviane’s things, but it was Daley’s birthright. As he helped me fasten the bracelet around my wrist, electricity arced along the metal, sparking us both. It startled me into a laugh and his smile deepened. My breath caught. Peter had once told me that the real message of the Christmas season was hope. When Daley brushed my skin with his fingertips and trails of silver followed, I finally understood how powerful that emotion could be.

  “Thank you,” I murmured, afraid to say more and ruin it.

  “I think . . .” He stopped and started again. “I know that what happened to Melusine wasn’t really your fault.” He continued to hold my hand, staring down at the bracelet on my wrist. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get past it.”

  Consumed with the sensation of his skin against mine, it took me a moment to realize he was waiting for me to respond. “I understand.”

  He looked up suddenly. “Do you? I’m not sure I do. Miko says that part of what was between me and Mel was magic. She says it’s why I’m finding it so hard to let go.”

  I was finding it hard to breathe. “You loved her.”

  Daley’s gaze turned inward and he dropped my hand. “It feels like I always will.” Silver hope faded at his words.

  “I still think we should go now.” Arthur’s heated declaration to Taliesin interrupted the moment. Avoiding my eyes, Daley said he was going to go help Tynan set up his equipment. I was left in the awkward position of not wanting to chase him, but not wanting to be left alone with the bickering adults either.

  Taliesin sighed; they’d already had this same argument several times over dinner. “We must wait for Goodfellow to arrive, and he was miles away from the nearest Path adjudicating some conflict among the Guides.”

  “I can walk a Path myself. I don’t need Puck’s help.” I noticed how Titania stiffened when Arthur called Goodfellow by that name. Bedivere and the ginger-haired woman shared knowing look, but otherwise hadn’t said much during dinner. They ate like soldiers—quickly and heartily, ready to be finished and gone at a moment’s notice.

  “You c
an walk the Paths, my lord, but the Green Man is the master of them.” There was an edge of impatience in the bard’s voice; the alliance was already wearing thin. “From what Rhiannon has described, this is no ordinary Path. I have never heard of one which passed through water. It may only have been a vision from the Mari Lwyd and not a true Path at all. It might even be a trap. In any case, we need to tread carefully.”

  Arthur subsided with a huff of frustration, but I knew he wasn’t just being petty—the man was sick with fear for Morgan. Between his fear and Taliesin’s, the air felt like it was being filled with white smoke, and I was just about to slip away to somewhere more comfortable when there was a pounding on the front door.

  Arthur immediately became the great leader that legend named him. Calling out commands, he had Taliesin covered by Titania, Bedivere guarding himself, and the ginger-haired woman stationed at the window with her gun out, scanning for threats.

  Maybe it was the fact that I’d been left out of the protection detail that put the snark into my voice. “What’s wrong with you people? It’s just someone at the door for crying out loud!”

  The pounding continued as I left the dining room and passed through the house to the foyer, forcing myself not to run. I didn’t look back, but I could hear people gathering behind me and guessed that everyone in the house had come to investigate.

  Another round of frantic banging. “I’m coming,” I muttered under my breath. “Don't have an aneurysm over it.” There was one last slightly muffled thump and then nothing. The door was solid wood and heavy; it took me a moment to wrench it open.

  Thomas Redcap tumbled through onto the marble floor at my feet, bleeding from several long cuts that had shredded his shirt. I stared at him in shock.

  His eyelids fluttered open. “Monster,” he whispered. “There’s a monster loose in Las Vegas.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  ALIZARIN

  “Search the grounds!” The unnatural amplification of Taliesin’s voice made everyone jump. “Make sure nothing followed him back here.” The Protectors who’d remained for the evening rushed outside to obey, but Taliesin stopped Peter, Daley, and Tynan. “You three stay here in case anything gets past them.” Arthur directed his people with silent motions to do the same. Miko tried to follow Titania to her position near the door, but the fairy waved her back.

  “Rhiannon,” Redcap whispered, but I couldn’t move. I just stared down at him.

  Arthur bent over and put Redcap’s arm over his shoulders, pulling him to his feet and leading him to the living room. “Come, man, just a few more steps and we’ll have you resting somewhere more comfortable than the floor.” I could see genuine concern on the king’s face.

  The face of a man I could follow.

  I pushed the thought away at the same time Redcap pushed himself away from Arthur.

  “Your wounds, Thomas,” Taliesin cautioned.

  Redcap shook his head. “They’re not that bad. It only caught me with a glancing blow, but I was forced to use my . . .” He paused, protective as ever of the secrets of his people, even though he was the last of them. He took a breath. “I was forced to use my abilities to get here as quick as I could without the call of a Great One’s death to guide me. It almost killed me.”

  Taliesin frowned. “How is that even possible?”

  Redcap swayed and Arthur caught him again, lowering him down to a sofa. “There is death here, close by.” Redcap was looking right at Miko. “Something has died and a new thing has risen in its place.”

  There was a frozen moment of terrible silence and then Miko ran from the room. I started to follow, but Taliesin motioned for me to stop. “There is no urgency to the mystery of Miko’s condition. There is, however, great urgency to find the source of the claws which did that.” He was pointing at the bloody cuts on Redcap’s chest. “What did you see, Thomas Redcap?”

  The man took a shuddering breath. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the Bellagio ever since we caught sight of the Mari Lwyd this morning.” He jerked his chin towards me. “She told you about that?” Taliesin nodded and Redcap continued, “I could see that something was wrong. Cleo was in and out of the place all day. I followed her assistant Iris when she left and convinced her to tell me what was going on. She said that since we’d disturbed the wards on the hotel by trespassing—and by ‘we’, I mean you two since I’ve always been exempt from them—Cleo had been waiting for the sorcerer she employs to come and reset them. Iris thought she seemed almost afraid about the delay. I went back to the Bellagio after dark. It was almost midnight, when I saw . . .” He glanced at me again.

  “What?” Taliesin prodded.

  “I thought I saw Rhiannon riding the Mari Lwyd.”

  Redcap’s uncanny ability to see me, truly see me.

  Since this wasn’t exactly new information, Arthur shifted impatiently. “What then?”

  “Something came out of the water. Something big. And even the Mundanes could see it. I tried to stop it, but . . .” Redcap’s face crumpled with anguish. “It killed anything Mundane in its way! There were children in the crowd! Women holding babies in their arms!” He covered his face with his hands.

  Daley ran to the console and pushed the button that brought the TV up out of it. Turning it on, the screen filled with an image of the Bellagio surrounded by emergency vehicles. A reporter stood in front telling a tale of carnage and confusion. Survivors claimed some sort of animal had attacked them—an animal with the head and neck of a snake, the body of a leopard, the legs of a lion, and the cloven hooves of a deer.

  There was an audible gasp and I turned to see Titania staring at the TV with wide eyes. “My lord! It can’t be!”

  “But it is. The Questing Beast has returned.” Arthur touched Redcap on the shoulder. “You said it only killed Mundanes. How do you know?”

  Taking a shuddering breath, Redcap looked up. “There were two Greylanders and an untrained earth magician right in its path, but it stepped around them.”

  Arthur and Taliesin shared a look. “It’s a trap then,” Arthur said simply. Taliesin nodded in agreement.

  “What do you mean ‘it’s a trap’?” Peter yelped. I could tell through our bond that he was on the verge of panic.

  Redcap stood. “He means the creature wanted to make sure someone with magic would witness and bring word here. That’s why it only scratched me when I tried to engage it.”

  As I continued to listen in white horror to the reporter tabulating the casualties, I knew Redcap was almost right. Stepping in front of the TV to make sure all eyes were on me, I pushed up my sleeve and held out my arm. As I let rage sweep away the horror, flames erupted from my skin. “It’s not a trap for you, Taliesin, and not even for you, Arthur. The trap is for me. There’s a fire in the depths of the Grail that’s calling to me, promising to fill me with its power. These flames belong to it.” Then I said the words that I suspected would make an enemy of Arthur forever. “Just like Excalibur, the Grail is mine.”

  But he surprised me. Ignoring the fire, he grasped my outstretched hand and the flames went out as if even the elements obeyed his command. “I am the Earth King still. I can help you bear this burden.” Arthur’s face shone and the majestic purple of his power filled me. Without meaning to, I took some of it into myself, and for a moment, I understood what it felt like to be a king.

  I pulled away before I couldn’t stop myself from taking more, or before I fell to my knees and pledged my allegiance—I wasn’t sure which I was closest to. “Thank you.” As Arthur smiled in response and inclined his head towards me, he didn’t seem to realize that I’d drawn some of his power away.

  Not that he would. He’s got mojo to spare.

  “We should go now. We should strike at the Fisher King before the creature comes back.” Lurking in the shadows on the far side of the room, Tynan had been silent for so long that I’d almost forgotten he was there.

  Arthur considered for a moment before shaking his head. “No, my son, Talie
sin is right. We’ll wait for Puck.” He sighed when Titania turned away. “We’ll wait for Robin Goodfellow,” he amended. “The beast wants to draw us out now when the presence of so many Mundanes will confuse the situation. We can’t risk an even greater loss of life among them.”

  Tynan bowed his head. “You’re right, Father. I’m sorry.” Taliesin quickly hid the hurt look on his face and I wondered if he knew he’d already lost his adopted son to Arthur.

  When Redcap swayed, I was the nearest shoulder for him to lean on. “Sorry, love, but if I could just lie down somewhere quiet for a minute, that would be brilliant.” A hint of the familiar twinkle in his red-streaked irises returned as he winked at me. “I wasn’t trying to cop a feel, though with a hot chickie like yourself, it’s tempting." He winked at me. "Hot—get it?” I suppressed a tart retort when the weight of his hand on my shoulder increased. He was trying to hide it, but he was having a difficult time staying upright.

  “You can lie down in my room.” When he had no cheeky punchline for such an easy set up, I knew just how difficult.

  “I’ll get something to clean up his wounds,” Peter offered and I nodded my thanks.

  Urgent conversation closed around us as we left. Between my shoulder and the wall, Redcap made it down the hall and into the room where he collapsed on the bed before I could even pull the covers down for him. As I picked up a throw to lay over his legs, he grasped my wrist. The silver charm bit into my skin from the pressure of his hand, but when he whispered, “Mo lenahb,” I held still.