He stopped and stroked his thumb over my cheek, catching the tear that slid down. “And I have not finished. I said that when you left you took something of me with you, something I didn’t get back until that day at Snedham Institute. Merlin had told me that I was to watch over Arthur’s heir from afar, but not to interfere. And I planned on doing just that. Then I saw you for the first time, and I couldn’t believe it. There you were, the woman who had left me, who I had spent a lifetime loving, and I knew I had a second chance. I volunteered at Snedham and enrolled at your school, knowing I had to get close to you.”
His hands were still holding my cheeks, his eyes fixed on mine. I couldn’t have looked away even if I wanted to. But I didn’t want to. I could have stared into his eyes forever.
“I argued with Percy and Wyn about it. They thought I was being reckless, and perhaps I was. I still wonder if it was my proximity to you that increased the dreams. But that day at lunch, when you first touched me and saw the real me, I knew I couldn’t walk away.”
“You’re touching me now…”
He laughed and the sound of it made my heart lift. The bitterness was gone, and pain in his face had smoothed away.
“Yes, but this forest hasn’t changed in a thousand years. And you always see the real me now, whether you’re touching me or not.”
We stared at each other for a long moment and I let my eyes roam over his face. Taking in the curly hair falling forward into those deep blue eyes, the slightly crooked nose, and the soft lips pulled back into a tiny smile to show white teeth.
I moved without thinking about it. One second I was staring at him and the next my lips were pressed against his, feeling them move against mine.
His fingers stroked through my hair and down my back to my waist, tugging me against him. I sighed against his mouth, my fingers twisting into the curls at the back of his neck. His mouth parted, the tip of his tongue flicking over my lips and I parted them. Digging his fingers in slightly, he tugged my hips closer until I was practically in his lap.
He deepened the kiss, making a soft noise of desire against my lips, and abruptly the earth moved.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The earth seemed to slip sideways under me and I pulled back, startled.
Lance kept his hands on my hips as he looked around, a frown creasing his forehead. The earth shook again, more violently this time.
“Earthquake?” I said, although that didn’t seem likely. Earthquakes were supposed to be a continual shaking, not this strange jolting.
Lance shook his head. “This isn’t natural. This is magic.” He stood up, pulling me up with him. “Come on.”
I cursed fate for its bad timing.
Lance kept my hand in his as we stumbled through the trees. Every few seconds the earth would shake again, but each time Lance stopped me from falling. We hadn’t gone far when voices echoed through the trees.
“Lance? Cara? Damn it, where the hell are you?” Only Wyn could make words like ‘damn’ and ‘hell’ sound like far worse swear words.
Merlin and Percy’s voices soon joined him, calling out for us. I was just about to answer when the air shimmered to my left. I yelped and Lance spun, drawing his sword as he moved.
“Hey, no need for weapons,” Vivian stepped back, her hands held out defensively. “I was just coming to check on you two.” Her eyes sparkled as she looked us both over and I had the feeling she knew exactly what had happened between us. I had the feeling she’d known all along.
“We’re fine,” Lance snapped. “But what’s going on? Is Morgana attacking the Lake?”
“No. But she is attempting such strong magic that I fear it will be felt all across Albion.”
Fear shuddered down my spine. “What is she doing?”
“No time,” Vivian said, shaking her head.
I wanted to force her to tell us what was going on, but Lance tugged on my hand, pulling me forward.
Just a little further into the trees we found Wyn and Percy, both with their swords in their hands, faces tight with worry.
“You need to work on your timing,” Wyn said as his eyes dropped, taking in the way Lance was grasping my hand.
The earth shook again, nearly knocking us all off our feet. We hurried out of the trees to the sloping bank. Once again the normally still waters of the Lake were boiling and churning, looking like they were in the grip of a violent storm.
“She can’t do this,” Nimue was saying to Merlin as we reached them. “The Fair Folk cannot allow it.”
Merlin snorted. “And will they truly try and stop her? Or would they consider it the ultimate amusement?”
Nimue hesitated, looking uncertain. “It would be a disaster.” But she sounded like she was trying to convince herself as much as anyone.
“But not all your kind care for humans the way you do,” Merlin pointed out.
Lance and I slid to a stop on the damp grass, and I tried to ignore the stitch in my side.
“What is it? What is she trying to do?” I asked breathlessly.
Merlin hesitated, as though he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell me. “Something that could reach far beyond the land of Albion. She is trying to break down the barriers between here and Avalon.”
I felt icy fear in the pit of my stomach. “What – what exactly will happen if she succeeds?”
The earth trembled again, and the world seemed to darken even though the sun was still out.
“Magic will flood back into this world, along with all the creatures of the old magic. Griffins and cockatrices and more will roam free.”
“Along with any number of sprites, imps and spirits banished to Avalon,” Nimue added, her eyes dark with fear. “But worse of all, with magic back in this world, my barrier here will not hold. The Lake will no longer be a sanctuary.”
Lance had moved away while Nimue was speaking, but suddenly he was back again. His hands fumbled around my waist and something settled around my hips. I frowned down just as he finished buckling on a thick, leather sword-belt. The hilt of Excalibur glittered at my side.
“Do not take this off. I need to know you’ve got it close to hand.”
There was an odd note to Lance’s voice and I glanced into his eyes as he straightened up. His fingers brushed my cheek and he forced a smile. “I won’t lose you a second time, My Lady.”
I caught his fingers in my own and for a split second it was just the two of us, alone on the bank. The Lake was calm and placid, a bright sun beating down. Lance looked younger than most memories I shared with him, and he looked calmer, happier than I’d ever seen him.
I knew, without knowing how, that it wasn’t a memory, not a true memory. More of a dream, a hope he had for a future that seemed so far out of reach. I wanted that future; wanted it with a desperation that was almost painful.
He gently tugged his fingers out of mine and the vision faded. Merlin was saying something and I turned blankly towards him.
“Sorry?”
“I said, I think you should leave.” Nimue nodded at his side. “Morgana will know where to find you if you stay here.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked. “Don’t I need to face her at some point?”
Beside me, Lance blanched. “Not yet. You’re not ready to fight Morgana.”
I sighed a little. “Will I ever be ready? She’s a thousand year old, all powerful sorceress, and I’m – me.”
“A Pendragon,” Merlin corrected firmly.
And I will be with you. Arthur added softly. He’d been quiet since I’d gone into the forest after Lance, but I understood why. I was glad he respected my privacy, but I was also glad he was back.
I’m not strong enough, I whispered in the silence of my own mind, voicing the fear I couldn’t say aloud.
You are, his voice came back stronger than even. It is your fate, and none of us can fight our destiny.
They were almost the exact same words he had said the first time I’d dreamt of him. And my feelings were s
till the same as they had been then. Fate or destiny, I didn’t care. I didn’t want it. Any of it.
Except Lance, I amended quickly. I wanted Lance, more than I’d wanted anything in my life. And I wondered if there was a price to pay for him. Did I have to accept the bad with the good?
Lance touched his fingers to the small of my back drawing me back to the present and I forced myself to pay attention to what was going on.
“I agree with Merlin,” he whispered, his mouth close to my ear so his warm breath washed over my cheek. “I want to get you away from here.”
I knew I was outnumbered and out voted, so I barely listened as they ran through options. Wyn suggested London, figuring we could lose ourselves in the sheer number of people there. But when Lance mentioned the ruins of Camelot I started paying attention, a strange yearning in the pit of my stomach.
I wanted to go back there, even though I knew it would be nothing like my memories of the place. I had to see it again, almost to remind myself it was real.
“I think we should go to Camelot.”
Lance turned towards me. “Are you sure? It would mean sleeping rough.”
“You were the one who suggested it.”
He smiled at my nonplussed expression. “I just wanted to make sure. Camelot it is.”
None of us had much in the way of possessions, so it didn’t take long to get ready to go. All the while the earth continued to shake and quiver beneath us.
I thought of my dad, wondering what he would make of it. Was the earth shaking where he was? A surge of guilt rippled through me when I realised it was the first time I’d thought of him in a month. I wanted somehow to let him know that I was ok; that with any luck I would be home soon. But with my mobile phone long gone, sat in a cottage in the middle of nowhere, I had no way of contacting him. And to be honest, I couldn’t promise that I would be home soon, if at all.
Lance’s voice interrupted my rambling thoughts, and I realised I’d been stood staring blankly at the Lake.
“Cara, time to go.”
I turned away from the water, took two steps, and would have fallen if Lance hadn’t been there to catch me. He set me back on my feet as I untangled my legs from my sword.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” he told me with a smirk.
I glared at him, but his grin only got bigger. I contemplated taking Excalibur out and hitting him with it, but abruptly his smile softened and he stroked his fingers across my temple, tucking back my hair.
My stomach did somersaults and I snorted, as annoyed at my body’s traitorous reaction as at him. “Git.”
A light chuckle escaped his lips and he wound his fingers through mine, tugging me along behind him as he headed into the trees.
Percy tramped a few feet ahead of us, his sword held loosely in one hand, and Wyn brought up the rear, twisting often to scan the forest behind us.
The earth gave a sudden violent shudder and Lance only just kept me on my feet. I was about to keep moving when the wind drove an all too familiar stench toward me.
My legs trembled as I grabbed Lance’s arm. “Wraiths.”
“I know. Keep walking.”
I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other, waiting for them to come through the trees at any moment. The forest turned oppressively quiet.
Behind us, Wyn shouted and we spun. A tall, black wraith slipped up on us, but all at once the undergrowth was rustling all around us.
As the dark shapes closed in my stomach rolled. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t fight them.
Yes you can. Arthur’s voice rang in my ears.
Almost without thinking about it, my fingers fumbled for the hilt of Excalibur. I drew it awkwardly from the sheath. As always it was almost weightless and even though it had been made for a man it fit perfectly in my smaller hands.
The wraiths rushed us and I staggered back a step as a blade whistled inches from my chest.
I brought Excalibur up and just managed to deflect the next swing. The force of it nearly jarred the sword out of my hands and my arms shook.
Trying to remember every little thing Lance had taught me, I swung at the wraith’s chest. I missed by feet, the swing taking me off balance. It was so much harder than when Lance and I had been training. It was too difficult to concentrate with the adrenaline and fear coursing through my body.
Stop thinking about it so much, Arthur said. Let your instincts take over. Your body knows what it has to do.
I wasn’t sure. For Lance and the others perhaps instinct was enough, but I didn’t have their years of training and experience. I had a few weeks, where I’d spent more time watching Lance than learning anything.
The wraith swung at me again and I instinctively ducked under the blade, stabbing upwards with my own sword. It seemed my body did know what it was doing.
The wraith let out a banshee like wail and the stench of death engulfed me. The cloak and armour crumpled to the ground, suddenly released from the magic that had filled it.
Lance whooped victoriously and quite suddenly I knew what I had to do. I switched off part of my brain, the part that wanted to analyse each move and option, and let my body take over. The rest of the fight passed in a blur. With the boys helping to distract them I was able to kill four more wraiths. Only the slightest cut from Excalibur reduced them to a pile of armour, so I knew it had little to do with my skill and more to do with the power of the blade.
Just once I wasn’t quick enough. I spun away from a blow from the last remaining wraith, but before I could turn back the wraith reversed the direction of its swing and the blade sliced across my shoulder blade.
Pain flashed straight to the bone and I screamed. It felt like my whole shoulder was on fire, my arm hanging useless at my side. I clutched at the wound, feeling slick blood welling up beneath my fingers.
Lance roared and leapt between us, forcing the wraith back step by step. But no matter how many times he hit it, it just kept coming back. Summoning the last of my strength, and gripping my sword tightly in my good hand, I ducked under Lance’s arm and drove Excalibur into the wraith’s chest. Its armour clattered to the ground and the forest fell silent again, save for all four of us panting for breath.
Lance sucked in a lungful of air and then grabbed me. I stumbled against his chest and he crushed me against him, his face in my hair. His heart hammered beneath my palm.
I winced as his arms constricted around my shoulder and he pulled back sharply.
“You’re hurt.”
“It’s ok,” I lied.
He knew I was lying, but before he could call me out. Wyn touched his arm.
“Look, we need to get moving. Sort it out in the car.”
Lance hesitated for a second then nodded reluctantly. We stumbled along the dirt track back to the car and Lance helped me up into the back. My shoulder was still burning and I could feel the back of my t-shirt getting wet and sticky with blood.
The others climbed in and Wyn started the car, turning us back down the track out of the forest, bumping along at dangerous speeds.
“Turn around,” Lance ordered as soon as we were back on the less bumpy, tarmac road.
I twisted awkwardly in my seat and he swore. Loudly. The burning pain doubled as he gingerly tried to peel my t-shirt away from the skin. I stifled a groan with my knuckles against my mouth.
“I can’t get at it right now,” he said at last. “It seems to have stopped bleeding though. Can you hold on until we get to Camelot?”
“Sure.” The pain was pretty bad, but I didn’t have much of a choice. Lance rested his cheek against his headrest, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on mine. And I wanted time to stop. Just for a little while.
Chapter Thirty
I must have dozed off, because one moment we were just leaving the valley around the Lake and the next we were driving between towering oaks.
Dusk had fallen, leaving it dark and shadowy beneath the canopy of leaves. I woke to the sound of hushed but fierce voices.
“You shouldn’t have gone off into the forest alone.”
“I didn’t ask for her to follow me. And anyway, I’m more than capable of protecting her.”
Still half asleep, it took me a moment to realise it was Wyn and Lance arguing, and there was the tone that sometimes crept into Wyn’s voice when he spoke to Lance, the barely concealed contempt.
“I know you think this is some great chance to redeem yourself, Lancelot. But I won’t let you do it at Cara’s expense.”
“You know I would never let any harm come to her. And since when did you start giving me orders?” Lance snapped back, clearly irritated.
“Since you started letting your heart, and other parts of your anatomy, rule your head.”
I couldn’t help it, I snorted at that, opening my eyes. Lance was leaning forward over Wyn’s shoulder, but he turned, and for a moment I caught a glimpse of his furious expression before he schooled it into a look of concern.
“You’re awake. How’s the shoulder?”
I’d rather he hadn’t mentioned it. As soon as I started to think about it the pain seemed to double. He saw my wince and squeezed my fingers.
“It’s not far now.”
It really wasn’t far, but we had to get out and walk just a few minutes later. The small wood I remembered from my first trip to Camelot was now a sprawling forest that had encroached on the town, spreading across the wide valley.
We left the car when the track got too rough to go any further, but it was only as we started going down hill that I realised this was the grassy hill I had once ridden down with Sir Kay.
“How much further is it?” I asked a few minutes later. My shoulder was really starting to hurt.
The look in Lance’s eyes when he turned to me made my breath catch in my throat. It was so full of pain.
“Cara, we’re already here.”
I frowned at him then glanced around. It was only then I realised what I was seeing. What I’d thought was a moss covered log was actually moss covered fallen masonry. The lumpy grey tree roots weren’t tree roots at all, but broken, cracked cobbles. Once I knew what I was looking at I could see it all around us. Broken down walls, fallen columns, that was all that remained of the thriving town I had seen just a day or so ago.
The Last Knight (Pendragon Book 1) Page 20