Legendary (39 page)

Lacy coughed loudly. “Manners, Aliana.”

As soon as Aliana turned from J’alel, black and gray magic shot past her, sending Lacy and Dagg sailing back.

“What?” Aliana wheeled around to face J’alel, but the Elf was gone.

In his place stood a tall, long-limbed man with raven black hair curling around his chin and neck. His thin, cruel mouth turned up in a smirk as she recognized him from her dream.

“Mordrid.” She nocked an arrow, ready to fight.

Mordrid raised a hand, and his black-gray magic wrapped around her like snakes, binding her arms and feet. Her bow fell from her hands, the quiver on her back following. Aliana dropped to her knees, struggling against the magic. The harder she fought her bonds, the tighter they gripped, causing pain to tear through her.

Dagg roared, flying from behind her to attack the black wizard. He dodged blasts of the black magic, hissing streams of Dragon fire. An arrow flew through the air, hurtling toward the wizard, but he deflected it with a flick of his wrist, throwing Lacy violently against a tree.

“Lacy!” Aliana cried as her friend hit the ground. The snapping sound of breaking bones was unmistakable.

Black magic curled around Dagg like a demon cloud charged with electricity. The Dragon roared in pain.

“Leave them alone!” Aliana begged, trying to call on her magic, but the racing of her heart and the searing pain wouldn’t let her concentrate.

The dark wizard’s eerie, black eyes leered at her as he ran a finger across her cheek. Cold, evil magic flowed over her skin, much like the creepy power she’d felt in her dream weeks ago. “I knew you’d recognize me.” His penetrating, nasally voice sounded pleased, as if he’d won some great victory because she remembered him.

“How were you in my dream?” she demanded, trying again to push against the bonds holding her, but they only tightened.

“You should have tried harder to stop them,” he taunted. “Your knights are walking right into our trap, just like you and your friends.”

Dagg roared again.

“Why are you doing this?” She struggled to take a full breath. She needed to calm down and focus her magic enough to fight back.

Mordrid sneered. “I must finish what I started over a millennium ago. Arthur and your friends have much pain coming to them.” With a twist of his wrist, Aliana’s bonds lifted her to her feet and then pulled her higher so that she hovered a few inches off the ground. Fear flooded her as she realized that she was completely at Mordrid’s mercy.

He drew her close, much closer than she ever wanted to be to him. His eyes weren’t black like she had thought. They were a dirty brown flecked with black. His hot breath fanned over her face as he whispered in her ear, “Everyone is waiting on us, my queen.”

Fighting back the bile burning her throat, Aliana watched his magic lift Lacy’s unconscious body off the ground, pulling her friend and Dagg along behind them. Aliana pushed her magic out again. The bonds loosened for an instant before snapping back, tighter than before. She could already feel the bruises forming, but she couldn’t give up.

Mordrid smiled as she bit back her cries of pain. “Nice try, but your magic is nothing compared to mine…yet.”

“Yet?” Aliana wheezed, trying to push past the pain and terror. Her friends needed her to hold it together.

“Yes, after I kill your knights I plan to train you and turn your magic to the dark. You’ll be the jewel in my crown when I rule the realms.”

Aliana fought back her tremor as his unblinking, lustful eyes raked her from head to toe.
I’m going to be sick,
she thought as his magic crackled around her, pulling all of them away. More pain layered on top of the agony already racking her body. Just when she thought she’d pass out, the crushing pressure disappeared. She heard the sounds of a fight raging close by and forced her eyes open. Battle cries filled the air. The clanging of metal rang loudly in the distance as sword clashed against sword.

“How did you know we planned to attack? Or that Lacy and I would be alone?” she demanded, hoping to buy herself some time to gather what little of her magic she could.

“You seem like an intelligent girl. You tell me.” Mordrid smirked.

Aliana thought back, and then remembered the night she had fallen asleep on the roof. “The TreTale.”

“Very good. Merlin’s powers are not what they used to be. My little spy easily penetrated the defenses around his home.” He laughed again, moving them toward the battle.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Merlin is the strongest Druid ever!” Aliana may not have always liked the guy, but facts were facts.

Mordrid chuckled. “Merlin has you all fooled. I know you have your doubts about him, and Lancelot for that matter. I warned you to be cautious of their treachery.”

“You’re trying to turn me against my friends! It won’t work.” But he was right about one thing—Lancelot and Merlin did have secrets.

“You can deny it all you want, but your mind tells you I am correct.” He smirked. “Let’s say that by some miracle you stop me, and what do you think will happen after? The only reason they want you is to gain their freedom from their pact. They will leave you and not look back. They don’t really care for you, not like I do.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” But did
she?
Would they all leave her when this was over? No, Galahad had proved himself to her last night, and the warriors had all become her family. They wouldn’t just leave her!

“Time to watch your heroes die, my dear Aliana.”

Her head snapped up. “As soon as they see us, they will stop you and Morgana. And when I get free, I’ll be by their side helping!”

Mordrid spun around, gripping her chin, roughly forcing her to meet his unrelenting gaze. “They won’t know I have you until I want them to. You think all of those fools are so noble, that they’ve told you the truth about everything? You have no idea what you’ve been thrown into. But you will when you are by my side.” Yanking her forward, he crushed his lips against hers.

Disgusted by him and his dark magic as it tried to consume her, Aliana fought back, wrenching her mouth from his hard, cruel lips. “Never!” she hissed. “I don’t help monsters.”

“Maybe I’m not the monster you think I am,” he growled softly.

Battle sounds exploded when Mordrid pulled his prisoners into an enclosed valley. Carnage was all around them. Shattered pieces of black armor littered the field that was also flecked with the blood of her knights.

Morgana and Merlin were close, fighting furiously with his golden magic pitted against her cold blue.

“You’ll die at my hands,
lover,
” Morgana hissed.

“I already ended you once, Morgana. I will do it again.” Merlin grunted, blocking a stream of her acid-like magic.

“You betrayed me! Left me for dead. You should have finished the deed,” she spat back. “Rest assured,
I
won’t make the same mistake.”

Merlin’s eyes flashed a brilliant gold. Rearing back, he threw a spell so strong it nearly blinded Aliana before she looked away.

With one powerful stroke from his fiery sword, Arthur decapitated two of the almost two dozen demon knights. Turning, he took down another as it snuck up from behind. Wade, Percy, and Leo fought on, their backs to each other, surrounded by enemies. They attacked hard, maiming black knights with nearly every stroke. Lancelot and Owen tried to fight off eight of the spirits, but they were losing quickly. Galahad came roaring from behind, his super speed keeping him a blur until he stopped long enough to chop off helmets and body parts. In seconds, a dozen more black knights fell in rotting pieces to the ground.

The enemy’s numbers dwindled and the knights fell back, joining Arthur as the battle swung in their favor. Pulling out one of his daggers, Galahad launched it like a boomerang, cutting down two more black knights. Finally, the odds were even as Merlin joined the knights to form a magnificent battle line. Fearsome power rolled off them. It was no wonder Titania had said they were undefeatable side by side.

Aliana smirked, wanting to gloat at Mordrid, but the wizard just watched, waiting.

Tortured moans and cries of outrage filled the gray sky as ghostly streaks of gray surrounded the knights. The empty armor rose from the ground, consuming the spirits and restoring Mordrid’s evil army.

“No!” Aliana cried, struggling to break free.

Merlin’s head snapped to the side, to face her, and his eyes widened in disbelief and anger. Mordrid must have removed whatever power he had used to shield her, Lacy, and Dagg from view. The others chanced a glance away from the enemy line, outraged when they saw her.

Percy and Wade looked horrified when they saw Lacy’s unconscious body.

“Aliana!” Galahad roared. Using his new speed, he moved around the black knights, but Morgana threw up a solid wall of magic, blasting him back as he crashed into the icy magic.

“I see this one thinks he has a claim on you, love. He’ll be the first I kill,” Mordrid promised, stroking a finger down her cheek.

23

My queen is absent again this evening. She must be deep into one of her schemes. Perhaps it is time I took a closer look at Titania’s actions as of late. She has not been this secretive since I allowed her return from the exile she earned by helping that mortal king and his men.
~Oberon, King of Avalon

“D
ON’T
T
OUCH
H
ER!”
Arthur ordered, his face set in harsh lines, fury evident in the rigid set of his body.

Aliana’s anger swirled and her magic jumped. She couldn’t let Mordrid use her against the knights! She turned her head away from the evil sorcerer, glancing at her captured friends. Dagg growled and hissed, fighting to free himself from the black cloud that ensnared him. Flashes of his purple magic broke through.

“You see the prize I have won. Does it eat at you knowing that I have what’s most important to you?” Mordrid’s cold voice rang with a long-festering hatred.

Camelot’s knights eyed the black knights, holding their weapons ready to destroy the reincarnated army. The power flowing through the small valley choked the air, promising death and pain.

“Let them go unharmed,” Galahad challenged, his voice grave and vehement, “and we’ll make your deaths quick.”

“You’re daft!” Morgana guffawed. “You can’t win! Kill these black knights and more will come.”

Their power isn’t at full strength.
Merlin’s voice rang in Aliana’s mind. Her eyes moved from Galahad to the Druid, and Merlin gave a slight nod.

I can’t get free of his magic. Mordrid knows every time I try to break free,
she whispered through the link.

Draw on the elements. Diffuse his magic like you do with your shield,
Merlin instructed.
We’ll distract him.

Without warning, Merlin threw up his arms, calling down endless bolts of lightning, all directed at Morgana, Mordrid, and the black knights. Aliana’s knights charged. Their fierce battle cries and the clanging of their swords were nearly deafening. Merlin succeeded in drawing Mordrid into the fight. He and Morgana battled the onslaught of crackling gold magic.

Taking a breath, Aliana shut out the aching pain.

Control.

Her friends needed her.

Mordrid would kill them all if she gave in to his dark magic.

Merlin and Dagg had already given her the tools to fight this evil! She focused on the magic that trapped her. It was burning cold, moving against her skin like a coiled snake. She wanted to fight against it, but she quelled the reaction. Instead she pulled the magic slowly into herself. The black power crawled through her veins like insects, but she kept absorbing it, little by little.

Daggerhorne is almost free.
Merlin’s thoughts pierced her calm.

Good,
she thought, keeping her concentration. One slip and Mordrid would know what she was doing. She couldn’t let that happen. The lives of the people she loved were at stake.

Gripping the gray with her own magic, Aliana tugged and beckoned the darkness. There! She had it. The magic was hers! She loosened the bonds binding her, but kept up the appearance of being confined. She needed a plan to get Lacy to safety before she broke free.

Dagg growled low behind her, but this time his rumble was strong and pain free. She looked back and saw the Dragon’s glowing, purple eyes through the cloud. He had control just like she did. She flicked her eyes to Lacy, hoping the Dragon would understand and get her friend to safety. Returning her attention to the raging battle only a few feet from her, she saw Morgana and Mordrid teamed against Merlin, but the Druid fought them back with a deadly ferocity. Arthur and his knights cut down more black knights, but they couldn’t seem to make any headway in the vicious battle. More spirits came as quickly as they fell.

Lacy moaned behind Aliana, who turned meet her friend’s confused gaze. Aliana tilted her head toward Dagg, silently warning her friend to be ready. Lacy bit her lips, holding back a cry as she shifted her mangled arm. Praying Lacy would be all right, Aliana summoned her pink magic, pulling hard at the last of Mordrid’s control and releasing his bonds from around the three of them. A nearly soundless void wrapped around her, and the battle slowed before her eyes.