Powerful Magic (50 page)

          
After a moment of stunned silence, he shook his shaggy head, chuckling.
 
"Ah, my Megan.
 
If only you knew how many times I have told myself such things.
 
To be able to mate with you.
 
But we have already loved, already made the power.
 
It hums in me, resonates in me, all because we have found each other."

          
"But--"

          
"Nay."
 
He fixed her with a look so intense, her heart skipped a beat.
 
"When it is over, and I have bested Myrddin, I will love you all through the night.
 
Until then, I must jealously guard my new power, and not let the sweet temptation of you sway me.
 
This is why we will spend this night apart, lest the weeks of abstinence become too much for me.
 
Be ready to ride in the morning."

          
Stunned, she stared.
 
“What?”

          
The look he gave her seared her.
 
“You go with me, of course.
 
You are such an integral part of me and of my power, that I fear to do battle without you close.”

          
With these words, he left her, exiting the small room as violently as he had entered.
 

          
Megan moved to the chair on legs that would no longer support her.
 
If what she believed was true, then she'd been allowed a respite.
 
She’d get more time with Kenric, more time with her love.
 

          
But what he said made sense.
 
Could she be wrong?
 
If she was, and they did not have to make love again for the power to blossom, then maybe her feeling that she would be sent back to Dallas in 2001 was wrong also.
 
Maybe he was right.
 
Maybe she had nothing to fear but the battle itself.

          
The battle...
 
Kenric could be killed
.
 
The thought stunned her.
 
She'd never really allowed herself to think about the coming battle, though it was akin to an apocalypse, to hear Rhiannon and the rest tell it.
 
A battle like none she'd ever heard of before.
 

          
When she thought of war, she thought of tanks and armies, and bombs dropping for stealthy jets.
 
If she were to think of a battle in medieval times, she knew it would be men on horses, swords and arrows, personal, hand to hand combat.
 

          
Yet this battle between Kenric and Myrddin would be none of those things.

          
Instead, it would be a clash of magic.
 
She shivered,

haunted by the thought of Kenric in danger.
 
She would make sure she stayed by his side at all times.
 
Though she wasn't sure how, somehow she knew that her love would help him.

          
Love
was
after all, the most powerful magic.

#

          
The battle would be soon.
 
Kenric didn't know where it would take place or how it would begin, but the instant they rode through the veil that shielded Rune from the mortal world, he could sense it on the air, hear it in the wind.

          
The day was dark, the roiling clouds that scudded across the sky an ominous portent.
 
Thunder boomed in the distance, and the jagged strikes of lightening followed no pattern. Evil poisoned the air.
 
His every nerve felt raw, exposed.
 

          
He rode Lancelot at a steady pace, knowing when it would begin, it would be when Myrddin found him.
 
Place would not matter, not in the realm where they would do battle, though Kenric would feel stronger if he could ride to the land that had once belonged to his human family, the land near his cave.
 
He didn't know if he would make it - as he rode he sensed
 
Myrddin's essence, seeking him.
 

          
On the saddle behind him, Megan held her silence.
 
Occasionally he heard her utter a faint sound of distress, telling him that she too felt the evil that tainted the air.
 
           
If he felt fear at all, it was fear for her.
 
Myrddin could not be allowed to win.

          
To his right rode Edmyg and Rhiannon.
 
His sister had taken human form for this journey.
 
When Edmyg had insisted on coming with him, claiming he had an old score to settle with Myrddin, Rhiannon had refused to leave his side.
 
Kenric did not know if the human mage would be help or hindrance, but with Rhiannon's quiet insistence, he had no choice but to allow Edmyg to accompany him.

          
Now. He had one last thing to do before the battle.
  

Kenric reined his war horse in, motioning Edmyg and Rhiannon on.
 
Turning in the saddle to face Megan, he waited until the others had ridden off before speaking.
 

          
"My soul mate, I don't have much to offer," he began.
 
"Though someday I promise I will give you the world.
 
I intend to buy land with the coin I have, to build a keep, and to raise a family there.
 
Our family."
 
He cleared his throat, his heart pounding in his ears.
 
"If you will have me as your mate."

          
Never had silence seemed so long.
 
He chanced a look at Megan, in this moment not a fearless warrior, but merely a man - her soul mate, who needed her more than he had ever needed anything, past or present.
 

          
She gazed at him in wonderment, her magnificent eyes full of joy - and sorrow.
  
"You are everything I want." She told him softly, her voice shaking, her expression fierce, as tears began to stream down her cheeks.
 
"Everything."
 

          
From somewhere in his tunic, he found the ring.
 
Not the token she had given him as payment, nay.
 
This was an ancient ring, a ring of binding.
 
Rhiannon had given it to him the night before.

          
Shimmering in his palm, it was a simple thing, a circle of moon-silver and thousands of tiny crystal beads, star tears.
 
Heart in his throat, he took her hand and slipped it on her slender finger.
   

          
"Metals such as gold are not used in Rune."
 
He

apologized, praying she would accept this ring. Though he found it beautiful, surely it a poor substitute to a woman used to gold and gems.
 

          
"Though not as ornate as the ring you once wore, this is the traditional betrothal ring of Rune.
 
A token of my need for you.
 
Will you--"
 
His voice broke and all he could do was stare in hopeless bemusement as she took his hand in hers, gripping tightly.

          
"It is beautiful - magical."
 
Megan shook her head, holding her hand aloft and watching with bemused fascination the arc of sparkling colors.
 
"Too beautiful, my love.
 
A ring made of twigs would be fine," she murmured. "Anything would do, as long as it binds me to you."
 

          
Tears continued to run, unchecked, down her smooth cheeks. Though Kenric knew they were tears of happiness, they touched him, making his own eyes feel suspiciously full.
 
He cleared his throat.

          
"You are mine."
 
He told her, sealing the vow with a kiss.
 
"From now until the end of time."

          
Power sizzled between them as their lips touched. She nodded, echoing his words.
 
"From now until the end of time. "

          
He wondered why she sounded so sad.
 
Perhaps it was because of the battle yet to be fought.
 
No doubt she wished they could live normal lives, like everyone else.
 
He knew how such a desire felt, having longed for this nearly all of his life.

          
Without any urging, Lancelot picked up the pace.
 
His war horse, Kenric thought with a wry smile, who now had a name.
 
It had taken Megan and her unwavering love to show him that detachment wasn't living.
 
Lancelot was important to him, had always been, nameless or not, and the fondness he felt for the strong-hearted animal deserved to be shown.
 

          
As he showed his affection for his faerie kin by fighting their battle for them.

          
Fat drops of icy rain began to pelt them.
 
He covered Megan with his cloak as she huddled against him.
 
The wind howled, sending the rain into their skin like shards of ice.
 
Head down, Lancelot plunged doggedly forward.
 

          
So it had begun.
 
From afar, Myrddin sought to torment them.
 
With a casual gesture, Kenric created a shield around them.
 
Instantly they were dry.
 
Rhiannon did the same for herself and Edmyg.
 
A simple matter of magic, this.
 
It would take more than bad weather to win this battle.

          
As if Myrddin could see, the wind calmed and the rain stopped.
 
The trees, no longer bowed at the onslaught, stood straight and tall.
 
Not even the faintest breeze stirred their leaves.
 
Though the sky remained the color of slate, the clouds held their places, no longer racing across the horizon. To all outward appearances, it looked peaceful, yet somehow it seemed more ominous.
 
A feeling of dread, of watching and waiting, hung over the landscape like fog.

          
Still, Kenric did not relax the shield.
 
He would keep it until they reached the battle place of his choosing, a full days ride from here.
 

          
"Does he come?"
 
Low voiced, Megan rested her head on his back and sighed.
 
She sounded weary, though he knew she would never admit it.

          
"Soon."
 
He would tell her later of the fierce pride he felt for her.
 
Even knowing what they faced, she showed no fear.
 
Instead, she rode at his back, her love and trust evident in every feminine gesture she used, from her smile to the way she held her head high.
 

          
He had never known a woman like her; few men either that could match her for valor and integrity.
 
There was no one he would rather have at his side than Megan, his soul half. The only other woman he’d ever met as strong would be Rhiannon, Queen of all Faeries, who ran a close second .

          
Edmyg's horse, a beast nearly as large as Lancelot, kept pace with them.
 
Kenric found it surprising that the mage, who had once seemed so elderly and frail, owned such an animal.
 
Though it was no more surprising than the muscular warrior's body Edmyg now wore.
 
The spell that had made him old and weak had been a strong one and, though Edmyg had never said it, Kenric knew it was one of Myrddin's.
 
Perhaps that was why the mage insisted on riding with them into the battle.

          
"The time grows near."
 
Rhiannon warned.
 

          
Kenric glanced at her, searching for signs of fear in his sister's lovely face.
 
If she felt anything, she hid it well.
 
Her violet-eyed gaze seemed serene, her expression calm and peaceful.
 

          
Without even an increase in the wind to warn them, the day turned to night.
 
Utter blackness settled upon them like a shroud.
 
There was no moon, no stars, nothing to light their way.