Sword of Darkness (20 page)

Blaise inclined his head. “Have no fear. We can handle it.”

Kerrigan removed his left gauntlet and tucked it into his belt. “Then let us get this over with.”

Blaise headed out first.

Seren paused by Kerrigan’s side. The sunlight
played in the dark waves of his hair. His eyes were black now, restless, and she wondered at what was causing his dour mood. “I trust you, my lord. I know you won’t hurt us in this.”

Kerrigan couldn’t breathe as he stared down into those clear, trusting green eyes. God’s blood, he couldn’t remember ever being so naive. Even now he half expected Garafyn to betray them. It would be in the gargoyle’s nature.

Just as it was in his nature to destroy.

Only he didn’t want to destroy Seren. Frowning at her, he laid his hand to hers. She had more strength and courage than Morgen’s entire army.

He bent down to inhale the scent of her hair before he placed a tender kiss to her lips. She tasted of innate goodness, of sweet womanhood, and in truth he wanted more of her. He wanted to take her upstairs and spend the rest of the day making love to her.

But he couldn’t. They had a battle before them that wouldn’t wait. He only hoped that he wouldn’t fail her.

Pulling away, Kerrigan led the way from the castle, out into the bailey where Blaise was waiting for them.

He paused by the mandrake’s side. “If I fall, take my medallion and get Seren out of here immediately. Hide her wherever you can.”

“I will do my best.”

“Good. Now let me go and do my worst.”

He saw Seren meet Blaise’s cautious gaze before they followed him onto the old wooden drawbridge. Reaching out for his dwindling pow
ers, he summoned the earth’s mist to help blind their enemies. So-called dragon’s breath, it was the same spell that Emrys Penmerlin had once summoned so that Uther could lie with Igraine and father King Arthur on the unsuspecting noblewoman.

The thick fog rolled forward, and through its dampness, he could feel Morgen. She knew the source of the fog and she was livid. He sensed her gathering her army…

She called the dragons down before they flew into each other and ordered the gargoyles to climb the hill.

“Adoni! Ready your arrows!”

But she would never order them to fire and he knew it. The chance of blindly striking Seren and killing her was too great.

Now was the time.

Taking a deep breath, he brought down the shield. The pain in his head ceased immediately. Grateful for that reprieve, he turned toward Seren. He spread his left hand out, only to pause as he met her open gaze.

She trusted him.

His heart stopped beating as he saw the tenderness in her gaze.

Do it
.

This was their only chance to escape. He narrowed his gaze before he placed his hand in the valley between her breasts. He felt the instant surge of her life force as he drew it out. It was warm. Invigorating.

But he’d barely started when Seren let out an
agonized cry. Her eyes filled with tears as she bravely stood her ground. As promised, she made no move to pull away. No move to break his hold. She merely stood there with her lips trembling as her tears overran her eyes and fled down her cheeks.

The pain was excruciating, and still she stood strong like an ancient Amazon.

Kerrigan cursed as he snatched his hand away. He couldn’t do this. Not to her. Not like this.

Seren staggered back. He caught her against his chest as his heart thumped in sympathetic pain.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered softly.

“Are you strong now?” Her words came out in ragged breaths.

Nay, he wasn’t. But he couldn’t bring himself to hurt her again. He looked up and met Blaise’s unblinking stare through the fog and realized that the mandrake knew what had happened.

He knew that Kerrigan had backed down. But there was no scorn in that violet gaze. No hatred.

If he didn’t know better, he’d almost think that Blaise was proud of him.

“Looks like we fight our way out then.” Blaise instantly took dragon form.

Drawing his sword, Kerrigan turned to find Garafyn and Anir nearing them. With a wave of the fog curling behind them, they flew in and landed before him. Their eerie yellow and red eyes glowed, and that was the only way he could really see them, since their gray bodies blended in almost perfectly with the fog.

“Let’s go,” Garafyn said.

Blaise tilted his head so that he could look with one eye at the gargoyle. “I thought there would be more of you?”

“The others fell behind. Screw ’em. It’s every rock for himself. We don’t have time to wait.”

Blaise lowered his dragon’s head to speak in a low tone. “We have a small problem.”

“No,” Garafyn said sternly, “
we
don’t. Let’s go.”

Kerrigan shook his head. “We can’t.”

“Why not?”

Kerrigan braced himself to fight them. “I can’t feed from her.”

A flap of Garafyn’s wings parted the fog enough for him to see the angry look on the gargoyle’s face. His eyes glowed eerily red in the mist. “Can’t or won’t?”

“Can’t.”

“Bullshit!” Garafyn growled. “You’ve killed people for what? Six hundred years or something like that? I’ve seen you do it countless times. Don’t go getting…stupid on me now. Damn.” He looked over his shoulder as he tried to peer into the fog. They could hear the others, but not see them. “We’re about to become a driveway here, Kerrigan. Do something.”

Kerrigan snorted. “I thought you were going to be a countertop.”

“No, I just shafted the Queen Bitch who we both know isn’t real forgiving. I don’t even rate a countertop at this point. Not unless you grow a ball and suck the juice from your pet here.”

Blaise moved toward the gargoyles. “I think you should just kill them, Kerrigan.”

Anir hissed at Blaise. “Then suck off the dragon,” he said to Kerrigan. “He’s a worthless piece of scale.”

Kerrigan sneered at them. “I don’t suck energy off any male. Ever.”

Seren took Kerrigan’s hand. Morgen’s army was closing in on them and her heart pounded at the ferocious sound of creatures advancing. Their steps and grunts echoed around them. It stirred the mist and rebounded off the stone walls.

They were coming closer and closer.

Any second, they would be surrounded…

Suddenly, Seren heard a voice whispering inside her head. Instinctively, she knew it was a spell like the ones Kerrigan had used in the past.

It was her magic speaking to her, she realized. It was the powers that he had awakened the day before. Closing her eyes, she listened to it and repeated the words out loud. As she did so, the air around her seemed to sizzle and burn. Something crackled in the fog, sparking colors around them.

“What is she doing?” Garafyn asked.

“Getting us out of this.” Kerrigan pulled her into his arms and began to chant with her.

Seren followed his lead. She heard men screaming while the two of them combined their magic.

One minute they were there on the drawbridge, and in the next, they were standing out in the middle of an open field. There was no sign of Morgen or her army.

Opening her eyes, Seren looked around. They appeared to be in some kind of forest in broad daylight. She frowned as she saw something fly overhead. At first she thought it was a dragon, only its wings didn’t move. It was huge and silver…

“What is that?”

Kerrigan looked up at what she was pointing to. “A plane.”

She frowned. “A what?”

“Big. Silver. Bird,” Garafyn said irritably, stressing each syllable as if she were simple-witted. “People climb into it and they fly from one place to another.”

Seren looked back up to see it again, but it was already gone. “Are you jesting?”

“Nope.”

Unable to believe it, she wanted to see the plane again. But as she glanced around, she realized that Kerrigan didn’t look well. His features were pinched and drawn.

“Are you all right?”

“Never better,” he said sarcastically.

Blaise changed back into a man. “Anybody have a guess on when and where we are?”

Kerrigan sheathed his sword. “I’m not sure. It looks vaguely like upstate New York. Stirling Forest, I think.”

Seren frowned at his words. “
New
York? What happened to the old one?”

The men ignored her question.

Blaise turned toward Garafyn and Anir. “We
need to hide the gargoyles. Beasts, go find a building to squat on.”

Garafyn curled his lip. “Dragon, go find a—”

“Enough,” Kerrigan said, cutting them off. “Blaise is right. The last thing we can afford is someone seeing all of us together.”

Garafyn growled at him. “Yeah, well, I’m sick of pretending to be a lawn ornament.”

“What is a lawn ornament?” Seren tried again.

Garafyn let out a disgusted breath. “A statue that sits on a yard where dogs piss all over it.”

“Yeah,” Anir said, “in short, it’s us. I really hate New York.”

Blaise snorted. “Hey, at least it has a lot of buildings for you to hide on.”

Garafyn didn’t look amused.

Kerrigan gave the gargoyles an evil glare. “Feel free to return to the Middle Ages or Camelot any time you want.”

“Yeah, right,” Anir said. “Like those people don’t tie us to a stake and torch us. Really messes with their head when they realize stone don’t burn easy. As for Camelot, fuck that.”

“Yeah,” Garafyn snarled. “Especially after we just screwed over Queen Bitch.” He looked at Kerrigan. “Where are you guys going?”

Before they could answer, something bright flashed beside them.

Kerrigan turned as an Adoni came through to land before them. He made a sound of disgust. “Don’t you people have a home?” Drawing his sword, he lunged at the Adoni, only to have him step back.

The instant he did, Garafyn snapped his neck.

The Adoni fell dead at Kerrigan’s feet.

Kerrigan curled his lip. “Did you have to do that?”

“I thought I was helping.”

“I need to feed, and that would have been a great source of food for me.”

Garafyn held his hands up in surrender.

“Anyone got a suggestion on where to hide before another jolly good friend finds us?” Anir asked.

“I’m thinking Pluto,” Garafyn said under his breath.

Kerrigan didn’t acknowledge that strange word at all. “We need something mobile. They’ll have a harder time pinpointing us if we’re in motion.”

“Wait,” Anir said with a note of warning in his voice, “I saw this episode of
X-Files
. The guy’s head explodes the minute Mulder reaches the West Coast. I don’t want that to be us.”

Seren was completely baffled by their conversation. “Please, someone, tell me what’s going on.”

Garafyn gave her a droll stare. “We’re discussing how we’re going to die. Anir is voting for head explosion. My vote is disembowelment.
Painful
disembowelment.”

“Shut up,” Blaise said before he turned to Seren. “We need to find something to move us around quickly.”

“I’m sure there are horses—”

“Too slow. We need something that moves much faster than that and doesn’t get tired.”

Kerrigan rubbed his head as if he had an ache
between his eyes. “I have enough energy left to conjure us a mobile home. I think. But I’m going to have to feed soon and—”

His voice broke off as another Adoni appeared. His eyes flamed red an instant before he saw Seren. The air crackled as two more came through.

The Adoni rushed them.

Anir grabbed one while the other two went for Seren. Kerrigan swung his sword to drive one back.

Seren used her powers to blast the other, but it had no effect on him. She struck out, and her blows glanced off him.

The Adoni grabbed her hair and laughed. The air around them shimmered as if he were about to take her back through time.

Panicking, she saw Kerrigan toss the one he was fighting toward Blaise, who then engaged him so that Kerrigan could run toward her.

Before he could reach them, Garafyn grabbed the Adoni who held her and flipped him on his back. “One vegemite Adoni made to order. Eat ’em up, grump.”

Seren cringed as Kerrigan placed his hand over the Adoni’s chest. The creature screamed out in pain while Blaise killed one and Anir finished off the Adoni he was fighting.

She watched as the color came back into Kerrigan’s face even as it faded from the Adoni. She wanted to look away, and yet she couldn’t. She was mesmerized by the brutality of what Kerrigan
had to do to survive. Damn Morgen for doing this to him. It wasn’t right that Kerrigan had been turned into this because of one woman’s sadistic nature.

But even as that thought went through her, Kerrigan let out a relieved sigh. When he came to his feet, he was again the fearsome knight she’d met in London.

Garafyn appeared to smile. “Good to the last drop, huh?”

“Don’t start with me, Garafyn,” Kerrigan warned. “I’m now in position to pull your wings off your back and laugh while I do it.”

“Point well taken.”

Kerrigan led them over to what appeared to be a road, only it had an odd black surface to it. She’d never seen anything like it. It was hot, with lines, both broken and straight, painted over it. No sooner did they reach it than a giant…something appeared out of nowhere.

It looked like a big, long box with wheels. It was too big to be a wagon.

“Is this a house?” she asked.

“Kind of,” Anir said. “It’s a mobile home.”

She was baffled by his words. “How can a home be mobile?”

Anir laughed. “Step inside and see.”

Kerrigan opened the door. “He’s right, Seren. We need to get inside and get out of here before more come through.”

Seren followed Blaise into the peculiar device. Blaise pulled her toward a table that was flanked
by two benches while the gargoyles came in and tucked their wings around them. Kerrigan joined them, then shut the door.

“I’ll drive,” Blaise said.

“Duh,” Garafyn said. “Kerrigan needs to rest. Anir and I would get us pulled over since I don’t think cops are used to seeing statues driving, and queenie over there would kill us since she’s never seen a highway or car before.” He paused as if another idea just occurred to him. “You do know how to drive, don’t you?”