The Seven Swords (22 page)

The dragon nodded.

Morgaine shot another bubble at Numinae.

“Your ‘knights' are completely expendable, now that I have you. They won't leave this beach alive.”

“Why haven't you already killed them, then?” Artie asked coolly.

The witch respected his calm. “Some of them hold things I need. Can't risk destroying them in the process.”

“The Seven Swords?” Artie guessed.

“Yes, but by my count only four remain with you. I have the others.”

“Yeah, I know.”

She launched yet another bubble at Numinae.

Artie asked, “And what about the wizard? Why did he run?”

“We'll talk about that later, dear.”

“Stop calling me dear.”

“Oh, come now,
dear
!” Morgaine mocked, looking at the dragon again. Even some of the soldiers laughed, though their laughs seemed disingenuous.
“You fought well today, truly, but there is no hope now. Sorry, child.”

Something about the way she said “child” made Artie's skin crawl. He couldn't bear to look at her anymore and cast his gaze to the dunes in the distance.
Where is Bors?
Maybe the fairy also knew that one of those soldiers at the back had Excalibur. Maybe Bors was going to lift it from him and deliver it to Artie!

Hoping to see some sign of the missing fairy, Artie eyed the officers at the back. The smaller one wore a simple helmet that obscured his face. The bigger one reached up and pulled his own helmet from his head and looked straight at Artie.

Artie couldn't believe it. It was Sami!

Artie forced himself to remain expressionless, but his heart and mind raced as he watched the smaller officer unsheathe Excalibur. Even without any sunlight, the blade glinted at Artie like it was winking at him. They were so close to being reunited.

Carefully the smaller soldier handed Excalibur to Sami, who nodded meaningfully to Artie. Artie could tell that the superstrong Swede was only waiting for a signal and then he would hurl Excalibur to him.

Artie looked at Morgaine. “It was foolish of you to bring Excalibur with you, Lordess Morgaine.”

She furrowed her brow and asked, “What? I'm not that stupid, child.”

She didn't know. The door called hope was flung wide! “You can't feel it, then?” Artie asked.

“Of course not, because it's not here,” the witch foolishly insisted.

Artie smiled ever so slightly. “Interesting. I guess you're not as powerful as you think you are.”

32 - IN WHICH ARTIE AND EXCALIBUR ARE REUNITED, AND WHAT ENSUES

The sword sailed through the
air in a tall arc, and time slowed for Artie.

A lot.

It was like when he'd gotten Excalibur from the Lake—but there was more to it. It wasn't just time that had changed, but awareness. For a few moments he knew everything that was going on in precise detail.

There were exactly seventeen archers left, and twelve riders, and fifteen bears. Morgaine had fifteen metal cuffs on each forearm. There were twenty-three gulls skirting the water's surface off the beach. The bear closest to him, which was the biggest, had one eye. Artie's knights had killed or injured seventy-eight riders, seventy-five bears, and fifty-five archers. Excalibur had flipped thirty-two times. Morgaine had cast five dragon's bubbles on Numinae.

The forest lord had just burst his current bubble and its skin was peeling back in slow motion, and Morgaine was preparing to cast another.

Sami was jumping off his bear, getting ready to take out the remaining archers, while the guy next to him had taken off his helmet.

Mordred.

Kynder had been right. Mordred was not his enemy. He was not his enemy because Artie knew with dead certainty that he was his brother.

Artie's heart swelled. The sword was right in front of him now. It had stopped spinning and was coming point down for his body. Artie breathed in, making himself as thin as possible. Excalibur couldn't cut him, he knew, but he needed to make room for his weapon between the whips and his body. Effortlessly it slid between the coiled strands, twisted, and the magical silver whips fell to pieces.

In a fluid motion, Artie sheathed the dagger Carnwennan, reached up and caught Excalibur, pulled out the pommel, and placed it on his sword's hilt. The sword glowed so bright that Artie had to shut his eyes, but even with his eyes closed, he knew exactly where everyone and everything was.

Including Bors, who was down the beach to his left and armed with Lance's bow and arrows! And including The Anguish and the Peace Sword, which were safe with Mordred and Sami. All Seven Swords were there!

Artie held Excalibur one-handed and called Rhon-gomyniad. The spear jumped up and flew to his hand. Then Artie yelled, “More light!” and a blinding shock wave burst from Excalibur's blade. In its wake, time ramped back up, resuming its usual pace.

Morgaine screamed, full of wrath and terror. She, along with the bears, soldiers, archers, and Scarm, were momentarily blinded by the ancient sword's light, while Artie's friends were unaffected.

Numinae, free from his dragon's bubble, conjured millions of tiny slivers of wood and let them fly at Morgaine. Bors, visible now, let one of the limitless arrows Merlin had gifted Lance fly at the witch. Artie hurled his spear.

Each of these attacks arrived at the same time from a different angle. Morgaine managed to deflect the spear, though its shaft smacked hard into her head; the arrow drove through her back; and the Sylvan lord's magical splinters swarmed her like a hive of angered bees. Stricken, she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Morgaine's soldiers went wild in their confusion, and Numinae took advantage, bursting the dragon's bubbles of the other knights. Bors ran in their direction, firing at will at the riders. He wasn't as accurate as Lance, but he was still pretty good.

Sami was in the back, knocking the heads of the archers together like he was in a cartoon. He moved quickly, and the archers didn't have a chance.

Mordred spurred his war bear and was hurtling toward his brother. It was pretty surreal to watch. Artie thought this kid—who was slightly bigger but otherwise his
exact
double—looked a lot more heroic than he ever did, but what did he know.

Excalibur hummed, alerting Artie to an incoming crossbow volley. He whisked his blade through the air, slicing the bolt to pieces. He looked at the rider who'd shot it and shook his head.

Not smart, dude.

Artie sprang forward. Having Excalibur back felt so good.

The knights, free from the dragon's bubbles, engaged what was left of Morgaine's forces.

As Mordred's bear sailed past Shallot, Artie's twin threw a long, strange-looking weapon to the fairy. She saw it instantly, vaulted over a soldier, and caught it in midair. Then she did some things Artie had never seen before. Shallot, armed with her birthright, was a terror. She flew through the field of battle contorting her long body around The Anguish, twisting and tumbling, stretching in all directions, and meting out severe punishment. The fighting was fierce but lopsided, especially once Sami drew into their circle. When he came close, he nodded at Artie, and Artie, beaming proudly, nodded back.

Kay arrived at Artie's side as Mordred's bear skidded to a stop in front of them.

“Arthur,” Mordred said.

“Mordred,” Artie returned.

“Holy mirror image, Batman!” Kay squealed.

The brothers ignored Kay. They were too entranced with each other. “Nice to see you, Brother. But call me Dred.”

“And call me Artie.” They shared a knowing smile as the sound of clanging metal and moaning bears echoed across the beach.

“So you're the Peace Sword guy, huh?” Kay asked as Dred smiled at her.

But then the Fenlandian dragon rose behind him. How had they forgotten about Scarm?

Numinae was standing guard at Kynder's stone. Thumb, Lance, and Qwon were with him, and Erik was close by, still in full berserker mode.

The dragon sprayed her hot oil breath at this gathering of knights.

Numinae raised his hands, and the air shimmered with a green light all around. The oil hit the light and evaporated into a dense cloud of smoke. The dragon brayed and breathed again. Numinae fell to his knees as he put up another shield. They went one more round, but the third shield was clearly smaller and weaker. Oil seeped through here and there. Lance was splashed on the thigh and fell to one knee, screaming in pain.

The dragon had just started another attack aimed at Numinae and company when Sami tossed a bear right at her. “Chew on this, you dumb snake!”

“Bors!” Lance called, his teeth clenched against the scalding pain. “You've got one arrow left!”

Bors looked in the quiver. Actually, there were two, but he knew what Lance had in mind.

Artie ran toward Sami, and Dred and Kay joined him. The dragon shifted her attention to this group and prepared to shoot oil on them.

Bors let an arrow fly.

The dragon's oily breath was in midair when the arrow hit it. The oil lit up like a fuse as fire traveled up and toward the dragon's head. Bors had shot a fireballer!

The conflagration traveled into the dragon's mouth and out of her nose. For a second Scarm looked like she was choking on something—then her head blew up.

“Take that!” Kay yelled as the rest hooted and hollered.

When the excitement died down, Dred nodded in the direction of his unconscious mother and said, “Brother, we need to leave here.”

“Yeah, I know,” Artie said.

That was when it hit him. It was why he'd felt so weird when she called him “child.” Morgaine wasn't his biological mom, but he knew that she was the one who had made him. She was the person who had brought him into the world.

“Let's go, guys,” Artie yelled. Everyone gathered by Kynder's stone and shared a quick round of hugs and handshakes. Numinae was weak but on his feet. Qwon had big embraces for both Artie and Dred—maybe even a bigger hug for Dred, which kind of ticked Artie off. But he wasn't going to let that spoil their victory. It felt a little hollow anyway, what with Tiberius dead and Kynder frozen in a huge chunk of black rock.

Dred put his arm around Artie, and Kay shook her head at seeing them together. “Man.
Two
of you! This is just too darn freaky!”

“All right, here we go. New Knights of the Round Table, get out the Seven Swords,” Artie ordered softly.

Then he held Excalibur straight out in front of him. It was glowing slightly.

“Shouldn't we wait for Bors?” Qwon asked as Bors ran toward them across the sand.

“He'll make it,” Artie said. “We need to open the gate to Avalon.”

Cleomede was next. Kay laid it across Excalibur, which got brighter. Then came The Anguish and the Peace Sword. Excalibur got a lot brighter.

Erik added Gram, and Lance pulled Orgulus from his belt. He put it in, and Excalibur hummed.

Artie looked at Qwon. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

“What—what's happening?” Qwon asked, overwhelmed by the day's—the week's—events.

“We're all about to level up, like, big-time,” Kay said decisively.

Artie smiled at his sister. This
had
all started with a video game, after all.

Bors was only a hundred feet away.

Qwon shrugged and got ready to slap Kusanagi onto the array of legendary swords.

But then Bors was picked up midstride and torn in half! Shallot cried out and clutched her chest. The halves of his body turned into fairy dust as they flew through the air. Lance's bow and quiver twirled over the sand noiselessly.

But there was no time to mourn. Rising on a black column of air was Morgaine. On the other side of her, the sea grew in a wall of gray foam. The witch was swirled with wisps of smoke. Her dark, mismatched eyes burned out of their sockets, and her rust-colored hair stood on end.

Qwon brought Kusanagi down on the fan of swords. They began to vibrate violently, and the sword bearers had to hold on tight with both hands.

“Now, lad!” Thumb screamed.

“Do it!” Numinae said at the same moment.

The witch held her hands—which had become freakishly large, with fingers as long as walking canes—in front of her. Manic flames and lightning laced her digits.

The swords became blazing hot, but none of the knights could relinquish them. They were joined as one—the knights to their swords, the swords to each other. They cried out as Morgaine unleashed her spell. King Artie Kingfisher shut his eyes and forced his quaking body to say the words: “
Lunae lumen!
”

There was a blinding orange flash as Morgaine's fire and lightning exploded into the sand. As the sand and smoke and ozone cleared, the witch stared feverishly at the ground, her zealous eyes darting in their sockets.

But all that was left on the beach was a crater, and the bodies of three dead dragons, and the remains of her defeated army.

Fury consumed Morgaine's every fiber.

Because Arthur Pendragon and his noble knights were gone.

Gone to Avalon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

NILS JOHNSON-SHELTON
is the coauthor of the
New York Times
bestseller
NO ANGEL:
My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels
. He is also the author of
OTHERWORLD CHRONICLES: THE INVISIBLE TOWER
. Nils lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.

 

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