Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

“Where else?” Nivian stared at the spot they’d vanished for another long beat, before saying, “The land of magic. The Druids… Stonehenge.”

Everyone let that process silently for a long moment before I interrupted by saying, “So… more plane tickets?”

Nivian’s eyes flashed to the sword in my hand, then to Sekhmet and Bastet. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Excalibur has a connection to him that will never be broken. Combining that with your tracking and my ability to travel—”

“I don’t see any lakes here,” Sekhmet pointed out.

“Leave that part to me,” Nivian said, gesturing us back over to the bench where Arthur had been standing when we first arrived. She stopped at the bowl of water, and gestured for us to stand at her side. “Holy water—whether there’s a direct connection to the heavens or something else, it has a magic to it. A magic that helps me stay like this, versus how I was when we met.”

“You mean it fights off the shadows?” I asked, eyeing the water with awe. We’d already faced several instances where that could have come in handy.

“And right now, it’s going to serve us in another fashion. You’ve learned how to harness the blade’s magic?”

I frowned. “Maybe? To a degree.”

“We’ll have to hope that’s enough.” She turned to Sekhmet. “I’ve heard enough about you to assume you two set up the tracking spell. It’s still in effect?”

After a quick glance at the cat, Sekhmet nodded.

“And my friends?” I asked.

“I’ll be able to send you to them after we save Arthur,” she replied.

While I had no way of knowing if it was true, I knew it was my best chance at the moment. So when she poured holy water on the blade and told me to focus on the sword and its connection to Arthur as we stood facing each other, I closed my eyes and did as she commanded.

A burst of light flashed and my eyes were open again, our surroundings spinning, becoming a blur, and then, in another flash, we were there—at the outskirts of Stonehenge. Morganna was there with Arthur, an army of Shades and Legends surrounding us in the dusky evening light. All manner of fairy tales had been gathered for this occasion, I saw—flying monkeys, trolls, witches and spirits. A few celebrities were in the mix, such as a woman with three bears, who I assumed to be Goldilocks; a man with a blue beard, Medusa and several other snake ladies, and even Captain Hook. I wondered how the captain was doing without Pan around.

Morganna had Arthur on his knees, leering at him.

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Morganna’s eyes slowly rose to meet ours, and she laughed. “Isn’t this cute? You came to witness my victory.” Turning to the kneeling Arthur, she waved her hand our way and said, “Give the rest of our visitors a show, while I finish the ritual.”

Arthur spun on us, and this wasn’t the same Arthur we’d seen at the top of the Milan cathedral. He wore the same clothes and had the same look, but his red, glowing eyes showed the ferocity of a demon. When he came at us, fangs extended and claws at the ready, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. It wasn’t like I could just let him suck my blood, but we couldn’t really kill him either.

Sekhmet charged in with Bastet at her side, and I saw for the first time how truly dangerous they could be. Bastet was darting around, leaping and changing directions as she created patterns of purple light that worked to contain Arthur’s movements. While he was fast, if he was suddenly blocked in his direction, then blocked in his next move, speed didn’t do much for him. And in the meantime, Sekhmet had her scepter in her hand again and opted for it here over her blades in a way that sent streams of flame at him. Neither, I saw, was working to kill him, but to contain him while Nivian shouted for me to get in at him with the sword.

The Legends crowded in, some flying overhead, clearly wanting a piece of the action. I tried to keep an eye on them, waiting for the moment that Morganna gave them all the go ahead to charge in.

At the moment, however, Arthur was keeping us busy. I was finally close enough and deflected a blow with my newly-upgraded shield, while Nivian called to him in one breath and then shouted for me to strike him with her next.

“Won’t it kill him?” I shouted back, narrowly avoiding a strike from his long claws as Sekhmet pounced on him in her lion form and then rolled off, shooting flames that nearly took him. She lifted the scepter and the flames arched, so that Bastet could, instead, dive in and again block off Arthur.

“The blade still has the magic of the holy water,” she said. “Strike him, but not lethally.”

“Great, make it easy next time,” I countered, again charging in. My Tempest tattoos were glowing, going crazy as they swirled across my skin, and the power within me was surging in response.

A purple wall of light faded and Arthur was roaring as he leaped for me, but I managed a burst of speed, ducking under and slicing—and sure enough, the sword tasted flesh.

It hit him in the side, coming out with a spurt of black blood.

But when Arthur turned to me, the red glow from his eyes was fading even as the wound healed itself.

“Thank you,” he mouthed.

We weren’t given time to celebrate our victory, because Morganna had risen into the air, gowns fluttering in the wind as clouds rolled past. She shouted, “That was growing dull, at any rate. Let us get on with it.”

Then, bringing her hands together, the clouds above erupted in bursts of lightning and one shot down, straight into Arthur, so that he was stuck in place, the light too bright to see what was happening, while