Lycans and Legends

Chapter 28: Glastonbury Tor

It was already dark when the agency airship swooped in low over Abbey House. The night’s sky was filled with stars, but there was a distant rumble on the horizon. From the east, a storm was blowing in. I could see the dark clouds gathering, rolling as they moved west. Lightning rocked the clouds, which twisted and turned unnaturally.

There was no tower at which to port, so the airship captain threw a rope ladder over the side.

“I’ll do my best to hold her steady, Agents,” he called to us. “But there’s a storm coming in. You need to be quick about it. There’s a port in town. I’ll take the airship there.”

“Thank you,” Harper called to the captain then nodded to us.

One by one, we hurried down the ladder to the ground.

When I reached the Tor, I turned and watched the oncoming storm. The wind whipped hard, blowing my cape all around me.

“It’s Melwas,” Gothel said.

I nodded.

“Well, you’re right about him following the gem,” Harper said as she eyed the oncoming storm.

“You see, having a decoy works. It worked at the museum opening,” I said.

“I thought you said that was a terrible plan,” Harper retorted.

“It was, because Victoria was the bait that time. The plan was good. The bait was the problem.”

Harper shook her head. “Okay, bait. What now?”

“Into the ruins,” I said, motioning for the others to follow me.

The burner under the airship hissed then the ship set off in the direction of the town. I looked behind me at Abbey House. In an upstairs window of the house, I spotted the silhouette of Mister Reeves.

I waved to him.

He lifted his hand to return the gesture.

As we moved deeper into the ruins, a terrible feeling swept over me.

Mist began to snake around the rubble as the sky overhead became overcast. The clouds gathered, blocking out the stars. Thunder rumbled. The clouds twisted unnaturally. My scalp, palms, and bottoms of my feet felt prickly.

Agents Williamson and Silver drew their weapons.

Melwas knew where I was going. There was already something here, something amongst the ruins.

Rapunzel and Gothel joined Harper and me.

Rapunzel stared out at the ruins. “What is this place?” she whispered.

“These are the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. But on the Otherside is the Isle of Glass. That is what my people call it. Your people call it Avalon,” Gothel told her.

“Avalon,” Rapunzel said, her voice full of awe. She turned to me. “I think…I think I know why you asked me to come.”

I smiled at her. “Good. Because I’m just playing a hunch.”

Thunder overhead rumbled as the massive clouds extinguished the moonlight that had been casting a little glow. The fog snaked around us, moving unnaturally. There was a sick, pungent scent in the air.

“Not good,” Agent Goodwin said, pulling on his own pair of night-vision goggles. Seemed I wasn’t the only one getting the good tech these days.

From somewhere deep within the mist, I heard a low growl.

“Really not good,” Agent Goodwin repeated.

I scanned the ruins. The mist moved, shifting as if something had passed through it.

A moment later, I heard a strange, strangled growl and something with glimmering eyes bounded toward Agent Silver.

“Lucy, watch out,” Agent Goodwin called, lifting his pistol.

The manticore leaped toward the agent. Goodwin’s aim was true. The beast fell. But it soon became clear we were not alone. Low growls and flashing eyes surrounded us. There were beasts everywhere.

“Hell’s bells,” I whispered.

“We’re ambushed,” Agent Williamson said.

“Maybe,” I answered then pulled the faerie dagger from my belt. The metal glowed blue. “But it’s not over yet,” I said then turned and rushed the closest beast.

The firefight that ensued thereafter was practically a blur. Harper, Goodwin, Williamson, and Silver followed my lead and advanced on the monsters. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gothel summon her magic. A glimmer of blue light sparked between her fingers. With Rapunzel—who held a sword before her—close by, the faerie joined the fight.

This time, it wasn’t just manticores. Four-legged creatures with slick ebony skin, defying any description I had ever heard or read about, attacked. Scaled monsters that seemed to be made up entirely of claws and teeth joined the assault. The monsters were from the Otherworld. Strange, fey things that didn’t exist even in our mythology. This is what the mortal realm would face if Melwas succeeded. We couldn’t let that happen. I turned to find a winged manticore like I had encountered in the tunnel creeping slowly up on me. Catlike, it moved to pounce.

I spun out of the way, ducking into the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. I raced through the narrow corridor of one of the abbey’s partially fallen structures, and the monster charged after me. It smashed the ruin with its body, further collapsing the structure.

“Dammit, this is an important historical monument,” I called to the monster in frustration, turning to face the beast before it did any more damage.

The monster burst out of the narrow corridor then slid to a stop. It let out a strange clicking call, then a moment later, two other dark shadows appeared, their eyes glowing.

“Hell’s bells,” I whispered, backing up. “Umm, Harper?” I called.

“Clemeny? Clemeny, where are you?”

“A little help?”

“Clemeny? Where are you? I can’t see anything.”

Brandishing my dagger, I stepped back.

Time to run.

Realizing his prey was going to try to escape, the largest of the manticores pounced.

I turned and ran. Slipping over ruins and between stone arches, I hurried away. But the beasts were catching up, and I was running out of ruins to hide behind. On top of that, it was bloody dark and foggy. I could hardly see where I was going.

I spun and stopped, looking over my shoulder just in time to see one of the winged manticores launch at me.

I was too late.

The one time I had run from the danger, I was going to die.

“Richard,” I whispered, closing my eyes.

A cool breeze swept over me. And with it, I heard the sound of a thousand tiny wings and the shrieking of bats.

Gasping, I opened my eyes once more.

Agent Rose was standing in front of me, a grin on her face. “Stop standing around,” she said then turned and attacked one of the beasts.

The colony of bats swarmed the winged beast who had leaped at me. Within, I spotted the vampire, Constantine.

I moved toward the third beast who looked confused and dismayed by the sudden appearance of my allies. Taking advantage of his momentary confusion, I attacked. Jumping up on one of the ruins, I raced down the length of the stone then leaped onto the monster’s back, slicing the sharp point off his vicious tail before he had a chance to strike. The creature howled. I put an end to his wretched noise by stabbing him through the back of the neck.

“We have to help Harper and the others,” I called to Rose and Constantine then rushed toward the sound of the firefight underway.

As we raced to join the others, I couldn’t help but notice the waver in the air. The boundaries between this world and the other world were growing thinner. In brief glimpses, I caught sight of the standing stones in Avalon. But I also saw something more. Between such glimpses, I saw a darker place. I couldn’t see it well, but I could smell the heavy scent of earth and rot that always effervesced from that world, the land of the Unseelie.

I rushed back to find Harper and Agent Silver barely holding their own against some sort of double-headed canine. Agent Goodwin was facing down his own manticore. Agent Williamson, Gothel, and Rapunzel were surrounded.

I stared as the faerie shot blasts of blue light from her hands.

But it was Rapunzel who drew my attention. The girl’s long locks were glowing.

And she was…singing.

Agent Rose, Constantine, and I all stopped and stared.

“Is she singi—” Agent Rose began, but a strange sound cut her words short.

A massive roar, which I felt from deep within me, made the very land around me quiver.

“What was that?” Constantine whispered.

A moment later, a massive fireball blasted from the dark sky. And then another. And another.

Rapunzel lifted off the ground, and a moment later, four dragons, each as big as a carriage, swarmed around her. She shouted to them, and the dragons attacked the Unseelie beasts.

“Mother of God,” Agent Rose exclaimed. “You didn’t tell us about the dragons.”

“I didn’t have a chance…and they were kitten-sized the last time I saw them.”

Lightning cracked overhead, and the ground shook.

All of us pitched sideways, and suddenly my head became a blurry mess. I tried to right myself, but everything was fuzzy. I saw the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey and the standing stones of Avalon all at once.

“Clemeny,” Harper called, moving toward me.

A sick feeling rocked my stomach.

The world around me shuddered once more, and the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey began to fade away.

Clemeny. Clemeny Louvel.

He’s here.

The ground below my feet trembled.

And then, everything grew silent.

I was standing in Avalon amongst the monoliths.

And standing just across from me was Melwas.