Lycans and Legends

Chapter 29: Melwas

I inhaled slowly, trying to center myself. My head was swimming, and I was still half-nauseous from the airship ride. Suddenly being yanked into Avalon wasn’t helping. I stilled, letting my senses come into focus. The sky here was clear, a blanket of stars twinkling overhead. The full moon shone down brightly upon me.

The sounds of the battle rolled like a distant echo across the horizon. The others were so very far from me.

“Thank you for bringing me the gemstone, Agent Louvel,” Melwas said.

His eyes glimmered bluish-silver in the moonlight, the strange runes on his skin taking on a similar glow.

The wind blew softly. His white hair whipped around him.

I exhaled slowly then smiled. “You’re rather confused, Melwas. I believe you’re here to give the artifact back to me.”

The faerie smirked then pulled out the device from his robe. “Right here,” he said, tapping the device. “That’s where the stone will go. I don’t think it will mind a little blood on it, if that’s what it takes.”

“We’ll see,” I said then held the faerie dagger before me.

“Going to try to kill me with my own dagger? That’s a nice touch.”

“I do my best with irony,” I said, and without waiting another moment, I attacked.

I knew from my first encounter with the faerie that he was strong and fast. He ducked and swept to the side, but I had expected the move. Kicking out my leg, I caught the faerie unexpectedly, tripping him. The faerie quickly regained his footing then came at me, pulling a flashing curved knife when he did so. I pulled my pistol and took aim. The move surprised the faerie who quickly slipped behind a standing stone. I held my pistol in front of me and waited.

He didn’t come out.

It was only when I smelled that terrible earthy scent that I realized what he’d done. He’d slipped between the stones and out of this world, only to reappear behind me—hell’s bells.

I ducked and turned, only to feel the dagger connect with the length of my hair, slicing off my tresses.

“Oh now, that’s just rude,” I called.

“You’re the one who brought a pistol to a knife fight,” the faerie said then launched at me again.

Once more, we exchanged blows. While the faerie was quick, he hadn’t spent the last several years fighting werewolves. He was fast, but I was stronger. I punched the faerie between the eyes, hard. He staggered backward then stepped between the stones, disappearing once more.

“Dammit,” I said then spun all around me, waiting for him to reappear.

I was about to turn again when I felt him draw close to me.

Very close.

Hell’s bells.

Something hard hit me on the back of my head.

I groaned then turned. The faerie dropped the massive rock he’d been holding then attacked, punching me in the face. I staggered backward. The blow made my jaw ache, and the salty tang of blood filled my mouth. He advanced on me again, this time with his blade in his hand. My ears rang, and the blow to my head made my vision blur. If I fainted, he would kill me and take the amulet. If I fainted, he would call forth the dark creatures and kill my friends, my family. I couldn’t let that happen. I staggered, but held on, deflecting a blow that had been intended for my heart, only to feel the slick slice of a blade cut my brow. At once, blood clouded the vision of my good eye.

“Clemeny! Clemeny?” I could hear Harper calling from very far away.

“There,” I heard Gothel answer. “Clemeny!”

I staggered backward, holding the faerie dagger in front of me.

“It’s too late,” Melwas said as he stalked toward me. “Even the faerie guardian can’t stop me now. Give me the gemstone.”

I backed up. Tripping over a stone, I fell to the ground, landing with a splash into a mud puddle.

“You fought well, Clemeny Louvel. But it’s done. Give me the stone.”

“No,” I whispered.

This couldn’t be happening.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

I brought him here because I knew I could defeat him. This wasn’t happening. I wasn’t supposed to be covered in blood, lying in a mud puddle.

I gasped.

Looking past the faerie who was advancing menacingly, I saw the standing stones, and then I saw back to Glastonbury Abbey.

Gothel worked her hands, casting shimmering blue light. And a moment later, Rapunzel stepped into Avalon.

Seeing what was happening, she paused.

Melwas must have sensed the presence of another because he turned and looked behind him.

“Who are you?” he asked.

For the love of all things holy, if it’s true, come to me now.

Through my blood-clouded eyes, I looked down at the mud puddle in which I was sitting.

The water shivered, then I saw a glint of silver.

I plunged my hand into the water.

Suppressing my shock when my hand connected with metal, I wrapped my fingers around the pommel then rose.

The earth shuddered. The air rung with a slicing sound as I drew the sword from the belly of the earth.

I rose, Excalibur in my hand.

“Rapunzel,” I called.

The girl turned to me, her eyes wide.

I threw the sword to her.

The glowing golden light from the sword reflected on Melwas’s face for a brief moment.

“No,” he said, turning in panic to snatch the amulet from me.

I raised my hands, and the water below my feet lifted me away from his grasp.

“Lady of the Lake,” he whispered, a confused expression on his face.

The unexpected show of power knocked the faerie off guard just long enough for the heir of Pendragon to swing Excalibur.

The air shook as the sword, which had slumbered so long, awoke to strike.

Light flashed as the blade slid through the neck of the faerie prince.

He stood perfectly still for a moment, then dropped, his head tumbling to the ground.

The torrent of water that had been holding me aloft lowered me once more.

Breathing hard, Rapunzel stood there, the Sword of Kings in her hand. She stared at the decapitated body.

“What did I just do?” she whispered.

“You saved your country.”

Rapunzel looked from the sword to me. “How did you…where did you get this?”

“She is the Lady of the Lake,” a voice called from behind us.

Rapunzel and I both turned to see the druids I had met upon my last visit standing there. It was my aunt Nyneve who’d spoken.

Nyneve smiled at me. “I told you.”

I looked at Rapunzel.

“Agent Louvel…what do I do? I don’t want to be Queen. Victoria is Queen. I don’t want to be Queen,” Rapunzel said.

“The sword is yours, Rapunzel Pendragon,” Nyneve told her.

Rapunzel shook her head then crossed the space between us and handed Excalibur to me. “Put it back.”

I hesitated. I was loyal to Her Majesty, of that there was no doubt, but Excalibur…this was something else.

“If we need it again, we’ll get it again,” Rapunzel said. “Please.”

I stared at her for a long moment. I had not spent much time with Rapunzel when we’d last met, but there was an honesty to her nature. I looked into her eyes. The colors therein moved and turned. I had never seen anything like it. But her gaze also spoke. Just like me, she wanted to keep Britannia safe. To do so, she couldn’t disrupt the monarchy. There was already a steady hand on the throne. We could protect our realm, but not by deposing our monarch and causing chaos.

Taking Excalibur, I walked over the pool of water from which I’d drawn the sword for the heir of the Once and Future King.

“No offense,” I whispered to the sword. “I suspect we’ll meet again,” I said then dipped my hand back into the water. Somehow, that shallow pool felt bottomless. I let go of the sword, which sank back into the deep earth.

Rising once more, I wiped the blood from my eye. I swooned a little when I stood. There was a throbbing pain blasting through my head, and my ears were ringing.

“Clemeny, you’re hurt. You should come with us,” Nyneve said, extending her hand to me.

I looked from her to Rapunzel then through the stones. On the other side, I could see Harper and Agent Rose looking for me.

“Clemeny? Clem, where are you?” Harper called, a look of panic on her face.

“No. But thank you,” I told her then turned to Rapunzel. “Let’s go.”

Rapunzel nodded at me.

“Clemeny,” Nyneve called gently. “You are welcome here. Please come back…when you’re ready.”

I inclined my head to her then bent to take the pieces of the device from Melwas’ unmoving hand. When I did so, a sense of dread washed over me. Rapunzel and I had just murdered a faerie prince. Would there be a reckoning or would the Unseelie accept that Melwas had taken a risk and lost? I wasn’t sure. I slipped the device into my pocket then took Rapunzel’s hand.

I looked back over my shoulder at Nyneve one last time.

Maybe.

Some day.

But not today.

I nodded to Rapunzel, and together, we crossed back into the real world.