Bound In Blue: Book One Of The Sword Of Elements (21 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

Taliesin arranged the exchange. Rowan was finally persuaded to let his wife’s body go and Boudica was to be cremated at sunrise in the woods at the back of the property. Morgan would meet us there.

Time crawled by. Rowan spent the day preparing the area in the tradition of the druids—he’d left his Christianity back in the clearing with the cross he ripped from his neck. The other men retreated to the garage to fashion a rough coffin. Miko and I had nothing useful to do, so we watched TV and listened to music. None of it distracted me enough, but I didn’t want to go home. I fell asleep around midnight, but a nightmare of an avenging queen riding a ghostly dragon woke me up before dawn.

After a long shower, I dressed in the clothes I’d brought with me: black skirt, black boots, black sweater. Miko and I waited at the bottom of the stairs for the men to carry the coffin down. Rowan shambled behind it, but he seemed sober. I expected him to accuse me or tell me to go, but his eyes slid past me as if he’d never seen me before. As we passed through the yard and into the woods, Goodfellow was waiting for us in the shadow of the trees. Rowan looked at him in confusion.

We entered a clearing where a pyre of wood was surrounded by leaves and herbs scattered on the ground. Tynan and Morgan stepped out of the trees to meet us, but Tynan’s head was down and his hair hid his face. Shrouded in a velvet cape, Morgan was finally dressed the way I would have expected Arthur’s consort to dress. The men laid the coffin down on the pyre and backed away as Taliesin and Morgan shared a long and meaningful look.

“Let’s get this over with,” she said coldly.

He gestured to the coffin. “For Rowan’s sake, let us first lay Boudica to rest.”

Morgan shook her head. “The woman’s soul has gone from this world and has nothing to do with me now.” Her voice caught. “It is you who has broken my heart. I have always accepted that you will fight me in the end, but I never believed you would deceive me. You hid my son from me! What was once between us is finished.”

Taliesin’s face was stricken, but he bowed his head and gestured for me to come forward. I’d wrapped Excalibur in one of Mom’s long scarves and Morgan gasped as I loosened the material to show her.

“So it is true! Viviane had it all along.”

“Take it,” I said. “It belongs to me and I’m giving it to you.” Morgan put out her hands and I placed Excalibur in them.

She exhaled. “I was not sure I would have the strength to hold it. Even now, its weight is almost unbearable. But you have given it to me freely and it accepts me grudgingly. Once Excalibur is in its true master’s hands, it will burn bright again.”

I ignored her and held out my hand to Tynan.  “C’mon Ty, let’s go.”

He turned to Morgan and whimpered, “Mother?” He sounded like a little boy.

The woman’s face was unreadable. “See, my son. Your friends are here.”

“I have no friends.” Tynan slapped my hand away so hard I stumbled and fell against the coffin.

It slid off the pyre as if it had no weight at all.

“What mischief is this?” Morgan cried and then whispered an incantation. With terrible strength, she pulled off the lid and threw it aside.

The coffin was empty.

Everyone froze except Rowan. He was wandering around the clearing as if he’d lost something.

“That’s impossible!” Daley said. “We put Boudica in the box ourselves just minutes ago. We carried her here. I felt the weight.”

There was yelling and arguing, but I was watching Rowan. He was touching the grass and trees with frantic fingers. “Tal.”

“Where is she?” Morgan screamed.

“Tal!” Rowan shouted.

But the bard was focused on the woman he loved. “Morgana, I swear to you, I do not know.”

“Taliesin! Listen to me!” The trees swayed and bowed at the druid’s command. “This is the wrong place!”

Goodfellow stepped into the clearing and understanding sent white shivers across my vision.

The Green Man can make a Path look like whatever he wants.

Goodfellow raised his arms and the trees around us were replaced by stone walls stretching up into darkness. We were in some kind of cave. Lanterns hanging from iron hooks illuminated a crumbling archway and a stone sarcophagus with a man’s figure carved on the lid.

Everything seemed to happen at once, captured in images stacked on top of one another like pages in a book.

Boudica raising her sword, her armor shining gold in the torch light.

Miko flying at her on black wings and being batted aside like a dark butterfly.

Morgan facing the Icenian queen with Excalibur in her hand.

Rowan falling to his knees.

Taliesin reaching for Morgan.

Tynan using his power to throw Taliesin against the cave wall.

Peter cradling Miko to his chest.

Tynan embracing the carved image on the lid of the sarcophagus.

Heart pounding, I forced myself to focus on the two women facing one another. Boudica was muscular and the sword in her hand was deadly, but Morgan was taller, and even in its ruined state, Excalibur was infinitely more dangerous.

Rowan lifted his arms to his wife. “Bo!” he cried. “You came back to me!”

Boudica sauntered over and gave him a vicious backhand that drove him to the ground. When he moaned, she kicked him in the head until he lay still. “Weakling,” she muttered. Rubbing her knuckles, the woman turned to me. “Thank you for releasing me from your mind, or wherever it was you put me. I was aware of myself, but couldn’t feel my body, and it took me a while to figure out what happened. I was getting a little worried my ‘death’ might become permanent. You and the Redcap have a lot in common, but at least he waits till his victims are dead before stealing their souls. Still, it all worked out pretty well. Things were getting ugly between you and Melusine and I was happy I didn’t have to risk my ass over that little bitch.”

I stared at her. “But you were dead. They put you in a coffin.”

Boudica shrugged. “I’ve been working with Morgan for a while, but only to get intel.” I glanced at Taliesin sprawled near the wall and she laughed. “Not for that self-righteous dick.” She smirked at Morgana. “Sorry,
Morgana
, but you know he is.” When Morgan didn’t respond, Boudica shrugged again and turned back to me. “Your father says hello, by the way.”

I flinched as she pressed her finger against my temple. Eyes glittering, she lifted her sword in warning and I froze. “Cernunnos has special
insight
into what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours—practically insider knowledge.” She flicked me hard with her finger and laughed when I gasped. “When he realized what you did, he preserved my body until my soul was free.  Goodfellow controls what enters a Path and where it goes. Rowan had no idea he’d conveniently prepared my crematorium at the mouth of one. Morgan wanted Excalibur and the boy. She thought Goodfellow was with her, but he belongs to us. When she revealed the destination, he scooted my body ahead of you all. I really do need to thank you. I’ve been trying to find Arthur’s tomb for years without tipping her off. I was almost ready to give up.”

“Why?” Morgan’s voice was so quiet, I could barely hear her.

Boudica whirled around. “How can you, of all people, even ask that? I was a queen! I ruled before Arthur sucked at his mother’s teat. Why should I bend my knee to an upstart king or the rogue bard who spurned him? Cernunnos promised me my kingdom and look where we are—in Arthur’s tomb with Excalibur ripe and ready for the picking.” She glanced over her shoulder. “So, thanks again, Rhi. I’m actually quite sorry I sent the Dobhar-chú after you, but the little witch insisted and your father wanted to see what you would do.”

Red rage smeared across my sight, but I forced myself to smile. “So what did dear old Dad ask in return then,
Bo
? To prance around in a French maid’s costume and bring him his slippers?” It was a random shot, but when she scowled, I knew I’d hit the bull’s-eye.

Morgan’s laughter echoed off the stone walls. “Really, Boudica? You would endure my brother’s cold hands and the certainty of death when he tires of you for a petty kingdom?”

Boudica swung her sword lazily as she walked towards Arthur’s stone coffin. I recognized the action from when I’d watched her training—she was getting ready to attack. “Oh Morgan, it’s almost sweet how naïve you are. Cernunnos didn’t offer me a spit of land in the middle of the sea. He’s giving me the entire world. The only price is Arthur’s head.”

Lightning ricocheted through the cave and struck the woman, throwing her across the floor. Daley emerged from the shadows holding the Taranis wheel.

Boudica wiped a trickle of blood from her mouth as she stood. Her armor wasn’t even singed. “That was a mistake, godling.”

Daley shrugged. “I may not want Morgan to wake Arthur, but I’m not going to let you murder him in his sleep.”

“Hit her again!” I screamed.

Movement caught my eye. Morgan had joined Tynan and they stood together looking at Arthur’s effigy.

Boudica sneered at Daley. “I’ll deal with you later, boy.” She approached Morgan cautiously with her sword raised.

I ran to Daley. “Why did you stop?”

He lifted the wheel. “It needs to recharge and I’m too far underground to harness any of the elements. It doesn’t matter though. That’s
sidhe
armor she’s wearing.  Its magic protects her.”

Boudica pointed her sword at Morgan. “Witch, I have a message from your brother.” When she opened her mouth wide, a voice from another world came out of it. The effect was obscene.

“Dear sister, you stand on the edge of the knife. Forsake the earth king and all will be forgiven. Advance, and there will be no mercy, no peace. I will hound you through the eras of your immortality until you go mad and beg for death. I will not warn you again.”

The voice scraped away at the barrier between my mind and pain. Morgan didn’t even look up as she whispered something and gestured at Boudica. The woman was flung across the cavern like a doll and disappeared into the darkness behind us.

I looked back at the tableau of mother and son, finally reunited. For the first time since I met him, Tynan seemed peaceful and happy. “My son,” Morgan whispered, tears streaming down her face as she pulled him close and kissed him on the cheek.

Tynan jerked strangely. He looked down at his mother and opened his mouth, but no sound came out. As Morgan pulled away, I saw the jagged length of Excalibur jutting out from under his ribs.

When Tynan fell, I did too. I thought I heard Daley yell, but it was cut off abruptly. Crawling on all fours to where Tynan lay pumping out blood and life, I screamed for help, but everyone was frozen.

“What have you done?”

Morgan stared at me as if I should understand. “I could not risk them interfering. They will be fine. They are only caught momentarily out of time.” The pupils of her eyes were dilated and the irises were almost colorless.

“Not them! Tynan! Your son!”

“You mean Mordred,” she corrected absently as she bent down and drew Excalibur out of his body like a knife out of butter. Bright blood was on the metal and she used it to draw on the chest of the effigy. “Four circles for the four elements: air, fire, water, earth. When I draw the fifth at the center, I will bind them with the all-encompassing illumination that commands them.” She focused on me again and frowned. “You can’t think that any of this is what I wanted. If I had met Taliesin first, so many things would have been different. I was a creature finally freed and Arthur was my salvation. I swore unbreakable oaths to him and was caged again, but I was happy to live in a cage forged by Arthur. I made my bargain freely and never guessed I would live to regret it.” She looked at the bard where he lay crumpled on the ground. “Will you tell Taliesin? Will you tell him I regret it?” she asked plaintively.

I wasn’t interested in Morgan’s pain. I pressed my hands to Tynan’s wound to stop the blood, but it flowed fast between my fingers.

Morgan sighed. “Let him rest. My son’s death was ordained from the moment he raised Excalibur against his father. The son shed the blood of the father, and the father must be raised by the blood of the son. This was the missing spell I have been searching for all these years. I told you once that blood magic is the most powerful magic of all—even my brother is bound by it. Though I was compelled to search, I hoped Excalibur was lost and my son, wherever he was, would be safe.”

Her voice hardened. “Viviane’s scheming has brought us here.” She turned away. “Leave him be. My son is mad. It is better that he pass this way.”

She was right—Tynan was damaged—but he was also a boy who had wanted to kiss me and had told me the meaning of my name. Closing my eyes, I searched for the bright green of my bond with Peter. We belonged to each other in a way that was more powerful than blood. I took my hands off Tynan’s wound and concentrated. When I opened my eyes, a fine net of peridot green covered the blood on my palms.

With his blood on my skin, I could see Tynan’s colors, wild and chaotic, and drifting away. I was running out of time. Panicking, I placed my hands on his chest. As my spell sank into his body, I imagined the power of this bond encircling his soul. If he belonged to me—if his blood belonged to me—it couldn’t be used to wake Arthur. I could deny the power of blood magic.