Legendary (12 page)

“Umm, shouldn’t you go see if the area is clear or something?” She tried to sound casual, but really she didn’t want him to laugh at her while she attempted to get off Belle.

“I scouted from the air. We are perfectly alone here,” he assured her. Aliana stalled, trying to think of some other way to distract him, but he grew impatient. “We need to hurry. The sooner we awaken the king, the sooner we can get back to the Lady of the Lake and fulfill the prophecy.”

Aliana waved him off. “Lecture, lecture, that’s all you do.”

Galahad’s jaw tightened as he continued to stare at her.

“Fine,” she huffed. Leaning back, she carefully slid her leg over Belle, making a point to ignore Galahad, but he had other ideas. Like earlier, he grabbed Aliana about the waist, lowering her to the ground, tucking her close to his body the whole way.

Blushing, she glanced down and stepped away, bumping into Belle. The Pegasus tilted her head as if to say “excuse you.”

“Thanks for bringing us here, Belle.” Aliana ran her hands over her soft feathers before petting her neck.

Galahad placed a warm hand on the small of Aliana’s back, ushering her forward. With a final bray, Belle trotted away and leaped back into the night sky.

“We must be careful through here,” Dagg warned, circling Aliana. “The magic guarding this pass is stronger than any I have felt in a very long time.”

“Perhaps Queen Titania added another layer of protection after I was captured. Guarding this pass was one of our duties.”

Aliana looked at Galahad, confused. “Our? I thought you were the only one here with Arthur.”

For a moment his face went blank, his eyes lost focus, and for a brief second, Aliana saw great sorrow in those eyes. “No.”

Aliana’s stomach dropped at the despair and pain in that one word. Something terrible must have happened to hurt him so badly.

“Stay close,” he told her, his face still blank. He led the way with Dagg flying at Aliana’s side. Something didn’t feel right about this place. It was like she could feel the cold fingers of danger trying to worm their way inside of her.

“Stay close to me,” Galahad reminded her again.

Her knight was several feet ahead of her already and Dagg was quickly catching up to him. She kept a careful eye on the jagged pieces of rock beneath her, afraid they might shift or that she might slip and break her ankle. That would just suck. Looking up, she saw that Galahad was even farther away than before, but he didn’t seem to notice. She took another step forward, slipping and knocking into the stone wall with a painful gasp. “Son of a monkey!”

“Lady Aliana, are you all right?” Galahad glanced back, and his eyes widened as if just now realizing how far apart they were.

Something banged against the cliff wall, rolling down the ledge. Aliana watched, terrified, as a boulder the size of a yoga ball crashed directly in front of Galahad and Dagg.

“Run, my lady!” Galahad yelled as two more boulders came crashing down. He was forced to jump back to keep from getting crushed. Aliana cried out as another huge rock shattered behind her, sending shards flying like shrapnel. She threw her arms over her head, frozen with fear.

7

She is going to get killed! The magic barring my path to her is too strong. I will never be able to penetrate it. Only four beings in Avalon have enough power to create this kind of barrier. If any of them have set against us, we are doomed. Curse this magic! She is my charge.
I have to protect her!
~Daggerhorne

“M
OVE
, A
LIANA!
” D
AGG
O
RDERED
as boulders, large and small, continued to fall, blocking a very pissed off Galahad from coming to her aid. Recovering from her shock, Aliana took several running steps but was forced to the cliff wall again as another boulder flew over her head.

She chanced a glance up. A large rock sailed over the ledge like it had been tossed. She took two leaping steps forward before the boulder landed where she had been standing. Another crashed sounded to the side of her. Stifling a cry, she covered her face. More shards of rocks scratched her arms, some cutting deep enough to draw blood.

Looking up again, Aliana realized why that last boulder had missed—she was under a slab of stone protruding from the cliff wall.

“Lady Aliana, you must make your way to me! Something is blocking me from getting back to you!” Galahad shouted, his voice hard and biting.

“We have bigger problems than that. Something is throwing those rocks from above!” she shouted.

He and Dagg both looked up. The Dragon shot up like a bullet toward the canyon top, but before he was more than halfway up, he was smacked down into Galahad, knocking them both farther away.

“Galahad! Dagg!” Aliana ran out from beneath her hiding spot as three more rocks came crashing down.

“Worry about yourself, not us!” Dagg ordered.

Heart pounding, she peered upward and saw a very large boulder heading straight for her. Acting on instinct, Aliana leaped forward, landing on her knees and barely getting out of the stone’s path before it hit the canyon floor. She pushed herself up, running to get under another jutting piece of slate.

“Aliana, be careful!” Galahad growled.

“Stop barking orders at me! I can’t think with you distracting me!”

She heard Galahad yell and watched him slam against the invisible barrier. A stream of purple Dragon fire arched into the air, directed at a boulder falling straight toward Aliana, but even Dagg’s magic couldn’t penetrate magical wall. She was on her own.

Safely hidden, Aliana took several deep breaths. She poked her head out from under her protective cover, and studied the cliff walls. She noted more pieces of rock sticking out along the cliff wall, and an idea struck her. If she could make it to the other coverings, she could get out in one piece, but she would need to move fast and not take another wrong step. Her heart pounded in her ears, adrenaline shooting through her limbs like wild fire.

Aliana looked at the guys again, frightened that the falling rocks would hurt them, but they both just watched her, seemingly in no danger at all. The boulders were only falling around her. How had they gotten separated in the first place? Galahad was much too careful to have allowed that to happen.
Could something else be influencing us?
One minute she’d been within arm’s reach of him, and the next he’d been yards away from her. Something about this wasn’t right.

Taking another breath, she listened, tuning out the commands that Galahad continued to shout. Two rocks hit the ground. Twenty seconds later, another three dropped. Next, a single, large boulder came down, followed closely by another. She waited, listening and counting. The rocks were falling in a consistent pattern, almost like the beat of a dance.

She waited for the next two to fall before taking off for the next cover. She chanced another peek up, angling closer to the wall and throwing her arms over her head as the next three rocks hit the ground. Using the time gap that followed, she made it under the next protective covering just as another rock struck behind her. She was close to the canyon mouth and to Galahad, who watched her very carefully.

Keeping her mind on the task in front of her, she waited for the next time gap. She stuck to her pattern, making it to the next slate covering without a problem. All she had to do was make it to one more ledge, and then sprint the rest of the way to safety.

Choking on rock dust, she ran forward, arriving unharmed at the last stone cover. That had been the easy part. She peeked up at the cliff’s edge before looking back to Galahad and Dagg. The open span to them was longer than the distance between the outcrops had been, but if the falling rocks kept to their pattern, she could make it—and then hope that she’d be able to penetrate the barrier that her protectors couldn’t.

Waiting for the right gap, she ran as hard as she could, dodging the tumbling rocks and their shrapnel as she went.
Almost there!
Her foot slid out from under her, and she fell hard onto her knees.

“Aliana!” Galahad cried as rocks crashed around her. Furiously, he pounded at the invisible wall.

Pulling herself to her feet, she made another dash toward him, chancing a glance up, and abruptly pulled back, swerving close to the wall and narrowly missing another falling rock. What would happen if she couldn’t get through the invisible wall? What could she do then?
Besides get squashed like a bug in this disaster zone canyon
, she thought. But she had to chance it.

Rushing forward, she reached out her hand, amazed when Galahad grabbed it as if there was no barrier at all. He yanked her into his arms, launching them both away from the crashing rocks and toward the canyon opening. She held onto him as tightly as she could, and they flew through the air. He landed hard on his back, grunting. Aliana sprawled on top of him. When her heart stopped racing, she lifted her head from his chest, meeting his shocking blue eyes.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Galahad ran his fingers through her hair, pushing the dark curtain away from her face as his eyes flicked over her, checking to make sure she was okay. She erupted in panicky giggles. She’d actually done it! She’d survived the rockslide of doom all on her own! Pride filled her.
Take that!

Galahad frowned. “I do not think this is a laughing matter. You could have been killed before we even got to the king!” His eyes blazed, and Aliana felt herself getting lost in him again as sparks shot through her body. There was something exhilarating but also strangely calming about her body’s automatic reaction to him.

“This magic was not here before. I am sorry you were put in such danger,” he said.

Aliana smiled gently at him. “I’m just glad we made it through there in one piece.” Galahad frowned but the intensity in his burning gaze died down. “It’s not your fault, Galahad. You’ve been gone from here for centuries, so it actually makes sense that someone added extra protection.”

Galahad opened his mouth to say something but Dagg spoke first.

“We are now one step closer to the king,” the Dragon said, bringing their attention away from one another, “and we need to move quickly. Who knows what else stands between us and our goal.”

Galahad and Aliana got to their feet, and Dagg settled on her shoulder. She gazed back at the canyon pass, which was now completely still. “I’m not sure why, but for some reason, I get the feeling I’m being tested.”

Galahad nodded somberly, watching Aliana rub her hand over her chest as she tried to banish the persistent tightness she felt there. “Are you injured, my lady?”

“I’m still out of breath,” she lied, not wanting to alarm him. They needed to move on, and having Galahad worry about her health was only going to delay them further.

Galahad scowled but moved forward, leading them to the entrance of King Arthur’s hollow. As they walked, the adrenaline rush ebbed from Aliana’s system, but the tightness in her chest increased to a sharp pressure. She gripped her pack tightly to her chest to disguise the fact that she was trying to ease the irritation. The pressure wasn’t painful, but taking a deep breath was becoming difficult.

Thinking back, she realized that the pressure had never really gone away since she’d first entered this strange land. She had just chalked it up to nerves before, but now she wasn’t so sure and debated whether she should say something to Dagg and Galahad. Her Dragon guardian might know what was causing it and how to fix it. But what if they thought her weak for it? Or worse, what if they focused more on her than getting to King Arthur? No, it was better to keep it to herself for now.

“Around this next turn lies the hidden entrance to King Arthur’s hollow,” Galahad said.

Aliana quickened her pace, eager to see what she imagined would be an amazing sight. Rounding the corner, she stood dumbfounded. In her imagination, she’d envisioned a grand, tiered entrance lined with intricate engravings and beautiful designs, something regal and magnificent befitting for a king. But what was before her was nothing like she had expected. A steep dirt trail with steps formed by protruding roots led upward to a simple but perfect circle carved into the mountainside. Plants and moss grew wild on the curved cliff that surrounded the opening, covering everything so thoroughly that there was more green than gray. Aliana looked to Galahad with confusion, surprise, and delight.

“Quite a sight,” Dagg said.

Galahad held his hand out to Aliana, and she didn’t hesitate to take it, letting him lead her up the steps. Dagg flew ahead, circling the entrance. As she drew closer, Aliana saw that the opening was lined with smooth, gray stones covered in strange, flowing, druid-like markings.

“This is unbelievably cool!” She ran her fingers across the smooth symbols, taking in as much detail as she could. Her father would have loved deciphering these mystery drawings. Reaching into her pack, she grabbed her camera and took dozens of pictures of the entrance and the surrounding area.

“Those markings were put here by Merlin as protection against all but those of us who swore to protect our king.” The sadness crept back into Galahad’s face.