Sword of Darkness (21 page)

Blaise gave an evil smirk. “Guess we’ll
see
, huh?”

Garafyn looked sick to his stomach. “I really hate mandrakes.”

Kerrigan shook his head at the gargoyle. In a strange way, he was beginning to like Garafyn, and that actually scared him.

“Relax,” he said to Garafyn as Blaise moved to the front to take the wheel. He looked up at the mandrake. “Make sure you stick to the back roads.”

“What? You don’t want a major fight in a U.S. city?”

“I could care less about that. But we need to move fast, and I don’t want to hit a traffic jam.”

“Good point.” Blaise took a seat, then started the engine while Kerrigan moved to the small row of seats so that he could close his eyes and rest for a bit.

Blaise pulled them onto the road and started down the empty highway.

Seren scooted out of her bench and followed Kerrigan to the back. All things considered, she
was being remarkably calm, but then after Camelot, the marvels of the twenty-first century were probably mild for her.

“What?” he asked as she sat down by his side.

“They’re going to find us again, aren’t they?”

He sighed at the fear he heard in her voice. Part of him wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know how to do that. So instead, he chose to be honest. She had every right to know what they were up against. “Aye.”

“Then what are we going to do?”

He opened his eyes to see the concern that burned bright in her green eyes. “We’re going to keep running, Seren. It’s all we can do.”

“But for how long?”

“As long as it takes.”

“You know,” Garafyn said from the table. “It would be easier to hide if you two split up. The power of three Merlins is pretty damned hard to miss. But one…”

“I won’t leave her unprotected,” Kerrigan growled.

Garafyn scowled. “Since when do you have a conscience?”

“I don’t have a conscience.”

“Then why are we protecting her?”

Kerrigan didn’t answer. In truth he didn’t know what to say. He honestly had no idea why he was doing this. There was nothing to be gained by protecting her. Not really.

They were only delaying the inevitable. Morgen would find them again and again. She would be relentless.

He angled his head so that he could meet Seren’s gaze. “You know, you’ve been nothing but trouble since I first met you.”

Instead of being offended, she smiled. “I was minding my own business, my lord, when you came and took me away from everything that I knew.”

Smiling, he reached up to brush a stray piece of hair back from her cheek. Her skin was so soft. Warm. In all his life, he’d never known kindness until she’d taken his hand and followed him into hell itself.

The only problem was that angels couldn’t live in hell and demons couldn’t live in heaven.

Kerrigan listened to the hum of the engine. Seren didn’t belong here in this time period. She would have to learn a new language. Relearn how to do the simplest of tasks. She knew nothing of surviving in this world.

“Who was the idiot who planned this escape anyway?” Kerrigan asked bitterly.

It was Blaise who answered. “That would be the two who have rocks for their brains.”

“I resent that,” Garafyn said indignantly. “It wasn’t like either one of you had a better suggestion.”

Kerrigan didn’t comment as he continued to stroke the softness of Seren’s cheek.

Where could they hide? Really?

They were two gargoyles, an albino dragon, a demon lord, and a simple maid whose only dream was to be a weaver. They were far from incon
spicious. Not to mention the fact that Seren would soon grow heavy with her pregnancy. Then she wouldn’t be mobile. She wouldn’t be able to run or to fight. He didn’t know what kinds of demands this pregnancy would have on her powers.

She needed to be with other women. With someone who could help her through this. Someone who could protect her even better than he could.

He knew nothing of children or childbirth. He only knew how to take life.

If he had one wish, it would be to have had one day of peace alone with Seren. One day to have spent with her not as her captor or her protector, but as a man, pure and simple. But there was nothing simple about his life. As for pure…he would laugh if he could.

Nay, it was over. They’d given it a good run. But in the end, he knew the truth.

“Garafyn. Anir.”

The gargoyles looked at him. Kerrigan leaned up and pulled the medallion from his neck. He took a moment to study the piece that he’d found near the stone where his sword had been buried. Morgen had been the one to explain its significance to him. In the hands of a Merlin, it amplified his power. It could also serve to return a Merlin home to Camelot should he be weakened out in the world of man. In the hands of the gargoyles or others who had no magic, it would allow them to channel certain powers.

With it, the gargoyles would no longer be seen
by Morgen. They could hide from her. But more than that, they would have the ability to travel through time without a Merlin opening a portal and sending them through.

Though they’d still be cursed into the stone bodies of gargoyles, Garafyn and Anir would be free.

Sighing, he tossed the amulet to Garafyn, who caught it with one taloned hand.

The gargoyle gaped as he realized what it was.

“Payment for services rendered.”

The gargoyles exchanged a stunned look.

“You’re not going to keep us enslaved like Morgen has?” Garafyn asked.

Kerrigan shook his head. “There’s been enough slavery. You’re free.” From the corner of his eye, he saw the weepy look on Seren’s face.

Garafyn’s hand actually shook as he placed the medallion around his neck. Two seconds later, the gargoyles vanished.

“That was truly kind,” she said softly. She was so beautiful as her tiny hand held his. How could something so small touch him so deeply?

Still, he scoffed at her sentimentality. “What do I know of kindness?”

A gentle smile curved her lips as she lifted his hand to place a sweet kiss to his knuckles, which were scarred by a lifetime of fighting. “You’re learning.”

Nay, he wasn’t. He was what he’d always been. Cold. Calculating. Because if he wasn’t, he would never be able to do what he was about to do.

Kerrigan caught Blaise’s frown in the rearview
mirror, but he quickly averted his gaze. Garafyn was right. The only hope they had was to separate.

And it was the last thing he wanted to do.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes. “Brea! If you want your sword back, come and take it.”

Kerrigan heard Seren gasp beside him as he summoned
the Celtic god to them with his powers. He only hoped that Brea was listening. But then given how much the Tuatha Dé Danann wanted the sword back, it was a good wager that Brea would show.

So much for being a bad ass. He was about to become a first-rate chump. And for what?

A cheap piece of peasant…

Kerrigan clamped down on that thought in anger. That wasn’t Seren and he knew it. She was so much more. And he hated that he knew the truth of her. Because in the end that was his downfall. The moment he’d looked into her eyes and seen something more than a disposable pawn to be used, looked into her heart and seen the innocent compassion, he’d set his own course for destruction.

Damn, he was a fool. And he was becoming an even bigger one by the minute.

Blaise pulled to the side of the deserted road as
Brea flashed into the seat in front of Kerrigan and Seren. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a turtleneck, Brea looked completely at home in this time period. The god’s dark eyes were full of suspicion as he stared at them.

“Why have you summoned me?”

Kerrigan paused as he considered his many reasons, none of which made a bit of sense. He really didn’t know why he was doing this other than the one basic fact that it was the right thing to do.

You’ve never done the right thing before…

It was true. He hadn’t, and yet he couldn’t seem to keep himself from doing this.
That’s what you get from trading blood with the innocent. It’s her purity that’s corrupting you.

Then again, her innocence had corrupted him the instant she put her tiny hand into his and allowed him to pull her across his horse.

He’d been wrong when he thought she had destroyed her future by that one foolish act of trust. It was his future that had been destroyed by one act of selfishness.

Nay, it wasn’t selfishness that was his undoing. It was something else entirely. Something he’d never felt before.

Compassion. Warmth. And another emotion he didn’t dare name because it wasn’t meant for something like him. It was a noble emotion for those who were worthy of it.

It was an emotion for someone like Seren.

He met Brea’s gaze levelly. “I want you to take Seren to Avalon.”

Kerrigan wasn’t sure whose face appeared most stunned by those words, but he had to admit that Brea’s expression was most comical. Too bad he didn’t feel like laughing.

Seren’s face paled as she wrapped one hand around his biceps. “I won’t go without you,” she said, her voice breaking.

Those words spoke to a part of him that he’d never met before. A part of him he’d thought was completely defective.

His heart.

And it was breaking now. But this had to be done. There was no choice. Not if he wanted to keep her safe.

He placed his hand over hers and gave a gentle squeeze of reassurance. “I’ll join you there.”

Brea narrowed his eyes on him. The god knew he was lying and by the look on Blaise’s face, he did, too.

Seren’s eyes were filled with pain as she looked up at him. She trusted him, and he hated that he was breaking that trust. “Why won’t
you
take me?”

He savored the softness of her hand under his. It was such a tiny hand, and yet it had the strength to shake him to his foundations. To make him do things he’d never done before. To make him care for someone when he knew what he really should do was walk away.

Taking a deep breath, he did what he did best. He lied. “I can’t, Seren. You’ll need an escort through the veil, and I gave my key to the gargoyles.”

Her green eyes sparked at that. “I have a key.”

He was stunned when she pulled a matching medallion from beneath the red tunic and handed it to him. He clamped his jaw shut to keep from gaping. “Where did you get this?”

“My mother gave it to me in a dream.”

Now that was interesting, and if they had more time, he’d question her further about it. But her possession of an amulet changed nothing. If anything, it only strengthened his resolve.

“You’ll still need Brea to make the introductions for you at Avalon and to make sure that nothing happens to you.”

“But why aren’t you coming?”

“I have to go and get your loom before Morgen finds it…if she hasn’t already. You go ahead with Brea, and I’ll join you in Avalon as soon as I can.”

Kerrigan got up as Blaise moved toward the back where they were seated. “Watch her,” he said sternly to the mandrake. “I need to have a word with Brea outside. Alone.”

Blaise nodded at the same time Seren protested. She was getting up to follow after him.

“I’ll be right back,” Kerrigan promised as he gently pushed her toward her seat.

She narrowed those green eyes on him threateningly. “You’d best be, my lord.”

Cupping her supple cheek in his palm, he inclined his head to her before he took Brea outside so that Seren wouldn’t be able to overhear them. They were parked beside a small pasture where he could see a few small calves and cows grazing. Luckily there were no other cars about to notice
his peculiar clothes or to ask if they’d broken down.

But that wouldn’t last. They needed to get out of here before someone stopped and questioned them. Or worse, before Morgen found them again.

“You said something about the sword?” Brea prompted as soon as he left the RV.

Kerrigan nodded as he closed the door to make sure that Seren couldn’t overhear them. “You promise me that you’ll personally protect her and I’ll give you the sword in trade.”

Brea still looked less than convinced of his sincerity. “There’s a ‘but’ in there, I sense it.”

The god was astute, which given his status and birth wasn’t all that surprising. “I want your word that when my child is old enough, the sword will be released to him or her.”

“That’s it?”

Kerrigan nodded.

Disbelief darkened Brea’s brow as if he were still having trouble believing that his hearing wasn’t defective. “You would trust my word?”

Kerrigan found that hard to believe, too. But he had no choice in this. It was the best he could offer for Seren and their child. “If you swear by the goddess Danu, aye. I know you’ll have no choice except to stand by it.”

Brea scowled at him. He moved closer as if he sensed something out of the ordinary. “What has changed about you?”

Kerrigan stepped away from him, uncomfortable with the intensity of the god’s attention. “What are you talking about?”

The god cocked his head as if he were studying an unknown object. “You are not what you were when I first tried to take Caliburn from you in Joyous Gard.”

Those words set fire to his temper. He didn’t like knowing that his emotions were so obvious to another. He didn’t want anyone else to know of his weakness for a small slip of a woman who should mean nothing to him.

And yet she meant everything.

“Don’t be a fool. Nothing about me has changed. I am as I was.”

Brea’s frown only increased. To his surprise, the god hesitated at his offer. “If I take Caliburn, you realize you will be mortal again. You will bleed.”

“I know.”

“Morgen will kill you for the battles you two have fought.”

Kerrigan clenched his teeth. There the god was wrong. Morgen was far too vindictive for that. She wouldn’t kill him. She would do her damnedest to make him wish and beg for death.

That was one satisfaction he would never give her.

But he didn’t say that to Brea. Instead, he faced the god man to man. “Give us your word that you’ll take her to Avalon and make sure that none there harm her or the baby.”

For once, Brea didn’t argue. “You have my word.”

“On the blood of Danu.”

“On the blood of Danu.” Brea held his hand out. “Now give me the sword.”

Kerrigan shook his head. He couldn’t do that. Not yet. “If I do, Seren will know something is
amiss the instant she sees me without the sword on. Take her, and I will give it to you once she’s safely hidden within the walls of Avalon.”

Brea scoffed. “Do you think for one minute that I trust you, demon? Especially after all you have done in the past?”

“I give you my word.”

Brea curled his lip. “That’s as worthless as your life.”

He couldn’t fault the god for those words. Brea was right. “Seren won’t go with you if she suspects anything.”

Brea stepped back, then held his palm up toward the sky. A light flashed an instant before another sword appeared in his hand. It was made of brightly polished steel with a leather-wrapped handle and a dragon’s-eye stone set in the hilt.

Kerrigan scowled at it. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear it was Caliburn.

“It has no powers,” Brea said as he held the sword out toward him. “But she won’t know that unless she touches it.”

It was a good plan, and for once he had nothing more to add to it.

Sighing, Kerrigan inclined his head before he unbuckled Caliburn. He could hear the sword screaming in his head. Hear it begging him not to let it go.
I am yours…We belong to each other.

For centuries the two of them had been together…

It was all he’d ever had to call his own. All that had ever really mattered to him. The power. The
strength. This sword had made him king. It had turned a boy into a man.

In all his life, this sword was the only thing that had ever taken care of him.

Kerrigan held Caliburn tight in his fist as the power of it consumed him. So long as he held this sword, no one could touch him. No one could harm him.

He was letting go of everything.

Don’t be stupid…

He looked at the tinted windows, knowing that Seren couldn’t see him. But she was in there, and he was the only one who could protect her from Morgen.

The sword or his mouse…

Cursing, he handed the sword to Brea even though it burned his hand to do so.

The look of shock on the god’s face was truly priceless. He stared at the sword in his hand as if he half expected it to vanish. “You really let go of it.”

Kerrigan didn’t say anything as he snatched the fake sword from Brea’s other hand and fastened it around his hips. “She’s not to know of this. Ever.”

Brea didn’t respond. He merely continued to stare at Caliburn as if it were an apparition.

If only it were. The absence Kerrigan felt inside him at the loss of Caliburn was a pain more profound than any he’d ever felt before. It was as if a vital part of himself had been lost. And it took all his will not to take it back.

But he couldn’t, and he knew it.

Without looking at Brea, Kerrigan brushed past the god and headed back into the RV.

He entered it at the same time one of the Adoni manifested by the driver’s seat. Anger tore through him as he unsheathed his fake sword. The male Adoni lunged at him. Kerrigan hissed as the Adoni caught him a blow to the lips that cut them. For the first time in centuries he felt the sting of the blow, tasted the salt of his own blood.

His eyes flaming, he drove his sword through the Adoni’s body, then pulled it free.

“We haven’t much time,” he said to Seren and Blaise as he approached them. “If we’re not moving, they can find us.”

He noted the way Blaise stared in disbelief at his cut lip, but luckily Seren didn’t understand that part of the sword’s power.

Wiping the blood away, Kerrigan pulled Seren to her feet. “You have to go with Brea now.” He met Blaise’s frown. “I need you to go with her as well and protect her.”

“Nay,” Seren said quickly as she stopped in the middle of the RV and refused to go farther. “I’ll go with Brea, but I’d rather Blaise go with you to get the loom in case something happens and you need him.”

Kerrigan started to argue, but knew better. They didn’t have time to waste. Besides, Blaise would make this easier. He’d be able to send the necklace and loom back with the mandrake to Avalon.

Nodding, he ushered Seren down the narrow aisle to the door and out to the side of the road
where Brea was waiting. Luckily the god had the sword hidden from their sight.

Kerrigan let out a relieved breath as he moved her to stand before Brea.

Seren felt her heart sink as Kerrigan released her hand. There was something not right in this. Something she couldn’t name. It was as if an air of hopelessness engulfed him.

What was he planning?

“You will be careful?” she asked, cupping his face in her hands so that she could feel the prickle of his whiskers against her palms. Even so, he avoided looking straight at her.

“Aye. I will be careful.”

“Promise?”

That succeeded in making him look at her. “I promise.”

She took a moment to study the dark red embers of his eyes, the bit of shadow on his cheeks. Her knight was the most handsome man to ever live.

“I shall be counting the minutes until your return.”

The dark sadness returned to his eyes. “As will I.”

She pulled him into her arms. He held her in a gentle embrace that warmed her through and through.

Then he tightened his arms and pulled away. “You must go now, Seren.”

But she didn’t want to. She never wanted to let go of this man. Reluctantly, she started to pull away, only to have Kerrigan capture her lips in a
stinging kiss. She moaned at the taste of him, at the way he held on to her as if he never wanted to release her.

Groaning, he pulled away again, then wrapped her in his arms and leaned his cheek against her head. His arms tightened an instant before he stepped away. “I shall see you anon.” Even as he spoke the words, he held her hand tightly in his.

Her heart pounded at the thought of being without him for even a moment. She handed him her necklace so that he would be able to join her in Avalon with the loom. “Anon. Quickly.”

He nodded, and as he released her hand, a horrible premonition went through her. She opened her mouth to speak of it when two more Adoni appeared.

“Take care of her,” Kerrigan snarled to Brea as he turned to fight them.

“Wait,” Seren said, but it was too late. The god had already touched her arm.

Her last sight of Kerrigan was of him engaging the two Adoni warriors.