The Seven Swords (21 page)

Then it hit Artie. He knew exactly where Excalibur was.

“Now we fight,” Artie barked, knocking Flixith against Rhongomyniad's shaft. “Now we fight for Excalibur and for Tiberius—and for Kynder!”

The other knights were silent, their muscles twitching with anticipation. Shallot hissed like a cat.

Artie swallowed hard and glanced over his shoulder. Fallown, Numinae on his back, had taken up a position behind them. A sharp green glow framed the lord of Sylvan like a corona.

“I don't think I'm ready for this,” Qwon said shakily as she moved between Artie and Kay.

“Stay close. We've got your back,” Kay said.

Artie took a step forward. He was like another person. It wasn't just that he was motivated by heartbreak and vengeance. He was bigger. He was nobler. He was more kingly.

The bears snorted in unison. Morgaine raised her hands. Merlin did too. The fight was about to commence.

Artie glowered and pointed his spear through the line. “Someone back there has my sword, and I intend to get it.”

31 - IN WHICH ARTIE AND CREW TAKE ON THE FENLAND BOSS'S HORDES

Morgaine spurred Scarm, and the
dragon pushed toward Merlin, her scaly skin wet and glistening from the storm. The wizard spawned his giant white wings and rode them away and into the clouds. Scarm tilted her body, pumped her wings three times, and bolted up. As she vanished in the cloud it lit up with orange lightning, and thunder ricocheted around the beach, filling the knights' ears.

At the same moment, the bears charged off the dune. Artie looked at his friends intently and ordered, “Fall back and use Tiberius's body for cover. Lance, empty your quiver—show no mercy! Erik, when they get closer, go crazy, but stay with the others. Don't split up!”

Bors tapped Shallot and signed frantically. She said, “Bors'll make a strong scentlock called a scentwall. Stuff your noses if you can.”

“Good!” Artie said.

The bears were a third of the way to them.

A terrible explosion came from overhead. Merlin and Morgaine had locked horns. Most looked up. Artie didn't.

“Don't think about them!” he said. “Take cover behind Tiberius!” Lance pulled Erik and Qwon to Tiberius, while Artie stepped toward the charging soldiers. Kay did too. She was scared, but she wasn't going to leave her brother now.

Bors walked a little farther up the beach, waving his hands through the air. Kay cut some cloth from her undershirt and stuffed it in her nose. Thanks to Excalibur's scabbard, Artie was immune, so he didn't bother.

Kay swung Cleomede back and forth around her body. She looked seriously hard core.

The bears were thirty seconds away.

The air around Bors shimmered like it was giving off heat.

Lance unleashed a fireballer that passed within inches of Artie's head. It landed in the sand a hundred and fifty feet away and exploded, felling half a dozen bears and their riders.

Thumb stuffed his nose too and said, “I'm with you, lads!” He did a few tight flips, the Welsh
wakizashi
zinging through the air.

“Glad to hear it, Tommy,” Kay said with a big smile.

Shallot stood fast next to Artie. “Me too. I'm sorry I underestimated you, sire.”

Artie shook the rain from his head. “Don't sweat it. I'm just glad you're here.”

Artie reeled back and threw Rhongomyniad. It hit a bear square in the chest, rode through its body, and knocked the rider behind off his mount. Artie called the spear's name, and it came zipping back, skewering another rider on the return.

“Nine down, a hundred to go!” Kay yelled.

The din of pounding rain and charging bears filled their ears.

And then the animals roared.

Which would have been terrifying if Fallown hadn't flown over their heads at the same moment, spraying gold and silver glitter directly at the charging line. Artie and Kay were both struck by how innocent the dragon's fairy-dust breath appeared; when a large group of riders galloped through, it collected on their bodies, and they looked kind of ridiculous.

But then the glitter started doing its thing, and the bears and riders began to disintegrate. The resulting dust was carried forward by the fizzled riders' momentum before drifting down to the sand.

Just like that, the riders' numbers were nearly halved.

“This is gonna be easy!” Kay exclaimed, as Lance's arrows streaked the air and felled riders left and right.

“No, it won't,” Shallot said. “Fallown's breath attack isn't limitless. It'll be another ten minutes until he can do it again.”

“Maybe it doesn't matter,” Artie said, watching Bors intently.

The mute fairy stood his ground and did a little jumping-jack as a pair of bears turned and headed directly for him. His scentwall moved away from him and missed the two charging bear riders, but it hit the larger groups on either side. Ten from each flank came to a grinding and delirious halt. The bears fell heads-and-shoulders into the ground and sent up showers of sand, a few skidding to a stop not ten feet from Artie and the knights.

They and their riders were enthralled and utterly useless.

Artie watched the two bears that were barreling toward Bors, his heart pounding. The fairy was going to get hit. But then, just before the bears reached him, Bors spun in a tight circle and completely disappeared. One of the bears spooked and changed course, crashing sidelong into the other and throwing both of their riders a dozen feet onto the beach. The sound of shattering necks was horrendous.

Twenty riders who'd avoided the scentwall pulled up, flanking the knights. The bears snorted and growled. The riders shouted as some shouldered their crossbows and began to fire. Kay deflected a couple bolts with Cleomede; Shallot—who was insanely quick—simply dodged them. Artie blocked one with Flixith, but another hit him in the back and knocked him to his knees. The graphene shirt stopped it from penetrating his body, but it still hurt like crazy. Excalibur's empty scabbard took care of whatever bruise it left, though, and he quickly got up.

The sky boomed overhead. The purple dragon, still hidden in the clouds, screamed. A woman's voice came from above, reminding the soldiers, “Don't kill the boy!”

At which point the riders dropped their crossbows and drew swords.

The bears on the right charged. The ones on the left broke off to attack Lance, Erik, and Qwon near the petrified bodies of Kynder and Tiberius. Erik launched into berserker mode as Fallown, down the beach, broke toward them to help.

Within seconds Artie, Kay, Thumb, and Shallot were surrounded by bears. And up close they were scary big. The knights formed a circle, each taking a quadrant. A few beats passed before a paw as big as a dinner plate swiped at Kay; she flashed Cleomede and took it off cleanly. But the bear didn't care. It planted its stump in the ground and leaned forward, baring its teeth. With one swipe, Kay sliced through the bear's jaw, swept her blade up, and cut the rider's sword in two.

“Ha!” she blurted.

But she didn't see the bear's other paw coming.

It hit her across the shoulder, which lit up in pain. As with Artie, her graphene shirt prevented the bear from drawing blood, but it knocked her over big-time.

Meanwhile, Shallot put up a scentlock that quelled the bear in front of her, but because of the angle of attack, not its rider. This man was fast and tall and armed with a long halberd. He stood in his saddle and brought the point of his weapon down on Shallot, jabbing wildly as she sidestepped the attacks with her amazing speed. The soldier was about to land a good hit to her midsection when she suddenly disappeared, just like Bors. The soldier stabbed at the air and looked around confusedly before Shallot reappeared directly in front of him atop the bear, straddling his weapon. Quickly and mercilessly she brought down two of her short, wavy fairy blades and hit the soldier in the neck.

She looked to Kay, who was trying to get up after being knocked down, and jumped over to help her.

Meanwhile Thumb was going crazy, battling a bear and rider of his own. He bounced all over the place, scoring several quick, deep cuts in the bear's forelegs. He worked his way onto the animal's back, and before the rider knew it, she was defending herself against the smallest warrior she'd ever seen. The bear turned a tight circle as the rider parried Thumb's furious attacks. For a few moments the soldier held her own, but then Thumb sailed into the air. The rider twisted in her saddle, but it was too late. The Welsh
wakizashi
had already found its way into her back, and was being driven painfully into her kidney.

Another down.

Artie was dealing with two bears simultaneously. The riders on these each had one of those silver whips and they were trying to get one around Artie so they could take him prisoner. Artie quickly realized that his spear wasn't helping because it put too much distance between him and the bears—distance that the soldiers could use to wrangle him with their whips.

He was about to throw the spear at one of the riders when he saw that Kay was still on the ground. Shallot was already sailing to Kay's aid, but the rider over Kay was about bring what was left of his sword through the top of Kay's head.

Artie threw his spear at Kay's assailant, taking his sword arm clean off. The soldier cried out in pain as Shallot finished him off.

Artie turned back to his bears only to see the tasseled end of a whip flying at his face. He ducked under it and slid beneath the bear in front of him. He drew Carnwennan from his belt and drove it into the bear's musky belly. Before it could fall on him, he scampered away between its hind legs, and severed a tendon behind its knee.

The bear collapsed and wailed.

Artie stood and surveyed the field. Lightning illuminated the beach like a strobe light. The witch and the wizard—still shrouded by the clouds overhead—were really going at it. Fallown was near the other knights, dispatching bears and riders with diving attacks. Numinae was still on the golden dragon's neck, knocking heads with his giant maul arm. Lance and Erik—and Qwon too, her blade trailing blue streaks as it danced through the air—were holding their ground.

They were doing all right.

Artie tried to empty his mind and concentrate on his sword.
Where is Excalibur
?

A bear jumped in front of him, breaking his concentration. He raked Flixith across its wet nose. It roared, and then, before he knew it, a whip was around his neck.

Artie flailed at the cord as it snaked around him. He twisted to try to get a better angle to cut it, but only succeeded in wrapping himself up some more.

Then another whip caught him around a foot. This one was yanked hard, and he fell to the ground. Flixith went flying. He tried to cut his way free with Carnwennan but before he could get started, his arm was lashed to his side.

He found himself staring up at the sky, rain falling directly into his squinting eyes. Another great boom rattled the clouds and then, to his dismay, he saw Merlin falling through the air, looking seriously unconscious or possibly dead. But before he hit the ground, he turned into a column of mist, and this quickly morphed into the shape of an owl. The diaphanous bird squawked and then flew into the fog that blanketed the sea, beating a fast retreat.

The wizard had left the fight, and despite Artie's confusion about Merlin, his heart sank.

Scarm broke hard through the clouds, water streaming from her great feathered wings. Morgaine jumped from her perch and stopped in midair, her hands held up as lightning bolted from the storm and gathered in her palms.

From the corner of his eye, Artie saw the purple dragon attack the golden one. Numinae jumped to safety as Scarm coated Fallown in scalding oil, the golden dragon wailing in agony before falling silent.

Morgaine then peppered the beach with some kind of rapid-fire magic, each strike making a noise like an electric shock. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Artie used all his strength to crane his neck around and saw that each of his knights, and Kynder's stone, had been caught in some kind of glass-like bubble. The rain gathered in sheets on these, coating them. An unarmed Lance and an armed and defiant Qwon were together; Kay, Thumb, and Shallot were yelling from their individual bubbles, but no sound escaped the floating prisons; Erik bounced around his like a pinball, still fully raged up.

They were
not
doing all right. The fight was over. They had lost.

Even Numinae had been captured. He was strong and determined enough to break out of his bubble, but Morgaine just kept launching new ones in his direction.

Artie had failed.

Morgaine lowered herself as Artie was dragged roughly along the sand. More archers jogged down the beach, and two more bear riders, who had not partaken in the fight, trotted easily behind them at a distance.

Artie's spirits rose slightly as he realized that it was one of these who held Excalibur. But how was he going to get it?

Scarm glided softly to the ground. She shook off the rainwater like a drenched dog before striking a proud and victorious pose. She was riveting, both terrible and awe-inspiring, just like Morgaine's tornadoes had been. The dragon cocked her head and looked at Artie as if she couldn't see why this boy was worth so much trouble.

Morgaine moved her hands through the air, and the bubbles containing his friends drifted together. It was at this moment that Artie realized that Bors hadn't been caught! There was still a sliver of hope.

Artie locked eyes with Morgaine and asked, “What are those things around my friends?”

“Dragon's bubbles,” Morgaine said with a kindly voice. “No way in or out, I'm afraid.”

Artie was hoisted to his feet by an invisible hand. He was drenched and cold. He was frightened, but he composed himself and said, “You're not that scary-looking up close.”

Morgaine pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “What, even in my warrior dress?”

“Yeah, you kind of look like a mom.”

“Oh, I'm glad you noticed, dear.”

She shot another bubble at Numinae, who didn't pause in trying to escape. He was livid.

What was left of the bear soldiers had taken positions behind Scarm. The pair of officers protecting Excalibur were all the way at the back.

How
was
he going to get his sword from them?

And where was Bors? Where were Lance's bow and quiver?

“You aren't very scary-looking either, Arthur Pen-dragon. You look exactly like I knew you would,” she said snidely.

“What are you going to do with us?” Artie asked, his voice shaking with anger.

“Unfortunately I have to keep
you
,” Morgaine said with a sigh.

“And my knights?”

The witch went wide-eyed and began to giggle, which quickly turned into a full-throated belly laugh. Tears came to her eyes and she turned to Scarm, who was also chuckling. “Knights! How . . . medieval.”