Simply sitting there, on his brutal throne, Merlin’s presence was overwhelming. He seemed to curdle the bar’s atmosphere and poison the air by being there. Merlin Satanspawn, the Devil’s only begotten son, the anti-Christ who’d corrupted and destroyed the greatest dream of all, to make his Sinister Albion.
Anyone else would have been helpless under his gaze. But I had an angel’s feather, Suzie had her shotgun, and Alex ... was Alex.
The bar’s muscular bouncers, Betty and Lucy Coltrane, had held their ground when everyone else ran. They stood poised together at the end of the bar, ready for action. They weren’t impressed by the living Merlin any more than they had been by the dead Merlin who used to manifest in Strangefellows. In fact, the Coltranes were famous for not being impressed by anyone. Which came in very handy when it came to chucking-out time. They looked to Alex for instructions, and he gestured urgently for them to stay put. Merlin turned his great head slowly to look at the two muscular young women, then he licked his lips slowly. Betty and Lucy both shuddered suddenly, despite themselves. Merlin raised one fat hand, and a rose appeared in it out of nowhere. He offered it to the two bouncers, and they both turned up their noses. Merlin laughed softly, a flat horrid sound with all the wickedness of the world in it. He brought the rose to his mouth and breathed on it, so it withered and died in a moment.
“Big deal,” said Alex, his voice steady. “I can do that most mornings. Of course, I am not a morning person.”
“Hush,” said Merlin. “Be still. I have come to the Nightside in search of my errant King. Pretty little Artur. He is mine, and I will have him again. I do enjoy this Nightside ... Love what you’ve done with the place. So delightfully uncomplicated, and unhypocritical when it comes to sin and temptation. I really must come again, when I have the time to properly indulge myself. I do like to play though I’m so big I usually break my toys ...”
“We’re not toys,” I said, fighting to keep my voice calm and casual and not in any way impressed. “You may be the big mover and shaker in your world, but we’ve seen better. And you’re not in your world now.”
“But my father is everywhere, in all worlds,” said Merlin. “And where he is, I have power. Do not think I am weak because I am out of my domain.”
He gestured lazily with one plump hand at Lucy Coltrane, and she cried out in pain as her back arched suddenly. Her breath came fast and panicked, her eyes full of horror. Merlin gestured again, and Lucy’s chest split apart in a flurry of blood and broken bone. Her heart ripped itself out of the great wound in her chest and flew across the intervening space to nestle into Merlin’s waiting hand. Lucy collapsed as all the strength went out of her, blood still spurting from the great wound between her breasts and spraying from her slack mouth with her last few gasps for breath. Betty was there to hold Lucy before she hit the floor, but Lucy was already dead, her wide eyes fixed and staring. Betty lowered her slowly to the blood-slick floor and sat there with her, hugging the dead body to her while she cried silent, angry tears. And Merlin Satanspawn brought the still-beating heart to his mouth and ate it greedily, stuffing the pulsing meat into his mouth. And when he was done, and he’d eaten every last bit of it, he licked all the blood from his fingers like a small child with a treat.
I had to physically stop Suzie from giving him both barrels in the face. I grabbed her arm and held it firmly, pitting all my strength against hers. Even her specially made blessed and cursed bullets wouldn’t touch Merlin Satanspawn. And I wasn’t ready to lose my Suzie the way Betty had lost her Lucy. Suzie stopped fighting me abruptly, her furious gaze still fixed on Merlin. She lowered her shotgun and nodded briefly. Not giving up; just waiting for a better chance. Behind me, I could hear Alex breathing heavily. I knew he had all kinds of weapons and protections stashed away, but I hoped he had more sense than to try to use any of them. He and the Coltranes had been together for years, but this was no time for grand gestures. This was a time for cold thought, and plans, and eventually some very cold revenge, when the opportunity presented itself. Merlin smiled on us all.
“That wasn’t a demonstration of power. That was a little something to get your attention. This ... is the demonstration.”
And Lucy Coltrane sat bolt upright in Betty’s arms, drawing in a deep breath of air. The great wound in her chest was gone, her eyes were wide open, and she grabbed on to Betty with desperate hands as she fought to get her breathing back under control again. She had been dead, and now she was alive again; and Merlin Satanspawn chuckled happily.
“I am my father’s son, inflicted on the world to do his will; and I can do anything the Lamb could do.”
(And I remembered Jerusalem Stark saying that his new allies could bring his dead wife back to life. That he’d seen proof ...)
“What are you doing here?” I said to Merlin. “What do you want with us?”
“This place called to me. My magic tells me that this world’s Merlin spent time here.”
“Yes,” said Alex. “He was buried in the cellars under the bar. But he’s dead and gone now. You missed him.”
“Pity,” said the living Merlin. “I would have enjoyed showing him what he could have become. If only he’d had more ambition.” He considered Alex thoughtfully. “You’re of his line, though the blood has been diluted through many generations. I have no descendents ... I kill them all as soon as they appear. I have no use for ... competition. But, there’s some of me in you, boy. I could just eat you up ...”
I moved quickly forward to place myself between Merlin and Alex, doing my best to meet his terrible gaze with my best hard look.
“Your King Artur isn’t here, and none of us have seen him in ages.”
“Oh, I know that,” said Merlin. “He came to this Nightside against my wishes, and he has never returned. And I can’t have that. Can’t have people thinking they can go against my wishes. My magic tells me you have a gift for finding things, and people, John Taylor. I can see your gift, hiding within you. You only think you know what it is. Use that gift for me, find my missing Artur, and you and your friends can live.”
“If I’m to find him,” I said steadily, “I need to know about him. What is Artur doing here? What is he looking for?”
“A toy, a trinket,” said Merlin. “Something I’d already told him would do him no good.”
“Excalibur,” I said. “He wanted Excalibur, didn’t he?”
Merlin looked at me for a long moment, and I could feel my skin crawl, feel my legs shake. My heart was hammering in my chest. He could kill me in a moment, and we both knew it.
“I want my Artur,” said Merlin. “Find him for me. Or you ... are no use to me.”
“Don’t you threaten him,” Suzie said immediately, her shotgun trained on his face again.
Merlin didn’t even look at her. “Or perhaps I’ll turn your little girlfriend inside out and leave her that way, alive and suffering, forever.”
“Did you know I killed this world’s Merlin?” I said, my voice like a slap across his face. “Did you know I tore out his heart and watched him die by inches?”
“You’re telling the truth,” said the living Merlin. “I can tell. How very amusing. Well, well ... Who knew such a small thing as you could kill a Merlin? But after all, he turned away from real power when he defied our father. I don’t have time for this. Someone else will find my missing King for me; and when Artur is back under my wing again ... I think perhaps I’ll destroy this whole stupid Nightside before I go home again.”
He disappeared abruptly, gone in a moment, taking his iron throne with him. I let my breath out in a long gasp and leaned back against the bar for support. My legs were shaking so badly they could hardly support me. It’s not every day you outbluff the Devil’s only begotten son ... Suzie slipped her shotgun into the sheath on her back and took a long drink from her bottle. Her face was cold and calm as always, her hands entirely steady. Alex was busy pouring himself a large drink and spilling most of it. The sense of evil and oppression was gone, but some harsh sense of it still lingered, like a psychic stain. The great jagged crack in the floor wasn’t there any more—if it ever really had been. Sorcerers deal in illusion as often as not. If only because it costs less magic.
Betty got Lucy back onto her feet and led her away. Lucy’s death and rebirth could have been an illusion, too; but I didn’t think so. The reality of it was still clear in Lucy’s face, in her eyes. She was shaking all over, her hands clasped together on her chest where the wound had been. And this from a woman who’d never backed down from anyone, in all the time I’d known her. Betty looked almost as shocked as Lucy. I had to wonder if either of them would ever get over what had happened.
“I will see that smug bastard hauled down off his long throne, trampled underfoot, and fed to the pigs, for what he did to my girls,” said Alex, in a worryingly matter-of-fact voice. I turned to face him.
“Don’t,” I said. “I mean it, Alex. He is way out of your league. Maybe even out of mine. Dead Merlin was dangerous enough; this version is seriously scary. I’m going to have to do a lot of hard thinking and planning, before I’m ready to go after him.”
“But you will go after him?” said Alex.
“Yes,” I said. “He threatened me, and my friends, and no-one gets away with that.”
“He said he was the anti-Christ,” said Suzie.
“Our Merlin rejected his father’s plans for him,” I said. “He could have been the anti-Christ, but he declined the honour. If only because he wouldn’t take orders from anyone. Of course, that was before he met Arthur, and everything changed. The Merlin we just met ... is every inch his father’s son.”
“I’m going to have to get a bigger gun,” said Suzie. “Something heavier, and more ... spiritual.”
“Got to be more useful than an angel’s feather,” Alex said pointedly.
“We’re still here, aren’t we?” I said. “Now, we have work to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. It won’t take Merlin long to find someone who can take him straight to the missing Artur. There’s always someone, in the Nightside. Hell, there are probably already people lining up to sell their souls to him. After speaking to the London Knights, I’m pretty sure Artur came here looking for this world’s Excalibur. His Merlin doesn’t want him to have it because the sword could give Artur power over him. The Lady of the Lake from Sinister Albion wouldn’t give Artur her sword because he wasn’t worthy. So all that’s left to him is to steal some other world’s Excalibur. Which makes him Stark’s best buyer.”
“Who’s this Stark?” said Suzie.
“Rogue London Knight. Currently allied with Queen Mab’s elves. The man who stole Excalibur from me.”
“I hate him already,” said Suzie. “Let me kill him for you.”
“A nice thought, but not until we’ve got the sword back from him,” I said.
“You really think you can find Stark before Merlin does?” said Alex.
“Of course,” I said. “I have a gift; and I know the Nightside better than he ever will.”
“Yes, but ...
he’s Merlin
!” said Alex. “Alive and in his prime, after fifteen hundred years of practicing his craft! With all the powers of the anti-Christ! He could probably pull the Moon down out of the sky and crash it into the Nightside for laughs! And I’m not sure there’s anyone in the Nightside who could stop him!”
“Do I need to get you a paper bag to breathe into?” I said. “Of course there are people here who could stop him! Off the top of my head, there’s the Lord of Thorns. And Hadleigh Oblivion, the Detective Inspectre. And Jessica Sorrow, the Unbeliever.”
“You really do know some scary people,” said Alex. He made an effort to calm himself. “And there’s the whole Street of the Gods, of course. Sorry. It’s hard to think of anyone else, when that oversized piece of shit is floating right in front of you, larger than life and twice as nasty. Okay, maybe ... there are people here who could slow him down, but I’d still want to be several dimensions away when they tried it.”
“Speed is our best friend here,” I said, trying hard to sound confident and in control. “Get to Stark first and take Excalibur back from him; then Merlin can have his bloody Artur for all I care. Let him take his King home, and we’re rid of two people we’re better off without.”
“What’s to stop Merlin from destroying the whole Nightside before he goes home?” said Suzie.
“I will,” I said. “Once I’ve got Excalibur back.”
“You think you can stop him?” said Alex. “With a magic sword and a feather?”
“Excalibur is a lot more than a sword,” I said patiently. “That’s why Artur wants it. And knowing I’ve got the sword will be enough to stop Merlin coming back again. Now, stand back and prepare to be amazed; it’s finding-things time.”
I concentrated on my gift and sent my mind soaring up and out, shooting up through the bar and rising high into the dark skies above. My mind rose free, no longer held back by the limitations of flesh, and I could See all across the Nightside. The huge Moon glared more brightly than ever though it had no sun to reflect light from. There is no man-in-the-moon face on the Nightside’s Moon; it’s a huge dead silver eye that sees everything and cares for nothing. The stars danced all round me. If I listened really hard, I could hear them singing. I looked down across the brightly lit streets and squares, the flares and smears of gaudy colour as the Nightside spun slowly beneath me. Hot neon blazed, and magics dazzled, but I couldn’t See the sword Excalibur anywhere. Its nature made it invisible to everyone except the man who bore it, rightly or not. And for the moment, that man was Stark. So I looked for him instead.
My gift found him easily, a beacon blazing in the night. My all-Seeing mental eye plummeted down into the Nightside and shot along the streets like an invisible comet, rocketing in and out of streets and side alleys until finally it settled outside one very familiar building. I drifted slowly forward, cautious of protective spells that might set off an alarm, but my gift was more subtle than anything this place had. Soon I was inside, in one particular room; and my Vision showed me two men talking together. Back in the bar, I reached out to Suzie, so she could take my hand and share what I was Seeing. I felt her fingers in mine, and together we watched, and listened.