Knight of Darkness (22 page)

Varian actually gaped at the sight of him. This wasn’t the man he’d known in Arthur’s court. Instead of the mature Merlin who had counseled his king, this one was a man no older than his mid twenties. He had short, brown hair and gray eyes. Dressed in a dark green jerkin and brown leather breeches, he glared at Nimue before he scanned the rest of them.

When he met Varian’s arch stare, he gave him a sarcastic smirk. “I age backwards, remember? Lovely curse from a demonspawn I met early on.”

“Oh it’s not a curse,” Nimue said with a laugh. “Worked out very well from where I’m standing. It’s the only reason why I haven’t killed you yet. You’re the only man I know who truly gets better with age…in more ways than one.”

“Why they screw like bunnies,” Derrick said under his breath. The words had no sooner left his lips than his entire mouth vanished.

Nimue glared at him. “Some people shouldn’t be allowed to speak.”

“Nim,” Merlin said in an irritated tone. “Fix the poor boy.”

“Why should I? He annoyed me. This way, he can’t further offend me.”

Merlin let out a sound of aggravation. “You know he can’t eat like that, and it was your bright idea to send him after Varian in the first place. So repair his face.”

She mocked his words and expression. “Oh you’re such a spoilsport. Won’t let me maim the minions, won’t let me rearrange your fyrebaums, or do anything else fun. Bitch, bitch, bitch. You should have been born an old woman.”

Growling at her, Merlin crossed the distance that separated him from Blaise. His features softened instantly into an expression of affection before he embraced the mandrake. “Good to see you, Blaise.”

Blaise nodded as he withdrew. “You, too. I can’t believe you’re still alive.”

Merlin cast an evil glare toward Nimue. “Personally, I think I’m in hell. But it could be worse. At least she has skills, and I do mean
skills.
” He wagged his eyebrows.

Blaise twisted his face up in distaste. Varian concurred that he didn’t really want to go there. Like Blaise, he thought of Merlin as a father figure, and the thought of him having any kind of sexual experience made his stomach queasy, especially since it involved his great-aunt.

Nimue passed a peeved glare to Merewyn. “Men must ever brag over their conquests. Take a hint from me. Kill whatever man you sleep with. At the very least, cut out his bragging tongue so he can’t slander you.”

Merlin cocked a brow at her words. “I thought you treasured my tongue.”

“Enough!” Blaise said, covering his ears. “You guys are seriously grossing me out.” He grimaced
as he looked over at Varian. “I wish I were deaf instead of blind.”

“You’re not the only one.”

Nimue snorted. “You’re part Adoni,” she said to Varian. “What are you complaining about?”

“He complains about lots,” Merrick said. “And by the way, I vote Derrick remains mute.”

“Hmmm.” Nimue snapped her fingers and returned Derrick’s mouth.

“You bastard,” he snarled at his brother.

“Oh like you wouldn’t have said it had it been me.”

This time, Merlin snapped his fingers, and the two of them and Erik vanished instantly. “They can be such a pain.”

“So why did you send them after us?” Varian asked.

“They were to bring you here so that you can begin settling in.”

That had been the last thing he expected to hear. “Excuse me?”

Merlin seemed to miss the open anger in his tone. “We’ve already conjured you a place to live. You should each be comfortable here. Especially Merewyn. The men were quite excited to learn that for once a woman has found her way into our domain. They’ve been praying for centuries that Morgen would become bisexual so that she’d have women lovers to banish here. Now their prayers are answered.”

Yeah, right…Varian shook his head. “We’re not staying here.”

Merlin was adamant. “Oh yes, you are.”

Varian gripped the hilt of his sword as he moved to stare Merlin down. “We will
not
stay here.”

Merlin blasted him hard in the chest. The force of the hit knocked him back, off his feet. Without thinking, Varian tried to strike back, but it was useless. There wasn’t enough magick in him to conjure a blast. And to pull a sword against a man like Merlin was suicide.

As Merlin moved to attack again, Blaise put himself between them. “I won’t let you hurt him.”

Merlin sneered. “You’re not strong enough to stand against me. Move aside.”

“True, Dad. I’m not. But you’ll have to go through me to attack him again.”

Merewyn took a step forward. “Please, sir. No more attacks. You have to understand that Varian has to return to Avalon. He has information that the new Merlin needs to fight Morgen. It’s imperative that he go to her.”

“That’s no concern of mine.”

Aghast at his lackadaisical attitude, Varian pushed himself to his feet. “It used to be.”

“Yes, well, a lot of things used to be my concern,” Merlin said, his eyes burning with rage. “But times and people change. Nim and I have created a haven here for many beings. For centuries we’ve kept this place away from Morgen and her poisonous
minions, and I’ll be damned if you and your crew are going to come in here and ruin all we’ve built.”

Varian was taken aback at his unwarranted anger.

Nimue let out a deep sigh before she spoke. “Let me explain this a bit better than my nonesteemed counterpart. Morgen kicked our collective asses centuries ago when we were in our prime. Neither Emrys, nor I are what we were then. We still have a great deal of power, but nothing like we had in our youths. Morgen thinks that we’re still trapped in ice and are no threat to her. If she ever learns that her spell faltered, she’ll march in here and take us down. And in the process, she’ll destroy everyone in the valley.”

Blaise frowned. “I thought she couldn’t come here.”

Merlin shrugged. “A bit of propaganda on our part. The truth is a bit different. While we do everything to keep her out, we can’t really stop her should she decide to cross that bridge. We can control the mandrakes and most of the Adoni, but we can’t control them all. They can storm us from the opening, and while Sagremor is good at holding the bridge, he is only one apparition. Against Morgen’s magick, he’s basically worthless.”

Nimue’s featured softened. “So you see, you have no choice except to stay here.”

Varian exchanged a calculating look with Blaise, who held the same determination in his eyes. They wouldn’t stay here, but there was no sense in
arguing it any further when it was obvious Merlin and Nimue had made up their minds.

“So where are we to stay?” he asked.

Merlin shook his head. “Don’t think that I’m so foolish as to buy into this sudden capitulation. While
your
powers are bound, mine aren’t. I catch you slinking out of here after dark toward Avalon, and you will regret it.”

Varian stiffened at the threat. No one told him what to do. No one. “You don’t control me.”

Before he could blink, he found himself locked in a pair of stocks. Cursing, Varian tried to break free as the wooden structure held him bent over in a painful position. It was useless.

Even Blaise tried to blast him out, but it was no more effective than his own struggles.

Merewyn’s face flushed with blood before she actually moved to confront the sorcerer. “Release him. Now!”

Merlin cast a snide smirk toward her. “You’re biting off more than you can chew, woman. Mind your place.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Nimue demanded, arms akimbo. “What place should a woman mind? Huh?”

Merlin stuttered as he seemed to search for an answer that wouldn’t get him into trouble.

Merewyn tsked at Nimue. “’Tis a pity to be locked in this valley with someone who doesn’t respect you, isn’t it?”

“You’ve no idea.”

Merewyn gestured toward him. “That’s why Varian is so special to me. He never disrespects a woman, even though his mother is an insult to us all.”

Nimue glanced toward him. “You’re right. He was always respectful.” And then anger flashed in her eyes as she returned her glare to Merlin. “How dare you imprison my nephew.” She blasted Merlin so hard that it sent him rolling over. “You mind
your
place.”

The stock vanished so quickly, Varian went sprawling on the ground.

The two of them starting blasting each other with everything they had. The blasts went everywhere. Shattering trees. Sparking small fires. Blazing near him.

Varian had to agree with the brothers’ earlier observation about Merlin and Nimue—these two got into some wicked fights.

Not wanting to gain their attention while they were furious, he pushed himself up quietly, then took Merewyn’s hand. He pulled her away from the two battling sorcerers.

Blaise grabbed Beau’s arm and withdrew with them every bit as silently.

Never the kind to retreat, Varian made an exception in this case. With any luck, they might actually survive this.

But they’d only taken a few steps when they ran into another invisible wall. He started to back up, but he rammed into another one.

“They’ve trapped us,” Blaise said under his breath. “Damn.”

Varian’s sentiment exactly.

Nimue blasted Merlin into a statue before she approached them. “Just because I fight with Emrys doesn’t mean I always disagree with him. In this, Emrys and I are united. No one leaves this valley. Ever.”

Varian couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You would sacrifice innocent people for this?”

“
I
was sacrificed for this. As was Emrys. We tried to warn Arthur and your father, among others, that Morgen was dangerous. No one listened. They all thought we were insane. And when we tried to help them, we were trapped here, and we heard exactly what was rumored and thought of us by the very ones we were trying to save. Forgive me if I don’t feel benevolent toward them.”

“But if Morgen gets the grail—”

“How can she? One grail knight is dead, his clue lost to everyone except Aquila Penmerlin. And two more are trapped here, away from Morgen’s reach. I’d say the grail is safer now than it’s ever been.”

Blaise gaped at her words before he exchanged a frown with Varian, who couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“How do you know there are grail knights here?” Blaise asked.

“My good dragon, Emrys was Penmerlin, and I am a daughter of a lake Sylph and Damé Fortune. Between the two of us, there is nothing we don’t
know. Right down to the thought you’re having at this moment that says you think I’m a liar. The fear that Merewyn has of being ugly again and Varian’s rather loud mental insults that he’s leveling at my head.” She glanced down at Beau. “Not to mention that poor rock, who now believes Merewyn is his mother. Poor thing.” She locked gazes with Varian. “You are all trapped here. Forever. So get used to it.”

And the next thing they knew, they were transported into a small cottage.

Varian rushed to the door only to find it locked with no way to open it. As if he couldn’t have guessed that one. Slamming his fist against the door, he turned to face the others.

“Well, children…any idea on how we get out of this one?”

Blaise glanced down to Beau. “We use the rock as a battering ram?”

Merewyn gasped before she gathered Beau into her arms and held him protectively. “Don’t you even think that.”

Varian ignored them as he looked around the spartan cottage. There wasn’t much room here. But at least there was a fire and a cupboard that appeared to hold plenty of food for them. It was obvious that the sorcerers truly meant to keep them here forever.

And if he didn’t get his magick back, they might very well succeed.

The next week was virtually unbearable as they paced
the small space with no relief…no way out. No matter what they tried, Merlin and Nimue kept them imprisoned in their cottage. Blaise and Varian had tried everything to combine their limited powers to break out.

Nothing worked. It was beginning to look like they really would spend the rest of eternity here.

During their days of frustration, Beau quickly morphed into a short gargoyle complete with a set of small wings. His face was broad and his fangs not as pronounced as others of his kind. Even so, he was a good-looking gargoyle and Merewyn found him extremely adorable.

He still had a bit of trouble speaking, but one thing was certain, he was as attached to Merewyn as she was to him, and the two had formed an unbreakable bond.

As the days dragged by with aching slowness, the only source of light to their prison was the fact that they all got along. At night, they would retire to their individual rooms even though Varian had to fight himself to keep from seeking out Merewyn. He wanted only to hold her…at least that was the lie he continually told himself, but he knew better than even to try it. For one thing, holding her would only whet his appetite more and, for another, the last thing he needed was to add any more complications to his life.

He had to stay focused. There was still a traitor out there who was seeking grail knights. If their traitor had found Tarynce, then it was only a matter of time before he turned over another innocent man to Morgen. Not to mention, said traitor could do untold damage in other ways.

Varian had to get Merewyn to Avalon so that she could identify their turncoat and he could stop the man dead in his tracks. But that required them breaking Merlin’s spell first. While no sorcerer could interfere with another’s spell, there was always a loophole that allowed the bespelled to free themselves. It was only a matter of time until they broke through.

On the eighth day of their captivity, Varian woke up feeling extremely ill. So ill, he couldn’t even stand. He lay on his cot, his stomach churning as he wondered what he’d eaten the night before to cause such misery. He’d never felt worse. But it
wasn’t a cold. At least it didn’t feel like one to him.

He could hear the others in the main room as Blaise made breakfast. Once it was ready, Merewyn came to get him.

“Varian?”

When he didn’t answer right away, she crossed the room to open the window and allow daylight in. He hissed as pain tore through him. The light made his eyes ache as if someone were plunging daggers into them.

Merewyn immediately shut the wooden shutters as Varian recoiled from the light as if he were being burned. Concerned about him, she went to the bed. “Are you all right, Varian?”

He’d withdrawn completely beneath his blanket. “I don’t feel good.”

Thinking it was a cold, she pulled the blanket back to find him in a fetal position on the bed with his fists balled against his eyes. His entire body was covered with a fine sheet of perspiration. Even his hair was slicked back from his face by his sweating.

When she laid her hand against his brow, it was unbelievably hot. She cupped his whiskered cheek which was even hotter than his brow. Never had she seen such a fever on any person.

When he glanced up at her, she gasped.

There was a grayish cast to his skin, and his eyes were no longer purely green. Strange orangish red streaks marred them. They started at his
pupil and cut across the iris straight to the whites of his eyes.

“Oh my God,” she breathed. She turned to call for Blaise over her shoulder.

He came instantly. “Yeah?”

“Something’s wrong with Varian.”

Blaise took one look at him and recoiled in horror. “Oh man.”

“What?” Varian asked.

“It’s magick-poisoning.”

Varian cursed.

“It’s what?” Merewyn asked. She’d never heard of such a thing.

“You can’t bottle up magick. Anytime you restrict it, it has a nasty way of escaping. I would say from his condition that Varian’s is trying to eat its way out of him.”

“Thanks,” Varian said from between clenched teeth.

Shrugging, Blaise somehow managed to appear both sympathetic and uncaring. “You got a better explanation?”

Varian didn’t respond.

Merewyn felt terrible for him. There was no denying that he was in extreme pain. “What can we do?” she asked Blaise.

“We have to get that bracelet off him.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. In case you missed it, we’ve been trying to figure that one out all week.”

She looked back to Varian, who was shaking uncontrollably as he tried to pull the blanket back over him. But he was trembling so badly that he couldn’t quite manage it.

Merewyn immediately covered him. “Go talk to Merlin and Nimue. Tell them what’s happening and see if they can come up with something to help him.”

Blaise nodded before he left them alone.

Merewyn sat on the edge of the bed so that she could rub Varian’s back. His skin was so hot that it literally radiated out from beneath the blanket. They had to get his fever down before it caused him damage. But how?

There was no ice in the cottage. Nor anything else that could help.

Getting up, she went to the kitchen for a bowl of tepid water and a cloth. She could hear Blaise in his room, trying to call out for his father and Nimue. They didn’t appear to answer him.

As she filled the bowl, Beau flew over to her and perched on the countertop before he tucked his wings in around him. He was only three and a half feet tall, but when he perched as he was doing now, he was much smaller. “Can I help, my lady?”

She gave Beau a tender smile. “No, sweeting. We need to free Varian’s magick.”

“I wish I could bite through the bracelet for you, my lady. Poxes to his mother for hurting him.”

Merewyn couldn’t agree more. She turned the water off.

“Should I try knocking through the field again?”

Her heart warmed at his generosity. Ever since he’d gained his wings, Beau had been doing his best to batter his way through the force field. “Thank you, but no. I don’t want you to chip something off, especially nothing vital.”

He nodded glumly. “If you need me, call, my lady.”

Thanking him for his kindness, she took the bowl and cloth back to Varian and set it beside the bed before she pulled the blanket back to discover he was completely nude. Heat flooded her cheeks at the sight of him. Every muscle in his body seemed to be rippling, and she couldn’t help but remember the way he’d felt in her arms. How those muscles had felt underneath her hands.

How his body had felt deep inside hers…

But this was no time to think such things. He was ill, and she needed to tend him before that fever caused damage to his brain. She wrung out the cloth and started bathing him while he shivered forcefully.

He tried to push her away. “I need the blanket.”

“No, Varian. We have to cool your body down.”

“I’m freezing.”

His words wrung her heart. “I know.” She pushed him back and felt awful as his teeth started
chattering. Her gaze fell to the bracelet, and a wave of rage tore through her. Damn his mother for her cruelty.

Varian hissed and growled every time she touched him. Even though the water and cloth were tepid, the instant she placed the cloth to his body, it heated to such an extent it actually steamed. Afraid for him, she tried to pour a bit of water over his chest. It literally boiled and evaporated.

After that, she no longer bothered to wring out the cloth. And still Varian fought against her as he tried to cover himself with the blanket for warmth.

As she trailed the cloth over his chest, his tremors worsened into all-out convulsions. An instant later, the bed lifted two inches from the floor.

Terrified, she pulled back as things in the room started to bang and shift. The bed rattled against the floor. The shutters banged loudly before they were flung open and wrung from their hinges. Her bowl was lifted from the floor and shattered against the wall. The glass windows exploded as she was lifted from the bed. A second later, she was thrown to the floor.

Merewyn covered her head as things flew around her. She tried to call for Beau or Blaise, but they didn’t answer. And just as she thought it could get no worse, Varian began to bleed profusely from his mouth and nose. The more things shattered and flew, the more he bled.

She tried to reach him, but some unseen force pinned her to the floor. “Varian!”

He didn’t appear to hear her, any more than Blaise or Beau. A loud, unearthly howl began as a whirlwind swirled through the room. She clutched at the floor as it tried to lift her. Her hair whipped painfully against her skin.

Disembodied laughter filled the room.

Merewyn closed her eyes and tried to cast her thoughts to Varian or Blaise.

She wasn’t sure how long the chaos lasted before everything came to a sudden stop. It was as if nothing had ever happened. The windows returned to normal. The bed settled down, and the heaviness that was pressing against her vanished.

The only testament to the ferocity of the attack was the broken pottery.

Scared it would resume, she crawled back to the bed to find Varian unconscious now, his breathing labored. His skin was terrifyingly pale while he continued to bleed from his nose and mouth. “Blaise!” Merewyn shouted, as she retrieved the cloth to help staunch the blood.

The mandrake opened the door and frowned as he saw her and Varian covered in blood. He crossed the room in two steps “What’s happened?”

“I-I don’t know. He convulsed, and the room exploded. Now he’s unconscious.”

Blaise tried to wake him, but it was no use. He pulled back Varian’s eyelids to see that his eyes were now as red as the blood flowing from his
nose. Cursing, Blaise held his hand to Varian’s neck to check for a pulse. “He’s not simply unconscious. He’s in a coma.”

This couldn’t be happening to him…“What do we do?”

Blaise’s eyes were filled with sympathy. “I don’t know. I can’t get the powers that be to answer.”

“What?” she asked incredulously.

“Merlin and Nimue are ignoring me.”

She looked down at Varian as her heart shattered, and grief overwhelmed her. Was he going to die?

But what set the fire inside her was the fact that no one seemed to care. Not even his aunt. His own flesh and blood…After all he’d done to protect the Lords of Avalon and all he’d suffered, this was to be his fate?

And as those thoughts went through her, her rage built.

This was wrong.
So
wrong. How dare they turn their backs on him when he needed them.

“Merlin!” she shouted. “Answer me now!”

To her surprise, he did. His voice echoed through the room. “I know what you want, and there’s nothing we can do. One sorcerer can’t undo the spell of another.”

Merewyn made a sound of absolute disgust. “He’s to die then?”

“His life is in the hands of Damé Fortune.”

She seethed at the mention of the ancient entity who controlled the fate of them all. Tall and
handsome, he was a capricious evil beast who only seemed to find joy by tormenting others. The handful of times she’d seen him in Camelot, he’d been indifferent to the pleas of those who begged him for mercy.

He’d been indifferent to her own pleas. However, she was willing to plead with him again for a chance to help Varian. Anything was better than seeing him suffer like this.

“Then can I summon him?”

Merlin laughed. “You can try, but I assure you he won’t come here. He never has and never will. There’s nothing for him in this realm.”

Frustrated, she wanted to choke them all for this. How could they be so cold?

She looked up at Blaise. “Varian said a sorcerer could mitigate the magick of another. Is there some way to mitigate this?”

His expression was sad and troubled. “If there is, I don’t know it. Since it’s a power restriction spell, mitigating it could kill him.”

His words made her ill. “So the only person who can remove this is his mother or Damé Fortune?”

“Yes.”

Merewyn wanted to curse at the irony and injustice of that. Her fury roiling, she brushed her hand through Varian’s damp hair. The heat from his fever radiated to such a state, she wasn’t even sure how it hadn’t killed him already.

And as her gaze fell to the scar of his father’s
symbol that had been burned into his shoulder, her resolve shattered.

She couldn’t let him die or suffer. No matter what she had to promise or who she had to barter with, she was going to get him out of this.