Sword of Darkness Read Free Page B

Kerrigan found himself studying her curiously. She was unlike the women who lived here in Camelot. Granted they, due to their magic, were all beautiful to behold, but none of them possessed the spark that seemed to glow from within her.
    Her skin appeared somehow softer, more appealing. Inviting.
    You are being a fool. She is nothing but an insignificant mortal.
    Aye. And she most certainly wasn’t worth his time.
    “Anir!” he called for his gargoyle servant.
    The beast flew through the open window and hovered over the bed where the woman rested. Anir’s stark yellow eyes glowed against his dark gray, stonelike skin. “Aye, my lord?”
    “Guard her and let me know the instant she wakes.”
    The gargoyle nodded, then came to rest on the foot of the bed. He crouched there in a small, watchful pose, then hardened back into his true form of stone.
    Kerrigan paused as he took one last look at the woman who beguiled him. He still didn’t understand her appeal. Not that it mattered. The time she had left to live was extremely finite. Even if those at Avalon gave over the table he sought, she would still be killed.
    She was to be the mother of a Merlin. That alone carried with it a death sentence.
     
    “What do you mean she got away?”
    Gawain cringed at Merlin’s question. He looked to Agravain for some reprieve, but none was forthcoming.
    “Lord Smooth,” Agravain said snidely, “toldher she was going to be the mother of the next Merlin, so she panicked and ran.”
    Merlin pressed her hand to her head as if she had a fierce ache above her brow. A tall, slender woman, Merlin was the epitome of beauty. She had long, golden hair that flowed around her lithe body, which was covered by a white gown trimmed in gold. Truly, there was no woman more fair.
    Or more angry than she was at present.
    She glared at them as a book appeared before her and hovered there, suspended by nothing. The pages of the book turned to a passage. “Let me see if I have this right.”
    She read from the book. “Gawain, the noble and chivalrous knight of Arthur, a king’s champion. His prowess with women was unsurpassed.” She looked up from the book to pin Gawain with a most unhappy glare. “This is you, is it not?”
    Gawain chafed under her angry scrutiny. The pages of the book then turned to another passage so that he could read from it. “And according to that book, Merlin, you’re an old, bald man.”
    Merlin’s eyes widened as the book burst into flames. “Have you a wish to die?”
    “I can’t. I’m immortal.”
    Agravain sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth. “Caution, brother. The last man to anger Merlin now sits locked in a cage underneath our precious home.”
    That was true. Merlin had vowed to never forgive Sir Thomas Malory for what he’d told of them.
    “I’m sorry, Merlin,” Gawain said, trying to calm them all down. “Believe me, you are no angrier over this than I am. How did the Kerrigan know to be there?”
    Merlin sighed. “His powers have grown much over the centuries. If we do not stop him soon, they will be stronger than even mine.”
    Gawain exchanged a nervous look with his brother. No one needed to tell them what would happen should that occur. The Kerrigan held no heart, no compassion. He was the male counterpart to Morgen, and he was her champion. If he grew stronger than Merlin, there would be no stopping them from taking over the world and enslaving them all.
    Gawain narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “I shall have Percival research him. Maybe there is something written that can expose a weakness—”
    “Nay,” Merlin said. “Morgen is more intelligent than that. Unlike us, she seems to be able to keep her minions out of written legends.”
    Agravain snorted. “Not our fault Thom got drunk and started talking. I still think we should have killed him.”
    “It wasn’t the talking that was bad,” Gawain said snidely. “It was the writing.”
    Merlin stiffened. “Thank you for that