their magic into the soldiers but they weren’t fazed by it, the flames washing over them as the contents of the bags kept the Templar Knights from any harm.
Two of them fought Richard to the ground, binding him with sheer strength, punching the breath from his lungs and leaving him gasping.
The Dark Thorn disappeared from his fingers.
As the knight struggled, he watched the boy fight like a tiger. Bran sent fire into the faces of the warriors, slashing at them with his rune-encrusted blade. It did no good. The soldiers grabbed at him, also bearing him down to the cavern floor, but he didn’t stop fighting, stabbing. Snarling rage, the youngest of the soldiers who had been impaled by Arondight brought his broadsword down on the prostate Bran.
“No!” Richard screamed.
The boy howled in pain, his left hand severed at the wrist. Arondight vanished instantly.
The soldiers swarmed Bran to the hard rock of the cavern then, the young knight gone mostly limp, sobbing and cradling his ruined arm.
“Do not damage them much, me pretties,” the witch said gleefully. “The play-king will owe me a few children for dis.”
“Leave the boy be!”
A sharp cuff on the back of his head sent Richard spinning.
He could not believe what he had discovered. What Philip Plantagenet had done. It no longer mattered though. Darkness wrapped its nets over him, tightening about his awareness as it pulled him down, stealing every care he ever had, until even the fact he had failed fled him.
“Dis will be over soon, cully,” the Cailleach crowed.
Unwilling to believe what Philip had done with the most important relic in the history of mankind, Richard fought his slide into the unknown.
Until he became one with it.
Wet Seattle in his nose, Richard enjoyed the sudden sunshine.
The squalls of the late afternoon moved east, leaving patches of baby blue sky among blackened thunderheads broken apart by the setting sun. Smith Tower, its square heights glowing white, stood across the street from Richard among a backdrop of more modern skyscrapers reaching to the heavens. People bustled by, running after buses and cabs, their workday finished. Night came upon the Pacific Northwest with a fast glove.
He breathed in the damp air, exhilarated. It felt like a long time since he had been this happy, and he whistled it into the early evening as he waited.
The velvet-lined box bearing his promise waited in his jeans pocket.
“Rick, why do you always wait for me?”
Richard turned. In the day’s final sunshine stood a woman of medium height with flawless skin, her black hair accenting a face of high cheekbones and blue eyes. She smiled at him; it was inviting in its simplicity.
It felt like he had not seen her in years.
“That’s easy, Elizabeth,” he said, and kissed her.
She returned his kiss after her initial surprise, her lips soft, her tongue warm and inviting as he breathed her in. It was a simple pleasure but one he hadn’t grown tired of over the last two years, one he knew he would never grow tired of.
Elizabeth broke the kiss off reluctantly and stared into his eyes. “How was your day at the store?”
“The same,” he replied, their fingers interlocking to begin the walk down into Pioneer Square. “Tourists looking for the newest best seller. Merle would make more money if he began selling novels seen on the New York Times list—like those by Stephen King or Terry Brooks. The old books he sells don’t garner much interest, especially from tourists.”
“Do you think he honestly cares about making money from the store?” Elizabeth asked, laughing.
Richard grinned back. He guessed not. Being a wizard had its benefits. When one could sense the future, adjust stock market money in the present, and know the outcome, there was no shortage of funds.
Over the Puget Sound the day ended, the sun sinking toward the Olympic Mountains, casting the sky in pinks and ever-darkening purples. Pushing his anxiety down and hoping what he planned would go smoothly, Richard stared at the sunset, perplexed. Déjŕ vu tugged at him. He could not remember the last time he had seen a similar sunset, but he could not shake the feeling he had already seen it.
“A beautiful evening,” Elizabeth said.
Richard nodded, not sure what to say. With his other hand he wrapped his fingers about the box. A light nervous sweat broke out over his body.
He was a knight, but he had never been so scared in his life.
The slope flattened and the couple entered Pioneer Square, the century-old buildings