Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,104
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The trip back to Lafayette Square was done at a jog, and Jinayca’s voice could be heard well before any of the three reached her. As they turned the corner and reached the edge of Lafayette Square, it was apparent that Jinayca was not alone. There were two dozen dwarven soldiers and Selene with her.
Selene spotted the three first and ran over to meet them.
“What’s going on?” Chloe asked.
“Lamashtu is here,” Selene said. “Nate took the memories of a Fury, and he saw the plan they hatched. She’s here with those elves.”
“There’s Elvish written all around this part of the city,” Layla said.
“What does it say?” Jinayca asked, having finally been convinced to stop berating the soldiers.
Layla, Roberto, and Chloe took everyone to the tent, while Tego milled around outside. Jinayca took one look at the writing and almost gasped. The human members inside all turned to watch the newcomers with a mixture of concern and interest.
“That’s a realm gate destination rune,” Jinayca said. “They’re trying to turn a part of Washington, DC, into a giant realm gate.”
“Can’t we just erase some of the runes?” Roberto asked.
“I’d need time to figure out the way to do it without them exploding or doing something worse,” Jinayca said. “And I’m not sure we have that time.”
“They’re going to bring an army through into here,” Layla said, horror dawning on her.
“We need to find them now,” Selene said. She looked up at the humans in the tent. “Get everyone you can ready; we’re going hunting.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
NATE GARRETT
Realm of Atlantis
The ground beneath my feet tore apart and threw me back, my shield of air keeping me from any serious damage as I smashed into the wall of a nearby building. I tore my way through the rubble that fell onto me and saw that the building was completely empty inside. I noticed the elven runes that Dethian had mentioned but didn’t have time to investigate anything further, and I sprinted back into the fray, wrapping dense lightning and air around my fist and driving it into the helmeted face of the closest Horseman, sending it flying back into its brethren.
Mordred had a few cuts on his arms as he avoided a spear by grabbing the shaft, stepping into the attacker’s space, and driving a blade of ice up into the Horseman’s throat. He twisted his hand, and a second later a dozen spikes shot out of the inside of the Horseman’s helmet, killing it, and he stepped over the body to face the next one.
I avoided a blast of fire from one of the Horsemen, and the shadows leaped up from the ground, wrapping around him, and dragged him down into the shadows.
Merlin stood back, watching with his arms folded over his chest as Mordred and I carved through his Horsemen. We were bloody and bruised, and more than once we were punched down to the ground, but we kept getting back up, kept fighting. I was damned if I was going to let anyone stop me from what I needed to do.
After an unknown amount of time, Mordred and I regrouped. Both of us were breathing hard, sweat and blood on our faces.
“This is not how I wanted to spend my afternoon,” I said, spitting blood onto the ground.
Mordred drew Excalibur, and I saw the look of amusement on Merlin’s exceptionally punchable face.
Dark smoke circled my hands, and I thought I heard Mordred shout “No!” just as I poured my pure magic out in a stream of power that smashed into the Horsemen and Merlin with no stopping it. The power engulfed them, tearing into the citadel’s lowest floor behind them and ripping through it.
I took a step back as my pure magic died down, and I saw that the Horsemen and Merlin, who should both have been turned into hunks of molten goo, were standing exactly where they’d been only a moment ago. A shield of purple matter magic lifted up off the ground, controlled by the Horsemen, and Merlin brushed off the tops of his shoulders, as if removing some dust from them.
“I’m going to take a guess that pure magic doesn’t work on the Horsemen or Merlin,” I said with a sigh.