Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,12
not meant to activate unless someone uses them. Did you use it?”
Zamek shook his head. “I tried to figure out exactly where it goes to. And it goes to Avalon.”
“Like we expected,” I said. “But?”
“But it doesn’t end there,” Zamek said, pointing to several runes drawn on the floor and mirrored on the wall. “This pings the signal. You can’t use a summoning circle and bounce around the same realm, but if you figured out a way to send it to one realm, you could ping it back to this realm and a third circle.”
“So that’s what this is doing?”
Zamek nodded.
“Do you know where it’s being pinged to?”
“No,” Zamek said. “But if we activated it and got Poseidon to talk to whoever is on the end, I could, yes.”
I went next door and found Poseidon still on the floor, while Remy sat on the bed beside him, using the remote control to scroll through the films on the internal entertainment system.
“You okay?” I asked Remy.
“Just trying to find Poseidon Dolphin Tale to watch,” Remy said with a snigger.
I pulled Poseidon to his feet. “You’re going to talk to whoever is on the end of that summoning circle.”
“They will kill me,” Poseidon said.
“Maybe, but I will for certain if you don’t,” I said. “And I’m here right now.”
Poseidon walked with me into the other room, where I untied his hands, although I kept the band in place. He knelt in the circle on the floor and placed his hands on the runes. A second later the circle on the wall shimmered.
“Say what you like,” I told him.
“What?” Gawain asked a second later.
I could see Gawain from where I stood, all long blond hair and handsome features. He was a monster the likes of which I’d rarely met before. I wondered how many people had lost their lives because of his charm and looks and the way he used them to make himself appear approachable. Until it was too late.
“Nate is here,” Poseidon said.
I walked around until Gawain could see me. “Hey, Gawain. How’s being a mass-murdering dickhead?”
Gawain smiled. “My brother is with you, I assume.”
“Fuck you, Gawain,” Mordred called out from the doorway. “I look forward to cutting your head off.”
“I did wonder if you’d eventually be able to track down Poseidon and his sirens,” Gawain said. “It took you long enough. I assume he told you about everything.”
I glared at him.
“Arthur is in Atlantis, and you’re in the Earth realm,” I said, looking beyond Gawain at the library of books behind him. “Bit weird how you got here, though, considering there’s no realm gate from Avalon to here that we don’t know about and aren’t keeping tabs on. Oh, wait, I guess there must be.” I took a guess with the last part, but the look on his face told me I was right.
“Arthur will rule this realm,” he said. “We will make an example out of those who stand against him.”
“Yeah, I’ve read the brochure,” I said. “Still not buying.”
“Poseidon,” Gawain said. “You have been of great service to our cause, but now our time has ended.” He removed a small device from his pocket. “Goodbye, gentlemen.”
There was a massive explosion outside the room.
Zamek, Mordred, and I ran out to find black smoke billowing out of both sides of the ship.
I ran back to Poseidon, who stood in the middle of the room. “Gawain will hunt me down and make me pay for what I told you. There’s no way out for me now.”
“We’ll keep you safe,” Mordred said.
“Fuck you,” Poseidon said. He tore off the sorcerer’s band, and the explosion of magic threw me back out of the doorway. My magic protected me as I smashed into a wooden cabinet, obliterating it.
“Shit,” Remy said. “I wanted to blow up the ship.”
“You okay?” Chloe asked me, offering me her hand, which I was happy to take.
“Let’s get the fuck off this ship,” I said before thanking Chloe and looking over at the pile of ash that used to be Poseidon. There was a third explosion, which rocked the boat, and it started to tip slightly to one side and then the other, as if we were in an earthquake.
“And fast,” Mordred said.
“Women, children, and foxmen first,” shouted Remy, heading for the door.
Chapter Three
NATE GARRETT
There were no sirens on the way through the ship. Although the sounds of tearing metal echoed around us, a result of the explosions that had been deeper inside the guts of the vessel.