Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,122
realm gate in Atlantis once it was ready to be activated. It had taken less than an hour, and in that time, Mordred had wanted nothing more than to tell people to hurry up. It wouldn’t have helped.
Mordred ran out of the temple with hundreds of people behind him, right into the fray with a horde of snarling creatures, their jaws snapping over and over as they tried to get to him. He used light magic to drive them back, but even in Shadow Falls—where magic was wild and unpredictable, much more powerful than in any other realm—the creatures continued to come.
Mordred cut through them with Excalibur and was relieved to discover that even if magic wasn’t as potent against them as he’d like, at least a sharp sword still did the trick.
Hades, Persephone, and dozens of others helped Mordred and those who had come with him to push the creatures back down the hill toward the city, killing many of them with swords, axes—any weapons that they could get their hands on—only to have them replaced with more. A seemingly never-ending line of death.
Mordred stabbed one creature in the chest and activated Excalibur’s power, and the creature bucked and screamed.
“There’s got to be a better way than this,” Mordred said, using Excalibur to decapitate another creature as Hel used her necromancy to tear another apart, then threw a dagger that caught a second in the throat. It died clawing at its own neck in an effort to try to get the blade out.
“They don’t like silver,” Hel said. “And they don’t like necromancy.”
“Both are useful to know,” Mordred said, and soon anyone with necromancy powers was flinging them around at the enemy with aplomb.
“At least they stay dead,” Diana said, in full werebear beast form, as she threw the head of one creature at an incoming second. The head bounced off its face, leaving a bloody mark, but otherwise did little to slow it down. Diana dived at the creature, ripping it apart with her massive claws.
“They die, but they just keep coming,” Mordred said and spotted the flash of red armor belonging to the Horsemen as they moved toward the palace.
Hel placed a hand on his arm. “What did you see?” she asked.
“Arthur’s Horsemen are going for the palace,” Mordred said. “He wants to bury this realm. It stood against him last time—it’s always been a beacon of anti-Avalon life, but it’s also the one place he’s never come close to conquering. Galahad lost his life to stop them the last time Arthur was here; I’m not going to let my friend have died in vain.”
Diana turned back to them both. “I’m coming with you,” she said, ignoring the dagger that whirled past her head into the eye of a creature. Medusa calmly walked over and removed it, crushing the skull of another creature beneath her boot.
“We going to kill them all, yes?” Medusa asked.
Diana nodded. “That’s the plan, yes,” she said.
“Good, let’s go,” Medusa said.
Twelve soldiers joined Mordred, Hel, Medusa, and Diana as they carved their way through the city of Solomon. They were soon joined by Olivia, who fought alongside Diana and Medusa at the front of the group, killing everything that came toward them.
Mordred had always thought that Olivia was an accomplished fighter, but seeing her there, now, was something else. She was rage given form, seemingly unstoppable as she let out her anger and frustration on anything stupid enough to get in her way.
The streets of Solomon were drenched in blood by the time they’d gotten even halfway through, and more than one contained the remains of those civilians who had lived here in peace. Mordred caught a glimpse of Harry and Kase, back to back, fighting off a large troll-like creature, and Olivia flew into a rage, racing over toward them both and helping them kill the giant beast.
They reached the stairs to the palace, killing their way through dozens of creatures on the way, only to find a hundred Horsemen standing at the top of the stairs, looking down on Mordred and his allies.
“You got a plan?” Hel asked.
“Hoped you would,” he said. Mordred looked up at the griffins that were flying over the city, dive-bombing the enemy to tear off heads and limbs with their huge talons before taking to the skies again.
A few of them flew close to the palace, and the Horsemen readied themselves as Mordred and his allies began the run up the stairs.