Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,124

running through the streets that had been crawling with enemies not long ago and now contained only their bodies and the bodies of those who had died fighting them.

Hel and Olivia joined Mordred, and the three of them reached the bottom of the stairs that led to the realm gate temple, which was now nothing more than rubble. The forces of Shadow Falls had already begun the assault on the creatures, who numbered in the thousands. Every time one was killed, two took its place.

Mordred and the others dived into the fight, killing anything that moved, but it was like fighting against the inevitable. The stairs were slick with blood and bodies of the fallen, and soon the number of dead Horsemen made it harder and harder for the defenders of the city to get to the realm gate.

Magic burned and froze Horsemen in equal turn; the earth ripped apart beneath the feet of the seemingly endless creatures. Lightning smashed into them, and huge stone golems tore through their ranks, and still they kept coming.

They were joined by the magically resistant creatures, who cut through anyone too close to them, and after what felt to Mordred like a lifetime, there were still hundreds more to kill before they got to the realm gate.

Mordred shouted to get back, using his air magic to carry his words as far as he could along his line. People stepped back, but the creatures didn’t follow; they were there to stop the ascent, not hunt those who moved away.

A faint white glow appeared around Mordred’s hands, moving over his body as the enemy before him snarled. Any hint of their once being human was long gone. They were abominations now, closer in Mordred’s mind to ghouls and blood elves than anything with humanity in it.

Mordred unleashed the pure magic he’d built up, aiming it directly at the baying mob of Horsemen in front of him. It obliterated everything between him and the realm gate. Hundreds of Horsemen died, only to be replaced by more as they willingly walked into the beam of pure magic, with seemingly no interest in their own preservation.

Mordred moved the pure magic in an arc in front of him until he was completely spent and dropped to one knee as his allies roared and charged forward into the remaining creatures.

The battle was easier, but it still took some time to clear out the monsters that were there. The Horsemen had been all but obliterated, and any remaining eventually died too. Mordred got involved in the fight again and killed two himself before running into the remains of the temple.

The bodies of a dozen rebellion soldiers littered the remains of the temple. The realm gate was seriously damaged, and though it was healing itself, it would be out of use for some time. At the far end of the temple, part of the rock crumbled away, revealing Leonardo, Antonio, and three soldiers, all of whom were badly injured but alive.

“Those things killed themselves,” Leonardo said, his voice hoarse. “Blew themselves up to destroy the temple.”

“They’ve done the same to the other dwarven gate,” Mordred said. “The elven gate too.”

“We are trapped here,” Antonio said. “For now, at least.”

“It’s never ending, isn’t it?” Mordred said with a shake of his head as Hel helped the rebellion soldiers out of the realm gate.

“So what do we do?” Hel asked.

“We finish clearing out these bastards,” Mordred said. “We get these gates working, and we try to figure out how we get to Washington and find Arthur. We’re going to end this, and there’s no way Arthur is going to get away.”

“Can we somehow get word to Nate and Tommy?” Judgement asked.

“There are still a lot of people in Atlantis who aren’t here,” Hel said. “They need to be told.”

Mordred considered it for a moment. “Find me Orfeda,” he said. “We’re going to see if we can make a summoning circle.”

Mordred glanced back up at the realm gate temple, the hill before it littered with the bodies of enemies and his allies.

“You okay?” Hel whispered.

Mordred shook his head. “I wanted this to be the big fight. Good versus evil. Me finally getting to put Arthur down. He took so much from me, including my eye the last time we fought; I wanted to be able to say I stopped him. I know that’s a bit selfish, and it’s not about me, but I almost needed to have another shot. And he’s played us all. And no