Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,126

gate here too. We’re not exactly at our finest hour here.”

“One human against Arthur, probably the most powerful being who ever lived. This should be interesting.”

Zamek offered me his hand. “Good luck with that.”

I laughed and shook his hand. “It’s been an honor,” I told him.

“Yes, it has,” Zamek said. “At least try not to die. Selene will not be happy.”

“If I don’t come back, tell her I love her,” I said.

“I will,” Zamek promised. “Astrid will know the kind of man her father was too. I swear on it.”

I stepped into the humming mass on the ground, and everything went dark; my entire body felt like it was being turned inside out. As quickly as it had started, I found myself on my knees next to the realm gate in Washington.

I tightened my grip on the battle-ax and made my way up the stairs to the outside, the sounds of baying and cheering easy to hear well before I reached the exit at the side of the memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial was packed with people. Thousands of them, moving along the reflecting pool, all looking toward the Washington Monument. In the distance plumes of smoke took to the skies. It was daylight, but there was a light rain, although no one seemed to mind.

I moved slowly around the monument and grabbed the first person I saw who wasn’t going to raise an alarm, pulling them back around to a group of shrubs and placing the tip of the battle-ax against their throat.

“I’d start talking,” I said.

“Arthur arrived with these creatures,” he said. “He killed anyone in his way. Everyone. The White House is burning. We are about to start a new world order.”

“You’re KOA?” I asked.

“Proud of it,” he said.

I removed the dagger from his hip and drove it into his skull. “Good for you,” I said, retrieving a Glock from his holster. Silver bullets. At least in death, he’d be able to do more than he had in life.

I took his hoodie, too, which thankfully was still blood-free, and ran to the side of the reflecting pool. I kept my head down as I made my way through the park, past the Constitution Gardens and World War II Memorial.

The crowds were thicker after that, and I spotted Arthur standing atop a set of steps that had been constructed around the monument and appeared to consist of mud and vines. Seeing how Demeter was standing beside Arthur, wearing an elegant green gown and a cruel smile on her face, I assumed that she was responsible for the decor.

People around me cheered and shouted as Arthur stepped toward the edge of the podium. He stood there and soaked in the applause, nodding along with it, while his KOA shouted his name as the sounds of battle could be heard in the distance. The humans were fighting back. I really hoped they were winning.

I’d seen this sort of thing many times during my life. One man telling a group of angry people that it wasn’t their fault that their lives were shit; it was the fault of whichever group they wanted people to hate instead. In this instance, it was the rebellion, the humans who stood against Arthur’s plans, the nonhumans who fought him. They were the enemy. They were who needed to be exterminated.

I looked around at the crowd, and most carried weapons: swords, staves, the occasional spear. My ax didn’t look so out of place, then. More had guns, though, and I spotted a large number of Horsemen over to the side of the memorial, all of them standing to attention.

I moved away to the other side of the memorial and saw the creatures next to it. They were all penned together in the field.

There were hundreds of creatures, and all of them were sitting down, doing nothing. I wondered exactly what Arthur was going to do with them.

I spotted dozens of media trucks that had been parked in the field during the battle at the White House. Microphones covered the front of where Arthur stood, the world’s media allowing the people to take in their new dictator. It didn’t matter where they lived; Arthur was going to make sure that he was the only person in charge.

“My people,” Arthur said, “I am your savior.”

The cheering made me feel nauseous.

“Your leaders have betrayed you,” Arthur continued as I moved through the crowd. “Those you trusted to keep you safe have done nothing of the sort. The rich get richer and