Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,56

still plenty of places to rebuild.”

“Continue,” I said.

“Arthur thought that no one would look for us there. No one would think of going to Atlantis. And most importantly, there’s only one entrance in and out.”

“The realm gate was in Europe,” I said. “It was destroyed thousands of years ago.”

“There’s a second gate. In Avalon.”

I’d not been expecting that. “How is that possible?”

“It’s under the mountains to the north of Camelot,” Gawain said, with an expression that suggested he’d really rather not have said anything.

“You’re going to need to expand on that,” Judgement said.

“We always knew there was a gate there,” Gawain said with a sigh. “My father mentioned it a few times as something he’d heard about. We set off on an expedition. Couldn’t do it before our enemies were out of Avalon, and it took a while, but we found it about a year after we thought you were dead.”

“What else did you find?”

“The realm gate is one of a dozen. Each gate goes to a different realm belonging to a different pantheon.”

“That’s how you got to Asgard?”

Gawain nodded.

“Why not use these gates all the time?”

“We couldn’t,” Gawain said. “They needed to be unlocked. Except Atlantis—that was never locked in the first place.”

“Why?” Judgement asked.

“Presumably because no one thought it would ever be used again. Elves locked the others, though.”

“They locked them how?” I asked. “And how did you unlock them? Explain.”

“Each realm gate was dwarven in nature, but there were elven runes on them. None of them would work.”

“But you’ve found an elf to unlock them?” Judgement asked.

Gawain nodded. “When we first went to Atlantis, all we found was destruction.” He chuckled. “And a prison.”

“What kind of prison?” I asked, curious as to where this was all going.

“An elven one. Shadow elven, to be exact.”

“You found shadow elves inside a prison?” I asked, keeping my anger in check. “Like how Tarron was found? Frozen in suspended animation? How many?”

“Half dozen,” Gawain said. “All frozen. We . . . defrosted them. They were not exactly fans of the people who put them there and were keen to help us do what we needed to do.”

“They unlocked the realm gates in Avalon?”

“It took us several years and a lot of dead bodies, but they helped us, and eventually, yes, we unlocked them. Our first journey was to Asgard, and you saw how well that went.”

“How do we get into Avalon?” I asked.

“Avalon Island,” Gawain said.

“We can’t get in that way,” Judgement said. “No one can. The island is abandoned, and I assume if we send people through the realm gate there a dozen at a time, they’re just going to get slaughtered by whatever army you have on the other side. There are two realm gates into Avalon. One on Avalon Island, which is not a good idea. And another behind Kay’s home, which we’ve tried to access from Nidavellir, seeing how that’s where it’s linked to, and it almost killed the dwarf doing it, so I assume it’s booby trapped.”

“Obviously,” Gawain said with a smirk.

Judgement took a step toward Gawain and removed a knife from her belt. “You don’t have any magic right now,” she said. “Want to cut out the smug shit?”

“Fine,” Gawain snapped. “Only Kay’s blood can activate it. And Kay is dead. Oops.”

“Is there another realm gate into Avalon?” I asked, trying very hard not to rip Gawain’s head off.

“Yes,” Gawain said and folded his arms over his chest, followed up with a scream as Judgement drove the blade into his kneecap.

“Care to elaborate?” she asked sweetly.

“It’s in Duat,” Gawain said.

“You have an army stationed there?” I asked. “How many?”

“No, nothing like that,” Gawain said. “You can’t go through with many people—the spirits will spot you, and . . . they don’t like the living.”

“So to get to Avalon, we need to go through Duat, the land of the dead, and into the mountains behind Camelot?” I asked. “That’s the only way from the Earth realm into Avalon?”

Gawain nodded. “That I know of, yes. Now either fuck off or kill me.”

“One last question,” I said. “What are the names of every single shadow elf you found?”

The list wasn’t long. When I was done, I stood and looked down at the craven enemy as Judgement walked away to presumably wash her knife.

“You are pathetic,” I said sadly. “A parasite of a man who clings to whoever will offer you the most power. The most wealth. The most of whatever you desire. How long did it take you