Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,71

his powers,” Judgement said.

“Those who rose up are mostly inside the palace,” Hades said. “Once Nate tore the front off it and killed a dozen paladins.”

“Show-off,” Judgement said, coughing into her hand.

“It’s a really big place,” Hades continued. “They’re going room to room to check for anyone loyal to Arthur. Unfortunately, there are pockets of resistance inside the palace, some paladins and high-ranking officials, and they’re all quite happy to go down fighting.”

“And the casualties?” Kase asked.

“The rest are in the hospital and surrounding areas,” Persephone said. “Nate’s team managed to get here just as the uprising began but too late to stop the execution of a hundred people, which is what started it.”

“They executed a hundred people?” Layla asked.

Persephone nodded. “Yes. From what we’ve been told, people formed an underground rebellion, and they got caught. Someone betrayed them, and it ended with mass executions of their loved ones just outside of the palace.”

“That’s horrific,” Layla said. “How many casualties are we looking at?”

“A lot,” Hades said. “We’re trying to find places to put them all, considering the hospital is a no-go area for the time being, but these Avalon bastards have put a lot of booby traps around the city.”

“And these buildings?” Layla asked.

“The people in charge did this,” Hades said. “They wanted to make a point, I assume. There are entire districts that were basically turned into rubble. Thousands of people have died here in Avalon’s attempt to control an uprising.”

“There were nearly a half million people living in Camelot,” Persephone said. “It’s going to take a long time to get through the city and find out the true losses.”

“Where’s the Atlantis realm gate?” Kase asked. Her tone suggested she had interest in only one thing.

“Under the palace,” Persephone said. “It’s been rigged with about a hundred runes, so we’ve got Orfeda and her dwarves currently dismantling them.”

Kase turned to Layla. “Is it okay if I stay and wait?”

“You don’t need to ask,” Layla said.

“I know, but . . . I just . . . my head isn’t right. I want to find my dad,” she said eventually.

Layla hugged Kase, who returned the gesture. “Go eat something and rest,” Layla told her. “We’ll be fine without you for a few hours. And frankly, you need sleep more than you need another fight.”

“I think your mum is around the palace,” Persephone said. “Let’s go find her.”

Kase nodded, and the pair walked away.

“She’s exhausted,” Piper said. “Even a werewolf can’t run on fumes forever.”

“We’ll take her to Olivia,” Hades said. “Hopefully she can get some rest before we have to drug her.”

“She’s so close to getting to Atlantis and Tommy,” Layla said. “I can’t imagine what she’s going through. My dad was a serial killer and my mom a serial killer’s helper and then zombie assassin.”

“That makes her sound a lot cooler than she was,” Chloe said.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Layla asked.

“Tarron thinks that the mountains might need to be checked out,” Hades said. “We’re using the plains between the city and there as a sort of staging area for people we’ve found prisoners in the palace. There are thousands of them. We need to know who is and isn’t friendly, and doing it away from the city seems like a good idea. You could head to the mountains—just make sure we’re not about to get a nasty visit from anyone. We sent a small team there after we arrived, but we haven’t heard anything yet. Medusa went with them, so I’m sure they’re all okay, but it would be good to get an update. I’ll send more soldiers that way eventually, but we’re a little stretched at the moment.”

Layla had to agree that was probably a fair point. “We’ll head to the mountains,” she said. “You got a way for us to get there that isn’t running?”

“Carriages,” Hades said. “It’ll be an hour or so, but it’s the fastest way until we can get the tram system up and running again.”

Layla and her team of Piper, Chloe, Tego, and Judgement met up with Tarron and Sky close to the carriages. Tarron gave Layla a hug.

“It’s good to see you’re still with us,” Layla said. “So we’re going to check out some mountains.”

“We need to make sure no one is going to come through the gates there and attack those people on the plains,” Sky said. “I would not put it past them.”

Layla looked out of the carriage window at the thousands of people who had