Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,78
. . .”
“I know,” Mordred said, patting her on the shoulder as he walked past her. “I know.”
“I need to get back to the palace,” Mordred said.
“You need to sit down,” Brynhildr told him.
“Or fall down,” Tarron said. “I think it’s your choice at this point.”
Mordred shook his head, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Athena is in that city, and we have to find out what she’s up to.”
“Where would she go, and what’s she trying to do?” Hel asked.
“I have no idea,” Mordred said. “But I want her found, and whatever her plans are, I want them stopped. Someone find Nate. He needs to know what’s going on.”
“I wish to have words with my sister,” Judgement said, her voice iron cold. “Something is wrong here.”
Mordred nodded to himself. Something was very wrong.
Chapter Eighteen
NATE GARRETT
Realm of Avalon
“You know, I can think of better ways to do this,” I shouted, using my air magic to carry my words to the many windows of the hospital I stood in front of.
Technically, I stood behind a barricade that had been scribed with enough runes to make it almost the safest place I’d ever been, but I was beginning to get fed up with standing and not actually doing anything.
“It’s rude to ignore people,” Remy said from beside me.
“You want to give it a go?” I asked. “I’ll make your words go further with magic.”
“Sure,” Remy said, nodding. “I’m well known for my negotiation tactics.”
I activated my air magic so they could hear him and gave Remy a nod.
“Hey, you hoofwanking bunglecunts, get your fucking dickhead arses out here before we have to come in and start shoving heads into walls.” Remy gave me a thumbs-up. “I think that went well.”
“That was certainly a unique strategy,” Isis said from beside me.
“We still can’t just go in there, then?” Remy asked.
“No,” Isis said. “There are nearly a hundred people in there who we’d like to keep safe. Unless they start killing hostages, and so far I haven’t felt anything of the sort, we stay and negotiate.” She paused for a second. “Which is not what you just did.”
I sighed and rubbed my eyes. “I know there’s nothing anyone can do until we get the runes removed from that room in the palace, but I’m getting really fed up with the waiting around because a bunch of assholes can’t just surrender and let everyone get on with their job.”
The main doors to the hospital opened, and several men and women left, their hands in the air as they walked down the ramp while soldiers ran to them, swords and axes drawn, magical attacks prepared.
“Did I just end a hostage situation by swearing at them?” Remy asked.
“I think you may have,” I said. “I’m not sure this is how these things are meant to end.”
No one else said anything for a few minutes, until the last hostage taker left the hospital with the soldiers behind him. They called in a group of medics who had been waiting, and everything suddenly started moving again.
“Well, at least this ended without bloodshed,” Isis said.
“Shame,” Remy said with a sigh.
“That’s a good thing,” I whispered to Remy. “How many were inside?” I asked a soldier.
“A few hundred,” she said. “No idea how many are wounded; we haven’t had a chance to check. Some of the wounds were fresh, though, sir. Some of those people were tortured.”
“Thank you, soldier,” I said. “Do me a favor—find out who was in charge of that torture and ensure that everyone else thinks they ratted them out.”
The soldier’s smile was sly. “Will do, sir.”
“You’re going to get them killed,” Remy said. “I really don’t have a problem with that.”
There were screams nearby, which took my attention, and I saw a bloody woman running toward us. She looked like she’d been in a hell of a fight, and I thought I recognized her but couldn’t quite place from where.
“Athena?” Isis asked as several soldiers intercepted the woman, who raised her hands to show she was no threat.
“Athena?” I said, somewhat shocked to hear the name. “What the hell happened to you?” I asked the question after covering the distance between us.
“Mountain,” she said, placing a hand on my bare arm to stay upright. “Ran from the mountain. Mordred is there. There was something inside the mountain; it attacked us. Killed many. Several wounded.” She collapsed forward, and a soldier rushed to intercept her before helping her to sit on a nearby wooden bench.