Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,79

Mordred okay?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Athena said. “I was told just to run to get help.”

“I’m on it,” Isis said before I could say anything.

“I’m with her,” Remy shouted, running after an already-sprinting Isis.

“Basilisk blade,” Athena said. “There was someone there in a mask; they used a basilisk blade.”

“The Faceless?” I asked. I’d wondered when the masked bodyguards of high-ranking Avalon members were going to make an appearance. They were usually incredibly powerful and deeply fanatical in their devotion to their masters. Each mask looked different, but all of them wore one, and all of them were dangerous.

Athena cried out in pain. “Mordred told me to wait at the palace, but I heard you were here and had to come find you.”

“Let’s get you to a hospital,” I said.

Athena shook her head. “I’ll be fine. I’d rather be somewhere without people. I’ve been a prisoner here for centuries.”

“Centuries?” I asked with a slow realization. “Damn, I didn’t know; I’m sorry. Look, you need medical attention.”

“There’s a cure,” Athena said. “Arthur used to brag about it. They used basilisk blades on prisoners.”

“Where’s the cure?”

“The dungeon of the palace,” she said.

I turned to the soldiers. “I’ll take her, and you go help Isis and Remy get to everyone at the mountain. Take an army with you if you need to—just get there.”

“It’s been a bit of a shit day,” Athena said.

“You’re not kidding,” I said as I helped Athena up onto a horse that had belonged to a soldier. I took a second one.

We rode through the city as fast as Athena was able until we reached the palace, where we climbed down and walked up the stairs into the building itself.

I knew where the dungeons were, so Athena followed me through the palace until we’d reached the entrance. There was no one on the first floor underground, as the realm gate was several floors down, and the dungeons themselves had been cleared—if not cleaned—out.

We reached the medical room, and I opened the door for Athena, who walked inside.

“So this is a big room,” I said, looking around at the cupboards and desks that stood along one side of the room, while the other had a row of beds. A large number of wooden boxes were stacked up against the adjacent wall. “There’s a second medical room upstairs, if we can’t find it here, but I think this is where they’ve brought any supplies.”

Athena took a deep breath. “You think you could get me some water? There’s no tap or bowl or anything.”

“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” I said, leaving the room. I was standing in the hallway when a rush of power knocked me aside. “What the hell was that?” I asked as I pushed myself away from the wall, feeling a little wobbly.

Jinayca appeared at the end of the hallway before I’d reached it. “Ah, I assume everyone else felt that,” she said.

“Yeah, pretty much,” I told her. “What was it?”

“We broke the last seal,” she said. “On the realm gate—it’s operational. You can go to Atlantis.”

“We have a problem here to fix first.” I nodded to the room behind me.

Jinayca crossed her arms over her chest.

I turned to find Athena without any cuts on her arms and face. “Ta-da,” she said, showing me a vial with Basilisk Cure written on it. “Body is healing now; thanks for the help.”

“No problem,” I said. “Good thing you found that quickly.”

“It was in the second drawer,” she said. “Nasty-smelling black stuff too. It was the only vial, though, so I’m guessing that if anyone else gets hurt, we don’t have more.”

“I don’t know,” I said thoughtfully. “We could find Lucifer; I think he’s at the realm gate temple. We’ll ask him. I think we should head to the mountain first, though. I don’t want to leave everyone in the lurch.”

Athena placed her hand on my arm as if wobbling a little. She nodded. “Good idea. But what if we get there and we need a cure?”

“Valid point,” I said. “Okay, we’ll make a slight detour to the realm gate temple, and then we’ll head to the mountain with more of the cure.”

“I’ll head to the mountain,” Jinayca said with a frown at me. “I can use runes to slow down any poison, but we’ll need more of the cure if anyone gets hurt.”

“Okay, let’s get going,” I said and motioned for Athena to go first.

Jinayca took my hand in hers as we walked after Athena and drummed on my wrist in