Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,93

his broken bone.

“Do you think this is a time to be funny?” Merlin asked. “You are going to see Arthur, and he’s going to take that blade from you and use it to murder you. And his Horsemen will destroy everything you love.”

“You’re the new Horsemen?” Mordred asked the soldiers. “You fucking idiots. And there’s no way you can use this sword.”

“Because you won’t let us?” Merlin asked.

“Because I’ve bonded with it,” Mordred said. “Arthur can’t use it without my say-so, can he?”

“The sword was never Arthur’s,” Merlin said. “It was a bone of contention for him. It did not work for him properly, and we were never sure why. Turns out it was meant for you and you alone, and it can only be used by people you’ve allowed to use it.”

“Lucky me,” Mordred said, getting back to an upright position. “We done here?”

“I’m pretty sure that if you die, the sword can be used by whoever killed you,” Merlin said. “Want to guess where this is going?”

Mordred raised his hand. “You’re taking me out for a father-son bonding day. Can we play catch, Pop? And can I have an ice cream as big as my head?”

Merlin’s expression darkened. “You were always the buffoon.”

“And you were always an asshole,” Mordred said, suddenly serious. “You know that your own people rose up against the assholes you left in Avalon.”

“Then we’ll bathe the realm in their blood,” Merlin snapped. “The Earth realm will be Arthur’s.”

“That’s what this is about?” Mordred asked. “Arthur got told no, so now he’s throwing a temper tantrum.”

Merlin nodded to a Horseman, who punched Mordred in the stomach again. Mordred dropped to his knees.

“Why did you follow him?” Mordred asked through clenched teeth. “Why go against everything you taught me as a child? Everything you taught Nate too? I know there was some mind-control stuff going on, but that’s not all of it; you’re too powerful for that to happen by itself.”

“I wanted the same thing as Arthur,” Merlin said. “Peace, an end to war. And he offered it to me if I followed him. I did so gladly. The mind-control thing was a long time ago, to stop me from having issues with the more . . . unpleasant aspects of what needed to be done. By the time you tried to kill Arthur, I was already fully working for him.”

“So why did the paladins and Gawain keep playing with your mind?” Mordred asked. “Why let them?”

“Because I needed to let them think they had one over on me so that if the time ever came, they wouldn’t know what hit them. If they ever betrayed me, it would be the end of them. Arthur tried to have Abaddon do the same to me, but she knew what I was doing. She was . . . pragmatic about it.”

“You were sleeping with Arthur’s right-hand woman, weren’t you?” Mordred asked, getting back to his feet. “A woman who used to be his lover, when he was Asmodeus.”

“I was,” Merlin said. “Arthur isn’t very good with women. If you let people think they have power over you, it gives you leverage. Playing your hand all the time does you no favors. Like now, Mordred.” He blasted Mordred in the chest with enough power that his hastily created shield protected him from harm but couldn’t stop him from being thrown against a nearby wall.

“How’d that feel?” Merlin asked as Mordred got back to his feet.

“You do understand that my friends will realize you have me and they’ll come to rescue me,” Mordred said.

“Let me show you something,” Merlin said, and Mordred was marched behind Merlin as he walked through the prison, out of the main entrance, and up to one of half a dozen huge elevators. They waited as the fifty Horsemen took their places on the elevators, and then they all rose up through the left shaft together, until they reached the top and exited to the outside.

“Pretty,” Mordred said as they entered a black stone building, leaving the Horsemen outside. “You not worried I’ll do something?” he asked as Merlin shoved his son onto another elevator that took them both up ten stories to the roof.

“This was a guard tower,” Merlin said, ignoring his son. “We thought we might need one closest to the prison, but we never actually had a problem with the dwarves. They do as they’re told.”

“Or you freeze them in stasis?” Mordred asked.

“Yes, that’s part of it,” Merlin said. “But it turns out