Horsemen's War (The Rebellion Chronicles #3) - Steve McHugh Page 0,95
and Persephone, both looking like they’d been through a war, were busy trying to find out just how many had died in the explosion. Multiple dead Horsemen littered what had once been the plains and were now charred and overturned, as if all life had been taken from them.
I explained what had happened inside the city and how Tommy had met me outside it.
“Where are Selene and the others?” I asked.
“We were on opposite sides of the explosion,” Hades said. “The entire earth erupted, and this fog was cast over it. It killed people before we could do anything to stop it, so we ran. The fog seems to be concentrated around the realm gate, though—there’s no movement away. It’s kept there somehow. When we thought we were safe, then these red-and-gold-armored things burst from the ground and attacked.”
“I’ll go look,” I told him.
“Whoa,” Persephone said. “Sorcerers died there too, Nate. I’m not sure how your magic will cope with this.”
I nodded. “I understand. Still going to take a look. Mordred and the others are in the city. I imagine Merlin is going after them. If those . . . Horsemen of his find them, it’s not going to be a fun fight. We need to get to the city and help. We need that fog gone, or at least to know what it is.”
“Horsemen?” Hades asked.
“That’s what these things are,” I said. “What one of them called itself. They’re monsters. Barely alive but full of power.”
“Arthur’s new Horsemen,” Hades said with a sigh. “His evil never truly ends.”
“I’m coming with you,” my mother said, getting to her feet.
“Me too,” Olivia told me.
“I assume you will be with me too, Kase,” I said.
Kase nodded.
“Tarron,” I shouted. “You up for a wander?”
Tarron picked up his dual swords and stood, stretching. “Sure, why not?”
The five of us ran through the forest and stopped at the edge of the clearing after several miles of terrain to watch the fog as it swirled around the realm gate. There were hundreds of bodies littered around the gate, most of them either our soldiers or wearing the armor of the Horsemen.
“Goddamn it,” I snapped.
“The gate appears to have fixed itself,” Tarron said. “I doubt even Arthur thought that it would have done so as quickly as this, but anyone coming through there is going to be dead in seconds.”
“And the fog could go into other realms,” Brynhildr said.
“And Nanshe will be bringing her people through from Olympus soon,” I said. “They’ll walk straight out into that . . .”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Kase said.
“I have,” Olivia said, her tone like steel.
“Me too,” I agreed. “Hera was making something like it back in Mars Warfare. It was a shitty substance that I’d hoped I’d never see again.”
At the tree line on the other side of the massive clearing were a dozen allies, including Selene. I waved, and she waved back, and my heart fluttered a little bit. She was fine. Hopefully she’d stay that way.
I pushed out my air magic, trying to move the fog down toward the city or up into the air, but it just stayed where it was. “It’s like trying to grab something covered in oil,” I said. “It’s not behaving like normal fog. Which I know it isn’t, but still, I’d have liked it to behave like it was.”
“When you saw it last time, how was the fog used?” Brynhildr asked.
“It was pumped into rooms,” I told her. “I assume it was kept in canisters or something along those lines, but that could be affected by my magic. Apparently, they improved upon its use.”
“How do we get over there and find out how to remove it?” Brynhildr asked.
“It looks like the fog is being kept in place with runes,” Tarron said.
“So your plan is?” my mum asked.
“Nate,” Tarron said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “The plan is Nate.”
“And what am I going to do?” I asked him.
“Throw a fireball at it,” he said.
I did as he asked, and the fireball hit the gas and ignited it, the blue-and-red flame shooting up into the sky.
“The gas caused the explosion I saw,” I said. “Someone threw fire at it.”
Tarron nodded. “Yes. One of the sorcerers there did it. I think your air magic won’t work, but fire might. Unfortunately, the amount of power you’ll have to keep pouring into the fog to burn it away depends on how much of it is stored under