Master of Swords (24 page)

That spell he tried to cast on Arthur must have weakened him.
We've got him on the run,
Gawain said in the link.
Blast him again
.

Lark reached for more magic as Bors and Gawain closed on the sorcerer, swords lifted.

“Fuck this.” Edge spun on his cloven hooves and shot across the chamber.

Straight at Arthur.

Around them, the death spell he'd begun seemed to vibrate, gathering itself. Waiting for the sacrifice.

 

“Cachamwri's Egg!” Perched
on the face of the cliff with the other watchers, Soren looked away from the combat raging below as a sense of violent evil suddenly blasted out from somewhere overhead. He craned his head upward. “That's coming from Tegid's chambers!”

If Kel's accusations about the Dark Ones were correct…

With a growl, he flung himself upward. “Where are you going?” another dragon called.

“I'm checking that chamber!”

 

“
Noo! Let me
go!” Tegid lashed and fought, but Kel only clamped down harder on his throat, grimly intent on ripping his way through. His uncle clawed at his face with a foreleg, catching him across the eye. Blood spurted. Kel jerked and lost his grip. With a furious wrench, Tegid tore free and launched himself skyward. Kel roared, shook away the blood, and flung himself after his uncle.

Around them, the watching dragons launched themselves skyward, hungry to see the rest of the fight.

Tegid, however, seemed to have forgotten all about it as he shot for his cavern, beating hard as he tried to catch Soren's whipping tail.

 

Gawain leaped at
Edge, only to take a spell blast in the chest that batted him across the cavern like an empty tin can. Bors charged, but Edge had already reached Arthur and snatched him off the ground.

Wrapping a massive forearm across the knight's neck, he pressed his remaining sword to Arthur's throat. “Back up, Dad.” Bors growled and lunged. Edge shot a blast at his head, forcing him to duck.

Spotting a glint of silver, Lark dove on Excalibur, still lying forgotten on the floor. She snatched the blade up and retreated. “Aren't you forgetting something, Ricky? Spell won't work without Excalibur, will it?”

Stymied, the monster snarled at her. He dug the tip of his blade against Arthur's throat. “Maybe not, but I can still cut Artie's head off.” His eyes narrowed and flicked to Gawain, who was up again and circling around to his left. “Uh, uh, Gawain.”

“Well, now,” A big blue dragon drawled from the mouth of the cavern. Tail lashing, he advanced on them. “Isn't this interesting?”

Instinctively, Lark moved back, her attention sliding from Edge to the dragon and back again. Edge watched her like a cat.

With a thud, a red dragon scrambled through the opening, crimson eyes wide with panic. “What are these apes doing here?” Lark barely understood its rapid-fire Draconian hiss even with her magic. “Get out of my cavern!”

“Oh, give it up, Tegid,” the blue dragon mocked as Kel came in for a landing, trapping the red dragon. “Your runes are all over that creature.”

Lark's eyes narrowed, her mind working frantically. So this was the dragon who cast the spell that had allowed Edge to survive the black grail's destruction. But why were the runes still burned into his skin? Why hadn't they healed?

Unless they were still part of an active spell. What if they were still at work containing all that dark magic? And what would happen to Edge if that spell broke?

“You outsmarted yourself, Uncle.” Kel, covered in blood and limping, stalked his foe, who backed away, hissing. The red dragon's tail slashed toward Lark, and she jumped back…

Quick as a snake, Edge drove his sword through her shoulder and snatched Excalibur from her hand. With a screech of pain, she fell. As if in slow motion, she saw Edge lift the sword toward Arthur's neck…

And thought in the Truebond,
Kill the Red Dragon!

Centuries of living with Kel's consciousness had taught him exactly how to do it. Gawain whirled as Lark conjured a spear into his hand and hurled it with every ounce of his strength.

It thudded home squarely in Tegid's right eye. With a howl of agony, the dragon tossed up his great head, convulsing, his tail whipping back and forth. Gawain barely leaped aside in time as the huge creature toppled to the stone floor with a meaty thud.

The blue dragon reached out a forepaw and snatched Bors back as one of Tegid's clawed rear feet gave a last lethal dying kick.

“Noooo!” Edge roared, his eyes widening in horror. All over his crimson body, the runes flared red and began to vanish one by one. The sorcerer's frantic gaze darted around the cavern, his sword dropping from his lax fingers as his mouth worked helplessly.

Seeing his chance, Arthur tore himself free from the monster's grip and scrambled to get as far away from him as he could. Lark and Gawain ran to join their liege and dragged him behind a stalagmite, all three of them hunkering into its shelter. Lark threw a spell shield around them all as, from the corner of one eye, she saw the blue dragon throw a similar barrier around himself and Bors.

Edge's mouth gaped, but instead of a scream, light poured from his lips in a blinding torrent. The silent blaze quickly spread to his entire head. He threw out a hand to his father, the gesture oddly pleading as the blinding light spread down his torso. The light was so fierce, Lark's eyes began to tear.

Then, without any sound at all, Edge exploded. A blast of liberated energies roared over them all, staggering even the dragons, who crouched against its battering fury.

Gagging at the smell of death magic, Lark desperately strengthened her shield as the energy roared around them like a hurricane.

Finally, with a whining moan, the last of the liberated energy swirled from the cavern and disappeared into the night, leaving them all in complete darkness.

For a long moment, there was no sound except the rasp of breathing and the slither of scales.

Light blazed up, and Lark ducked, covering her head instinctively. Daring a glance through her spread fingers, she realized it was only Kel, summoning a light spell.

“I trust that proves my accusation, Soren,” the dragon said. “Without Tegid's spell to control it, the black grail's magic destroyed Edge.”

The blue dragon studied Tegid's bloody body with distaste. “Yes, I'd say so.” Shrugging, he raised one wing, revealing Bors huddled against his side wearing a dazed expression. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” the knight said hoarsely, climbing to his feet.

“How about the rest of you?”

“Lark?” Arthur asked in a deep voice. “Not that it's a hardship wearing you like a mink stole, but Gwen might not understand.”

She lifted her head and belatedly realized the Magus was no longer bound—but he was very thoroughly naked. “Sorry.” Quickly, she straightened off him and conjured clothing, averting her eyes.

Gawain grinned and rose to help her up.

“What was that?” a deep outraged voice asked in Draconian. As they looked up, several very big heads poked into the cavern. The dragons gasped in horror at the sight of Tegid's body, Gawain's spear still lodged in one eye. “What happened?”

“He got what was coming to him.” Kel turned toward Soren. “I'm going to take my friends home now.”

The great dragon nodded. “When you return, we'll discuss your seat with the Dragon Lords.”

“Actually, I don't plan to return.” Kel lifted his great wings and shook them out. “I have no interest in the Dragon Lords. I'm sure there are those among you who'll be more than happy to duel over Tegid's seat.”

“What?” A babble of voices rose. One of the dragons pushed its way into the cavern, which began to seem more than a little cramped. “What do you mean?” the newcomer demanded.

Kel turned a cold red gaze on them. “You left me in that sword while you accepted a bigot and a murderer as your leader. You let him engineer the murder of my mother, and again, you did nothing.” Light swirled around him, leaving him in human form. Except for Soren, the dragons recoiled in horror. “I have no interest in living among such as you. I'd rather be human.”

Ignoring his people's collective hiss of outrage, Kel summoned a gate with a flick of his wrist. He turned to the four Magekind. “Let's go, my friends. The sun will be up soon, and our people are waiting for us.”

Without another word, they followed him through the gate.

The gate took
them to Avalon's central square, where it seemed the entire population of the Magekind waited under a sky going pink with uncomfortable speed. As they stepped from the portal, the gathered company burst into deafening cheers.

Squealing like a young girl, Guinevere ran to meet them and leaped into Arthur's arms. With a complete disregard for anybody's dignity, she wrapped slender arms and long legs around him and kissed him soundly. “You're all right!” he breathed when she let him come up for air.

Gwen stroked his hair back from his forehead. “Of course I'm all right. The minute Edge died, his spell snapped like wet pasta.”

He wrapped a big hand around her head and pulled her in for another devouring kiss as the Magekind roared its collective approval.

Finally Arthur put his wife down and held out a hand to Lark, Kel, Bors, and Gawain. “Thanks to these gallant warriors, I live. And so do we all!”

The roar of approval was even louder this time, making Lark's ears ring. She distinctly heard Caroline's voice shout, “You go, girl!”

When at last the thunder died, Arthur turned to Kel and dropped a big hand on his shoulder. “Normally I like to do these things with a bit more ceremony—but the sun is coming up, and our time runs short. Kel, you have fought beside me, Gawain, and our brother knights for sixteen hundred years. And you have always done it with unflinching courage and breathtaking power. Given all that, it's my hope you will consent to becoming one of my knights of the Round Table.”

A stunned silence fell as Kel's red eyes widened. “But…but Arthur, you haven't added a new knight in three centuries!”

“Four.” Arthur smiled. “But, as far as I'm concerned, you've always been one of us. Just not in this form.”

Kel stared at him for a long moment as the watching crowd waited breathlessly. Lark thought she glimpsed a suspicious sheen in his crimson eyes. “It would be a great honor, my Liege,” he managed at last. As the cheering rose again, he started to drop to one knee.

Arthur hooked an arm around his neck, dragging him back to his feet. “Oh, cut that out. You know we don't do that anymore.”

The stunned amazement in Kel's eyes lightened into a grin, and he thumped the former High King on the back.

Arthur turned toward the waiting Magekind. “As much as I'd love to celebrate all day, the sun is getting dangerously close to the horizon. We'll meet to postmortem this mess tomorrow, and then we'll all get drunk again.” He waved a big hand. “Scram.”

Gates began hastily opening as Majae started transporting their male allies home.

As Lark turned to cast one of her own, she saw Bors standing off to the side, lost in thought. Gawain, following her glance, moved over to their friend. “How are you holding up?”

“Honestly, better than I expected.” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “When we were fighting Richard, I finally realized something in him really was missing. And it always had been. Maybe it was a conscience, maybe it was a soul. Whatever it was, he just never had it. And there was absolutely nothing anyone could have done to give him one.”

“No.” Gawain slapped him on the back and threw another glance at the sky. “Now let's get out of here before we all get sunburn.”

“Where do you want to go, Bors?” Lark asked.

He smiled. “My own bed'll do.”

After he vanished through the portal she cast, she conjured a final gate. As Gawain reached out and took her hand, she looked at Kel. “You coming?”

“No.” He was staring skyward, his face naked with longing. “Actually, I think I want to fly.”

“Enjoy it, brother,” Gawain told him as he towed Lark through the gate and into his own bedroom.

“I can't believe he walked away from Dragonkind,” she said as she undressed them both with a gesture. “Think he's going to be okay?”

“He'll be happier with us than he ever was with them,” Gawain told her, falling into bed with a sigh. He looked up at her, looking deliciously sexy as he sprawled there nude. “Think we've got time for a kiss before the sun comes up?”

She grinned and leaped into bed, landing on the mattress beside him. “Let's give it a shot.”

Their lips met in a hot, silken slide, tongues swirling in a passionate dance of love and relief. Lark lifted her head. “I love you.”

“And I love…” He broke off, his eyes sliding closed as the Daysleep hit.

With a happy sigh, she wrapped her arms around his powerful waist and rested her head against his shoulder.

She was asleep almost as fast as he was.

 

Lark was the
first to wake. Which meant the sun had not yet gone down, though the windows that filtered out the light left the room in darkness. She lay still against him, listening to the slow, reassuring thud of his heart. She'd had a nightmare about feeling his heartbeat stop today as Kel's blade pierced it. She shuddered.

She'd come so close to losing him.

But I didn't,
Lark thought, half-wondering.
I did it. I saved him.

And he saved me. And we saved everybody.

Slowly, she ran a hand along the warm rise of his chest, savoring the ripples and hollows under her fingers. Silken hair curled under her nails, forming a trail downward. Mischievous, she followed it along his abdomen to the soft sleeping weight of his cock.

He didn't, of course, wake. It would be another hour before the Daysleep would release him.

With a sigh of resignation, she released him and rolled from the bed. After last night's fight, she felt grubby. Time for a shower.

Or, better yet…

She padded to the French doors at the end of the room and slipped through the curtains that covered them. Holding the fabric panels carefully closed with a spell so no light would flood beyond them, she opened the doors and stepped out on the balcony. Gawain wouldn't burst into flames if the sun touched him, but she didn't want him getting a sunburn either.

The sun hung over Avalon's fairy-tale skyline in a huge flaming ball, painting the sky in shades of crimson and gold. Closing her eyes for a moment, she savored the warmth on her naked skin before padding across the balcony to the railing.

Kel had constructed an immense pool on the ground just outside Gawain's window, designing it to look like a natural pond. Extending her magical senses, she realized it was so deep, she could easily dive off the balcony and plunge into its cool depths without risking a broken neck.

Regretfully, she decided against it. Instead, she summoned her magic and floated over the railing like a leaf, drifting slowly downward until she sank to her neck in the water. It was the perfect temperature—just warm enough without being too hot. With a sigh, she dove under and let it stroke over her body and through her hair as she swam. Finally surfacing, she rolled over on her back and allowed herself to float.

Something huge flashed by overhead with a glint of blue scales and the whip of a long tail. “Hi, Lark!” Kel called.

Startled, she jerked upright in the water and conjured a bikini. “Ummm, hi!”

“Watch this!” the dragon soared upward again and went into a barrel roll, simultaneously breathing flame. The plume of fire corkscrewed around him. “Cachamwri's Egg, I love doing that.”

He circled around again in long, lazy beats of his wings, then transformed to human form and drifted downward, a big, handsome man in tailored slacks and a silk shirt.

She grinned at the child-like pleasure lighting his handsome face. “You seem to be enjoying your freedom.”

“Oh, I am.” He flung himself down on the grass beside the pool. “You have no idea what it's like to fly again after being trapped for so long.” The smile faded from his face. “Thank you for saving him.”

She snorted. “Believe me, it was my pleasure.”

Kel grinned wickedly. “Or it will be once the sun sets, anyway.”

A blush heated her face at the thought. “Bad dragon.”

Kel laughed. “Baby, if you weren't taken, I'd show you how bad a dragon I really am.” Wickedly he added, “Think they'll let me in the Ladies' Club?”

Lark grinned at him. “Since you're a brand new knight of the Round Table, hell yeah. Planning to pick up a girl?”

“Or two.” His grin broadened. “Or possibly even three. I've got sixteen hundred years of celibacy to make up for.”

She laughed. “Have fun, dragon.”

He rolled to his feet. “Tell your Truebonded I'll be by later. I miss having the big lug in my head.”

“He misses you, too.”

Kel flashed her a look. “Not with you in there.”

Lark watched him saunter away before banishing her suit again. She definitely wanted to be ready for Gawain's arrival.

Floating there, she watched the sun sink, her anticipation rising as it got closer and closer to the horizon. Her smile began an outright grin as it disappeared.

A moment later a deep voice rumbled from the darkness overhead. “Would you like some company?”

Lark craned her neck back. “What do you think?”

A naked body cleared the balcony railing in a long, graceful dive and plummeted downward. He hit so cleanly there was scarcely a splash as he disappeared.

Lark smiled in anticipation and drew in a breath.

Just as she expected, strong arms pulled her underwater against the long, muscular strength of his body. She wrapped her arms and legs around him as he drew her into a kiss. Lazily, they dueled with tongue and lips as they floated slowly to the surface, the water slipping along their skin in a warm caress.

Their heads broke the surface, but they went right on kissing, enjoying the slow rise of passion through their Truebond. Gawain's erect shaft lay against her belly, heavy and taut with need, just as Lark's nipples pressed against his strong chest.

She'd felt his pain. Now she could feel his urgent desire growing hotter and hotter as each second passed. In his mind, she could see everything he wanted to do to her, everything he wanted to feel with her.

And she couldn't wait.

Legs twining together, they kicked lazily, just barely treading water. Even the sensation of his skin sliding against hers was breathtaking, echoing as it did from his mind to hers.

Experimenting, Gawain cupped her breast in a big, warm palm. They both moaned at the sensation. He bent his head and covered one stiff nipple with his mouth, his tongue lazily circling, his teeth gently biting. Lark let her head fall back with a groan.

A wicked thought flashed through his mind. “Let's…”

She grinned. “Oh, yeah.”

They swam to the edge of the pool. He levered himself out, then eagerly pulled her into his arms. Kissing with sweet, burning greed, they tumbled to the grass together. He left her lips, biting his way gently along the jut of her chin and down her throat. Even as he played, her fingers traced their own luscious patterns over his skin, teasing trails of heat through him. He groaned and began kissing his way slowly downward to the eager thrust of her breasts.

There, Gawain paused, sipping at first one nipple, then the other. Sighing in delight, Lark worked her fingers through his wet hair and held on as he slowly feasted. Experimenting with the sensations, he used tongue and teeth and even the tips of his fangs until she squirmed, gasping at his rising hunger and her own increasingly desperate need.

Now,
she managed through the Truebond.

But I want to play,
he purred.

You're driving me insane.

Gawain laughed.
Oh, I know.

And it's my turn.
Quick as the thought, she rolled him over on his back and straddled his chest, her head over his groin as she caught the smooth, delicious jut of his cock in her hand.

With a mock growl, he dragged her up and spread her legs over his face until he could reach her sex. As he gave it that first wicked swipe of his tongue, she engulfed the head of his cock in her mouth.

They both groaned at the storm of sensation. His. Hers. It was hard to tell where one went left off and the other began. Entranced, Lark lowered her head still more, taking Gawain's big shaft deeper and deeper.

It felt a little as if she'd suddenly acquired a giant clit. The sensations when he suckled her were more concentrated, but it was delicious either way.

Eagerly, they pleasured one another, each lick and stroke building their shared arousal into a blazing, almost unbearable pleasure.

When he finally slid two fingers into her slick and juicy depths, they almost came on the spot in a shared detonation of pleasure.

I'm not going to be able to last,
Gawain thought.

Try.
She swirled her tongue over the aching head of his cock.

Teasing wench. Two can play that game.
He suckled her fiercely and thrust his fingers deep.

She yowled around his meaty cock, shivering at the delicious, blazing heat.
They certainly can.

The muscles of her thighs were jerking, and his toes were twitching.
We'd better…

Oh, yeah.

Lark had no idea who had thought what.

He rolled over with her and reared just long enough to rearrange them.

Then, his body braced over her on muscular arms, he started working his cock into her. The sensation was so stunning, they both cried out at the sweet, sliding friction of skin on skin, hard into slick.

She wrapped both legs around him as he sank deeper and deeper. All the way to her heart.

At last he could go no farther. Panting, they clung together, his body hard and sweat-slicked against her small, soft one.

Knowing they'd both come if they moved, they froze like that, staring breathlessly into each other's eyes.

Lowering his head, Gawain kissed Lark slowly, lingering over the taste of her mouth. She swirled her tongue between his lips in a teasing little caress.