Ari, Val, and Gwen stepped into the lake, leaving Lamarack and Arthur behind. The unfriendly portal dumped them onto the cold, hard ground.
“It’s official. I loathe caves,” Val said, wiping off his pants and tugging his corset back into place. He reached desperately for a joke. “When we get back to the future, someone is eventually going to say, ‘Come see these amazing cave formations!’ And I’m going to be like, ‘Leave. We’re not friends anymore.’”
Ari helped Gwen up, and they stood, looking around at a lonely, dark tunnel that smelled of old air and damp creatures. A light came from far away, highlighting a passageway.
“No wonder she’s miserable and hates people,” Gwen said. “This place sucks.”
“And she’s listening,” Val said, his sarcastic voice shaking a little. Ari and Gwen placed him between them. He grasped the chalice to his chest as if it were a lifeline, and maybe it was, the literal embodiment of their hope. The tunnel grew larger as they walked, the ceiling doming. Ari blinked, and suddenly she was looking at dozens of water screens. Each one projected a different story. A different century. Covering every inch of the rock.
“Are those all—”
“Great. We’re in the hall of Arthurs. She’s just showing off now,” Val said.
One of the screens filled with Merlin’s face, except he wasn’t young or senile. Somewhere around forty and kissing what had to be a thirty-something reincarnation of Arthur.
Val put his hand over the screen. “Merlin wouldn’t want you to watch that.” Then he moved his hand and couldn’t look away. “Gods, he’s even hot middle-aged. I miss him so much,” he whispered. “Does it make me stupid to still love him? He’s never coming back.”
Ari took his shoulder. “The enchantresses are going to help Kai and Merlin.”
“Sure, Ari.” Val shook his head before calling out. “Nin! Come out, you omnipresent Peeping Tom!”
All the screens went off at once. A sound rushed through the caves like so much water, and Ari’s heart thundered at the threat of the entire place flooding. She grabbed Gwen’s hand, and they ran until they came to a spot that opened up with a great vaulted ceiling.
And in the center, on a raised platform, was dead King Arthur.
Ari rushed toward him while Val held Gwen back. “Is that…?” Gwen asked.
“Yes,” Val said.
“He’s so much older,” Gwen murmured.
“This is his body, stolen from the battlefield after his death.” Ari looked from his soiled armor to the open wound that must have come from Mordred’s hateful sword. “I saw him like this in Merlin’s worst memory.”
Nin had stolen Old Merlin out of that last, terrible battle. She’d offered the suffering magician some mild magical foresight, and he’d taken it—only to have his first vision be the aftermath of Arthur and Mordred’s fatal showdown. The loss of the one person he loved. And then Nin had stolen King Arthur, and his soul had taken flight. From cis boy to cis boy, until he found Ari.
Nin appeared beside Val, resting her head on his shoulder, looking as polished and potent as ever in her perfect velvet suit. “You’ve come back.”
“No touching,” Val yelled, jumping away.
Nin took notice of Gwen next, and Gwen blushed and turned toward Ari’s ear. “Is she always naked?”
“Naked?” Ari sputtered.
“I look the way you’d like me to look.” Nin smiled at Val. “A powerful drag queen for some.” She looked at Ari. “A drag king for others. A soft, perfect mother for merlin.” She grinned at Gwen last. “And unglamoured for a unique set.”
Ari closed her eyes, trying not to envision all those things at once. “You offered a deal, and we’re here to take it.”
Nin turned to Ari with a needling gaze. The Lady of the Lake was a woman, and she was not. She was a person, and she was not. “Hello again, forty-second King Arthur.”
“I prefer Ari.”
Nin waved her hand dismissively. “Tell me, Ari, have you let your friends know that you’ve decided to give yourself to me? I hope not. I’d like a front row seat to their shock and dismay.”
Val looked at Ari with sincere annoyance, but Gwen nodded.
Ari had to do this. It was the only way to spark new hope. “I trade myself for Arthur at the moment of my death. But only if you rejoin his spirit with his body and let him rest. Forever.”
“You realize you offer me new entertainment.” Nin’s entire façade rippled like a disturbed body of dark water. “I’ve been through this particular cycle so many times. The repetition of humanity’s poor choices is growing stale.” The Lady of the Lake was truly terrifying if for no other reason than she reminded Ari of the blankness of deep space. Unmoved by pain or love or hope or goodness. “New crises. Won’t that be fun.”
“Ari,” Gwen tried, but Ari cast a pleading look.
“Oh, by all means, tell her how you must do this and that it is the only way to save the old, completely overrated king of Camelot whom everyone loves so dearly. The conflicted bits are my favorite.” Nin perched on the edge of the platform holding King Arthur’s frozen body. She propped her chin on her knuckles.
“Gwen knows why I have to do this. We all love Arthur.” Well, love wasn’t the right word. It was more like Ari needed Arthur, but love was a kind of need, wasn’t it? “We all want him to be set free. We promised Morgana.”
Gwen nodded, so minutely that Ari almost missed it. Val didn’t seem to know what to think, his lips forming the words, The fuck? He looked at Gwen and when she didn’t seem upset, he rolled with it. Ari turned to Nin. “You have your deal. Send us back to our time.”
“More than half a year has elapsed, as you know. Where you come from, much is changed,” Nin said with a sickening smile.
“Do it!” Ari shouted. “Stop playing with us.”
The
