The Last Pendragon

Chapter 12

London was quite the pleasant place—everyone was polite and the city itself was fascinating. Rows of houses stacked beside each other left no room for alleyways on some streets. Buses carried people all across the bustling streets and most of them had two stories, but Lyza didn’t know what to call them. London was never one of the places she had the luxury to visit while being on the run. Lyza had to force herself to close her eyes as she cast an invisibility spell on them, despite how much she wanted to enjoy the view. 

They arrived at the London clock tower in what the humans called Big Bend. Night had just settled and security guards roamed the grounds. Lyza kept up the spell as Kharro landed. They all climbed off him, and started toward the tower. Kenji grabbed her arm and guided her, while she kept up the spell. As the guards changed shifts, they slid through the open door.

“Staircase,” Kenji muttered.

Lyza peaked her eyes open just long enough to get a feel for how close the stairs were. Her feet found a rhythm and she climbed the staircase. By the time they arrived at the top, she was out of breath; she had counted to at least 300 before she lost count of how many stairs there were.

Opening her eyes at the top of the tower, Matt and Kenji checked for security guards. None were there yet, so Kenji stood at one of the windows. Lyza gasped in awe. In the center of the massive sized room was a large bell hung by a series of metal pillars. Kenji headed over to the floor-to-ceiling length windows and held out his hands.

Lyza exhaled and placed up a huge magical protection shield over the entire room, hoping that would keep the Bloods from entering the room and attacking, at least for a little while.

Matt stood beside Kenji, holding Excalibur high. Lyza felt the powerful energy surge into Kenji. He screamed and his body began to violently shake. More than anything, Lyza wanted to go over there, to stop him, to help him, but she kept herself from it. The entire world was at stake here.

“Kenji! Give me the energy!” Matt yelled over the loud buzzing of the energy.

“It’s—there’s too much. I—I can’t…” Kenji groaned as a sphere of energy danced and lashed out where he held it in his hands. It hissed and struck his arm and Lyza swore she heard a sizzle.

Magical energy pressed against her shield from the Bloods climbing the staircase and she grunted. It wavered and as more energy shoved against her shield, it did so with enough force to shove her backward. Lyza collapsed on the floor, as Kenji shoved the energy at Matt. The energy surged around him, exploding outward as Kenji was thrown out the window. Glass shattered and shards rained down.

Lyza covered her face and screamed, crying out for him.

A silver cloud of energy appeared around Kharro as he charged out of the window after Kenji.

Bloods burst into the room and in strode Norak. “Lyza,” he said through gritted teeth.

The glass shards embedded in Lyza’s skin zapped her with pain as she stumbled to her feet. Norak shot her with a blast of pure energy and she couldn’t move.

She tried to get her limbs to work, but they wouldn’t. Move, she screamed at her arms, at her legs, at anything, but nothing would work. All she could do was shift her eyes as Norak walked over to her and put her in chains. When they clasped around her wrists, they burned through her skin, causing agony to sear her flesh and she screamed. Norak picked her up by her hair and turned her around to have a perfect view of the scene.

A dozen Mages surrounded Matt as he shoved the energy into Excalibur. All at once, the energy swirling around him in a raging maelstrom instantly surged inside the magical blade. It pulsed and drummed, trembling with energy that made it glow bright cobalt blue.

Every Mage surrounding him threw magic toward him. Matt growled in pain and an explosion of energy burst away from Excalibur. The force of it threw Norak and Lyza backward but she felt a teleportation spell overtake them. Her stomach flew into her throat and she felt weightless. When her feet landed on ground again, she blinked several times.

She was in the prisons of Vergis.

*****

Kenji’s heart hammered in his chest and his breathing and time seemed to freeze as he was thrown from the window. Glass embedded into his skin but with the rush of the wind across his body, he barely felt it. Adrenaline surged through his blood, pulsing it and increasing his heart rate dramatically. Kharro suddenly flew passed him, but rather than dive directly beneath him, Kharro exposed his wings.

Distantly, Kenji remembered why. He had no idea where he’d heard it, but he remembered being told that it was the sudden stop at the end of a fall that would instantly kill someone—other than the injuries of slamming against something so hard as concrete. Slowing them down first is a good way to save their life, at least as far as Kenji knew. The information processed through his mind in an instant but time dragged on. He was unable to breathe, as the wind and gravity surged around him.

Suddenly, he slammed against Kharro’s wings and fortunately, they were leathery enough to act as elastic on a trampoline. He bounced off and flew higher into the air and Kenji’s lungs burned for air but he still couldn’t breathe. It took two more times landing on Kharro’s wing before Kenji finally slowed down and stopped. Gasping and panting for air, Kenji crawled on Kharro’s back as he flew back up toward the tower and dove inside.

Mages were sprawled across the floor. Matt lay unconscious next to Excalibur. Kenji leapt off Kharro and grabbed his brother with one hand and Excalibur with the other. Kharro leaned down as much as he could as Kenji helped his brother onto his back. By that time, Matt’s eyes blinked open.

“Lyza? Lyza, where are you?” Kenji called out. Panic and fear settled inside his chest as he looked around the entire bell tower but didn’t see her.

“Mages… One of them took her. I—I couldn’t get to her in time.” Matt’s voice was husky and his eyes narrowed.

Kenji cursed and clenched his fists. “We gotta find her!”

Kharro growled.

“Kenji, we’ll find her, but we have to get out of here before the Mages wake up. Now!” Matt yelled.

Kenji breathed heavily but complied. It wasn’t easy for him to push everything aside like Matt could. As Kharro flew back out the window, all Kenji could think about was Lyza. Where was she? Where did they take her? Would they kill her? What if they couldn’t find her?

Panic turned to desperation and terror at the idea of what could happen if Kenji failed her. For reasons beyond himself, he had no idea what he was going to do without her. If something happened to her… Kenji cringed at the thought. That was the moment he realized one thing that took him by surprise.

Kenji loved her.