Simon Green - A Hard Day's Knight

“Big deal,” said Alex, his voice steady. “I can do that most mornings. Of course, I am not a morning person.”

“Hush,” said Merlin. “Be still. I have come to the Nightside in search of my errant King. Pretty little Artur. He is mine, and I will have him again. I do enjoy this Nightside ... Love what you’ve done with the place. So delightfully uncomplicated, and unhypocritical when it comes to sin and temptation. I really must come again, when I have the time to properly indulge myself. I do like to play though I’m so big I usually break my toys ...”

“We’re not toys,” I said, fighting to keep my voice calm and casual and not in any way impressed. “You may be the big mover and shaker in your world, but we’ve seen better. And you’re not in your world now.”

“But my father is everywhere, in all worlds,” said Merlin. “And where he is, I have power. Do not think I am weak because I am out of my domain.”

He gestured lazily with one plump hand at Lucy Coltrane, and she cried out in pain as her back arched suddenly. Her breath came fast and panicked, her eyes full of horror. Merlin gestured again, and Lucy’s chest split apart in a flurry of blood and broken bone. Her heart ripped itself out of the great wound in her chest and flew across the intervening space to nestle into Merlin’s waiting hand. Lucy collapsed as all the strength went out of her, blood still spurting from the great wound between her breasts and spraying from her slack mouth with her last few gasps for breath. Betty was there to hold Lucy before she hit the floor, but Lucy was already dead, her wide eyes fixed and staring. Betty lowered her slowly to the blood-slick floor and sat there with her, hugging the dead body to her while she cried silent, angry tears. And Merlin Satanspawn brought the still-beating heart to his mouth and ate it greedily, stuffing the pulsing meat into his mouth. And when he was done, and he’d eaten every last bit of it, he licked all the blood from his fingers like a small child with a treat.

I had to physically stop Suzie from giving him both barrels in the face. I grabbed her arm and held it firmly, pitting all my strength against hers. Even her specially made blessed and cursed bullets wouldn’t touch Merlin Satanspawn. And I wasn’t ready to lose my Suzie the way Betty had lost her Lucy. Suzie stopped fighting me abruptly, her furious gaze still fixed on Merlin. She lowered her shotgun and nodded briefly. Not giving up; just waiting for a better chance. Behind me, I could hear Alex breathing heavily. I knew he had all kinds of weapons and protections stashed away, but I hoped he had more sense than to try to use any of them. He and the Coltranes had been together for years, but this was no time for grand gestures. This was a time for cold thought, and plans, and eventually some very cold revenge, when the opportunity presented itself. Merlin smiled on us all.

“That wasn’t a demonstration of power. That was a little something to get your attention. This ... is the demonstration.”

And Lucy Coltrane sat bolt upright in Betty’s arms, drawing in a deep breath of air. The great wound in her chest was gone, her eyes were wide open, and she grabbed on to Betty with desperate hands as she fought to get her breathing back under control again. She had been dead, and now she was alive again; and Merlin Satanspawn chuckled happily.

“I am my father’s son, inflicted on the world to do his will; and I can do anything the Lamb could do.”

(And I remembered Jerusalem Stark saying that his new allies could bring his dead wife back to life. That he’d seen proof ...)

“What are you doing here?” I said to Merlin. “What do you want with us?”

“This place called to me. My magic tells me that this world’s Merlin spent time here.”

“Yes,” said Alex. “He was buried in the cellars under the bar. But he’s dead and gone now. You missed him.”

“Pity,” said the living Merlin. “I would have enjoyed showing him what he could have become. If only he’d had more ambition.” He considered Alex thoughtfully. “You’re of his line, though the blood has been diluted through many generations. I have no descendents ... I kill them all as soon as they appear. I have no use for ... competition. But, there’s some of me in you, boy. I could just eat you up ...”

I moved quickly forward to place myself between Merlin and Alex, doing my best to meet his terrible gaze with my best hard look.

“Your King Artur isn’t here, and none of us have seen him in ages.”

“Oh, I know that,” said Merlin. “He came to this Nightside against my wishes, and he has never returned. And I can’t have that. Can’t have people thinking they can go against my wishes. My magic tells me you have a gift for finding things, and people, John Taylor. I can see your gift, hiding within you. You only think you know what it is. Use that gift for me, find my missing Artur, and you and your friends can live.”

“If I’m to find him,” I said steadily, “I need to know about him. What is Artur doing here? What is he looking for?”

“A toy, a trinket,” said Merlin. “Something I’d already told him would do him no good.”

“Excalibur,” I said. “He wanted Excalibur, didn’t he?”

Merlin looked at me for a long moment, and I could feel my skin crawl, feel my legs shake. My heart was hammering in my chest. He could kill me in a moment, and we both knew it.

“I want my Artur,” said Merlin. “Find him for me. Or you ... are no use to me.”

“Don’t you threaten him,” Suzie said immediately, her shotgun trained on his face again.

Merlin didn’t even look at her. “Or perhaps I’ll turn your little girlfriend inside out and leave her that way, alive and suffering, forever.”

“Did you know I killed this world’s Merlin?” I said, my voice like a slap across his face. “Did you know I tore out his heart and watched him die by inches?”

“You’re telling the truth,” said the living Merlin. “I can tell. How very amusing. Well, well ... Who knew such a small thing as you could kill a Merlin? But after all, he turned away from real power when he defied our father. I don’t have time for this. Someone else will find my missing King for me; and when Artur is back under my wing again ... I think perhaps I’ll destroy this whole stupid Nightside before I go home again.”

He disappeared abruptly, gone in a moment, taking his iron throne with him. I let my breath out in a long gasp and leaned back against the bar for support. My legs were shaking so badly they could hardly support me. It’s not every day you outbluff the Devil’s only begotten son ... Suzie slipped her shotgun into the sheath on her back and took a long drink from her bottle. Her face was cold and calm as always, her hands entirely steady. Alex was busy pouring himself a large drink and spilling most of it. The sense of evil and oppression was gone, but some harsh sense of it still lingered, like a psychic stain. The great jagged crack in the floor wasn’t there any more—if it ever really had been. Sorcerers deal in illusion as often as not. If only because it costs less magic.

Betty got Lucy back onto her feet and led her away. Lucy’s death and rebirth could have been an illusion, too; but I didn’t think so. The reality of it was still clear in Lucy’s face, in her eyes. She was shaking all over, her hands clasped together on her chest where the wound had been. And this from a woman who’d never backed down from anyone, in all the time I’d known her. Betty looked almost as shocked as Lucy. I had to wonder if either of them would ever get over what had happened.

“I will see that smug bastard hauled down off his long throne, trampled underfoot, and fed to the pigs, for what he did to my girls,” said Alex, in a worryingly matter-of-fact voice. I turned to face him.