Excalibur's Seven - Chapter 31: Chapter 31
You are reading Excalibur's Seven, Chapter 31: Chapter 31. Read more chapters of Excalibur's Seven.
THE PAIN WAS AGONIZING, even after Morgana put a stop to it. Giselle couldn't feel her hand anymore, but even that didn't compare to the pain she felt when she looked at her friend. The guards listened to him. They wouldn't listen to him unless they trusted him, so what did he do?
From beneath his high collar, Giselle could see angry red skin at his neck, red like the iron burn on her wrist. She had enough sense to know he'd be tortured, but she didn't think they'd choke him with iron, perhaps the cruellest way to hurt a faery. It weakened everything about them, right down to their magic.
"Mog, please," she whispered, voice crumbling as guards yanked her to her feet. They were far more gentle with her than they were with everyone else, but even she felt their vicious grips on her body.
Her eyes searched Morgana's, for any sign that he was playing a trick. Even just a glint in his eyes to give her a sign that maybe he had a plan, that he was going to get them out of this.
There was nothing in those cold baby blues.
"Mog," she whimpered again as the guards dragged her past him. He didn't even look at her.
This was almost worse than the pain she felt when they left him behind to die. Because he did die, but his body was still walking the halls as a traitor, the face she loved so much now the face of a man she didn't know.
The King was no less smug than Giselle expected him to be; an old, cruel man, the lines on his face as deep as his corruption. She didn't know much of his transgressions, but she could see what a wicked king he was. And yet somehow, he wasn't as dark as she thought he would be.
She let out a grunt as she was thrown to the ground violently enough to launch the crown from her forehead. Her usually kind eyes were full of hate as she stared up at the King. He did something to her Morgana, but she didn't know what.
"You were fools to come here just for him," the King said.
"We came here for more than that ungrateful bastard," Selene spat. "You know that, I'm sure."
The King chuckled. "A few of you don't seem to know that, though. Do you, Kristofer?"
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Kit gritted. There was a pain in his voice Giselle couldn't comprehend, an impossibly human emotion in his wild eyes.
"You're fond of him," he crowed. "You had such a lovely woman years ago, it's a shame you let her go and settled for an Unseelie."
"I don't like him, he's a traitor and a morally incompetent asshole. He's intolerable even for a pixie." It was unlike Kit to be so cruel, eyes hard on Morgana's unmoving face. Anyone else wouldn't be able to see the twitch in his lip, know what it meant, but Giselle knew every part of him.
"If you hate him so much, why did you stay?" King Wylan pressed on. "Why did you betray your kingdom? Your duties? Your own father?"
"You are not my father!" Kit cried, silencing the room. The tension settled over them all as the King clenched his jaw, as though he was shocked the Prince spoke to him like that.
It was quiet until Kit spoke again.
"You are not my father, and you never were. And if you wanted me to stay, if you gave a damn about my duties, you would have fucking treated me like you did," he continued on. "You never cared. You never wanted me to be a Prince, you never wanted to give me any duties other than keeping quiet and being your complacent prisoner."
"If you wanted to be treated like a Prince, you should have been better!" the King bellowed. "You would have been more obedient, more diplomatic, a better listener like your brother. But you are distracted, you are forgetful, you cannot hold still. You are impolite, loud, arrogant, impulsive. You're not even the son of royal blood."
"I cannot help that."
"Then you cannot help being unworthy!" Wylan shouted.
Kit's eyes welled with tears.
"My mother was worthy, that should've been enough," he whispered.
"Your mother was weak."
Kit shot to his feet, ignoring the swords pointed his way. "You do not speak of her like that."
"Who are you to tell me how to speak of my own dead wife? I am your King, for God's sake."
"Not anymore," Kit laughed, but there was nothing to laugh about. "You exiled me, cast me out, put a reward to my name. You are no longer my King, I am just your prisoner. You cannot make me do anything, you'll kill me anyways."
"This could have been avoided if you didn't drag the Table's finest warrior and the most qualified Mage to chase a fairytale with pixies," he grated. Clearly, their whole venture had inconvenienced him more than he wanted to let on.
Giselle looked to Chalice, observing a thoughtful look on their face.
"If you thought I was the finest Knight at the Table you would've put me above Connor," Selene said. "But he's daddy's boy, is he not? There's no way you wouldn't give him what he wanted, even if he was hardly good enough to be on the Table."
For the first time since they got there, Connor spoke up, rising to his feet in protest. "I worked just as hard as you to get where I was, you're just--"
"Connor, stand down," Wylan bellowed. The Prince listened, but Selene didn't.
"You didn't work half as hard as me. If I was only as good as you, no one would ever consider me good enough for the Table. I had to be twice as good as your best man, and we all know damn well that I am," Selene said, and Giselle couldn't look away from her.
Selene was powerful, and that scared people. Her chains were tighter, more swords were pointed at her in warning. She could take out half this room by herself if she wanted to, Giselle was certain. Morgana was against them now, though, and she wasn't so sure he would be easy to defeat in full health, even for Selene.
Morgana possessed a raw power unlike any Giselle had ever seen. Their friendship began because she was afraid of being on his bad side, only to learn how unaware he was of this power. He didn't know how to wield it, always thought he was too weak to be any good. But if he understood his full potential, Giselle knew he'd be unstoppable.
Giselle realized then, in the midst of her thoughts, that Eurion was nowhere to be seen. She had no idea where she'd snuck off to.
"Enough of this nonsense," Wylan said, rising to his feet. "I didn't bring you all here to talk."
The room grew still.
"By the power vested in me by blood and by God, I hereby sentence Prince Kristofer Caswyn Gareth Olivier of Avalon, his son, Lady Selene O'Leary of Avalon, Chalice Daines of Fells, and Princess Giselle, a traitor on this land, to a public execution by hanging."
She knew it was coming, but Giselle felt a pit opening at the base of her stomach. She looked to Morgana, who's jaw was tense, but he said nothing.
"Morgana, you can't let him do this."
"He's with me now, Your Highness," said the King. "He understands the need to sacrifice you for the greater good of the world."
She looked at her friend with wide eyes, but he was ignoring her gaze.
A guard gripped her arm to pull her up, just as she caught another guard moving. A sword swung and Giselle was free.
Chaos erupted then, as one guard fought off the rest. Giselle knew those movements, that speed, that agility, those quick strikes of a sword.
Eurion.
"I have the shard!" the thief cried over the noise. "All we need is Morgana's!"
Giselle's eyes landed on the Unseelie, and he looked back at her with more emotion now. But this time, it was anger.
He shot away, and Giselle picked up a staff from a downed knight, hitting away everyone that got in her way as she chased him down.
"Morgana, this isn't you," she said as she caught up to him, gripping his arm.
He swung, but she dodged it.
"You don't know what I saw," he said, dodging a swing of Giselle's staff.
"What do you mean?"
They were fighting fully now, in a corner away from the chaos of everyone else.
"It's not what you think, Giselle," he said. "This whole mission, Camelot, everything. Do you know what Camelot did?"
In a distracted moment of confusion, Morgana knocked her down to one knee.
"Mog, please, we can talk about this, but I need you to come back to us," she begged, rolling away from an attack.
"I can't go back with them," he said. "They're never gonna understand. A human couldn't understand."
"Give them a chance."
"I know them, Giselle. Please, I need you to understand--"
She didn't let him finish. In his defensiveness, she pulled away his armband, letting the shard fall to the floor. They dove for it at the same time, but Giselle caught it first.
"Giselle, if you care about our people, you won't give him the shard," he said.
"But you won't tell me why it's so bad," she said. "I have to believe this is the right choice."
Right as she turned to escape Morgana and return the shard, she ran right into the head of a spear, driven right into her stomach.
Morgana cried out, but Giselle just stood in shock, staring down at the blood blossoming rapidly over the soft pink tulle of her dress.
She didn't know how to react until the Knight's head went flying off to Selene's blade.
"Giselle, no!" she cried, catching the princess in her arms.
Things were getting blurry. "I'll be fine," she slurred. She pried open Selene's hand, placing the shard in her palm. "Give this to Kit."
"But--"
"Now. I'll be okay."
Selene clearly hesitated, but she did as she was told, letting Giselle fall to the ground to bleed. Everything was spinning, but she saw enough to know there were several guards coming her way.
They all fell before they could reach her, and she realized it was Morgana keeping her safe. He didn't protect anyone else, even as Eurion took a sword to the shoulder and Chalice's eye was replaced by gushing red. They all kept fighting, but it was all Giselle could do to stay awake.
She placed a hand on her stomach, trusting in Morgana's anger long enough to stitch together her stomach with a chant. It was agonizing, and she couldn't tell if she was screaming or not over the noise.
Her vision was clearing up, but she was weak now, struggling to get to her feet and eventually giving up.
From where she sat on the ground, she could see the shards laying out on the ground. The others managed to keep Kit and Lionel safe in a circle, and Giselle could only hope they'd keep it up long enough for them to bring back the sword.
She used all the strength she had left to keep the knights at bay with her magic, chanting beneath her breath, letting the world turn into water around her.
Kit was on his knees before the shards, trying to piece them together. Giselle could see his frustration as the world got slow. Her heart stopped when a sword caught Selene's side, another nicking her throat.
Just a little longer.
She was losing it now. She could hear Morgana's voice calling to her, begging her to stay awake, but she was slipping.
Before the world went black and she collapsed to the stone floor, she heard Connor's voice, full of smug pride, but she didn't know what he was saying. Somehow, she knew it was the last thing any of them wanted to hear.
From beneath his high collar, Giselle could see angry red skin at his neck, red like the iron burn on her wrist. She had enough sense to know he'd be tortured, but she didn't think they'd choke him with iron, perhaps the cruellest way to hurt a faery. It weakened everything about them, right down to their magic.
"Mog, please," she whispered, voice crumbling as guards yanked her to her feet. They were far more gentle with her than they were with everyone else, but even she felt their vicious grips on her body.
Her eyes searched Morgana's, for any sign that he was playing a trick. Even just a glint in his eyes to give her a sign that maybe he had a plan, that he was going to get them out of this.
There was nothing in those cold baby blues.
"Mog," she whimpered again as the guards dragged her past him. He didn't even look at her.
This was almost worse than the pain she felt when they left him behind to die. Because he did die, but his body was still walking the halls as a traitor, the face she loved so much now the face of a man she didn't know.
The King was no less smug than Giselle expected him to be; an old, cruel man, the lines on his face as deep as his corruption. She didn't know much of his transgressions, but she could see what a wicked king he was. And yet somehow, he wasn't as dark as she thought he would be.
She let out a grunt as she was thrown to the ground violently enough to launch the crown from her forehead. Her usually kind eyes were full of hate as she stared up at the King. He did something to her Morgana, but she didn't know what.
"You were fools to come here just for him," the King said.
"We came here for more than that ungrateful bastard," Selene spat. "You know that, I'm sure."
The King chuckled. "A few of you don't seem to know that, though. Do you, Kristofer?"
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Kit gritted. There was a pain in his voice Giselle couldn't comprehend, an impossibly human emotion in his wild eyes.
"You're fond of him," he crowed. "You had such a lovely woman years ago, it's a shame you let her go and settled for an Unseelie."
"I don't like him, he's a traitor and a morally incompetent asshole. He's intolerable even for a pixie." It was unlike Kit to be so cruel, eyes hard on Morgana's unmoving face. Anyone else wouldn't be able to see the twitch in his lip, know what it meant, but Giselle knew every part of him.
"If you hate him so much, why did you stay?" King Wylan pressed on. "Why did you betray your kingdom? Your duties? Your own father?"
"You are not my father!" Kit cried, silencing the room. The tension settled over them all as the King clenched his jaw, as though he was shocked the Prince spoke to him like that.
It was quiet until Kit spoke again.
"You are not my father, and you never were. And if you wanted me to stay, if you gave a damn about my duties, you would have fucking treated me like you did," he continued on. "You never cared. You never wanted me to be a Prince, you never wanted to give me any duties other than keeping quiet and being your complacent prisoner."
"If you wanted to be treated like a Prince, you should have been better!" the King bellowed. "You would have been more obedient, more diplomatic, a better listener like your brother. But you are distracted, you are forgetful, you cannot hold still. You are impolite, loud, arrogant, impulsive. You're not even the son of royal blood."
"I cannot help that."
"Then you cannot help being unworthy!" Wylan shouted.
Kit's eyes welled with tears.
"My mother was worthy, that should've been enough," he whispered.
"Your mother was weak."
Kit shot to his feet, ignoring the swords pointed his way. "You do not speak of her like that."
"Who are you to tell me how to speak of my own dead wife? I am your King, for God's sake."
"Not anymore," Kit laughed, but there was nothing to laugh about. "You exiled me, cast me out, put a reward to my name. You are no longer my King, I am just your prisoner. You cannot make me do anything, you'll kill me anyways."
"This could have been avoided if you didn't drag the Table's finest warrior and the most qualified Mage to chase a fairytale with pixies," he grated. Clearly, their whole venture had inconvenienced him more than he wanted to let on.
Giselle looked to Chalice, observing a thoughtful look on their face.
"If you thought I was the finest Knight at the Table you would've put me above Connor," Selene said. "But he's daddy's boy, is he not? There's no way you wouldn't give him what he wanted, even if he was hardly good enough to be on the Table."
For the first time since they got there, Connor spoke up, rising to his feet in protest. "I worked just as hard as you to get where I was, you're just--"
"Connor, stand down," Wylan bellowed. The Prince listened, but Selene didn't.
"You didn't work half as hard as me. If I was only as good as you, no one would ever consider me good enough for the Table. I had to be twice as good as your best man, and we all know damn well that I am," Selene said, and Giselle couldn't look away from her.
Selene was powerful, and that scared people. Her chains were tighter, more swords were pointed at her in warning. She could take out half this room by herself if she wanted to, Giselle was certain. Morgana was against them now, though, and she wasn't so sure he would be easy to defeat in full health, even for Selene.
Morgana possessed a raw power unlike any Giselle had ever seen. Their friendship began because she was afraid of being on his bad side, only to learn how unaware he was of this power. He didn't know how to wield it, always thought he was too weak to be any good. But if he understood his full potential, Giselle knew he'd be unstoppable.
Giselle realized then, in the midst of her thoughts, that Eurion was nowhere to be seen. She had no idea where she'd snuck off to.
"Enough of this nonsense," Wylan said, rising to his feet. "I didn't bring you all here to talk."
The room grew still.
"By the power vested in me by blood and by God, I hereby sentence Prince Kristofer Caswyn Gareth Olivier of Avalon, his son, Lady Selene O'Leary of Avalon, Chalice Daines of Fells, and Princess Giselle, a traitor on this land, to a public execution by hanging."
She knew it was coming, but Giselle felt a pit opening at the base of her stomach. She looked to Morgana, who's jaw was tense, but he said nothing.
"Morgana, you can't let him do this."
"He's with me now, Your Highness," said the King. "He understands the need to sacrifice you for the greater good of the world."
She looked at her friend with wide eyes, but he was ignoring her gaze.
A guard gripped her arm to pull her up, just as she caught another guard moving. A sword swung and Giselle was free.
Chaos erupted then, as one guard fought off the rest. Giselle knew those movements, that speed, that agility, those quick strikes of a sword.
Eurion.
"I have the shard!" the thief cried over the noise. "All we need is Morgana's!"
Giselle's eyes landed on the Unseelie, and he looked back at her with more emotion now. But this time, it was anger.
He shot away, and Giselle picked up a staff from a downed knight, hitting away everyone that got in her way as she chased him down.
"Morgana, this isn't you," she said as she caught up to him, gripping his arm.
He swung, but she dodged it.
"You don't know what I saw," he said, dodging a swing of Giselle's staff.
"What do you mean?"
They were fighting fully now, in a corner away from the chaos of everyone else.
"It's not what you think, Giselle," he said. "This whole mission, Camelot, everything. Do you know what Camelot did?"
In a distracted moment of confusion, Morgana knocked her down to one knee.
"Mog, please, we can talk about this, but I need you to come back to us," she begged, rolling away from an attack.
"I can't go back with them," he said. "They're never gonna understand. A human couldn't understand."
"Give them a chance."
"I know them, Giselle. Please, I need you to understand--"
She didn't let him finish. In his defensiveness, she pulled away his armband, letting the shard fall to the floor. They dove for it at the same time, but Giselle caught it first.
"Giselle, if you care about our people, you won't give him the shard," he said.
"But you won't tell me why it's so bad," she said. "I have to believe this is the right choice."
Right as she turned to escape Morgana and return the shard, she ran right into the head of a spear, driven right into her stomach.
Morgana cried out, but Giselle just stood in shock, staring down at the blood blossoming rapidly over the soft pink tulle of her dress.
She didn't know how to react until the Knight's head went flying off to Selene's blade.
"Giselle, no!" she cried, catching the princess in her arms.
Things were getting blurry. "I'll be fine," she slurred. She pried open Selene's hand, placing the shard in her palm. "Give this to Kit."
"But--"
"Now. I'll be okay."
Selene clearly hesitated, but she did as she was told, letting Giselle fall to the ground to bleed. Everything was spinning, but she saw enough to know there were several guards coming her way.
They all fell before they could reach her, and she realized it was Morgana keeping her safe. He didn't protect anyone else, even as Eurion took a sword to the shoulder and Chalice's eye was replaced by gushing red. They all kept fighting, but it was all Giselle could do to stay awake.
She placed a hand on her stomach, trusting in Morgana's anger long enough to stitch together her stomach with a chant. It was agonizing, and she couldn't tell if she was screaming or not over the noise.
Her vision was clearing up, but she was weak now, struggling to get to her feet and eventually giving up.
From where she sat on the ground, she could see the shards laying out on the ground. The others managed to keep Kit and Lionel safe in a circle, and Giselle could only hope they'd keep it up long enough for them to bring back the sword.
She used all the strength she had left to keep the knights at bay with her magic, chanting beneath her breath, letting the world turn into water around her.
Kit was on his knees before the shards, trying to piece them together. Giselle could see his frustration as the world got slow. Her heart stopped when a sword caught Selene's side, another nicking her throat.
Just a little longer.
She was losing it now. She could hear Morgana's voice calling to her, begging her to stay awake, but she was slipping.
Before the world went black and she collapsed to the stone floor, she heard Connor's voice, full of smug pride, but she didn't know what he was saying. Somehow, she knew it was the last thing any of them wanted to hear.
End of Excalibur's Seven Chapter 31. Continue reading Chapter 32 or return to Excalibur's Seven book page.