Arthur’s brow lifted. “I was with him in Bowman’s Forest only a few weeks ago. I assume he has gone into hiding.”
“We have assumed the same,” Jared said. “At least Devin will never be able to learn his whereabouts from us, even through torture.”
The king took off his formal outer robe and handed it to Merlin. “Speaking of Devin, now that our ceremony is complete, we must make haste.”
“Indeed.” Merlin placed Excalibur and the robe on his chair. “Devin’s traitorous band could attack at any moment. I have arranged for your knights to secretly assemble at Blood Hollow, so I suggest that you leave through your escape route at once to convene with them. Gawain will meet you at the tunnel exit and escort you to the other knights.”
Arthur strapped on his armor and reached for his sword on Merlin’s seat.
Merlin grabbed Arthur’s wrist. “But you must leave Excalibur.”
Arthur pulled away from the prophet’s grip and lifted the sheathed sword in his palms. “Go into battle without the sword?” He strapped the scabbard to the belt on his back. “I should say not!”
“I have more need of it,” Merlin said, holding out his hands. “Devin’s tiny army is counting on surprise to win. When you arrive, your forces will crush him like a shoe on a cockroach. Should you come late, Excalibur is my only hope for survival.”
Arthur placed his hand on Excalibur’s hilt and hesitated. Outside the door the distant sound of clanking steps shattered the evening’s quiet meeting.
“There is no more time,” Merlin urged. “Trust me! Leave Excalibur and fly to Blood Hollow. Gawain will have a sword for you.”
Arthur unfastened the sword from his belt, scabbard and all, and handed it to Merlin. He then scrambled to the secret panel in the corner and shut it behind him.
Merlin picked up Arthur’s robe and helped Jared put it on. “Should I wear the crown?” Jared asked.
Merlin helped him straighten out the sleeves. “No. Your hair is a close enough match, so the robe should be sufficient. Just keep your back to the door. I expect Devin to enter at any moment.” He turned to Irene. “You may face the door and kneel before our ‘king.’ Can you make yourself cry?”
Irene shook her head. “I have not yet learned all the ways of women. I have shed many tears, but I cannot force them.”
“Then try to look sad, as though entreating the king for someone’s life.”
Within seconds a servant came to the throne room’s doorway. “Sir Devin to see His Majesty.”
Merlin nodded to Jared, who spun toward the back of the room. Irene dropped to her knees and extended her folded hands toward him, twisting her face in counterfeit pain. Merlin stepped to the entryway to intercept the quickly marching Devin. “His Majesty has a guest, Sir Devin. May I give him a message for you?”
Devin looked over Merlin’s shoulder. “Is the lady ill? She seems to be having intestinal distress.”
“Not sickness; her entreaty is a private matter. We will be in prayer for her for the next half hour, and then I shall escort His Majesty to his chamber.”
Merlin noted a hint of a smile in Devin’s otherwise stoic expression. Devin bowed and spoke in his most formal and reverent voice. “Please give His Majesty my blessings, and I will spend the entire half hour on my knees as well.” The knight gave Merlin a polite nod. “Good evening to you, Master Merlin.” He left the court with the same quick march that brought him in.
When the door closed, Jared turned around. “Do you think it worked?”
“I think so. A man who is not trustworthy rarely trusts anyone, yet, I believe that our ruse has convinced him that King Arthur is in this room.”
Irene stood and brushed her knees. “Then how soon will he attack?”
“He believes he has a half hour, so I would guess we have only half of that before he strikes.” Merlin pulled Excalibur from its sheath. A blinding beam of light shot from its tip and burned a hole through the ceiling. “I will have to use Excalibur to extinguish the enemy, and in the process, I will conduct my greatest experiment.”
“Experiment?” Jared asked.
Merlin cast his gaze on Jared and Irene. “I have tested the sword at length. Excalibur does not merely cut; it transforms. It changes matter into light energy; it transluminates. If I wield it to kill, its radiance will shatter a man’s bones into shards of flashing luminescence, and his remains will be absorbed into a candle’s breath. And his soul? If it is not somehow trapped on the earth, it will be sent straight to the judgment seat of God.
“Jared,” Merlin continued, “you and Irene must enter the tunnel door for safety. When Excalibur’s power fills the room, all who remain will be transluminated. Although I bear the sword, even I will be changed.”
“Changed into what?” Irene asked.
“As with the rest, my body will likely become light energy, though I think I will survive. Whether I will ever regain a body, I cannot say.”
A sudden clanking of soldiers’ weapons and marching footsteps echoed in the outer hallway. Merlin pushed Jared and Irene toward the corner door. “Go! Go!”
The pair of former dragons hurried across the room and disappeared into the secret passage, drawing the access panel closed behind them. Seconds later, two armed men broke through the main entry door and stretched loaded bowstrings back to their ears. Merlin held Excalibur in both hands, its point straight up. “Barlow and Edward, you should know better than to distrust a prophet of the living God!”
The soldiers raised their forearms to shield their eyes from the blinding light. Six others poured through the door and halted as they beheld the sword.
When a full dozen had arrived, Merlin waved the sword in a great circle. The soldiers seemed rooted to the stone floor, their legs trembling like saplings in a storm’s fury. A single beam from Excalibur’s tip multiplied into hundreds. The beams flashed in all directions until they joined together in a massive curtain of light.
Merlin gazed upward. “Now, my Lord Christ, take me on this great adventure to find the dragons’ messiah.” The moment he waved Excalibur, a luminescent surge washed through the court, and particles of sparkling light buzzed through the traitors. As their bodies melted away, shields and armor clattered to the floor to mark where men had once stood.
The surge splashed back at Merlin. Dazzling light blinded his eyes, a tingling sensation covered his body, and a loud buzzing vibrated in his ears. He floated above the platform, his sense of sight transforming. Somehow everything looked like competing sources of light, some brilliant, some almost dark, and others in between.
Looking at himself, he saw his body as a stream of sparkling light, barely recognizable as a body at all. Other similar streams, maybe a dozen or so, floated around the room.
A human form dashed across the floor of the throne room, its light flickering between bright and dim. It looked like Jared, anxiously searching through something on the floor, apparently the remains of the armor the treacherous soldiers had left behind when they dissolved.
Another man marched into the room, a shadow that emanated no light at all. Merlin willed himself closer and saw the image of Devin outlined on the shadow’s face. Jared’s light shimmered as it hid in the drapes behind the throne.
Devin suddenly leaned over. When he stood again, he held a bright object in his hand, long and sleek. Seconds after Devin picked it up, the object darkened, becoming just a sword-like extension of his shadow.
For a moment, Devin disappeared from the room. Jared’s form emerged again, and he seemed to shout, his voice warped. “Devin, you son of a leprous jackal! You recreant thief, plucking treasures from dead men’s bones! Come back here and fight like a man!”
Devin reappeared, this time with a bright object in front of his chest, some kind of pendant that sparkled against his dark silhouette. Merlin felt drawn to it, as though it pulled his weightless body with a strange, tractive power.