Excalibur's Seven | ✓ [LGBT]

~ 24 ~

WHEN KIT REALIZED THAT Morgana wasn't with them, it was too late.

"We left him there," he whispered, staring ahead of him, though his eyes saw nothing. "I could've tried to help, but I just left him there."

"Kit, it's not your fault," Selene said between a series of grunts as Giselle tended to the wound in her side. "I would've died without him. He saved me, and he knew the cost."

There were tears welling at the corners of his eyes. All he could hear was the scream of the banshee and the drumming in his chest as he thought about what it meant.

"They're gonna kill him, Selene. He was right about that. They don't care about him." He was pulling at his hair now, doing everything he could to keep himself from crying.

Giselle was just as worried as he was, he could see it in her eyes, but she was keeping her focus on Selene. "I can still feel him. He's not gone yet."

"Maybe they won't even kill him," Eurion reasoned, drawing Kit's focus. "I mean, if the castle thinks we're going to go back for him, they won't kill him until we do."

"But we are going back for him, right?" he asked, eyes searching all of them.

Chalice was the next to speak. "We'll try, Kit. But we need to find the rest of the shards before we can. Excalibur is our best chance at getting him back alive."

"He still has the shard. We can't get Excalibur back even if we got all the others."

The druid swallowed. "I know. We have to go back there anyways, though. There's another shard there, it's been there the whole time. If we can get all the others and then the ones in the castle, we can bring Excalibur back in time to get us out."

Kit hated the idea of leaving Morgana for so long, but he didn't see how he had a choice. They'd have to risk it if they wanted to save the people of Avalon. They mattered the most.

"Okay," he said quietly. "Where are the other shards?"

Chalice pulled the book out. They never once got rid of their satchel, even at the ball. He admired their commitment.

"Apparently one of them went to Fells, but if a shard was there, I would know. It must've been taken somewhere. And there's one in the North, in a tomb."

"I know that place." It was Lionel, and that was the first thing he'd said since they left the castle.

"What place?" Kit asked. "Fells?"

Lionel nodded, eyes focused on the worm he was holding.

Kit and Chalice shared look.

"What was her name?" Chalice asked.

Kit pulled back the memory of the maid's name, scrawled across parchment in Léona's cursive. "Sera Andrea or something."

"Audrea," Chalice said. "That's a Fells name."

"Do you think she took the shard?" he asked. "It's a long shot but maybe she knows something about this. She trusted me with her kid, and the timing doesn't feel like a coincidence."

Chalice shook their head. "I have no idea, but it checks out. You guys were the first outsiders in Fells for years that we know of, the only way the shard could've left the village is if one of the druids took it."

"Hey kid, do you remember where you live? Or lived, before you found us?" Selene asked, already sounding more energized thanks to Giselle.

Lionel dropped the worm, wiping the dirt off on his pants and picking at grass instead. "I live at Aenyf."