Swords & Spells (Book One):The Magic of Emrys

The Beginning of the End (Arthur)

He knew when Kanen's men had begun shouting that it had something to do with Emrys. It always did. Especially when something was going wrong.

Everything in him begged him to run to her, to find her and make sure she was safe. But, hard as it was, he bit back that urge. Emrys had faith in him. He had to have faith in her as well.

"Hold," Arthur whispered, more to himself than the other men. He felt Reuben's hand on his shoulder and took comfort in it. "No one moves until the signal."

They were several minutes behind their plan, but Arthur knew that their best hope was waiting. Morgana's part may have fallen through, but Emrys was out there. And if anyone was going to fix it and make sure his sister was safe, he knew it would be her.

A series of screams broke out, and Arthur knew that the rest of their plan had worked. "Now," he roared, breaking into a run for the center of the village.

He caught the first few men off guard, slicing through them without much trouble. The second batch of men he faced were not as taken by surprise. Fortunately, they weren't any better at fighting than the men he'd faced a few days ago.

As Arthur cut the last of them down, he couldn't help but pause to look around. The villagers actually weren't doing too bad, despite the fact that half of them only had shovels and other farming tools for weapons. Groups of them had even taken to yanking some of Kanen's men off of their horses.

He still didn't see Emrys.

"Arthur," cried Reuben, drawing the prince's attention.

One of the bandits paused in his attack on Arthur to block Reuben's blow. With surprising dexterity, Reuben danced around the bandit and struck the man in his side. He had forgotten his manservant's handiness with a sword.

Reuben turned his back to the prince as two more of Kanen's men rushed toward them. "Are you alright, sire?"

He was more than alright, especially knowing that Reuben was more than capable of watching his back. Sudden realization dawned on Arthur: "You lied to me. You didn't pick up your sword skills from watching me."

He heard Reuben laugh as they both felled their opponent. "I'll admit I'd hoped that you wouldn't piece it together."

In the distance, Arthur caught sight of Hunith as she slammed the hilt of her sword against the neck of her attacker, knocking him to the ground. Though Arthur thought that Reuben resembled their mother most, he couldn't help but see how Emrys reflected her in that moment. "Can't trust anyone in your family to be as they seem," he said, smiling.

"I think," said Reuben as he nodded in a different direction, "the same thing can be said for you and your sister."

Arthur followed his gaze to see Morgana as she tore through several men. She glanced up, panting. When she locked eyes with Arthur, her smile fell.

"She needs help," Reuben said, hurrying toward her.

"No," Arthur realized as his sister frantically began looking around. "She can't find Emrys."

This time, Arthur couldn't help but run, though he didn't know where she was. He hacked through each man who came his way, all the while looking for Emrys. His head pounded, unable to think of anything other than making sure she was okay.

He rounded one of the huts and Arthur paused at the scene in front of him—chaos. This side of the battle was vastly different than the one he'd just left. And it was painfully obvious to Arthur that the people of Ealdor were not doing as well as he'd thought. Regardless of what happened on the other side, it was clear, looking at the state of the fighting on this side, that Ealdor was going to be lost.