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“Arthur?”
I woke up with a start. Guinevere’s pale face shone through the window of the van. It wasn’t quite dark out, but there she was, as beautiful as ever, if a little gaunt. An ethereal glow shone from her luminous skin. She was dressed in a dark purple shirt, a black jacket and black pants. It was so strange to see her wearing modern garb.
“Yeah. I just closed my eyes.”
“We have to go now.”
“But it’s not full dark yet. Shouldn’t we wait?”
She tilted her head down and looked away. “I am not going to turn into a bat, Arthur. I’m fine.” I will not kill you, Arthur.
“I didn’t mean to suggest you would...I was just wondering. Hey! How are you doing that?” I shook my head at her and frowned. “Please stay out of my head, Guinevere.”
“Sorry. It’s a bad habit of mine. A kind of survival instinct I’ve developed over the years. We need to go. I saw Merlin. He came to me in a dream and told me that if we go now, at dusk, Thalia and her children will be weaker.”
“You saw Merlin?” I said as I climbed out of the truck with Excalibur in my hands. I left it wrapped in the blanket to hide its unnatural glow.
“Yes, I did. We have to go...wait! There is someone here. He’s hiding behind that truck, the rusty red one.”
“I’ll check it out.” I removed the blanket from the blade. It hummed Guinevere’s name once. I glanced at her, but she only stared at me. “It calls you.”
“Arthur, the spy. Go see who it is...or should I?”
Shaking my head, I jogged down the empty sidewalk to the truck. Whoever was hiding there wasn’t doing a great job remaining quiet. I could hear the pebbles under his shoes, and he was trying to stifle a cough. “Come out now with your hands where I can see them.” He didn’t move. “Last chance. I have a sword, and I promise you, I know how to use it.”
Dr. Faraday’s head popped up from behind the bed of the truck. “That’s why I’m here, Mr. Ryan. I have to see it. Can’t you understand how historically important a sword of that quality is?”
I should have known. I shook my head again and said, “This is really a bad idea, Faraday.” Guinevere was beside me now.
“Hey, I know you. Guinevere, right? You were at my lecture the other day. You found her, I see.” The sword hummed and repeated her name.
“Yes, I am found.”
“Now, if you would stop following us...”
“Did the sword just say your name, Guinevere? I swear I heard it say your name. How is that possible?” Faraday stepped up on the sidewalk, clearly not going away. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning with his eyes wide and fixed on the sword. Guinevere said nothing at all and merely watched in amusement.
Now would be a good time for some mind-reading, Guin.
He’s harmless, Arthur. An innocent. We cannot hurt him.
“I just want to have a look at the sword, that’s all. I promise I’ll go away. Please, Mr. Ryan. You can’t imagine how exciting this is. The runes are glowing, as if they are responding to something, but what?”
Suddenly, Kay’s voice rang in my head: Never let another man handle your sword, or your wife. But I didn’t for a minute think that John Faraday knew how to handle Excalibur, and I didn’t sense any threat.
“Please,” he said with a nervous smile, “I’ve been waiting all my life to see something like this.”
“Fine, but just a quick look. And then you’ll have to go, Faraday.”
I spun the sword around and offered him the hilt. I didn’t take my hands off the blade though, just in case he did try something stupid. He held it gingerly, awkwardly, as if he was afraid it might burn him. I turned loose of the blade, and a smile crossed his face.
“It’s got some weight to it.”
Suddenly, the blade began to whisper frantically, and it shivered in Faraday’s hands. He gasped, his expression changing from wonder to absolute terror. “Take it!”
I took Excalibur from him. Faraday stepped away, looking like someone who had just seen a ghost. Make that two ghosts.
“Arthur? Guinevere?”
