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A chill entered Tom’s heart as he looked up to see a vast, winged figure fly over the hall.
The black shape sped towards them like an arrow, growing in size the closer she came, until the Queen landed with a shake of her immense wings in the centre of the throne room, oblivious to the destruction around her.
Tom froze, wondering what to do. If he ran towards Finnlugh, he risked being seen by the Queen, but without the Jewel, Finnlugh couldn’t defeat his brother.
The moonlight cast the Queen’s features into sharp lines. Her eyes were black beads set within a long oval face and framed by straight, black hair that swept past her shoulders and down her back. She was semi-human in form, her legs ending in talons that clattered on the floor, and her arms were at her side, a cruel jagged knife in one hand. Wings spread from either shoulder, spanning at least five metres, raising and flexing as she strode past her shattered throne.
“Brenna,” she rasped, her voice cruel and hard, “it’s been too long. I’m so glad you’re back. I’ve been searching for you, and the others. They think they can hide from me, but they can’t hide forever. Come into the light, I want to see you.”
Tom watched with horror as Brenna moved forward from where she had been sheltering at the side of the throne room, as if under a spell. He willed her to run, but although her feet dragged and she clenched her fists, she was drawn irresistibly onwards. Tom looked beyond her, trying to see the others, and hoping that Woodsmoke or Arthur would intervene, but wherever they were, they were hidden in deep shadow, the whirling stones helping to hide them. Tom could only hope that they were waiting for the perfect moment. It was likely Finnlugh hadn’t even noticed she’d arrived. He and his brother were still fighting, trading blow for blow.
Brenna stepped out of the shadows of the pillars and into a bright patch of moonlight. She looked up at the Queen, her face etched with fury and fear.
“Did you really think you could come here, and that I would allow you to leave?” The Queen barked out a laugh. “I don’t know if you are brave or incredibly foolish.”
“Someone reminded me that it was about time that I put a stop to your madness, and he was right. I shouldn’t have waited so long.”
“But you did, you foolish girl! You’re too late now.” She looked beyond Brenna to the fighting brothers. “I see the Prince has finally found his brother. Good. I need him to finally control the Starlight Jewel. It will be mine before the night’s end, and my power will become absolute.” She turned slowly, peering into the shadows, and Tom flattened himself against the ground, hoping she wouldn’t see him, but he felt her gaze pierce him like fire, before she turned to Brenna again. “You’ve brought friends, but they will be of no use. I will kill all of them when I have finished with you. Unless,” she smiled, “maybe I should kill one now as a lesson in why you shouldn’t betray me! Perhaps the one who currently has the Jewel?”
Tom froze, his heart pounding in his chest, and once again he felt the Queen’s gaze settle on him and the Jewel, which pulsed in his hand.
Brenna ignored the threat, drawing the Queen’s attention back. “You’ve done enough killing!” Her voice was steady, despite her fear. “Did you do all this? Did you kill your own people? Your family?”
The Queen stepped closer to Brenna, and with a predatory prowl started to circle around her. “They betrayed me! They refused to do as I asked and then tried to depose me. How could I tolerate that?” Her voice rose higher as her anger increased. “Then they abandoned me and the palace, fleeing to the forest. They left me. Me, their Queen!” She paused and leaned into Brenna’s face, her voice now low and dangerous, “And you. You left me years ago, without asking permission.”
Brenna lifted her chin, returning the Queen’s stare. “You betrayed me, remember? You killed my parents.”
The Queen lifted her long, cruel blade and ran it along Brenna’s cheek, and a bright line of blood welled up in its wake. “It was a fitting punishment for their crimes. Treason is an ugly thing.”
Arthur remained in the shadows, but his voice rang out above the noise that filled the throne room. “And you know all about treason, don’t you?”
The Queen turned abruptly, trying to find the source of the voice. “Who is that?”
“You don’t recognise me? I’m devastated. I know you. I would recognise that voice anywhere.”
She paused, bewildered. “I know who you sound like, but you can’t possibly be...”
Arthur had circled behind her, and he called out, “Oh, but I am.”
She whirled around in an effort to see him. “But you are dead. You fell in battle.”
“As should you be, Morgan. You’ve lived well beyond your lifespan.”
Tom jolted as he suddenly realised who Queen Gavina really was. Morgan le Fay, King Arthur’s half-sister.
Morgan didn’t seem to care, and she gave a cackling laugh. “Arthur! As if my day couldn’t get any better! My half-brother, the apple of my mother’s eye, arrives here in my palace!” And then she became deadly serious and her voice thundered across the hall. “How are you here?”
“Merlin’s gift, remember? Vivian has brought me back to deal with you.”
“That interfering witch! Always messing with things she shouldn’t. Just like Merlin!”
“You don’t change, do you?” He goaded her, still out of sight. “You’re still the selfish, manipulative woman you always were, grubby in your need for power.”
“Ha! Says the man who was given power at the moment of his birth!” The Queen had left Brenna’s side, and now prowled the hall, looking for Arthur. “For a woman, power does not come so easily. I had to fight for everything! But this world offers many benefits. Others came looking for me after your death, so I made the crossing permanently, to my other home.”
“So, while I have been sleeping,” he said, as he continued to stalk in the blackest shadows, “you have been meddling and destroying—again.”
Her claws clattered on the stone as she stepped towards his voice. “I was going to live quietly here in the forest, but...you know me, Arthur.”
Tom glanced between the Queen and the fighting Prince and decided now was his chance to move. He inched down the hall, his heart in his throat, and his hand clasping the Jewel, with half an eye on Morgan and Arthur.
Arthur continued to goad Morgan. “Yes, I do. Unfortunately. You look different. What happened?”
She flexed her wings self-consciously, and for a second Tom sensed regret in her tone. “I had hoped my change in appearance would help me fit in, but things were not as I intended. Magic can be tricky.” She tilted her head to one side and looked across to where Prince Finnlugh and the Duke were now fighting with swords, still taunting each other, and then glanced at Brenna, immobile in the centre of the throne room.
“I think you’ve done enough damage here.” Arthur stepped out of the shadows, unexpectedly close to the Queen, and with a flash, plunged Excalibur deep into her side.
She screeched and moved swiftly, hurling Arthur backwards with her wing. “You aren’t stronger than me anymore, Arthur,” she said, laughing. “Although Vivian obviously thinks so.”
With barely a pause, Arthur rolled forward, slashing Excalibur towards her legs. Taking advantage of the distraction, Woodsmoke released a volley of arrows, and the two remaining guards rushed in with their swords raised. Beansprout ran forward to try and pull Brenna back to safety. Most of the arrows bounced off the Queen’s wings and onto the floor. One struck deep, but didn’t slow her down. As the guards stepped within her reach, she slashed at one with her jagged knife and smashed the other with a powerful sweep of a wing. The first guard collapsed in a pool of blood and the other was swept over the parapet, into the void below. As if to taunt them, she then rose effortlessly out of reach, a biting wind buffeting Tom where he sheltered in the shale. The wound in her side poured with blood, but it didn’t seem to be holding her back.
The Queen landed a short distance away, calling out, “Try as hard as you like, you can’t save Brenna!” She glared maliciously at Beansprout, and a blast of magic sent her crashing back into the wall, where she collapsed in a heap. Then Brenna screamed and fell to her knees, her shoulders beginning to tear as wings forced their way out.
Tom paused, debating what he could do to distract her. He could make out Morgan’s sharp, cruel features and powerful form, and her evil spirit seemed to fill the air. Should he rush at her? Attack her from behind and try to stab her with his sword? But if she took the Jewel from him in the struggle, all would be lost.
Arrows flew through the air again, but the Queen used her wings like a shield, and they fell around her, clattering on the floor. Brenna continued her terrifying screams as Arthur ran towards the Queen, his sword raised. But with a wave of her hand, the air around him seemed to solidify, and he stopped as if frozen in place.
The Queen turned back to Brenna. “I shall put you on these walls—a fine decoration for my hall. And then I shall put Arthur next to you.”
Tom couldn’t let that happen, but the Queen was so powerful... What could he possibly do? As water lapped gently in front of him, he remembered the small shell the Emperor had pressed on him before leaving. He pulled it from his pocket and tried to remember what he was supposed do with it. Something about throwing it in water during times of trouble? That seemed too easy. But with Brenna now writhing on the floor and the Queen advancing, he needed to act, not doubt himself.
Tom threw the shell into the pool, and it landed with a splash. The ripples spread outwards, gaining in height and intensity until they broke across the floor, and then the water started to froth and boil. The Queen hesitated, looking confused. As she paused, thick grasping tentacles whipped upwards out of the pool, followed by a large, horny head covered in dozens of round, flat eyes. The tentacles grabbed the Queen, enveloping her in their suckered grasp. She screeched and tried to pull free, but the beast had already crushed her wings, and although she tried to stab the creature, she failed, and Tom heard her wings tear from her body as she struggled.
Brenna had now collapsed, seemingly unconscious, and Woodsmoke took advantage of the Queen’s immobility and raced to Brenna’s side, picked her up, and ran to the door. Arthur was released from the spell, and he ran at the Queen, dexterously avoiding the lashing tentacles, and inflicting as many injuries as he could. But incredibly, the wounded Queen seemed to be freeing herself. Arthur was suddenly caught by a flailing tentacle, and thrown against the wall opposite Tom. They could only watch in horror as the Queen wrestled her captor with increasing strength.
Tom knew he had to get to Prince Finnlugh. He staggered to his feet, wondering how he was going to get the Jewel to him as his attention was so fully focused on the Duke. He shouted, caution suddenly abandoned, “Finnlugh! We need you!”
Finnlugh glanced at Tom, and then behind him, fully focussing on the other fight with the Queen. A new determination crossed his face, and he wrestled the Duke to the ground and extended his right hand. The wind that whirled around them meant that Tom couldn’t get any closer, so he threw the Jewel towards Finnlugh’s outstretched hand, hoping it would find its way to him through the maelstrom. Finnlugh’s break in concentration caused the Duke to push back, and he regained his feet as the Prince staggered.
But as if the Jewel had been summoned to Finnlugh, it snapped into his hand with a sound like a thunderclap.
The Duke howled, “No!”
“I told you I would find you and take back my Jewel!” Prince Finnlugh shouted. “Surrender to me while you can.”
“Never—you waste your power. It is pointless for you to have it!”
The Duke ran at Finnlugh, but the Jewel pulsed with power, and the Prince blasted a powerful surge of energy at him, sending him crashing into the Queen and the writhing sea creature. A tentacle caught the Duke, wrapping around him and squeezing him tight.
Finnlugh advanced towards them, and Tom recognised the malevolent grin he had seen the night at the Under-Palace. He raised his hand and released the power of the Jewel. Its light grew and expanded, and Prince Finnlugh grew with it until he was as tall as the pillars, blazing with an unearthly brilliance.
“Hold on tight!” Finnlugh shouted as lightning whipped from the Jewel and shot across the hall.
With an immense crack, a huge rent opened in the sky above the throne room. Tom felt as if he’d been plunged into the centre of the universe. He could see galaxies and planets swirling in reds, greens, and blues, and could almost taste the cosmic dust that glittered in swathes in the vastness of space. Then, with a stab of fear, he realised he couldn’t breathe. His lungs heaved and he started to rise into the air. He lunged at the closest pillar and gripped tightly, willing himself not to pass out, and he saw Arthur do the same.
The tentacled creature was still wrapped tightly around the Queen and the Duke, and both struggled with increasing terror, but together they rose into the air, and trapped in furious battle, were sucked into the immensity of the universe. Light seemed to be leaking from their every pore, and Tom’s last glimpse of the Queen was of one wing breaking free, every tiny feather illuminated by the light beyond it. There was a roar and a shriek, and then utter silence. The night sky returned to normal, and Tom could breathe again.
Tom released the pillar and slumped back to the floor, watching as Finnlugh slowly shrank and collapsed.
It was over; the Queen and the Duke had gone.
But what about Beansprout, Woodsmoke, and Brenna? How were they? Tom was about to launch himself to his feet when he saw the doors to the throne room open, Woodsmoke peering through. “All right in there?”
“Just about,” Tom said. “Where’s Beansprout?”
“She’s with us and she’s fine, we all are.”
Tom slumped back, wondering if any of them would ever be really all right ever again.
