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The tide of demons filled the southern balcony. Then, as if on cue, their ranks parted and Drewitt appeared at the open gate. Behind him, Lucius, still bound in chains, levitated three feet off the ground and followed the summoner.
Lucius’s body was limp, but I’d expected him to have been torn apart. Perhaps Drewitt was still hoping to use him as leverage.
Part of me was glad the bridges were out. At least Drewitt still had to contend with the maze like the rest of us. In the race for the Grail, he had fallen miles behind us, but even now, we too were falling behind the others and could ill afford the distraction.
Still, I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I knew better than to count the summoner out.
He strode to the edge of the balcony and surveyed the maze. Then he pointed at the sanctum and tiny oily black demons poured over the edge of the platform and into the labyrinth. Satisfied that his orders were being obeyed, Drewitt sat cross-legged on the edge of the platform and raised his hands.
“That can’t be good,” Dizzy muttered. “Want me to go deal with him? He doesn’t seem to have bothered with his shield this time.”
Clearly, she wanted some payback, but we couldn’t afford the distraction.
“Which means he thinks he doesn’t need it,” Murdoch replied. “We must get to the Grail, and you can’t fly, not with that barrier up.”
“Fine.” Dizzy sighed with an air of exasperation.
Lucius’s chained form floated over Drewitt’s head and out over the chasm itself. He steadily rose until he hovered toward the temple summit.
“Go,” I shouted, a sickening feeling settling in my stomach. I didn’t want to still be here when the summoner’s plan bore fruit.
“What about him?” Lara asked, flicking her thumb towards Lucius’s floating form.
“One problem at a time,” I replied, my gaze settling on the Grail.
We raced along the golden pathways. The oppressive heat from the lake of fire beneath us had me sweating like a pig on a spit. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the flames would periodically flare up, rising five feet into the air in a column of heat that could melt flesh from bones.
Across the sanctum, the Inquisition were spreading out. Some of their number, including the priest we’d met earlier, were making their way into the maze. More of their number were fanning out around the sanctum’s perimeter. It took me only a moment to realize what they were doing.
“They’re spreading out to cut off our escape,” I called to Murdoch. “If we want to get the Grail out of here safely, we’re going to have to fight our way free.”
“Leave that to me,” Murdoch replied, pointing to Knight. “If they reach the Grail first, the Inquisition will be the least of our problems.”
Knight and his bodyguards charged along the snaking paths toward the Grail. They were close enough now for me to make out the beads of perspiration running down the crime lord’s face.
“Come on, Knight,” I called. “Aren’t you worried you’ll burst into flames if you touch the Grail?”
Edward Knight pulled off his fedora and ran his hand along his sweat-streaked scalp.
“I don’t understand you, Seth. Why are you so afraid of power? You were born a wizard with every advantage one could possibly have, and instead of building a dynasty that could stand forever, you skulk about in tombs living a life of mediocrity. Why are you even here? Eternal life would be wasted on you.”
“The Grail isn’t a tool, Knight,” I called back.
I had seen what he’d done with the Bracers of Ares. He’d won them off my efforts at the Trial and used them to carve a bloody path through all who had opposed him. There was no world in which he could be permitted to reach the Grail first.
“History is written by the victors.” Knight chuckled, pushing forward.
We were getting closer to the Grail now, and the route to the sanctum’s center was growing more apparent by the moment. So was my mistake. The road we were on would take us within twenty feet of the Grail. Unfortunately, it was a dead end and fifteen of those feet were a lake of fire separating us from our goal.
I’d chosen the wrong path.
Glancing at Knight, I realized the path he was racing along doubled back in a hairpin turn before running clear to the Grail. Without the Behemoth to harry his efforts, he’d charted the perfect course through the maze.
We were never going to get there before him.
I slowed down as I tried to find another path but going back the way we’d come was just going to take even longer.
“It’s a dead end,” Lara whispered.
“I know,” I replied, slowing to a halt. I couldn’t believe we’d come this far only to run into a dead end here, less than forty feet from the Grail.
As Knight raced past us heading for the hairpin turn, his laugh echoed through the sanctum. “Good hustle, Seth. Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you.”
Murdoch’s face fell as he realized the futility of our situation.
I glanced at the lake of fire, and the Grail reflecting its glow in its polished silver surface. The lake was at least fifteen feet wide, maybe more. Looking down at my high tops, I knew I didn’t have any other choice.
“Murdoch, is there anything else I need to know about the Grail?”
He looked up, his eyes meeting mine. “What? Seth, no. You can’t make that. Not on your best day.”
“We don’t really have a choice, now do we?” I replied. “It’s try, or Knight gets it.”
“Don’t you dare.” Lara put her hand on my arm.
“You’re sure that’s the Grail?” I asked Murdoch. “Because if it’s not, I’m as good as dead.”
“I’m positive,” Murdoch replied. “I wouldn’t have brought you here if it wasn’t.”
“How can you be sure?” Dizzy replied. “Maybe whoever gave it to the Circle was pulling your leg. Seth could be risking his life for nothing.”
Knight rounded the hairpin and started down the final length of path.
Murdoch’s eyes met mine.
“Dizzy has a point, Murdoch. How can you be sure?”
“Because I was there,” he replied softly.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
“There, where?” Lara asked.
“Not where—when,” Murdoch replied, a tear running down his face. “When it became the Holy Grail.”
“But that would mean...” Dizzy’s voice trailed off.
In an instant of crystal clarity, I understood everything my friend had ever said to me. I understood how he’d survived being shot down in the desert, and how he’d lived through the priestess of Hera at Delphi. I realized that what I’d seen in my friend wasn’t blind faith at all. It was the sure knowledge of a man who knew more than he could ever let on.
I knew what he meant when he referred to himself as a watcher.
And I realized who he really was.
It was twenty feet to the edge of the path, and I was going to need every inch of it.
Reaching down, I pulled on the tongues of both sneakers and imbued them with an effort of will, activating the power that lay dormant there.
There was a reason they had been stashed in my vault, and it wasn’t the signature on the heels that made them valuable. It was the talent of the man that had owned them before me. Talent that had been stored within them, courtesy of a neat enchantment that I’d wrought on them many years ago. I just prayed it would work like I’d intended it.
I broke into a sprint. My heart hammered in my chest, not just from the exertion but from the uncertainty. If there was one man I knew could make that jump, it was His Royal Airness, Michael Jordan. I just had to hope my spell work had been on point and that there was enough residual talent left in his shoes to fly as only he could.
Time seemed to slow as I raced toward the lake of fire. Each stride grew longer and longer, but it wasn’t me; my feet seemed to move of their own accord. Without any conscious effort on my part, they picked the perfect pacing. I leaped off my right foot, the toe of my sneaker less than an inch from the end of the golden pavement.
And I soared. For the first time in my life, I felt what it might be like to fly, just for a moment. My arms windmilled as I reached the zenith of my jump, sailing over the lake of fire.
I was more than halfway across the lake when it started to bubble, launching a flare skyward.
It grew to meet me, and I knew I wasn’t going to clear it. In fact, I was heading straight for it.
In my best imitation of my sneakers’ previous owner, I forced my legs apart as I sailed over the pillar of fire. It was hot enough I could feel it through my pants as I cleared it by less than six inches. Much lower and I’d have lost one of the favorite parts of my anatomy.
I started losing height but was hurtling toward the Grail’s platform.
Please, just a little bit farther.
I arced downward, faster and faster.
It was going to be close.
I was losing control and height far too quickly. Apparently borrowed talent could only take me so far. There were considerable differences in our physique.
Pulling my legs up, I tucked into a ball and cleared the edge of the lake of fire by a whisker as my sneakers brushed the edge of the pavement. I tumbled out of control across the Grail platform. I slammed into the altar, hard, jarring my shoulder and sending a wave of icy pain through it. But there was simply too much adrenaline flowing through me to let that keep me down. I pushed myself to my feet.
I found myself staring at the Holy Grail.
I’d made it.
The Grail was a large silver chalice with what appeared to be olive leaves branching up the exterior. As I approached the golden altar, I noted the chalice wasn’t empty.
Inside it was a milky, misty-blue substance. Not quite a liquid, but not quite a gas. I’d never seen anything like it.
If the stories were true, drinking from it would grant eternal life.
But I had dealt with enough relics to know that you didn’t simply gamble on history and myth getting things right. There was no way I was drinking whatever strange substance was currently swishing about inside the chalice until I knew more. I needed to get the chalice to Murdoch before Knight, the Inquisition, or Drewitt and his legion of demons got their hands on it.
I reached for the chalice and gingerly lifted it off the altar. I felt a tingle of power flow up my arm and right through me.
No sooner had I lifted the chalice off the altar, than the flames all about me dimmed, losing luster as they sank down.
I tore my eyes off the lake of fire as Edward Knight and his squad of Greek bodyguards bore down on me. I looked down at my sneakers but didn’t dare risk a second jump. They had barely had enough juice left in them to make one. If I tried to leap over the lake a second time and they fell short, I was going to go from rare to well done in the blink of an eye.
“Hand me the Grail,” Knight called as the bodyguards lowered their shields into place and raised their spears over the top, presenting an armed phalanx. “You don’t have to die here, Seth.”
As they advanced, I raced to the edge of the platform. I held the Grail out over the lake of fire with one hand, while pressing my other hand to the pathway Knight was advancing down.
“Me? I’m not dying here, Knight. One more step and I turn both the Grail and the platforms you’re standing on to dust. So unless you want to take a chance in the lake of fire, you’re going to want to stop right there.”
Knight raised his hand, and the phalanx came to a halt.
“Seth, you don’t want to do that. Disintegrate the Grail after everything you’ve been through to get it? Not a chance.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not,” I replied. “But if you’re willing to gamble that I won’t send the eight of you into the lake of fire, you’re a braver man than I am.”
“You’re not a murderer,” Knight replied. “Remember the day we met. You told me you wouldn’t kill for me.”
“That’s right. I told you I wouldn’t kill for you. I never said I wouldn’t kill you. Big difference.”
“Once you start splitting hairs, Seth, it’s the start of a slippery slope. Trust me, I’ve been down that road.”
“I don’t need a morality lecture,” I replied, “least of all from you. I took more than a few lives at the Trial. What’s a couple more in the scheme of things? If yours is among them, I’m probably doing the world a favor.”
“You wound me, Seth, and here I was thinking we were just starting to get along. I did you that favor in New York, with the invite. Now you’re ready to baptize me with fire. Doesn’t feel fair, now does it?”
“If you make your move, I’ll make mine,” I answered, taking care not to break eye contact. When you’re bluffing one of the world’s foremost criminals, you can’t afford to look away.
“Then what are you suggesting?” Knight asked, raising his hands.
“The same deal you offered us,” I replied, shaking the Grail. “If you force my hand, I’ll kill you all. But if you turn around and lead the way out of here, you all live to fight another day. And we can all stay friends. You try and take the Grail, the truce is off. We’ll bury you and what’s left of Ares’ guards without breaking a sweat.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Knight replied. “I kind of had my heart set on eternal life.”
“You’ve got to see the greater danger here,” I replied. “We’re not alone and every minute we waste, our chance grows more tenuous.”
Knight’s eyes settled on the Inquisition slowly encircling our position.
“What do you think they’re going to do when they discover that the man who put half their organization to the sword, is here within their grasp?” I said. “You’re not getting out of here alive without our help.”
“I don’t need your charity,” Knight replied. “I’ve buried enough zealots to know how it’s done.”
“Are you going to risk it, though? I thought you were a little shrewder than that? Don’t you always hedge your bets?”
“You can be a real pain in the ass,” Knight replied, gripping the rim of his hat, “and one of these days it’s going to get you killed.”
I shook the Grail just a little. “Maybe, but not today. Do we have an accord?”
“We do,” he replied reluctantly, sliding his fedora back onto his head. “Let’s go home, gentlemen.”
“Swear it,” I replied, not moving an inch.
“Why?” Knight asked. “I’m a criminal. Criminals are notorious liars.”
“Yes, but your word still means something to you. Besides, you are dabbling in the supernatural world now. There are beings here that will treat poorly with an oath breaker. You certainly wouldn’t wish to cross them. So, swear that you’ll make no further attempt on the Grail. And in return, we will help you make it out of here alive.”
“Fine, I swear it.” Knight sighed, starting to lose his calm.
“As do I. Don’t make me live to regret this,” I replied, rising to my feet.
The Inquisition was approaching us. One squad made their way toward the Grail platform. The other, led by the priest, moved to cut us off. He appeared to be trying to intercept us before we could get out of the inner sanctum.
Holding the Grail, I fell in behind Knight, Tan, and their escort. I didn’t entirely trust them, but at the same time I was willing to make good on my threat if I had to. All it would take was an effort of will. I could destroy the Grail and take most or all of them with me. Whoever survived my reprisal wouldn’t have enough backup to make it out of here alive.
“Let’s head right, and grab my crew,” I said. “We’re going to need all of us.”
Knight still had no idea who Murdoch was, and I planned to keep it that way as long as possible. I was certainly going to feel a heck of a lot safer with my friends standing beside me, rather than this group of cutthroats I was currently encircled with.
Lara, Dizzy, and Murdoch rushed up to greet us.
“Good evening, all,” Knight called as we reached the others. “It’s been a while. Are you well?”
Murdoch ignored Knight, his eyes going straight to the Grail.
Lara practically shook with rage. “Good evening? After what you did to Seth at Delphi, and the Trial? I ought to kill you right now.”
“Later, Miss Stiel.” Knight waved her off. “We’re hardly alone and Seth is liable to get jealous if you lay hands on me.”
It never ceased to amaze me just how well he managed to maintain his calm under pressure. I suspected Dizzy could toss him into the lake of fire and he wouldn’t bat an eyelid on the way down.
“He’s right,” I added. “Let’s put the past behind us. Right now, we need to focus on getting out of here alive.”
“Perhaps,” Dizzy said, patting Knight on the back, “but if you put a foot out of line, I’ll make sure you die first.”
Tan bristled as he reached for the knives he kept tucked in a sheath at the small of his back.
Knight raised a hand to stop him. “I’ve made an oath, Tan. Don’t make a liar out of me.”
Tan took a deep breath and slid his hands into his pocket instead.
“We need to move,” Murdoch whispered, leaning close to my ear. “Now that we have the Grail, the sanctum’s defenses will falter.”
His words confirmed my earlier suspicions. I glanced down at the lake of fire which continued to dim, like a heat lamp whose settings had been dialed down. Several holes had formed in the blue barrier that surrounded the sanctum. If the barrier failed, we were going to be left in the open, surrounded and severely outgunned. The dampening field was the one thing we had going for us, but the holes were growing larger by the moment.
On the far side of the sanctum, the floating form of Lucius had almost reached the sanctum.
“It’s time to move.” I tried to keep the waver of uncertainty out of my voice as our enemies surrounded us. “Let’s go.”
We raced for the northern edge of the sanctum, the same place Knight and his bodyguards had entered the chamber, but the Inquisition were already there. The priest was waiting along with a dozen of his commandos.
Another group of Inquisitorial troops were forging through the maze of golden pathways behind us. There was no getting out without a fight. We were just going to have to go through them.
Knight and his bodyguards took the fore, with the rest of us falling in behind them.
The Inquisitorial commandos fanned out, raising their weapons as they tried to get a flanking shot past the huge bronze shields Ares’ men favored.
“Hand over the Grail,” the priest called. “We’ll take it and leave. You’ll get to live, as a token of our goodwill.”
“Not a chance,” I replied, holding the Grail over the lake of fire. “I’d rather it burn than give it to the likes of you lot.”
“No,” the priest shouted, reaching out as if to catch it but he was still a good forty feet away.
“Seth,” Murdoch whispered, “don’t do it.”
“I can’t let them have it,” I replied. “It’s too dangerous.”
“You need to trust me now, Seth,” Murdoch replied. “I’ll get us out of here, but I’m going to need the Grail.”
“If he moves a muscle,” the priest told his men, “shoot them all.”
Ares’ guards closed ranks, their shields at the ready.
“I don’t like your chances,” I called back, hoping they hadn’t noticed the steadily declining integrity of the sanctum’s dampening field. “A dozen men with guns that don’t work here against some of Ares’ finest, a shifter, and a wizard. You’ll be dead before your bullets hit the ground.”
The gaping holes in the barrier behind them grew wider, and I silently begged they wouldn’t call my bluff.
“We shall see,” the priest called back. “Are you willing to risk your lives on it?”
“Are you willing to risk the Grail?” I asked, shaking my hand over the lake of fire as if the Grail were growing heavier and heavier.
One of the commandos broke rank, reaching for his sidearm, a shining silver Desert Eagle that was more cannon than handgun.
He raised it, but instead of pointing it at us, he leveled it at the back of the priest’s head and fired.