I tried to lunge forward, but the chains held me securely in place.“What did you do with her?”
Dash shifted back into her natural form. A plain and unassuming black cat.“I don’t see why it matters. You’ll never see each other again.”
“Tell me where she is!” I yelled, fighting against my chains with renewed fervor.
“Relax. Enjoy your last few hours of life. If it helps settle you down, I can assure you that the white cat is just fine. You on the other hand? You’re going to die.” Dash let out a dry chuckle. I’d never wanted to smack an animal so badly, not even the zombie squirrels who had tried their best to kill me earlier that day.
Dash looked up and silently studied the night sky full of stars for a moment, then said,“You all could have lived, you know? My plan was simple. Get you to Nocturna to see the blood witch. Take said blood, and none of you would ever be the wiser. I could have carried out this plan with zero casualties. But now because of you, many will die.”
I swallowed hard, unsure of how I would get out of this one, especially without Merlin’s aid.
Right now, I needed a miracle.
18
“Let me go,” I demanded, refusing to die silently—or at all, if I could help it. “Nobody has to get hurt. We can end this all now.”
“And why would I do that?” Dash asked, returning to the glowing cauldron and studying the brew.
“Because deep down you’re good,” I chanced.
Dash laughed bitterly.“Someone has been watching too many fairy tale movies, I think. Because I can assure you I’m bad to the bone.”
The notes of that famous old song played in my mind, and I cursed the black cat for adding a catchy ear worm to my current list of problems. I shook my head to regain clarity, focus. Only one thing mattered right now, and that was escaping.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked. “What’s in it for you?”
Dash turned a pair of stark green eyes on me.“Oh, that’s really quite simple. When I realized what you and Merlin were, the connection you shared, I knew I’d finally found what I’d been waiting centuries for.”
“Centuries? Nobody’s that old.”
“Once again, you are wrong. I am nearly one thousand years old.”
I gasped. Hadn’t expected that one. “But how?”
Dash smiled, baring sharp white fangs.“You are but an ancestor, the last scion. I, however, am the original.”
“You’re the imposter Merlin,” I said, knowing innately that it was true. It was the only thing that made sense, given how interested she—or, I guess, he—was in Merlin’s and my lineage. “But I thought you died.”
A puff of magic replaced the little black cat with a very old man whose white beard stretched to his ankles.“Everyone thought I did. Lucky for me, my illusions kept me hidden until I could find what I needed.”
“You were the first familiar. You pledged your loyalty to the real Merlin!” I spat at him, disgusted.
Dash appeared unfazed.“Yes, well, why be the servant when one can be the master?”
This was awful. The only other familiars I’d met had both turned evil in their lust for power. If I survived this, would the same happen to me?
I thought back to the last time we’d faced Dash in a confrontation. If I could keep him talking, it would buy us time. We could still get out of this, Merlin and me.
“Why did you send those zombies after us?” That part still didn’t make sense to me.
“Oh, that’s easy. Have you really not figured it out yet? I needed to get you to Nocturna. Luckily, you’re nothing if not predictable. You came here just as soon as you could get your master to agree, didn’t you?”
“Merlin and I are really more of a partnership,” I corrected, glancing to my fallen ally in his cage.Please, please wake up.
“Does it matter when you’ll both die at daybreak?”
“Why do you want to kill us?”
“Why not? By the way, I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to keep me talking to delay my evil plan. But it doesn’t matter. This all has to go down at a very specific time, and I already told you when that is.”
“Daybreak,” I said through dry lips. “And even you call your own planevil. Shouldn’t that tell you something?”
“Good, evil,” Dash droned. “They’re more alike than you think. The perception of both changes with time. You may consider me evil, but future generations will see me as a god.”
“You’re a monster,” I spat, which took some effort since my mouth was well on its way to going dry.
“And your opinion doesn’t matter. You are nothing more than a footnote in the legend of my glory. With your blood connection and the stars in perfect alignment, I will reforge the mighty Excalibur and use it to gain ultimate power over both the magical and the mundane worlds alike.”
“You sound like a crazy person,” I said.
“You try waiting almost one thousand years for your revenge, and see how you like it.”
“Revenge? Against who?”
“Merlin granted me one ultimate wish as his thanks for my taking on the role of his familiar. And when he didn’t like it, he tried to trick me out of what was due to me.”
“You asked to be as powerful as him,” I shouted. I knew Dash’s logic made sense in his own mind, but it certainly didn’t ring true in mine. “Familiars are only supposed to be vessels.”
“Now!” Dash-Merlin-whoever exploded. “Why do you think those rules are in place? Hmm?”
“He cursed you. How did you survive?”
“No, he forced me into hiding. Once the magic was granted, he couldn’t take it back. Not without this.” He reached two hands into the cauldron and extracted a glittering sword.
“Is that—?” My breath hitched.
“Excalibur. Yes. At least it will be. Nearly one thousand years ago to this day, your ancestor Arthur pulled it from a stone, declaring it the ultimate weapon. But that’s not why Excalibur was made, nor what it was meant to do.”
I blinked hard. None of what this guy was telling me lined up with what I knew of the original legends.“Come again now?”
“Merlin made it for me. Not because—”
“I’m sorry. This is getting really confusing. We’re up to three Merlins now, and it’s making it hard for me to follow.”
The dark wizard groaned.“Very well. The original cat sorcerer created this weapon, not to take one’s life but to take one’s magic.”
“It was meant for you.”
“Yes, but I’d already managed to escape. He became so frustrated that he jammed it into that stone. And by doing that, he couldn’t extract it himself.”
“Or he would lose his magic,” I concluded.
Dash smiled wide.“Precisely.”
“So Arthur…?”
“Was a means to an end. Because he pulled the sword from the stone, he would never be able to wield his own magic, even if he wanted to. And that made him the perfect subservient familiar… Oh, look who’s finally decided to join us.”
My eyes zoomed toward the cage where at last Merlin—my Merlin—was beginning to stir.
19
Merlin roused and attempted a standing position, but his back thumped the top of the cage, forcing him back down in a crouch. He shook his head before glancing around the summit.
“Gracie!” he shouted when his eyes landed upon me.
“Merlin, it’s okay,” I called back, relief flooding my chest. With Merlin’s help, we still had a chance. “We’re going to get out of this.”
“Haven’t you been listening to anything I said?” Dash demanded, stomping over to me in a fit.
“Yeah, I heard you. But you lost before, and I’m willing to bet you’ll lose again.”
“Oh, a bet? What are the stakes? Oh, I know. How about your life.” The old wizard chuckled, clearly amused with his own banter.
“Who’s this guy?” Merlin asked, his words coming out slurred. The lack of magic still weakened him. We were at a definite disadvantage.