Courtney Cole 108
With My Last Breath, Book Three
One by one, I watched the displaced souls find their bodies. One by one, I watched the warriors surrounding me return to life, taking deep breaths as their mortal lungs once again filled with air.
It was an amazing sight. Lucan, Hectate, Raquel and I stood quietly as the warriors crowded around us. And then I grew weak. My legs felt as though they would give out as my fingers turned cold and numb. I started to say something, to ask what was happening, when I was suddenly gasping for air on the stone altar.
Staring around me in bewilderment, I realized that I had been thrust back into my mortal body. My wound had closed, although blood still surrounded me. Looking down, I found my green dress blood-stained and torn where the sword had entered my chest, but I was alive once more.
"What… How…" I couldn’t form a cohesive sentence.
The red-headed chieftain smiled down at me, reaching down to grasp my hand and helped me to stand.
"Your first act as the Chosen One," he explained, "Was to exhibit faith. You died so that others would live. You gave the ultimate sacrifice because you had faith and in doing so, you have proven yourself worthy."
He leaped to the stone, looking around at the warriors.
"Take a knee!" he cried. Every one of the warriors dropped to one knee, bowing their heads in deference. "As many of you have given fealty to me, and have also taken fealty from others, so too will you offer your allegiance to the goddess Harmonia now."
Murmurings of assent filled the meadow.
Cries of "We ride with you, Harmonia!" and "I vow my allegiance to you!" filled my ears and I stared around me in disbelief. Throughout time, in every life, I had assisted royalty and served them, as I fulfilled the plans of Fate. Now, as we stood on this precipice of saving all that we knew, I would command a legion. It seemed incredible.
I stepped forward and held up a hand, quieting the crowd.
"I am honored to ride with you," I began and they erupted into cheers once more. I waited a moment for them to quiet and continued. "Together, we will save Camelot and everything that we know!"
In the magnitude of the moment, I bowed my head and stood in the sun. The most important time of my life was still to come and there was nothing else to do but embrace it.
Courtney Cole 109
With My Last Breath, Book Three
Chapter Eighteen
"Harmonia?" a familiar voice called and I startled at the recognition in Lucan’s voice. He was pushing through the crowd to stand at the base of the stone, familiarity written all over him as he stared up at me.
"Lucan?" I asked, too afraid to hope. But Cadmus’ soul had been in the box. When I released the souls, of course it had nowhere to go, but to where it belonged- in Lucan’s body. "Cadmus?" I asked uncertainly.
Lucan leaped to stand next to me in one bound and pulled me into a fierce embrace, pushing my hair out of the way as he bent to kiss my lips. Cheers once again erupted, but I ignored them
"I am here, my sweet," he assured me as he clutched me close. "My body is still in the Spiritlands, but I am here with you now. I am so proud of you, although I want to throttle you at the same time for taking this chance."
I stared into his chocolate eyes, so beautiful and familiar to me.
"This was not a chance," I told him firmly. "Without you, I’m not alive at all."
He pulled me close once more and I rested for just a moment against his strength, breathing him in, happier than I would’ve thought possible. It didn’t matter that we were about to face a battle of epic proportions. We were going to do it together.
Helping me down from the altar, he pulled Hecate into a hug, as well. "Thank you, witch," he smiled. "For everything you’ve done."
"It isn’t over yet," she reminded him, but her eyes were twinkling as she clasped his arm.
He knelt at Raquel’s feet and I watched him study her small face. He took her hand and kissed it.
"Thank you, young one, for your bravery," he told her solemnly. "When this is over, we shall have a long conversation. There are many things that you should know."
Raquel nodded and he kept her hand in his as he turned to face me once more.
"We have a battalion now," he observed. "But no horses. Hecate?"
"Taken care of," she answered and as we watched, enough war horses to equip an entire battalion appeared in the open field next to us. They stamped their feet and tossed their heads, anxious to do battle. I shook my head. Was there nothing Hecate couldn’t do?
"Mount up!" the chieftain yelled. "We ride!"
The warriors charged for the field, each choosing a horse and within minutes, everyone was mounted and ready to travel. Lucan lifted Raquel onto the saddle of his horse and then swung around behind her.
My own horse pranced next to his and I climbed stride her.
Courtney Cole 110
With My Last Breath, Book Three
"Are you ready?" he grinned.
"Ready," I answered.
We took off across the dead grasses of the Camelot plains. We still had a sword to find. The sheer number of our battalion caused our horses’ hooves to sound like thunder, booming across the land as our horses ran. Minutes once again turned into an hour and then two as we galloped across the browned fields.
From time to time, I glanced over at Lucan and Raquel and found her leaning comfortably against him. It warmed my heart in ways I had never known. I had a family of my own. Even in the midst of this chaos and fear, it was enough to give me hope.
The long ride extended longer and longer and finally, when I was growing very weary of riding, buildings rose from the horizon and I sighed in relief. Dying and coming back to life had taken my energy.
"We’re almost there," Hecate called from behind us.
I spurred my horse faster, with Lucan and Hecate directly on my flanks. A few minutes later, we rode into a compound of buildings, surrounded by a stone fence. The gates were standing open, so we passed easily beneath.
A large cobblestone house stood within the fence, with large barns behind it. This did not appear like the kind of home that the parents of a king would live in, but his foster parents had not been flashy. Merlin had brought baby Arthur here when he was just an infant, arranging for Sir Ector, a wealthy farmer, and his wife to raise Arthur as their own.
And they had. Arthur had grown up thinking that they were his loving parents and he ran the hills with his brother, Kay. As the second son, he had been the lovable carefree spirit in the family. Kay, being the eldest, was left to be responsible. But that all changed when his real father, King Uther, died and Merlin returned to claim Arthur.