Free Infamous Reign by Steve McHugh Page B

healing he was trying to perform, I had more important matters. Mordred wasn’t going anywhere until he’d managed to heal himself.
    I turned to the two boys. The youngest, Richard, was scared and tired looking, while his older brother, Edward, wore a look of defiance.
    “Who are you?” Edward demanded.
    “Nathaniel Garrett,” I told him. “I’m here to take you to safety.”
    “Buckingham lied to me and took us by force. He was going to kill us to start a war.”
    “I know,” I said. “Was he on the ship?”
    Edward shook his head. “He left to go alone several days ago. What was it that attacked the ship and brought us here?”
    I saw no reason to hide the truth. “A leviathan. They’re intelligent creatures, more related to dragons. It would be best if you didn’t mention them ever again.”
    “A dragon saved me from a ship and its child brought me and my brother to shore inside a wave.” Edward chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t believe I’ll be mentioning it to anyone.”
    He glanced behind me at Mordred. “Did you hurt him?” Edward’s eyes hardened, and I wondered what Mordred had done during his time holding the boys captive.
    I nodded.
    “Can we leave now?” Richard asked softly.
    “Yes, we’ll take you to Brighton for a few days; you can rest up until Avalon arrives to take you to safety.”
    “Avalon. I was told about them before I took the crown,” Edward said. “I assume I won’t be returning to my kingship.”
    “No, you’ll be taken somewhere safe to live out your lives in whatever matter you see fit. You’ll live good, long, happy lives, but you will never rule anyone.”
    “And our mother?”
    “She’ll be informed that you’re safe and well,” I explained. “And she’ll be able to come see you both when you’re settled.”
    I led the boys off the pier, meeting Thomas who was bloody, but in human form. “We won then,” he said.
    “Something along those lines, yes,” I told him. “Take Edward and Richard somewhere safe in the village; I’ll go finish with Mordred.”
    “Enjoy,” Thomas said and signaled the two boys to follow him.
    I watched them walk off and then slowly made my way back to Mordred, who was leaning up against another wooden post near the end of the pier.
    “So, you’re going to kill me?” he called out.
    “Yes, Mordred. I’m going to end you once and for all. But first, I’m going to make you tell me where Ivy is.”
    I was about ten feet from him when the ocean exploded up around the end of the pier and the young leviathan leapt onto the wooden boards next to Mordred, grabbing the injured man and dragging him into the waves before I could stop him.
    “Alan,” I screamed. “You bastard.”
    Alan appeared just beside the pier, his entire body made of the same water he stood upon.
    “I’ll kill you for this,” I said.
    “Sorry, Nathaniel, but you never mentioned that it was Mordred you were going up against. If you had, I’d have never joined you. I owe Mordred, and, quite frankly, I’m a lot more scared of him than I am of you.” With that he vanished back into the waves, leaving me raging and bloody on the pier.

Epilogue

    It took weeks to get the boys settled in at Avalon and to sort out the mess that Mordred and Buckingham had created. The entire contents of Alan’s house had vanished, although he left the crowns behind, which I melted down to nothing when I burned his home to the ground.
    By the time I got around to getting back to London, Richard had executed Buckingham and then been killed in the battle at Bosworth Field. Merlin explained that he’d allowed Richard to die, since Henry, who had just been crowned, was a better long-term prospect. Even so, I requested that I be the one to give the new king his welcome to the world he now found himself in.
    Unfortunately for Henry, I’d begun to hear fabricated tales of Richard’s wickedness and cowardice well before I’d reached London. By the time I