With his bow still trained on Îarik, Lôrît released his arrow. The other elves released their arrows upon the General.
With a barrage of arrows sailing toward him, Îarik vanished into the shadows in an attempt to escape, but even in the shadow world, the arrows found their target.
He lost his concentration to maintain his shadow form and reappeared in the earthen realm.
“It is done,” Lôrît said. “Come, we still have a battle to fight. Leave him to die alone and without honor.”
One by one, the elves vanished into their shadow forms and went back to fighting for the cause. Lôrît was the last to leave. He cast one last glance of disapproval at Îarik and then, he too, disappeared to rejoin the cause.
***
Marc knelt over Trystan, his gaze raking over his mate, moving from his face to the knife wound in his gut. He lightly pressed his fingers to Trystan’s blood-soaked leather armor. He touched Trystan’s face. His heart twisted in anguish as tears escaped his eyes. Trystan was gone. No breath. No heartbeat. Nothing.
He sat back and scooped him up into his arms, resting Trystan in his lap. Marc kissed his forehead and cradled his mate’s limp body tightly against him. Leaning down, Marc pressed his forehead against Trystan’s.
“This doesn’t make sense, Trystan. Fate brought us together for a reason. You need to come back. You need to fight. Do you hear me?” Marc raised his voice. “Fight this. Come back to me and help me end this.”
Marc looked down at Trystan, hoping for some movement. Anything. Trystan had faced death so many times already, this couldn’t be the end.
“By the bloody gods, Trystan, fight!” Marc pounded his fist on Trystan’s chest.
Trystan still lay motionless, and Marc let out a hoarse sob. Closing his eyes, Marc squeezed Trystan against him and shut out the world around him.
***
At the front and all around, the battle raged on. Guardians, elves, and humans against the demons. The elves that had betrayed the Queen had returned to atone for their disloyalty and fight with their own once again, but it was still not enough.
Rumors spread that the heir was dead. Many of the soldiers tried to retreat, but there was nowhere to go except up the hillside. Demons and hellhounds on the ground and dragons above surrounded them. The more they destroyed, the more that came through the portals. The constant attacks even overwhelmed the guardians as they struggled to bring down the plague dragons along with the other demons.
Emrys’ strength was diminishing against Iôr Thraul. The elf queen, whose efforts did nothing to stop the demon lord, had left him to fight where she was needed more, leaving a single guardian to aid him. As Emrys persisted in his attempts to weaken the demon lord, he looked over to see Marc cradling Trystan in his arms.
He sensed nothing. Trystan’s mind was blank. It couldn’t be. The prophecy did not foretell of this. Did he interpret it wrong? He’d already failed to protect Trystan. Had he guided him wrong as well?
Then, from the corner of his eye, he saw it.
A brilliant white light radiated from the ground near Marc and Trystan. Like a beacon in the night, it shone brightly.
Still trying to hold his own against the demon lord, he yelled to Marc.
“Marc!”
The Prince did not respond.
“Your Grace!” Emrys yelled again.
With the roar of the battle raging all around, Emrys feared he could not hear him. He needed him to look up.
“Marc!” he shouted again as loud as he possibly could.
Finally, Marc lifted his head and looked toward Emrys. As he did, he saw the glowing white light just footsteps away from where he and Trystan sat. The light grew brighter and brighter. So bright, Marc had to shield his eyes.
The light faded.
In its place sat a small boulder, unevenly shaped and about knee high, and just big enough that two people could wrap their arms around it and not quite touch each other’s fingertips. On its base, carved into the stone itself, were the same unusual markings that appeared on the sword.
The keystone had finally appeared.
Marc didn’t know what to do. Emrys had said the stone would appear when it was ready, but how could that time be now? To place Excalibur into the stone and restore Camelot required Trystan. And that was no longer possible.
