The Black Knight: An Arthurian Space Opera Adventure (The Excalibur Knights Saga Book 2) by Luke Mitchell

Author:Luke Mitchell [Mitchell, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-24T16:00:00+00:00

21

Desperate Times

“I gave you an order, Ser Knight,” said Zedavian Kelkarin, in the dead silence of the hangar bay, towering over Nate with the deadly calm of a vengeful god.

From his lowly position on his knees, Nate turned to see Iveera hovering there, gaija held uncertainly at her side, and was quickly rewarded with another inexorable wave of force that smashed him face-down to the deck. Gravitonics? He couldn’t even tell. It felt like freaking magic. Like he was being Force-smacked by Palpatine himself.

It is not magic, Nathaniel, Ex said. He is every bit as mortal as you. Albeit several orders of magnitude stronger and more skilled with his Excalibur.

Thank. You. For. That. Nate grounded out as he struggled to peel his megaton arms from the deck and get his hands under him. By some supreme force of will, he managed to start pushing himself up, at which point he saw that the First Knight had finally pried his gaze away from Iveera to watch Nate’s struggles with something between disgust and amusement.

By Zedavian’s will, then, Nate realized.

The bastard was toying with him.

“Look at yourselves,” the Eldari Knight said, focusing his keen eyes back on Iveera. “Do you even realize what you’re doing? How perniciously it spreads to your every thought and action?”

“Says… you,” Nate grunted, fighting his way back to his knees. “The First Knight who sold his Merlin down the river.”

He wasn’t sure why he said it, what he was trying to prove—or even what Zedavian meant for certain. It just came out, ushering in a new silence. One that left him tensed, positive Zedavian would crush him back down for his insolence. His mind churned on with half-cocked escape plans even as his inner realist pointed out that there was no way in hell he was about to slip out from under the First Knight’s thumb. He’d seen how fast Iveera could move, after all. There was no reason to believe Zedavian wouldn’t be on par. Or faster.

“Is that what you think, Seven?” Zedavian finally asked, still watching Iveera. “That I am the traitor here?”

This time, Nate looked without looking, his display accommodating so that he could see Iveera without turning his head. She hovered there, unmoving, flattened jin tight and wrought with inner conflict.

Zedavian huffed in what might’ve been amusement, or maybe exasperation. “Very well, then. I order you to end this madness and release your armaments. In the name of the Lady, by all the power vested in me as First Knight and acting Merlin of this sacred Order, I command you to land here this instant and surrender.”

Again, he watched her, waiting expectantly, as if there were simply no way she would—or even could—disobey. Waiting almost… eagerly. But Iveera made no move to land. Only shifted her gaija, ready to move, her inaction speaking the defiance her lips wouldn’t. Nate tensed, waiting for the golden hammer to fall. Around the hangar bay, the assembled security forces did the same, shifting from wary sideways glances to more deliberate aims, ready to support the First Knight.

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