With My Last Breath

"What will happen?" I cried. "What can we do?"

Hecate studied me sadly. "I know not," she admitted softly. "This is like nothing that I’ve ever seen. They have changed everything. But we must repair it. If we do not, I fear that everything will be lost."

"That is not an answer, witch," I glared at her. "I only need to know what to do.

Point me in the right direction and I will gladly do what I need to do." As I glanced around at my mother, father and Hecate, I realized something. Lucan was not here.

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"Where’s Lucan?" I asked hesitantly. "Ares, you are back from the skirmish.

Where is Lucan?"

Ares shifted his weight and glanced at my mother. She looked pained as she studied me.

"Harmonia…." her voice trailed off.

"What?" I asked in alarm. "Just tell me. What has happened?"

Guinevere pushed her shoulders back and cleared her throat. "He’s in the dungeons."

"The dungeons?" I cried. "Why? What the hell is going on?"

Ares stepped forward. "Your parlor trick," he explained quietly. "You saved the young squire in front of an entire group of soldiers and then Lucan carried you away.

They’re crying witchcraft and claiming that Lucan was involved."

"Lucan… but that’s insane," I stuttered. "But what about me? I’m the one who did it- why am I still here and Lucan is confined to the dungeon?"

"Well, that’s a little tricky," Ares shook his head. "Hecate froze time."

I stared at him blankly. "Hecate did what?"

Hecate interjected. "I froze time. We needed to meet to decide what to do.

Everything can still be salvaged, but we will need Zeus’ sword to do it. We cannot rectify anything at all if they burn you for a witch, Harmonia."

The mental image of being tied to a stake and burned alive caused me to shudder.

How did I get myself into such messes?

"I see," I replied. "So then, witch, what do you propose that we do? My mother believes that the sword might be hidden at the king’s parents’ property somewhere, but we know not exactly where. How do we find it? And what about me? They want me dead. Surely, though, Arthur will listen to reason. He knows me. He knows that I am not a witch."

Again, they stared at each other uncertainly.

"Harmonia, everything has drastically changed. Not only has the world itself changed, but the people here have changed as well, products of that environment.

Arthur is… not the same," Ares explained.

I raised an eyebrow, trying desperately to conceal my alarm. "Meaning?"

"Meaning that Arthur is not currently the warm, good-hearted person that you know him to be. He has grown cold much like everyone else here. He’s as ruthless as anyone I’ve ever seen," Ares admitted.

"No," I shook my head. "I don’t believe that from him. He’s the most compassionate man I’ve ever known."

"He was," my mother agreed. "But no longer. Not right now. The boy who you saved? Arthur ran him through with his lance… he didn’t want a person tainted by witchcraft to live."

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I gasped. The image of the sweet boy’s face passed through my mind and I flinched at the thought of Arthur killing him. This couldn’t be happening. I shook my head.

"It’s true, daughter," Ares confirmed. "I was there and I saw it myself."

"So what do we do?" I asked limply.

"We get the sword," my mother replied simply. "It’s the only thing we can do."

"I suggest that we free Lucan from the dungeons," Ares offered. "Harmonia, you and he should ride to find the sword. We don’t want to leave him here- we don’t want them to execute him before you return with the sword."

I nodded, finally able to suppress my panic. If we had a plan, I was fine. I could work with a plan. And there was no way in hell that I would leave Lucan here alone.

"Ares and I will remain here," my mother continued. "We’ll try to contain this situation as best we can. But this goes without saying… you need to find the sword quickly. It is hard to say what the Fates will do in the meantime, daughter."

I nodded solemnly. She had never been more correct.

"I will accompany you," Hecate added quietly. "We no longer need to be quite so careful about making changes here- we will change everything back to its rightful place with the sword. You will need my assistance."

Ares agreed. "That is a wise idea, witch. You will protect my daughter with your life." It wasn’t a suggestion or a request. It was a bold imperative. I shot Hecate an I’m sorry look behind my father’s back. She shrugged understandingly.

"I will do what I can," she replied. Ares glared at her, indicating that her best was not enough. She ignored it, turning instead to face me.

"So, first we need to free Lucan," I pointed out. "And then we will ride out."

"It won’t be difficult," Ares said. "Time has stopped here. We will walk into the dungeons, I’ll break his chains and we’ll … in fact, let us not talk about it. Let us just do it." He waved his meaty hand and we were all standing in the front of the dungeon’s iron gates.

The smell from the dungeons was moldy and stale and my nose automatically wrinkled. It was eerily quiet. Nothing moved, even the air was still. It was as though we were walking through a paused movie. It was the strangest feeling.

Ares shoved his fist through the metal keyhole of the gate and it tumbled impotently to the floor, clanging loudly against the stone. He pushed the gates open and motioned for us to continue through.

"Ladies first," he grinned.

I rolled my eyes and walked past, anxious to find Lucan. He should not be in this place. This was a place for murderers and thieves.

The darkness down here was blinding- it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust.

Torches were few and far between. I could hear Hecate muttering beneath her breath, Courtney Cole 89

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but I couldn’t understand what she was saying and frankly, at this point, I just didn’t care. My sole focus was on Lucan.

Turning into a long, damp hallway, we began looking into cells. Dank and dark, these were miserable little holes used for housing the scourge of Camelot’s society. I cringed away from the walls. Inside each cell, a dirty, hardened criminal was frozen.