Chapter 7 – An English Honeymoon

Maddie squealed in delight as the plane lifted into the air. Even with Dave explaining the concept of flight to her, it was still the most surreal experience she had ever felt in her life. Though Dave could have simply teleported them to England, he didn’t want to rob Maddie of the exhilaration of her first flight. It was their honeymoon, after all, and they both deserved to enjoy it to the fullest. Even better, they had met an older couple while waiting at the gate for their flight, and upon learning that Dave and Maddie were on their honeymoon, the kindly gentleman decided to speak to the gate attendant about switching seats with the young couple. As such, Dave and Maddie got to enjoy their flight from the comfort of first class. Dave had, of course, protested, but by that time, the tickets had already been switched in the system and nothing could be done.

“Dave, this is amazing!” Maddie whispered, interrupting Dave’s recollections of the events of the day.

“Sure is,” he grinned. “I’ve never flown first class before!”

“Champagne, sir?” a passing flight attendant asked.

“Well… only if it’s on the house,” Dave replied.

“Of course, it’s complimentary. And for you, ma’am?”

After a moment, Maddie replied, “I’d love a glass!”

“Wonderful. I’ll just need to see each of your IDs.”

Upon seeing their driver’s licenses, the pretty blonde handed each of them a flute of champagne. They sipped for a little bit, joking and enjoying each other’s company without a care in the world. After a while, the captain turned off the seat belt sign. By that time, the alcohol was beginning to make Maddie feel a bit friskier, and she started trying to grope her husband’s crotch.

“Maddie, what are you doing?” Dave hissed.

“If you must know, I’m trying to get to my favorite thing in the world,” she giggled.

“We can’t do that here! Someone will see!” he protested.

“But Dave, I’m so horny for my husband,” Maddie whined, pouting her lower lip. “Isn’t there anything you could do to ensure our privacy?” she continued with a devilish wink.

Genius as Dave was, the poor boy was worthless when Maddie got like this around him. When the blood rushed from his head and into his penis, she could convince him of just about anything. So, against his better judgment, Dave cast a spell around their seats that would make it appear to anyone watching that they were just sitting and chatting, while also using the Forget-Me-Knob spell to ensure the flight attendants wouldn’t disturb them. At this, Maddie grinned that flirty grin she knew would make her husband melt.

“Time to fold up your tray table, Mr. Brighton,” she said, flipping up the armrest between them and moving to straddle him.

“You’re insatiable, Mrs. Brighton,” Dave breathed in a husky voice.

“That sounds like a complaint.”

“Fuck no, it’s not,” he replied, pulling her in for a passionate kiss.

Though there wasn’t a ton of room to maneuver, it was still first class, giving Maddie just enough space to slip her panties off from underneath her knee-length gypsy skirt. Dave barely had enough time to unbuckle his khaki shorts and slip his erect cock out over his underwear before she mounted him again. As she began to rub her slick entrance against his tip, any hesitations that might have remained in Dave’s mind disappeared in an instant. All he wanted in that moment was her.

“Never thought I’d get to join the Mile-High Club,” he chuckled.

Planting a sweet kiss on his lips, Maddie replied, “My love, I’ll never hold myself back from you. It will be my greatest pleasure to make love to you, anytime, anywhere. It is my duty as your wife, after all.”

“Right. Your duty. That’s the only reason you’re doing this, right?”

“But of course!” Maddie said, trying to appear innocent. “Otherwise, I’d just be a loose woman with no self-control!”

At that, Dave placed his hands onto Maddie’s slim waist and guided her onto his throbbing cock. She at first tried to stifle her moans of pleasure, but he reminded her that the privacy spell he cast included sounds, meaning she could be as loud and enthusiastic as she wanted. Their motions were not complex or varied, as they only had enough room to grind and hump each other in the seat. Still, the vibrations of the airplane and the ferocity of Maddie’s hips were more than enough to bring Dave close to the breaking point. Sensing that she was also close, he reached up to fondle her heaving breasts through her tank top.

“Oh, Dave…”

“I know you love that.”

“I do… it’s one of my favorite things you do…”

Maddie continued to ride him for all she was worth, and the couple soon locked their lips together, each of their tongues fighting for dominance as their orgasms built. Both could tell the end was near, but they didn’t care. A little quickie in an exotic location was just as fun as their long lovemaking sessions at night, and a nice change of pace, besides. Eventually, Dave’s swollen member could take no more, and blasted rope after rope of thick cum into Maddie’s convulsing pussy. They maintained their lip-lock, moaning into each other as they rode out the last waves of their climaxes. After several seconds of nervous giggling, Maddie at last disengaged from her husband and slipped her panties back on.

“That was so much fun!” she whispered as Dave buckled his shorts back up.

“Definitely,” he grinned, canceling the privacy spell.

“Everything all right? Do you need some more champagne?” a passing flight attendant asked them.

“Oh, no more for me, thanks,” Maddie grinned. “I fear I might do something regretful if I had any more.”

The cute blonde blushed at this. “I’m know exactly what you mean, ma’am. But please, let me know if you two need anything else.”

“Of course. Thank you,” Maddie replied, still giggling with nervous glee as the attendant sauntered off down the aisle.

*****

By the time their plane landed in London, it was past lunchtime the next afternoon, and neither Dave nor Maddie had experienced jetlag before. Upon arrival at their hotel, they went straight to bed and slept for well over twelve hours, awakening early the next morning. Such was their exhaustion that they had not even touched each other once through the night! But now, rested and refreshed, they began their excursions to explore modern-day London.

In Maddie’s time, London had only just been founded some fifty years before after centuries of uncertainty as a minor port. From Roman occupation to Viking attacks, the tiny port had been the very definition of inconsistency. That had all changed in the last millennium, during which it had become one of the most vibrant and prosperous cities the world had ever seen. Their first stop was to ride a double-decker bus on a tour of the city’s major sights and locations. This was the perfect way to wet their appetites for what was to come over the course of their honeymoon. Before the day was done, they had ridden the London Eye, crossed London Bridge, and eaten their first meal of fish ‘n chips at an authentic British pub.

The next day, they decided not to tour Buckingham Palace, as the crowds of tourists were insane during the summer, but they did witness the Changing of the Guard, which captivated Maddie to no end. The precision with which the soldiers worked was far more organized and formal than anything she had seen in her time, and she couldn’t help but swell with pride at the heights her homeland had reached in a thousand years. After that, they visited the Tower of London, which contained a variety of artifacts, from weapons and suits of armor to the Royal Mint and even the Crown Jewels. Whilst there, Dave was surprised to learn that the Tower of London’s reputation as a place for torture and execution was somewhat overstated; only seven people had been executed there by the time of World War I. Rather, most executions in those times took place on Tower Hill to the north. After an early dinner, they retired to their hotel room for a relaxing evening in bed.

The next day’s attraction was the Churchill War Rooms, which chronicled the life and career of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, particularly his efforts to beat back the Nazi invasion during World War II. Maddie remembered Dave’s stories about Hitler and his attempts to take over the world, so learning about the man who had risked everything to deny him was an amazing experience. The main attractions were the Map Room, where Churchill and his military advisors had developed their strategy, and the Cabinet Room, which had held 115 total meetings between the years 1940 and 1945. Dave was particularly impressed with the technology they had available at that time, including a SIGSALY encrypted telephone that Churchill had frequently used to communicate with American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Finally, they were shown Churchill’s private office and bedroom, though they learned that the Prime Minister had rarely slept in the bunker, instead returning to his home at 10 Downing Street most evenings. Rather, his daughter had been the most frequent occupant of the tiny underground dwelling.

That evening, Dave and Maddie got all dressed up to take in a West End play. When they looked for tickets, the choices seemed endless, but Maddie expressed interest in seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Ever since Cindy had first begged to watch the Harry Potter films with Dave, Maddie had been hooked and binged her way through all seven books in record time. Though the play was very different from the books, it was still a fun experience all the same. Of course, Dave had a difficult time paying attention to the show, considering the slinky red dress Maddie had worn that evening. To his relief, they went straight back to the hotel afterward so he could do something about that.

After a few days in London, the couple ventured out to explore the rest of England, taking a day to rest in Birmingham. That business concluded, they continued their journey northwest to Liverpool, Maddie’s supposed home. Of course, they spent some time exploring the various attractions centered around The Beatles, but there was much more to Liverpool than that, they discovered. It was also home to England’s longest-standing symphony orchestra, and the performance Dave and Maddie heard from them of English classics was nothing short of breathtaking. Composers such as Edward Elgar and Gustav Holst were musical geniuses on their own, but hearing their music performed by a British orchestra brought it to a whole different level. On the suggestion of several locals, they also decided to take in a Liverpool FC game. Dave’s main sports indulgences were archery and the occasional game of American football, but he found international football to be too slow-paced to hold his interest. Maddie found the atmosphere entertaining, but the game on the field was nothing compared to the action of sporting events from her childhood, such as sword duels and horseback events. Still, the people-watching was superb throughout; English sports fans could get just as rowdy and wild as American sports fans, Dave noticed.

*****

“Mmm… I love you, Mr. Brighton,” Maddie purred, content and relaxed from their most recent lovemaking session that evening.

“I love you, too, Mrs. Brighton,” Dave smiled, kissing her forehead.

“What is our plan for tomorrow?”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m about done with big city tourism for a little while, so I thought we might go explore our old stomping grounds.”

“What do you mean?” Maddie asked, sitting up a bit.

Dave explained, “The world thinks Camelot was just a myth, but we know different. Wouldn’t you like to see what has become of that area in the last millennium?”

“Now that you mention it, I would,” she nodded. “I don’t know how much would be left, but perhaps we will at least find our old lakeside hideaway.”

“I’d like that,” Dave grinned. “We’ll have to be careful, though. I can teleport us wherever we want to go, but we’d still have to make sure we were seen by various public cameras every day to avoid raising any suspicion. You know, be seen leaving and returning to the hotel every day and whatnot.”

“An excellent thought. What time should we plan to leave?”

“I’d say around nine, before it gets too hot.”

“In that case, we need to ensure we both get a restful night’s sleep,” Maddie cooed before kissing a trail down Dave’s neck.

*****

Mark Iger sat alone in his hotel room with literally nothing to do but twiddle his thumbs in boredom. He had been tracking Dave and Maddie for a week already, from London, to Birmingham, and even to Liverpool. Though he had not pinpointed their exact location, that was of little concern to him at this moment.

“It’s not like I could do anything about their actions in public,” he grumbled. “I’m not even supposed to be here, and a public display like that would attract attention from the wrong sort of authorities. No… I’ll need to get them in a secluded location in order to complete my mission. Dammit, why must my boss be so stubborn? Maddie’s presence here puts us all in danger of a paradox! That stubborn bookworm keeps insisting that the ‘why’ determines if a paradox will happen or not, but that’s not a chance we can afford. It’s up to me, now…”

The fact that he couldn’t listen in on their conversations only made Mark more frustrated at the situation. He had become accustomed to hearing their nightly discussions with the help of his observation spell, but with them constantly on the move, it was hard enough just keeping up with them. He could tell that they were somewhere in the tourist district, likely in one of the many hotels, but anything more specific was impossible to know for sure. Their magical signatures were particularly strong at this moment, though, which likely meant they were engaged in sexual activity. Such an act between two sorcerers caused their respective auras to surge with power from each other’s emotions and energies. Mark again sighed in frustration at this; if he were in England on a sanctioned trip, he would likely be sampling the local beauties right now, but he couldn’t risk anything blowing his cover until he completed his task. Shaking his head, Mark grabbed his Incantus to take his mind off things.

“Let’s see… Dave made frequent mention of Camelot. That would be right about here,” he muttered, arriving at a page containing a map of England. “I wonder if they plan to return there for something? If so, that could be my best chance. No real tourist attractions in that area, nothing but secluded forests.”

Rubbing his tired eyes, Mark decided to turn in for the evening. Before switching off the lamp, he tore out a page from the local phonebook containing a few escort services.

“My reward for later… once I’ve corrected Dave’s foolish actions.”

*****

Maddie awoke the next morning to an empty bed, seeing Dave pouring over his Incantus at the desk in the corner.

“Good morning, my love. Hard at work already?” she giggled.

“Yep. I managed to find this section of the Incantus with a map of England in Merlin’s time. This should help us find where Camelot used to be.”

After showering and dressing for the day, the couple had a quick breakfast in the hotel lobby. They departed via the front door, ensuring they would be seen leaving by the security cameras, and made their way down the street for a bit. Once the crowds had thinned out, they ducked down a nearby alley and Dave pulled out his map of modern-day England.

“Ok, according to the Incantus, Camelot was located around here,” Dave said. “You ready for this?”

Linking her arm in Dave’s, Maddie smiled, “I’m ready for anything, so long as I’m with you.”

Dave focused his energy on the spot on the map, drawing upon his aura in a different way than he had before. As he was traveling to a spot on a map, rather than to a place he could envision in his mind, it took a great deal more effort than usual. After a few seconds of this, Dave began to grow frustrated, but Maddie was prepared for this and wrapped her husband in a hug. As he continued to focus, she joined in his efforts, lending him the strength of her aura. A moment later, they opened their eyes and found themselves in the middle of a secluded wooded area.

“Holy shit… we’re here,” Dave breathed. “This… this is the spot I first arrived in Camelot. Yeah, that bush there! That’s where I hid when I saved you!”

Gazing out into the nearby field, Maddie said, “And there… that is where our carriage was attacked. Where Father and Sir James… gave their lives for me…”

Dave wrapped his arms around his wife from behind her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough to save them, too.”

Turning to kiss her husband on the cheek, Maddie replied, “Do not be sorry. I’m certain they are not. Their sacrifice gave you the time you needed to end the last of those brutes. I believe they would say it was worth it.”

The couple spent a few quiet moments in each other’s arms, reminiscing about the day they met. Soon, Maddie had to break away for a drink of cold water from her canteen. Even dressed in khaki shorts and a tank top, the heat was sweltering that day. Dave, meanwhile, took another look at the map, seeing a nearby village with a large cathedral in it. The description stated that the cathedral had existed for over a thousand years and was the final resting place for many historical figures.

“Want to check it out?” Dave asked. “It was around in your time, after all.”

“Let’s do it!”

With Maddie’s help, Dave teleported them to the location indicated on the map, finding it far easier to do this time. Emerging from the trees, they spied a little village a short distance away and began the walk toward it. As they approached, Maddie’s eyes began to tear up a little bit.

“This path… I could walk it blind,” she whispered. “This village was built from the remnants of Saxon, my childhood home.”

“You’re sure?” Dave asked.

“Positive. A millennium may have passed, but the area has remained undisturbed for the most part,” she observed. “There are more modern roads and pathways, yes, but they are still right where they were a thousand years ago.”

They soon arrived in the village proper, finding it to be quaint and welcoming. The locals were warm and friendly, much more so than the city-dwellers they had met thus far on their honeymoon. Not that their experiences had been unpleasant, but Dave could still feel a great difference out in the country, similar to the change he felt whenever he visited Lewisburg. After receiving directions from a local citizen, they set off toward the cathedral.

Though it was the largest building in the village, the cathedral was still quite modest compared to the ones they had seen in London. The graveyard, on the other hand, was massive, taking up at least fifteen acres of land, with more plots ready for use when the existing ones had been filled. To the casual observer, it would have been a strange sight, this young newlywed couple strolling through a graveyard on their honeymoon, but neither Dave nor Maddie could have cared a bit. Soon, they reached one of the oldest sections of the graveyard, easily identified by the faded and worn headstones. Dave hung back at this point, allowing Maddie to take the lead. She seemed to walk aimlessly for a while, drifting from stone to stone, but she finally stopped at one of the largest markers in the cemetery. The stone cross had been worn significantly, but it was so much larger and better made than the other headstones that one could still make out the engravings.

“Dave, it’s him,” Maddie said with a sad smile. “It’s my father.”

Joining his wife, Dave read aloud, “Lord Byron of Saxon. Born 885, died 932. A man of courage. He laid down his life so that his people might be free.”

At this, Maddie could hold back no longer and dropped to her knees in tears. “Father… I cannot thank you enough for all you have done for me. Through your sacrifice, I found my husband. He is everything I have ever dreamed of, everything you had always hoped I would find in a husband. Dave is a wonderful man, Father. He is kind and brave, both a protector and a teacher. I love him very much. I… I pray that you are pleased with us.”

After saying a short prayer, Maddie kissed her fingertips and touched them to her father’s name. Without another word, she rose to her feet and turned to leave, a look of quiet strength on her face. Dave again hung back for a moment, placing his hand on Lord Byron’s headstone.

“I’ll take care of her. You have my word.”

Dave then rejoined Maddie, holding her trembling hand tightly in his own. This seemed to help her nerves, and she soon managed to calm down from her emotional high. They made their way back into town and took in a refreshing lunch at one of the local taverns. As they ate, the scene at the graveyard still played in Dave’s mind.

“I want to try and find our lake spot,” he said at last. “I feel like… I need to at least say hi to Merlin.”

“I think that would be a wonderful thing,” Maddie smiled, looking up from her stew.

They finished their meal and made their way back out to the secluded fields, whereupon Dave found the location of the lakeshore on his Incantus’ map of Camelot. After translating that to the modern-day map, he locked onto that spot and focused all his willpower, soon arriving there with Maddie in tow. He opened his eyes and looked around; everything was just as he had remembered it.

“We’re here,” Dave whispered. “This… this was where he died.”

“Indeed,” said Maddie, linking her arm in his. “Look. You see that alcove near the shoreline?”

“We made love there… on more than one occasion,” he chuckled.

The couple strolled about the area in silence for a few minutes, feeling memories of their time here flooding back into their minds. So much had happened here. It had been Dave’s favored training grounds, a romantic getaway for him and Maddie, and he had even saved her life twice, once from one of Mordred’s men and once from being possessed by Igraine. Soon, he arrived at the spot among the trees where Morgan le Fay had buried Merlin after his passing. Though Merlin’s body had long since decayed, Dave could feel a familiar warmth radiating from the spot. Seeing Dave approach, Maddie took several steps back to give him some privacy.

“Merlin… I can’t thank you enough for all you did for me. I was desperate and alone, hell, I probably should have died a nameless smear on the page of history several times over. But you prevented all that, and moreover, you showed me that my life has far greater purpose than I ever dreamed possible. I want to do great things, just like you did. I want to help people, try to make the world a better place. And thanks to you, I can. Merlin, I have no idea what becomes of us after death, but wherever you are, I hope you can see what you’ve helped me become.”

Dave then knelt down and placed a hand on the ground. He sensed some seeds of flowers that had been recently planted. Using his aura, he latched onto a couple of them and accelerated their growth, causing a trio of lilies to sprout from the soil. As he stood, still lost in thought, Dave could have sworn he heard an ethereal voice of some sort whispering to him.

Beware…

*****

“That’s interesting,” said Mark, deep in meditation as he tracked Dave and Maddie’s location. “They’re teleporting all over the place. I’ll have to stay close to and wait for my chance to strike.”

It took great effort for Mark to maintain a lock on Dave and Maddie’s location as they traveled the English countryside, but he managed to keep up. Still, he had to make sure they didn’t see him, or everything would be for naught. Already, he had followed them to a wooded area near where Camelot would have been, a tiny village with a cathedral in it, and now to a secluded lakefront. Peering through the trees, he saw Dave kneeling on the ground, apparently deep in thought about something. For a split second, Mark might have considered trying to resolve this situation peacefully, but one look at Maddie quashed those thoughts. Her mere presence in this time put every person on the planet in jeopardy, and he was the only person willing to do anything about it. With a deep breath, he focused his mind on his preferred element of lightning and began to charge a bolt in his hand. Dave and Maddie were several paces apart, meaning he would have to target one or the other, and Dave was the clear threat, being a former apprentice of Merlin. Taking aim at the young man, Mark unleashed the lightning from his hand.

*****

In the last few months, Dave had heard more than his fair share of strange voices. He still didn’t pretend to understand everything dealing with the world of sorcery, but he knew that disembodied voices whispering warnings to him were never to be dismissed or ignored. Acting only on instinct, he activated his aura as best he could, forming a protective barrier around him. But before the barrier could fully form, Mark’s lightning bolt struck him in the back. It was deflected somewhat by the partially-formed barrier, but the damage was still more than enough to knock Dave unconscious and leave a smoking wound between his shoulder blades.

“DAVE!!!” Maddie screamed in horror, rushing to her husband’s side. “Oh, God… please, be breathing.”

She tried in vain to heal Dave’s wound, but they had yet to cover healing spells in her training. Now feeling more helpless than ever, she turned in the direction the bolt had come from, looking for whoever or whatever was responsible for this. With tears streaming down her face, her emotions immediately turned to confusion at seeing a suited man emerge from the trees.

“Dr. Iger? Wha… what are you doing here?” Maddie managed to ask.

“What must be done,” Mark replied with a grimace. “I am sorry, but your husband’s recklessness has left me no other choice, Madison. That is, if Madison is even your real name.”

A wave of panic washed over her at hearing this. “What are you talking about?”

“Did you really think we wouldn’t find out, young lady? Did you really think you could hide the fact that you are not of our time? While I have nothing against you personally, your presence here still places the entire world in danger. I’m here to ensure that you and Dave do no further harm to the world.”

“You know not of which you speak,” Maddie replied, still trying to comprehend how he had figured all this out.

“Don’t I?”

In a flash, Mark charged up another bolt of lightning in his hand and prepared to fire it at Maddie. This time, however, his target could see it coming, and Maddie raised a protective shield around herself and her husband in time. As the smoke cleared from the attack, the obvious realization finally hit her on the head.

“Dr. Iger… is a sorcerer?!”

There was no time to ponder this revelation further, as Mark was already gearing up for another attack. What Maddie might lack in healing capabilities she made up for in her combat prowess; Dave had been working with her ever since he first took her as his apprentice, though she still had much to learn. When Mark foolishly attempted using a third lightning bolt in a row, Maddie kicked up a slab of earth from the ground to intercept the bolt. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the slab careening forward, crashing into a surprised Mark and pinning him against a tree. He soon shattered it with a mighty kick, his face now one of frustration and anger.

“You need to stop resisting, Madison. This is for the greater good,” he seethed through gritted teeth.

“I am here because of the greater good! You must listen and believe me, Dr. Iger!” Maddie protested, trying to resolve the situation peacefully.

“NO! Any further time you spend here is time that could create a major paradox! I have no choice!”

Now knowing he would have to take Maddie seriously as an opponent, Mark summoned up an enormous amount of power, rocketing forward at high speeds. Maddie did the same in an attempt to put an end to this quickly; her husband lay dying on the ground, and the only chance of saving him was to act fast. Unfortunately, this also led her to make several reckless decisions. First, as she charged straight for Mark, she underestimated the sheer strength of his attack, forcing her to give ground and retreat to the other side of the clearing. Second, she immediately attempted another offensive, firing blast after blast of aura energy at Mark; a trained sorcerer like Mark was able to deflect these with no effort whatsoever. Finally, she fell back on using her preferred element of water, which gave Mark just the opening he was looking for. As a true master of the element of lightning, he was able to use weaker blasts of lightning without the charge-up time most sorcerers required. A few quick static balls were all it took to break through Maddie’s wall of water and knock her to the ground beside Dave.

“Impressive. It’s a shame that we’ll never see how high your ceiling goes,” Mark said, approaching to deliver the finishing blow. “May God have mercy on your souls.”

At this, Mark raised raise both hands and pointed them at the couple, ready to strike each down in an instant. But before he could unleash his attack, a tornado of water suddenly formed in the nearby lake. Figuring this was Maddie’s last-ditch effort to survive, Mark ignored it as a mere distraction and fired a lightning bolt large enough to engulf both his targets at once. The attack was so strong that it even blinded Mark for a few moments, but when he opened his eyes, his jaw dropped at what he saw.

Dave and Maddie were both unharmed, and in front of them stood another young woman. She was tall and slender and had long blonde hair that partially obscured her nude body. Though her skin was fair and her face soft and elven, her violet eyes burned with intense anger and ferocity. When she at last opened her mouth to speak, her voice echoed through the trees with commanding power.

“Be gone, little man. You are not welcome here.”

Hesitating at first due to this mystery woman’s sudden appearance, Mark then replied, “I don’t know who you are, but my business is not with you. These two have placed the world in extreme danger, and I’m the only one who can stop them. Stand aside; this must be done.”

“Still your tongue, whelp. You speak of things beyond your comprehension. David and Madeleine are friends to me, and they are now under my protection!”

Mark sighed. “If you will not stand aside… I will do what I must.”

Without warning, he launched another bolt of lightning straight at this woman, but she simply reached out her hand and absorbed the energy. After a moment, she spun and fired the lightning back it him from her other hand. Mark managed to deflect the lightning with his aura, but the force of the blow was still more than enough to send him flying onto his back. He did not even hesitate a moment, leaping back to his feet and launching a powerful blast of flame at her, but she countered with a massive wave of water from the lake. She used this to sweep Mark off his feet, then stopped him altogether by freezing the water all around him. He struggled as best he could, but had already been drained of much of his energy with his earlier bout with Maddie.

“Wha… what manner of creature are you?” Mark hissed, terrified at the look in this woman’s eyes.

“One beyond your means to control,” she hissed.

“Nimue, Dave is dying! Please, hurry!” Maddie cried out.

Without a word, Nimue whipped up another tornado of water, surrounding herself with it and using it to collect Dave and Maddie. It rose higher and higher into the sky until it disappeared altogether, leaving Mark alone and confused at the lakeshore. As soon as they were gone, the ice holding Mark in place melted in an instant. He then saw that his targets had escaped, and for a brief moment, the calm and collected preacher gave way to a man whose entire world was falling part before his eyes.

“GODDAMN YOU, DAVID BRIGHTON!” Mark screamed into the sky.