First Chapter of The Last Heir of Excalibur

Chapter One 

The Esmereldan Comet 

Present Day 

Nobody cared about Adelaide Knightley until the night she pulled the legendary sword out of the stone. That fact had been an irrefutable truth for seventeen years, since she had been born and left abandoned; orphaned. And, as any life-changing evening does, the night started out just like any other. 

            Addie walked alone down the grim, discolored cobblestone path leading into Camelot’s bustling marketplace. At the edge of the market, where quaint suburb meets seedy township, the shift from solvent to impoverished is immediate. Lush green, rolling hills and well-tended seasonal vegetation quickly turn into dirt patches and blackened cobblestone. 

Though the city charged in taxes more than the average household brought home, the village hadn’t been updated since the previous monarchy. Long before Addie had been born. And the taxing had only gotten worse over the last few years. 

The market was thriving economically, but it was used largely to exchange goods. It didn’t do much to put coin in anyone’s pocket. The evidence of the village’s poverty was everywhere. Hungry children huddled in corners waiting for an opportunity to score one of the pears that were in season or a loaf of bread when the dim-witted baker had his back turned. Starved and depraved beggars or thieves, with less skill than Addie had, skulked in the soiled crevices of town.  

The tented booths were set up in the center of town, in front of the village shops and grocers. A resident could visit the barber, buy bread, pick up a new rug, and sit outside the café reading the paper all on one street. Market Street stretched for miles, each section divided by archways above them connected to stucco buildings between other structures built of gray or red brick. Underneath the archways stood tall, spindly trees that were more trunk than tree. They had seven-foot-tall trunks topped with lamp shade-width greenery, placed there almost as an after-thought. Lanterns, put up at sundown, lit up each corner and illuminated the haggard faces of the local merchants. 

Addie passed the pot-bellied baker outside his bread shop smoking a cigar, and pulled her hand free from her dull suede jacket-pocket to wave hello. He had lost his daughter earlier that year to fever. Addie felt for him and treated him to a kind word or spent some coin on a loaf of fresh bread when he was around after she finished a job. 

After Addie had been orphaned moments after her birth, she jumped from foster home to foster home, country to country. Finally, she had made her way to Camelot two years before and found work in procurement for the market. Addie made a living by procuring magical objects from less-than-savory people and giving them to other, slightly less, dreadful people who hired her. She did this by utilizing her small cache of abilities, particularly her most-used one; The ability to compel anyone to do whatever she wanted. Addie called it “charming.” 

Addie’s “charming” ability was useful, but had its limitations. It only worked on one person at a time. But if Addie locked eyes with another person, lowered her voice to a gentle, persuasive octave, and put all her focus into one single thought or idea, she could talk herself into or out of anything. 

Basically, she was a thief. 

This not only helped her pay for a night in a guest-bungalow somewhere or a room above the Mystic Pub, but allowed her access to the resources she needed to find the resurrection stone. Camelot, and its underbelly of trading magical objects in the market, was the best place for Addie to find and grab the stone. 

As Addie dodged shoppers and browsers that crowded the market streets, the looking glass thumped heavily in her bag. The thick block handle poked her middle-back with each step on the rough cobbled road. The market was a bustling epicenter of trade. Sounds of boots clopping down the narrow cobblestone path between the shops in the village were amplified throughout the marketplace, echoing off the stone and slat of the shops. On each side of the street were tented booths set up merely inches from one another, barely giving enough space to puff out smoke on a cigarette break. To those unfamiliar to the market, it was suffocating and overwhelming. To Addie, it was the closest thing she had come to calling anything home. 

Another thump. Shit, she thought. 

She turned to her left to see a Canary Knight, or a Canary, one of Camelot’s police and anti-magic patrol. Addie’s shoulders tensed. If he caught her with the looking glass... 

The man gave her a quick, polite nod and moved to down to look at another booth. Addie let out a breath she wasn’t aware she’d been holding and relaxed her shoulders. So far, she’d done a fair job at keeping her abilities and her occupation hidden. Only the market folk she dealt with knew.  

The Canary Knights were pretty relaxed with the public, unlike the Scarlet Knights of their neighboring country, Syanne, who would have Addie hanged or sold into the slave trade for her abilities. Syanne was a lot more conservative and strict than Camelot. But it was best not to test the Canary Knights either. They may not come stomping around the village market arresting anyone on suspicion of magical objects in their possession – of which there were many – but they couldn’t ignore people blatantly breaking the law against using and selling magical objects. Only royals could deal in that business.  

She was almost to Kai’s booth when she caught a whiff of cigarette smoke wafting past her. A grubby shopkeeper stood on his stoop, taking a long drag from his thin, brown cigarette stick. Addie inhaled deeply, missing the feel of a cig between her lips. She had given up smoking four months ago, more out of disinterest than avoiding any health risks. Addie tended to drop things as quickly as she picked them up. 

“Missing the habit?” came a familiar voice. 

Slim, the bartender at the Mystic Pub, passed by her and kept on down the street. His expression teased an amused smile at her craving for a cigarette. She let him pass without a response; She’d likely see him later at the Pub.  

Addie rounded a corner and, finally, reached Kai’s booth. She stopped short; He added a new sign to the front. 

Stars can’t shine without pure darkness. 

            Addie read the sign on Kai’s booth with more than a little cynicism and rolled her eyes. She wasn’t much for cheesy sayings that begged to be profound. She looked up at the stars that shone among the darkness above her, lighting up the Avalon sky. Glistening diamonds set against a purplish backdrop, whispering prophecies to those who listened.  

            One of the few that listened was Kai, an astrotech manning a booth among Camelot’s bustling village marketplace. Though the constellations had a recurrence of common shapes, the stars in Avalon were never the same each night. They changed nightly with each new prophecy they delivered to the scientists who studied them and translated their fortunes for Camelot’s elite. Astrotechs were supposed to be the only men in the world who knew what the constellations meant. They studied for years, training to listen to the stars and receive messages from their shifting positions. 

            But Addie heard them too. Learning astronoma, the language of the stars, came easily to Addie. Just as all languages had. It came in handy at the market when she needed to trade; Not all merchants were native to Camelot. Addie wasn’t even native to Camelot. 

            Addie was from Lorcan, if Gypsy was to be believed. Truthfully, Addie didn’t know where she came from. Not for certain. Her taupe skin tone and the curved shape of her steel-gray eyes told her she was at least part Lorcanian. As for the other part? She never knew. There was never enough in her features to tell her. And it wasn’t like she had parents around to tell her when she was growing up.            

            At Kai’s booth, she pulled out her latest procurement. It was a golden looking-glass, about the length of Addie’s forearm. While it had been heavy in her pack, Addie hardly felt its heft as she gripped the hilt. 

She held it up to show it off to Kai. “This is it, right?” 

Kai knew about Addie’s special talents. He had sent her to the neighboring village a few miles south, nestling among Camelot’s countryside, to retrieve the magical mirror she held. It allowed its user to see anyone they desired. Unfortunately, it also caused blindness for half the time the person used it.  

All magic came with a price, a consequence, ranging from mild to severe depending on the power level of the ability. 

“Yes,” he said and grabbed at the mirror greedily. 

Addie pulled back, putting the mirror out of his reach. “Payment first.” 

Kai wasn’t likely to stiff Addie. He was well known around the market as a “good guy.” But Addie didn’t trust anyone. No foster kid could. 

Kai nodded and lifted a finger to tell her one minute. He dove behind his booth to grab his trade. 

Addie looked back up at the stars. She no longer saw warrior from the night before, which warned of an oncoming battle, siege, or invasion from another country. Nor did she see the harp for fate, the twin flames for soul mates, or the wheel of fortune. 

Tonight, the sky was silent. The stars glittered apart from each other, none coming together to form a message. 

“How long did it take you to charm him out of the mirror?” asked Kai, who had popped back up from behind the booth. His shaggy dark hair flipped about and fell in front of his eyes. He pushed it back with a heavily-ringed hand. 

“Huh?” Addie asked, tearing her attention from the skies. 

“I don’t understand much about your powers, but I do understand that the weaker-willed are easier for you to charm. That it takes less time and energy.” 

Kai was referring to magical energy. Addie's abilities, like all magic, had a consequence. Using them expended energy. After using them, she usually felt tired and weak like she was dehydrated after a long run. And though her powers worked on everyone, it was easier on the weaker-willed. Addie could use less energy and get what she wanted a lot faster. 

“He was weaker than Gypsy’s coffee,” she quipped. 

Addie didn’t really have friends, but if she could claim something close to that, it would be Gypsy. 

Gypsy was a seer who was indentured to The Mystic Pub, a pub Addie considered home-base when she needed a break in between jobs. The second floor was used as a hotel for guests and the third as housing for its staff, like Gypsy and the pub’s bartender, Slim. When Addie needed a place to crash for a night or two, she took solace on the second floor of the Mystic. During those occasions, she always made sure to stop by the fortune teller’s office at the back of the pub for coffee. Despite her misgivings, Gypsy always indulged Addie’s extra sugar fetish. 

Kai gave Addie an amused smile. “Peter is one of the weakest men I’ve ever met. But he has a cache of magical objects and a mean right hook.” 

He held out his palm to reveal a small white pill. “For your help. This is what you need to help you sleep.” 

Since Addie’s seventeenth birthday a few months before, she hadn’t been sleeping well. When she started to drift off, she would get pulled into these vivid nightmares. They were happening more and more frequently. 

The memory of the last one came back to her. She folded her arms across her chest, hugged herself tightly, as she tried to shake it. 

She scratched and scrubbed as the water washed the blood from her hands.  

The blood slithered slowly toward the crevices of her hands, within her nail bed and the lines embedded into her palms, fighting the purifying stream. As if it wanted to become a part of her. As if it wouldn’t let her go.  

She knelt beside a sparkling cerulean lake, surrounded by a vibrant green field laced with daisies and lavender. She was certain she had never been there before. Yet, the place felt familiar to her. She leaned back and her fingertips touched something hard and cool beside her. She looked down to see a long, grand sword decorated in dazzling gems along the blade. It was cool to the touch, yet still begged her to keep her hands upon it. 

She looked down at her reflection in the lake. Something was wrong. It was her, but it wasn’t her. The girl reflected back at her shared her distinct features: her black hair, the tangle of freckles that encircled her slim nose, eyes the color of steel that Charlie had once described as almond-shaped. After that, Addie couldn’t eat almonds. She only saw eyes staring disparagingly back at her. 

But there were slight differences. Addie’s hair was shoulder-length and two-tonal, ending in blond highlights about halfway down, whereas this girl’s raven hair ran the length of her back. The clothes weren’t right either. She wore a lightweight, flowing dress made from fabric commonly worn by Camelot’s noblewomen back in medieval times, not a modern commoner like her. 

She continued to stare at the girl reflected back at her and lifted a wet, bloodied hand to her cheek. The reflection didn’t mimic the gesture. It stared back at her, eyes wide. 

“You are the last,” she said. “He will come for you too.” 

“Addie?” Kai was staring at her, worry heavy in his dark eyes. “Are you all right?” 

Addie nodded. “Fine,” her voice was a bit shakier than she liked. She cleared her throat, fighting for a stronger tone. “Thanks for the help.” She pocketed the pill. 

There was a stirring in the market. The merchants and traders surrounding Addie all turned up their heads toward the sky. Addie and Kai looked up to see what had caught their attention. 

A slow-moving comet was darting across the skies. At the head was a ball of golden light, trailed by a bright green tail. 

“’Green for her beauty, the Chosen One is called. Gold for her great happiness before she is falled.’ The Esmereldan comet. Only happens approximately every hundred years,” explained Kai. 

“’Before she is falled’? That’s not even a real sentence,” Addie mocked. 

Kai huffed out a half-hearted chuckle. “It doesn’t have to make sense. It’s poetry.” 

“Sounds like prophecy.” 

Kai nodded. “That too. The Esmereldan comet predicts the return of the Chosen One.” 

“Chosen for what?” 

Addie had never heard this myth before. After living her whole life in the mystical underbelly of Avalon, that was saying a lot. 

Kai shrugged. “It’s just an old fable. A bedtime story we tell our children about the comet.” 

But the constellations always mean something, she thought. 

She was surprised Kai was so quick to dismiss the comet, but she let it drop. If he and the other astrotechs didn’t believe the comet had a message, they were probably right. They had been studying astronoma longer and more thoroughly than she had over the years. Hers was merely a passing fancy. 

The market quickly grew bored with the skies and shuffled back to regular business. Camelotians had no time to spare for stargazing. 

“The attention spans of cicadans,” Kai quipped. 

Addie shuddered at the mention of the hideous insects. They were small, about the size of a barman’s thumb. But deadly. They had venom in their bite that would sting an adult, and merely make them very sick for a day or two, but would kill a child. The venom infected the blood so viciously, a child’s immune system couldn’t fight it off. Fortunately, they also had attention spans that lasted about a second long. Long enough for most to distract the bugs with a quick wave off if anyone ever came upon them. 

“Move along!” a deep, booming voice shouted from down the street.  

Two gentile-looking Canary Knights were coming toward Addie and Kai, accompanied by two large, imposing Scarlet Knights. A stout, blonde Scarlet Knight leading the group had been the one to shout. 

“Move it!” he ordered a timid, slow-moving woman clutching her bag to her chest. He shoved her along, forcing her out of his way. 

Addie turned to Kai. “What are the Scarlet Knights doing here?” 

Scarlet Knights were Syanne’s police and military; They had no place in Camelot’s village market. 

“Escorting the king of Syanne and his son. Prince Declan is marrying our dear Princess Tatiana.” 

But why would the king or the prince be in the market? 

“They wouldn’t be here, would they?” Addie asked. 

Kai shook his head. “No, I don’t know why the Scarlet Knights strayed from the comfy palace walls. Maybe they need a break from their strict, boring king?” 

Addie chuckled. It was a known fact that Syanne was conservative to the point of boring. Rigid. Bland. It was something the residents of Camelot joked about often. 

The blonde brick stomped through a puddle that had gathered overflow water from the drain at the curb. His thick black boots splashed the shoppers that passed him. His and his companion’s presence still nagged at her. Why would he leave his king to tour Camelot’s destitute village marketplace? 

Kai put a hand to her arm to bring her attention back to him. “Have tip for you. About the resurrection stone. There’s been a whisper of it being here, in Camelot.” 

Kai always had his ear open to Camelot gossip, especially when it came to black market magical artifacts. 

“A whisper?” she asked. “I don't jump for anything less than a full-out roar.” 

The corners of Kai’s lips lifted just slightly in an amused smile. “It’s a real tip.” He put his hand to his heart. “I swear.” 

Addie was intrigued. “What did you hear?” 

“Something you may be interested in.” He knew he had her interest and he was milking it.  

“Go on,” she said. 

It looked like he was debating on whether or not to drag this out a bit longer. He knew how much she wanted that stone – how much she needed it. He squinted his eye, like he was fighting his natural instincts. But then he let out a melodramatic sigh, gave her a teasing grin, and just came out with it. “There’s a man, new to town, staying with the Zhuques. That guest cottage at the edge of town. He knows where to find it. He’ll likely tell you, for the right price.” 

Addie cocked an eyebrow. “Or if I just ‘asked’ nicely.” 

Kai tapped the tip of his nose twice and then pointed to her. You got it, kid. 

“Thanks for the tip,” she said and started to turn away, headed for the Zhuques’ place. “It’s getting late. I want to head over there before Ms. Zhuque can accuse me of being ‘indecent.’” 

Truthfully, Addie didn’t care what anyone thought. She just really needed to get that stone. The sooner, the better. 

“Addie,” Kai started. 

She turned back to meet his grim gaze. It was the same expression he had whenever he gave someone a grave reading, a warning of some kind from the stars above. 

He sighed. “Nothing. Just – be safe.” 

That was odd. Nothing about their lifestyle was safe, and Kai knew that. The merchants and traders of the lowly market preferred the departing “stay alive.” Addie didn’t ask about it though. She simply gave him a quick nod to say “message received” and walked on. 

She put a hand to the child’s shoelaces braceleted around her wrist. They had been white years ago, but had since grayed with dirt and age. She had wrapped them violently around her wrist when she was eleven, ensuring they were tight enough to indent her skin, and hadn’t taken them off once since. The resurrection stone, she thought as she fingered the soft fabric of the laces. I’m one step closer, Charlie.  

***

The Esmereldan comet followed Addie all the way to the Zhuques’ cottage. It followed her past The Mystic Pub, with its colorful patrons. Past surly merchants bartering with obstinate customers. And past a new sight. More Scarlet Knights littered the marketplace at the edge of town, loading enslaved magical creatures into shipping carriages, presumably taking them to Syanne.  

Magical creatures, such as fairies, shifters, genies, and The Gifted (humans with magical abilities) used to be a normal part of society. Before the war. Or so Addie had heard. For as long as anyone could remember, anyone with magic had been feared and captured to be used as slaves for nobles and the royal family. Humans hated things they didn’t understand, but kept them around when they could control them.  

Creatures who were sold into the slave trade were bound by indentured contracts, contracts written in indelible, magical ink that bound the creature or The Gifted to their owner. The thought made Addie’s stomach turn. Which is why she kept her abilities a secret among only those she did deals with in the market. People who had just as much to lose as she did if anti-magic patrol were to get involved. 

As she kept on past the shipping carriages, she caught a flash of red hair. The paprika color stood out among the grim blend of gray and black that surrounded the scene. Gray faces, black carriages, black and gray cobblestone. She had just enough time to notice the red hair attached to a leggy fairy before the creature was shoved into the back of the carriage. Her long, thin, delicate fingers wrapped around the iron bars of the cage as the carriage took off. 

That image of red stayed with her the rest of the way to the Zhuques’. Addie clutched the ruby pendant at her neck and rubbed the smooth stone to comfort her. She had had the necklace for as long as she could remember. She was told by her first set of foster parents, before they sent her back at age three, that she had been left at the orphanage with it. Her birth parents must have given it to her. It was all she had left of them. 

When Addie knocked on the Zhuques’ door, she was surprised to find that it wasn’t Mr. or Mrs. Zhuque who answered. Instead, it was a man she had never seen before. 

Then why does he look so familiar? she thought to herself. She had an odd, vague feeling that she knew him. Though she was absolutely certain she didn’t. 

He had dark hair tousled into an old-fashioned style, dark eyes like pits overshadowed by severe brows, a straight-pointed triangular nose above a finely-groomed goatee, and was wearing typical upscale clothing: waistcoat and jacket, dress pants, clean shoes without a speck of mud on them. Not the shoes of a man used to streets of Camelot’s commoner village. 

His full, round lips split into a wolfish grin. “Adelaide.” 

“Addie,” she corrected. “Do we know each other?” 

He shook his head and waved her in. “Not at all. I learned your name from your friend. Kai?” 

Addie stepped inside and nodded to confirm the name. The explanation still hadn’t put her at ease. Kai never called her Adelaide. No one did. 

Still, she shrugged it off. Perhaps Kai thought her preferred name would be too informal to use with this upper-class stranger. Kai was known to class it up with noblemen. 

The Zhuques had a typical cottage for Camelot’s middle class. Quaint and cozy. Afghans draped over every piece of furniture one can sit on, a wood-burning fireplace that overheated the space, and an open floor plan with nothing to divide the living area from the kitchen. Two doors lined the wall on the other side of the room, presumably leading to a bedroom and a front closet. All one level. Camelotians had to have serious coin to afford a two-floor home.  

Everyone in town knew the Zhuques had a reputation for generosity. They used their main home, this cottage, to house town guests while they took to the loft above the barn out back when they had visitors. Addie wondered what they charged for such kindness. And they definitely charged; The Zhuques didn’t become middle class without charging guests rent.  

“Can I get you anything?” asked the man. 

Addie shook her head. “Where are the Zhuques?” 

“They stepped out to attend to the barn,” he replied with a smile. “Truthfully, I think they wanted to give us some privacy. They know the nature of my business – trading in magical objects – and I don’t think they entirely approve.” 

Addie didn’t doubt it. They were good, law-abiding people. The Zhuques wouldn’t want to get near any illegal activity. But, if the man paid handsomely enough for the guest room, the Zhuques would let him conduct any business he needed to. 

Addie took a seat on the brown, itchy sofa. “Got a name?”  

“Elias,” he replied.  

He sat in the brown leather lounge chair to her right, instead of taking the empty seat next to her. 

“I assume Kai told you what I’ve been looking for,” Addie said, cutting to the chase. 

Elias put an elbow on the arm of the chair and settled his chin into his hand, considering her. “Yes, you desire the resurrection stone.”  

“You have it?” 

As an answer, Elias pulled an oval amber stone out of his jacket pocket. Despite the lack of light shining on it, it sparkled. It was exactly as Addie had seen it in so many books that she had spent years searching through. The resurrection stone.  

Addie instinctively leaned forward, like the stone was pulling her toward it. There it was, after all this time. 

“Where did you find it?” she asked. 

Elias waved a hand carelessly in the air. “Where else? I acquired it from a girl.” He put his hands down, folded them, and rested them in his lap. “I can be quite charming when I want to be.” 

You have to have some serious charm to get this from anyone, thought Addie. The resurrection stone was an incredibly rare magical artifact. There was only one in existence, unlike other magical items which could be as rare as to have three in the world. But never, never, was there ever only one of something. Except the resurrection stone. 

Well, she thought. Get a load of my “charm.” 

She was still leaning forward, their faces inches from each other. Her gray eyes met his, two great black pits staring with excessive focus at her.  

Addie lowered her voice, putting all her energy into her charm. She couldn’t lose this opportunity to take the stone, she had to put her all into this. Whether he was weak or not, she couldn’t risk it. “You’re going to give me the resurrection stone.” 

Elias let out his hand, with the resurrection stone in his palm. Addie’s charm worked. 

But there was something off in the way Elias held her gaze as she reached for the stone. Something Addie couldn’t quite place. Not that it mattered. She dismissed the thought when her hands wrapped around the stone. Satisfied, she leaned back into the sofa as she greedily appraised the stone. 

“Magnificent, isn’t it?” he asked. 

Addie started. 

He should still be in a haze. It took a few moments to shake free of her charming power. Instead, he looked sobered and alert. 

That’s what was off, she thought. 

When she charmed Elias, he didn’t get that glazed, faraway look in his eyes. He was focused on her – watchful, even.  

Suddenly, Addie was overcome. Everything felt off – like she was moving through syrup. She was certain she couldn’t possibly be moving this slowly. Time just felt slower for her than real-time.  

“Wh - ” she tried to ask what was happening, but the words wouldn’t come out. They kept getting stuck in her mouth like cotton at the back of her throat. 

“I had an enchantment put on the stone,” he explained. “For just this occasion.” 

He stood and moved closer to her, hovering over her. A dark cloud settling overhead. Quickly, he snatched the stone from her hands. 

“You didn’t really think I’d let you walk off with this did you?” He smirked and shook his head. “No, I’m afraid I need the stone even more than you do.” 

“Kai,” she said. She meant to ask a question, to ask why he would betray her to a stranger. But his name was all she could manage. 

“Your friend? Oh, he’s certainly dead. My associate would have disposed of him by now. I don’t like to leave loose ends. He didn’t betray you, if that’s what you want to know. Kai simply didn’t ask enough questions. Didn’t care to, I expect. He only knew a wealthy nobleman was in possession of the resurrection stone and was, conveniently, visiting nearby.” 

She believed him. Likely, Kai assumed Addie could handle herself. She had her charming power after all; what situation was there that Addie couldn’t get out of?  

Which brought on a more important question. Why hadn’t her power worked on him? 

“My power,” she managed to get out, but the words didn’t sound right. They felt heavy and slurred coming out of her mouth. 

“Your power?” he asked. “Oh yes. That. Your ability doesn’t work on me. In fact, none of them do.” 

She wanted to ask why, but she was fading fast. Now, not only could she not speak a single word, she could barely hold a thought together. When she tried to put a word together in her mind, it immediately toppled apart like demolished brick cracking and falling to the ground. 

“Now, we’re going to go on a little trip,” he said. “And you’re going to help me with something. Addie tried to say something else; anything else. (Maybe, fuck you?) But a dark haze was flooding her mind. She couldn’t talk past it – couldn't even think past it. She struggled to find the words she wanted. They kept slipping away the second she tried to bring them to the surface of her mind.  

Elias grabbed her by the arm and lifted her off the couch. The room around her dimmed, the haze tainting her vision. But as Elias turned her, escorting her around the sofa, she caught the slightest bit of something. 

Two sets of shoe heels poked out from a corner in the kitchen. Petite. Unmoving. Stiff.  

The cotton in her mouth choked down any scream that begged to be let out. Mr. and Mrs. Zhuque.  

Addie looked up to see the desolate black pits of Elias’s eyes staring down at her. The pits grew larger and larger, swallowing up his amused face, devouring the room around them. It wasn’t long before the haze took over completely and she faded into blackness.