Once & Future (Once & Future #1)(21)

The trumpets hit their highest notes, and Merlin turned to watch as horses filled the ring. At first he worried he was drunker than he’d previously calculated. The creatures appeared to be made of metal, with stiff shining flanks, clanging hooves, and electric-blue eyes. None of Merlin’s traveling companions seemed troubled by their presence, though, and Merlin tried to play along as the riders circled and a man with brass lungs announced their names.

“Whoa,” Kay said, pointing out a girl with aggressively blond hair, black armor, and a hard seat, posting around the ring to deafening cheers. “That’s her! That’s the black knight!”

“The one who handed your asses to you at camp?” Ari asked, looking at Lam and Kay.

“Yeah,” Lamarack said. “She’s so… awesome.” They sighed. Kay sighed.

Merlin had ungenerous thoughts about his F students. Especially as he watched the black knight break into a canter, soaring like an arrow from one end of the ring to the other. She swirled her sword through the air and the crowd cheered as if it had been lit on fire. How did Merlin get a knight like that for Ari’s team?

The great doors around the ring closed. Merlin’s cares felt as though they’d been left outside. The tournament began, and the black knight took down several opponents with ease: the green knight, the crimson knight, the rainbow knight. The crowd whooped. Merlin whooped along with them. He was just relaxed enough to hum a few notes and dance another flagon of mead from a passing tray into his hands. Ari gave him a sharp look. Merlin tried to look innocent as he sipped. The drink disappeared at an alarming rate. It stripped away the last of his worries. He even thought about asking Ari if they could stay long enough to visit this Knight Club.

Then a hard shadow passed over the crowd, and everyone looked up. “What?” Merlin asked. “Is it going to rain?”

“That was no storm cloud.” Ari grabbed Merlin’s flagon and downed the last few sips. The tournament had paused unnaturally, but now the clash of the fighters came back at full volume.

“What color is our doom today?” Kay asked.

“Want to take bets?” Lam asked. “Loser buys the winner another drink?”

“What are they talking about?” Merlin whispered to Ari.

“White Mercer ships are made to be seen. That’s what they use when they want you to pay attention. Black ships blend with space. That’s the nothing-to-see-here option.”

“White,” Lam said.

“Definitely black,” Kay argued.

They all looked up—at a pair of enormous shapes taking over the sky. A white ship and a black one.

“That’s… I’ve never seen that before,” Lam said.

Betting dissolved, drinks suddenly forgotten. Ari turned to Merlin. “Can you hide me?”

The trick Merlin had used in the alley on the moon wouldn’t work here—Ari could be seen from too many angles. He thought about trying to magic her straight out of the ring, but he couldn’t see where she would land. Then again, maybe Merlin didn’t need to get Ari out of the tournament. Maybe she needed to be deeper in.

He pulled her close and whispered, “I know a place no Mercer agents will look for you. And, what’s more, you can continue your training. Think of it as a two-for-one special!” He hummed a harmony to the blare of the trumpets, sprinkled his fingers through the air—

And Ari vanished.





The cyborg horse between Ari’s legs was close to overheating. That was her first thought. Her second was to wonder what was so heavy. Ari glanced at the long, unwieldy lance in her right hand and then the shield bound to her left forearm.

Merlin had magicked her into one of the knights’ suits of armor.

In the jousting ring.

Shit.

She reeled back, trying to see the sky through the narrow eye slit of her helmet. The salt-and-pepper Mercer fleet was gone. A trumpet rang out, dragging her attention back to the ring. In the center, a hook-backed man dressed in green and gold jester fanfare dropped a red flag, and the crowd screamed their cheers. Kay’s beloved former crush—the knight with the black plume on her helmet—spurred her horsebot into a sprint, straight for Ari.

“Did your horse short-circuit?”

“What?” Ari’s voice banged around inside her helmet as she looked down at what she could only assume was her squire.

“Try the override,” he said, touching a button on the horse’s neck. In a rearing kick that nearly sent Ari tumbling ass over elbow, her cyborg steed bolted down the lane toward the black knight—who was still bolting toward her. The crowd grew louder, echoing in Ari’s armor and making her bones rattle. The black knight was close. Ari could nearly see her eyes beneath her helmet’s pointed visor. What to do? What to do?

Flinch. Ari turned sideways, dropping the lance and gluing herself behind her shield. The black knight’s lance exploded in a shower of shards all over her, but she somehow stayed upright. Ari waited for the planet to quit vibrating, while her preprogrammed horse took her back to the starting point.

Her squire shoved the lance back in her hand, his eyebrows drawn low. “Come on, Pete. Remember how we practiced. It’s one to one now. Next busted tip goes on to the final round, and don’t make me remind you what you get if you win.”

Somewhere in the still-vibrating corners of Ari’s mind, she wondered what she would get if she won. She looked to the sidelines, unsurprised to find Merlin, Kay, and Lam cheering her on. Merlin waved and grinned, and she waved back. After all, that had been kind of… thrilling.