Demon Bound: The Camelot Archive - Book One R Nicole (open ebook .txt) 📖

tapped his finger on the map of the patrol routes and rolled his eyes.

I snorted and continued to search the crates. Until recently, breaking through the Light around the tent hadn’t been a problem. Besides, it wasn’t like anyone—other than me—could just walk in here and know all our secrets.

Our. Why was it so hard to let go?

I pushed my thoughts aside and kept searching the crates. Time was short and my sword had to be here somewhere. Thompson would want to keep it close so I didn’t steal it back.

Ducking under the table he used as a makeshift desk, I found a small black box with an aura of Light around it. Ignoring the magical lock, I clicked open the snaps, my power nullifying the security measures. My transition from warrior to thief was becoming second-nature quicker than I’d expected.

Inside, I saw a glint of metal. My sword.

“Yes.” I picked up the hilt and held it close.

“I don’t know why you want that thing anymore,” Elijah said, standing next to me.

“Old habits die hard.” I stood and slipped the hilt into my new belt. “Consider it an insurance policy.”

Leaving the camp behind, we crossed the wall and ventured into the lower city of Camelot.

We walked through the crumbling streets, moving from building to building with silent footsteps. I placed my hand next to a rune carved into a stone wall—the Druidic rune for the willow tree—and said a silent prayer. So far, nothing had stopped us.

“I’ve never been here before,” Elijah said. “It’s a one-star for me.”

“One-star?” I scoffed.

“It’s in dire need of renovation.”

I shook my head and scanned the thoroughfare before us. It was empty, just like the rest of the city and the camp had been.

“Where are all the demons?” I whispered. If this was the Dark taking back Camelot, they were doing a terrible job.

“There aren’t many demons left,” Elijah told me. “Without a link to the One, all the lower creatures have rotted away. They were the bulk of the horde, you know.”

“So, they don’t have the numbers for a full scale attack?”

“No. Not unless the scattered come together as one. Without a leader, they’ll never have the power they did before the rift closed.”

That made our job a little easier, then. I scanned the street and moved towards the main entrance of the inner castle.

Stepping underneath the grand arch at the top of the thoroughfare, I gasped when I saw what lay beyond.

Naturals were scattered around the square, digging. Some had shovels, others had picks, and some were using their bare hands to move stone and earth. Though the broken gates, I could see more inside the inner bailey doing the same.

I told them to keep digging, but this wasn’t what I had in mind.

“What the hell?” Elijah murmured. “This is new.”

Sensing no Darkness, I stepped out from under the arch, but no one stopped their work to look at me—they all seemed laser-focused on finding something.

“They’re tearing up the place. Aiden’s going to be pissed.” I cursed and moved across the square, the priceless mosaic ripped up by the dazed Naturals.

“Their eyes are black.” I turned to find Elijah squatting in front of a male Natural, his hand wrapped around the man’s shovel to stop him from digging. “This one is your friend, isn’t he?”

I darted forwards and gasped. “Trent?”

I shook him, but he stared right though me. The moment I let him go, he snatched the shovel from Elijah and kept digging.

“He’s zombified,” Elijah said. “You won’t get any sense out of them. Their eyes are all bugged out.”

“What are they doing?” I waved my hand in front of Trent’s eyes, but the movement didn’t illicit any response.

“Digging.”

I glared at Elijah. “Duh.”

“I assume whatever the Balan wants, it’s buried around here someplace.” He walked around a hole another Natural—Maisy—was digging. “He has no chance taking on this many Naturals, so what better way to neutralise the threat than to turn it into a workforce?”

“Then where’s Wilder?” I demanded.

“Imprisoned or dead. Take your pick.”

I shoved him, my anger getting the better of me. “You’re a real arsehole when your demon comes out, you know that?”

He held up his hands. “Don’t shoot the messenger, Madeleine.”

I sighed and grasped Maisy’s arm. Pulling her towards me, I placed both palms on her head and circled my thumbs on her temples. She stared at me with big, black eyes, but didn’t stop me.

Reaching for my power, I attempted to connect with her Light. A murky haze lingered inside her mind and I hissed as a jolt of electricity zapped my hands. It’d felt like a slimy film with booby-tapped barbs hidden within the haze.

Letting her go, I cursed. Whatever Darkness held her was beyond my ability to break.

If I knew how this shite worked, then maybe I could free them, but I was clueless. A day in possession of a new soul wasn’t exactly enough time to find out my limits.

“It isn’t working,” I said, turning to Elijah. “I can’t break through.”

He peered at Maisy, who blinked then returned to her hole. “What did you see?”

“Her mind is full of this awful ashy fog.” I shuddered as an echo slunk through my mind.

“I was afraid of that.”

“Then how do we break the hypnosis?”

“The Balan is controlling them,” he replied. “If we can sever his ritual, then they’ll be freed.”

“His ritual? Like the sigil he used to get into my mind?”

“Something like that.”

I grimaced as I recalled the blood-filled carvings. Why did demons have to be so gross? “Where would we find it?”

“Knowing what he’s like, I’d suggest looking outside Camelot.”

I hesitated as I looked at the Naturals. I couldn’t just leave them here.

“I know what you’re thinking, Madeleine,” Elijah said, his voice loud in the close quarters of the ruined city. “There’s nothing you can do for them. Not until that Balan is six feet under.”

He was right, though I didn’t let on. He’d never let me live it down.

“High ground,” I said. “That’s where he’ll be.”

“A vantage