The Black Sorcerer (Tales of New Camelot, #4) / Tales of New Camelot (ePub)

An army amasses on the desert border of medieval New Camelot. Stolen documents are given to Druids with King Wolfrick's command to decipher the odd-shaped writing. Lord Dillon Asarlaís is a trainee. He and his peers strain in futility to decipher the cryptic writings. He needs a computer and a code breaker from the Old World. He focuses his sorcerer incantation on the individual who can help him; the one he wants more than life itself. Ethereal Titania of modern New York City is a reclusive linguistic. A young man appears in medieval costume and rescues her from muggers. Dillon explains his quest and asks for her help. She thinks he needs psychiatric care and leads him to a hospital. Betrayed, he slams his staff on the floor and whisks them both away. Unnerved, she studies her odd surroundings in a turret room and gives him scant heed while he rants at her perfidy. Overwhelmed by events, she faints when Abraxas, the Queen of the Fey's pet dragon, inserts his head into the room and pronounces that Titania is an elf. When she recovers, she's informed that she's crossed a time and space continuum and is in a mystic realm created by Morgan Le Fey. After reading the documents, Titania realizes that the invaders are Sumerians that seek lands to homestead. Wolfrick growls, "They can't have mine." She discovers a prophesy that portends, "When the three queens unite to save the day from the dark, the light will come forth and prosperity will bless the people of the delta." She points out that there are three queens: Wolfrick's queen, the Queen of the Fey, and the Sumerian queen. A peaceful outreach between the warring factions goes horribly wrong. Titania is captured and bound for human sacrifice. Dillon, using a transformation spell, comes to her rescue. Beset by young nobles hoping to claim her hand in marriage, it is Dillon that has captured Titania's heart. True love will not be denied and they become lovers. Dillon knows that the desert was once a fertile delta. Oral myth recalls that Morgan Le Fey created the wasteland to punish culpable elves involved in the battle for Camelot 800 years ago. The only pertinent scrap of parchment found from that period cites "Morgan's revenge." Titania hypothesizes that when Morgan wrought her revenge, she captured all of the elves, not just the guilty parties. She fears that when the New Camolites unite to repel the Sumerians, blood will soak the desert and release a monstrous evil. Titania suspects it was Morgan Le Fey's sister who betrayed her people. The evil Morrigan has manipulated events to allow her to escape her entombment from under the desert sands. A fierce storm grows at the battle front. Carrion birds in the thousands have flocked to the site and wait to feast. Despite the ominous portents, Wolfrick has no choice, he must attack or lose his lands. The young lovers take desperate measures. Abraxas teleports Dillon and Titania to behind enemy lines. There she uses a willow wand to elicit the sacrificial alter to bring forth the river, hoping to release the light elves and keep the dark elves and Morrigan imprisoned. Nothing happens. In frustration, she snatches Dillon's wand and slams it onto the granite altar. The stone on his wand is a meteorite. It shatters against the monolithic rock. The alien stone cracks the altar and unchains the river creating an increasing deluge. A river and delta slowly take shape. The invaders abandon their positions and fall back to their families. Titania is torn between the freed elves pleading that she is their queen and Dillon's love. A compromise is negotiated: Titania will be the elfin queen, Dillon her consort and an ambassador. Dillon pulls Titania into his arms and absconds to his room to demonstrate the love he bears for her. After Wolfrick levies dictates of taxes and fealty, the chastised Sumerian leaders retreat across the flooded plain to settle in their new home.