by Gene Stiles
Chapter XIX
“Lord Ra!” the tech shouted as she raced into the room. “Forgive me, but we have found the Golden Eagle. There are survivors!”
“That is great news,” Ra replied, looking up from his monitor. The few others in his office turned in their chairs, not understanding why the tech sounded so worried. “Where is it?”
“A Raven drone spotted remains of the ship in shallow water just offshore on an island southeast of Heliseous,” she answered, handing Ra a small data crystal. As she stood before him, she wrung her hands, her eyes open wide.
“There are ships scouting the area. I will order one out there at once,” he said, setting the crystal in a reader. He saw a ghost of a shipwreck barely visible under the aquamarine waters. As the view shifted, he saw two people waving frantically from the beach.
“That may not be possible,” the panicky tech said, her angst clearly visible on her sweat-beaded brow. As she spoke, he saw data scroll alongside the images and knew immediately the cause of her concern. Ra turned sideways and grabbed a comlink. “Before the Raven went dark, it registered violent seismic activity. The volcano centered in the island is about to erupt.”
Raet sat on the narrow swath of sandy beach angrily tossing rocks into the rolling waves, her face dark and cloudy. Food was plentiful on the island. Wild fruit grew in abundance and Anak had fashioned fishing spears and snares for small forest animals. They had more than enough to eat in the weeks since the Golden Eagle was sunk. Fresh water flowed from the steep mountain peaks in hundreds of rivers and streams so that was not what troubled Raet and fed the turbulence inside her. The problem was they were so far out of the normal trade routes that it might be years before they were found if at all. And now, they had these constant tremors to deal with.
She knew she was lucky to be alive still, Raet was furious and full of hatred. Her dreams were nightmares of burning flames and her shattered ship sinking into the cold-hearted ocean depths. She saw again the demon of a warship blowing her beloved vessel into chunks of wood, splinters and dying crewmen. That first week, she stood here weeping in helpless, seething fury as their bloated bodies surfaced and were torn to pieces by the swarms of hungry sharks that now infested the coral reefs.
She shuddered as she sat on the warm sand, thankful those gray killers were nowhere near when her battered body slammed into the unyielding sea. She was helpless with the battle webbing entangling her as she sank into the clear, warm waters of the shoals. The impact with the ocean drove the wind from her lungs and her chest screamed as she struggled weakly to free herself from the straps. Raet’s skin was raked by the sharp coral outcroppings as she tumbled toward the bottom, streams of blood discoloring the water. She knew she only had moments to live and wanted to just open her mouth and let the ocean take her so she could join her crew.
Black, foggy tendrils encroached on the edges of her vision as Raet sank and she knew her time was almost up. Sparkles of yellow, white and blue flashed in her oxygen-starved eyes and her lips began to part.
At that moment, a gigantic hand grabbed the harness and jerked. Raet felt her body surge upward as saltwater seeped into her mouth. She coughed automatically and sucked in, filling her lungs with the bitter liquid. She fought the monstrous hand as her body spasmed and kicked just before things went completely dark.
Raet awoke sputtering and choking. She felt her limp body bounce against a hard surface, causing her to vomit a gush of seawater. The webbing still enshrouded her, but she was able to gasp in the life-giving air as her blurry, wet vision began to clear. Raet realized she was slung over someone’s shoulder like a small sake of potatoes. Her savior was running through the reef, crushing the colorful coral beneath booted feet. All she could see from her odd vantage point was a mammoth back, a burly arm and legs like pillars of stone.
The shoals gave way to smooth sand as Raet hung upside down staring at the shallowing, light blue water. Each step of the person hurt her ribs and she knew some were broken. Droplets of blood dripped from her lips, but not enough to account for the reddish current that filled the wake behind them.
Suddenly, they were through the surf and upon the glittering, tannish shore. Raet was lifted gently and placed on her back upon the warm beach. She looked up into the amber eyes of Anak as he knelt over her and ripped apart the leather harness that entrapped her. His face was cut and bruised and bled in watery rivers down his strong, flat cheeks. His tawny brown hair was stuck to his squarish, oval head and was full of wood chips and seagrass. His clothing was torn as scorched and the soles of his black leather boots were shredded by the razor-edged coral. Copious amounts of blood seeped from them and stained the tan sand under him. Anak stared at her, his features a mask of horror, rage and concern. Raet managed a wan smile as she gazed upon him. He was the most majestically handsome man she had ever seen.
“Dinner,” Anak said, breaking into her memories, an impish smile on his smooth, tan lips. He stepped out of the thick forest that stopped just short of the coastline, holding a sack of fruit in one hand and three limp rabbits in the other. He was naked from the waist up, the tattered remnants of his shirt used for the bag in his hand. His sun-bronzed skin glistened in the bright sunlight, the thin pelt of golden hair that covered him glowing like a shimmering aura. He had ripped his singed and torn breeched at mid-thigh and used the leftover material to wrap around his flayed boots.
Any other day, Raet would have smiled back, her large, hazel eyes drinking in this powerful, masculine form, but not today. Today, she was too upset to enjoy the view. Today, the sexual frustration she felt only fueled the flames within her.
Anak was one of the most handsome men she ever met and not only because of his Creator sculpted body. He moved with unconsciously sensual, feline grace that lit the fires of desire within her. His kindness, consideration, quick and intelligent mind drew Raet like iron to a magnet. And now, here they were alone on a deserted isle and there was nothing she could do about it.
Maddeningly, the coupling between them she wanted so badly was impossible. Anak was gigantic, nearly twelve-foot tall and proportionally built. Raet was small for an Atlantean at only a mere six foot. When they stood together, she could only nuzzle his rippling abdomen without being lifted. She was slender and wiry. Anak was as thick as an old oak. Still, she was naturally a sexual creature and she wanted him so badly it nearly drove her insane.
“What upsets you so?” Anak asked her gently as he pulled up a log and began to dress the rabbits for supper. His long knife was strapped to his thigh when the first explosion tore through the stern of the Golden Eagle. He was racing for the bridge when she was split in two. The blade stayed locked in its sheath when he was blown into the water. Now it was the most useful tool they had. Little else had been salvaged from the wreckage.
“These damn tremors,” Raet said with a snarl. She got up and went about building a fire, snapping twigs for kindling as if they were enemies to be destroyed. “They are getting worse and more frequent. I cannot sleep!”
She piled the splinters on a bed of dry moss and clicked the stones together, producing sparks. The light sea breeze aided in igniting the campfire and it was only moments before she had a decent blaze going.
“We need to find a way off this island,” Raet grumbled, tossing larger sticks on the greedy flames.
“I am sure our friends are searching for us,” Anak said for the thousandth time. “It will not be much longer before they find…”
The earthquake hit with such magnitude he was thrown backward off his perch. The half-skinned rabbit went flying into the bushes and the bag of fruit and tubers spilled all over the ground. Raet stumbled, falling forward into the hot fire. She screamed as her flesh was scorched and blistered. She rolled away into the dirt letting the wet sand put out the embers flaring upon her clothing. The sticks scattered across the shoreline, glowing and hot, sizzling as rippling waves surged inward.
How long the quake lasted, neither of them knew, but
even after the ground stopped moving, a terrifying roar filled the air. They jumped to their feet and stared in terror at the huge plume of curling, black and red smoke boiling up from what had once been a mountain peak. The volcano spewed chunks of rocks, gas and angry, churning black clouds high into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun.
“Oh, Creator!” Raet whispered, stunned by the awe-inspiring, but deadly sight. She ran to Anak, throwing an arm around his waist and huddling against him. He put a brawny hand around her shoulder, drawing her protectively against him. They stood in shocked silence as the monster howled and shook like an enraged demon fighting to be free of the earth.
The ground rumbled again, sending shockwaves up their legs. Anak felt his mind go into hyper-drive. His amber eyes quickly scanned their surroundings and he did not like what he saw. The three-mile wide cove they were in had high, rocky walls on either side. The stone was brittle and impossible to climb. The landscape rose quickly from here directly toward the foothills of the bellowing volcano. Ancient forests grew on the mountainside, becoming denser and more impassible as they marched upward.
Anak turned to the shark-infested sea, wondering if they might have the slightest chance to swim around the rocky cliffs before becoming fish food. If he had not been studying the trembling waters at that particular moment, he would never have seen the Nillian Raven sweeping along the coastline.
“Raet!” he yelled, pointing at the drone. They spun around, racing for the water’s edge, waving their hands and shouting. They might yet have a chance.
But the fiendish creature at their backs had other ideas. A rain of mud and ash dropped from the heavens, peppering them with filth and blisters. Red-hot rocks sizzled in the sea among the low, vibrating waves. Anak and Raet managed to duck beneath into the protection of a ledge in a rocky outcropping. The Raven was not so lucky. Their hopes were dashed as a thick ooze of mud and stone struck the hovering drone. In the seconds before it was hit the sea, they saw blue-white sparks within a cracked casing. Their last hope was dead.
The mountain thundered and shuttered. A huge chunk of its southern face crumbled and a steaming river of molten lava pouring over the shattered rock. The ferocious red and black current rolled over the woodlands like an insatiable, hungry beast. Trees exploded and howled as the mountainside erupted in a massive conflagration of fire and flame. The blazing stream moved slowly and inexorably, eating everything in its path and it was heading straight for them.
Raet dropped to her knees beneath the overhang and buried her face in her hands. The warm, gritty sand on her knees quivered, the terrified island shaking more than she was as it cried out in torment. She could already feel her flesh consumed and melted by that unstoppable river. Her horrified mind saw the skin bubble, blister and blacken as she screamed.
“Not like this,” she wept. “Creator, not like this!”
Anak sunk in the sand beside her, pulling him into his embrace. He huddled over her, using his gargantuan body to shield her from the choking gray ash that fell down around them. A stiff, warm wind blew eastward across the deathtrap of land, the heat of the volcano twisting it into gusts and eddies that swirled around them. The only good thing about it was that it carried the majority of the thick ash and smoke away from them and out to sea. They would live long enough for the lava to devour them.
The demonic volcano was thirty miles inland, but it rose steeply above the coastline. Given the distance and the lay of the land, Anak had figured they had a total of roughly two hours before the magma reached them. An hour and a half was already gone. He could hear the roar of the fire as the ghoulish river ripped into the forest behind them. The air was steaming and so hot, his breath caught in his lungs. Raet slumped in his lap, her chest laboring as she coughed in her sleep. She fell into unconsciousness some time ago and, for that, Anak was glad. She would be unaware as the lava took them.
He considered taking his chances with the sharks, but the sea was deep at edges of the cove. Anak would have to swim and hold Raet above the waters. He did not know if he could, given how difficult it was for even his giant lungs to breathe now. Even at that, which would be better? To sink beneath a river of fire or to be torn into bloody pieces by those gray monsters? His own eyes were drooping as the oxygen was sucked away by the fires and he knew the question would soon be moot.
Anak was slipping away when he heard an odd sound. It was out of place amid the roaring of the fire and howling wind and it caught his attention. It was a high-pitched, whirring sound accompanied by a rumble with a steady cadence unlike the turbulent, chaotic screams of the volcano. He forced his exhausted eyes open and his jaw dropped. He used the last vestiges of his waning strength to lift the limp form of Raet and raced toward the beach.
A skyship hung in the dirty, dark sky just offshore, its rear hatch hanging open like the welcoming hands of the Creator.
Ra sat upon his golden throne, his chin in the palm of his hand as he leaned upon his elbow. He did not wear his body armor, just a white linen skirt, a plated girdle of gold-edged, white tiles and sandals laced up his calves. The crown of Nil encircled his broad, furrowed forehead, but other than that, his appearance was informal.
He stared at his visitor with narrowed, blue eyes. Glints of hard steel flashed within them as he considered the words of this black-eyed block of stone. Ra glanced at Isis and Astraeus sitting upon the dais with him and saw the same suspicious incredulity written on their faces.
“When we found one our warships missing,” Iapetus said, his rumbling voice emotionless and flat, “the Lord Father sent me to our outpost on Heliseous to find out where it went. My sources said it was out on patrol when it came upon a burning village on the southern tip of your lands. When it landed to investigate, the ship and crew were attacked by Nephilim warriors and the vessel seized. The Captain managed to get off a report before he was murdered. That is all we know at present.”
Iapetus was as calm still as a mountain lake, his ebon eyes unfathomable and cool. His long, straight, black hair was tied at the nape of his neckless, bull-like head and fell to his waistless hips. His monstrous muscles bulged beneath his sleeveless, dark leather vest and black breeches, but were relaxed and placid.
“I was on Heliseous when we intercepted the drone images,” he continued, never shifting his unflinching gaze from the Trinity. “I personally commandeered a skyship and flew to the island to retrieve your people.”
“I thank you for that,” Ra said blandly, disbelieving the story, but having no way to disprove it. As much as he wanted to, he would not call the Second of Atlantis a liar without solid evidence. “Had you not arrived when you did, Captain Raet and Commander Anak would have been lost to us. What of your warship? Has it been found?”
“Not as yet,” Iapetus replied. He heard the skepticism in Ra’s voice, but he did not react. The story was solid and he saw to the destruction of the Nephilim village before coming here. It would hold. “We are still seeking it. Rest assured, the pirates will be captured and punished. You have the word of Cronus.”
“That means little to me,” Ra said harshly. Iapetus wanted to crush the impudent creature, but he kept his outward appearance calm, though his black eyes flashed at the insult. “What I do know for sure,” Ra continued, “is that you have warships harbored just off my lands. I have tolerated the city on Heliseous as a necessary evil for the sake of trade and goodwill. But no longer.”
Ra stood up and looked down upon Iapetus, he icy, blue eyes blazing. “I will not allow a military base so close to Nillian lands. You have one week to remove your ships and citizens from the island. Should they remain after that, I will take them and deport the populous back to Atlantis.” Ra stepped down and stood face to face with Iapetus. “Do I make myself clear?”
Iapetus bristled, his fists curling at his sides. His titanic body swelled and rippled, his voice rumbling like a coming storm. He could kill this man here and now, but he knew it would only result in his own death. “You dare threaten Atl
antis and the Lord Father?” he growled.
“Yes,” Ra said bluntly. “One week. You are dismissed. Guards, take our guest back to his ship.” Ra returned to his throne, sat down and stared coldly down at Iapetus. “I thank you for the return of Anak and Raet. Now go.”
Once Iapetus was gone, Isis stepped down from her uncomfortable throne and curled up in a corner of the overstuffed, brocade couch on the other side of the conference table. She took off her crimson, knee-high boots and drew her red-leather-clad legs up beneath her. “Do you believe a single word of that?”
“Parts of it,” Astraeus replied, choosing to sit with the few others gathered around the table. He leaned back in his chair and ran a thick-fingered hand through his full, black bead. “I believe it was an Atlantean ship that sank the Golden Eagle. I believe Iapetus was on Heliseous and intercepted the Raven’s broadcast. I believe the Nephilim settlement has been destroyed and I believe – for it is a fact –,” he said with a wave toward Anak and Raet, “that Iapetus rescued our people. Beyond that, I have my doubts.”
“But why did he save us?” Raet asked from across the table. Her hands were folded before her, the long, slender fingers entwined. She looked physically no worse for wear now that her body had time to heal, but her large ovoid eyes were dark and haunted. “We are the only ones who can confirm it was an Atlantean warship that attacked my ship. He could have let us burn,” she said with a shutter, “and the secret would have died with us.”
“To save themselves,” Ra replied. He took off his crown and shook his head to set his long, wavy, yellow-blond hair free as he joined them at the table. His sky-blue eyes were narrowed and hard and his tanned lips cut a straight line across his chiseled jawline. “It may have taken some time, but when we learned it was a ship of Atlantis that attacked the Golden Eagle, we would have responded with devastating force. This I promise you,” Ra said glancing over at Raet. “With your rescue, Cronus has cast doubt on who is responsible. Even if not the Nephilim, it could have been a rogue captain. We cannot be sure and I will not commit us to a war without knowing the truth.”
