by Gene Stiles
Chapter IV
Furious was not the word that truly described what Cronus was feeling. Standing in his offices near the top of the Great Pyramid of Atlantis, his body vibrated like a volcano about to erupt. His curly, red hair fanned around his head like flames of molten lava surrounding a face as black as a thundercloud. His fists were planted on his polished oak desk as he leaned on his bulging forearms, every tendon and sinew standing out in high relief against his bronzed skin. The veins on his thickly muscled neck pulsed with every beat of his pounding heart.
“And this Harbormaster was lost at sea,” Cronus said harshly, his deep voice low and menacing. His dark, jade eyes were mere slits in his ruggedly handsome face and his ample. His tan lips were slightly parted, exposing his gritted teeth in a snarl of red-hot rage.
“Yes, Lord Father,” the captain of the Aronus replied, standing at stiff attention before the desk. He was terrified Cronus would take his fury out on him, but he was confident he had done nothing wrong. His next words were chosen carefully to shift any perceived blame to someone else. “I thought it best to hurry to Atlantis with this news and the survivors instead of returning to Azmerizan. Maybe these people can provide you with more details.”
“You did well,” Cronus replied with a curt nod. The captain felt his sphincter muscle loosen with relief and his hardened spine relaxed a little bit. “You are dismissed, but stay in port until I have questioned these others.”
“As you command, Lord Father,” the captain said with a bow, spinning on his black-booted heel. He hastened to the huge, carved doors as quickly as he could without showing his yearning desire to escape the room.
“I know that vile Ra is behind this!” Cronus slammed his fist on the table, the silver pot of dark tea bouncing dangerously. His half-filled cup fell over and cracked, spilling its contents across the prints scattered on the desk. “I just cannot prove it.”
“Should you accuse him openly,” the bull-like Iapetus said as he moved to take a chair across from Cronus, “you will be admitting we had a fortress on Afrikanikis filled with weaponry. If he did not know before, he would know it then. I do not think Ra would take it well.”
“No, he would not,” Cronus fumed. He burned his eyes into the reports laying on his desk, ignoring the spreading stain of tea. “It would also give him warning of our plans against him. We are not ready for that yet.”
“Creator be damned!” he bellowed, sweeping the soggy documents from his desk. “I cannot retaliate against him for this without giving too much away! And who is this Aegir person? Who does he think he is to call himself Lord of the Seas? How dare he tell me what I can and cannot ship within the Atlantean empire? We must destroy him at once!”
“We have to find him first,” Iapetus responded flatly. His ebony eyes were frozen and hard, the warrior in him calculating the odds and making plans only to toss many aside. “The oceans are endless and the islands and landmasses are beyond count. We have only one Sentinel above the Earth and too few Bird drones to cover such an area. To search for this man would be an unnecessary waste of time and resources.”
“Unnecessary?” Cronus said, his green eyes flashing. “We should just sit back and allow him to attack our vessels and steal our cargo?”
“No, my brother,” Iapetus replied as he rested his rock-like jaw upon his steepled fingers. “What we need to do is send out our ships in groups instead of alone so they can protect each other. We could also send a warship with each convoy to ensure their safety.”
“There are only so many shipping lanes,” Iapetus continued as he saw the anger seeping from his brother’s face. “If this Captain Aegir wants to stop our fleet, we will force him to come to us.”
In the mines of the Atlantean empire, a quiet rebellion was building. Rumor traveled quickly that a new leader had arisen to fight for the pits. His name was Pluto and he was the son of lost Hades. Few had seen him personally, but those who had said he was stronger and harder than his father and had great wealth and many friends in the upper world.
Since the announced death of the Lord of the Underworld, Cronus had cracked down on the miners, upping their quotas, doling out harsh punishments to those who failed to meet them. Everything the pits needed came from above. Food could be withheld. Supplies slowed. Even the cooling vents that made the thick, humid air down below breathable could be turned off. The miners had become little more than slaves to the empire. The unity that had been the strength of the workers cracked and eroded to the point many mines were making side deals on their own.
Now, this Pluto promised to restore the bargaining power of the miners and he vowed to protect them with a surface-bound army. All they had to do was stand together once again and he would back them. Those who did not would be excluded and left to their own devices. Gossip said a war was brewing and soon the pits would have to pick a side. Since Cronus was well hated, that side seemed obvious to all. However, the might of Atlantis was also feared. What the mines closer to the capital might do was anyone’s guess.
“Tell them to do nothing for now,” Hades told his mine managers when they gathered at their base hidden in the high peaks above Tartarus. “We must keep to the quotas and appear cowed by Atlantis. We are only a couple of years away from being ready and Tartarus will be the first mine to be freed.”
All of them knew Hades and Pluto were one and the same, but they kept the secret to protect the Olympians and to throw another distraction at Cronus. They also appreciated the irony of the name since it meant ‘dead’ in the Izon language. Having yet another mysterious, invisible foe to fight was driving the Lord Father mad and that would work in their favor.
“The mountain caves have been enlarged in this base,” Minos said as he sipped on the heady, black brew Hades called coffee. It was a little bitter and strong but was a nice break from green tea. “We can hold about six hundred troops, support staff and families along with weapons and enough supplies to last a full year. Hand-picked miners and their families have been spirited from many pits around the empire and now reside here. It has been done slowly and from different places so their absence goes completely unnoticed.”
“Good,” Hades said, thanking his Second. “You have done an exceptional job in my absence.” He spread his hands to encompass all of the managers in the room. With his head slightly bowed, the onyx orbs beneath his thick, black brows looked like sparkling gems filled with red stars. “You all have. I know how difficult Cronus has made your lives. Yet, through it all you have kept our people together, safe and as happy as possible. No easy task. Your strength and loyalty are what makes me continue to fight for you and our people.”
Minos felt his pale cheeks flush and his broad, powerful chest swelled at the praise. The squat, almost over-muscled pillar of a man owed his life to Hades, the man who had protected him when Minos was only a skinny, frail youth. He saw in his friend and mentor a sharp, intelligent, kind and caring mind that did not just look out for himself, but for all of those he thought of as his own kind. Miners. Minos would follow Hades anywhere.
“My brothers and sisters work to free you all from the yoke of Atlantis,” the Lord of the Underworld continued. Standing before them, his black eyes blazing, his raven hair rippled by the air currents and his deep baritone voice booming, Hades looked like the god many thought him to be.
“You are the backbone of the empire,” he boomed, drawing them in with the strength of his words. “You produce the ores that enrich those above. You dig out the metals that create their weapons and their transports. All that they have is because of you and without you, Cronus will fall.”
Hades raised his hand to slow the cheering and applause. “Do not get me wrong,” he said solemnly. “This will not be easy nor without peril. Atlantis is mighty and very dangerous. We work to break them from within before we dare confront Cronus on the battlefield. Once the true assault begins, many lives will be lost. Blood will rain down upon our lands and run in rivers through the streets. Before you p
ledge yourselves to such horror and carnage, make sure you are willing to make the sacrifice.”
“All I can promise you is this,” Hades said, his tone hard as he swept his hand over them. “Should we win the day, you will all be free to choose the course of your own lives and the lives of those you love. You will be able to stay in the mines, move to the surface or do both. You can fight with us or find your own home in this world and live in peace. You will be in charge of your own destiny and may take it wherever you wish it to go. That I, my family and Lord Zeus do so vow.”
Helizad tossed his stuffed pack over his broad shoulders and kissed his mother on her furrowed forehead. He brushed the tears away from her reddened cheeks and pulled her tightly against his huge chest. It was all he could do to keep his own deep blue eyes from weeping as he held her close. He hated leaving her like this and it was only because she begged him to that he was going. It was better this, she had pleaded with him than to have her eldest son turned into a vicious, mindless killing machine.
Whispering “I love you” into her trembling ear, Helizad slipped out into the moonless night and made his way through the empty streets of Callinade. It took him long hours to cross the yellowing meadows that bordered the well-tended farmlands beyond the city limits. By the time he reached the rolling foothills of the western mountain range, the sun was peeking above the ocean horizon far to the east.
“We did not think you would ever get here,” Shalamena said as he entered the small clearing amid the thick grove of fir trees that began their march up the steep mountainside. The firm but slender young woman handed him an icy cold cup of creek water and a bowl of scrambled eggs and ham from the dying campfire. “We feared you had been captured.”
“I just found it difficult to leave my mother,” Helizad admitted after thanking her for the meal. “The Recruiters of Atlantis are not due to make their rounds until this afternoon so I knew I had a little time.”
“My friend from Xtanzia to the north said the Recruiters use Birds to track those who run,” Nefmerizith said around a mouthful of food. He used the sleeve of his beige, deer-hide tunic to wipe the leftovers from his thick, tan lips and gazed at Helizad. “Are you sure you were not seen from above?”
“As much as anyone could be,” he replied, using the cold water to wash down the last of his eggs. “You know they are not very effective in the dark. The sun was not up when I reached the hills.”
“I feel like a coward for leaving my little brothers behind,” Belicus muttered bitterly as he sat on a fallen long holding a cup of hot tea between his knees. His long, dark brown hair fell across his flat shoulders and down his brawny chest as he lowered his boulder-like head to stare at the ground. “What if Atlantis decides to take them instead?”
“This will not happen,” Helizad assured him. “They are far too young. Cronus only takes those over twenty for his armies. Your three siblings are safe for many years.” He reached out and touched his friend on the forearm. “We have all left brothers and sisters behind. Hopefully, this forced conscription will be over before they come of age.”
“Doubtful,” Nefmerizith said, his voice too high and squeaky to come from such a barrel chest. His ebony skin glistened in the rising sun as he looked around at the other seventeen young men and women with him. “I hear the unrest in the empire is growing and skirmishes are breaking out everywhere. Cronus needs more troops to put them all down. There are even rumors the Lord Father plans on moving against Nil. He will need a massive army for that.”
“You hear a lot,” Shalamena said, grinning at her rotund friend. Nef might be a big boy but he still retained a lot of baby fat yet to be burned away by hard labor in the fields. “Where do you get all your information?”
“You know my mother runs the biggest tavern in the city,” he replied with a toothy smile. “The sailors from the port love to talk. I have learned to listen well. Mother says knowledge is more valuable than gold.”
“And as for knowledge,” Helizad asked Shal as he pushed his long, honey-blond back over his shoulder, “are you sure this Ceres will meet us at this cave we are heading to? No one I have spoken to has ever seen her.”
“And yet, we all know how she and her people have helped many of our friends escape the clutches of Atlantis,” Shalamena replied. She stood up and began gathering the empty bowls to wash them in the stream nearby. “It was one of her own that sent word to meet them in the mountains when the Recruiters arrived. Unless you want to be an Atlantean soldier, I believe you should trust me in this.”
“I am not afraid of a fight,” Belicus stated as he stood and flexed his muscles and began to gather his things. “It is just that I prefer to pick my own battles. None of us believe in what Cronus had done or is doing. That is why our families moved to Prubrazia from Atlantis in the first place. We only want to live in peace. We should not be forced to fight his wars for him.”
“On that, we all agree,” a rumbling voice said from the tree line. The gargantuan who stepped from the darkness of the forest stunned the young people, more than one dropping whatever they held in their hands. The monstrous, almost thirteen-foot tall man smiled warmly at their reaction having seen it many times in his life. “I am Eriktis and I am here to lead you to the caverns. The Lady Ceres sends her greetings.”
He took them on a twisted and circuitous route that had them all lost long before they reached the caves and they were tired, confused and hungry by the time they arrived.
Demeter met her new guests at the entrance to the huge natural cavern high in the mountains. With her long, ripe-wheat colored hair blowing around her finely chiseled features and her sky-blue eyes sparkling in the bright sunshine, she appeared to be a goddess to the young men and women. They were awed by the aura of grace and kindness that seemed to radiate from her as she stood with arms wide open.
“Welcome,” Demeter said, her soft voice echoing off the rocky walls behind her. “I am Ceres. You are safe here.”
She did not like the taste of her new, strange name on her pinkish lips, but she did understand the need to keep Cronus in the dark as to who she was. Demeter only used it in the initial meetings with newcomers and always revealed her true identity to some once she knew which path they would take.
Stepping aside and bidding them inside, Demeter led them to a large open space filled with rough-hewn couches and chairs. A large, blazing fire crackled in a pit to one side near a natural chimney that pulled the smoke out of the cave. A table made from a single slab of pine was covered with a dark blue, linen cloth and platters of refreshments which Demeter offered them before sitting herself on a tall-backed, lightly padded chair.
Helizad and Shalamena chose a few sweetbreads to go with the sizzling venison strips on their plates and stared around them in wonder. Their little group was not alone here. It seemed like hundreds of other young people gathered around the mammoth cavern at tables, chairs or simply stood together among the multi-hued stalactites and stalagmites scattered all around them.
“I told you,” Shalamena said with a happy smile as she walked with him toward where Ceres awaited them. “I told you she was real.”
“You did,” Helizad said with a grin, “and you know I believed you.” His face dropped a little as he said more seriously, “What I did not expect was to see a Nephilim at her side nor so many others like us in one place. I felt only a few would choose to run from the Recruiters.”
“At least I do not feel as much like a coward,” Belicus said as he moved up to walk beside them. His dark mahogany eyes noted the demeanor of those moving through the cave and talking in muted tones as they passed. Along with happy chattering, Belicus could sense a grim unease and even anger. “There are many here that share my feelings. Somehow it is reassuring to know I am not alone in my shame.”
“There is no need for shame,” Eriktis said softly from behind them, causing the friends to jump. For such a giant of a man, he moved with the grace of a mountain cat and just as quietly. He put a rock
of a hand on Belicus’ shoulder and added, “No one rushes into danger without fear. No one should be forced to join a battle they do not believe in nor risk their own life without purpose.”
“But what are we to do now?” Belicus asked once his hammering heart slowed. “We still have families we left behind and farms to tend. We cannot stay here and just hope the Recruiters will leave in time.”
“Please join us,” he said, leading them to where Demeter sat. “We will lay out your options and help you on whatever path you choose.”
“None of you are prisoners here,” Demeter told them once the new group was seated around her. She leaned back casually in her chair and had her feet up on a stool. Her serene composure and relaxed posture were calculated and purposeful. Demeter wanted to ease their turmoil and relieve any fears they might have. “You may come and go as you please. However, I do ask that you wait for at least a month before leaving. Atlanteans are crawling all along the coast as you know and we would not appreciate then finding out exactly where we are. I do hope you understand.”
“We do,” Shalamena replied, nodding in agreement. She looked around at her friends to ensure she could speak for all of them. “We also thank you for having us here.”
“You are more than welcome,” Demeter said warmly. “I have always loved growing things. Farmers have a special place in my heart. I feel it is my duty to help those who tend the land.”
“So what do you expect of us in return, Lady Ceres?” Belicus asked, his tone a little harder than he intended. He had a normally suspicious nature and life taught him no one gave things away for free. “Nothing comes without cost.”
“True,” Demeter responded, her facing brightening and her smile disarming. “Beyond our request that you do not leave for a few weeks, we ask that you help with the duties around the cavern as fits your interest and abilities. We also expect you will clean up after yourselves and keep your quarters in order. Others will use them when you leave. Beyond that, the choices are yours. We have classes in a range of subjects, Aam training for those interested and a large garden outside in a small valley not far from this cave.”
