by K. T. Tomb
“Cash!”
Edgar's voice called out to her from somewhere in the crowd. She turned and saw him walking toward her, hand in hand with Aelle, moving sideways through the crowded street. “We've been looking for you. Aelle has some information that you may be interested in hearing.”
A few moments later, the three had found a small corner of the agora in which they could sit and talk with little disturbance.
Aelle spoke first.
“Edgar told me about what happened with the Athenians this morning. I wanted to ask you about that,”
Cash felt reluctant. She understood the plight of the Athenians, but she did not want to make waves with her hosts either.
“They seemed very eager to have something to believe in,” Cash said.
“What did Poseidon tell you about the Athenians?” Aelle asked.
Seeing Cash's hesitation, Edgar said, “It's all right, Cash. You can speak freely. Tell her, Aelle. Tell her what you told me.”
He and Aelle exchanged a glance. The young girl leaned in and lowered her voice.
“I am an Athenian.”
“I see,” said Cash. Her suspicions were coming to fruition.
“There are far more of us than Poseidon or his loyals believe.”
“Go on,” said Cash.
“He would have you believe that we are an egalitarian society, that all things are equal for all people. Is that how it was presented to you?”
“Yes, in a way,” Cash said.
“He did not tell you about the temple tax, did he?” Aelle said.
“No, he did not.”
“All Atlantean citizens are expected to donate to the temple as an offering to the gods. The Athenians are more of a political group and less of those who believe themselves descendants of the Athenians.”
“I suspected as much,” said Cash.
“The strength of the group has grown steadily over the generations. Xenia and Proteus are highly against the group as they reap many of the benefits of the temple donations. While it seems like a small amount from each citizen, those who live in and run the temple are not expected to give. Rather than the items being distributed back to the citizens, those within the temple live at a higher standard than that of the ordinary citizens. What the Athenians stand for is the right to live and make choices in regards to one’s own fate. Your arrival has bolstered the citizens. Some say your presence is a sign, a harbinger of change. The entire city is on edge. Everyone is looking to you to challenge the current system.”
“But what should I do?” Cash said. “I can't change everything. Poseidon seemed to think there were only a few.”
“He is in denial,” Aelle said. As she spoke, Cash noticed a strength in her that she had not perceived before. “He is a god, and an ancient one at that. Perhaps when the city was younger, the Athenians were not more than a small group, less than a hundred. But the ideologies have taken hold and grown strong over the years. We have reached a tipping point. I can see it in the citizens.”
Cash threw her hands over her face, rubbing the tension out of her forehead.
“I get it,” she said. “But what does this have to do with how we get back home? That's all I want to do. We can't take the entire city back with us. I can't challenge Poseidon. I need him to help us get back. He's the only one that seems to know about the portals.”
“We will find a way,” said Aelle. “We will get you back to your family.”
Cash said that she wanted to go back and try to find Poseidon at the temple. Aelle seemed hesitant, but they parted ways and Cash headed back to the center of town. When she returned to the temple, she stopped one of the people milling around the great hall. They truly seemed to be everywhere and Cash could not quite figure out what their purpose was, if they had a job with the temple.
“Pardon me,” she said to a slight young man at the edge of the room. “Perhaps you can help me? I need to speak with Poseidon. How may I find him?”
She saw the young man suppress a nervous laugh.
“One cannot seek audience with Poseidon,” he said. “When the gods are ready to see you, then you will be seen.”
“I see,” said Cash. “Well, if someone could get a message to him that would be great. Tell him Cash wants to speak with him.”
The young man bowed his head and nodded. Cash walked onward toward the hallway to her room. She idled a bit in the great hall. The city of Atlantis had become much more of a mystery to her than it had ever been before. In all of her studies of the city, there had been no hint of the unrest present, but then again, why would there be? The only information would be from an old legend, centuries old. Cash sat down on one of the settees in the great hall. She gazed around at the people there. Young people, short hair and white tunics, just like every other Atlantean citizen. She thought about the feast from the night before. The food had been exceptional, the fruits ripe and lush.
Then she thought about the marketplace where the citizens shopped for their wares. The structure of the city made her realize that the gardens belonged to the city and the residential area had not plots for land or gardens. She realized that the fruits and vegetables that she had seen at the market were smaller, pock marked, not quite as ripe. A dark realization crept into her mind. The citizens were receiving the castoffs. A small group of elites collected the best of the crops, leaving the rest for the citizens. This was no utopia at all.
Some sort of commotion was happening at the temple entrance. She saw a group of people, some of whom she recognized from the banquet the night before, walking through the door. A young man in front carried a small bundle in his arms. Cash could not make out what this was. Behind him, another group held back a woman who was struggling to get through. She seemed quite distraught. Cash stood and walked across the length of the great hall to find out what was happening. Just outside the door, the woman had crumpled to her knees and wept, her arms hanging limp at her sides. Several men and women stood in the doorway, keeping her out.
“What's going on?” Cash said, striding toward the group who had just entered the temple. One of the women approached, trying to deflect her.
“You are new here,” she said. “So you do not understand all of our ways.”
“What is wrong with that woman?” Cash demanded. “Why is she crying?”
“The Rite of Poseidon can seem harsh to an Outsider. We do know that. But please, this is not your concern.”
Cash watched the group walk by. Her eyes focused on the one walking in front with the bundle in his arms. A child, she realized. A small child, still only a baby.
“Get out of my way,” Cash said in a stony voice.
She pushed her way past the group and made her way outside to the weeping woman. The woman's tunic was gray and disheveled. Her hair looked unwashed, perhaps for days. “Come, sister,” Cash said, kneeling down to help the woman stand. “Come and tell me what has happened.”
The woman looked up at Cash, her eyes filled with wonder even as the tears still glistened on her cheeks.
“It is you,” she said. “The Outsider who has come to free us all.”
“One thing at a time,” Cash said gently. She lifted the woman to her feet and they found a seat on the steps of the temple, out of the way of the door. “Was that your child?”
“Yes,” the woman said. “Every family must do it. It is part of the temple tax.”
“I don't understand,” said Cash.
The woman wiped her face with the back of her hands and tried to smooth down her smudged tunic. “Each family must give their first born child to the temple. Every one. All the other children may remain at home, but the first born goes to the temple. Poseidon demands it.”
“What happens then?” Cash asked. “What happens to the child?”
“Many are raised to be temple servants. It is meant to be a boon, an honor for the one that goes to the temple, but...”
The woman broke down again into fresh sobs, spilling down her cheeks and le
aving further wet marks on her tunic.
“Do you know of the meeting tonight at the hillside?” Cash asked.
“Yes,” the woman said. “Of course, the whole of the city speaks of it.”
“Will you be there?”
“Yes,” the woman nodded.
“I will have some news of your child at that time,” Cash said. “Can you wait until then?”
“Yes,” the woman said, with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “I always knew you would come. I always believed.”
“Try to keep believing,” Cash whispered. She did not know what she would do next, but she knew that she could not stand by and watch these horrors continue.
She stood and marched back into the temple.
“I demand to see Poseidon!” she called out to anyone that would listen. Several glanced around with uncertainty, unsure how to respond to the Outsider. Whispers were exchanged in some of the circles milling about the hall.
“I don't think you heard me!” Cash said again, in as loud a voice as she could. “I demand to see Poseidon!”
Within seconds Xenia appeared from one of the inner halls. She rushed toward Cash with a forced smile on her face.
“Cash,” she whispered. “Stop shouting. What seems to be the problem? The king is unavailable. Is there something I can help you with?”
“You can make him available,” Cash said. “He told me we were guests and that this was his home. As a guest I should be able to see my host. I need to see him.”
“He's a god,” Xenia said with apology. “We cannot simply demand his presence.”
“I'm not going to stand here and argue with you about it,” Cash said coolly. “If you won't help me, I'll find him myself.”
She brushed past the woman and entered the hallway from where Xenia had come. She glanced left, then right. Both directions looked identical. She took off to the right walking with purpose.
“Alright, wait!” she heard Xenia call behind her. “Wait! I'll take you to him!”
Xenia caught up to Cash and walked alongside her, leading her down one hall and then another. Cash seethed quietly until they reached the entrance to a small room set up as a nursery. At last, Poseidon. He stood at the window with the same small child cradled in his arms. Cash saw a small crib against the wall.
“That's not your child,” Cash said as soon as the man-god turned from the window as they entered.
“Hello again, Cash,” Poseidon said with a grin and twinkles in his eyes. “It is so good to see you again. I am glad you are here.”
“I'm sorry,” Xenia spoke. “I tried to stop her, but she...”
“No,” Poseidon waved her off. “It is quite alright. I have wanted to see her anyway. We have much to talk about.”
“Indeed we do,” Cash said.
Xenia glanced from one to the other. Cash and Poseidon seemed locked in some kind of stare down, neither yielding or blinking. After a moment, Xenia threw up her hands and left the room.
“That is not your child,” Cash said again.
“On the contrary, he is,” Poseidon said, touching his finger to the nose of the child in his arms. The child regarded him with distant calm. “His mother brought him to the temple just like any good citizen.”
“That's not what I saw,” Cash said.
Poseidon looked up from gazing at the child and gave Cash a look that would have given a chill to anyone else. But Cash Cassidy was not anyone else.
“Okay, listen. I've accepted the idea of the egalitarian society. That's fine. When I discovered that the citizens have to pay a tax so you and your ilk can live it up, I even overlooked that. This isn't my world. It's not something I'm meant to understand, I said. But I will not stand by and watch children being torn from their parents just so you can have another person to feed you grapes!”
Poseidon peered at her over the blond curls of the child in his arms.
“What do you propose to do about it, Cash Cassidy?” he said.
“Tonight at dusk,” Cash said. “There is to be a meeting on the hillside outside the temple. I am to speak to the people who call themselves the Athenians. I propose that you be there as well. We settle this on behalf of the citizens of the city. If you win, I disappear as we had previously discussed, and you get to continue to rule Atlantis as you see fit. If I win, the people of Atlantis get some say in how the city is run, the child goes back to his mother, and the law of the temple tax is amended, if not eradicated. Do you accept?”
“That is a tall order,” he said with a chuckle. “But I accept.” He leveled his eyes directly at Cash. She could swear she saw a light flair in them, challenging her. “Keep in mind, Cash Cassidy,” he said. “Not many would dare to challenge the gods of Atlantis.”
“Perhaps the gods of Atlantis should not dare to challenge me.”
With that Cash turned on her heel and exited the room, disappearing down the hallway.
***
“What do I do, what do I do...?” Cash paced the floor of her room.
Edgar and Aelle sat in the sitting area watching her walk back and forth, shaking her hands with worry. Cash continued to ramble, her voice in a slightly higher register than the no-nonsense tones she usually used.
“I mean, this guy is a Greek god. I can't deal with that. I can stare down any jackass at the airport, but this is way out of my league. I don't know what to do. I don't even know where to begin. I almost don't believe him. I think maybe he's just an old man with a weird fashion sense.”
Aelle leaned in to Edgar and whispered, “What is an airport? Is it some kind of stable where they keep the jackasses?”
“I'll tell you later,” he whispered back, suppressing a grin.
“I'm not the chosen one or whatever,” Cash continued. “I'm just a girl who wants to get back home. I don't want to liberate the people of Atlantis or whatever. This is crazy.”
She finally stopped and looked at the two peering patiently up at her from the couch.
“Aelle has an idea,” Edgar said in a calm voice.
“Really?” said Cash settling onto a seat opposite them. “What is it?”
“I was a child of the temple,” Aelle said. “Much like what you saw today, I was brought here as an infant. I have never known any other life or a family as you know it. Poseidon has been like a father to me throughout my life. Therefore, I know some things about what he can do that may be of use to you. I have been told many bedtime stories during my childhood.”
Cash wondered at this.
“If he raised you, here in the temple, then why do you help us now?”
“I have seen for a long time what the inequality has done to our great city. I love Atlantis, but Poseidon is selfish. I have known for a long time that the current ways have not been working. Your arrival has been a catalyst for change within the citizens and the city.”
“What can you tell me?”
“Well,” Aelle said, “It has to do with the 'turning' of Atlantis and the frequencies...”
They all leaned in and began to discuss the details of the plan.
Chapter Eight
The sun had dipped low in the afternoon sky, much the same as it had been the day before when the crowd had carried them to the hillside. The people of Atlantis had already begun to gather when Cash, Edgar and Aelle arrived there. Ariadne stood atop the grassy hill, awaiting them like a sentry. When the three of them arrived, the assembled crowd parted. Cash and Edgar walked side by side and Aelle walked behind them, ready to be available when her time to assist came. As they walked through the crowd, Cash noticed the eyes of the people watching them, filled with hope and wonder. Slowly someone in the group began to clap. The applause grew as they neared the hilltop, reaching a fully-sustained crescendo once they took their place next to Ariadne. She smiled and greeted the two of them with a hearty handshake, clasping their forearms each in turn.
“Welcome,” she said, speaking to Cash. “It is good to see you both again.”
“You as well,
” Cash replied.
“What is to happen today?” Ariadne said, asking the question that all gathered were wondering.
“That is yet to be determined,” Cash said. “I know that Poseidon will come. And together he and I will determine the fate of the city.”
A lone voice cried out from the crowd.
“Have you seen my son?” Cash recognized the woman from the temple. “Is my son alright?” she called out with a voice drenched in desperation and sadness.
“I saw him,” Cash said. “He is well. By day’s end, you shall have him back in your arms where he belongs.”
Cash could only hope that this was a promise she could keep. She turned back to Ariadne.
“I will need to face Poseidon alone. You and the others will take your place in the crowd. I have created this battle and it is mine to finish.”
“We will do as you say, but please know that we stand with you,” Ariadne said. Turning to the crowd, she spoke out to them. “We are all here to stand with you.”
A loud cheer of agreement rose from those gathered.
They waited.
While they did, more and more people filtered into the awaiting throng as word traveled of the palaver between the Outsider and the god-king of Atlantis. The sun dipped further, casting a golden orange twilight over the audience.
Soon the clouds darkened and Ariadne said, “He arrives.”
Cash turned to the gathering clouds gesturing to Edgar to go. He and Ariadne stepped down the slope and blended with the people. Cash watched as the dark clouds culminated into a large pillar, slowly extending down to the ground just before her on the hillside. A moment later Poseidon appeared. At first as a mist-shape, then the fog settled into the form of him. Nothing more than a silhouette hovering before her. Then a moment later he stood there in his full form. He looked larger than he had before. He wore his half tunic. Across his bare chest, he had blue marks painted in a half circle around his shoulders and torso. They looked like ancient hieroglyphics, but Cash didn’t know what meaning they had. Edgar probably knows, she thought to herself. The god's beard and hair gleamed a blinding white in the setting sun. In one hand, he held his staff, a king's staff this time, gold and shining. Around his forehead, he wore a golden circlet, the king's crown. She kept her eyes steady as he manifested.
