Atlantis: City of Mages

by M. Arcturus

  Selené looked away from the sun and turned toward Pandora, almost dismissing Pandora’s last comment. “It was great to see you in the arms of Seth. Is there a story behind that?”

  “I don’t remember much. I think we kissed,” Pandora blushed a little.

  “What? You kissed?” Selené was blown away.

  “I’m not certain,” Pandora responded defensively. “I’m still not clear on how the events played out. You know that whole hurt and dying aspect kind of blurs time and reality. Not even sure if it really happened. It could have been a dream.”

  “Hmm, I wonder what your father will say?” retorted Selené mischievously, knocking hips with her friend.

  “Sel, it wasn’t like that, and you know it!”

  “How could I possibly know what happened when you don’t even know yourself?” she asked with a smirk. “He could have taken advantage of the moment without you even knowing it.”

  “Okay, that’s not what I meant. I am a hundred percent sure that that did not happen. Besides, I’m not even sure if I want to be with him. One minute I want to throw myself at him, and the next minute, I want to run. I’m still upset at him for pulling his knife on you.”

  “But you just stood up for him when comparing him to the other suitor.”

  “I know, but what if something triggers his past again like that envoy did, or your point of view, for instance?”

  “Maybe something else happened to Seth when the envoy approached him. There could have been an unseen event that he doesn’t remember.” Selené looked back at her friend, and continued, “As for the situation involving me, I have another theory. I think he functions on black and white. If you’re not with him, you’re against him. Since I talked badly about his race, I was against him. He didn’t want to give my views a chance because it was against everything he knew to be true.”

  Selené could see Pandora’s point. What if Pandora had to tell him something that was against his reality and logic? She didn’t care much for that thought and chose to keep her mouth shut.

  “I think I like your first theory better.”

  “I think I do, too, but no matter what happens, take your time and trust your heart.” Selené looked up and realized the skies were clear, “I guess we’d better head back. Hopefully, everyone will show up on time. I can tell the lack of organization clearly bothers your dad.”

  “Amazingly, he’s not usually this organized. It only bothers him when he wants organization, but can’t have it.”

  Once again, the cells of light held their prey, the Council seats were filled, and Oberon held the floor. Selené didn’t eye the Council members so hard this time. Every time she did, she would see someone or something that unnerved her. The audience was definitely a tough crowd. The dragons had made it, and Campanula was now seated closer to the front. Selené’s eyes fell on the human representatives. When her eyes passed over the handsome prince charming, it took everything she had to keep her heart from pounding out of her chest.

  The man in the laboratory coat seemed to have the hardest time adjusting. He was mumbling something under his breath as he constantly tapped his foot and wrung his hands. She started to have sympathy for him. That poor man, to be ripped out of his timeline and thrown on Atlantis by surprise; Selené wondered how she would have behaved if she were in his shoes. Trying to change her thoughts, she moved her eyes to the seats behind them. Three huge, dark, hooded figures sat behind the human representatives, and if that wasn’t unnerving enough, there was a dark shadowy figure that kept weaving in and out of the back row.

  If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn that it was the envoy from China, but that was impossible. Seth had killed him at least a day ago. Then again, that just made the figure even more of a threat, and she got more nervous about speaking. At least this time, Giséi was up, alert, and a whole lot healthier than before. Her blindfold remained off, and Selené had to get used to Giséi’s eyes, which held a faint smile of hope. It did give Selené a shred of optimism that she would one day see the girl smile as they both sat on the bench provided to them by Oberon.

  Sorbek made his way down the stairs and headed toward the seat he had occupied before. Oberon made his way over and intercepted him, grabbed him by the elbow, and very calmly muttered in his ear, “We will talk about the unicorn later!” Oberon swiftly walked away to make his opening statement to the Council. Sorbek swallowed hard and took his seat.

  While holding the spotlight once again, Oberon addressed the audience. “It has been a very trying day, and I appreciate your patience, time, and consideration. This meeting has now officially commenced. I will once again restate the obvious. There’s trouble here on Atlantis, and we need an unbiased opinion on how to fix the problems—and I do mean problems! There was a ship from the Orient docked in our port that was not scheduled to dock. Juron, would you please enlighten the Council by explaining why or how this could have been allowed to happen?”

  Juron seemed to hold on to an arrogant air instead of being his old self, “The ship had been caught in the storm and needed to dock early. It was on the itinerary to arrive in the morning. However, I suggest you start questioning not just my motives but the motives of my comrades over there as well.” His words were catty and defiant.

  Oberon followed Juron’s facial gesture to Selené’s cell. He watched as she let her face fall into her hands; Juron was already starting to lie. She had forgotten to tell Oberon about Juron’s side of the story, which could dismantle their rebuttal stating that the ship was not scheduled to dock in the first place. She had also neglected to tell Oberon that she had heard from Raydorian that Juron had closed their port to other communities; only allowing Atlantean ships to transport goods. Then again, without seeing this for herself, she knew it could be easily disputed. Though Oberon’s question and Juron’s answer didn’t seem that big of a deal to the Council, Selené was worried about what Juron might throw at her next. Would she be able to defend herself, or would she be fed to the wolves seated in the Council room?

  Oberon had to pull Juron’s accusations off of Selené. He could tell that Selené was obviously not good at hiding her emotions, and her poker face left much to be desired. Due to Juron’s attitude, rage threatened to show in Oberon’s vocabulary, but he spoke with even more poise and peaceful confidence than before. “Please just answer the questions to the best of your ability. Everyone will have a chance to be questioned and to have the floor. We are all under galactic oath and are obligated to keep the procedures as written in the Code of Atlantis, and we must maintain an orderly fashion. So, from what I can gather, this ship was merely blown into port by the storm, though it was scheduled to dock in the morning?”

  Selené looked at Campanula, and her face brought the wrath of death to Juron’s door. She was not pleased, and she wouldn’t stand for his lies. All the pain and suffering of her and her crew were caused by far greater motives than just sailing in on a storm.

  “Yes, Lord Oberon,” Juron confirmed. “That is correct.”

  “Would you by chance have the itinerary as proof, indicating business with the ship?”

  Juron cleared his throat and stared coldly at Oberon, “No, I’m not sure what happened to it. Maybe the tablet holding the itineraries was blown out to sea when I was trying to help the crew dock their vessel.”

  “And would you mind informing the Council of what type of cargo was being carried on the ship?”

  “We have always received shipments of bath salts, oils, and silk from the Orient. Although we have our own ability to make such fine luxuries, we’ve always promoted trade in the hopes of maintaining our established economic system.”

  “You keep saying ‘we.’ To whom does this ‘we’ refer?”

  “The Atlanteans,” replied Juron, half exhausted from frustration.

  Oberon couldn’t help but to crack a small smile, “I will take note that
the Atlanteans have given you permission to speak so freely about their involvement in these matters, especially when there’s a question of legalities.”

  Juron started to turn red in the face, “What is so illegal about the cargo that I mentioned?”

  “That’s what we want to know,” Oberon smirked, but continued. “Is there any paperwork to confirm the ship’s imported goods?”

  Juron shifted uneasily in his seat. “Of course; it’s in my office.”

  Oberon could hear Juron suck in a little bit of breath in hopes that his answer passed Oberon’s test. “I’ll need to see the paperwork. I need to make sure that the cargo wasn’t solely for you, but was for the Atlanteans, and had no criminal history behind the attainment of the goods. I’ll have the guards collect the paperwork from your office. Is there a certain place they should look?”

  Juron was careful about answering the question. “I’m not exactly sure where the paperwork is. It’s buried amongst other paperwork on my desk. As far as legalities, to my knowledge, there were no illegal actives pertaining to the cargo we were expecting. However, I will not take responsibility for the other cargo that may have been carried on board.”

  “Then finding the paperwork is vastly important to prove your innocence. Otherwise, we have no proof that you were not accepting all of the cargo on board, legal or not. For good measure, I believe I will send the guards to your office immediately. Hopefully, they will be able to locate the paperwork and find what the Council seeks to know.” Oberon signaled for three guards to go search, but sending the guards was just for appearances. Oberon didn’t want Juron to know that Seth was already searching his office. As Oberon looked back at Juron, he smiled ever so slightly, as if he knew something that Oberon did not. A chill of uneasiness and discomfort passed over Oberon.

  Selené sat wondering why the audience was so quiet. Not even a cough was produced. Something gold flashed in the corner of her eye, and when she looked to its source, it led her eyes straight to Juron’s cell. His hands were still tied together behind his back, but he was fidgeting with something. She wasn’t the only one who saw it. The dark-haired man, as well as the dragons, saw the bright flash of light. What really alarmed Selené was that the shadowy figure who resembled the envoy whispered something to the leader of the dragons and then disappeared without a trace. It was obvious that the words exchanged were related to the flash of gold coming from Juron’s back, for the dragon’s eyes stared with harbored fire, almost accusingly at Juron.

  “You stated before that Selené had something to do with the ship. She is a very trusted ally here on Atlantis. What did Selené do that seems far worse than what you are accused of? Choose your words wisely.”

  “I didn’t know that there were accusations against me.”

  “So, you’re tied up in a cell of light, and you think that there are no accusations against you? That amazes me! Is this the type of intelligence that runs our city? Maybe we all should be put on trial for even believing you were capable of being governor!” Oberon stood in silence for a moment to collect himself. He continued, “I would appreciate it if you would kindly explain to the Council what Selené was doing on that ship.”

  “She was caught stealing cargo, and when the crew tried to stop her, she revolted along with her companions, Pandora and Kajaka.”

  Lord Oberon had already grown weary from talking to such an imbecile. Juron acted as if he was in the right when he had no clue to the accusations against him; if only Seth could find the proof and bring it to the Council room. At least Campanula was there to testify along with Giséi, Kajaka, and Pandora.

  Oberon looked one last time at Juron in his cell. There was no way that this thing was his human half! The Elders wouldn’t have handed Atlantis to this arrogant, self-absorbed, moron who had now replaced his brethren! What in the hell was going on?

  Once again, the crowd remained silent. It was a very tough crowd, and Oberon was hoping that someone would at least ask a question of him, or have questions for Juron, to let Oberon know that Juron’s interrogation was thorough enough. He was given no indication as to whether their minds needed more information or how to change the interrogation to start questioning Selené.

  Thinking quickly, he addressed the audience and stated, “It doesn’t seem fair, does it? You are the judge and jury, and I’m representing both the defendant as well as the prosecutor. Given the circumstances, if any of you have any questions, please feel free to take a stand.”

  Juron crinkled his face in response to the thought of Oberon representing him, knowing that Oberon had already made up his mind that he was guilty.

  By the mercy of the Universe, one individual stood up in reply to Oberon’s indirect plea. It was the dark-haired man. “I may not have the authority to speak on behalf of the privileged few sitting here creating this remarkable Council. However, I do believe that even though we may have questions, they will be answered if you would please question another witness.”

  Oberon wanted to choke after hearing the flowery brown nosing, but responded respectfully, “Thank you. Your name, please?”

  “Sir Anthony.”

  “Thank you, Sir Anthony, for your comment. If there are no further questions, I shall move right along.” The Council didn’t breathe a word, and he turned toward Selené. “I believe the next logical step would be to ask you to the stand.”

  All eyes fell on her. She had never spoken in front of a crowd as large as this. Up until now, she had underestimated the level of anxiety she felt in response to the intimidating pressure pouring down on her from the Council. The roaring wave of anxiety bashed right into her causing her head to spin, her chest to tighten, and her stomach to churn making her feel nauseous. With cold, sweaty hands and a quiver in her voice, she took a deep breath, “I will answer truthfully and to the best of my knowledge.”

  Oberon smiled trying to break Selené’s nervousness. “If the ship wasn’t scheduled to dock until morning, how did you know it was there? Better yet, how did you know what cargo the ship was carrying to have the desire to sneak aboard and steal it?”

  She knew this was the perfect opportunity to talk about the activities at the port and try to disprove Juron’s statement about the itinerary allowing foreign ships to dock. But when she glanced over into Juron’s cell, the devilish grin on his face just begged her to say something about it, as if he knew something she did not, which could derail her testimony. Juron’s sinister grin coupled with the pounding stares from the crowd was so intense, Selené froze. It took all of her strength and energy to simply answer the questions Oberon asked her. “I had a dream about the ship’s arrival,” Selené responded barely holding herself together. “—but I wasn’t there for the cargo.”

  His eyes questioned her before he even had a chance to speak his words. “What type of dream?” Even the Council seemed to wiggle closer to the edges of their seats, alert and interested.

  “I had a dream that this particular ship was carrying The Destroyer of Worlds.” The audience gasped. Whispers were exchanged, and fear started to spread.

  Oberon turned toward the audience, “Please, everyone remain calm. We need to resolve the issues at hand.” He turned back to Selené as the Council members tried to collect themselves. “Did you ever find this Destroyer of Worlds?”

  “Yes,” Selené turned her attention toward the girl sitting next to her, “Her name is Giséi.” Giséi’s head fell, knowing that Selené’s statement was best left unsaid. Now her mission would only be that much harder.

  “Is this young woman beside you, Giséi?”

  “Yes, and with all due respect, I would like a chance to tell my story,” Selené said. Oberon turned white in the face from fear of the woman next to Selené. Why had Kajaka and Shadow kept this from him? He nodded in compliance to Selené’s request. “In my dream, I boarded a ship that had features of both a Chinese junk and a European mast ship. As
my visions took me deeper into the bowels of the ship, I saw a burlap sack. When I neared the sack, I saw a girl through the holes in the burlap. She was tied up, blindfolded, and had been malnourished.

  “Though I felt sorry for her, I knew by the feeling in my gut that this was The Destroyer of Worlds. At first, I was like you, scared of the unknown. I went to tell Juron of her coming. He was with someone in his chamber. I overheard him say that the ship would not be allowed to dock, which put me at ease, but I still held onto my reservations. I saw an envoy from the Orient leave his office. I figured that he traveled on the ship from my dreams. If that was the case, I knew Juron would dismiss my worries, so I asked Pandora to help me. We waited near the port, saw the unscheduled ship from my vision dock, greeted by Juron and his Secret Guard. We boarded the ship in hopes of keeping The Destroyer from setting foot on Atlantis.”

  Although he heard every word that she said, Oberon was distracted when the door to the Council room opened ever so slightly and Seth walked in with papers in his hand. Seth looked at Oberon and shook his head in dismay. “Hold on, Selené,” Oberon instructed. She paused as Oberon motioned Seth over to him.

  Seth approached him, out of breath, “I’m sorry, milord; I’m pretty sure this is the invoice, but it’s in Chinese.”

  “No itinerary?”

  “No, milord.”

  Oberon sighed in distress and whispered back, “I guess we can’t use this unless you know of someone who can read it, other than Juron of course.” Seth shook his head.

  Campanula squinted at the two of them, trying to read their lips. She opened the papers she had in her hand. This was her chance. She took a deep breath to collect her courage and stood up. “Lord Oberon, may I add something?”

  Oberon looked over in her direction and saw the papers she held in her hand. He didn’t say anything, he just waved her on down, too. She gathered up her dress and squeezed past the seated members and made her way down the aisle. Juron wiggled in his seat out of uneasiness, hoping that he wasn’t discovered. The Council members looked agitated due to the delay as they watched the three of them whispering to each other on the main floor.