“Your guardian? I thought Etan was a guardian of the Temple of the Sun?” Lilith looked at him. “He wears the insignia on his left arm.”
Suddenly, a tremor rose up through the ground. She-Aba almost fell again, but Ajax-ol held her tight. She made a cooing sound and snuggled to him.
“I am,” Etan answered, as the tremor passed. “I also serve the House of Ajxor.”
“The House of Ajxor? Admiral Ajxor?” Lilith asked.
“My father is not an admiral,” Ajax-ol replied, tipping his head slightly. “At least not yet. Unless—” he looked at her squarely “—you know something I don’t?”
Lilith frowned. “No. I thought the history scrolls state—” She stopped herself. Her skin prickled. This must be Atlantis as it was one hundred years ago, before the first major earthquake. This is what Father was scribing about in his record keeper when Mica interrupted him. Lilith’s eyes widened. Mica must be here too! The ground rumbled and shook again.
Lilith fell forward and Etan grabbed her arms. Lilith winced, feeling the power of Etan’s grip.
“My apologies,” he said. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine, just a little confused. Can you tell me who is in power?”
“Some say King Elem is, but I say Belial holds the real power,” Etan growled as he released Lilith.
“Who is Belial?” Tau asked.
Etan’s whole face drew in, as a wary, low growl developed in the back of his throat, and he swished his tail. “Where are you from? You talk with a strange dialect.”
“Both She-Aba and Tau are from the Black Land,” Lilith replied quickly before Tau answered. “I used to, um, I mean I dwell in the City of the Golden Gates, in the advisor’s section.”
Ajax-ol jerked. He slipped his arm away from She-Aba, who stumbled back. “These two are from the Black Land? I’ve heard only savages dwell there.”
“Savages?” Tau said indignantly. “You have some nerve, Atcha—”
Lilith didn’t give Tau a chance to finish. She clipped him across the back of the head. “Silence! You must never address anyone from the House of Ajxor in that manner. You’re here to serve my family, and you need to learn respect for our people!”
Tau’s eyes bugged. He rubbed the back of his head. Then Lilith looked at She-Aba, who was having difficulty balancing on one shoe. “And you—” she pointed at She-Aba “—take that shoe off and walk with dignity. You’ll never be groomed as an Atlantean’s servant if you are not appropriately dressed.”
“S-S-Servant?” She-Aba stammered.
Lilith clapped her hands three times. “Are you both forgetting how much trouble it was for my family to have you shipped here? The travel costs alone made us…spiral.”
She-Aba’s eyes widened. So did Tau’s. They glanced at each other and nodded.
Lilith inhaled sharply. Good. We’re all on the same scroll. She handed Ajax-ol his staff back and said, “Thank you for the use of your staff, Ajax-ol.”
He grabbed her left hand in mid-air and inspected the orichalcum snake bracelet her Uncle Kukulkan gave her before they left Atlantis. “Etan, look, she wears the talisman from the House of Seers.”
Lilith thought she heard Etan purr. “Yes, it appears so, Ajax-ol. Lilith must be in exile as well,” he said.
“House of Seers? Exile? What does that mean?” She-Aba asked.
“In my house, a servant does not speak until spoken to,” Ajax-ol said sternly.
“It’s all right, Ajax-ol,” Lilith said, patting his hand. “In our house, we teach our servants to ask questions if they don’t understand. My father says it breaks down barriers and builds better relations.”
Ajax-ol laughed. “Belial would do well to listen to your father.”
“Belial listens to no one, Ajax-ol, that is why your father had me take you here,” Etan added.
“Yes, Lilith’s father had me take Lilith and her woman servant here too.” Tau puffed out his chest. “I even had to face a cobra to carry out my duty.”
“Excuse me, bug-boy?” She-Aba blurted. “Who faced the cobra?”
Lilith waved them off. “Why were you exiled, Ajax-ol?”
Ajax-ol looked at Lilith warily. “Why were you exiled?”
Lilith felt her heart skip a beat. “Oh, well, you see, it’s complicated really—”
“She trusted the wrong person,” Tau replied, cutting in.
Ajax-ol laughed. “You too?”
Lilith’s shoulders sagged. “Yes. His name is Mica.”
“Her name is Zurumu,” he said, shrugging. “I should have known better. She has bright red hair like your woman servant.”
Tau guffawed.
She-Aba’s face turned as red the setting sun.
“Most of the high priestesses have red hair, Ajax-ol,” Etan added. “You happened to pick the wrong one to put your trust in.”
“Really? Your high priestesses have red hair?” She-Aba asked, beaming.
“He said most, not all, fire-head,” Tau said, smirking.
She-Aba opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. She pointed at Etan’s leg. “Your injured leg needs attention.” Then she snapped her fingers and fished around in her satchel.
Lilith glanced at Etan’s leg. The bloody, torn flesh was seeping yellow liquid. She-Aba was right. The wound was starting to fester already.
“I got this at the market today. Normally, I make it into a salve to spread over my face to draw out the impurities—”
“You wasted your coins. It’s not working,” Tau cut in, slapping his thigh.
She-Aba rolled her eyes. “But it can also be used to heal and clean wounds if you’ll allow me.”
Etan’s wide nostrils flared, as if testing its fragrance. “Very well, but hurry, we need to seek shelter soon. The razor-tooth cats will be on the prowl by dusk.”
She-Aba shuddered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you don’t have to tell me twice.”
Another tremor rumbled through Lilith, this time throwing her to the ground. Tau was knocked over too. Lilith sighed. She’d forgotten how unstable her homeland had been. Feeling Etan’s claws wrap around her small wrists, he gently pulled her up. “The quakes are getting frequent,” he said. “I fear it will get worse, before it gets better.”
Lilith stared at her feet. “Trust me, it won’t get any better.”
“Nonsense,” Ajax-ol said as he leaned on his staff and waved a hand frivolously. “Atlantis will always conquer whatever the gods will deliver. We are invincible.”
Like the tremor that had just erupted through her, Lilith balled her fists, sidestepped Etan, and kicked Ajax-ol’s staff out from under him. Whump! He fell flat on his back. She placed a foot on his chest and glared at him. “How arrogant are you to think that way! Don’t you see what’s happening to our land? What Belial is doing to us by abusing the power of the crystals? We’re killing ourselves by killing this place!”
During Lilith’s rant, her life seal attached to the thong Tau made popped out from under her gown. Etan’s eyes grew large. He roared, making Lilith jump away from Ajax-ol.
Etan bent down on one knee, bowed his shaggy head, and said, “Welcome, Timekeeper. We have been waiting a long time for your arrival.”
7
A Light in the Darkness
Even sitting in the brilliance of the secluded crystal cave Etan had led them to, Lilith was still in shock. Timekeeper? How did he know about her lifetime occupation? Better still, how did this hybrid, whom she’d never met, know what a Timekeeper was? Her father’s words streamed through her like rushing water. Time flows through us. Through you. Keep time safe. Find Mica. Bring him home. Her shoulders slumped, her eyes welled. So far, there had been no sign of Mica. Lilith sighed. She didn’t even kn
ow if her father was still alive.
“What is the House of Seers?” She-Aba whispered, warming her hands over a glowing orange crystal. “I have never heard of such a tradition in the Black Land.”
Tau snorted. “Girls know nothing. The Priestesses of Ra who dwell in the Temple Beautiful are seers. To be a seer in the Black Land is to know everything.”
Lilith wiped her eyes. “Not in Atlantis. To be a seer, a true seer, is to quiet the mind enough to let the silent knowledge in.”
“She-Aba would not do well in that occupation.” Tau chuckled.
“No, that’s not what I mean,” Lilith replied, toying with her snake bracelet. “My Aunt Ambeno was a seer. She told me that to see things is not the same as to know things. Knowledge comes through you, not from you.”
Tau frowned. He scratched his nose. “How is this possible?”
“Boys know nothing,” She-Aba said, poking Tau in the ribs. “Things are what they are. Until they’re not.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, fire-head?” Tau asked, rubbing his side.
“It means—” Ajax-ol said, sitting down next to Lilith with an armful of long, yellow fruit, “—that we all look at the world through our own eyes, and see what we want to see, until you change your view.” He passed a piece of long, yellow fruit to each of them.
“Mmmm, I’m hungry,” Tau said, biting into the fruit. He made a face. “Ugh! This tastes like rubbery goat dung!”
“And how do you know what that tastes like?” Lilith asked, grimacing.
Tau smirked. “She-Aba told me.”
Lilith rolled her eyes. She grabbed the piece of fruit out of Tau’s hands. “You have to peel it. See?” She pulled back the thick skin to reveal the creamy-colored fruit.
Tau stuffed it in his mouth. His eyes lit up. “Mmm, thiiss isth deliciousth!”
Ajax-ol shook his head. “Your servants don’t get out much, do they?”
“Not these ones,” Lilith replied, peeling a piece of fruit for herself.
“We are secure for tonight,” Etan announced, returning to the crystal cave. He flicked his long tail to one side, sat on a large, flat crystal behind them, and rubbed his injured leg which was bound in palm leaves.
She-Aba handed a piece of fruit to Etan. “Here, Etan, you’ll need food to help your leg heal.”
Etan’s nose twitched. His face wrinkled as if he were asked to eat goat dung. “No, thank you.” He unwrapped a wide leaf with one claw, picked up a chunk of bloody meat, and devoured it before Lilith finished peeling her fruit.
She-Aba retched. She held up a finger. “One, I’m not going to ask you where that came from.” Then she held up a second finger. “And two, I don’t feel so hungry anymore.”
“Good,” Tau said, as he snatched the fruit out of her hands.
Lilith set her fruit aside, then clasped her hands. “Etan, why did you call me a Timekeeper?”
“And why have you been waiting for her?” She-Aba added.
Wiping blood away from his broad lips, Etan flicked his tongue to clean one of his large, white fangs. He stroked his braided goatee with a paw, then smiled his knowing smile. “Your medallion possesses the spiral insignia I’ve seen scribed on the walls of the Temple of the Sun. It has been foretold by the seers that the bearer of this insignia—a Timekeeper—will come here to bring balance and keep time flowing as it should be. You are who you are. Isn’t that enough?”
No. No, it’s not. Before Lilith could say a word, She-Aba squealed. “Ohh, please tell me who I am,” she asked handing him her round life seal.
Etan studied it. His nostrils flared. “You share the same path with Lilith, yet you have a different purpose. I see concealment, hiding things.”
She-Aba’s shoulders sagged. “So much for my dreams.”
“Dreams are always linked to your purpose,” Etan said, passing back her life seal. “You must be patient, wait for your thoughts to clear.”
“We’ll be waiting a long time for that,” Tau blurted.
“How does someone from the House of Seers not know her purpose?” Ajax-ol asked, popping the last bit of fruit into his mouth.
“I’m not a seer, my aunt was,” Lilith said, squeezing her hands harder. She looked up at Etan. “Tell me, Etan, how does one keep time? That seems an impossible task.”
Etan began rubbing his huge paws back and forth, back and forth. Then he stopped and brought them out and in, farther apart then closer together. “Do what I do. Feel the flow as you bring your hands closer together and farther away. It is nothing, yet it is everything. This is time. You cannot see it, but you can feel it push and pass through you.”
Lilith copied Etan, vigorously rubbing her hands, then moving them in and out. Her hands tingled as she drew them closer then pushed away. Strange, she could feel something there between her palms, but didn’t know what to do with it. Lilith stopped, grasped her hands again, and shrugged. “If that is what you call time, then what do I do with it? I still can’t keep it.”
“Ultimately, the answer—” Etan pointed a sharp claw at Lilith “—lies within you, waiting to be found.”
Lilith unclasped her hands and waved them in the air. “Stop with riddles!”
“Oh, Etan’s very good at riddles and puzzles, Lilith,” Ajax-ol said, tossing the peel of his fruit aside. “I believe it’s his way of torturing us poor humans.”
Lilith sat still. Good at riddles? She lunged for She-Aba’s satchel and pulled out her father’s record keeper. Scanning the pages until she found Tau’s entry, Lilith passed it to Etan. “Prove you’re good and solve this riddle.”
Etan’s mane bristled. His paws engulfed the record keeper, and he buried his olive eyes in it. “I…don’t know.”
Lilith frowned. “But, I thought you were good at riddles?”
“Only when I can understand what is written, Lilith. This is not legible.”
Tau, who was still stuffing his face with the yellow fruit, stopped. His cheeks were popped out, food dribbled out of his mouth. He tried to speak but gagged instead.
She-Aba giggled. “I’m getting to like this fruit more and more.”
“It’s the language of the Black Land’s people, Etan, you’re probably not familiar with it. Allow me,” Lilith said, taking the record keeper from Etan. “Greedy and wicked these people have become, ignoring to follow the Law of One. Return to the City of the Golden Gates, the One who must banish evil, by the end of the first major quake.”
Tau finally spit out the remnants in his mouth. “How hard is it to understand our language?”
Lilith eyed him. “You were the first to make fun of how I pronounced some of your words. What do you think?”
Tau looked away sheepishly. She-Aba laughed. “I believe you’ve just been squashed, bug-boy.”
“So what do you make of the riddle, Etan?”Ajax-ol asked, wiping his hands across his linen tunic.
Etan stroked his goatee. “It is not clear yet. I understand the first part, about how Atlanteans are moving away from their true nature by shunning the teachings of the Law of One to follow Belial’s immoral path. But, the second part is veiled.”
The ground shook with angered fervor. Some crystals hanging above broke apart and spiraled to the floor, splintering on impact. The walls cracked, creating a fissure that looked like a slithering snake. Lilith swallowed hard. The same terrible emotions she had had before her world was torn apart surged through her body. She hugged herself just as the earth quit its rumblings.
Lilith’s skin prickled, her mind cleared. The riddle is a task given by the Children of the Law of One. Her eyes widened.
“We need to get to the City of the Golden Gates,” she said, feeling her heart grow warm. “That’s what the riddle in the record keeper suggests, so that’s where we’re going.
Maybe Mica had planned this all along, maybe that’s why we’re here, to bring Mica back with us.”
“I agree. Anywhere is better than here,” She-Aba said, surveying the cave’s ceiling.
Ajax-ol guffawed. “Get into the City of the Golden Gates? But, I thought you were in exile? You’ll never make it past the guards.”
“Actually…I was exiled from the Black Land, not Atlantis.”
Ajax-ol frowned. “I thought you said you dwelled in the City of the Golden Gates? And how does anyone get exiled from the Black Land? Usually one is exiled to the Black Land.”
Lilith sighed. “My family used to dwell in the City of the Golden Gates. We moved to the Black Land out of…necessity.”
Tau grunted. “For Ra’s sake, Lilith, tell him the truth. Tell him the Children of the Law of One pulled us through the arch!”
Etan jerked. “Arch! What arch?”
“The seventh Arch of Atlantis,” She-Aba said. “What arch do you think she’s talking about?”
Etan’s eyes became slits as he crept toward She-Aba. “Liar! All seven Arches of Atlantis are kept inside the Temple of Poseidon!” He roared. “It is only the Keeper of the Arches who is allowed to contact the Children of the Law of One!”
If Tau hadn’t already made things messy enough for them, then She-Aba’s comment threw muck in their faces. Lilith tossed the record keeper to Tau, then jumped in front of She-Aba and held out her hands. “It’s true, Etan, so let her be. My father was the Keeper of the Arches, and now, he only has the seventh arch in his charge.”
Etan stopped. He shook his massive head as if he didn’t hear Lilith correctly. “How…how is this possible?”
The answer hit Lilith as if hundreds of white crawlers were stinging her. Time. It flows freely, all around us, like the air. She wasn’t supposed to keep time as if it were a thing to store in a box. She was supposed to preserve and protect time, keep it safe, as her father had told her before they were pulled through the archway. She was supposed to make sure time flowed through her, through everyone, naturally, like breathing in, and breathing out.
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