“Careful,” Mica clutched her elbow, and led Lilith away from the murdered priest. Then he pried the orichalcum spear away from the priest’s rigid fingers.
Tau whistled. “This looks like the same room where your father keeps the seventh Arch of Atlantis at your home in the Black Land.”
“It’s an exact replica,” Lilith replied, glancing around the deep bronze room.
Huge tapestries lined the walls, colorfully embroidered with stories and myths of Atlantis’s origins. There were no windows to allow natural light in, so orichalcum urns filled with glimmering crystals were situated around the boundaries of the room. The smooth tiled, gold-flecked floor reflected the crystals’ glow, illuminating the Chamber of the Arches in a holy, reverent way. Lilith’s nose wrinkled, detecting a hint of mint and garlic wavering in the air.
“Ohh, look at those the beautiful arches,” She-Aba said, her eyes widening. “They’re all different colors.”
The earth continued to rumble as Lilith gazed upon the fifth arch, the darkest in color. Her breathing hastened. She had never seen this arch before. Belial had stolen it long before she was born. But her father had made sure that he passed along its teachings to her and shared what the Children of the Law of One had scribed into its magnificent columns. She remembered that the true essence of the fifth Arch of Atlantis was to help all Atlanteans acknowledge their shadow side in order to help them grow and evolve and move forward with purpose. Lilith focused on the crystal trident in its keystone. The trident hummed quietly, absorbing the ethereal energy of the room. Seven spirals were engraved around the crystal trident, and underneath it, the four small, slightly slanted ancient glyphs were inscribed on every one of the arches. Time flows through us, she read. The same words her father shared with her before they were sucked into the seventh arch.
Lilith searched for the seventh Arch of Atlantis and found it positioned in the middle of the room at the very back, standing in front of the Creation tapestry. The arches were arranged in a semicircle with the first, third, and fifth arches to the left of the seventh arch, and the second, fourth, and sixth arches to the right. Each arch stood as high as a tusked beast, with the archway measuring at least half a tusk beast’s height at the widest point. The arches were separated by a distance of at least five strides. Lilith knitted her fair brows. The keystone of the seventh Arch of Atlantis was missing its crystal trident. Sadly, the arch appeared dull, lackluster, as if the light inside had been dimmed. Lilith covered her mouth. Thank Poseidon, it’s still here! She rushed over to it.
“Where’s serqet-breath?” Tau huffed, following her.
“He’s in here somewhere,” Mica said, holding the spear vigilantly, looking around.
Tau snorted. “Maybe we should follow the scent of beetle dung.”
“Don’t insult the beetles, bug-boy, they’re sacred,” She-Aba said, checking out a tapestry. “This is absolutely stunning work. I must use this technique in my next—”
The whole tapestry rippled and suddenly attacked She-Aba, the corner piece rolling up and engulfing her like a burial shroud. She dropped her high-heel shoe before it wrapped around her body, leaving the bottom portion of her legs exposed. She-Aba slapped her bare feet against the white marble floor in rapid succession, struggling against the material. She thrashed, trying to say something, anything, but her screams were muffled.
“She-Aba!” Lilith yelled, turning away from the seventh Arch of Atlantis.
By the way She-Aba flailed and kicked, Lilith knew her breathing had been compromised enough that soon She-Aba would be out of precious air. Mica lunged at the tapestry, slicing it from the wall. He tried to rip the richly embroidered cloth away from her face with the tip of the spear. Tau was on She-Aba’s other side, yanking at the tapestry, but only getting a fistful of shredded threads for his effort. The tapestry squeezed around her face like the coils of a snake smothering her. Both Tau and Mica backed off while She-Aba squirmed and squirmed, smacking her feet harder. Another tremor shook the temple.
Lilith clenched her teeth and stamped her foot. “Belial! Stop this, or I swear to Poseidon I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” a voice cut in from a low-lit corner.
Lilith twisted around and glared at the dark magus. Belial snickered, skulking over to stand before her, his shadow swallowing any light she stood in. The smell of mint and garlic overpowered Lilith’s senses, and she felt a sudden drop in pressure in the room as if an invisible shield guarding her had been ripped away. Lilith’s eyes widened. Belial used the mint-garlic concoction as a way of distraction, to subdue his adversaries. Her skin tingled. He was feeding off her body’s energy, pulling her personal power away from her like an inverted spiral. She needed to sever this destructive connection, dam the flow of energy between them. And there was only one way to do that. Lilith instantly relaxed, released the tension in her jaw, and took a step forward. He fed on fear. That was evident. She inhaled in and out, in and out. Time to give Belial indigestion.
Lilith blocked out She-Aba’s thrashing and concentrated all her attention on Belial. He gripped the black trident in his hand as if it were part of him, and the leather satchel he’d taken from She-Aba was roped over his shoulder. In her mind, she turned over what she knew of him. Belial manipulated people using fear as the foundation to get what he desired. And he was good at it. He disregarded the sacred laws, crushed spirits, and bent the people’s will to his own evil ways. He cared for no one but himself. Tau was correct. Belial’s true nature was aligned with a serqet’s—he poisoned anyone and anything that got in his way. The hairs on the back of Lilith’s neck tingled. Something didn’t make sense. Belial hadn’t left yet. Then it occurred to her. Maybe he can’t leave?
“Why are you still here, Belial?”
His lips thinned. “What are you getting at?”
“You can’t leave, can you? You don’t know what to do.” Lilith smirked. “How does it feel to feel powerless, Belial?”
Belial’s face twitched. His onyx eyes narrowed to slits.
“Spare She-Aba’s life and I’ll help you,” Lilith offered.
“I don’t make bargains!” he snapped.
The earth shook with enough force to produce cracks in the bronze ceiling. The one thing Lilith had over Belial was that she knew Atlantis would be around for another hundred years. At least part of it would be. He didn’t. She also knew the southwestern portion of Atlantis was beginning its descent into the ocean and would take one-third of the population with its demise. Atlantis never truly recovered from this devastation, leaving children like Lilith and Mica to be born into an unstable and imbalanced environment. She deliberately toyed with her snake bracelet. Then she yawned.
“Fine. Go down with Atlantis,” Lilith said, shrugging. “Being a Timekeeper, and knowing how to use the power of spirals, has its rewards. Besides, it won’t be long before you perish along with the rest of the ordinary Atlanteans.”
Belial growled. He snapped his fingers, causing the tapestry to go limp. Mica and Tau quickly freed She-Aba before Belial had second thoughts. Lilith peered over her shoulder. She-Aba’s face was redder than her hair as she inhaled long, deep breaths like she was gulping down excess amounts of water. She checked over her face and throat, then mouthed “thank you” to Lilith. Satisfied She-Aba was safe, Lilith turned back to face the most feared man in Atlantean history.
Belial pressed the black trident’s prongs into her throat. Lilith jumped. He applied pressure. “I believe it’s your turn, Timekeeper. Show me how this works.”
Remember, show him no fear. Lilith pointed to the dark trident. “Do you mind?”
Lilith had absolutely no idea how to use any of the arches as a portal. It had been pure chance or fate or destiny when the Children of the Law of One summoned the three of them through seventh Arch of Atlantis. She swallowed hard as Belial slowly removed th
e trident from her throat, wishing for Etan to whisper in her ear one last time. Her seer’s snake bracelet slid down her forearm to imprison her wrist. She wished Shu-Tu was here with her to give her strength, to lend her voice. Go. Banish evil. Those were the last words Shu-Tu spoke to her. Then Lilith’s eyes widened. She understood the riddle. I’m the One who must banish evil. I’m the One who must keep time safe. A hint of a smile emerged on her face. It was time to rid Atlantis of this man, this disease.
“You’re doing it all wrong,” Lilith said with a tone of authority, swishing her hand. “You need to stand in front of the arch that is the closest match to your frequency to absorb its total power.”
“Lilith? What are you doing?” Mica asked, helping She-Aba up.
“Yeah, that black serqet doesn’t play fair!” Tau yelled.
“Silence!” Belial thundered, as he pulled a piece of onyx off of his sash, and threw it at Mica. The black bead hit his orichalcum spear, and the spear dissolved into ashes. “If any of you move a serpent’s hair, you’ll join the spear on the floor.”
She-Aba gulped. “But…but serpents don’t have hair.”
Belial sneered. “That’s the point.” Then he wagged the black trident in Lilith’s face. “Do go on.”
Lilith licked her parched lips. “What happened when you put the black crystal trident into the keystone of the seventh Arch of Atlantis?”
“I’m not up for games!” he spat.
“Neither am I. My guess is nothing happened. You couldn’t activate the arch, and since none of your sorcery works on any of the arches, you were left feeling powerless.”
Belial stroked his braided beard. “What is your point?”
“The point is I am a Timekeeper. You are not.”
Belial’s face twitched. “Is that supposed to impress me, girl?”
“I should think so. You forget the most sacred law of the arches,” Lilith said. She cautiously walked to the front of the fifth Arch of Atlantis and pointed at the keystone. “Time flows through us.”
Belial growled, creeping up behind her. “I grow weary of this game, Timekeeper.” He pounced in front of Lilith and glared down at her.
A wicked tremor shot through Lilith, throwing her into Belial. He stumbled backwards slamming against the fifth Arch of Atlantis. The black trident slipped out of his hand and slid across the gyrating floor. Lilith crawled over to claim it. Belial regained his balance enough to stand inside the archway. He smoothed out his shimmering black robe, giving Lilith enough time to scoop up the black trident and stand. Another rumble from the earth confirmed her suspicions. This was the third and final shake that would separate and sink the southwestern portion of Atlantis. Even the arches trembled in unison. The fifth Arch of Atlantis shook enough to loosen its crystal trident from the keystone.
An intense heat emanating from the black trident started to burn the inside of her hand and run up the length of her arm. Her snake bracelet glowed as if she’d stuck it in a bed of hot coals. Sweat dripped down her face and body and splattered to the floor. Despicable, cold laughter, sounding like Zurumu, invaded her mind. Somehow, the evil presence of this banished high priestess was searing into Lilith, poisoning her being, setting her on fire.
Belial laughed wickedly. “You’re right! I can feel the power of this arch feeding me, rejuvenating my power!” Then he patted the leather satchel and opened it. “And with this book, no power on earth will prevent me from—” His hand swished around the inside of the satchel and pulled out a handful of make-up, scents, and brushes. “What…what trickery is this?”
“I figure you could use all the help you can get with your appearance,” She-Aba replied, snapping her fingers.
“Where is the Book of Mysteries?” Belial snarled, scattering the make-up and brushes.
She-Aba smirked. “I slipped it in my snake-skin satchel and gifted it to Rhea as an early wedding present. It’s probably making its way to the Black Land by now.”
Belial’s face darkened to the color of the fifth Arch of Atlantis. He raised his thin arms over his head and started to recite an incantation in the language of the shadows. Lilith’s head pounded in agony. She had to get Zurumu out of her mind, and her skin, before the high priestess completely infected her with the evil vibrations of the black trident. Lilith stared at Belial, who was just as poisonous and evil as Zurumu, and reacted in the only way she knew would release her from the hateful feelings coursing through her body. Fight fire with fire, Lilith thought, as she squeezed the black trident, taking in more pain and putting all her angry thoughts and feelings into it, and charged at Belial.
“Poison out, poison in!” she screamed, thrusting the trident into the dark magus.
Stumbling, Lilith fell to her knees and coddled her burning hand to her chest. She heard a terrible shriek and looked up to find Belial still standing in the center of the fifth Arch of Atlantis with the black trident protruding out of his stomach. Wisps of dark spirals shot out of the end of the black trident’s handle and circled the fifth Arch of Atlantis like an army of serpents coiling around their prey.
“Lilith!” Mica yelled. She could hear his feet slapping against the tiles to reach her, his strong, slick arms cradled and lifted her away from the fifth arch. The smell, the essence of his skin made Lilith think of the Black Land.
“I thought I commanded you not to move!” Belial hissed, fumbling for another onyx bead on his sash.
Mica glared at Belial. “I take no orders from a coward, you weak-minded snake!”
Before Belial had a chance to use the piece of onyx on Mica, a high-heel shoe flew across the room and whacked Belial in the nose. Shocked, Belial dropped the bead, cupped his face, and fell to his knees.
“Good shot, Tau!” She-Aba cheered.
“I take back what I said,” Tau replied over his shoulder, running to join Mica and Lilith. “Those are the most sensible shoes ever.”
“And stunning,” She-Aba added, sashaying across the tiles.
The fifth arch started to blur, moving faster with each breath. A deep boom echoed from it, making the arch sound foreign and lost. The crystal trident was propelled from its keystone, as if the fifth arch was rejecting it. Tau lunged for the crystal trident before it hit the shaking marble floor. As soon as the trident connected with his hands, the earthquake ceased completely, all rumbling stopped.
“W-What’s happening to me?” Belial shrieked, standing. He gripped the black trident’s handle and pulled it out of his stomach. Both the fifth Arch of Atlantis and Belial were beginning to fade.
“I think you’re being banished, serqet-breath,” Tau said, wagging the crystal trident at him.
Belial glared at Lilith. “Remember this, Timekeeper,” he said, his nostrils flaring. “Nothing is ever lost, only changed. Time will flow through me too. Mark my words I promise we’ll meet again, in another place, in another time.”
“And you mark my words, Belial, all four of us will be ready for you when we do meet,” Lilith replied, her heart now thumping in strong, direct beats. “We are connected, we are one.”
Belial sneered and stuffed the black trident into his sash. He pushed his palms into the center of the arch’s columns and finished reciting his incantation. The fifth Arch of Atlantis hummed and droned to the sickly rhythm of the language of the shadows and continued to vibrate at an accelerated rate until it disappeared into oblivion, leaving the seventh Arch of Atlantis in plain sight.
“Where’d serqet-breath go?” Tau asked, clutching the crystal trident to his bare chest.
“All I know is that Belial settles in a portion of the land west of Atlantis, to a place where my Uncle Kukulkan will travel one hundred years from now,” Lilith said, pushing a fair tendril out of her face. “My hope is that he will find Belial and bring balance back to our earth.”
“That is
my hope too,” Mica said, gently placing Lilith down.
Lilith pushed her bracelet away from her wrist, then realized the burning sensation in her hand had disappeared the same moment Belial had left Atlantis. She wiggled her fingers, feeling no pain, no heat.
“Bet your uncle could use all the help he can get,” She-Aba said, reaching for her high-heel shoe near the area where the fifth Arch of Atlantis once stood. “Is there any chance I could send this to him?”
Tau laughed. “Why waste a perfectly good shoe, fire-head?”
Lilith giggled as she let her arm fall to her side. “Now that our task for the Children of the Law of One has been completed, there is only one thing left to do.”
“And what’s that?” She-Aba asked, stuffing her shoe into her spotted cape’s pocket.
“Bring Mica home,” Lilith said, smiling. “As my father requested.”
“Sounds like a plan, Timekeeper,” Mica said, winking at her. “Tau, put the crystal trident into the keystone of the seventh Arch of Atlantis. It’s time to go home.”
Lilith leaned against Mica’s tanned, sinewy arm. “Yes, home to the Black Land.”
13
The Guardian of the Sands
“I am most disappointed,” Istulo said from the corner of the Golden Serpent room.
Lilith’s head wouldn’t stop spinning. They emerged from the seventh Arch of Atlantis like flying fish landing on a beach. She shook her head. Did she hear Istulo correctly? Disappointed? With whom?
Legend of the Timekeepers Page 14
