by Mara Powers
A gasp emerged from the audience. Kyliron was the image of perfection; an icon, just as the Adonis of legend who remained unreachable for all women. And now, as his betrothed took her place at his side, a flash of envy rippled through the city, and quickly turned to inspiration at the sight of Brigitte’s otherworldliness. News traveled quickly, the dreamclans had finally arrived to take their place at the heart of Atlantis in the name of the Watchers. The frail mood of the city shifted.
Brigitte wondered how the king had found them, until she caught sight of the priest and priestess who accompanied them to the cartel docks. They stood with another man, who had the alabaster skin tone of a priest, but did not dress in a traditional Temple Sect robe. Instead, his dress was rich like a mediator’s, suggesting wealth and status. He had an imposing presence, as if he had a position of leadership. A circlet on his baldhead suggested he was a member of the High Council.
King Kyliron signaled to him. At his approach, Brigitte scanned him with dreamsight, half-expecting he would have a shadow attached. To her relief, he didn’t.
He strode toward them, his arms held wide in welcome. “I am relieved you have been found at last, Brigitte. I am Jamarish Ka, temple delegate of the High Council, and the king’s maydrian. I bid you welcome to Atlantis,” he bowed with a flair. He turned to Lukias, and glanced briefly at the furies. “Your companions?”
“Oh, yes,” Brigitte shook her head. “Forgive my rudeness. Allow me to present my elder brother, Lukias.” She paused awkwardly. “He is high seer of our dreamclan.”
“I see. And what of your father, Denikon?” asked Jamarish Ka.
“It is with great despair that I inform you of his demise.” Her eyes slid to Kyliron. “Our clan was attacked by a horde of shadows from Dreamtime. It is only by the grace of the Watchers we have survived, and come to these shores alive.”
Kyliron’s eyes clouded over, and darted to the blue-robed priest, but the priest was already ahead of him. He had cut off the VC transmission in the midst of her statement.
“This is grave news,” Jamarish Ka consoled. His eyes studied the king’s reaction carefully.
“Obviously, my Queen Impending has been through much.” Kyliron’s voice was tinged with irritation. He pulled her into his embrace, and lifted her chin delicately, whispering, “So much sadness.” He pouted his lower lip, while gently caressing the side of her face. “We must bring you at once to your suites where you will be safe. And you can bring your fury warriors for protection.” He was very aware of the gathering crowd.
“I have stored this transmission in my downloader-crystal, Your Majesty.” The record-keeper priest nodded to Brigitte. “My Queen Impending,” he bowed, a hint of regret in his eyes. “My condolences to you and your brother on the news of your clan.”
“Thank you for your kindness,” Brigitte bowed back.
“My dear, I trust you have been well tutored in the decorum of your station, but a queen bows to no one but her king,” Kyliron chuckled.
Brigitte noticed Allondriss among the gathering onlookers.
“Your Majesty,” Brigitte smiled, “if it’s all the same to you, I choose to honor those who treat me with kindness. A queen is still human is she not?”
Jamarish Ka nodded. “Should we be on our way? I guarantee you the council will vote for the ceremony to take place this night, in time for the third night of Ka-Ma-Sharri. Our gracious Queen Impending will need as much rest as she can get.”
“If you please, we have our own hover-carriage,” said Brigitte. “I would like to keep it, if possible.”
Jamarish Ka chuckled. “You will have access to the finest hover-craft in all of Atlantis, my lady.”
“The lady wishes to keep her carriage,” Kyliron snapped. “I will ride with you, my love.” He trapped her arm in the crook of his elbow, and pulled her along. As they walked, the people naturally parted, forming an aisle to let them pass. Brigitte was careful to meet the eyes of the people and send them respect. As they neared the carriage, she reached out to Allondriss.
“This is my companion, and adviser on Atlantean ways. She will be joining us.”
The king nodded, and helped Allondriss into the carriage like a perfect nobleman. After Brigitte and Lukias entered, Kyliron blocked Jamarish Ka.
“I want to know exactly what happened here,” he said, gesturing to the wounded fury warrior, who was now being attended by a priestess. “I wish for you to stay and be sure your investigation continues. Take my hover-carriage when you are finished.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.” Jamarish Ka bowed and stepped backward simultaneously.
One of Kyliron’s servants climbed aboard the carriage to take control of its imprinter panel.
“This is an impressive vehicle,” Kyliron remarked, as he made himself comfortable beside Brigitte. His eyes landed on Allondriss. “Aren’t you a curiosity. Temple Sect?”
“No, Your Majesty,” Allondriss looked downward.
“She is my companion.” Brigitte’s tone suggested she wished the subject changed.
Stixxus and the remaining two furies fell into step on the road, along with the entourage of servants who accompanied the king. The crowd from the market followed. Word spread quickly. As they made their ascent through the remainder of the citadel, their makeshift royal parade became a source of increasing interest. Brigitte’s exhausting and dangerous journey quickly transformed into a spectacle, with fanfare more befitting the arrival of the new Queen of Atlantis.
Celebrations through the night,
to strike the flame of life to light.
Underneath the shining moon
is Ka-Ma-Sha’s unerring boon.
Maiden touched by lover’s match,
yet seeing some new plot to hatch.
EVENING SANK OVER Poseidia’s majestic tiers as nodesong echoed across the heights of the citadel. The sky radiated orange and purple hues, reflecting off dark clouds in the distance. The moon seemed full, having been eclipsed the night before. Its light gradually lifted over an oceanic horizon, as large as the city itself.
Resounding horns echoed across the city’s steps, proclaiming the last night of Ka-Ma-Sharri, when all celebrated the mythic union of Belial and his lost love Kama, doomed to separate horizons for all time in their promise to restore what had been lost on the face of Sophaiya. Theirs was a sacrifice to be revered. And on these nights, all of Atlantis went through the traditional motions said to pray for their union, for when they joined again, humanity would be complete.
Music and laughter echoed from all directions. D’Vinid walked with Ofira in the failing sunlight. Confetti drifted through the air. He couldn’t shake the memory of how he had felt when Brigitte’s carriage disappeared, or the sickness he felt when he turned his back on her because he couldn’t face Kyliron.
Brigitte had captured his attention completely, and he was not sure how it could be possible. He told himself the obsession would soon pass. She was simply another beautiful woman he could not reach. He knew what made her desireable was this very fact. This was how his heart worked. The less he could have her, the more he wanted her. He just had to wait out the fever. He allowed his mind to imagine her as a Watcher. He hated the Watchers, and she should be no different to him.
They listened to the gentle sound of crystal-nodes, as the setting sun brightened the horizon into a vivid orange masterpiece. D’Vinid kept his eyes down while weaving through the alluring stares of fashionably beautiful would-be lovers. Not even Ofira’s wiles could distract him.
His heart sank with the sun. He took a deep breath as they reached Dafni’s Enigma, where his first love awaited. He went to her immediately, caressed her silky strings. Taking her into his embrace was all he usually needed to feel better. But even she didn’t comfort him this evening. She sounded the same at the strum of his fingers, but now Kyliron had managed to extend his ever-pursuing shadow over his beloved dabrina. His hands shook.
He felt miserable. What was he but a cha
rlatan and a maverick with a lazy, self-indulgent lifestyle? Kyliron was the High King of Atlantis. Surely a king would always be more important than D’Vinid. He never understood why Kyliron was so threatened by him.
He put his head down just to close his eyes for a few moments, and was drowned in regret. As he lay in his cabin, that familiar liquid sensation filled him. His heart pounded like a drum, threatening to deafen him to all other sounds. “I am for I am thou,” a voice reverberated through the incessant heartbeat. His vision went black. His heart pounded harder.
Loressai Torbin’s voice emerged in an ethereal whisper. “You are the chosen of Belial. You can stop this before it happens.”
“Loressai?” He twitched, looking around in the darkness. But another vision faded into view.
Brigitte stood before him, dressed in the finest of Atlantean noble-wear. She was alluring beyond all temptation. He reached out to touch her, but she faded away. He burned for her, longed to touch her again.
Suddenly he was in the royal courtyard. Brigitte graced a balcony, overlooking throngs of people.
Kyliron appeared at her side, his eyes red-rimmed and bloodshot. He took her into his arms.
D’Vinid wanted to cry out, but his voice would not cooperate.
In front of the entire kingdom, Kyliron suddenly grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back. He struck her across the face with the back of his other hand. She crumpled to the ground.
D’Vinid startled awake. Darkness had engulfed the cabin. His dabrina lay beside him. Quickly, he rolled over, and carried his instrument into the main hold of the ship.
Ofira sat on the stage. Her chameleon eyes measured his mood.
“You’re still here?” he marveled. “Don’t you have a ship to command?”
“Oh, D’Vinid. I will leave soon. Don’t you worry about that. I have one more thing to help you with.”
“Oh, is this another one of your jobs from the Watchers?” He tried not to sound bitter as he wrestled with the seething anger he carried toward Kyliron. He didn’t want to take it out on Ofira.
“You did a good job earlier.” she remarked.
“What do you mean?” he grumbled.
“You offered to sacrifice yourself. I didn’t think you had it in you. One could say it was heroic.”
He shrugged and looked down at his dabrina. He touched the new tuning peg and traced his finger down the crack leading to the once-hidden symbol now defacing his beloved companion. Having been protected all his life, the symbol stood out, perfect and untouched by the cycles. It was nothing but a stark contrast to the rest of the instrument. It filled him with dread and shame. He couldn’t imagine why his mother would have hidden the sigil of King Koraxx on her dabrina. There were no stories he could muster from his imagination to offer an explanation. Perhaps it was a magical instrument she had stolen from his treasure trove. Or perhaps they knew one another. This would explain how his father had become captain of the royal flagship.
He thought of his father, the long lost captain of Dafni’s Enigma. Captain Chaldeis always kept his eye on the horizon, forever searching for his missing love who had been D’Vinid’s mother. When he left, he claimed to be on a dangerous mission to find her on “a far-off shore where no mortal could go.” For the first time in his life, D’Vinid wondered if his journey was into the Dreamvale. “You brought Brigitte and her brother to Poseidia,” he spoke to Ofira. “Where did they come from?”
“I told you already. From the dreamclans.”
“I have never understood the dreamclans,” he admitted, as his fingers slid up and down the silky dabrina strings.
She laughed. “Dreamclans live in the valley between the Meridian Realm and Dreamtime. That’s where I travel mostly. The Dreamvale.”
“Can you take anyone there?”
She frowned. “Into the Dreamvale? Yes. To Brigitte’s clan, I don’t think so.” She visibly shivered. “If you think what we experienced today was terrifying, what I saw there would turn your hair white.”
“What happened to all the people you left behind?”
Ofira shook her head. “I don’t think they made it. They sacrificed themselves so Brigitte and Lukias could escape.”
His fingers ran nimbly up and down the dabrina. There were still eleven strings, though he now had twelve pegs to tune them with. A few easy twists of the pegs, and the instrument sang in perfect harmony. Everyone inside stopped their conversations to pay attention.
He wondered about Loressai as his fingers absently improvised a melody.
“I am for I am thou.” The words appeared in his head as if audible. He paused and looked around, thinking perhaps someone had spoken. Ofira watched him carefully. His fingers began again almost without his consent. Words spilled from his lips with a singing voice, which could rend the heart of even the most jaded soul.
“There were once two brothers.
Both loved a girl.
Both became her lover,
One more than the other,
though the other loved her more.
All have lost their way.
Nothing more to say.
Afraid to apologize,
all would personify
the spiral to guilt and shame.
There is a debt to be paid,
a story yet to be told.
In time the fire will be stayed
or magnified tenfold.”
WHEN KING KYLIRON and his Queen Impending reached the palace, a crowd swarmed the base of the steps. Brigitte greeted their awe with a weary smile as she emerged from the carriage. Lukias stole a look at Allondriss, who seemed just as nervous as Brigitte. He reached out his arm to escort her, mimicking the king’s gallantry. Kyliron waved to the people while carefully guiding Brigitte to the looming threshold of the royal audience chamber.
As she prepared to take her first steps into the palace, Brigitte recalled echoes of her lonesome childhood by the seashore. The ocean’s song had always been her refuge. She strained, but couldn’t make out the distant surf past miles of city. She felt strangely isolated outside its sound.
She wanted to cry out. Madness crept into her thoughts. An icy chill of apprehension caught her in a mental backpedaling frenzy. But instead of succumbing to its power, she allowed herself to draw on the calm strength of her companions and move forward.
They stood within fractal lights and rainbow patterns spilling through stained glass in the domed ceiling. Brigitte tossed her head back to bathe in the colors.
“Welcome to your new home,” Kyliron’s smile radiated. She wondered at the intricate oceanic throne statue.
In single file, the High Council entered the royal audience hall to meet their Queen Impending. Seven council delegates governed seven Atlantean Sects. Together they made up the highest authority in the land next to the king and queen. Each one was fixated on Brigitte.
Six of seven delegates were introduced. Jamarish Ka was the seventh, though he had remained in the city. The names of the others quickly vanished, swept into the current of her panic. She relied on Lukias and Kyliron to do all the talking. Allondriss stayed at Brigitte’s side, her face and hands hidden in her embroidered overcoat. Stixxus and the furies remained in the background.
Just when she felt she could handle no more, one of the High Council women—perhaps the warrior delegate, for she had the same emblem as Pan Aello—seemed to take pity, and urged them to allow her a rest.
The only interaction that stuck in her mind was talk of their joining ceremony commencing at the height of the moon. She was supposed to have arrived slightly earlier, yet despite their many delays, they were perfectly on time to be joined at the exalted moment. It was happening quickly. By the time the sun rose, Brigitte would be Queen of Atlantis.
Kyliron left to prepare while the rest of them were led down a series of brightly lit hallways, their surfaces of polished mosaics gleaming as though wet. Stone hallways gave way to tubes of paned glass looking into magnificent garden scenes, th
eir views obstructed only by thick, growing trees. Brigitte’s thoughts whirled without mercy, and she didn’t know whether to cry for it to stop, or to let herself swim in the glory of it.
Numbly, she allowed herself to be brought to the suites designated as her new home. Her thoughts lingered on Kyliron. His elegant mannerisms and perfect beauty made her heart flutter anxiously. But those dark, powerful eyes had lingered in the shadows of her mind. They made her always fear the dark. Brigitte had loathed him and loved him all at once for as long as she could remember.
She could barely keep her eyes open to examine the rooms, which were luxurious beyond what she had ever imagined. The bed was obscured by curtains and raised on a platform. Mirrored walls were lined with lush plants, making the room look even more expansive. An intricate archway enticed her outside to follow the delicate flower essences wafting from beyond.
Marble stairs curved up to a large, elevated tub of white marble and black onyx inlaid with gold and was filled with steaming, aromatic water. Beyond that, another room made of marble was enclosed by glass, perhaps a hot steam room, as she had been taught Atlanteans were fond of. The rounded tub enclosure was surrounded by windows overlooking a garden.
In the main room of the suite, an open archway led to a garden patio. Stairs descended to a polished pathway, where they were quickly swallowed by blooming trees and thick foliage. The garden seemed maintained exclusively for whoever lived in the suite. It was the perfect gilded habitat. At least her captivity promised unsurpassed luxury. Drunk from the fragrances, she sauntered back to the bed. Her eyes were heavy.
She thought of D’Vinid, and laid the rose on her pillow so it would be there when she awoke. Tears flooded her eyes, and she silently wept herself to sleep.
THE MAIN HOLD of Dafni’s Enigma gradually filled with D’Vinid’s fans as word spread through the Outlands that he was making a public appearance. The revelry spilled out into the Harbor District esplanade. He had not really given much thought to how much they loved him. Perhaps his own sense of self-loathing made him unable to accept it. He looked on them with new eyes as they focused on his music.
