Vanished

by S. L. Menear

“Huh, I never thought that would work.” I looked at Banger as he put me down.

  “Clearly, becoming the Queen of Atlantis involves a steep learning curve,” he teased with a smirk.

  I hugged him anyway. “Thanks for holding me above those awful spiders.”

  “My pleasure.” He hugged me back.

  “Uh, sis, is it safe to proceed now?” Mike searched the arches.

  “God, I hope so.” I checked the team. “Everybody okay?”

  “I’m proud of you, Sam.” Lance grinned. “Instead of climbing up Banger or me, you faced those eight-legged critters and gave them hell.”

  “Having the scepter helped,” I said in a shaky voice. “Alrighty, let’s roll.”

  The team scanned the arches again and hesitated.

  I looked up at Banger. “You first, my liege.”

  He laughed. “I live to serve you, my queen.”

  I followed so close behind him I almost stepped on his heels. We passed under the arches without incident, and I breathed easier when the landscape opened up on either side of the path.

  The white marble building with its nine spires gleamed on a hill behind the far side of the lake. It was at least six miles away. I couldn’t stop thinking about the distant screams we’d heard and what kinds of animals the crocs had been eating all those years.

  Sweetwater’s Mercs

  Vasili bandaged a gash in his arm. He edged up to a giant mound of fur lying in a pool of blood. “At least we got one of them.”

  “What is it, sir?” a soldier asked.

  Vasili shined his light on the beast. “Looks like thousand-pound tiger, but is not possible.”

  “Could be many creatures down here that are not possible,” another soldier said as he checked his fallen comrades. “We lost four more teammates.”

  “Leave them. We’ll deal with the bodies when we return.” Vasili checked the survivors. Ten left, counting himself. “Move out and stay sharp.”

  The team moved carefully through the tunnel to the end where it opened into an enormous cavern lit by crystals.

  “What is this place?” A soldier gazed around.

  “Legend claims it is Lost Sahara Civilization.” Vasili pointed. “Follow path beside lake.”

  The men moved at a swift walk, wary of what might lie ahead. Ten minutes farther down the path, a soldier at the rear of the column screamed.

  Vasili turned and spotted a twenty-foot crocodile dragging him into the lake. His men opened fire on the croc.

  They killed the huge reptile, but it was too late to save their comrade.

  “We’re down to nine men.” Vasili surveyed his team. “You two, keep watch behind us.”

  His team continued down the lakeside walkway.

  Twenty-Two

  Sam’s Team

  I poked Banger and stopped. “Automatic weapons firing again. What the heck are they shooting at back there?”

  “Crocs, giant spiders, something equally unpleasant—take your pick.”

  Mike joined us. “If they’re Sweetwater’s mercs, they aren’t conserving ammo.”

  “They’ll regret that soon enough.” Bryce checked his Sig.

  “Sounds like the wildlife is taking out the mercs.” Lance looked behind us.

  “Good. Press on.” Mike turned to Bryce. “Guard our six.”

  We began a slow trot toward the round building on the hill. I had no idea why the Eye had directed us there. It had made it clear it wouldn’t tell me the exact location of the Blue Dragon.

  The lakeside trail wound through some petrified trees. When we rounded a corner, a huge tiger blocked our path. He roared, bared his deadly fangs, and leaped at Banger.

  No time for commands. I drew my scepter and sent a laser beam into its head between its glowing eyes, but the beast’s momentum landed it on Banger’s chest, pinning him with its dead body.

  Mike and Lance rushed to pull it off Banger, who seemed to have had the wind knocked out of him.

  Before I could help them, Bryce yelled, “Back here.”

  I turned around and spotted another tiger in mid-pounce. Bryce shot it in the chest, but that didn’t even slow it down. The enormous tiger landed on him, ripped his neck open with its long fangs, and crushed him under its massive weight.

  I destroyed the tiger’s head with laser shots. “Guys, quick, help me get the tiger off Bryce.” I ran to my friend, a pool of blood forming around his head.

  Lisa kneeled beside him and pressed her kerchief against his neck wounds. “It’s really bad,” she said with a sob.

  I held my right hand against the gaping wound that stretched across both carotid arteries. My bracelet didn’t light up, and nothing happened. Bryce was gone. I froze, staring at his glassy eyes, unable to accept his death.

  Lisa poked me. “Hurry! They’re closing in. Too many to shoot. Try commanding them.”

  Giant tigers snarled and bared their fangs as they formed a wide circle around us.

  Still in shock, I stood on shaky legs and glanced at Lisa. “Are the diamonds in my crown still lit?”

  “Yes. Do something fast!”

  Shouting the ancient language, I commanded the tigers to leave us and attack the people following behind us.

  Instantly, the tigers turned and left without making another sound.

  I rushed to my big friend. “Banger, are you okay?” I searched his eyes.

  “That sucker was heavy—it’s bound to leave a few bruises, but I’m all right.” He sat up and glanced over his shoulder. “What about Bryce?”

  Mike and Lance shook their heads.

  “The tiger ripped open his throat and crushed him.” I choked back a sob. “He’s dead.”

  “Like hell he is!” Banger grabbed my wrist. “Use your bracelet and save him.”

  “I already tried that, but it wouldn’t work this time.” I dropped to my knees, and my eyes flooded with tears.

  Lisa held Bryce’s hand as silent tears ran down her cheeks.

  Banger pulled me against him and lifted my chin. “There’s no crying in combat. Stuff your emotions like you would if you were flying an airliner during an emergency—deal with your feelings later.”

  I swallowed hard, dried my eyes, and blew my nose into my sleeve.

  “Good, now let’s figure out what’s wrong with your bracelet.” Banger examined my right wrist. “It doesn’t look broken.”

  Mike leaned down. “Maybe it only works on live people. Try healing Banger’s bruised chest.”

  I placed my right hand over his chest, but the bracelet failed to light up. “See … nothing.”

  “It’s only been about twenty minutes since you used it to save Lisa from the poison spider bite,” Lance said. “Maybe it needs time to recharge after each use.”

  “Or it might be permanently used up now.” I pulled on it, but it wouldn’t come off my arm. I stifled a sob.

  “Dang, those cats are big,” Lance said, probably changing the subject to distract us from Bryce’s death. He stared at the fallen beasts. “And their fangs are huge. What kind of tigers are they?”

  Mike shrugged. “Could be saber-toothed tigers.”

  Lance’s eyes widened. “That’s good news.”

  “How could that possibly be good news?” I frowned.

  “They might be the primordial paradox in the riddle.”

  “And we’re under a desert, cloaked in eternal darkness.” Banger tried to sound optimistic for my sake.

  “Sorry to disappoint you guys, but those aren’t saber-toothed tigers—just really big ones with fangs proportional to their size—not prehistoric and definitely not primordial.” I glanced at Banger. “Are you able to walk?”

  He stood. “Of course.” He nudged Mike. “We’ll take turns carrying Bryce—no man left behind.”

  Mike pulled a windbreaker out of Bryce’s backpack and tied it over his head to cover the gaping wound. “We’d better take his weapons and ammo in case we get in a firefight with the mercs.” He handed the extra
pistol and mags to Banger, and put the extra flares and grenades in his backpack.

  Lance stepped forward and slung Bryce over his shoulder. “I’ll take the first shift.”

  “Lead on, Sam.” Banger nudged me. “We don’t want Sweetwater’s soldiers to catch up with us.”

  I clutched my scepter and set off in a fast walk while constantly checking the area around us. After ten minutes had passed, my inner voice reminded me to do something people rarely remembered to do: look up.

  At that moment, a huge bird dived at me, its sharp talons extended. I ducked, fried it with my laser weapon, and yelled, “Heads up, giant birds attacking.”

  The air filled with the strange birds. Their wingspans had to be at least ten feet, and their beaks were long and pointed.

  My team opened fire on the winged predators.

  I kept firing the laser scepter while commanding the birds to leave us and attack the people behind us. My nerves were just about shot, and I prayed the feathered predators would obey me.

  Our airborne enemies suddenly pulled up and flew past us, zeroing in on something a few miles back—probably Sweetwater’s mercs.

  “What did you say?” Banger gazed at the departing birds.

  “I told them to attack the people behind us. We need time to find the Blue Dragon and get the heck out of here.” I zapped a bird flopping on the ground nearby. “Those are nasty-looking talons.”

  Lisa toed the dead bird. “We’ve repelled attacks from air, land, and sea. I hope we’re done.”

  Mike sidled up to me and pointed at the nearest dead bird. “You know, sis, these birds look a lot like pterodactyls.” I knew he was trying to distract me from thinking about Bryce.

  I gave him an exaggerated eye roll. “Nice try, but they’re way too small to be dinosaurs.”

  Lisa glanced around at the carnage. “Done and dusted. Let’s crack on.”

  Mike took Bryce from Lance and slung him over his shoulder.

  “Right.” I turned and set off at a fast pace, my team close behind. I hoped they wouldn’t notice I was shaking from jangled nerves and repressed grief. I might not be able to handle another terrifying beast.

  As we neared the far end of the lake, the path wound behind the hill that supported our destination. The closer we approached, the larger the building appeared.

  Automatic weapons fire echoed in the distance as we continued up the trail, climbing ever higher on a steeply slanted, curving path. I rounded the final turn and faced a gleaming white marble building.

  Just as I said, “This part was too easy,” the ground ahead of us seemed to shift. “Oh no—why did it have to be snakes?” I stopped, frozen with fear as countless serpents slithered closer.

  Banger lifted me into his arms. “You zap them, and I’ll stomp on them until you gain command.”

  His strength gave me renewed courage. I waved my laser scepter back and forth across hundreds of snakes as I commanded them to retreat and move away from the building.

  After a few tense minutes, the sea of snakes parted and revealed a stone walkway leading to the building’s front steps.

  I breathed a sigh of relief as the snakes slithered away, out of sight.

  “Let’s find the Blue Dragon and get out of this nightmare.” I jogged up the marble stairs.

  A gold lock that matched my medallion key gleamed on the wall, and I inserted my key into the slot. Massive cedar double doors about fifteen feet high opened inward, revealing a shiny white marble floor in a circular white marble room. Crystal chandeliers hanging from a forty-foot ceiling bathed the interior in brilliant light. In the center of the round room a crystal tube six feet in diameter ran from the floor to the ceiling, and a gold throne with crystals embedded in the armrests faced the tube.

  The rest of the room appeared to be empty.

  I waited until my team entered ahead of me. As expected, the doors closed behind me.

  Mike set Bryce’s body down and peered through the tube. “What the hell is this?”

  “I’ll worry about whatever that is after I find the Blue Dragon.” I ran my hands over the wall from the floor to as high as I could reach.

  Nothing.

  “Banger?”

  He grasped my ankles and lifted me above his head. Again, I tried running my hands over the smooth marble as he slowly sidestepped along the curved wall.

  When we completed the circle to where we’d started, he stopped. “Anything?”

  “Nope. Put me down and I’ll look in the throne.”

  He set me down, and I walked to the massive throne beside the crystal tube. The giant chair looked like it was made of solid gold.

  I ran my hands over the gleaming metal but didn’t feel an energy spike anywhere. I didn’t know what would happen if I touched the large crystals embedded in the arms.

  My team anticipated what I’d do next, and they moved behind the throne.

  Mike said, “Go ahead and touch the crystals.”

  I placed my hands on the sparkling stones.

  Nothing happened.

  “Crap. I can’t believe the Eye sent us here for no reason. What am I supposed to do now?” I eased up to the tube and noticed tiny gold tridents spaced about three feet apart at my eye level.

  “Huh.” I placed my hands over the tridents, and the crystal tube parted in front of me, leaving an opening from the floor to about eight feet high. Not certain what to do, I stepped inside and glanced straight up. A gold hatch covered the top of the tube.

  The sphere in my backpack seemed to come alive. “Wait,” I yelled in Atlantean, not wanting the sphere to blast its way out. I reached inside my pack and pulled it out. Then it flew above me, opened its little roof, and blasted the tube’s gold cover with its laser.

  The hatch swung up to the open position and locked against a marble beam. Then the sphere fired a laser straight up through the opening all the way to another metal cover embedded in the cavern ceiling. It opened, revealing a vertical tunnel. The laser fired once more, and a faint, distant clank told me another hatch had opened at the surface.

  The little guy’s roof closed, and in the next moment, it zoomed straight up the tube into the vertical tunnel and disappeared from view.

  “Now what?” Mike looked around.

  The door on the tube remained open when I stepped out. “This might be our only way out of here.”

  “But we haven’t found the Blue Dragon yet.” Lance surveyed the empty room. “It has to be here. The cavern fits the riddle, and the Eye led us here.”

  “I’ll check again.” I pulled the Eye out of its leather pouch and held it in my hand.

  It beamed a hologram of the room we were standing in. The image showed me sitting on the throne with my hands resting on the crystal armrests, which were filled with light. My holographic team stood close together inside the crystal tube. In a flash, the team shot up the tube, continued up through the vertical tunnel, and ended up standing on the surface next to the open hatch.

  No Blue Dragon.

  The hologram vanished, and I placed the Eye back in its pouch.

  “Well, that tube is our way out, but I don’t understand why we had to come here in the first place.” I shook my head, frowning.

  “Maybe you need the crown and scepter to get the Blue Dragon,” Lisa offered.

  “Or maybe we lost Bryce for no good reason.” Overcome with frustration, grief, and anger, I kicked the throne. “Ow.”

  Banger grabbed my shoulders and turned me around. He looked straight into my eyes. “What would the Queen of Atlantis do?”

  I bit my lip and returned his gaze. “She’d send her people up out of this hellhole and keep looking for that damn Blue Dragon.” I pointed. “Everyone, get in the tube.”

  My team entered the tube. Banger held Lisa against him, and Mike and Lance held Bryce’s body between them. I sat on the throne and placed my hands on the crystals. In seconds, they blazed with energy, the tube door closed, and my team shot upward, riding an invisible
energy beam that carried them to the surface.

  Mike’s voice barely registered in my earpiece. “We’re safe topside. Come on up.”

  I left the throne and placed my hands over the tiny tridents to open the door again. When it opened, I glanced back at the throne. The crystals were dark. I stuck my hand into the tube. No energy.

  Before I could think of what to do, an explosion knocked me down. The cedar doors had flown open, and four men who looked like hardened soldiers burst into the room. They had numerous wounds under blood-soaked bandages.

  I sat up against the tube and held out the scepter, pointing it away from them. “If you want to live and escape this nightmare, you’ll do what I ask.” I stood. Snakes tried to slither in behind them. “Move aside.”

  The men moved away from the door, and I blasted the snakes with my laser. Speaking Atlantean, I commanded the snakes to leave, and they did. That’s when I noticed the men held knives, not guns. They’d run out of ammo like we thought they would. I could’ve easily killed them with my laser, but I decided to handle the situation with compassion instead.

  A man in his forties with a nasty gash in his arm stood at the forefront, apparently their leader. I asked him, “Did Sweetwater send you after me?”

  He nodded. “Da, he wants you and Blue Dragon. Where is your team?”

  “I sent them to the surface. I’ll do the same for you and your men if you cooperate.”

  “What do you want?” He looked pale and exhausted.

  “Drop your weapons and kick them away from you.” I waited while he thought it over, eyeing my laser weapon.

  He glanced at his bleeding men. “Do what she says.” He dropped his knife and kicked it away.

  His men did the same.

  “Now tie their hands behind their backs.” I cut lengths of rope from a coil in my backpack, tossed them over to him, and watched while he tied their hands securely.

  “Turn around and put your hands behind your back. One false move and my laser will burn a hole through you.” I held the scepter in my mouth, pointing it at his head, while I tied his hands.

  I took hold of the scepter and pointed it at him. “Turn around. What’s your name?”