by Apryl Baker
“He’s probably off playing cloak and dagger with the riff-raff.” Tobias kept harping on how they needed allies in the city and spent every waking moment making those connections.
“Maybe,” Valeria said, her eyes distant and worried.
“He’s okay, Val.” Lukas wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “That old man has more lives than a cat.”
“Even cats eventually run out of luck, Luk.”
“Why don’t we go find him and set your mind at ease?” He tilted her head so he could try to read her eyes. They were dark and fathomless, the worry brimming over.
“You always know exactly what I need, don’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He dipped his head and gave her quick kiss. “I do. Now let’s go find your grandfather.”
He didn’t give her time to respond to either the kiss or his demand. He hauled her up and tugged her back toward the secret entrance.
Chapter Eighteen
Tobias shivered in the cold morning that lived by the sea. It was still early enough that the sun had not even begun to gray the horizon to the east. He stood with his granddaughter by the seashore. According to her, the very spot where she had been visited by Arulian.
“I’m not keeping anything from you.” Tobias looked over at a seething Valeria. “I didn’t think the Guardian would still be active after all these years.”
“See, there you go again.” Valeria crossed her arms under the thick cloak she wore. “Start from the beginning. What is a Guardian?”
Tobias took a deep breath in through his mouth and out through his nose. Painful memories were once more needed to move forward, a constant reminder of how he had failed, how he had allowed himself to be manipulated by Kronos.
“Guardians are lifelike forms created by powerful magic. Only the strongest sorcerers and sorceresses are capable of conjuring them. Our ancestors created the most powerful Guardian to watch over the entrance to the Dendali legacy. They named her Arulian. I would have said something sooner if I thought she was still active. I visited this very spot myself, and she did not appear to me. I imagined she was gone like all the others.”
“Yeah, she said to open the way, a Dendali pure of heart had to be found.” Valeria looked Tobias up and down as if she didn’t want to say more to hurt his feelings. “She said to come find you.”
“I should have guessed.” Tobias scratched the side of his face. This would change everything. If Valeria could open the way to the Dendali horde, they had all the military backing they would need to take on Kronos. “If Arulian appeared to you, then you must be the one to open the way for us.”
Tobias paused, waiting to read Valeria’s reaction. The pirate queen shrugged and stepped forward.
“Why not? I mean, a Dragon shifter is fighting at our side. Even as we speak, a changeling is going around impersonating me and gaining more support for our cause. Oh, and I can control magic now. Yeah, that all happened.” Valeria shook her head as if she were still coming to grips with it all. “So, let’s do it. What has to happen for me to unlock this secret city? Where is it, anyway?”
Tobias picked up on the panic in her voice. While Valeria might not think she could do this, lead an entire nation, he knew she could. He’d seen it in the way she commanded her crew and treated them as she would her own family. She’d come to see the people of Atlantis as her family soon enough, and when she did, she’d protect them with everything in her.
A chill rustled Valeria as she stood there waiting for Tobias’s response. At this hour of the morning, no one was on the beach. The strand extended to both sides as far as Tobias could see. Behind them, the shore was eventually taken over by grass and a road.
But for now, in this moment, Tobias and his granddaughter were alone. She waited on his words, grown and more of a leader than he could ever hope to be. He admired her more and more each day.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Valeria went to Tobias’s side and put a hand on his shoulder. “How much of Ya-You’s drink did you consume last night?”
“I’m fine.” Tobias shook his head free of the thoughts. “When Arulian comes again, she’ll want a symbol of your heritage.”
“Great, how much blood does she want?”
“Not your blood.” Tobias looked over Valeria’s shoulder. “She’ll want to see that birthmark of yours. It will—”
Tobias didn’t finish his sentence. Shimmering out of what seemed like thin air, Arulian made her appearance. As she approached from their right down the beach, her footsteps made no prints in the sand.
She wore her blonde hair back. The simple white dress fell around her slender body with no special distinction. She looked as if she were a normal Atlantian citizen on the beach for a morning stroll.
Tobias understood there was nothing normal about this Guardian at all.
“Valeria, Tobias.” Arulian nodded to each of them in turn. “I have minutes before I will fail again. The energy supply that allowed me to manifest is dangerously low. Shall we begin?”
“I guess.” Valeria took off her black cloak and loosened the top few buttons on her blouse so she could show the Guardian her birthmark. “This is all you need to see?”
“This is all I am required to see before I show you the path. To open the door itself, you will need to be pure of heart.” Arulian examined Valeria’s birthmark with a nod. She extended her hand out toward the water. “Behold, your destiny as a Dendali.”
The ocean itself parted at Arulian’s action. Two walls of water rose on either side of a sandy walkway. The path sloped down as it went further and further into the ocean. A hundred yards from their place on the beach, it stopped. Set in a large outcropping of coral was a thick metal door.
“After you.” Tobias motioned to Valeria. “This is your destiny.”
Valeria didn’t respond at first. Her eyes were wide as her hands placed her cloak back on her shoulders. Her eyes were free of fear, but wonder and even excitement touched her now.
“I would caution that your intentions for Atlantis must be pure.” Arulian was beginning to fade in front of them. Already the sand and ocean behind her could be seen through her shimmering body. “Be of strong courage and take heart. Atlantis needs a Dendali on the throne.”
With that, Arulian faded from sight.
Tobias looked around them to make sure they were still alone on the beach. To their left, an early rising fisherman stood open-mouthed, staring at Valeria and Tobias. When he noticed Tobias staring at him, he backpedaled in the sand, fell, and then scrambled up and turned to run.
“We should hurry.” Tobias motioned Valeria forward. “I don’t know how long the waters will stay parted.”
“Understood.” Valeria took her first step toward her destiny. “This is it, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“After this, there is no turning back.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Tobias gave Valeria an extra moment. “This is what you were born for. This is your future.”
Valeria nodded, set her eyes on the door, and strode forward.
She expected the sand to be squishy beneath her feet, but it wasn’t. Instead, it was hardened, like stone. Perhaps the sand had been bespelled long ago to protect it from the salty water of the ocean.
Valeria squatted to reach the iron door set into the ground. It reminded her of one of the doors on her ship, deep in the belly where it was all steel and hot iron. The doors were meant to keep water out, should the pipe system fail them on board. This door had to have much the same function. It kept the ocean out of the city.
Placing a hand on the cold metal, she wasn’t exactly sure what to do. There was no lock for a key, no handle to swing the door open. It was simply a black square set into the ground. Intentions. That was what Arulian meant when she kept harping on about pureness. Her intentions toward Atlantis had to be the right ones to make this door open. Magically sealed and unsealed through intentions.
That was what she’d
learned about magic. It was all about intent. You concentrated then pushed your will into those intentions. Not forced. That never worked well. You wove your will into your intent, convincing the magic that what you were doing was right, and if you were truly strong of will, you bent the magic to your way of thinking by convincing it you were right through your intent.
What were her intentions toward Atlantis? It was a question she’d asked herself over the years, even when the city was just a pipe dream. For so long, Atlantis represented a home and family she’d longed for since she was a small child. It was through the trials in the Crucible she’d recognized the truth that had been staring her in the face. She had a home and a family in the form of her crew. They’d stuck by her and protected her and loved her as any family would. She’d been that for them too. She no longer needed Atlantis to fulfill that need.
Magic was another ability being an Atlantian provided her, but again, she’d lived without it her entire life, and she could again. It wasn’t vital to her.
That left the people themselves. She didn’t know them or owe them anything. Dendali blood ran in her veins, yes, but she wasn’t raised as a Dendali. She was Emerald, the most feared pirate of the skies, and she could easily slip back into that role.
But it wouldn’t be right to leave Atlantis in the hands of a man who had murdered to gain what he wanted. She’d stolen and had taken a few lives herself, but only when it was necessary, and the only thing she gained from the act was her own life. She defended herself or killed in defense of her crew. Kronos butchered the Dendalis to steal their throne. People feared him. They pretended to love him, yes, but not because it was true. They simply didn’t want to meet the same fate as the previous ruler.
Tobias promised to set things right. Promised his brother as he lay dying in Tobias’s arms. He saw her as the method of righting that wrong, but was it fair for him to use her to fulfill a promise to his brother? To force her into something that wasn’t anything she would have chosen for herself?
But she had chosen this for herself. Valeria sought out Tobias, infiltrated a slave ship to find him. She’d gone looking for Atlantis, made him bring her here. Valeria forced Tobias’s hand perhaps even more than he’d forced hers. Coming here meant a death sentence for him, in more ways than one. He sacrificed everything to get her here.
One thing she did know. She couldn’t let these people suffer under Kronos’s rule longer than necessary. She’d seen his cruelty up close and personal. Then there was DeCadia. Her crew’s families were there, and she’d protect them with everything she had. If that meant overthrowing a mad ruler to keep all those at home safe, she would. Taking down Kronos would protect DeCadia and Atlantis.
Her intentions toward the city and the people of DeCadia were clear—she’d protect them with her own life.
The door dissolved beneath her fingertips, and a ladder appeared that descended into fathomless darkness. She gasped and lost her balance, falling backward. Tobias rushed over, ignoring her sprawled on the ground. She shook her head and sat back up. Tobias was not the paternal type.
“It’s dark.”
She rolled her eyes. He’d pointed out the obvious, but she kept her tongue still. No sense in aggravating him. She might need his help.
“Yes, but we can produce our own light. Now, move over so I can go down. You follow me.”
When he moved, she began to descend the ladder, and almost immediately, her hinky feeling rose. The hairs stood up on the back of her neck. Someone was watching them. She knew it like she knew how many miles her ship could drift on the winds before she needed to refuel it. Ignoring it for now, she focused on not losing her footing. The ground came soon enough, and she was glad to feel solid stone beneath her. Concentrating on light, she felt the green energy flare within her then form in her hand, and she got her first good look at the lost city of Atlantis.
She screamed.
Two giant warriors stood in front of her, their swords pointing straight at her.
“Valeria?” Tobias shouted from where he hung suspended on the steep ladder. “Answer me, girl!”
She didn’t know if they were men or women, their bodies covered in armor. Helmets completely concealed their faces. The swords that hovered in front of her kept her quiet. If she spoke, they might attack. But if she didn’t, they might attack her as well. A no-win situation, if ever there was one.
“Who cometh here?”
The words tumbled out harshly. It sounded as if these people hadn’t spoken a word in a long time. The hoarseness in his voice attested to that. Perhaps this wasn’t a person after all, but a machine? The voice sounded human, but with Atlantis, she’d learned never to assume anything.
“I am Valeria Dendali Riverthorne.” She kept the fear out of her voice, but barely. They’d heard her scream, so they knew she was afraid, but she wasn’t going to reinforce the name.
“Den…dali?”
The drawn-out word made her flinch. It wasn’t a question, but an accusation. These people had been abandoned here, walled off and forgotten. She understood the anger. She’d been ostracized and forgotten herself.
“I am a Dendali, yes, but I am not from Atlantis. I am here to free you and try to protect all the people of Atlantis, even the forgotten ones.”
Tobias had made his way down the ladder and stood staring at the massive warriors, easily a good three heads taller than himself. They were quite daunting.
“What do we care of the Dendalis or their wishes?”
A woman stepped out from behind the warriors. She was older, perhaps in her late fifties. Her iron gray hair was pulled back in a severe bun, and her tattered clothing fluttered in the breeze from the opening above them. Anger pinched her features and made her brown eyes sharpen.
“How long have you been here?” Valeria kept an eye on the swords, but tried to focus on the woman. She needed to know if she was from the plagued city or the part of the city that sealed itself off after her uncle died.
“Why do you care how long we’ve been here?” The sneer on her face spoke volumes of what she thought of Valeria.
“Because I need to know. I need to know if the disease is gone from the plagued part of the city.”
“It is gone.” The woman stepped closer. “Is that why we were sealed off with no warning or explanation? Did the Dendalis find signs of the plague here?”
So, they weren’t part of the diseased area. “No. The city sealed itself off when my uncle was murdered.”
A gasp left the woman, and she stumbled back, not expecting that particular truth.
“She speaks the truth, Serath.” Arulian flickered to life beside them, her form flashing in and out. Her power source must truly be failing.
“Guardian.” The two warriors stepped back out of reverence. Even Serath appeared to hold much respect for the Guardian. She bowed to her.
“This girl is the first Dendali who has not only passed through the Crucible, but also been pure of heart. She opened the doorway to free the city from not only this exile, but all the city. Valeria Dendali is our true queen. She is here to take back the city and free us all from Kronos.”
“Kronos?” Anger unlike anything Valeria had seen flashed across Serath’s face. “Kronos holds the city?”
“Yes.” Arulian nodded. “We must help her to take our home back. I do not have much time left. I am fading, but I need your word, Serath, that you will help this child of Atlantis free our home and bring us back into the world as we were always meant to be. She is a child of Atlantis and a child of DeCadia. She can bridge our worlds as we were at one time. She can make this world whole again. But she needs your help to do that. She needs the warriors of old to fight for her.”
“She truly means to help us and not take advantage?” Serath kept her eyes on Valeria, even though the question was posed to Arulian. Not that Val blamed her. If she were in the woman’s shoes, she’d behave the same. It was never wise to only trust what you saw. Make people earn your trust.
<
br /> “Yes. She would not have been able to open the city, had she not. You know the protections built into the very heartbeat of the city. You helped create the wards that hide this part of the city in times of great need, Serath.”
Serath slowly nodded, still wary. “You will make sure Kronos is removed from the throne?”
“I swear it.” And it was a promise Valeria meant. The man who had destroyed everything these people held dear would pay for his crimes. The resolution had grown with every moment she spent in Atlantis and was one that would be carried out.
“Then you will have our help.”
The warriors stood down, their swords lowering into heavy sheaths.
“Come, daughter of Atlantis, and see the entire lost city and greet the people who will aid you.”
Seraph stood back and motioned Valeria forward. The dark tunnel held no hints of what lay beyond, but she couldn’t contain her excitement. The true lost city of Atlantis awaited around the corner, and she’d be the first person to set eyes on it in hundreds of years.
She beckoned her grandfather to follow her and set off down the tunnel, eager to see her destiny.
Chapter Nineteen
When Val stepped through the massive threshold, the two giant guards stood sentry beside it. The feeling was strangely familiar. Val was one hundred and ten percent sure she had never been to Atlantis before, much less this hidden section of the city below the ocean. Still, there was a sense of comforting familiarity she couldn’t place.
“Serath will show you the city,” Arulian said as she blinked once more then vanished completely.
“Will we be able to revive her?” Val felt a twinge of panic at never seeing the Guardian again. “Will she be back?”
Serath exchanged a knowing glance with Tobias. “That will be up to you, if you have the strength to revive her.”
Val had a dozen other questions, but for the moment she decided to bite her tongue and let her eyes do all the work. As they walked deeper into Atlantis, Val was rendered speechless.
