by Priya Ardis
“Matt?” I cried. “Do you feel this?”
The water became darker. Its slimly film covered my skin. A sensation infiltrated my newly formed gills and seeped through with something more than merely menace.
The place reeked of evil.
***
One-by-one, everyone came through the curtain. The gargoyles, except for Grey, all changed as soon as they hit the dark water. They all halted. Blake took Gia’s hand. The gargoyles closed around Grey, forming a band of protection. The wizards did the same around me. We all felt the danger.
Vane kept swimming. He turned and frowned when he saw us not moving. He gestured for us to advance, then returned to swimming toward the island. Everyone looked at Matt.
“I have to go. Too much depends on it,” Matt told me grimly. “You should go back. Take the others.”
He swam after Vane.
I eyed the curtain. The urge to flee ran through me so strongly, for a brief moment I almost obeyed. I touched Excalibur and I knew I couldn’t leave Vane and Matt. I gestured to Grey and Colin to go back through the curtain. Grey gestured back “And you?”
I shook my head.
He shook his.
I looked at Blake and Gia next.
Blake gestured, “We stick together.”
With a nod, I started to swim after Matt and Vane. The others followed right behind.
It didn’t take long to reach the pillars. Up close, I saw they were smooth and definitely not part of a natural rock formation. The construction looked very similar to the pillars at the Parthenon, except that these pillars had been made for giants.
Vane swam up to the two pillars and went between them. He signaled for us to go up. We swam straight up to the rock the pillars supported. At the top, we found a framed hexagonal opening. An entrance.
He went through without hesitation. Matt went next. I followed. The others came in behind me. It was a short swim before we surfaced. We emerged and found ourselves in a darkened cave.
“Look behind you,” Vane said.
I turned. The cave had one opening—a set of crimson gates with a gold carving of a bull.
“This is what we saw,” Matt said.
Vane swam up to the edge of the water and pulled himself out.
“Stay in the water,” Matt commanded and swam to the ledge.
I followed him without a second thought. A mass of jagged rocks made up the ledge. I hissed when I slipped and hit my chin on a sharp point.
“Don’t you ever listen?” Matt said in exasperation. He leaned down and helped me out.
Blake, Gia, Grey, and the others reached the ledge and started getting out. Ahead of us, Vane lit a fireball.
I put a hand to my mouth at what I saw. Nausea welled up inside my stomach. The bit of light, a lone spark in the abyss of the cave, exposed only horror. A mass of casually tossed human bones littered the ground. Matt knelt on the floor and picked up a long femur. Ridges and sharp scrapings marred the bone.
“These aren’t battle wounds,” he said.
Vane knelt down and picked up another one. “These people were eaten.”
“Gross,” Gia muttered. She and the others remained by the ledge. I wondered if they wanted to jump back in, like I did.
I said, “The bones lead back to the door.”
Matt walked to the door and touched its frame. “This stone isn’t the same as the pillars. It’s different. But I feel as if I’ve seen it before.”
“It gets better.” Vane floated the fireball in the air. Dead crying faces, skulls of the long departed, had been somehow glued onto a triangular slab of stone that made up the top of the doorframe.
“I’ve seen this,” Grey, Blake, and Gia said simultaneously, before coming up beside me.
“From limbo,” Grey said.
“A trilithon,” Blake said. “Two stones on the sides and one across the top.”
“A trilithon doesn’t have a triangle on top,” Gia pointed out. “Or skulls.”
“Triton’s been modifying the original design.” Vane went to stand in front of the door. He stared at the bull.
“They are right,” Matt said as he walked into the shadows at the side of the door and disappeared.
“Matt!” I ran after him.
“I’m fine,” Matt said. He lit another fireball. It illuminated the space behind the door.
There was nothing.
Nothing stood behind the door. Matt walked around it and came out from the other side. It was empty.
“What?” Blake said.
“Why is the door here if it doesn’t lead anywhere?” Grey said.
“Because we haven’t opened it yet,” Vane said. “I think this bull may be a lock.”
“The Minotaur also had a bull’s face,” I hissed at him. “Didn’t the Minotaur eat people?”
“You are a tasty morsel,” Vane said.
“Helpful, Vivane,” I retorted.
“He is right though,” Matt said. “If the bull is the lock, we surely have the key.” He drew out the compacted trident and lengthened it. I pulled out Excalibur.
Matt nodded. “Everyone else, get your sword. I may as well do this at once.”
Blake, Gia, Grey, the gargoyles and the wizards all pulled out knives. Matt waved his hand. The knives instantly became swords.
“You don’t need those. There’s only one key. Most likely the same key that opened the trident will open this.” Vane crooked a finger at me and motioned for me to come.
“Most likely?” I crossed my arms and stood where I was.
“I could make you,” Vane said.
“Try it,” I challenged.
“If you insist,” he said and took a step toward me.
Matt quickly crossed the door and slapped a hand on Vane’s chest to stop him. “Try to practice some self-control,” he muttered to Vane. Matt looked at me. “He’s right.”
Making a face, I walked to him. I took Excalibur, peeled back the wetsuit a bit on my arm, and sliced myself. I hissed when Excalibur greedily cut into my skin more than I’d intended.
Vane raised a brow. “I would have done it better.”
I slammed the wound against the bull’s head.
The bull’s head twisted. Light formed around the door. I heard the faint aria of music.
Vane yanked me back.
Then, everything seemed to happen at once. The fireballs winked out. A full-bodied wail exploded into the cavern, accompanied with white light that shone from beyond the door. It knocked me off my feet. I fell to the floor and landed on my side, facing Vane, and on his other side, I saw Matt. Vane’s hand still held mine. He and Matt had managed to fare a bit better than I. They had been pushed only to their knees, only to be frozen in place. I couldn’t move either.
Through a haze, I watched men stream out of the gate with gold shields. They wore what appeared to be Ancient Greek uniforms—armor-breasted tops with red leather skirt-bottoms and armored leg plates. Yet, the armor looked unlike anything I’d ever seen. It glowed an odd shade of platinum and gold, giving them a futuristic look instead of a medieval one. Their skin was tinged with a hint of green.
Long, red cloaks hung on their backs. On their heads sat golden helmets that extended to their cheeks. The top sported a ridge from which a short line of thick, red hair fanned out. Not only were their uniforms the same, but also their bodies. Every single one had the physique of a body builder.
A bulky barbarian of a man with arresting green eyes marched up to Matt and Vane. He kept his shield in front of him. “Why are these two not asleep?”
To my surprise, I could understand them perfectly. A faint heat from Vane’s hand on mine flared briefly.
An older soldier came up beside the barbarian. He wore a gold chain with a small emerald. “They have gills. Yet, can you feel them? They have much power.” He touched Matt’s head. The emerald on his chain glowed. “This one can barely contain it.”
“Look at their blue skin. Wizards,” the barbarian spat
.
Matt let out a breath.
“He’s breaking through the paralyzing spell. We should behead him now.” The barbarian raised his sword to strike.
No! My mind screamed. I tried to move, but couldn’t. I tried to speak, but couldn’t. I could only watch. I could only breathe.
The barbarian swung the sword.
CHAPTER 13 - MERMAIDS
CHAPTER 13
MERMAIDS
The older soldier turned to Vane and hissed. “Wait!”
The barbarian halted the sword mid-swing.
I exhaled.
“Do you see this?” The older man leaned down and picked up the trident. “This one is a son of Poseidon.”
“Fine,” the barbarian said unhappily. He slammed the side of the sword into Matt’s head. Matt fell to the floor. “That should keep him in check.”
“Leonidas,” another soldier called from somewhere behind me. “I count thirteen here. Six are gargoyles.”
The barbarian, Leonidas, grinned, showing yellow-stained teeth. He lowered his sword. “Really? This could be fun.”
A foot shoved me and I fell over on my back. Another soldier, an angular, yet muscled teenager with even yellower teeth, peered down at me. He sniffed the air and then leaned down to sniff me. I noticed gill slits on both sides of his neck. The pale green of his skin deepened to hunter green around the gills. A mermaid. Even his eyes were slightly green.
“Her blood. Smells tasty,” he said. “This one is mine.”
He grabbed my hand and dug his fingers into my cut. I would have screamed if I could. He hauled me up, presumably to put me over his shoulder. But I was heavier than he realized and he only managed to get me up halfway. My head flopped forward and my hair curtained my face.
“Wait. Look at her ears.” Leonidas marched up. “You cannot claim her.”
“No one will claim her,” the older soldier said. “They must all go to the King.”
The teenager tightened his hold on me. Excalibur slipped from my other hand and fell unerringly into the boy’s foot. The boy screamed and dropped me. I hit the ground. One side of my face slammed against a rock. Leonidas laughed and lifted his sword. He stabbed the boy in the heart. The boy fell backwards.
“Leonidas.” The older soldier frowned.
“He showed disrespect.” Leonidas slid the sword out of the boy. The blade ran red with blood. “How did this one get invited into the service?”
“He managed to make it through training,” mumbled the older soldier. “He was a skilled thief. Fed himself well.”
“That much I can see.” Leonidas grabbed Excalibur and hooked the sword in his belt. He leaned down, hauled me up with one hand, and put me over his shoulder. I noticed, oddly enough, that his ears were pointed also. He crossed to the red door. We stepped into a blue-grey world of water.
My gills started breathing for me. The green-skinned barbarian carried me tightly. We swam up and up and up. Above us, a beacon of white light called. It was the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes.
***
I woke up later on the floor of the biggest room I’d ever seen. We were no longer under the water. Gold handcuffs immobilized my hands. Shackles held my feet together. I had a belt around my waist and a chain linking me to Gia.
She was still passed out. I sat up and shook her. She groaned in protest. I looked around us. Grey, Colin and the gargoyles had been chained into one bunch. They still had gills though. The pallor of their skin still held a hint of blue. I looked down at my arms. Still blue too. Beside the gargoyles, Blake and the other wizards had been grouped. Each wizard wore a small, yellow diamond amulet that hung from a gold chain. Blake and the other wizards, however, no longer had their rings. Their gills were gone and their skin had gone back to normal.
The hall was a rectangle with a red carpet perimeter that ran before a dais at the front of the room. A short stack of steps led up to an empty throne. Behind it a replica of the red doors and the bull had been painted in thick oils on a long, marble wall.
I didn’t see Matt or Vane.
I glanced behind me and gaped. I turned around. We had been placed on one side of the room. While a bright red curtain enclosed the right side, the curtains had been drawn back on the left wall behind us. No wall sheltered us. Instead, we had been placed near the edge of a completely open terrace. Pillars on either side of us framed the view of the entire city. We were on a hill. I craned my neck to look out. I sat on the third floor of a building that had to be at least seven stories high and the tallest building as far as I could see.
An ocean surrounded the city. We were on an island.
The city cascaded down from the hill and the pyramid-style palace in which I now sat. Below me, a gush of water spewed from a wide stone pipe and trickled over the side, creating a gorgeous waterfall that ended in a square fountain on the next level of the palace. Each level was wider than the one above it. Each one had an open terrace, outlined by the roots of trees that hugged the edges. Grecian stone pillars held up each level, but they’d been allowed to overrun with cultivated vines that curled and climbed upwards. Bright flowers in deep reds and yellows were sprinkled throughout. They framed numerous waterfalls; almost every building had at least two, and myriad hanging gardens.
A moat surrounded the palace and branching off from it, pipes circulated water down the hill into artificial canals that ran throughout the city.
The sight that arrested me, however, stood just beyond the palace on the hill. In a spot that everyone from the city below could see, twelve severed human heads had been displayed like a gruesome banner. They were spiked on twelve, thick, twenty-foot poles.
My eyes fixed on one in the center. The head looked out at the city, so I only saw its back. At the top, little hair remained. Most of the scalp looked as if it had been picked away by scavenging birds. Dried blood ran down the pole to the ground below. In that small spot on the fine green lawn, no grass grew.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Gia whispered.
“How? We don’t even know where we are.” I looked up at the sky filled with the red expanse of a sunset. How had we gotten out of the water to here? Where was this island and where was our boat?
The bleating blare of a conch stalled any further speculation.
Grey, Blake, the other gargoyles, as well as the other wizards all woke up. It took them a minute to realize they were in shackles. Some of the gargoyles wore their human faces. Some wore their beast.
“I can’t do any magic,” Blake hissed. “These stones…”
He broke off when a stream of longhaired warriors entered the room from the back. They lined every bit of available wall. Then, about a hundred or so people appeared who were dressed in a rainbow of colors, adorned with ornate gold. Green-skinned men with ponytails wore what looked like tunics under their togas. The tunic was a thin shirt and the toga had been fashioned from a single bolt of cotton that shaped to fit their form. It draped over one shoulder while the skirt portion extended to their knees. The women wore flowing gowns, also from one bolt of cotton. Some wore red, blue, and purple dresses that crisscrossed over their cleavage and left their backs mostly bare. Heavy gold brooches and clips kept the clothing in place. Gold bangles and headbands were used exclusively for decoration. Some women had pointed ears like Gia and me. So did some of the men.
The conch sounded again.
At the front of the room, from the right side, more soldiers entered. However, these soldiers wore helmets with black plumes instead of red. In the middle of them walked an older man with long, dark hair highlighted with streaks of silver. He wore a finer tunic and toga, but with a red sash tied around the waist. On his head, he wore a crown that was a simple gold band with a large emerald embedded into a curve at its center. The crown’s ends curled up in the shape of a fish. On each arm, he also wore gold armbands. On the left, the armband was fashioned like a snake. Its tail formed the band while its head pointed up toward the shoulder. On the rig
ht armband, a mermaid held a trident.
I tugged at my shackles. A fish and a snake on the King. Did it mean the Fisher King? Or Poseidon? I didn’t know. We had come to the right place, but I didn’t have a good feeling. I eyed the open terrace behind me. The way the ledge extended out to a point suggested sacrifice. I didn’t want to become one.
The King walked over to the throne and sat down. Hard lines marred an otherwise handsome face. Piercing green eyes shone from a paler green-skinned face. His gaze fixed on us.
Grey jumped up. “Who are you?”
I stood up too. “Release us.”
The King said something that sounded like Greek, but I couldn’t understand him. He waved a hand. The emerald on his crown began to glow. The green of his eyes also seemed to glow.
Warmth spread over my fingers, and the ring Matt had given me heated.
“How did you find the gate?” the King demanded from us. This time, I understood him.
“I’m hardly going to tell you,” Grey said. A soldier came out of his position against the wall and cuffed him across the head with a lance. Another knocked me to the floor.
The King turned away from us and faced the court. “Where is my son? Why has he called us here?”
“Here, Father.” Leonidas strode up the red carpet from the back of the room. The court of people parted for their prince.
Leonidas came to the center of the room. One finger pointed at me. “I have brought you potentials for the blood moon.”
Blood moon? As in red moon? I groaned internally. Not another red moon. Things had not gone well on the last one. An image of a rooftop and an army of gargoyles flashed through my mind.
The King squinted at the gargoyles. “A champion among the beasts? I suppose it will make for better sport.”
Leonidas bowed his head. “I am glad you are pleased. But there is more—” He waved a hand and the older soldier from the cave came forward, bringing with him two bound prisoners—Vane and Matt.
I almost collapsed with relief. Vane’s eyes met mine and my stomach fluttered.
