Atlantis - Return of the Nation

Atlantis - Return of the Nation Page 9

by Steven Cook

  Each of them held an elliptical shield bearing the insignia of two crossed swords over his left arm and a javelin with a narrow, two-foot long copper coloured blade attached to a flexible shaft in their right. Belts crossed their chests, supporting what appeared to be a sword across their back. Their final trapping was an elaborate helmet with a wide opening at the front, enabling clear vision and hearing.

  Lieutenant Fisher almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. The weaponry facing him wasn’t a match for his squad’s equipment. Then he realised that the situation wasn’t exactly normal. Still holding the M4 by the pistol grip he raised his left hand, palm open towards the group.

  ‘Hello. I am Lieutenant Julian Fisher of the United States Rangers.’ He looked to see if they understood him.

  One of the strangers took a few steps forward. Fisher noticed his tunic had flashes on the shoulders. He assumed he was an officer.

  ‘United States? I take it that you are Americans?’

  The pure, clear English accent and the understanding astonished Fisher.

  ‘Yes.’ he replied.

  The man formally addressed Fisher.

  ‘I am Hildar, First Captain of the Sixth Border Phalanx. You have entered our land uninvited. As such you are invaders. As you have been discovered you are now prisoners. Drop your weapons and present yourselves for binding.’

  ‘As if?’ muttered one of the Rangers.

  Fisher ignored him.

  ‘I’m afraid I cannot submit. We are here to rescue our shipwrecked colleagues and will be leaving as soon as we have inflated our boats.’

  ‘That does not matter. You are now my prisoners.’ Hildar restated.

  ‘I suggest you withdraw,’ said Fisher. ‘you are faced with a superior force that only wishes to rescue our men and leave.’

  Hildar smiled, revealing even white teeth. This unnerved Fisher slightly. It wasn’t an unfriendly smile; it was the smile of somebody who had the utmost confidence.

  ‘You are facing an elite force on their own ground. You will fall if you resist.’ Hildar signalled to his men. As one they lifted their shields and altered the grip on their spears.

  The Rangers lifted their carbines and aimed steadily at the warriors facing them. One of the Rangers muttered quietly to himself.

  ‘Come on you bastard, I dare you.’

  Hildar snapped around and stared directly at the Ranger.

  ‘You insult me,’ he snarled. In one smooth movement he brought his javelin up and threw it at the Ranger.

  The throw was true. It flew through the short distance between them and hit the Ranger squarely in the chest before he could respond. The narrow blade was designed to pierce armour and it worked perfectly. It sliced through the Rangers body armour as if it wasn’t there. The whole blade passed through his body, until the wooden shaft hit the chest. The Ranger was thrown backwards, and the blade protruding from his back pinned him to the beach.

  For a split second the Rangers were stunned. The first Ranger to react was Anthony ‘Dingo’ Martin. He had his carbine set to the three round burst option. Looking with both eyes open down the sights of the weapon he aimed directly at the chest of his chosen target and pulled the trigger.

  The first round exploded out of the barrel. The 5.56mm supersonic round travelled the short distance at over eight hundred metres per second. The bullet struck the warrior on the chest armour like a hammer blow, causing him to rock back and adjust his footing.

  The round didn’t pass through the copper coloured armour. Indeed it didn’t even dent it. The jacketed round simply flattened then dropped to the shingle.

  The second round of the burst never left the barrel. The mechanism of the rifle had cycled and ejected the spent cartridge and replaced it with a new one stripped from the magazine. But when the firing pin struck the percussion cap nothing happened.

  The same thing happened to all the Rangers. In one stroke their state of the art weapons became lightweight lumps of plastic and pressed metal.

  The warriors held their positions, javelins raised ready to launch, waiting for orders. Fisher was astonished by their discipline.

  ‘Surrender,’ said Hildar, ‘now.’

  Dingo dropped his rifle and drew his K Bar combat knife and twirled it, motioning for Hildar to approach him. He approached Hildar in a crouch.

  Hildar loosened his shield and let it drop to the floor. He removed his helmet and placed it on top of the shield.

  ‘This fight settles everything. If your man looses you submit. If he wins you go free.’ Hildar stated.

  He reached over his shoulder and drew his sword. It was short, with a broad blade just over two feet in length and three and a half inches at its widest. It was made from the same copper coloured metal as the armour.

  He matched the crouch of the Ranger and approached him. He looked at the knife in the Rangers hand and grinned.

  Dingo moved confidently towards Hildar. He was an unarmed combat instructor and had trained extensively in this type of combat. The knife wasn’t his only weapon.

  The warrior let the Ranger make the first attack. Dingo swept his knife across his body in a backhanded sweep. Hildar parried the knife casually with the flat of his blade. He never expected the left fist to follow and it crashed into his jaw.

  He stumbled back in surprise, rubbing his jaw with his left hand. Dingo stood his ground, flexing his fist.

  Hildar resumed his crouch and moved forward, newfound respect causing him to reassess his strategy. Dingo attacked again explosively with a direct stab towards the warrior’s stomach.

  Hildar parried again with a sweep of the edge of his blade. The strange copper coloured metal sliced effortlessly through the combat knife an inch from the hilt. With the lack of resistance Dingo was thrown off balance.

  Hildar used his sweeping motion to spin around behind the Ranger. He raised his leg and stamped on the back of the flexed leg, causing his opponent to loose his balance. With his free left hand he grabbed the forward lip of Dingo’s helmet and used it to drag his opponents head backwards.

  As Dingo fell backwards Hildar moved in to support him, and with the final part of the move swept his sword around towards his exposed throat.

  The blade halted abruptly and rested against Dingo’s skin. He could feel it vibrating slightly. Whatever it was made from was nothing natural. He dropped the useless hilt of his knife onto the ground.

  ‘Do you yield?’ Hildar addressed Fisher.

  Fisher looked at the warriors facing them. They had all raised their javelins to their shoulders, ready to cast.

  ‘We yield,’ replied Fisher.

  The Rangers lowered their weapons reluctantly.

  *

  Chapter Five – Instruction

  The Island 22nd May

  Danny and Craig crouched in shock behind a low pile of rocks and watched as the events unfolded on the Western beach. As Fisher reluctantly surrendered Hildar released Dingo Martin and pushed him towards the rest of the Rangers.

  Leaving his men to relieve the prisoners of their weapons and armour Hildar approached the river directly opposite where the two were hidden.

  ‘You can come out now.’ The warrior called out.

  The two sailors huddled deeper into the cover.

  ‘The two men cowering behind the rocks. You are advised to show yourselves. Otherwise I will have to throw my javelin at the one who has left his leg sticking out.’

  Craig looked down and realised it was his leg sticking out onto the beach.

  ‘Sorry mate,’ he apologised to Danny.

  Danny and Craig stood up sheepishly and grinned at Hildar. Warily they approached the bank of the river, ready to dive for cover at the first sign of hostility.

  ‘You are from the ship?’ Hildar asked.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Danny.


  ‘How many men are on board?’

  ‘I’m not at liberty to divulge that information,’ said Danny.

  Hildar paused before nodding.

  ‘Can you communicate with them?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Tell them to move away from the shore. Arcanadia may not have finished rising from the Ocean. If it continues to rise they will become stranded.’ Hildar shouted.

  ‘Why should we believe you?’ retorted Craig.

  ‘Because I am Hildar, First Captain of the Sixth Border Phalanx.’

  ‘Can’t argue with that,’ said Craig to Danny.

  ‘We’ll tell them when we get back on board.’ Danny shouted across to him.

  ‘You will not be joining your ship just yet.’

  ‘You what?’ said Craig.

  ‘You will be accompanying my men and I,’ said a strong, calm voice from behind them.

  Danny and Craig whirled round to see another group of eleven warriors standing twenty feet behind them. Each had a drawn short sword in their hand with shields held high. They had slightly different patterned armour to Hildar and his warriors across the river. These shields bore the image of a shield

  ‘Oops,’ said Danny. The two raised their hands.

  The leader of the warriors approached the two men.

  ‘I am Saraph, First Captain of the Fifth Border Phalanx.’ The leader introduced himself. ‘Do I have your word of honour that you will not attempt to escape? We will be taking you to our city where you will be asked some questions. After which you should be released.’

  ‘I’m Able Seaman Craig Bradbury of H.M.S. Daring; this is Able Seaman Danny Morehouse, also of H.M.S. Daring. You have our word we won’t attempt to escape.’

  Saraph smiled and motioned to his men, who sheathed their swords and echoed the smile. Craig and Danny lowered their hands.

  The warrior moved to the edge of the river and shouted across to Hildar.

  ‘Hildar, I have their word. I will meet you at the Fort.’ He saluted his counterpart casually and watched as they corralled the Rangers. Their handling was rougher than Saraph would have allowed for his own men. His brow crinkled in a frown as his gaze lingered on one of Hildar’s warriors. He considered something briefly before he returned his attention to Danny and Craig.

  Craig watched as Hildar and his warriors gathered the Rangers and the Submariners together and started to move back towards the tree line, herding them with the butts of their javelins.

  Danny was surreptitiously examining Saraph who had moved closer to them. What he saw was impressive.

  The warrior was a little over six feet tall, two or three inches taller than Danny. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties. His arms and legs were heavily muscled but strangely pale, and Danny had no doubt that he would be able to run for miles and still fight easily.

  The armour and weapons that the warrior was equipped with intrigued Danny. The strange copper coloured metal had a lustre that enthralled him, and appeared almost transparent as the light caught it. Idly he wondered whether he would be able to get a watch made out of the material.

  ‘What metal is your armour made of?’

  Saraph looked up in surprise at the question.

  ‘It is Orichalcum,’ he said simply, as if Danny should already know what it was.

  ‘Orichalcum,’ Danny tried enunciating the strange word. Something triggered in his memory.

  ‘Isn’t that the mythical substance from Atlantis, imbued with magical powers?’

  Craig joined them and laughed briefly at Danny before realising the situation wasn’t appropriate.

  ‘You’re thinking of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis aren’t you?’ he said. ‘Little beads that power stuff.’

  Danny remembered the old computer game his elder brother had played when he was younger.

  Saraph looked between the two, trying to interpret what they were saying.

  ‘This is Arcanadia. Our main city is indeed Atlantis.’ he interjected.

  Two mouths dropped open and they stared at him. Saraph shrugged and walked past them towards where Carrick was lying on the stretcher. Carl and Fitz were sitting under guard of a couple of Saraph’s warriors.

  Craig and Danny stumbled after him.

  ‘We thought Atlantis was a myth,’ said Danny.

  Saraph had a brief conversation with one of his men, asking and receiving information on the state of Carrick’s injuries.

  ‘Eraz believes he can help your man,’ he directed his statement at Carl, taking from the insignia on his sleeves that he was the ranking officer.

  Carl moved back from Carrick to let Eraz in to have a look. The warrior was shorter than Saraph with an oddly proportioned body. His legs were a little too short, and his arms a little longer than the norm. His shoulders were well developed, as was his thick neck. He would have been frightening if it wasn’t for the friendly, almost laughing expression in his eyes. He knelt and started to examine the injury to the ankle.

  Saraph turned back to Craig and Danny.

  ‘We may be some time so I will tell you a little of our history,’ he motioned for them to sit down.

  The two men sat and made themselves as comfortable as possible on the shingle.

  ‘Thousands of years ago the civilised world as we knew it was not as large as it is today. The main civilisations were centred around Egypt, Athens, Troy, Minos and of course the City of Atlantis.

  ‘Atlantis is the capital of the lands of Arcanadia. According to our history Atlantis was named from Atlas. He was first born of five sets of male twins born of Poseidon and the mortal woman Cleito. The offspring of Poseidon were allocated areas of Arcanadia to govern.

  ‘Arcanadia, when in its prime, was a bountiful land. We were able to have two harvests a year as we had the technology to store water and irrigate the land. The people were peaceful and lived in harmony.

  ‘There has always been the Warrior class, who have protected the people and defended Atlantis honour in the world. As we had Orichalcum there was no army that could withstand us.

  ‘Our strength began to corrupt us. It became a dark time for Atlantis. The people became arrogant and started thinking of domination of the world. We had constant wars with the Athenians and Spartans, and the people of the Pharaoh feared us.

  ‘Some of our enlightened leaders, who had not become corrupted, turned to Zeus and Poseidon for help. It was with their intervention that Atlantis was removed from the world. We have been living away from the world and will remain so until the world, and all Arcanadians, are ready for each other.

  ‘Because we are apart from the world, the technology of the outside does not work. We have seen some of the technology from people who have come into our realm on the few occasions when we have returned. This is why your weapons do not work. Zeus protects us.’

  ‘How big is Arcanadia? You said it hasn’t fully risen.’ Fitz asked.

  ‘The north of the island beyond the mountains will take longer to rise. Arcanadia is some four hundred miles by two hundred at the extremes. Atlantis itself has a diameter of nearly twelve miles. This canal,’ he indicated the river, ‘leads directly to the City.’

  Saraph looked over at Eraz, who indicated that he had finished. Carrick’s ankle had been rebound, and he seemed to be resting without pain.

  ‘And it is to Atlantis that we will now go,’ he stood.

  ‘Able Seaman Danny Morehouse, please relay that you are guests to your ship.’

  ‘Call me Danny,’ he instructed.

  Danny took the rags from his pockets and started to send the message to the Daring, advising them to withdraw and avoid the seas north of the island. He added that they were being taken to Atlantis that was due north,
as guests not as prisoners. He ended by relaying what Saraph had said about technology not working.

  He waited for an affirmative response that they had received the message. They soon replied, including a string of instructions and information that Danny stored away for later discussion with Craig and Carl. Finally he turned and nodded to Saraph.

  ‘All done.’

  ‘I would ask that you carry your colleague so that my men can keep their weapons free and may respond to any threats if needed.’

  ‘Threats?’ asked Carl with a start.

  ‘There were some other things that Zeus removed from the world at the same time as Arcanadia. Things and beings that are not as pleasant as Atlantians.’ Saraph ordered his men into formation around the stretcher.

  The four sailors lifted the stretcher and started up the beach towards the trees. As Danny lifted his part of the stretcher he unconsciously looked at his watch. He took a second look and noticed that it was working; the second hand was sweeping around the shiny ceramic face. He shrugged the cuff of his suit down across the face to cover it up.

  He looked at Saraph, his brow furrowed. He decided to keep quiet for the moment and determined that he would continue to check that the watch continued to function.

  As they reached the tree line Saraph stopped and addressed the sailors.

  ‘I ask again that if I or any of my soldiers give you an order from now on you need to obey it instantly.’

  The sailors looked at each other.

  ‘There are several creatures that live in this area that are not pleasant. They probably will not attack such a large group but you need to be ready if they do,’ the warrior explained.

  One by one they nodded.

  Saraph lead the party into the woods. Instantly the light changed from the brilliant sunlight of the beach to the muted green light split periodically by shafts of light that had pierced the canopy. Although they were no longer in direct sunlight the heat built up as the humidity increased. The three sailors in their immersion suits began to sweat.

 

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