Island of the Gods

by C. M. Kane

  Zeus’ ears pricked up. An aunt, now that’s interesting. He wondered if she would be like Tae. He smiled and nodded.

  Tannan smiled to himself as he relayed the orders, his god certainly was in a good mood.

  CHAPTER 31

  Poseidon glanced over at Zeus from his settee. ‘Well, this is exciting. It’s been over three hours since she hit the top of the wall and all she’s been doing is jogging towards the Pyre. I’m thinking I might take your little pet here back to the Atlantis for a while, and show her the sights personally.’

  ‘Excuse me, my lords, but Martin is about to dock with the warrior and the girl’s aunt.’ Tannan said from his work station.

  Poseidon raised his eyebrows in interest as he noted Zeus’ subtle straightening in his chair. ‘Her aunt,’ he said softly, ‘I think I might stay and watch as you question them, brother.’ Zeus scowled at him and Poseidon laughed softly.

  Tannan opened the shuttle doors for Martin who strode in, closely followed by an old warrior and the most amazing looking vampire Tannan had ever seen. She wore her dark chocolate hair long and loose to curl down her back and she had the same remarkable green eyes as the girl, except there was a more knowing look about them. Added to her small but curvy frame was the shortest white skirt Tannan had ever set eyes on, topped by a cropped, bright yellow top that exposed her midriff. Some kind of glittering piercing adorned her belly button and several multicoloured metal adornments were around her wrists and throat. She looked like an exotic bird.

  Martin dropped to his knee, bending his head in front of Zeus who had risen and walked forward, inspecting the trio as they entered. Brohan followed Martin and did the same. Valaria looked around before saying apologetically, ‘Sorry if you get an eyeful, but this skirt isn’t made for bending,’ then she too carefully dropped to both knees and bowed her head.

  Zeus grinned. She certainly shows the same attitude as the girl, and she’s every bit as easy on the eyes.

  Martin spoke reverently. ‘My lords and ladies, I have brought the warrior Brohan, as ordered, and the woman Valaria, aunt to the child in question.’

  ‘Woman,’ Zeus said, ‘she is seventeen, thus she is a woman.’

  Martin kept his head bowed in contrition. ‘Yes, my lord.’

  Valaria quickly perked up. Interesting, the gods see Tae as a woman. Well, after that little naked display she put on at the river, there isn’t much doubt she is now. I guess trolling through the other contestants on my com-screen searching for her finally paid off, this could be an advantage if they should wish to punish her. Valaria was willing to use any ploy she could to protect her niece. This was why she had insisted on coming to the pavilion with Brohan, if Tae needed her help, then she was damn well going to get it.

  Zeus walked over to get some more wine. ‘You may stand,’ he said dismissively, ‘and Martin, you may go back to Terra and await any further instructions that Tannan may have for you.’

  Martin bowed low. ‘As you wish my lord.’ He turned and left.

  Zeus finished pouring his wine and turned. ‘So, you trained Tae for the Island?’ he asked smoothly, looking directly at Brohan.

  Brohan looked back at the god without flinching. ‘Yes, my lord. I have trained Tae since she was twelve in the basics of being a warrior.’

  ‘And yet Tannan could find no record of her on your official books.’ Zeus frowned and glanced over at Tannan who shook his head.

  Brohan looked at the com-screen, shocked to see it had even more gods lounging around it, watching him. What the hell is going on? Why were they all here? Damn!

  Questions swirled through his head one after the other, but he had also seen that Tae was nearing the Pyre, all he needed to do was to stall a little and then it would be too late for any of them to stop her.

  ‘My apologies, my lord,’ Brohan said contritely, ‘I never put her on the books because she never officially signed up for training, she simply jumped off the fence when her brother Jason needed a sparring partner one day, and she never left. As you might have noticed, she has proved very adept.’

  Zeus nodded. ‘Yes, we have met Jason and her mother already.’

  Valaria gasped. ‘You took them!’ she blurted out before she could stop herself. Brohan scowled at her.

  Zeus raised an eyebrow, staring at her. ‘Why on Earth would I, take them?’ he asked. ‘No, I heard your niece’s prayer and we all decided to investigate,’ he said dryly, gesturing around at the other gods. Baste smiled and raised her glass to them.

  Valaria, not knowing how to respond to the gesture waved back, and Isis burst out laughing. ‘Oh I can see you’re her aunt alright, apparently waving runs in the family.’

  Brohan and Valaria simply looked confused, having no idea about Tae’s latest kill which had not been broadcast publicly. Brohan glanced surreptitiously at the screen, she was almost there.

  Zeus, noticing the small movement turned and watched for a moment then turned back to the warrior. ‘Do you know why she entered the Island and what she hopes to accomplish?’ he asked.

  Brohan stiffened holding himself rigid. ‘Yes, my lord.’

  Zeus waited. When nothing else was forthcoming he continued impatiently. ‘Well? Tell us.’

  Brohan stood stock-still, his head high. ‘I cannot, my lord.’

  Zeus was taken aback. ‘You’re refusing to answer a direct question from your god? From me?’ he thundered.

  Brohan looked directly at him. ‘I gave her my word, my lord. I may be old, but I am still a warrior, and our word is our bond.’

  Zeus frowned. ‘But I am your god. I am your superior, when I ask a question you are to answer me truthfully, and immediately.’

  Brohan nodded. ‘I know, and I have answered all your questions truthfully, Lord Zeus, but if I broke my word when I have given it, even if I am breaking it to tell you, then how could you trust anything I say ever again? How would my word, my honour, mean anything if it can be broken at a request, even if it is from a god?’

  Poseidon started chuckling. ‘He has you there, you know. Besides, I’m hoping this will be a nice surprise. Why ruin it?’

  Zeus didn’t particularly like humans since Loki’s death, and he was in two minds about whether to kill the man for his refusal to answer his question, but the man definitely had courage, and he did admire his grit. To not want to betray the girl meant she’d engendered loyalty, and this Brohan had managed well enough in her training to keep her alive so far. He decided, rather generously he thought, that the old man could live.

  He went back to his settee. ‘I really should kill both you and your friend, but I’m feeling magnanimous.’ He smiled. ‘And, surprisingly, I agree with Poseidon, such loyalty is rare and should be a reward in itself.’ He sat and stretched his long legs out in front of him, looking directly at Valaria.

  ‘Do you have a man?’ he asked bluntly.

  Valaria turned and looked adoringly up at Brohan. ‘Yes, my lord.’

  Zeus sighed to himself. Just my luck, and all my nymphs are taken. He turned his attention back to Brohan. ‘You should be able to answer this question easily enough then.’

  Brohan looked wary but nodded.

  Zeus narrowed his eyes. ‘How long before we find out what she’s up to?’

  Brohan looked to the screen just as Tae came to a stop. ‘Right about now, my lord.’

  Zeus sat upright, as did all the gods who were now watching the screen intently. She had stopped near the edge of Loki’s Pyre and was taking her hair down. Vesh continued to close in on her until he was only about fifteen metres or so away before he stopped, then he watched her closely, allowing his vid-ball to show the gods what she was doing.

  She opened what appeared to be a hair bead, and carefully poured some white powder on the rock, all the while she kept glancing over at Vesh who held his ground unmoving. She then stood and backed away a little, seeming to crouch into a running position before opening another hair bead and sprinkling its contents on top of the fi
rst. As soon as the second powder was dropped she turned and bolted, screaming at Vesh to run.

  The effect was instantaneous. The rock started to disintegrate at an alarming rate. The gods stared in shock as Odin and Thor both leapt to their feet, sending the nymphs sprawling.

  ‘She defiles Loki’s grave!’ Odin shouted both grief and rage mingling in his voice.

  ‘I’ll kill her,’ shouted Thor, heading straight for the nearest jumper bay.

  Poseidon burst out laughing. ‘I love this girl,’ he shouted joyfully.

  Zeus was thunderstruck.

  Baste jumped to her feet. ‘She wouldn’t dare!’ she screeched, enraged as Isis narrowed her eyes in growing anger.

  ‘He’s alive!’ Brohan shouted above the chaos of outraged shrieking and yelling.

  Odin and Thor stopped their headlong dash to the jumper bay doors as all the gods turned their frustrated outrage in Brohan’s direction.

  ‘You expect me to believe my son is alive under that?’ Odin asked, pointing to the slowly disintegrating rock, but Zeus heard the beginnings of the faintest hint of hope in his voice.

  Brohan continued quickly, recounting everything that Tae had told him, and of her hope to free Loki so she could ask him to help find her family.

  Zeus was speechless. Was this even possible? Everyone had just assumed Loki had died. When they had seen the remains of the site, and the continuously erupting volcano, followed by Pan’s and Thalia’s testimony of what had occurred, they had taken their word, after all, what reason would they have to lie? Both gods had also sent their ship’s extensive sensor records, which had proved that there was no life aboard Loki’s ship, to both Zeus and Odin.

  Pan, he thought in sudden rage, if he hadn’t already killed him he’d be doing it again right about now, except this time he would be taking his time. He would definitely need to talk to Thalia about this also, as she had helped provide some of the sensor readings. And where the hell had this mysterious vid come from? There were still so many questions. He looked back at the screen as the rock continued to disintegrate into a light dust. Could Tae actually be right?

  Odin turned with Thor and stepped through the door into the jumper. The gods heard it detach and then it was gone, heading for Loki’s Pyre, or what remained of it.

  ‘Well, that’s a bit of a disappointment,’ Poseidon said into the ensuing silence. ‘Although on the bright side, I do get to question the bastard about my warriors now, if he’s really alive that is.’ He smiled cheerfully. ‘I guess I’m in a win-win situation.’

  Zeus was still at a loss for words. Everyone turned back to the screen to see what the disintegrating rock would reveal.

  CHAPTER 32

  Tae leant over gasping for breath after her long sprint. Vesh turned to her in shock. ‘Why would you do this? Why would you come all this way just to defile Loki’s grave? It doesn’t make sense,’ he said.

  He heard Tannan through his earpiece. ‘Don’t kill her, Odin and Thor are on their way.’

  Vesh blinked in surprise at the news of Odin and Thor being on their way. What the hell was going on? Was this all for some kind of revenge, or was something else occurring that he didn’t know about? He stared at the girl, waiting for her to answer.

  Tae looked up into his beautiful, soft brown eyes. ‘It does make sense if he’s still alive.’ she said between breaths, before turning her head to watch as the Beastie started to slow its attack on the rock face.

  She soon heard the soft whine of a jumper’s engines as it came in to land, she stood rooted to the spot as both Odin and Thor appeared in its door, wary hostile looks on their faces.

  The Beastie had now almost stopped, but it had done its job well. Before them, in the late afternoon light, stood the battered remains of Loki’s once mighty battle cruiser, the Fenris.

  Odin and Thor looked on in shock, their eyes going over the Fenris slowly, noting all the damage that had been done to her.

  Odin turned to stare at Vesh’s vid-ball to speak directly to Zeus. ‘She looks almost salvageable from the outside. Zeus … my son could still be alive.’ Tears sprang to Odin’s eye and hope filled his voice.

  A groaning metallic sound echoed across the vast cavern hollowed out by the force field that had once protected the ship while the lava surrounding it had solidified into rock.

  Everyone turned to watch as a hatch opened and a figure dropped down and started moving swiftly toward them. He was dressed in faded black from head to toe, with a faded dark green cape attached to his shoulders. His hair was tied back away from his face and his black eyes glittered with unconcealed malice. He stopped before them, contempt and hatred written in every line of his face.

  Ignoring Tae and Vesh he focused his attention on Odin and Thor. ‘So, father, brother,’ he greeted them, ‘you deign to release me at last. Have I served my time to your satisfaction?’

  Tears spilled unashamedly from Odin’s eye as he looked at the son he had long thought lost to him forever. ‘We thought you dead, Loki … all this time, we all thought you dead.’

  Loki frowned in confusion. ‘Then why are you here if you thought me dead?’

  Odin turned to Tae. ‘This terran woman found a vid that had been locked away in the WLE Headquarters. She saw your emergency force field kick in before the lava covered the Fenris, so she entered the Island to find and release you.’

  Loki immediately swung his black eyed gaze to Tae, assessing her.

  She smiled shyly at him and held up a hand in a brief wave. ‘Hello.’

  ‘Are there any more survivors?’ Thor asked tentatively.

  Loki continued to keep his gaze fixed on Tae as he answered. ‘I had thirty-one sleepers onboard. I tied the Fenris’ remaining power reserves to them to keep them working. You will find them in the aft cargo hold … that is all that remains of my crew. I would have had them digging our way out, but due to the damage done to the crystals from the explosion, the only way to tie the power into the sleepers and keep them viable was to make it permanent. If I woke them the cracked and broken crystals that I jerry rigged them to could have ceased working permanently, and they would have starved to death within a month. My own sleeper was also tied to the ship’s remaining sensors, when fresh air hit them I was awakened immediately.’

  ‘How did you get through the rock?’ he asked Tae having never removed his gaze from hers.

  ‘Ithacian White mixed with sea salt,’ she said, staring right back at him. She was so tired she was beyond caring at the moment, besides he still had those amazing black eyes that she found herself getting lost in.

  Odin looked at Tae. ‘You will come back with us. Tannan has recovered your mother and brother and has them aboard the Olympus as we speak.’

  Tae turned to Odin abruptly. ‘They’re safe?’ she said, tears of hope and relief filling her eyes.

  Odin smiled kindly. ‘Yes child. They are safe, and Zeus has also turned your health nanites back on, you have now stopped aging.’

  Tae launched herself into his arms, hugging him fiercely. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you,’ she gasped brokenly.

  Odin patted her back. ‘It is I who should be thanking you, young Tae. You have given me a gift beyond compare; you have given me back my son. There are many who wish to meet and thank you.’

  Thor smiled. ‘Come, let us leave this place of darkness and talk more in the pavilion.’

  Loki didn’t move. ‘My crew,’ he said.

  Tae stared at him in genuine surprise and growing respect, she hadn’t expected this concern for his crew from him. Vesh spoke up quickly in an effort to reassure him. ‘My lord, Elite Commander Tannan of the Olympus has just informed me he has some people on their way down as we speak, they will free your crew and bring them to safety as soon as they arrive.’

  Loki looked to the vid-ball. ‘My thanks,’ he said and turned, walking over to the jumper without another word.

  ‘Well, so much for gratitude. He looks more pissed off than anything,’ Th
or murmured to his father.

  Odin shrugged. ‘It’s been nine hundred years, you know how the sleepers affect us, he has reason to be.’

  ‘Come.’ Vesh took Tae’s arm gently and ushered her into the jumper. She settled into a seat and put her head back, closing her eyes in relief as she felt the jumper lift off slowly and make its way back to the pavilion.

  Tae’s head was spinning, I did it. I freed Loki, and Mum and Jase are free and safe because of someone named Tannan. She didn’t care how this had happened, only that they were well. Relief flooded through her. It’s over at last, I can go home with Mum and Jase and we can live our lives again. She frowned, remembering that she was still officially in the Island, worse still, she had only three kills, if she counted Jaden.

  Damn it, maybe if they let me explain everything they might pardon me because I freed Loki? She decided she didn’t care, as long as she got to see Jason before she died. She smiled and lay her head back against the seat and sighed deeply.

  ‘We have arrived,’ Thor said as he docked the jumper with a light bump.

  Tae felt almost light-hearted, she was finally free of the burden she had been carrying. Whatever happened now didn’t matter to her. Jason and her mother were free and safe, as was Loki, who, she noticed, was still staring at her for some reason. Finally he took his gaze from her, stood, and walked into the pavilion to be greeted heartily by the others inside, she could hear the laughter.

  Vesh nodded at her. ‘Go,’ he said. She stood and smiled at him, then walked into the room with him following close behind.

  CHAPTER 33

  The first person she saw upon entering was Brohan, who was standing quietly beside Valaria. Her gaze fixed on his as a turbulent sea of emotions threatened to overwhelm her. She took a deep shuddering breath and walked forward, her head held high as tears filled her eyes. She knew there were others in the room looking at her expectantly, but she ignored them as her eyes fixed on the old warrior’s. Stopping directly in front of him she carefully unstrapped the knife he had given her so long ago from her hip. Taking it in both hands she held it out to him and bowed her head in a mark of respect.