“It’s about time you woke up.”
Aerander strode up to the foot of Dam’s bed. He was dressed and groomed for a public outing in a tunic bearing his family crest and a sash that had been cut and dyed for him. His fawn-colored hair was damp from washing and tied back with a fillet.
Dam frowned. “It’s early still. I can’t have missed much.”
“Can’t have missed much? You missed an entire day and night.”
Dam eyed his cousin crookedly. Could he have really slept that long?
“You’ve every right to it,” Aerander said, “but I brought food for you last night that’s going to spoil.” He walked over to the room’s low calcite table, where there was a silver trencher with an ornate, domed lid. Now his cousin received fancy gifts from the metal workers as well as the silk workers in town. He was a champion of the underworld twice over. Some spoke of him as a demi-god.
Aerander lifted the trencher lid to glance inside. The smell of smoked fishes wafted to Dam and pulled at his stomach.
“It’s cold, but it’s still good,” Aerander said. “Let’s have a meal. You can get washed up afterward. We have business with Ysalane later.”
That was mildly curious to Dam. Aerander never asked him to come along when he met with Ysalane, and Dam had been fine standing apart from those matters. He and Aerander had caught up since Dam had returned, but they hadn’t talked about anything special related to Ysalane. Dam rustled out of his bed, pulled on a shift, and sat down at the table.
Hephad was already out and about. He had his morning rituals, which included feeding and exercising the kittens and bringing blessings to the old men in the below-houses. In addition to Silenos, three of those men had died during the time when the Oomphalos had been taken away. Others had turned wasted and bedridden. At night, Ysalane was focusing the stone’s healing energy on them to repair their bodies. Naturally, Hephad believed that prayers to the mother of grace Pleione would help as well.
Dam and Aerander sat across from each other at the table and picked from the trencher with tines. The fish was good, and they ladled the rich broth at the bottom into bowls. They ate their meal in silence while the city awoke with the sounds of street sweepers and water lifts churning.
“I never thought I’d say it, but there are things I’ll miss about living down here,” Aerander said. “It’s peaceful in its own way.”
Dam gulped down a mouthful of his breakfast and nodded, and then he went back to the trencher for more.
“We can always come back and visit.”
Dam glanced at Aerander’s face, then looked at Calaeno’s amulet hanging from his cousin’s neck.
Aerander caught that glance. He winked. “It’s time. Calaeno found fertile land where we can resettle, and there’s a portal nearby. It’ll be a long trip for the old men, but the sledges will help. That’s what I’m going to talk to Ysalane about. We’ll need guides through the backcountry.”
“Calaeno found land?”
Aerander nodded.
Dam brought out delicately, “Are you sure you can trust her?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, she’s awfully fond of Zazamoukh.”
Aerander scowled. “You can’t fault her for that. They were lovers dozens of lifetimes ago. Calaeno’s loyalty is to her country. Every day since we’ve been down here, she’s been looking for a way for us to return.”
“She’s been looking to get to Zazamoukh.”
Aerander gazed at Dam squarely. “Dam, she helped you when you were lost with no idea of what to do. If she hadn’t led you to Zazamoukh, you wouldn’t have gotten the Oomphalos. The New Ones would have made slaves of us again.”
“She led me to Zazamoukh, and he almost took the amulet away for good.”
“How was she supposed to foresee that? She’s not omnipotent, you know. Zazamoukh has tricks that even she didn’t know about. Tricks beyond her power. You’re being too hard on her.”
Dam gathered that Aerander had spoken to Calaeno about everything that had happened while he was on his own in the backcountry. He couldn’t argue that she hadn’t been helpful. Anyone would say that he owed her his life. They were words he could say himself, but somehow he didn’t feel it in his heart.
“She’s been wanting to talk to you,” Aerander said.
That was the last thing Dam wanted to do. He pushed away from the table. A conversation with his cousin had been looming. Dam had pretended he didn’t have to think about it because it had always seemed a long way off, but now Calaeno’s big discovery had forced him into it.
“I’m not going back.”
Silence thickened around him.
“You had to know that,” Dam said.
“What are you talking about?”
“I like it here. It feels like I belong. I’m happy.”
“You’re happy,” Aerander repeated. “What kind of reason is that to stay? You belong with family.”
“I’ve made a family here.”
“You know what I mean, Dam. If Hanhau cares about you so much, he ought to go with you instead of making you choose between him and your kin.”
Dam felt like he was sprouting horns from his head. Why was it that his cousin never understood? “He didn’t ask me to choose. It’s my decision.”
“A decision based on what? You barely know each other. What has it been—a season, two at the most?”
“We’ve had plenty of time to get to know each other. How does that matter anyway? Whether it’s a day or many years, I want to be with him.”
“So you’ll stay down here. Giving up on your own kind. You know nothing about these people. Their ideas about family and loyalty could be entirely different from ours. Then what will you do? All alone.”
Dam bit down on his bitter feelings. A strange moment of clarity came over him as he looked upon Aerander. He didn’t see a bossy cousin, always criticizing him for not living up to his standards. He saw a desperate and fearful young man.
He reached out to clasp Aerander’s arm. “You’ve got to stop worrying about me.”
Aerander swung away from him. His voice turned brittle. “You won’t let me worry about you. You took away my right to that. Ever since you left the palace. That was my fault, wasn’t it? Letting my father split us up.”
A cold draft passed through Dam, like a ghost drifting through his body. His cousin had never spoken of it that way. He had always said it had been Dam’s choice, and he had never acknowledged that his father could have adopted Dam.
“You couldn’t do anything about that. I suppose I blamed you. That wasn’t fair of me.”
“Why won’t you let me make it up to you? That’s all I ever wanted. For the two of us to be brothers again.”
Dam edged around the table closer to his cousin. “There’s nothing to make up. I turned out fine. We’re grown now. None of that matters anymore.”
“Brothers stick together even when they’re grown.”
“Aerander, you are my brother. The only brother I’ve ever had. You’ll always be.”
“A world apart.” Aerander hid his face in his arm and wept. Tears filled Dam’s sinuses. He encircled his cousin in his arms.
“How can you be so soft? You’re the King of Atlantis. The greatest hero our country has ever known. Don’t you know you’re going to be just fine? You’ve made your father so proud. I never told you that, but I should have.”
Aerander shuddered against him.
“You’ve got Lys and Dardy and so many people who love you. You don’t need me by your side anymore. I’ll always be there in your heart, like you’re stuck in mine. We’ve just gone down different paths is all.”
Aerander’s choking, tearful breaths brushed against Dam’s neck. It was the worst that he had ever seen Aerander come apart. “I do want you to be happy,” Aerander said. “I just don’t want you to go.”
“I know.”
They held each other for a while. Then Aerander stirred and wiped his ey
es. He looked around, reawakening to the room. “I ought to go.” A nervous smile sprung up on his face. “I haven’t even told Lys Calaeno’s news.” Dam’s arms fell away from him. Aerander stood up unsteadily. His voice came out stunted. “I wanted to tell him. But something made me want to tell you first.”
“He doesn’t have to know that.”
Aerander shook his head. “I won’t keep it from him. He’ll be angry, but he deserves to know that I made a mistake.”
“I guess you’re right.”
His cousin stepped past him in a muddle. Dam felt like he was shrinking from the world. Was he going to be the cause of a row between Aerander and his boyfriend?
Aerander came back to him before leaving, lifted the amulet from his head, and pressed it into Dam’s hand. “The power is fading. Calaeno says it’s because Zazamoukh won’t survive much longer. Talk to her before she’s gone.”
Chapter Three
The room felt empty when Aerander left. It was as though every vibration of life had died. Dam went back to his pallet and crushed himself into a tight ball.
Everything he said had needed to be said. Dam didn’t regret any of it. But a well of emotions engulfed him. He had launched himself on a journey to make his own way. Dam had done that once before when he had left Aerander’s family to join the priesthood, but then, Dam had always known that Aerander had been in the background of his life, there to help if Dam really needed him. Now they would be separated by continents of bedrock. It was like realizing for the first time that he truly was an orphan.
After a while, Dam noticed he had been clutching the amulet tightly in his fist. It had left deep, white streaks on his palm. Looking at that hand, he spotted the long groove of his life’s trail and noticed a fifth cross-scratch he hadn’t seen before. The fourth had been the destruction of the Oomphalos tower. The fifth now was his parting from Aerander. But that next scar didn’t signify a betrayal or a disaster. It was Dam’s decision.
Speaking to Calaeno still bothered him, but it had to be done. Dam sat up on his bed. He pulled the necklace over his head and shed the thoughts in his mind. He called out for Calaeno. It felt as though he was searching through a boundless void. Her voice reached out faintly, straining to connect with him. They joined in a psychic bond, but it was loose, like two gripped hands that could easily slip away from one another.
“Hello, Dam. It’s so good to hear your voice again. Did Aerander tell you the news?”
“Yes.”
“He told me how courageous you were, fighting the New Ones. I had no idea you found magic. That must be really special. It all sounds so exciting how you brought back the Oomphalos. But dangerous, I’m sure.”
Dam joggled his head.
“And now Atlantis will thrive again. It’s a lovely place, Dam. There’s a river valley with fields like gold. The river current is very gentle, and it flows out to a beautiful sea—the Great Green, I call it, because it’s deep and boundless and as green as ripened olives. And the land has hills that are rich in limestone. That will be perfect for building new homes. Has Aerander told the others?”
“He’s just left to do it.”
They were quiet for a moment.
“Dam, did you tell him your news?”
His nose twitched. “My news?”
“That you’re staying in the underworld.”
“How did you know?”
Calaeno chuckled. “I could tell from the way Aerander described you. It’s one of the reasons why I knew I would like you even before we met. I loved the underworld too. We really do have a lot in common, don’t you think? Neither one of us feeling like we belong in the world above the ground.”
Dam thought on that. Calaeno had been raised to fit into a world that wanted her to be a prince rather than a princess. He had been taken in by a House Governor, but he wasn’t meant to be part of the nobility. Dam had never met anyone who understood what that was like. So why had he been so distrustful of her?
“The Fates truly favored you, Dam,” Calaeno said.
Dam’s face shrunk up. It had never felt like that. Though Dam knew what he must do, it was more like the Fates had given him two ways ahead in his life and each one tore at his heart. “How do you mean?”
“They gave you two lives instead of one. That only happens to a lucky few. You were a child of nobles and a comrade of city folk. There’s so much knowledge you must have from living in both worlds.
“The Fates gave me two lives as well, first as a boy and then as a girl. I couldn’t be either in the earthly realm. But the blessing for both of us was that the Fates gave us another choice, the heavens for me and the underworld for you.”
“I wish I didn’t have to decide. At least not so soon.”
“That’s my fault, isn’t it?”
“Your fault?”
“If I wasn’t around looking for a way for your countrymen to return home, you could stay in the underworld and live with the man you love as well as Aerander and all of your friends. I’ve been thinking about this a lot, Dam. I hope it doesn’t make you angry. I think you were afraid of coming above and afraid of having to make a decision, and that’s why you turned cold to me.”
A blush scored Dam’s face. He realized she was right. He had no other reason to have been so mean to her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It was stupid of me, wasn’t it? I couldn’t stop the others from leaving even if I wanted to. And I don’t want to, deep down. Aerander and his friends belong above the ground.”
“It wasn’t stupid, Dam. It was a hard and noble decision to make.” Her voice brightened. “I accept your apology. Aerander took it hard, I bet.”
“He did. He probably hates me.”
“I don’t think he could ever hate you. The two of you are so lucky to have each other. You’re quite an unusual pair. Like the Old Ones’ legend, the Twin Masters of the Underworld. Aerander, the Master of Light, and Dam, the Master of Sound. I hope someday the three of us will meet. You’ll visit Dam, won’t you?”
“I’d like that.”
Her voice shrank into the background. Dam called out for her. He could feel the magical vibrations of the amulet dwindling.
Calaeno warbled back to him. “I think this is good-bye, Dam.”
“Thank you Calaeno. I wish we had more time.”
“Eudoros is fading…”
“Calaeno?”
No answer. The psychic bridge was broken. No power was left in the amulet. It was just a gruesome necklace with a trident amulet carved from bone.
Chapter Four
A few nights later, the expedition returned with the remains of Calyiches’ party. Hephad presided over the funeral, and after the corpses were burned, they laid stones for each one of the deceased in the polyandrium.
The voyage to the surface proceeded right away. They had no time to waste given the condition of the old men in the below-houses. Ysalane commissioned a twenty-man escort and many cartloads of provisions for the journey. Based on the location of the portal described to Aerander by Calaeno, Hanhau and Backlum plotted out an expeditious route making use of underground rivers and a team of slug-sledges to scale to the highest regions of Agartha.
They needed barges, strung together from the trunks of the largest flax trees that grew in underground lagoons. They needed wheeled sledges that could make the climb to the country’s upper shelf.
During the whirlwind of activity preparing for the trip, several boys stopped by to visit Dam, having heard he would be staying back. His close friends Heron and Callios visited, as did his old friends Lys and Dardy and his new friend Rad. Each one made a fuss for Dam to reconsider, but they respected his decision in the end. Even some boys who had hardly ever talked to Dam came by to wish him well. They had known him as Aerander’s cousin, which made him a person of some notoriety in and of itself. Now Dam was a celebrity, a sorcerer of sound.
At the feast on the eve of their departure, there was a new shocking announcement. Hephad and Attalos told the o
thers that they, too, would be staying in the underworld. For Hephad, the explanation was practical. His kittens had only known the world below the ground, and they were linked to the Oomphalos’ magic. No one knew what would happen when they bridged the surface, and he couldn’t abandon their care.
Dam saw beyond what little truth was in that story. He supposed most of the others did as well. Both Hephad and Attalos found places in Agartha. Hephad would tend the gravesite of their countrymen who had died, and he would be a priest of the Atlantean faith to any men who came back to visit the underworld city. For Attalos, the expedition to retrieve the Oomphalos had kindled a passion. He wanted to learn the ways of the warriors and explore the backcountry. Neither one was leaving without the other. They had vowed to forge a new life together. Hephad and Attalos would have the entire Honeycomb to themselves. Hephad already had plans to reconstruct a temple there. Dam and Hanhau would build a house across town among the Old Ones.
Dam requested to come along to see Aerander and his friends off to the portal. It was a lumbering journey with some eight dozen aged, infirm men to ferry through the backcountry. They traveled at a snail’s pace with slug-sledges driving their wheeled carts and a slow routine of loading barges to ford the rivers and sending them back to ferry more passengers. They had to pitch camp frequently.
On flat terrain, with the Oomphalos hoisted like a standard at the lead, the caravan of evacuees looked like a torch-staked road stretching endlessly into the obscurity of the horizon. On portages to higher parts, it was a winding stream of light rising from the depths.
They reached an upper shelf where the air was cold and damp and not good for the elderly men’s health. Dam helped the novices and the women to shelter them with blankets, administer the medicines given to them by Sacnite, and help the old men to drink and eat. Over days, some of the old men were lost to pleurisy. They wrapped their bodies in pallets and freighted them on sledges so they could be buried in their homeland.
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